What Computer Maintenance Tasks Should You Do Regularly? Here’s a Quick Guide

Having a system with top-tier hardware specs will become less of an advantage over time if you don’t engage in regular maintenance practices. Your computer care routine will also determine how well your computer lives out its lifespan. Thankfully, you don’t have to be an expert to perform the most important maintenance and optimization tasks.

We’ll cover the different computer maintenance tips together, the ideal routines, and things that can slow down your PC.

Basic PC Maintenance Tips to Keep Your Computer Running Smoothly

Let’s start with the fundamental PC maintenance tasks and habits you need to practice. We’ll cover the hardware and software tasks that you can perform.

Tip 1: Keep your system and apps updated

Software updates are among the most critical maintenance tasks you can carry out. They are components deployed by Microsoft and developers to introduce new features, fix existing problems, patch security loopholes, and improve overall functionality.

You can go to the Settings app (press Win + I) and click the Windows Update button to get started with Windows updates. The update client can also help you install drivers and other types of updates when you select Advanced options > Optional updates.

You should also turn on the switch next to Get the latest updates as soon as they arrive. That way, you don’t always have to enter the Settings app, as the Windows Update client will automatically download and install new updates.

• Updating software applications

As mentioned, software developers also deploy updates to remove performance problems, vulnerabilities, and errors. Updates are also used to introduce new features and app versions. In most cases, you’ll see prompts asking you to install a new version or update. Ensure you always choose the download and install option.

In cases where you don’t see prompts, you can check the websites of developers after using apps for a while.

• Updating device drivers

Device drivers are the software programs that help your operating system send instructions to hardware devices to perform specific tasks. These applications are the reasons your graphics card can render games properly, your USB ports can recognize external devices, and your network card can connect to Wi-Fi networks.

Outdated drivers are often the cause of issues like reduced performance, loss of function, and blue screen errors. Installing the latest updates for every driver ensures you don’t experience such problems. 

As mentioned, you can update your drivers through Windows Update by selecting Advanced options > Optional updates > Driver updates.

If you’re on Windows 10, click View all optional updates on the Windows Update page.

You can also use tools provided by device manufacturers. For example, you can update NVIDIA graphics drivers and AMD drivers using tools developed by each company for its devices.

Tip 2: Restart your computer regularly

Keeping your computer turned on for weeks and months isn’t a great computer care practice. You need to reboot it once in a while, at least every week, to clear things like cache and temporary files that have built up over time. Rebooting also helps free up your system memory and resolve issues like memory leaks and software conflicts.

You can easily restart with your keyboard or go through the Start menu if you wish.

Also read: Laptop Lifespan: Why You Should Definitely Shut Down Your PC Every Night

Tip 3: Prevent accidental data loss or damage

Certain situations, like sudden system shutdowns, can lead to data loss or damage.

That said, it is advisable to take other precautionary measures in the event your system does lose power or encounters unavoidable challenges. These measures include creating backups and restore points.

You can back up Windows and your files to an external drive by opening the Control Panel, selecting System and Security > Backup and Restore, and clicking Set up backup. You’ll have to choose your external drive and select the Next button.

A restore point allows you to return to certain system states in case you may have corrupted an application or driver. Follow these steps to create one:

1. Open the Start menu and type “restore.”
2. Select Create a restore point.
3. Choose the hard drive where you want to create the restore point and click the Create button.
4. Select a name for the restore point and click the Create button.

Tip 4: Perform hardware maintenance

You have to internalize a series of habits to make this work. These tips will help:

• Be conscious of your computer’s position to optimize airflow to avoid overheating.Laptops, especially gaming notebooks, are best placed on flat surfaces, and desktops should be positioned where exhaust fans are not blocked.
• Physically clean up your computer to remove dust from areas, such as your mouse and keyboard, computer screen, air vents, and ports.

Tip 5: Run regular disk cleanups to clear temporary files

Finding and removing temporary files is one of the most effective ways to clean up your computer. Windows and third-party applications like browsers, games, and video editors create temporary files for specific tasks and delete them later. However, most of them are not usually cleared and hang around longer than they should. 

Windows has built-in methods for wiping them manually and automatically. You can use the Disk Cleanup tool or the storage page in the Settings application to run manual checks and delete temporary files. Here’s how to use Disk Cleanup:

• Open the Start menu and type “Cleanup.”
• Select Disk Cleanup and choose your hard drive.

• Allow the tool to calculate and compile the temporary files you need to delete.
• Once the dialog window opens, select the files you want to remove and click OK.

• You can also click the Clean up system files button to find and remove Windows files.

You can follow our guide on removing junk temporary files to learn how to boost your computer’s storage space.

Tip 6: Check for malware and viruses

Antivirus programs are must-haves for regular maintenance and security. Malware and viruses can compromise your computer through email attachments, downloaded files, legitimate-looking websites, and shared or copied files.

Microsoft’s Windows Security can protect your computer. The tool runs regular scans on its own, but you can run deep scans using its Full scan and Microsoft Defender Antivirus (offline scan) options.

Tip 7: Maintain healthy battery habits

Battery life remains one of the biggest issues for people using laptops. That’s why the new Snapdragon Copilot+ PCs are quite popular: they boast the best battery life for Windows computers. 

However, every laptop’s battery degrades over time.It’s how you use your system that will determine when you start noticing that degradation.

One of the most important battery habits to practice is preventing your battery from draining below 20% and limiting charges to 80%. You can use programs provided by your computer’s OEM. For example, MSI allows you to limit charges to 80% using its Dragon Center and MSI Center software applications.

You can open the Settings app, select Power & battery, and click the Energy recommendations option to check which energy-saving policies you can implement.

Also read: How to Check Your Laptop Battery Health on Windows 10 and 11?

Tip 8: Optimize your web browser

Web browsers can get resource-hungry and reduce overall system performance if they are not well optimized. That’s why you see your browser causing high memory or disk usage sometimes. In extreme cases, browsers can also cause your computer to overheat when lots of tabs are running in the background.

Here’s a checklist for optimizing your web browsers:

• Close unused tabs: Loading a lot of browsing tabs at the same time is a surefire way to slow down your computer. You can habitually clean up your browsing tabs to keep things running smoothly.
• Use your browser’s efficiency mode: Microsoft Edge has a dedicated efficiency mode, and Google Chrome has an energy saver feature that helps reduce resource consumption when too many tabs are open. You can turn them on by going to the performance section of the Settings page.

• Remove or uninstall unused browser apps and extensions: Click the browser menu, usually three dots or lines in the top-right corner, select Extensions, and then remove the apps and extensions you don’t use.
• Keep your browser up to date: You can check for updates by selecting Menu > Help > About browser.
• Clear cache, cookies, and other internet files: The next step is deleting temporary internet files and saved cache, cookies, and site data. Press the Ctrl + Shift + Delete keyboard shortcut to open the Delete browsing data dialog, choose the type of data you want to remove, and click the Delete data button.

Tip 9: Manage your RAM

Your computer will run much smoother if your system memory is managed correctly. Proper RAM management involves the following:

• Avoiding and fixing system memory leaks: Memory leaks happen when programs fail to release their allocated memory space after use. Fixing the problem involves closing background applications, updating your system, and removing malware applications, among others. You can follow our guide on fixing memory leak issues to learn more.
• Allowing Windows to manage your paging file: The paging file, also called virtual memory, is Windows’ way of supplementing your system memory. It’s a file on your hard drive. You can optimize your memory further by setting the page file size to automatic. Here’s how:
• Type “system settings” in the Start menu and select Advanced system settings.
• After the System Properties window opens, click the Settings button under Performance.
• Go to the Advanced tab, and then click Change under Virtual memory.
• Next, check the box beside Automatically manage paging file size for all drives.
• Click OK.

• Restarting your computer often: Restarting your system is one of the best ways to clear the system memory backlog and free your RAM.
• Close applications you’re not using: Background programs, whether functioning well or not, usually take up space in your system memory. Closing these apps is an effective way to reduce RAM usage and free up memory resources.

Tip 10: Defragment your hard drive or optimize your SSD

If you use a hard disk drive, defragmenting it could be the speed boost you need. System performance is usually impacted when pieces of files are scattered (or fragmented) on different hard drive sectors. Defragmentation helps you reorganize and piece them back together.

Here are basic steps on defragmenting and optimizing hard disk and solid-state drives in Windows:

• Open the Start menu and type “defrag.”
• Click Defragment and optimize drives.
• Once the Optimize Drives window appears, select your hard drive and click the Optimize button.

Specific PC Maintenance Tasks to Perform Regularly

These are settings you can apply less frequently to ensure your computer continues to run smoothly.

Tip 1: Uninstall unused applications

Certain applications that you no longer use may reside on your hard drive. Apart from taking up valuable space, these programs could also run background processes occasionally, such as checking for updates. Such activities can result in noticeable performance problems.

Uninstalling these applications can provide the resource headroom required to resolve some of your performance issues. Head to the Control Panel, select Uninstall a program under Programs, and then go through your list of installed applications to check those you no longer need.

Tip 2: Enable write caching

Write caching allows Windows and apps to store write instructions on your system’s memory instead of saving data to the hard drive immediately. The process prevents Windows and other apps from performing write activities until the computer is less busy.

The feature keeps your system running faster since it won’t have the added burden of writing files to the hard drive. This represents a significant performance boost for hard disks because they are slower.

For SSDs, it helps prolong their lifespans since each drive’s lifecycle is determined by the number of write operations. Write instructions for multiple files will be held and executed as a single write operation, reducing the number of cycles your SSD has to record.

Here’s how to enable write caching:

• Right-click the Start button and select Device Manager.

• Expand the Disk drives category, right-click your hard drive, and select Properties.

• Go to the Policies tab once the Properties dialog appears.
• Select the Enable write caching on the device option.

• Click the OK button.

If you use an external drive, you can choose between the Quick removal and Better performance options. Quick removal turns off write caching to allow you to remove drives without using the Safely Remove Hardware button. Better performance turns on the feature.

Tip 3: Create custom power plans

Creating different custom power plans allows you to switch between different power modes depending on your needs. That way, you can conserve power or go for speed whenever you need to.

Follow these steps:

• Tap Win + R to open the Run dialog window.
• After the window opens, type “Control Panel” and hit Enter.
• Select System and Security and click Power Options.

• Next, click Create a power plan in the left pane.

• Select a base plan model, give it a name, and click Next.
• Choose when to turn off your display and put your computer to sleep, then click the Create button.

• After creating the plan, you can click Change plan settings and select Change advanced power settings to tweak each plan however you see fit.

You can follow our guide on advanced power settings to learn about the options you can adjust to fit different plans. Windows also has a hidden Ultimate performance option that allows your CPU to run at its fastest speed. You can follow our in-depth walkthrough to activate and choose the Ultimate performance option.

Tip 4: Disable unnecessary startup programs

Startup programs can ruin your system’s boot experience because they bog down your hardware components during startup. Some of these applications continue running in the background and taking up those resources. Disabling non-critical startup applications can make a difference in performance and free up your CPU, memory, and disk for more important work.

Here’s how to disable startup programs:

• Right-click your taskbar and select Task Manager.
• Go to the Startup tab once the Task Manager opens.

• Right-click the app you want to turn off and select Disable.

Tip 5: Clean your cooling unit

Dusting your cooling fans, flushing your water cooling system, and replacing your heatsink’s thermal paste are advanced hardware maintenance practices that can keep your PC running smoothly. 

When your cooling system is clean, it can withstand temperature spikes and prevent frequent throttling.

Automate Computer Maintenance Tasks with Third-Party Software

You could turn to third-party programs to automate certain repetitive maintenance tasks like removing junk files and tracking hard drive performance. There are different options, such as Auslogics BoostSpeed, CCleaner, and CleanMyPC. Let’s explore what such programs can do for your computer, using Auslogics BoostSpeed as an example.

• Clean junk files automatically 

PC optimizers can automatically notify you when your hard drive has accumulated large amounts of junk and temporary files that may take up a lot of space. You can also set up cleanup schedules using the program’s scheduler.

While you can run scheduled scans with Storage Sense, it only allows you to choose whether to run daily, weekly, or monthly scans. Most third-party cleanup tools like Auslogics BoostSpeed allow you to select the time for each interval and the types of files to find and remove.

• Manage startup programs

Unlike the Settings app and Task Manager, a third-party optimizer can show you more details about each application, such as its publisher and rating. For example, BoostSpeed sports different columns for each app’s details and enables you to add more startup programs.

• Hard drive maintenance

Having a hard drive maintenance tool within your optimizer makes it easier to check for and receive automatic notifications about drive problems. Some of these tools can run SMART diagnostics, defragmentation, and optimization tasks.

• Fix performance issues with one click

Most PC optimizers come with performance scanners that assess issues that may be causing lags and slowdowns. You can then resolve these problems once the scan is complete.

You should keep in mind that not every PC cleaner or optimizer offers all the maintenance features you need. You can follow our best Windows PC cleaners comparison to get a better idea about which tool serves you best. 

Here’s a quick overview of what the three different PC cleaners I mentioned earlier offer:

How Often Should You Do Computer Maintenance?

Different tasks should ideally be slotted into different routines. However, how you use your computer should determine your maintenance schedule. I’ll provide a general guide on the best practices:

Regular Computer Maintenance Can Prolong Your PC’s Health

Your computer can last longer than the average lifespan of a PC if you take good care of it. The computer maintenance tips in this article can help you achieve that. However, they will only work if you are dedicated and perform most of the tasks regularly.

Let us know the maintenance tasks you currently carry out and whether they help.

FAQ