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Many Computer Users Skip Routine Maintenance

hothardware.com — Seems most people ignore routine computer maintenance and only think about it when disaster strikes. You know, like falling victim to more than 3,000 viruses. At once. A survey done of Staples "EasyTechs," indicated that more than 80 percent of the chain's customers don't bother with routine maintenance.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 1, 2009

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  • smashblu, on 06/30/2009, -0/+116Computers are only a few hundred dollars. People fail to maintain their $10K+ cars in the same sort of way. That blows my mind.
  • yeeaauuh, on 06/30/2009, -0/+80Pro-Tip #1554 - Do NOT use a can of compressed air to remove bees from your computer.
  • TDDebug, on 07/01/2009, -4/+79BREAKING: Many Computer Users Are Retarded
  • dingedarmor, on 06/30/2009, -0/+43Honey and a computer--now that is a winning combination!

    :)

    Oh, one of friends told me she disabled her firewall and anti-virus because they messed with her computer's colors.....
    I'm still working on it, sigh.


  • rwbrinso, on 06/30/2009, -8/+42If you work with "normal" people who attempt to "operate" a computer, this shouldn't be THAT surprising. (Read: People are stupid.)
  • yocouchdigga, on 07/01/2009, -0/+31The sky is blue.
  • Heywoodj, on 07/01/2009, -0/+30I use the 3 beer rule.
    If I can't figure out your problem by the time I'm ready to crack my 3rd beer...The drive gets nuked and redone.
    A six pack of Fat tire or Spaten is required before I'll even look at your rig.
  • lydiasky, on 06/30/2009, -0/+30Read this article after I spent the weekend trying to undo my friend's neglect on her laptop. In the end, all I could do was reformat it.
  • Ocelot13, on 07/01/2009, -4/+33and now you cant do anything fun.
  • EMFK, on 06/30/2009, -2/+30Sorry, lost the *s* somewhere for what should have been seems at the beginning.
  • videographer, on 07/01/2009, -0/+27Oh please. No one - NO ONE - except us geeks ever crack the case on a computer, *or know that they even should.* It's kinda hard to blame the end-user for what they don't know they should do.

    Of course, that won't stop us, will it?
  • pvliii, on 07/01/2009, -0/+25Because she hasn't turned it on since.

    /just kidding
  • MooseOfReason, on 07/01/2009, -2/+25Everyone knows Macs are immune from filling with bees!
  • MatzahMan, on 07/01/2009, -4/+26Some downloads for people who need maintenance

    AVG Free (anti-virus)
    http://download.cnet.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Editi ...

    CCleaner (helps clear space on your hardrive)
    http://download.cnet.com/ccleaner/?tag=mncol

    Malwarebytes (anti malware)
    http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware ...

    These programs should help speed up and clean up your computers. Don't forget to have a router or a firewall to help block ***** from getting on to your computer.
  • arbulus, on 07/01/2009, -4/+24Defrag and Disk Cleanup do absolutely nothing to help the performance of your computer. Same thing with zapping pram, repairing permissions and running daily/weekly/monthly scripts on the Mac side. They do absolutely nothing. Defrag *may* help, very very slightly, but Disk Cleanup does absolutely nothing whatsoever. Most computers have at least 80 GB hard drives. 1 - 2 GB of junk files means absolutely nothing in comparison and will not in any way cause performance issues.

    If you are on a Windows box, look at what you have running at startup. Every IM application runs automatically at startup. So do a large number of unnecessary printer applications, OpenOffice Quick Start, Adobe Quick Launcher, etc. Get your startup items down to an absolute bare minimum if you can't get it down to zero.

    If you have a Mac or run Linux, you do not need an anti-virus application.

    For Windows machines, an application such as ClamWin is a great AV application and MalwareBytes is a great spyware/adware removal app. You don't need Norton or McAfee. They bog your system down and don't usually help. But whatever you choose, do keep them up to date.

    Do keep you computer in a well ventilated area and clean the dust out of it at least twice a year. If you use cans of air, be sure not to let it blow on the fans. Hold the fans still while you spray the air. If you're blowing through your power supply, use a wooden toothpick to keep the fan inside the power supply still while you're using the air. And don't get too close to any components.

    There's really no software maintenance that you need to do to your computer. Just be an intelligent user. Don't download everything that pops up at you on the web, don't click popups from the web and stay away from "<insert name> Toolbar" for your browser. MSN Toolbars, Yahoo! Toolbars, Google Toolbars, MySpace Toolbars, etc. They make things much, much worse for you. Don't use them. And MyWebSearch toolbar is malware. If anything offers to install that for you, don't let it. All modern browsers have search bars built into them. You don't need an addon search toolbar.
  • Hellman109, on 07/01/2009, -0/+20Woah he has OCD by the sounds of it and you harnessed that to stop him getting viruses....
  • Paulish, on 07/01/2009, -2/+22I work in IT. If we can't identify the problem in 15 to 20 minutes a lot of the time we just reformat the machine. minutes. Or we let it sit there and come back later.

    Usually it needs to be wiped anyways cause users have been putting random crap and games they find on the internet on it. I am pretty low level so I don't have much power, but I have given up on trying to get my boss, or anyone, to secure the machines more.
  • ceredron, on 07/01/2009, -0/+19uh... I defrag every few weeks while I sleep. You know. That eight-hour-on-average period that everybody does.
  • inactive, on 07/01/2009, -5/+23We could also call it "requires endless fiddling" or "costs twice as much for only half the specs".
  • gdenne, on 07/01/2009, -2/+20Yes, Linux has those pros, you're right. And it is very reliable, too. But my bugbear is when something on Linux needs configuring, many times it can only be done at the command line. And try teaching that to everyday computer users ;)
  • inactive, on 07/01/2009, -3/+21...and made yourself sound like a giant douche.
  • multiformat, on 07/01/2009, -2/+20You two must not look at porn online, unlike the remaining 99.9% of us.
  • inactive, on 07/01/2009, -0/+17I use AntiVir. It has the highest detection rating in the industry, low memory use, easy to configure. Avast! is pretty excellent, too, I just found it a little tricky to configure. I know people swear by AVG, but at last check, it's detection ratings were in the the low 80s
  • Animan351, on 07/01/2009, -4/+21Short story time about staples sucking: Just today my Deputy Chiefs wife called me (I'm a firefighter) because they took a broken computer to staples. Staples checked it out and told her it was fried and when she said she wanted the pictures and itunes to be transferred over to a new computer they bought to replace it, they said it would cost about $480 bucks to do that.She thought that was insane and that's when she called me to see if it would be that hard to do. I told her to go get it and bring it to me instead. She called Staples and told them not to do it and that she would pick it up instead. They told her she had to wait a few hours because the comp was still apart.

    After she got it back and brought it to me I simply installed the old hard drive in the new computer as a 2nd drive for storage ( the hard drive was fine, it was the MB that was shot.) Funny thing though.All the music and pictures were missing from the drive. Apparently Staples didn't like losing her business and deleted the files she wanted saved out of spite or maybe they have them saved on a drive back at their shop waiting for her to come crawling back with it after I "failed" to get them. Off of her hard drive.

    ***** them.
  • DirtyVicar, on 07/01/2009, -0/+15I don't seem to have any problems either, and I'm very aware of what is going on in my computer, but if viruses are stealthy and named "svchost.exe" then I might have problems.
  • valis, on 07/01/2009, -1/+16Read: People (who don't know what you know) are ignorant. That's why people who DO know make a killing selling computer services. When it comes to elevator maintenance, I'm definitely ignorant. I call a company to handle that. That's what the smart ignorant people do.
  • STBAT25, on 07/01/2009, -0/+15I have a friend who is a complete neat freak but when I asked him if he ever cleaned inside his computer he just shrugged. I told him he should and to think of computer viruses as he would germs. Now he constantly updates his anti-virus software and has a can of dust remover planted on his desk.
  • RobertWright, on 08/13/2009, -2/+17We're all guilty to some degree, but not like in that photo!!!
  • KayIslandDrunk, on 07/01/2009, -2/+17Well technically deadasdisco, if you are viewing it via your browser you are downloading it. I'm not sure how else the information would reach your screen.
  • dhughes, on 07/01/2009, -0/+14 I just comb the dust bunnies to make them look respectable.
  • mikelist, on 07/01/2009, -0/+14i couldn't get the sweeper head into the box so i left it dirty. will a pressure washer help?
  • tmyprod, on 07/01/2009, -1/+15Pro-Tip #1554a - Use WD-40.
  • Suilenroc, on 07/01/2009, -1/+14Energy.
  • Tenoq, on 07/01/2009, -2/+15Works in the corporate world, not so good in the home user arena.

    To format you need to:
    - Backup all their data
    - Find their software discs and licenses (rarely, if ever do they have those)
    - Make note of usernames and passwords for everything
    - Wipe, re-install, update, find obscure driver #1532
    - Re-install all their software (for which they don't have the discs and/or needs to be downloaded over their 256kbps 'net connection)
    - Patch in all their user data to those programs
    - Re-create all their e-mail accounts, with passwords they've forgotten, etc, etc

    All in all, it's often quicker to fix the specific problem their having (even if it is a massive malware infection) than it is to format. You also get happier customers, who don't ring you up every day asking "Where did this program go? Where's my shortcut to this file? I can't find...."
  • ijwhelan, on 07/01/2009, -0/+13I don't know if vacuuming your computer is the best idea.
  • acephreak, on 07/01/2009, -0/+12I uppose it's not that easy to notice.
  • kushin, on 07/01/2009, -1/+13maybe you should try one of the undelete programs, cannot guarantee but i had a few successes.
    http://lifehacker.com/393084/how-to-recover-delete ...

    yeah, forgot to add, if you find any recoverable files takes a screenshot and submit to consumerist.
  • ccaazz, on 07/01/2009, -0/+12and bears ***** in woods
  • Chakat, on 07/01/2009, -0/+12Yes it does. Maintenance is a lot easier than windows boxes, but you still have to update your ***** every once in a while, or you're just as much of a problem as granny who got her computer for christmas 3 years ago and keeps clicking those "adorable" greeting cards she gets in the mail.
  • Maxamegalon2000, on 07/01/2009, -2/+13Really? Linux will get rid of that dust and cockroaches?
  • constchar, on 07/01/2009, -0/+11VIRUS DATABASE HAS BEEN UPDATED!!!!
  • KayIslandDrunk, on 07/01/2009, -1/+12As someone who has used Avast since 2005 I can honestly say you have no idea what you're talking about Royish. Avast does not have pop-up ads.
  • SilverBlade2k, on 07/01/2009, -2/+13My guess is that computer users skip routine maintenance is because it takes so ***** long. 3-4 hours for a defrag? No time for that.
  • WalkerTXclocker, on 07/01/2009, -0/+11I had one with OVER 9000!!!
  • linkmandx, on 07/01/2009, -6/+17AVG is terrible, use Avast!:

    http://download.cnet.com/Avast-Home-Edition/3000-2 ...
  • Dauntless1, on 07/01/2009, -0/+10Digg used to be a tech site before fanboi's took it over with retarded *****.
  • deadasdisco, on 07/01/2009, -4/+14i haven't used an anti-virus software in 15 years. i've only had a virus once. i pwn viruses.
  • Janinco, on 07/01/2009, -2/+12I thought the same thing while reading this article!
  • flarn2006, on 07/01/2009, -0/+10RTFA
  • deadasdisco, on 07/01/2009, -4/+14oh trust me, i look at porn, but i don't download it. i'm a simple man.
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