The well-deserved summer vacations are coming to an end and in a few days most users, students and employees will have to return to the routine in what we know as ‘Back to School’. We already know that it costs..
Many of us have the PC as our main work tool and we must have a specific maintenance schedule with tasks that provide numerous benefits in terms of efficiency, performance, security and usabilityas well as extending their service life. Or so the theory goes. In the midst of the daily battle we may not have been able to devote the necessary time to it. If you have a few days before going back to work, it is a good time to do some tasks that will avoid problems in the future.
We remind you of them with the main focus on personal computers running Windows, although most of them can be extrapolated to any operating system.
1.- Back up your data
The tasks of backup are one of the preferred actions in the maintenance of a PC and should be performed (or better automated) by any professional or consumer to safeguard your data. A computer can fail at any time, due to a hardware problem in any of its components such as the storage unit or memories, in the system software and applications or by a virus that deletes files or prevents access to the computer such as Ransomware.
The loss of our professional or personal files can have a great cost and sometimes without possible recovery, hence its importance. We recommend you to start here the technical stop before you have to regret it. System, applications and the hardware itself can be recovered, but not the data and sometimes losing them can be a tragedy.
2.- Update your operating system
The operating system is the software base of our computer and we must ensure that it is updated to the latest stable build or at least has the latest published security patches installed. If we use older versions, we run a greater risk of being attacked through unpatched vulnerabilities.
All operating systems can be updated automatically or manually. Microsoft systems use Windows Update as an internal tool. If you prefer and the Microsoft Update Catalog for manual installation of specific security updates or cumulative packages.
3.- Check and increase security
Other tasks included in the maintenance of a PC involve scanning for malware and disinfection if necessary. Start by scanning the computer with the security application you have installed, including external hard disks or pen drives that you also use regularly because they are often a route of infection.
For persistent malware, hidden in the system, there is nothing better than using ⤽Live CD/USB⤠solutions, created on removable drives and capable of self-booting without interfering with the installed operating system. They are known as “antivirus rescue” and work on any computer. These external media are excellent, as they do not penalize performance and make it possible to pre-empt the loading of viruses or Trojans into memory, making it difficult to remove them. All vendors offer free solutions of this type and we strongly recommend them to you, in addition to having some security solution loaded on the system.
4.- Change your passwords
Completing the security section, you can take the opportunity to renew the access passwords to your computer and services, an important issue that should be done regularly and that we do not do. We continue to fail to comply with all the basic rules for their creation and maintenance, and all reports reveal that the most commonly used passwords are old acquaintances and a bargain for cybercriminals.
In recent years the industry has proposed biometric systems and features such as two-factor that we must enable on all supported services. But until they are fully extended, passwords will continue to be the most widely used method and for their creation we have to look for long and complex passwords, and combine non-alphanumeric characters, upper and lower case. Another recommended option is to use password managers that do the work on their own, protect our identity and save us from having to create and remember multiple passwords.
5.- Update applications and drivers
As important as updating the operating system is to do the same with applications. The new versions of the ones we have installed will offer more performance and stability in most cases. In addition, malware has a preferred method of infection, taking advantage of software vulnerabilities. We should pay special attention to that group of critical applications that we use on a daily basis and that are the most attacked, such as web browsers and their extensions and plug-ins, office applications or others such as Java or Adobe Flash, which has been attacked for two decades and is still running on the Internet.
The same applies to driver updates. In addition to security, we will gain stability, compatibility and also performance, especially with graphics card drivers that are updated for almost every major new game that is released.
6.- Remove programs you do not use
You probably have a good number of applications that you no longer use. And if you use Windows and you did not clean up in his day you will have a good amount of junk applications from the Bloatware with which we “punish” Microsoft and manufacturers. All of them together penalize performance, stability, user experience and even security.
Before the âback to schoolâ is a good time to remove these programs that are taking up memory and storage and surely slowing down its operation. All the operating systems include a function of uninstallation of programs. In Windows 10 or 11 from the control panel or the general Settings tool.
7. Reduce the Startup load
Windows operating systems have a system configuration function called  “msconfig”, which in addition to advanced services, allows us to select the applications that are loaded at startup of the computer, reducing the load on the computer and improving its performance. You can access it with the command name, “msconfig”, from the run function. In Windows 10 and 11, you can use the ‘task manager’ to manage startup items.
8.- Enable system restore
Windows has a system recovery tool that can ⤽save our lives⤠in the event of a software error, the entry of a virus in our computer or the simple installation of drivers or an application that does not work correctly and that sometimes destabilizes the operating system.
This utility saves the files and main configuration of the operating system, settings, drivers, registry keys or installed programs, and in case of errors allows you to revert the changes made and return to a previous state where the system worked correctly. The operation and management of this feature is basically the same in all Windows systems (7, 8.1 and 10) and is very useful for any user when the system does not work well or does it erroneously.
9.- In Windows 10 and Windows 11 it watches the privacy
Privacy in Windows 10 remains one of the most controversial issues of this operating system, although Microsoft has been improving transparency and control in successive updates since an initial terrifying configuration and that aroused a barrage of criticism for the massive collection of data. Windows 11, in this field, aims in the same way.
The privacy options of Windows 10 have improved substantially since the first versions and start from the same installation, but still can and should improve. If you are looking for more control than what the internal tools offer, you can use third-party applications such as DoNotSpy11 (free and open source) that in addition to managing the typical privacy components, also offers options against Bloatware.
10.- Clean the registry (carefully)
Advanced users can perform tasks that go beyond regular maintenance, but -knowing what to do- can offer advantages. The registry is a database where Windows stores information about software, hardware, settings and users, and completely controls the operation of a PC, appearance, behavior of components or access to functions. The registry increases in size with the mere use of the operating system, the installation/uninstallation of applications or any hardware component that we add or replace.
It is not unusual for all this to slow down the use of the equipment or to leave traces of faulty or corrupt entries and inconsistencies that impair the user experience and cause everything from small errors to serious failures. The industry offers free applications to “clean” this registry. You have to be very careful with them, but they can be effective in the right hands, backed up in case something goes wrong.
Don’t procrastinate. These maintenance tasks to tune up your PC are a great investment to avoid headaches and waste of time and money in the future, with direct benefits in performance, stability and security. If you complete it with a physical cleaning and eventually with the improvement of some of its components, you can increase its useful life and leave it ready for the hard autumn that awaits us.