While Windows is not the most fool-proof operating system, it does have many tools that can help you maintain it clean and safe. Additionally, there are many activities that you can perform, in addition to using its built-in tools, to keep it healthy. The following list shows only some of the most important activities for having a trouble-free and reliable system:

1. Never shut the computer down from the power button! If the computer is not responding, try with Ctrl+Alt+Delete either to restart it, or bring the Task Manager and close only a program that is not responding.

2. Use anti-virus programs and regularly update them. Do we have to say why?

3. Regularly backup data (and the registry) – this will make your life easier if your harddrive dies, or your operating system cannot be booted (due to a virus, for example).

4. Scan disks for errors and defragment them. Usually harddrives do not die all of a sudden and it might be useful to know that your harddrive has bad sectors and you can expect unpleasant surprises. Defragmenting the files on a disk speeds up your system and sometimes you can even free additional space that has been occupied by fragmented files.

5. Regularly clean temporary files, browser caches, lists of recently used files. In addition to saving space, you will remove evidence of which files you have used, which sites you have visited and so on.

6. Avoid frequent install and uninstall of programs. Even if a program is written professionally, installing a new unfamiliar program is always a risk – it could have malware in it, or it could modify shared system files on your computer, thus making older programs to stop working. But one thing that is absolutely bad to do is simply to delete the files of a program you don’t need anymore. Never-ever do it – if you need to remove a program, go to Control Panel and select Add or Remove Programs and proceed from there.

7. Don’t use your computer during thunderstorms – computers are electrical appliances and they have many sensitive parts that can easily be damaged as a result of operation during thunderstorms. Also, when you are not going to use your computer for some times, switch it off and unplug it from the outlet.

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