1. 1 Lesson 4 Computer Maintenance Computer Literacy BASICS: A Comprehensive Guide to IC 3, 4 th Edition Morrison / Wells

2. Lesson 4 Morrison / WellsCLB: A Comp Guide to IC3 4E 222 Objectives Identify maintenance issues. Maintain hardware. Upgrade and replace hardware components. Perform preventive maintenance. Request specialized maintenance.

3. Lesson 4 Morrison / WellsCLB: A Comp Guide to IC3 4E Identifying Maintenance Issues A computer requires regular maintenance just like a vehicle needs maintenance. Managing computer cables is an overlooked problem when maintaining a computer system. Unorganized and unprotected cables can create or cause safety hazards. Cable management kits are available to organize and bundle cables together to keep them out of the way. 333

4. Lesson 4 Morrison / WellsCLB: A Comp Guide to IC3 4E Maintaining Hardware Clean a computer every three to six months or as often as possible to keep clean. Keyboard and Mouse: – Preventative Maintenance is key. – Use a can of compressed air to remove the dust from the keyboard. – Best to spray every 6 months or as needed. – If liquid is spilled on the keyboard, turn off the computer, disconnect the keyboard, clean it with water, turn upside down and shake to remove the liquid, use a dry cloth to dry, leave unconnected for 12 hours before reconnecting. 444

5. Lesson 4 Morrison / WellsCLB: A Comp Guide to IC3 4E Maintaining Hardware Mechanical mouse can be more difficult to clean due to the ball and rollers. Can cause jerky or erratic movement. Must remove the ball and clean the rollers from any debris. Once reassembled, plug it back in and check the movement on the screen. 555

6. Lesson 4 Morrison / WellsCLB: A Comp Guide to IC3 4E Maintaining Hardware (continued) Inkjet Printers: – Small deposits of dry ink accumulate on the print head of an inkjet printer. Can cause streaks and blotchy printing. Many inkjet’s have a self-cleaning mode. – Can access through the printer’s control panel. You can use special supplies to clean an inkjet printer. – An inkjet cleaning cartridge flushes dirt and debris out of clogged printer nozzles. Compressed air is not recommended to clean an inkjet printer due to the amount of moisture it places inside the printer. 666

7. Lesson 4 Morrison / WellsCLB: A Comp Guide to IC3 4E 777 Maintaining Hardware (continued) Laser Printers – Use a printer brush or a good paint brush and a lint-free cloth to clean inside the toner opening. – Remove paper fragments. – Use a clean cloth to wipe up any spilled toner and dust. – Clean the rollers, but don’t touch the transfer (sponge) roller. – Replace the toner cartridge Corona wires: used to generate a field of positive charges on the surface of the drum and the paper.

8. Lesson 4 Morrison / WellsCLB: A Comp Guide to IC3 4E Upgrading and Replacing Hardware Components Computer Memory: – RAM is made up of small memory chips that form a memory module, installed in the RAM slots on the motherboard of your computer. – Adding RAM generally helps increase performance, speed, and usabiliy. 888

9. Lesson 4 Morrison / WellsCLB: A Comp Guide to IC3 4E 999 Upgrading and Replacing Hardware Components (continued) Keyboards: – You can replace a keyboard without replacing any other hardware components. – Design, performance, and comfort should be considered. – Ergonomic keyboards allow for a more natural positioning of your arms and hands. – A wireless keyboard reduces the clutter of unsightly wires and other cable problems and improves mobility.

10. Lesson 4 Morrison / WellsCLB: A Comp Guide to IC3 4E Upgrading and Replacing Hardware Components (continued) Mouse: – You can replace a mouse without replacing any other computer hardware. – A touchpad is a pointing device you can use instead of a mouse. 10

11. Lesson 4 Morrison / WellsCLB: A Comp Guide to IC3 4E Performing Preventive Maintenance Disk Fragmentation: – Disk fragmentation occurs when data is broken up into many pieces that are not stored close together. – Sectors: are stored in blocks of nonadjacent clusters creating fragmented files. 11

12. Lesson 4 Morrison / WellsCLB: A Comp Guide to IC3 4E Performing Preventive Maintenance (cont.) Disk Defragmentation : – Seek Time: can significantly slow the speed of the processing cycle and the computer performance. – Defragmentation: organizes fragmented files so that all of the file’s sectors are stored together. 12

13. Lesson 4 Morrison / WellsCLB: A Comp Guide to IC3 4E Performing Preventive Maintenance (continued) Recycle Bin: – The Windows Recycle Bin is a holding area for files and folders before their final deletion from a storage device. – You can restore files in the recycle bin. – You can empty the Recycle Bin to permanently delete the files it contains. 13

14. Lesson 4 Morrison / WellsCLB: A Comp Guide to IC3 4E 14 Performing Preventive Maintenance (continued) Temporary Files : – Temporary files normally exist only during the current session of the program. Used to free up memory for other programs To act as a safety net to prevent data loss To print while the computer is performing other tasks -- If the computer loses power or the program is not properly closed, the temporary files remain on the hard drive. Cookies : – A cookie is a small text file that a Web site uses to identify a specific computer. – Are not a threat to your computer’s security.

15. Lesson 4 Morrison / WellsCLB: A Comp Guide to IC3 4E 15 Requesting Specialized Maintenance Generally should be performed by a computer professional : – Replacing the power supply or opening the power supply case – Replacing other electrical components – Replacing the processor – Replacing or adding a hard disk – Replacing or adding additional RAM Monitors, printers, and scanners are not designed to be opened by the general computer user.