Chapter7.Preventingproblems
AnimportantpartofowningaThinkPadnotebookcomputerismaintenance.Withpropercare,you
canavoidcommonproblems.Thischapterprovidesinformationthatcanhelpyoukeepyourcomputer
runningsmoothly.
Thischaptercontainsthefollowingtopics:
•“Generaltipsforpreventingproblems”onpage71
•“Makingsuredevicedriversareup-to-date”onpage72
•“Takingcareofyourcomputer”onpage73
Generaltipsforpreventingproblems
Thistopicprovidesthefollowingtipstohelpyoupreventcomputingproblems:
•Checkthecapacityofyourinternalstoragedrivefromtimetotime.Iftheinternalstoragedrivegetstoo
full,theWindowsoperatingsystemwillslowdownandmightproduceerrors.
Tochecktheinternalstoragedrivecapacity,dothefollowing:
–Windows7:ClickStart➙Computer.
–Windows10:OpentheFileExplorerandclickThisPC.
•Emptyyourrecyclebinonaregularbasis.
•Usediskdefragmenttoolregularlyonyourinternalstoragedrivetoimprovedataseekandreadtimes.
•Tofreeupdiskspace,uninstallunusedprograms.
Note:Youalsomightwanttolookforprogramduplicationoroverlappingversions.
•CleanoutyourInbox,Sent,andTrashfoldersfromyoure-mailclientprogram.
•Backupyourdataatleastonceaweek.Ifcriticaldataispresent,itisagoodideatoperformadaily
backupoperation.Lenovohasmanybackupoptionsavailableforyourcomputer.Rewritableoptical
drivesareavailableformostmachinesandareeasilyinstalled.
•Schedulesystemrestoreoperationstotakeasystemsnapshotperiodically.Formoreinformationabout
systemrestore,seeChapter9“Recoveryoverview”onpage93.
•UpdatedevicedriversandUEFIBIOSwhenneeded.
•Profileyourmachineathttp://www.lenovo.com/supporttokeepuptodatewithcurrentdriversand
revisions.
•Keepuptodatefordevicedriversonothernon-Lenovohardware.Youmightwanttoreadthedevice
driverinformationreleasenotespriortoupdatingforcompatibilityorknownissues.
•Keepalogbook.Entriesmightincludemajorhardwareorsoftwarechanges,driverupdates,minorissues
youhaveexperienced,andhowyouresolvedtheminorissues.
•Ifyoueverneedtorunarecoveryonyourcomputertoreturnthepreinstalledcontentsontothemachine,
thefollowingtipsmighthelpalongtheway:
–Removeallexternaldevicessuchastheprinter,keyboard,andsoon.
–Makesurethatyourbatteriesarechargedandyourcomputerhastheacpowerconnected.
–AccessThinkPadSetupandloadthedefaultsettings.
–Restartthecomputerandstarttherecoveryoperation.
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