Lenovo ThinkPad E550 - Chapter 7. Preventing Problems; General Tips for Preventing Problems

Chapter7.Preventingproblems
AnimportantpartofowningaThinkPadnotebookcomputerismaintenance.Withpropercare,youcan
avoidcommonproblems.Thechapterprovidesinformationthatcanhelpyoukeepyourcomputerrunning
smoothly.
•“Generaltipsforpreventingproblems”onpage79
•“Makingsuredevicedriversarecurrent”onpage80
•“Takingcareofyourcomputer”onpage81
Generaltipsforpreventingproblems
•Checkthecapacityofyourharddiskdriveorhybriddrivefromtimetotime.Iftheharddiskdriveorhybrid
drivegetstoofull,theWindowsoperatingsystemwillslowdownandmightproduceerrors.
Tochecktheharddiskdriveorhybriddrivecapacity,dothefollowing:
–ForWindows7:ClickStart➙Computer.
–ForWindows8.1:OpentheFileExplorer.
•Emptyyourrecyclebinonaregularbasis.
•Usediskdefragmenttoolregularlyonyourharddiskdriveorhybriddrivetoimprovedataseekand
readtimes.
•Tofreeupdiskspace,uninstallunusedapplicationprograms.
Note:Youalsomightwanttolookforprogramduplicationoroverlappingversions.
•CleanoutyourInbox,Sent,andTrashfoldersfromyoure-mailclientprogram.
•Backupyourdataatleastonceaweek.Ifcriticaldataispresent,itisagoodideatoperformadaily
backupoperation.Lenovohasmanybackupoptionsavailableforyourcomputer.Rewritableoptical
drivesareavailableformostmachinesandareeasilyinstalled.
•Schedulesystemrestoreoperationstotakeasystemsnapshotperiodically.Formoreinformationabout
systemrestore,seeChapter9“Recoveryoverview”onpage105.
•UpdatedevicedriversandtheUEFIBIOSwhenneeded.
•Profileyourmachineathttp://www.lenovo.com/supporttokeepuptodatewithcurrentdriversand
revisions.
•Keepuptodatefordevicedriversonothernon-Lenovohardware.Youmightwanttoreadthedevice
driverinformationreleasenotespriortoupdatingforcompatibilityorknownissues.
•Keepalogbook.Entriesmightincludemajorhardwareorsoftwarechanges,driverupdates,minorissues
youhaveexperienced,andhowyouresolvedtheminorissues.
•Ifyoueverneedtorunarecoveryonyourcomputertoreturnthepreinstalledcontentsontothemachine,
thefollowingtipsmighthelpalongtheway:
–Removeallexternaldevicessuchastheprinter,keyboard,andsoon.
–Makesurethatyourbatteryischargedandyourcomputerhastheacpowerconnected.
–AccessThinkPadSetupandloadthedefaultsettings.
–Restartthecomputerandstarttherecoveryoperation.
–Ifyourcomputerusesdiscsastherecoverymedia,donotremovethediscfromthedriveuntil
promptedtodoso.
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