Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E540 - Chapter 9. Preventing Problems; General Maintenance and Driver Updates

Chapter9.Preventingproblems
AnimportantpartofowningaThinkPadnotebookcomputerismaintenance.Withpropercare,youcan
avoidcommonproblems.Thechapterprovidesinformationthatcanhelpyoukeepyourcomputerrunning
smoothly.
•“Generaltipsforpreventingproblems”onpage121
•“Makingsuredevicedriversarecurrent”onpage122
•“Takingcareofyourcomputer”onpage123
Generaltipsforpreventingproblems
•IfyourcomputerisequippedwithbothaharddiskdriveandanM.2solid-statedrive,youarenot
recommendedtousetheM.2solid-statedriveasabootabledevice.TheM.2solid-statedriveisdesigned
anddevelopedfor“cache”functionpurposeonly.IfyouusetheM.2solid-statedriveasabootable
device,itsreliabilityisnotguaranteed.
•Checkthecapacityofyourharddiskdrivefromtimetotime.Iftheharddiskdrivegetstoofull,the
Windowsoperatingsystemwillslowdownandmightproduceerrors.
Tochecktheharddiskdrivecapacity,dothefollowing:
–Windows7:ClickStart➙Computer.
–Windows8:OpentheFileExplorerandclickComputer.
•Emptyyourrecyclebinonaregularbasis.
•Usediskdefragmenttoolregularlyonyourharddiskdrivetoimprovedataseekandreadtimes.
•Tofreeupdiskspace,uninstallunusedapplicationprograms.
Note:Youalsomightwanttolookforprogramduplicationoroverlappingversions.
•CleanoutyourInbox,Sent,andTrashfoldersfromyoure-mailclientprogram.
•Backupyourdataatleastonceaweek.Ifcriticaldataispresent,itisagoodideatoperformadaily
backupoperation.Lenovohasmanybackupoptionsavailableforyourcomputer.Rewritableoptical
drivesareavailableformostmachinesandareeasilyinstalled.
•Schedulesystemrestoreoperationstotakeasystemsnapshotperiodically.Formoreinformationabout
systemrestore,seeChapter5“Recoveryoverview”onpage61
.
•UpdatedevicedriversandtheUEFIBIOSwhenneeded.
•Proleyourmachineathttp://www.lenovo.com/supporttokeepuptodatewithcurrentdriversand
revisions.
•Keepuptodatefordevicedriversonothernon-Lenovohardware.Youmightwanttoreadthedevice
driverinformationreleasenotespriortoupdatingforcompatibilityorknownissues.
•Keepalogbook.Entriesmightincludemajorhardwareorsoftwarechanges,driverupdates,minorissues
youhaveexperienced,andhowyouresolvedtheminorissues.
•Ifyoueverneedtorunarecoveryonyourcomputertoreturnthepreinstalledcontentsontothemachine,
thefollowingtipsmighthelpalongtheway:
–Removeallexternaldevicessuchastheprinter,keyboard,andsoon.
–Makesurethatyourbatteryischargedandyourcomputerhastheacpowerconnected.
–AccessThinkPadSetupandloadthedefaultsettings.
–Restartthecomputerandstarttherecoveryoperation.
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