Lenovo ThinkPad S430 - Chapter 8. Preventing Problems; General Tips for Preventing Problems

Chapter8.Preventingproblems
AnimportantpartofowningaThinkPadnotebookcomputerismaintenance.Withpropercare,youcan
avoidcommonproblems.Thechapterprovidesinformationthatcanhelpyoukeepyourcomputerrunning
smoothly.
•“Generaltipsforpreventingproblems”onpage107
•“Makingsuredevicedriversarecurrent”onpage108
•“Takingcareofyourcomputer”onpage109
Generaltipsforpreventingproblems
1.IfyourcomputerisequippedwithbothaharddiskdriveandanmSATAsolidstatedrive,youarenot
recommendedtousethemSATAsolidstatedriveasabootabledevice.ThemSATAsolidstatedriveis
designedanddevelopedfor“cache”functionpurposeonly.IfyouusethemSATAsolidstatedriveasa
bootabledevice,itsreliabilityisnotguaranteed.
2.Checkthecapacityofyourharddiskdrivefromtimetotime.Iftheharddiskdrivegetstoofull,the
Windowsoperatingsystemwillslowdownandmightproduceerrors.Tochecktheharddiskdrive
capacity,doeitherofthefollowing:
•IfyoursystemisinstalledwiththeWindows7operatingsystem,clickStart➙Computer.
•IfyoursystemisinstalledwiththeWindows8operatingsystem,openWindowsExplorer,andclick
Computer.
3.Emptyyourrecyclebinonaregularbasis.
4.Usediskdefragmenttoolregularlyonyourharddiskdrivetoimprovedataseekandreadtimes.
5.Tofreeupdiskspace,uninstallunusedapplicationprograms.
Note:Youalsomightwanttolookforapplicationprogramduplicationoroverlappingversions.
6.CleanoutyourInbox,Sent,andTrashfoldersfromyoure-mailclientprogram.
7.Backupyourdataatleastonceaweek.Ifcriticaldataispresent,itisagoodideatoperformadaily
backupoperation.Lenovohasmanybackupoptionsavailableforyourcomputer.Rewritableoptical
drivesareavailableformostmachinesandareeasilyinstalled.
8.Schedulesystemrestoreoperationstotakeasystemsnapshotperiodically.Formoreinformationabout
systemrestore,seeChapter5“Recoveryoverview”onpage59.
9.UpdatedevicedriversandUEFIBIOSwhenneeded.
10.Proleyourmachineathttp://www.lenovo.com/supporttokeepuptodatewithcurrentdriversand
revisions.
11.Keepuptodatefordevicedriversonothernon-Lenovohardware.Youmightwanttoreadthedevice
driverinformationreleasenotespriortoupdatingforcompatibilityorknownissues.
12.Keepalogbook.Entriesmightincludemajorhardwareorsoftwarechanges,driverupdates,minor
issuesyouhaveexperienced,andhowyouresolvedtheminorissues.
13.Ifyoueverneedtorunarecoveryonyourcomputertoreturnthepreloadontothemachine,the
followingtipsmighthelpalongtheway:
•Removeallexternaldevicessuchastheprinter,keyboard,andsoon.
•Ensurethatyourbatteryischargedandthatyouhavetheacpowerconnected.
•BootintoThinkPadSetupandloadthedefaultsettings.
•Restartthecomputerandstarttherecoveryoperation.
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