ThinkPad S540 - Chapter 9. Preventing Problems; General Maintenance Tips

Chapter9.Preventingproblems
AnimportantpartofowningaThinkPadnotebookcomputerismaintenance.Withpropercare,youcan
avoidcommonproblems.Thechapterprovidesinformationthatcanhelpyoukeepyourcomputerrunning
smoothly.
•“Generaltipsforpreventingproblems”onpage99
•“Makingsuredevicedriversarecurrent”onpage100
•“Takingcareofyourcomputer”onpage101
Generaltipsforpreventingproblems
Thistopicprovidesthefollowingtipstohelpyoupreventcomputingproblems:
•IfyourcomputerisequippedwithbothaharddiskdriveandanM.2solid-statedrive,youarenot
recommendedtousetheM.2solid-statedriveasabootabledevice.TheM.2solid-statedriveisdesigned
anddevelopedfor“cache”functionpurposeonly.IfyouusetheM.2solid-statedriveasabootable
device,itsreliabilityisnotguaranteed.
•Checkthecapacityofyourharddiskdriveorhybriddrivefromtimetotime.Iftheharddiskdriveorhybrid
drivegetstoofull,theWindowsoperatingsystemwillslowdownandmightproduceerrors.
Tochecktheharddiskdriveorhybriddrivecapacity,dothefollowing:
–ForWindows7:ClickStart➙Computer.
–ForWindows8andWindows8.1:OpentheFileExplorer.
•Emptyyourrecyclebinonaregularbasis.
•Usediskdefragmenttoolregularlyonyourharddiskdriveorhybriddrivetoimprovedataseekand
readtimes.
•Tofreeupdiskspace,uninstallunusedapplicationprograms.
Note:Youalsomightwanttolookforprogramduplicationoroverlappingversions.
•CleanoutyourInbox,Sent,andTrashfoldersfromyoure-mailclientprogram.
•Backupyourdataatleastonceaweek.Ifcriticaldataispresent,itisagoodideatoperformadaily
backupoperation.Lenovohasmanybackupoptionsavailableforyourcomputer.Rewritableoptical
drivesareavailableformostmachinesandareeasilyinstalled.
•Schedulesystemrestoreoperationstotakeasystemsnapshotperiodically.Formoreinformationabout
systemrestore,seeChapter5“Recoveryoverview”onpage57
.
•UpdatedevicedriversandtheUEFIBIOSwhenneeded.
•Profileyourmachineathttp://www.lenovo.com/supporttokeepuptodatewithcurrentdriversand
revisions.
•Keepuptodatefordevicedriversonothernon-Lenovohardware.Youmightwanttoreadthedevice
driverinformationreleasenotespriortoupdatingforcompatibilityorknownissues.
•Keepalogbook.Entriesmightincludemajorhardwareorsoftwarechanges,driverupdates,minorissues
youhaveexperienced,andhowyouresolvedtheminorissues.
•Ifyoueverneedtorunarecoveryonyourcomputertoreturnthepreinstalledcontentsontothemachine,
thefollowingtipsmighthelpalongtheway:
–Removeallexternaldevicessuchastheprinter,keyboard,andsoon.
–Makesurethatyourbatteryischargedandyourcomputerhastheacpowerconnected.
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