PCs for Grown-Ups: Getting the Most Out of Your Windows 8 Computer

Chapter 15. Maintaining Your PC

Computer problems, like the proverbial death and taxes, seem to be one of those constants in life. Whether it’s a hard disk giving up the ghost, a power failure that trashes your files, or a virus that invades your system, the issue isn’t whether something will go wrong, but rather when it will happen. Instead of waiting to deal with these difficulties after they’ve occurred (what I call pound-of-cure mode), you need to become proactive and perform maintenance on your system in advance (call it ounce-of-prevention mode). Doing so not only reduces the chances that something will go wrong, but also sets up your system to recover more easily from any problems that do occur. This chapter shows you various Windows tools ...