User Manual

Chapter7.Preventingproblems

AnimportantpartofowningaThinkPadnotebookcomputerismaintenance.Withpropercare,you

canavoidcommonproblems.Thischapterprovidesinformationthatcanhelpyoukeepyourcomputer

runningsmoothly.

•“Generaltipsforpreventingproblems”onpage81

•“Makingsuredevicedriversarecurrent”onpage82

•“Takingcareofyourcomputer”onpage83

Generaltipsforpreventingproblems

Thistopicprovidesthefollowingtipstohelpyoupreventcomputingproblems:

•Checkthecapacityofyoursolid-statedrivefromtimetotime.Ifthesolid-statedrivegetstoofull,the

Windowsoperatingsystemwillslowdownandmightproduceerrors.

Tocheckthesolid-statedrivecapacity,dothefollowing:

–ForWindows7:ClickStart➙Computer.

–ForWindows10:OpentheFileExplorerandclickThisPC.

•Emptyyourrecyclebinonaregularbasis.

•Usediskdefragmenttoolregularlyonyoursolid-statedrivetoimprovedataseekandreadtimes.

•Tofreeupdiskspace,uninstallunusedprograms.

Note:Youalsomightwanttolookforprogramduplicationoroverlappingversions.

•CleanoutyourInbox,Sent,andTrashfoldersfromyoure-mailclientprogram.

•Backupyourdataatleastonceaweek.Ifcriticaldataispresent,itisagoodideatoperformadaily

backupoperation.Lenovohasmanybackupoptionsavailableforyourcomputer.Rewritableoptical

drivesareavailableformostmachinesandareeasilyinstalled.

•Schedulesystemrestoreoperationstotakeasystemsnapshotperiodically.Formoreinformationabout

systemrestore,seeChapter9“Recoveryoverview”onpage105

•UpdatedevicedriversandUEFIBIOSwhenneeded.

•Proﬁleyourmachineathttp://www.lenovo.com/supporttokeepuptodatewithcurrentdriversand

revisions.

•Keepuptodatefordevicedriversonothernon-Lenovohardware.Youmightwanttoreadthedevice

driverinformationreleasenotespriortoupdatingforcompatibilityorknownissues.

•Keepalogbook.Entriesmightincludemajorhardwareorsoftwarechanges,driverupdates,minorissues

youhaveexperienced,andhowyouresolvedtheminorissues.

•Ifyoueverneedtorunarecoveryonyourcomputertoreturnthepreinstalledcontentsontothemachine,

thefollowingtipsmighthelpalongtheway:

–Removeallexternaldevicessuchastheprinter,keyboard,andsoon.

–Makesurethatyourbatteriesarechargedandyourcomputerhastheacpowerconnected.

–AccessThinkPadSetupandloadthedefaultsettings.

–Restartthecomputerandstarttherecoveryoperation.

–Ifyourcomputerusesdiscsastherecoverymedia,donotremovethediscfromthedriveuntil

promptedtodoso.