Manual

Chapter9.Preventingproblems
AnimportantpartofowningaThinkPadnotebookcomputerismaintenance.Withpropercare,you
canavoidcommonproblems.Thischapterprovidesinformationthatcanhelpyoukeepyourcomputer
runningsmoothly.
•“Generaltipsforpreventingproblems”onpage107
•“Makingsuredevicedriversarecurrent”onpage108
•“Takingcareofyourcomputer”onpage109
Generaltipsforpreventingproblems
Thistopicprovidesthefollowingtipstohelpyoupreventcomputingproblems:
•Checkthecapacityofyoursolid-statedrivefromtimetotime.Ifthesolid-statedrivegetstoofull,the
Windowsoperatingsystemwillslowdownandmightproduceerrors.
Tocheckthesolid-statedrivecapacity,dothefollowing:
–Windows7:ClickStart➙Computer.
–Windows8.1:OpentheFileExplorer.
•Emptyyourrecyclebinonaregularbasis.
•Usediskdefragmenttoolregularlyonyoursolid-statedrivetoimprovedataseekandreadtimes.
•Tofreeupdiskspace,uninstallunusedprograms.
Note:Youalsomightwanttolookforprogramduplicationoroverlappingversions.
•CleanoutyourInbox,Sent,andTrashfoldersfromyoure-mailclientprogram.
•Backupyourdataatleastonceaweek.Ifcriticaldataispresent,itisagoodideatoperformadaily
backupoperation.Lenovohasmanybackupoptionsavailableforyourcomputer.Rewritableoptical
drivesareavailableformostmachinesandareeasilyinstalled.
•Schedulesystemrestoreoperationstotakeasystemsnapshotperiodically.Formoreinformationabout
systemrestore,seeChapter5“Recoveryoverview”onpage67.
•UpdatedevicedriversandUEFIBIOSwhenneeded.
•Profileyourmachineathttp://www.lenovo.com/supporttokeepuptodatewithcurrentdriversand
revisions.
•Keepuptodatefordevicedriversonothernon-Lenovohardware.Youmightwanttoreadthedevice
driverinformationreleasenotespriortoupdatingforcompatibilityorknownissues.
•Keepalogbook.Entriesmightincludemajorhardwareorsoftwarechanges,driverupdates,minorissues
youhaveexperienced,andhowyouresolvedtheminorissues.
•Ifyoueverneedtorunarecoveryonyourcomputertoreturnthepreinstalledcontentsontothemachine,
thefollowingtipsmighthelpalongtheway:
–Removeallexternaldevicessuchastheprinter,keyboard,andsoon.
–Makesurethatyourbatteryischargedandyourcomputerhastheacpowerconnected.
–AccessThinkPadSetupandloadthedefaultsettings.
–Restartthecomputerandstarttherecoveryoperation.
–Ifyourcomputerusesdiscsastherecoverymedia,donotremovethediscfromthedriveuntil
promptedtodoso.
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