Operation Manual

ManualsBrandsLenovo ManualsComputersThinkPad W540

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Chapter9.Preventingproblems

AnimportantpartofowningaThinkPadnotebookcomputerismaintenance.Withpropercare,youcan

avoidcommonproblems.Thechapterprovidesinformationthatcanhelpyoukeepyourcomputerrunning

smoothly.

•“Generaltipsforpreventingproblems”onpage129

•“Makingsuredevicedriversarecurrent”onpage130

•“Takingcareofyourcomputer”onpage131

Generaltipsforpreventingproblems

•IfyourcomputerisequippedwithbothaharddiskdriveandanM.2solid-statedrive,youarenot

recommendedtousetheM.2solid-statedriveasabootabledevice.TheM.2solid-statedriveisdesigned

anddevelopedfor“cache”functionpurposeonly.IfyouusetheM.2solid-statedriveasabootable

device,itsreliabilityisnotguaranteed.

•Checkthecapacityofyourharddiskdrivefromtimetotime.Iftheharddiskdrivegetstoofull,the

Windowsoperatingsystemwillslowdownandmightproduceerrors.

Tochecktheharddiskdrivecapacity,dothefollowing:

–Windows7:ClickStart➙Computer.

–Windows8andWindows8.1:OpentheFileExplorerandclickComputer.

–Windows10:OpentheFileExplorerandclickThisPC.

•Emptyyourrecyclebinonaregularbasis.

•Usediskdefragmenttoolregularlyonyourharddiskdrivetoimprovedataseekandreadtimes.

•Tofreeupdiskspace,uninstallunusedapplicationprograms.

Note:Youalsomightwanttolookforprogramduplicationoroverlappingversions.

•CleanoutyourInbox,Sent,andTrashfoldersfromyoure-mailclientprogram.

•Backupyourdataatleastonceaweek.Ifcriticaldataispresent,itisagoodideatoperformadaily

backupoperation.Lenovohasmanybackupoptionsavailableforyourcomputer.Rewritableoptical

drivesareavailableformostmachinesandareeasilyinstalled.

•Schedulesystemrestoreoperationstotakeasystemsnapshotperiodically.Formoreinformationabout

systemrestore,seeChapter5“Recoveryoverview”onpage63

•UpdatedevicedriversandtheUEFIBIOSwhenneeded.

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

revisions.

•Keepuptodatefordevicedriversonothernon-Lenovohardware.Youmightwanttoreadthedevice

driverinformationreleasenotespriortoupdatingforcompatibilityorknownissues.

•Keepalogbook.Entriesmightincludemajorhardwareorsoftwarechanges,driverupdates,minorissues

youhaveexperienced,andhowyouresolvedtheminorissues.

•Ifyoueverneedtorunarecoveryonyourcomputertoreturnthepreinstalledcontentsontothemachine,

thefollowingtipsmighthelpalongtheway:

–Removeallexternaldevicessuchastheprinter,keyboard,andsoon.

–Makesurethatyourbatteryischargedandyourcomputerhastheacpowerconnected.

–AccessThinkPadSetupandloadthedefaultsettings.

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