Give That Computer A Bath....You'll Feel Better

Just like we do after a long hard day, a "bath" (shower, whatever) restores the computer. I routinely do a reload on my computers on a pretty regular basis. The laptop gets it about once a year, and the desktop workstation about every 6 or 8 months. I know that sound's a little excessive and maybe even crazy, but hear me out on this. 

First of all, let me start by saying that I get this information straight from the "horse's mouth", or the horse's other end for those of you who are anti-M$. Some years ago, when I was working in IT and was kind of a "one man shop", I got to not only spend lots of time loading computers, but also lots of time on tech support with all manner of companies ranging from Adobe, to.....you guessed it.....Microsoft. Anyway, while spending about 4 hours of one day on the phone straightening out an ODBC call issue with MS Access, I had lots of time to chat with the software engineer on the other end (while the machine was rebooting, loading, what-not). Anyway, it turns out that he started his MS career as a Windows support guy and of course we swapped "stupid user" stories, and eventually conversation turned to keeping Windows machines running well. After listening his tips and cautionary tales, I related to him that I found that I could keep machines running reasonable well by doing a "clean reload" about once a year.....to which he responded that, that was pretty much the only way to  do it (for a daily work machine), and that if everybody did that, they'd have a lot less problems.

Around these parts, I have a bit of a reputation as a tech guy. I don't advertise, but word of mouth keeps me in enough "fix-it" business to pay for my hobbies. I'll have to say that at least 75-80% of the time, when a client brings me a machine, it just needs a bath! Both literally and figuratively. These poor things have often been sitting under a desk for 5+ years sucking in dirt and dust-bunnies and silently plugging away. Their owners went out to Best Buy, or got online with Dell and bought these things expecting them to work for ever like an old TV. Unfortunately a more accurate analogy is that they are like a car. If you don't maintain them, they'll just up and die one day! In most cases, they just need an overhaul, which in the computer business is a reload. Sometimes that involves a new hard drive since after 5 years or so, they are old or just too small. But in most cases, that simple reload will set things right again for another 2-3 years at least, when the actual hardware is so old it's not worth it to keep the machine going.

In my case, it's not like I'm an immaculate housekeeper of PCs. In fact, I'm almost the exact opposite. I'm constantly finding new software applications to try out and new locations to get them. Of course that comes with risks, so I'll blow up my load on a regular basis and need to start over. That's why I have a server to back up my critical files and a separate "scratch" drive to keep the files that I'm working on as well. Then when things happen like my Mushkin SSD dying suddenly, all I have to do is unhook the Hitachi mechanical drive, install a replacement boot SSD and give it a bath! Right now, my desktop workstation has just gotten reloaded on the new Samsung 256Gb SSD and the machine feels like it's just gotten a nice hot shower after a long hard day at work!

Oh yeah: when I do a major rebuild on a computer involving replacing drives, etc. I also take the time to actually "clean the case as well. This time, I took out the dust filters and washed those too. It really helps my state of mind.