I’ve had my laptop for just a little shy of 2 years now and it’s still going strong! I had another laptop for a few years prior to that, but had to upgrade since my screen wouldn’t stay upright anymore. That’s what I get for buying a used laptop. 😛 I don’t think I’ll be getting a new computer in the near future, so I do what I can to make sure my laptop doesn’t die on me.
What’s nice about having my own personal computer, is if anything gets screwed up, I have nobody to blame but myself. But what’s also great about that is that I know what kind of websites to avoid and programs not to install so that I don’t have any problems. When I shared a computer with other people, I had to deal with a whole slew of spyware and some viruses every once in a while. I definitely notice a difference in performance when I’m the only one who uses my computer.
So I guess that could be considered tip number 1. Get separate computers for each individual, if you can afford them. Each person would have to deal with issues on their own computers.
A lot of people don’t defrag their hard drives. I try to defrag mine at least once every 3 months. If you don’t know why you should defrag, maybe this episode of Lab Rats will help you understand it better… or maybe it’ll just make you hungry.
You also want to run virus scans and spyware scans. Also install a firewall to protect yourself from hackers. Make sure to keep your virus and spyware detections lists updated! I use AVG to scan for viruses, AdAware for spyware, and ZoneAlarm as my firewall.
It also helps to buy a can of compressed air and blow out the dust in your computer every once in a while.
It’s those few simple things that will help you keep your computer running for a long time.