How do you keep your notebook running in tip top performance?

[KayC]

Well i got my laptop last week and i was wondering what could i do to keep my notebook in tip top shape

[khetik]

I always clean my laptop after use just with a simple soft tissue/cloth to keep any dust off the keyboard/trackpad/screen. Every month or so I'll open it up and use a can of compressed air to clean out the laptop insides. Depending on my temps I will open it further to access vents/fans to unblock those if it has dust build up. I keep my laptop elevated when its under load as my vents are on the bottom to give it better air flow. Turn it off when I don't need to use it. And also, repaste if my temps are progressively getting higher on idle/load. I keep it in a notebook sleeve when I don't use it (never put it in a sleeve directly after turning it off, let it cool down first).

[HTWingNut]

Damp cloth to clean as needed and occasional spurts of compressed air in the vents/at fan. Nothing fancy. I abuse my laptops so I guess I don't care how it looks as long as it functions properly.

[KayC]

Wait so you can keep your laptop running in good performance just by cleaning the internals with a compressed can of air? hahaha thats crazy!

And htwingnut you have an hp dv6, what laptop cooler do you recommend?

[HTWingNut]

Originally Posted by KayC

Wait so you can keep your laptop running in good performance just by cleaning the internals with a compressed can of air? hahaha thats crazy!

And htwingnut you have an hp dv6, what laptop cooler do you recommend?

Unless you meant by software crap loadup and such?

I use the Notepal U2, but bought a large single fan with USB attachment. The DV6 has all of it's hot hardware on the left side (CPU, GPU) and needs cooling concentrated there.

[The Garfield]

Originally Posted by KayC

Wait so you can keep your laptop running in good performance just by cleaning the internals with a compressed can of air?

Replacing the thermal paste occasionally will also ensure that your machine runs cool and well.

However, you need to perform a full system scan at least once a week as well as defragging.

If you do all of this on a routinely basis than your machine will retain its performance for years to come.

[KayC]

Defrag once a month?

And htwingnut, should i go for a notepal u2 or the u3?

[SniperTNT]

This is how I do it:

After every use or right before I shut my system down, I use Auslogics utilities to sweep the hard drive of any junk. Its a very good program by the way. Then I first defrag the hard drive, then I clean the registry, then I defrag the registry.

Every once in a while, this being about every month or so, I will take my system apart, look at the dust buildup inside, and see if it needs cleaning. If it does, then I will take out the fans, blow the heck out of them with my air machine, reseat the video card, processor, memory, and put the fans back in.

On occasion, if I need to, or since I already have my system open in times, I think to myself that since I have my computer open, I might as well reapply the thermal paste on the video card and processor. So I do.

Then, about every year or so, I make a complete backup of my system, save it to a separate external hard drive, and do a clean install of Windows 7 Professional. I do this because I never know what could be on my system, ranging from a registry issue to a malicious virus, etc. With a virus, you never know if it is completely removed when using an antivirus application.

Yeah, this whole thing may seem intense to most people, but I think it is actually a way to maintain health in your system. Also, it could possibly prolong how long your system runs.


That's how I do it.

[KayC]

That sounds intense hahaha i will probably download auslogics first and do the defragging stuff but im too noob to take m system apart and build it again hahaah

[Helios22]

first thing I do is go to start menu -> run and type

services.msc, stop/disable everything I don't need (go to Black Viper's Website for descriptions)

then I type in msconfig and disable all start up programs that I don't need.

after that:

CC Cleaner/Disk Clean up/delete all unnecessary files.
Then
Defragger and boot time defrag.

After all that your computer should be more responsive.

Disable all aero effects aswell, that helps.

If you want to go a step further you can use Ultimate Windows Tweaker (UWT) to further tweak your computer.