Chapter9.Preventingproblems
AnimportantpartofowningaThinkPadnotebookismaintenance.Withpropercare,youcanavoidcommon
problems.Thechapterprovidesinformationthatcanhelpyoutokeepyourcomputerrunningsmoothly.
•“Generaltipsforpreventingproblems”onpage131
•“Makingsuredevicedriversarecurrent”onpage132
•“Takingcareofyourcomputer”onpage133

Generaltipsforpreventingproblems

CAUTION:
IfyourcomputerisequippedwithbothaharddiskdriveandanmSA TAsolidstatedrive,youarenot
recommendedtousethemSATAsolidstatedriveasabootabledevice.ThemSATAsolidstatedriveis
designedanddevelopedforthe"cache"functionpurposeonly.IfyouusethemSA TAsolidstatedrive
asabootabledevice,itsreliabilityisnotguaranteed.
•Checkthecapacityofyourharddiskdrivefromtimetotime.Iftheharddiskdrivegetstoofull,the
Windowsoperatingsystemwillslowdownandmightproduceerrors.
Tochecktheharddiskdrivecapacity,clickStart➙Computer.
•Emptyyourrecyclebinonaregularbasis.
•Usediskdefragmenttoolregularlyonyourharddiskdrivetoimprovedataseekandreadtimes.
•Tofreeupdiskspace,uninstallunusedapplicationprograms.
Note:Youalsomightwanttolookforapplicationprogramduplicationoroverlappingversions.
•CleanoutyourInbox,Sent,andT rashfoldersfromyoure-mailclientprogr am.
•Backupyourdataatleastonceaweek.Ifcriticaldataispresent,itisagoodideatoperformadaily
backupoperation.Lenovohasmanybackupoptionsavailableforyourcomputer.Rewritableoptical
drivesareavailableformostmachinesandareeasilyinstalled.
•Schedulesystemrestoreoperationstotakeasystemsnapshotperiodically .Formoreinformationabout
systemrestore,seeChapter5“Recoveryoverview”onpage61.
•UpdatedevicedriversandUEFIBIOSwhenneeded.
•Proleyourmachineathttp://www .lenovo.com/supporttokeepuptodatewithcurrentdriversand
revisions.
•Keepuptodatefordevicedriversonothernon-Lenovohardware.Youmightwanttor eadthedevice
driverinformationreleasenotespriortoupdatingforcompatibilityorknownissues.
•Keepalogbook.Entriesmightincludemajorhardwareorsoftwarechanges,driverupdates,minorissues
youhaveexperienced,andhowyouresolvedtheminorissues.
•Ifyoueverneedtorunarecoveryonyourcomputertoreturnthepreloadontothemachine,thefollowing
tipsmighthelpalongtheway:
–Removeallexternaldevicessuchastheprinter,keyboard,andsoon.
–Makesurethatyourbatteryischargedandthatyouhavetheacpowerconnected.
–BootintoThinkPadSetupandloadthedefaultsettings.
–Restartthecomputerandstarttherecoveryoperation.
–Ifyourcomputerusesdiscsastherecoverymedia,donotremovethediscfromthedriveuntil
promptedtodoso.
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