Do you want to keep your IT system in good health?
Like most things, keeping your IT system in good repair helps keep it working efficiently for far longer. This involves maintaining everything – including the physical hardware, the system files, the data, and the applications and programs.
The physical hardware – the PC, laptop, monitor and server.
Desktop, tower PCs and servers tend to attract dust. Even a thin layer of dust can cause the devices’ components to heat up, meaning they have to work harder. This shortens their lifespan.
It is relatively easy to remove the dust by removing the casing surrounding the components; a blast of compressed air will remove excess dust. Compressed air for this purpose is readily available in cans.
Laptop users also can affect how their devices work. Placing laptops on soft surfaces, such as cushions, chair arms or beds obstructs the ventilation outlets. Again this causes overheating, which has a detrimental effect.
Running laptops mainly off mains power (as a large percentage of users do) severely curtails battery life expectancy, so it’s a good idea to regularly run them from the battery.
The system files
Many business and home users have Windows based IT systems. Microsoft and other systems providers regularly release updates, which should be downloaded and installed. Doing so will help maintain, integrate and improve the system and patch any security issues.
The data
Data integrity refers to the overall completeness, accuracy and consistency of data. Maintaining and assuring the accuracy and consistency of data is critical to the design, implementation and usage of any IT system.
Because data can be stored on single or a group of physical hard drives, the health of these drives may affect its integrity, potentially leading to future failure.
Various error checking methods and validation procedures may be carried out from within the operating system, and these should be completed on a regular basis. These will also check the health of the data itself and ensure there is sufficient available space on the IT system.
The applications and programs
All applications and utilities are prone to security risks. When application developers find security vulnerabilities they release patches for download and installation. Checking to ensure the latest version of an application is installed can prevent malware attacks on an IT system.
Unused programs and applications may use a large percentage of space. Many new computers are pre-loaded with trial programs and other software which may not be needed. Any program which hasn’t been used for a long time is probably not required; deleting these programs frees up space on IT systems.
Back-up solutions
An effective back-up solution is vital if losing all the data, files and images stored within your IT structure were to cause you a major headache!
It is important to back-up data regularly and to ensure that the back-up system is working effectively through regular maintenance checks.
Virus Protection
Virus attacks can be a serious threat to an IT system. Fortunately there are many antivirus programs available to prevent this.
Finding the right one for a system may involve some research – IT experts can give insight and advice. Check out our blog article for help and advice – Protecting Your Devices from Viruses
Once installed it is important to update the program regularly. Programs can be set to automatically update and some do so on a daily basis as new viruses are discovered every day. If they are not set up this way then it may be necessary to check for and install updates manually.
There’s a lot to remember and some or all of these maintenance tasks may seem time consuming or a little complicated for those who are not IT experts.
Rather than relying on lengthy and expensive manual processes to manage IT systems, recent innovations have meant that it is now simpler and more cost effective to manage and monitor all aspects of an IT infrastructure remotely.
Direct Voice and Data is able to do so on a 24/7 basis for its clients.
An initial 2 weeks of monitoring are used to establish a baseline for the daily performance of the client’s system. Anything outside these parameters is then reported on. A visual warning appears on the engineers’ desktops as well as on a wall board in the office to give a visual prompt for further investigation.
The following areas within any client’s IT infrastructure are continually checked by our active remote monitoring agent:
• System connectivity
• Disk Space
• Disk Integrity
• Memory Usage
• Disk Usage
• Processor Usage
• Windows Service Check
• Antivirus Status
• Virus Definition Status
• Failed Login
• Event Reviewer
• Backups
• Exchange Server
By taking this proactive approach to IT support and maintenance Direct Voice and Data is able to deal with most issues before they occur. In many cases the issues are resolved before the client was aware they existed!
If you would like to discuss maintenance of your IT system please call Direct Voice & Data on 0800 84 999 84
