Introduction (4.0)
Preventive maintenance is often overlooked, but good IT professionals understand the importance of regular and systematic inspection, cleaning, and replacement of worn parts, materials, and systems. Effective preventive maintenance reduces part, material, and system faults and keeps hardware and software in good working condition.
Preventive maintenance doesn’t just apply to hardware. Performing basic tasks such as checking what programs run on startup, scanning for malware, and removing unused programs helps a computer function more efficiently and can keep it from slowing down. Good IT professionals also understand the importance of troubleshooting, which requires an organized and logical approach to problems with computers and other components.
In this chapter, you will learn general guidelines for creating preventive maintenance programs and troubleshooting procedures. These guidelines are a starting point to help you develop your preventive maintenance and troubleshooting skills. You will also learn the importance of maintaining an optimal operating environment for computer systems that are clean, free of potential contaminants, and within the temperature and humidity ranges specified by the manufacturer.
At the end of the chapter, you will learn the six-step troubleshooting processes and common problems and solutions for different computer components.