5 Tips For Keeping Your Business Computers Running Smoothly

Whether you’ve got an utterly digital storefront or software to help with back-end accounting, your computers must be running at their peak performance. Unfortunately, there isn’t a single-fits-all solution to keep them running smoothly. Instead, use these five tips to keep your systems working for years: 

Back up your data

Your data is the most important thing on your computer. If you don’t have a backup, it’s gone for good, so back up! You should be backing up all of your files to an external hard drive or a cloud storage service like Google Drive or Dropbox. Having a physical copy of your data means that even if something happens to your computer and all its files are wiped out (say, by a virus), you’ll still have an extra copy lying around somewhere safe where you can get back to work in no time flat.

Keep your operating system and software up-to-date

It’s essential to keep your operating system and software up-to-date. You should be running the most recent version of the operating system that is compatible with your hardware. For example, if you have an older computer, it may not be able to run Windows 10. This is the same if you’re using a Mac computer. Although with Mac, you can find a specialist by searching ‘why can’t i update my Mac’ online.

In addition to keeping track of any updates for your operating system and device drivers, ensure that other software applications are also being updated. 

Create user accounts for each employee

You’ll want to create user accounts for each employee, including yourself. You should also make a password for each user and a hint for that password. You can set up a password reset tool that allows employees to access their accounts without your help.

You should have policies in place regarding how long passwords should be (at least eight characters), what types of characters they include (numbers, letters, and symbols), how often they expire (every month), and whether or not they can be reused between devices (no).

Get anti-virus software

It is easy to overlook the need for anti-virus software when setting up your business’ computer maintenance. Still, this type of software is essential to keeping your systems safe from viruses and other malware that could cause problems if they get into your system.

In addition, anti-virus software will help you keep viruses away from your employees’ personal computers so that they don’t accidentally bring them into work on their own devices. This means that all of the devices used by employees are protected against viruses and other malicious files that might otherwise be able to infect them when they visit websites or use email attachments from outside sources outside of work hours.

Secure your network

Secure your network. A firewall is a hardware or software system that can prevent unauthorized access to or from your business computer network. It acts as a barrier between the internet and your private network, preventing outsiders from accessing the computers inside of it. Because firewalls control traffic in and out of a company’s network, they are often used to block viruses, spyware, and other malicious programs from contacting computers inside an organization’s system. Some firewall programs also offer protection against internal attacks by employees who misuse their access rights for personal gain.

Conclusion

Hopefully, these computer maintenance tips will help you keep your business running smoothly and reduce the risk of downtime on your network. If you follow these tips, you should be able to spot potential problems before they become significant issues.