Just like regular maintenance to keep the car in good shape, you need to maintain your computer in order to keep it operational. Be it a ibm fujitsu siemens computer, they will break down one day when you least expect. However, this is something that most people tend to neglect, resulting in computer failure at the time when it is needed most. Here are some tips you can use to keep your computer in optimal state:

1. Start the engine at least once a week.
If you don't use your computer frequently, start up your computer at least once a week and leave it on for around two hours before you turn it off. Take the opportunity to run anti-virus updates and windows security patches while your computer is powered up. Just like your car battery which will go flat if you don't use your car for a long period of time, your computer may not necessary start up if you keep it shut down for a long period of time.

2. Back up your system drive (usually C: drive) as frequently as you feel comfortable. Generally, once in three months would be good enough. To backup your system drive, you'll need a software to help you do that. Softwares that does system backup are

a. PC Rescue Kit - http://www.pcrescuekit.com
b. Symantec Ghost - http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/
c. Paragon Drive Backup - http://www.backup-mydrive.com

3. Backup your data frequently if you use your computer frequently for document production. Choice of backup media could be an external hard drive, CD-R, CD-RW or DVD. You can use a software called SecondCopy to do your automatic backup routines - http://www.backup-today.com . Alternatively, you can also backup your data file to a free online file storage service like StreamLoad at http://megafilestorage.com/ . With Streamload, you can have virtually unlimited storage for all your important files. An advantage of using a online file storage service is that you will never have to worry about data loss due to permanent hard drive disasters.

4. Housekeep your computer.
If you use your computer frequently working with documents, you would need to clean up the clutters that will be accumulated in your hard drive as well as your registry. Clutter comes in the form of temporary files that were not deleted after you've edited and save a document, cache files, cookies, files left behind after a uninstallation process, etc. You'll be surprised to discover how much clutter there is kept inside your computer's hard drive. To do this, you can consider one of the following award-winning tools:

a. Registry Medic - http://optimalregistry.com/
b. 30-in-1 Advanced System Optimizer - http://12optimizepc.com/
c. PC Doctor - http://discovervalue.com/pcdoctor

5. Defrag your computer files. After you've cleaned up the clutter on your hard drive, you will have a different type of clutter known as disk defragmentation. Here, files stored on the hard drive are "broken up" and there will be many "file gaps" on your hard drive. This slows down disk access and will ultimately affect your computer performance when reading from the hard drive. To solve this problem, you can use a disk defragmentation software known as Executive Diskeeper to get the job done. As you can also use this software to schedule defragmentation, the task of defragmentation only becomes even much easier - http://www.defragmypc.com 

6. Tune up your computer performance. At its default installation, your operating system settings are configured to a factory state optimization which does not address your computer's optimization needs custom to your home environment. For example, settings like what type of activities should your computer prioritise on, internet settings for different broadband bandwidth or dial-up speeds, how to handle a windows crash, etc, are configuration settings which can be adjusted to your usage environment and personal style. With optimization, you can achieve a more pleasant experience using your computer, with faster internet surfing, faster computer response, lower windows "crashes", etc. SpeedUpYourPC is one such software that helps you tune up your computer performance - http://discovervalue.com/pcbooster

Finally, even if you don't use your computer frequently, it is a good practice to do steps 1 - 5 as a monthly routine. This will ensure that your computer won't fail you just when you need it the most. The cost of getting all the necessary software for each step doesn't even exceed US$180. Considering your computer useful lifespan to be between three to five years depending on your usage, the investment on these tools would work out to cost between US$60 - US$36 a year. Think about it, this in turn works out to be only US$5 - US$3 a month to have a optimally performing computer during its lifetime - quite a worthwhile investment from a user's perspective. By now, you would have a pretty good idea how much value is the data on your computer and how little it costs to invest in these productivity enhancing tools. I wish your computer a long and productive useful life if you diligently follow the tips listed here.