Josey Kruse, Beloit junior, loves her new Mac. Her old computer, a Dell laptop, didn’t perform nearly as well.

“It always took forever to start up, shut down, or do anything like adding new programs,” Kruse says.

This is her third laptop, so she knows what she’s looking for when it comes to an upgrade.

Saving enough money for that brand new computer can take a long time, but simple maintenance can give your computer a better chance to survive the college years.

Clean it up

Ray Brady, an IT specialist with Geeks on Wheels, says you need to defragment your computer’s hard drive once a month for it to run smoothly. Defragmenting can take up to two hours to complete, but the more it’s used, the faster the process will go.

On most computers, you can find the defragment option under the “system tools” menu, but if you can’t find it, use the help file.

“The least-used application on any computer is the help file. Nobody uses it anymore,” Brady says.

The help file can answer any maintenance questions you have, although most, like defragmenting, are pretty self-explanatory.

Brady says it’s also important to delete the temporary folders through your Internet browser as often as possible. Delete the history and cookies once per week or every other day if you do a lot of browsing. You can set your computer to do this automatically in your Browser Preferences.

Also, reduce desktop clutter and delete any applications that aren’t used. However, Brady says you might want to leave the items in the recycle bin for a few days before deleting them, just in case they’re programs you need.

Most importantly, Brady says you need to educate yourself about what applications are running by default at your computer’s start-up, or are installed but are not actually running. You can view these on Windows under Windows Defender in the Control Panel.

To make your computer squeaky clean, save everything to an external hard drive, completely delete them and then reinstall from scratch. Brady says you should only do this as a last resort if your computer has been neglected for a long time, but it will be faster and more effective than deleting items individually.

Computers also need physical cleaning. Brady says to use canned air to clean the dust that, over time, can coat hardware and accumulate in the intakes under laptops and the vents behind desktops. Dust can cause your machine to overheat and die.

Speed it up

Your computer also needs updated spyware and virus scans to keep it running efficiently. Ty Davis, Bonner Springs senior, works at the Tech Shop at the Kansas Union Book Store and says you need two basic spyware programs, Spybots S&D and Adaware, to protect your computer.

“It’s like two people mopping. One program will catch the other’s mistakes,” Davis says.

Both programs offer free versions online that cover your computer’s basic needs and are easy to use.

If your computer is still running too slow, Davis says you may need to purchase additional RAM, or memory. He says you should consult a professional at the store to decide what kind and how much you really need. You can find out how much memory your computer has by clicking on “About this Mac” under the apple icon for a Mac computer, or by clicking on “Properties” under “My computer” for a PC.

Back it up

Jaime Ryan, Salina freshman, had to buy her new laptop at the beginning of the year after a virus from a LimeWire download started deleting files from her computer.

Both Brady and Davis say that the most common problems students have can be prevented if they would back up their computers with external hard drives. An external hard drive will store all the files you need as well as the ones you don’t use as frequently.

When you get new programs you can add them to the external hard drive so they won’t slow your computer and it will save you if the worst happens, and the internal hard drive crashes.

External hard drives usually start at $100 for 250 GB, and Mac OS 10.5 “Leopard” comes with “Time Machine,” which can store up to 160 GB on its hard drive.

Upgrade

So, you’ve finally saved enough money and you can’t deal with your old laptop any longer. Davis and Brady also have some tips to help with your next purchase.

Davis says you shouldn’t be afraid to dish out at least $1,000 for your new laptop.

He says the most important things to look for are the processor, hard drive and DVD burner, which can’t be changed or are difficult to change once the laptop is purchased.

As far as brand goes, Brady says you should buy whatever you’ve had luck with in the past and invest in an extended warranty.

Ryan and Kruse are definitely satisfied with their upgrade choices, but if that’s not an option for you, you can still find satisfaction in the improved performance of your old yet well-maintained computer.