Good Maintenance Practices; Keeping Your Computer Current - Lenovo ThinkCentre M700 Hardware Maintenance Manual

Good maintenance practices

By performing a few good maintenance practices, you can maintain good computer performance, protect
your data, and be prepared in case of a computer failure.
• Keep your computer software, device drivers, and operating system up-to-date. See "Keeping your
computer current" on page 54.
• Empty your recycle bin on a regular basis.
• Clean out your Inbox, Sent Items, and Deleted Items folders in your e-mail application on a regular basis.
• Clean up files and free up storage drive space and memory space occasionally to prevent performance
problems. See "Performance problems" on page 75.
• Keep a log book. Entries might include major software or hardware changes, device-driver updates,
intermittent problems and what you did to resolve them, and other issues you might have experienced.
The cause of a problem might be change in hardware, change in software, or any other actions that might
have taken place. A log book can help you or a Lenovo technician determine the cause of a problem.
• Back up your data on the storage drive regularly. You can restore the storage drive from a backup.
To back up your data, do one of the following:
– For Windows 7: Open the Rescue and Recovery program. See "Accessing a program on your
computer" on page 41. For more information about backing up your data, refer to the help system
of the program.
– For Windows 10: Right-click the Start button to open the Start context menu, and then click Control
Panel. View Control Panel using Large icons or Small icons, and then click File History. Follow the
instructions on the screen.
• Create a recovery medium as early as possible. You can use the recovery medium to recover your
operating system even if Windows fails to start up.
To create a recovery medium, do one of the following:
– For Windows 7: Open the Create Recovery Media program. See "Accessing a program on your
computer" on page 41. For more information about creating a recovery medium, refer to the help
system of the program.
– For Windows 10: Right-click the Start button to open the Start context menu, and then click Control
Panel. View Control Panel using Large icons or Small icons, and then click Recovery. Follow the
instructions on the screen.
• For Windows 7, create a rescue medium as early as possible. You can use the rescue medium to
recover from failures that prevent you from gaining access to the Rescue and Recovery workspace
on your storage drive.
To create a rescue medium, open the Rescue and Recovery program. See "Accessing a program on your
computer" on page 41. For more information about creating a rescue medium, refer to the help system
of the program.

Keeping your computer current

In most cases, it is a good practice to have the most up-to-date operating system update patches, software
programs, and device drivers. This section provides information about how to get the latest updates for your
computer.
Getting the latest device drivers
Attention: Reinstalling device drivers will change the current configuration of your computer.
To get the latest device drivers for your computer, do one of the following:
• Download the device drivers that are preinstalled on your computer. Go to http://www.lenovo.com/drivers.
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ThinkCentre M700 Hardware Maintenance Manual