PC maintenance

Low tech: buy a cheap spiral notebook and make a note whenever you run Scandisk or defragment or virus-scan your system. Or&nbsp;just keep a Notepad file on the computer with the same information.
High tech: Windows keeps track of when Scandisk and Defragmenter were last run (double-click My Computer, right-click your C drive, pick Properties, Tools tab). Most antivirus software, including Norton Antivirus, keeps track of when the last full system scan was.

If you're looking at this list and thinking it looks like a lot of work, fear not. If you set things up right, this is pretty easy stuff. A lot of it is "do once" and most of the rest can be automated.

Maintenance item	Time investment
1. Back up every day. Store your backup media in a safe manner.	Five minutes a day, if you back up to diskettes. If you have a high-capacity backup drive, seconds per day to change disks, and backups can happen during off-hours.
2. Run ScanDisk about once a week and immediately after any abnormal stop.	Two or three minutes a week, plus two or three minutes per lockup.
3. Run Disk Defragmenter about once per three to six months.	About ten to fifteen minutes per three to six months.*
4. Scan your system for viruses once a month or so, and scan any diskette or program file from outside, before you run them, including Internet downloads. Keep your antivirus data files and firewall current.	Five to ten minutes per month,* and a minute or so each to scan outside files or diskettes.
5. Protect your PC from power surges by buying a UPS system once, or an ordinary $20 surge protector once a year.	Zero.
6. Make and maintain a panic disk.	Five minutes to make the diskette, and a minute or so whenever new drivers or software are installed.

* Time required for defragmenting and full-system antivirus scan depends mostly on the speed performance of your hard disk subsystem (controller and drive) and the quantity of software and data stored on the disk.

For strict priority order, you could make a case that surge protection belongs at the top of the list, but most people at least start out pretty well-protected from surges, and even in the long run, the time investment required is essentially nil.

Two easy ways to keep track of periodic maintenance (scandisk, defrag, and virus scan):