Just as you wouldn't think of driving a car every day for four or five years without providing maintenance at regular intervals. Still, you shouldn't contemplate buying a new computer unless you're willing to commit a bit of time in terms of normal service and upkeep. Unlike a car, however, you can't in most instances turn this routine maintenance responsibility over to someone else as a computer technician will charge an arm and a leg for simple things you can do yourself. So regular maintenance can be the responsibility of a user like yourself. Common sense, for the most part, is a pretty good guide as to what is involved in computer care and maintenance.
Computers works best in a clean environment, free of dust and dirt.
At least once every month you should clean and vacuum the area in which your computer is located. You can vacuum the computer case, the monitor enclosure and the computer keyboard. You should also wipe clean your monitor screen with a rag dampened with a bit of isopropyl alcohol and wipe clean the keys on your keyboard. If you use your floppy disk drive extensively, you should clean the drive unit with a cleaning diskette, available from most computer supply houses. If your computer work area is particularly dirty or dusty, you should increase the frequency of cleaning.