When buying a computer you must consider the task or work the computer is expected to do. After a while the computer may seem to work slower than before and when this happens then one has to consider three key things, the processor speed, memory and hard disk for efficiency. If all fail then consider:Having a cleaning utility in your computerThere are some freeware (free software) that one can use from sites like www.filehippo.com. This is a site that you will download the latest freeware and use. The best so far is (ccleaner) cleanup utility. The work of this software is to delete all the history or information about sites that u have ever visited either recently or in the past that have been stored in the browsers that u have in your computer as bookmarks and you don’t need them. The computer also has its own integrated disk cleanup utility that comes with windows operating system. Simply go to Start, All programs or Program, Accessories, System tools and then you click on Disk cleanup. You will get a pop up box that will ask you which partition you want to clean, you choose the partition and the computer will start the disk cleanup process.Using the command line interface utility (CLI)This is also a way of removing the files that have been used and are now junk or taking up space that could be taken or used by the more important programs or software. You can achieve this by clicking on the window key and R at the same time, then on the resulting dialogue box you can type %temp% then click Okay. In the pop that appears delete all the programs there and the ones that refuse to be deleted you can skip them.Uninstalling old and unused programsPrograms that you no longer use or need can cause both hardware malfunctions because they end up just using the computer’s virtual memory. By removing this unwanted software you will notice that your computer dramatically gains a lot of speed. To remove you go to Start, Control panel, and Uninstall a program. All the programs that you have installed in your computer will be shown as a list. You can check the ones that have used a lot of space and you can opt to remove them. Most programs have been developed with all the uninstallation (deleting) facility on it.Defragmenting your computerThis is relocating files to wherever they belong and this ensures that your computer runs efficiently. The latest defragmenting utility tool can be downloaded from www.filehippo.com or you can use the one that comes with your windows operating system by clicking on the Start button, All programs or programs, Accessories, System tools then Defragment. In conclusion I think there are some of maintenance activities that we can do from the comfort of our home without involving the computer technician who will charge you for his time and effort. The writer is a computer technician and a teacher at Riviera High School