All electronic devices, including computers need constant care, diagnostics and even repair. As the topic of the article is about computers I will try to cover some basic computer repair tools that are generally used to diagnose and repair or cleanup any computer. If applied properly they can save up your time and money, because you will be able to solve basic software, diagnostics and repair problems with the help of these tools. Of course, there could always be cases where you will have to apply to repair service, but if you master usage of the tools you might as well forget about any help from outside. So, what are those tools?

Up to date anti-virus software

If you expect to be protected against online attacks and a large number of malicious virus programs spreading through cyber space a good anti-virus program is a must. There is a huge variety of different antivirus programs that could be bought online and renewed on annual basis. Likewise, some companies now offer free basic software that could be very effective in protecting your pc when you are online as well as removing those malicious viruses if you got infected. Some special spyware blockers fight those parasitical programs very well.

Defragmentation

Another useful tool to keep your computer "healthy" is a defragmentation function which can be found when you push "start" button, then open "all programs", then "accessories" and finally "system tools". You then run 'disk defragmenter' and the process starts. Why is it so important? Defragmentation is used to group files together. It also frees some hard disk space, which allows you to store your data better. It also separates those files that are corrupted. You should defragment your disks periodically to maintain your computer efficiency.

Registry cleaners

Registry files can be destination for the above mentioned virus programs. They seek to make changes in your registry which would ultimately result in slow down of your pc. It could produce many more problems, but this is not the topic of my article. Again, there are quite a large number of registry cleaners that could be purchased online for a reasonable amount of money. They would perform a function of safeguarding and cleaning your registry.

Data recovery and backup tools

One has probably experienced the situation when computer crashes at the moment when you expect it least. I have heard a number of stories from my friends how they were in the process of writing an article, essay or other kind of task and after computer crash they lost all their data. To prevent this from happening you should have a tool for your data backup and recovery. One useful thing is a "system restore" function which is available for all Windows users. It helps you to restore your data going back to some specific day. Let us say you can restore all your data from the time you installed your operational system up to yesterday. Unfortunately your most immediate work in that case might be lost. Therefore, it is useful to have an exact mirror backup of your hard drive as well as programs. That would save your data in an event of a computer crash.