1. Bring that can of air! It's a good idea to blow the dust and debris out of keyboards every now and then. And make sure there isn't dust accumulating on the back of the machine or wherever the air fan is located.
2. Clean the mouse. It never hurts to make sure the mouse is free of dust and grime.
3. Clean the screens. Do yourself a favor and clean the dust off of your monitor screen. Use the appropriate screen-cleaning cloth or solution (do not use products that contain alcohol as this will strip off the anti-glare coating).
4. Check the fan. Remember to check that the CPU's cooling fan is working and that the airflow isn't impeded by dust.
5. Check the power sources. Make sure systems are plugged into protected outlets, power strips or uninterruptible power supplies. Make sure you are using surge protectors and not a string of extension cords to power your machine(s).
6. Check the connections. Make sure all the plugs are snug in their connections.
7. Update the anti-virus software. Make sure you know how to update your anti-virus software.
8. Reboot the system. In some homes and offices the computer is left on all the time. Rebooting the system will force a memory reset.
9. Run Scandisk and defrag the hard drive (disk) in 'safe mode'. Check the drive and make sure there are no disk errors and the percentage of fragmentation is less than 5%. For Windows 98 computers, use the Task Scheduler to automate Scandisk.
10. Check the printers. Make sure your printer is producing clean copies, and that the toner or ink cartridges aren't about to run out.