Preventive Maintenance for South Sudan's Conditions

Prevention is far cheaper than repair — especially important where replacement parts are expensive and hard to source quickly. Two local realities make preventive care extra important: dust and unreliable electricity.

• Dust management: Dust insulates components and blocks fans, causing overheating. Clean vents and fans every 1-3 months using a soft brush or compressed air — never a vacuum cleaner directly on internal parts (static risk).
• Power protection: Unreliable electricity and voltage spikes damage power supplies and motherboards over time. Use a surge protector at minimum; a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) also gives a few minutes to save work and shut down safely during an outage.
• Safe shutdown: Always use Shut Down from the Start menu rather than cutting power directly — sudden power loss during a write operation can corrupt files or the operating system itself.
• Backups: Keep important files backed up to a USB drive or cloud storage — hardware failure is a "when," not "if," over a long enough time.

Practical Skill: Create a maintenance schedule for a small office of 5 computers, covering dust cleaning frequency, UPS/surge protector checks, and a backup routine.

=== SMALL OFFICE MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE (5 PCs) === WEEKLY[ ] Confirm all computers shut down properly (not just power cut)[ ] Visually check UPS/surge protector indicator lights MONTHLY[ ] Wipe down keyboards, screens, and external surfaces[ ] Check available storage space on each PC[ ] Confirm important files are backed up (USB or cloud) EVERY 1-3 MONTHS[ ] Open each case and clean dust from fans/vents    (compressed air or soft brush, power off + unplugged)[ ] Check UPS battery health / replace if it no longer    holds charge during a test outage EVERY 6-12 MONTHS[ ] Full OS update check on all machines[ ] Review and remove unused software across all machines[ ] Test full data recovery from the backup to confirm    the backup actually works