An Office’s Responsibility to its Hardware

A network requires routine maintenance in the same manner that an automobile
does. In fact, automobiles and networks are analogous in several important ways.
For example, an automobile needs an oil change every 3,000 miles, and the tires
must be rotated and balanced every 10,000 miles. It might even get washed once or
twice a week. This type of tight maintenance schedule is also important to a
computer network. If an automobile owner never changed the oil, could he blame
his mechanic if his engine burned up? Certainly not. The driver is responsible for
the maintenance of his own automobile.

The same is true of computer networks. Having a hardware technician inspect a
network does cost money, but it is necessary and should be considered part of
normal maintenance. Many computer problems can be avoided by a good
maintenance regimen. Think of it not as an unnecessary or frivolous expense, but as
a preventive measure for your network.

There are several points that might be covered by such an inspection. General
system performance and reliability might be discussed and weighed against
installing updated drivers for system devices such as printers or network cards.
Often, hardware manufacturers rewrite drivers as part of their own problemresolution
process. In most cases, they post their updated drivers on the Internet.