Notification Center Not popping out

[MrFunnyWobbl]

Hello all,

First time posting here, have lurked for a while.

I'm having an issue with my 2013 MBA with the notification center (The pop out thing is that, correct?). Up until recently It has worked fine as I have used the pop-out thingy for stocks. However a few weeks back it suddenly stopped popping out but instead I can just highlight the little button beside spotlight, and It highlights blue when I click it but nothing happens, it doesn't pop out.

I have researched a bit on the web and tried a couple things in terminal to resolve this but nothing has worked. I'm not sure what the problem is and/or how to resolve it. I'm considering upgrading to the next OSX as I am on 10.10.1 Yosemite if that will solve it but I would like to know the root of the issue if it is a common problem.

That said, as my computer is almost three years old, is there anything I should be doing to maintain the health of the machine into the long term to ensure I maximize my investment in this product? I recall the saleslady saying that macs had a similar thing to a Windows disk defragmenter that could be used to clean up inefficiencies. If so, what is this and should I be doing it? Are there any other things I should be doing? I don't turbo boost very often.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer me.

 

[MrFunnyWobbl]

Another quick question,

Some streaming sites I use have those awful pop-ups. Occasionally on one of the sites, something automatically downloads. I know this is a potential problem and always immediately put it in trash and empty the trash.

Is this all I need to do or is there anything else theres files could be doing harm? I delete them within 15 seconds on them "auto downloading" but they could act fast in that time right? I just don't want something that will compromise my system or info.