There are many companies which offer you a computer tune up and service of your computer for a cost. There are an equal amount of companies which will offer you software at a cost to bring your machine performance back to what it should be(none of which I have found to be fantastic). I don’t like spending money when I don’t have to and while servicing your PC can be time consuming, it should not put a dent in your pocket. You should only have to service your computer once a year, but it is good to set up some preventative tools in the background to make it a quick and simple process.
This article will explore the steps required to allow your computer to perform at its optimum. We will cover the following:
- Backing up your system
- Virus and Spy-ware removal
- Uninstalling unused/unwanted programs
- Clearing out unwanted files
- Limiting programs that load during startup
- Tidying up your Desktop and Start Menu
This article is a brief rundown of each of the sections above. Save yourself the money and do it yourself.
Before you go through your system and delete any unwanted files, it is very sensible/crucial to backup your system. This is something that you should do routinely throughout the year. You have a many options as to where you can backup your data such as a thumb drive, CD/DVD drive or another hard drive.
While you probably won’t need to restore any of these backups, if you come across any major problems you can completely reinstall your operating system and be comfortable you have all your files ready to bring back into your system.
The following need to be backed up
- Your Documents (Generally copy your “My Documents” folder but if you have documents in other locations, copy them also)
- Your Email (Depending on your mail package, in Outlook 2003, In the file menu is an “import/export” option)
- Your Registry (Click “Start”, Select “Run”, Type “Regedit”, There is an option in the file menu to export)
- Your Favourites (In Internet Explorer, the File menu offers an export option. Firefox offers export when you select “Organise Bookmarks”)
Once you have all these files backed up, you are ready to proceed on to Virus/Spy-ware removal.
2. Virus and Spy-ware Removal
Viruses and spyware are common on all Windows machines. You can get viruses through email, surfing the web, downloading software or even being attached to a network. Some are more harmful than others. Virus scanners slow down a computer but are a crucial piece of software for almost all computers.
If you have virus removal software on your computer, make sure that it is up to date. If you don’t have anti-virus software, download AVG Antivirus from Grisoft. This antivirus package is regularly updated (not as frequently as many commercial antivirus solutions), and it’s free. When you install it, ensure that you update the definitions. It is normally fairly obvious with any antivirus package how to get the latest updates.
Some viruses cannot be removed by standard antivirus software so get the latest Stinger application from Mcafee. You hopefully will not find any results from this but if you do, you will be happy you had it as the viruses stinger finds are nasty.
Spy-ware often finds its way onto our systems and can be a pain to remove. I have not found a single package that catches everything but in combination, you can get the job done.
- Download AVG Anti Spyware, free trial from Grisoft
- Download Adaware, free from Lavasoft
- Download Spybot Search & Destroy, free from Safer-Networking
Ensure that you install and update them all but don’t run them yet. They work well together to get all the nasties that can get onto your computer.
As some spyware and viruses load up as the computer starts we need to restart your computer and Load Windows in safe mode by pressing F8 as your computer boots, just prior to seeing the Windows XP screen.
Run each of the above applications individually and remove any nasties these programs come across.
Restart your computer and you should be free of any viruses and spyware.
3. Uninstalling unused or unwanted software
This is important to do as having programs installed slows down your computer, and if you have lots of programs you don’t use installed, you are wasting valuable resources.
This is fairly simple to do. The best way to do this is to go into your control panel and select “Add/Remove programs”. You are presented with a list of all the programs installed on your computer. Select remove next to the programs you don’t want.
If there are programs that you are unsure about, because you don’t know what they do, search the title in google and check if it is necessary.
If you have programs that are not in the list installed, you can go through your start menu and find the uninstallers for each application.
DO NOT go into windows explorer and delete the folders of programs as this leaves behind a very messy registry.
You should now have only the applications you want or need on your computer. It is worth uninstalling programs as you realise you don’t need them but if you do it once a year, you will notice quite an increase in performance.
No comments:
Post a Comment