Having worked
on computers both professionally and personally for over 20 years I can
tell you I have worked on A LOT of different computers. Quite often I
run into computers that are 4 or 5 years old and they have had little to
no maintanence. Would you do this to your car??
Since this is so common I thought I would
send some time and share 5 things you can do to keep your computer
running smoothly. They are all pretty easy and anyone with any computer
skill can perform these tasks.
1. Disable unnecessary start up programs
When you get a new computer, the manufacturer has
already installed some applications that may or may not be needed but
will run during the initial startup. As you add in programs over the
years, items will be added to your startup menu, which results in a
computer having too many programs to start while trying to start windows
itself.
Removing some of these unwanted programs will increase performance greatly.
Click Start -> Run -> Type “msconfig” and a
new dialog box will appear, Click the Startup tab and you will see all
the programs that startup when you turn your computer on. We need to
uncheck the ones that are not needed. Expand the “Command” column so you
can see what the file is called.
Now uncheck anything that you know you do not need.
If there is something you don’t know if you need it or not, Google is
your new best friend. Go to www.google.com and type in the “filename.exe” you will find pages to instruct you what a file is and whether or not you need it.
After you are all done click “Ok” and reboot your
system. If you decide you made a mistake down the road simply open
msconfig and recheck the program you needed.
2. Use Spyware Protection as well as Anti-Virus Protection
Spyware causes your computer to slow down, often
generates pop ups, and can potentially steal personal information. I
recommend one of the following programs to help remove spyware:
- Spybot Search and Destroy – www.safer-networking.org
- Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware - www.malwarebytes.org
- Ad-Aware - www.lavasoft.com/
3. Defragment
Every time you move data or install a new
application, your computer randomly picks a spot on your hard drive for
the data. When you Defragment the hard drive you are reorganizing all of
your data so the computer can find it quicker.
Simply open “My Computer”
Right click on the (C:) Drive and click “Properties”
Click “Tools”
Click “Defragment Now”
Defrag your Hard Drives
4. Security Software
There are so many pieces of security software
available; it is often hard to tell which one is best. Unfortunately the
needs of business vs. a home user greatly differs which adds more
confusion to the mix.
Home users: My advice is to stick
with the known solutions that work: Norton, McAfee, and AVG. The key
here is to use only the entry level product. Don’t spend extra money on
the “Internet Security”, or “All-in-One” solutions. There is just too
many processes running and it slows your computer down greatly. Windows
has a firewall built into it which will serve the purpose.
Business users: For Anti-Virus,
you should be using a central system like McAfee Total Protection
Service. This allows you to centrally manage your network.
For Firewalls, you should be running a hardware device to protect your entire network, not a piece of firewall software.
5. Clearing Temporary Files
There are many areas where windows and applications
will store temporary files. These are also areas where certain spyware
will hide and, in general, will use up space on your computer.
The easiest thing to do is to use a program like CCleaner which will do all the work for you.
You can find it at www.ccleaner.com. Simply install it and run the cleaner.
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