Well, I have heard from so many all the horror stories of not doing computer maintenance and thought I’d share what I do to keep my computer running smooth.   There are just some simple programs that I feel  everyone should download and use on a regular basis – these are the ones  I use ALL THE TIME.  No it’s not this either tho I know we feel like it sometimes

You know how nice it would be to have a program that with the click of one button you can clean all the crap off your computer – your cookies, your temp files, empty your trash, etc. – well there is and it’s call CCleaner (crap cleaner – lol)

CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system – allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner. But the best part is that it’s fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware! 🙂 Download HERE   http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/

When and how often do you use this – EVERYTIME  your computer does something and you are thinking to yourself “Why did that happen?  That shouldn’t have happen.  Now that is strange – never seen my computer do that”  Stop what you are doing, close out of your browser and RUN crap cleaner.

The other one that had been so great for me is Malwarebytes and you can download it HERE  http://tiny.cc/v82zl Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is a surprisingly effective freeware antimalware tool. It’s a relatively speedy malware remover, with the quick scan taking about 8 minutes even with other high-resource programs running.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Malware, short for malicious software, is software designed to secretly access a computer system without the owner’s informed consent.  This can sneak in on about anything these days as my last one I actually got from a PLR product that I downloaded.

Now if I don’t get anything showing up here, I keep going as there is usually something that has caused me to wonder why my computer did that – it’s kinda like a vehicle letting you know that it needs some maintenance with the noises that it makes – well I have found that a computer does the same thing – it just lets you know in a different way.

The next one that I run is Ad-Aware and HERE is the download link http://tiny.cc/9vefj.  Ad-Aware 9 Free has a fairly straightforward installation process, simple in procedure. The installer file is enormous, at 124 MB, so users who are on slower connections ought to prepare for a lengthy download wait.  So will leave that up to you – this one removes malware and spyware also.

The next program I use for my computer maintenance is Spybot and can be downloaded HERE http://tiny.cc/zf01r.  Spybot – Search & Destroy has been in the antispyware game for a long time offering features we’ve come to expect in the best apps in the category.

If things have gotten by the above, this well usually find the culprit. After all that and IF things come up clean – then I go to start – programs – accessories – system tools – disk defragmenter  and I know you are asking me why in world would I do this – well I like for my computer to keep running smooth and FAST and I had a support guy tell me once why I should do this.

You know how you work in an office and you have cabinets full of files and you go and get one, then two, then three etc. and by the end of the day you may have 20 – 30 folders on your desk.  It’s the end of the day and you are tired so you don’t put them back – and then tomorrow – you do the same thing – now you have 40 – 60 folders piled up and you just don’t have time to put them back – so you pile them up till later.

Well by the end of the week – you have quite a stack of files piled up and all of a sudden you boss needsd the folder that you worked on tha first day – so now you have to sort thru that pile that you have made and it takes you longer to find the folder – well same thing happens on your computer.

You keep pulling out folders and using them but unless you put the folders back in the file cabinet – it will take longer and longer to find the folder – so you are tired of this and finally take the time to put the folders back in the file cabinet they belong in and what happens the next time you need that folder – it’s faster for you to find it because it’s where it’s suppose to be.

This is what the disk defragment does – it puts the folders back where they are suppose to be – so when your computer is being slow – taking longer than normal to find things – do this.  Now what I have found sometimes  is that it will tell me that it don’t need it – well I just ignore that and do it anyway.

THEN after all that – I reboot my computer and it runs like a charm – all those little quirky things it was doing has stopped and that is what I do when I say I’m going to go and do my computer maintenance.  All these are free so have you done your computer maintenance today?????