Easy Ways To Do PC Registry Cleaning And Computer Maintenance

My pc has been used for about 2 years with many people on it. Some of them were young children. Many sites and items have been downloaded. God only knows. I'm also hoping that my computer will pick up much needed speed.
Two years of hard usage coupled with download after download usually adds up to one slow computer. Cleaning the Windows registry is indeed smart and I'm confident that you'll see an improvement after okpckit works its magic.

More Tips for Speeding a Slow PC
Since your computer has been used by kids who have downloaded multiple programs, there's also a good chance that they have downloaded all kinds of free games and other cool freebies like animated cursors, smilies, screensavers, and wallpapers. Many adults do this as well. Unfortunately, an uninvited guest often arrives with these so-called freebies: malware.

Getting Rid of Malware
As part of reclaiming your computer, find and use a good anti-spyware application to scan your system and remove any malicious programs. Many infected computers have dozens of suspicious programs running. Not only do these programs spy on you and report your personal information such as Web surfing habits or credit card numbers, they also take up valuable computer resources and slow your computer down to a crawl.

Several excellent products exist for eradicating spyware including free products such as Windows Defender and Trend Micro's Online Housecall. As far as paid products go, the Tech Jocks recommend okpckit and Antivirus Plus from Paretologic Software. Commercial products tend to offer better protection, larger databases for detecting threats, and automation. While the Online Housecall is terrific for one time scans, you can't schedule regular scans.

Cleaning the Desktop
Another excellent step for recovering lost computer speed is to clean up the desktop. No doubt, the kids have probably changed the background image and you probably have dozens of shortcuts and icons all over the place. A large background image and all of those icons take time and resources to load. Right click a blank area of the Desktop and select Properties. Choose a default Windows background or browse your computer for your own image. Pay attention to the image size and opt for one with a small file size rather than a large one. For example, given a choice between a 5 MB image and one that is 700 KB, choose the 700 KB image. It will look just as pretty but won't be as memory intensive.

Remove Themes
While you're at it, if your kids have applied special themes to your computer, remove them. Themes are neat in that they change the look and feel of your operating system. However, they require more system resources - resources that a slow PC can't afford to lose.

Manage Startup Items
RegCure comes with a neat feature for managing the startup items. Programs that automatically load each time Windows starts up are often not needed frequently, yet they're running all the time. By removing them from starting automatically, you'll free up memory.

Defragging the Hard Drive
Finally, after sweeping your Windows registry, wiping away malware, and removing startup items, give your hard drive a thorough defragging. As time goes by, the hard drive becomes fragmented as your hard drive attempts to manage its contents. The built-in defrag utility (Start >Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter) will rearrange the files in a more orderly fashion.

Category: Tips and Tricks, Windows