How do I get my PC back in shape?

Well Sandy,

Firstly you should back up any valuable documents to a removable media such as Zip/Jaz cartridges USB pen, etc.

Secondly empty your Recycle Bin.

Thirdly you can go to Disk Cleanup; START ? ALL PROGRAMS ? ACCESSORIES ? SYSTEM TOOLS ? ?DISK CLEANUP?. You should have a list on what you want removed from your system. Please select ?View? to double-check the items to delete.

A popular free program for cleaning your system is CCleaner (1.39.502) at the link http://www.download.com/CCleaner/3000-2144_4-10669303.html?tag=lst-0-1
Not only does this remove unnecessary .tmp and log files but facilities for clearing the Internet cache etc. and filtering options.

Now you say that your system hasn?t been serviced since you got it. If it is slowing down then you have major fragmentation on your files. Don?t worry this is not a serious problem and this can easily be resolved. What has happened is that your files have been thrown haphazardly on your hard drive. Some of your files have fragmented and are strewn across the disk. These ?file fragments? slows down the access time as time on your PC.

To avoid this simply go to START/ START ? ALL PROGRAMS ? ACCESSORIES ? SYSTEM TOOLS ? DISK DEFRAGMENTER.

Choose the drive you want to defrag. (Start with the C drive). Click Analyze. This usually takes a minute to complete, but judging by a two year wait for your first defrag, maybe a while longer. After a while, a set of stats will be displayed plus an option to defrag. Please select defrag. Once again this should take a while to complete.

When completed reboot and test your programs and documents.

That?s all there is to it.

Good Luck

Andr

you must get the cd installer winXP first.then you can start install the winXP,before you start your computer,you must instert the cd first,then you can on your pc,then you can start your inatallation...ask me leter if the installation did not work,,,

I used to have the same problems... although i found a handy tool called the disk defragmenter [start-accessories-administrative toools-disk defragmenter]. It cleans up the files on your computer and sometimes makes your computer work faster. doing this reguarly will helpo take some of the bulk out of your 'spring cleaning'. I would also recommend that when cleaning up your files, sort them into order from most recently used to the oldest documents... generally this helps as the older files are normally the ones you no longer need.

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Answer:

Yearly Maintenance

Excellent question Sandy. Many computer users do not realize that just like your automobile, a computer needs routine maintenance to keep it in good working order. I would recommend maintenance a little more often than once per year, but a good spring cleaning is certainly better than nothing.

I think I have to start by saying that there is a fine line between a computer needing a little spring cleaning and actually being in need of repair. A computer that is starting to boot and run slowly could be a result of something as simple as some unsolicited spyware floating around, a virus infection or even a misbehaving program or driver. But it could also be an indication of something more serious such as a failing hard drive, especially if your computer is 4 or more years old. You indicated that your computer is about 2 years old, so I am going to assume, for now, that your hardware is in good working order.

If your computer has experience a major slowdown suddenly and there is nothing physically wrong like a bad hard drive, here is a quick list of the common, recent problems that I have run into. You may want to check a few of these before performing all of the steps listed below.

? Infected ? Your computer is infected with Viruses, Spyware or other malware and needs to be scanned and cleaned. (See Below)

? Norton Antivirus Misbehaving ? Norton can get out of sorts and cause all kinds of problems. I suggest uninstalling it to see if it is the cause of your problem. You can always reinstall it afterwards or install some other antivirus software.

? Google Desktop ? Some computers experience a major slowdown when Google Desktop Search is installed. This program constantly indexes all of your files on your computer and can really slow thing down. Simply Uninstall.

? Internet Explorer 7 ? Microsoft?s new Internet Explorer 7 can cause major problems on some computer. If your problems started after this was installed, try going back to IE 6 by uninstalling IE 7 through ADD and REMOVE PROGRAMS.

? Kodak Updater ? Some versions of Kodak software has been known to cause a real slowdown. Uninstall or update from the Kodak website.

? Windows Update ? Occasionally a Windows update can cause a problem. If the slow down started just after a Windows Update, remove the update.

Before I get going on actual maintenance procedures , BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP? I know, we all hear this all the time but it is especially important to backup prior to performing any service. So I will say it again. Backup everything that is important to you.

With that out of the way, let?s get started with what I would call ?Yearly Maintenance?. I am basing this on Windows XP but is similar for other operating systems:

1. BACKUP - Backup up all your data. (Enough said)

2. SET RESTORE POINT ? Before you start any maintenance, I always suggest setting a Windows Restore Point. This will give you a possible way back from a problem. No guarantees, but could help. Click on START > ALL PROGRAMS > ACCESSORIES > SYSTEM TOOLS > SYSTEM RESTORE > Select Create a Restore Point > Enter a Description like ?Before Maintenance? > Click on CREATE > When complete, Click on CLOSE.

3. TAKE INVENTORY ? Now is a good time to take an inventory of what you have and to write down some of your system parameters so that you have some data to compare next year or when something goes wrong. Check the following and Write it down. If you are handy with Excel, you can start a spreadsheet to track this information.

a. GENERAL INFO ? Write Down your computer Make, model, serial number, when you purchased it and any upgrades or repairs you have made to it over the years. I would also make a list of all the programs that you use on a regular basis. This will help you later on when you are trying to decide what junk to remove.

b. DISK DRIVE ? Take note of the total size of your hard drive as well as how much space you have used and have left. If your drive is almost full, this can account for a major slow down in system performance. Double Click on MY COMPUTER > Right Click on your C: Drive > Select PROPERTIES > Click on the GENERAL tab. You can also use this information over time to track the amount of data that you are creating to help plan for backups as well as to aid you in possible new computer decisions.

c. MEMORY ? You had mentioned that you thought you might have 200mb of memory, this is probably incorrect because memory is usually installed in multiples of 128mb and on a 2 year old computer usually in multiples of 256mb. So you would typically have 256, 512, 768 or 1024 (1gig) and so on. Check the amount of installed memory by Right Clicking on MY COMPUTER > Select PROPERTIES. The type of processor and the amount of memory will be listed near the bottom of the GENERAL tab window. You may have to wait a moment for the information to appear. Note: The amount of memory listed can be off from what I mentioned above depending on the type of graphics adapter you have. Some video systems share the main memory thus showing less memory than expected. In any case, if you are running Windows XP and have less than 512mb of memory, I would strongly suggest upgrading your memory. It is fairly common for XP computers that are 2 or more years old to have only 256mb of memory. This might have been Ok at the time, but add Service Pack 2, 80+ Windows updates and resource draining Security software such as Norton and 256mb just does not cut it. In any case, write down the memory listed and compare this to what your original invoice stated. I have seen situations where a module can go bad and you are suddenly working with only half the memory.

d. PROCESSES ? I like to take note of the total number of processes running on my computer. This gives me a benchmark to work with for future comparisons. Processes are all the little programs and services that are running in the background. To view Processes: Right Click a blank section of your task bar and select TASK MANAGER > Now Click on the PROCESSES tab. This will display a list of all the processes running on your computer at this time. Depending on your Computer and what you have installed, this number can range from about 22 to 75. Your ultimate goal is to reduce this number as much as possible, leaving only necessary processes running. But for now you are going to just write down the total number of processes running. NOTE: It is best to initially check processes after rebooting your computer and waiting about 10 minutes. This number can vary up and down depending on what the computer may be doing at that exact moment. Some programs could be requesting updates from the internet or maybe running a virus or spyware scan. If you are interested in learning more about some of these, simply enter the name of the process into a Google search.

e. TASK BAR ? Being aware of the items on your task bar can help you stay on top of what is going on. Other than the standard notifications about the status of your network connection or letting you know that there are updates available for Windows, keeping an eye on the task bar may allow you to catch potential problems before they become a major issue. I can?t tell you how often I run across someone who has ignored a big red X through a Norton Antivirus Icon only to end up with a virus infected computer and later find out that Norton had expired or stopped working the previous year.

4. INSTALL OR UPDATE TOOLS ? Now that you have taken some notes about your system we need to either download some tools that we will need or update the tools that you already have. You want to have all your tools installed and updated before starting the cleaning process. This is what you will need:

a. ANTIVIRUS ? You will need one good Antivirus program. If you already have one installed then you will need to run its updater to make sure it has the most current virus definitions. If it has expired or is not working correctly, you can download a free program from Grisoft called AVG Free http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/. If you prefer to purchase one, I would recommend Nod32, Kaspersky, PC-Cillin, AVG, E-Trust or McAfee. Make sure you uninstall your old antivirus software before installing a new version.

b. FILE CLEANER ? Cleaning out temporary junk files can be performed manually, but I prefer a little program call ATF and best of all it is free. http://www.majorgeeks.com/ATF_Cleaner_d4949.html

c. ANTISPYWARE ? You are going to want to have 3 or 4 Antispyware type programs installed. You can purchase one such as Webroots Sp Sweeper which is good or you can download some free versions. I would suggest Grisoft AVG Antispyware (formerly Ewedo), Spybot, AdAware, Microsoft Defender. Many of these can be downloaded from www.download.com. Defender is at www.microsoft.com.

d. REGISTRY CLEANER ? This is optional, if you happen to already have one installed, that is fine.

5. SCAN DISK FOR ERRORS ? Click on START > MY COMPUTER > Right Click on your C: drive and select PROPERTIES > Select the TOOLS Tab > In the Error Checking window click on CHECK NOW > Check off both boxes > Restart your computer and the your drive will be checked for errors when the computer restarts. This can take a several hours.

6. RUN VIRUS SCAN ? Now that you have all your tools installed and updated, I recommend disconnecting or turning off your internet connection before starting the process. Run a full virus scan using whatever software you have chosen to install.

7. UNINSTALL PROGRAMS ? Go through your list of programs (START > ALL PROGRAMS) and look for any programs that you no longer use or have never used. It is best to leave any that you have questions about. When you find one that you no longer need, use the uninstaller listed for that program, if uninstall is not listed, write down the name of the program to remove later. Some programs will ask you to restart the computer after uninstalling. Go ahead and do this. It is a good idea to restart your computer even if you are not asked to do so.

8. ADD OR REMOVE PROGRAMS - Now you want to remove the programs that did not have an uninstaller listed. Click on START > CONTROL PANEL > ADD OR REMOVE PROGRAMS. Start going down through the list of installed programs and remove any that you no longer need or want. Again it is best to leave any that you are unsure of. Restart your computer after you uninstall each program, even if you are not asked to do so.

9. DELETE OTHER JUNK ? Now is a good time to go through all your data in MY DOCUMENTS and delete any that you no longer need. You could also use this time to reorganize your files by moving individual files into meaningful folders. The same is true for email. If you are using Outlook or Outlook Express for email, then you might want to go through your emails and delete and reorganize.

10. DELETE TEMP FILES ? You can delete all your temporary files manually by running DICKCLEAN and then going into Internet Explorer and deleting Internet Temp files, History and cookies. But I prefer to use ATF and let it do most of the work for you. NOTE: If you delete Cookies (Which I suggest at least once per year), you will loose some of your saved login names for some websites.

11. ANTISPYWARE SCANS ? Next you want to run full scans with EACH of your Antispyware type programs and remove any problems that they find. You may have to restart your computer and scan again to remove some of the more stubborn problems. If you have multiple user accounts on your computer and depending on what software you are running you may need to run each scan while logged into each users account.

12. STARTUP PROGRAMS ? There are a bunch of programs and services that are set to run whenever your computer starts. Some of them are necessary such as antivirus programs and Firewalls and then there are others that do not really need to be started like Quicktime and Realplayer. You can access some of the startup list by clicking on START > RUN > type msconfig in the run box > Click on the STARTUP tab > you will be presented with a list of startup items. You can uncheck the box for any item that you do not want to have start. If you want to lean more about each entry, simply enter the name into a Google search. Again if you are unsure of any entry leave it checked. You can always go back and recheck any items. Reboot your computer.

13. WINDOWS AND OFFICE UPDATES ? Now that your computer should be nice and clean and running well, your should run Windows update and if you are using Microsoft Office, install updates for that too.

14. DEFRAG HARD DRIVE ? Even though many claim that defragmenting in Windows XP is not required, I still like to run this after I have performed all the previous steps. START > ALL PROGRAMS > ACCESSORIES > SYSTEM TOOLS > DEFRAGMENTER.

As far as keeping you computer clean on a regular basis between yearly maintenance procedures, the main thing is to make sure all of your Antivirus and Antispyware software is always up-to-date, install all Windows Security Updates and delete your temporary files monthly. If you have any manual scanners such as AdAware or SpyBot, you need to run these monthly as well.

There are some all inclusive software packages such as Norton 360, Microsoft One Care and McAfee Total Care that can perform many of these tasks automatically for you, but if your computer is less than state of the Art and has limited memory, many of these can really slow your computer down to a crawl.

There are many other things you can do to tune and tweak your system for better performance but this is already getting too long so I will stop here. However, I should mention that there is nothing that compares to a complete reinstall of Windows for cleaning out the cobwebs. I personally do this about every 2 years.
Also, during your spring cleaning, you really want to remove any dust that could be interfering with the proper cooling of your computer. Turn off your computer and unplug the power cord before cleaning. Remove the side cover and Vacuum out all vents and using a can of compressed air, blow out any dust that has accumulated on any heat sinks and fans inside. Note: You can damage the fans by spinning them too quickly with compressed air, so it is a good idea to stick a pencil in between the blades to keep them from spinning. Just don?t forget to remove the pencil before you turn your computer back on.

Good Luck!

Dana
Wayland Computer
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-4_102-0.html?forumID=7&threadID=244923&messageID=2472924#2472924

Submitted by: waytron

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Answer:

Reply for Sandy H:, re: system cleanup

Sandy,

Well, first, you do not have 200MB of memory, because memory only comes in ?power of two? chunks. I suspect that you meant that you have a 200 Gigabyte hard drive, an entirely different thing altogether from having a 200MB memory size.

But, that statement does suggest to me that maybe you would be well off to consider getting some professional assistance with part of your cleanup. When someone who doesn?t know the difference between an engine and a transmission suggests doing an engine overhaul themselves, the idea of getting some help seems worthwhile. But that doesn?t mean that you can?t do anything, or even quite a bit, yourself.

And since you mentioned speed and memory, if you are running Windows XP, and if your computer has less than 512 megabytes of memory (for example, if it has only 256MB), one thing that should be on your list is expanding the memory in your computer to at least 512MB. If you can go all the way to a gigabyte of memory (that?s 1,024 megabytes), so much the better (up to a gigabyte, more memory will make things faster, but if you are below 512MB, then you are probably ?memory starved? and increasing the memory may make a truly dramatic difference). If you do add memory, you need to determine if your system already has, or (even if it doesn?t) is capable of supporting ?dual channel memory?, because if you add memory incorrectly to a system which is dual channel capable, you can cut the speed of the memory system in half (and, conversely, if the system supports dual channel memory but it?s not currently operating in a dual channel mode, you have an opportunity, by reconfiguring the memory, to double the speed of the memory system). The details of this are more involved than I can go into here (it would literally be a question unto itself), but it?s an area that any competent professional can analyze and advise you on. It depends on your motherboard and what memory you currently have installed.

Now, as to system cleanup and optimization:

First, it?s kind of important to know what data files you have and where they reside. So some ?poking around? -- just looking --- may be a good investment of time. In some cases, you may want to move and/or consolidate things in a more organized directory structure, so that all of your related data files are all together. This is also an excellent time to make a backup of your important data files, just on general principles, but also, to an extent, because an error in trying to ?clean up? a system sometimes inadvertently erases important files.

Another thing to do before you start is to create a system restore point, again, so that if something gets badly screwed up, you can revert to your ?pre-cleanup? system. Note, however, that system restore only saves your system files ... it does not save or backup your data files, so back those up yourself, separately.

So on to the cleanup itself .....

First, run ?Windows Update? and download and install all critical updates, and the various optional software and hardware updates as appropriate (this does not mean to install all of the non-critical updates; you need to have some understanding of what this stuff is to make these judgments, and in some instances this requires more knowledge than many users have).

Similarly, update and reconfigure as necessary, your Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware software.

Now, run a complete virus and spyware scan (this will take hours, quite often, but it?s mostly self-running and unattended). Your problems could be caused by virus? or ?malware?, although there don?t appear to be any specific symptoms of that in your description.

Next, find your ?Temp? folder and clean it out. In general, there should be almost nothing in that folder immediately after booting when nothing is running. Then empty the recycle bin. [You will want to repeat both of these steps at the end of the process, because additional cleanup will likely re-clutter the temp folder and refill the recycle bin.]

Now the most likely cause of your ?slowness? is a combination of startup software and possibly a very bloated Windows registry.

Attacking startup software first, the general idea is to remove all software that you don?t need and don?t use, but especially things that run some of their components constantly in the background, loading them at startup. I?d start by opening ?Control Panel?, add/remove software, and looking through every item listed to see whether it can be removed. DO NOT remove something if you don?t know what it is, you can ?break? your system. But there may be things that you know that you can remove, that you are not using and will not use, and if so, remove them. A professional will recognize things that you don?t, but at the same time it?s your system, and there may be things there that you will recognize that a professional won?t. Not everything in ?add/remove software? runs startup tasks or impacts performance, but enough things do that if you have software installed that you know that you neither use nor need, it?s worth removing.

Following this, you want to use the three tools MSCONFIG (start / run / MSCONFIG, then the ?startup? tab), System Information (start / programs / accessories / system tools / system information) and task manager (control-alt-delete) to see exactly what is being loaded and run after you reboot your system with no actual user programs running at all. Most Windows systems will have 50 to 100 ?things? (programs, services, etc.) running, and some people will find that they have several hundred. In most cases, it is these things that are slowing you down and killing your startup time. Knowing which of these you need and which you can get rid of (and how to do it) is a complex subject and this is another area where some more professional knowledge can come in handy. [And even professionals often resort to ?Google searches? to find out exactly what some of these modules are and how, if it is appropriate, to either remove them or stop them from loading.] This can be a time consuming process (if you have 100 to 300 items loading up, it?s going to take some time to just review what they are), but it?s probably the step that will produce the greatest results.

Finally, you may want to use a ?registry cleaner? to remove unused data from your registry. Pretty much every program that you have ever run or installed (even just once) makes entries into the registry, and usually these entries do not all go away even when you remove the program. While these entries may do no actual active harm, the simple fact that they make the registry larger makes the system slower by itself, and some of the entries may also be actively harmful. However, attempting to ?clean? the registry can also do damage (you may accidentally remove registry data that is necessary ... the system can be so badly damaged that it won?t even boot), so, again, some level of professional knowledge may be helpful to do this safely (and, sometimes, the best judgment is to not do it at all).

One thing that I did not suggest that many people put near the top of their list is disk defragmentation. I used to defragment drives religiously, but in today?s world of NTFS rather than FAT32 partitions, I don?t find that it really makes that much difference (doesn?t make any difference at all that I actually perceive in most cases), Windows does it (to some degree) in the background, and like directory cleaning, it is a process that carries with it some risk in and of itself. But many people (other professionals) still recommend and do it, so it will often be ?on the list?, in which case if you are going to do it at all, do it last, since all of the other stuff will ?refragment? the drive if defragmentation is not done last.

The ultimate Windows cleanup, and it is sometimes either necessary or the best overall approach, is a total reinstallation of Windows and your application software from scratch. However, that is a drastic step that I usually only recommend when the system is truly broken, and from your description, that isn?t your case at this time.

I hope that this has been helpful,

Sincerely,
Barry Watzman

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-4_102-0.html?forumID=7&threadID=244923&messageID=2472638#2472638

Submitted by: Watzman

i purchased a program called registry helper and it cleans up all invalid entries i downloaded it and it cost me 50.00 but i use it every day and my old pc is just humming right along

faklatt@yahoo.ca

My #1 answer for you would be that Dell was irresponsible for selling you a computer with 256MB of RAM and Windows XP installed in the first place. Buy more RAM. RAM is super-cheap. Like, sub $50 cheap for another 512MB. You should look at a 1GB RAM module for your system. Find out what type of RAM your system uses and have someone install it for you or do it yourself if you feel comfortable.

#2 would be download a reasonable Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware software package and run it on your system to see if it has been infected.

Avast Anti-Virus Home is Free:
http://www.avast.com/

Spybot S&D is free:
http://www.spybot.info/en/index.html

#3 is to use a compressed air can and open your computer case. This sounds daunting but trust me, it's safe. Make sure you touch something grounded before you start like the metal casing of your computer case, a metal chair, the ground... anything metal that touches the ground should be fine.

Keep the can of compressed air at least about two feet away from the components of your case and press the nozzle. Blow all of the dust particles (and larger dust bunny colonies) out of there!

This step can actually improve performance slightly if your computer has been overheating from too much dust blocking proper airflow.

#4 if none of the above works, two years is a good life cycle for your Dell. Just pick up another $400 model and use and abuse that one too.

This time look at the amount of RAM listed on all of the new computers and pick the number that is at least twice what all the other bottom-feeder systems are at.

"Geek" help will drive you up a wall with trying to do everything all at once.

"People" help will try things one at a time...

Ask yourself, whats the last program installed that dramatically slowed everything down...probably something that was memory intensive enough that it has to use your hard drive to run and you probably have it loading at start up....U need more ram...200 megs doesn't cut it anymore.

If that wasn't it, go the Defragmentation route...its part of Windows accessories but remember to disable your Screensaver.

A registry cleaner is a must every once in a while...bits and pieces of every old program you ever uninstalled are floating around in your hard drive..ie. what uninstalls the Uninstall program? And with System Restore, you can have some fun.

I once removed some 48,000 cookies in one fell swoop although Windows gave me a song and dance about programs being unable to run etc...since when are cookies parts of applications? U may have to re-enter IDs and Passwords but its better than 50,000 cookies which are "temporary" but expire in 40 to 50 years.

I remove adware once a day, using two separate stand alone apps and use PC Pitstop Optimizer and AVG daily.

Good luck but try to keep it simple.

I stumbled upon this at work. The computer up front had a measly 8GB drive, which was used up & the machine moved at a crawl. All I had around was another 8GB drive. It was too late to install programs on the second drive.

The only thing I could think of was to install the second drive and move the Windows Paging file to that drive. It then occured to me to move the TEMP folders to that drive. The program and data files could all stay back on the C: drive.

It worked. It worked better than I thought it would. It turns out that Windows does a lot of work with the swap file, moving data from hard drive to RAM and who knows what else. Programs also use the TEMP folder frequently. By moving them both to a separate drive, work gets far more effectively divided than I had guessed. I'm setting up my desktop to do the same thing (along with the addition of RAID striped SATA drives for my main drive!)

You can change the location for the paging file and the temp folders thru the Windows XP control Panel->System Properties->Advanced Tab.

************* Move the page file *************
*In the Perfmance section, click the Settings button.
*In the Performance Options dialog, Advanced Tab, click the Change button in the Virtual memory section at the bottom.
*What you want to do here is to selct the C: drive and write down the Initial size & Maximum size settings.
*Choose the old drive and input those values and click the Set button.
*Go back to the C: Drive and select No paging file and hit the Set button.

************* Move the Temp folders *************
*Create a Temp folder in your old drive.
*Back in the System Properties Advanced tab, click the Environment Variables button.
*In the User variables section at the top, change both the TEMP & TMP variables to point your new Temp folder.
*In the System variables section at the top, change both the TEMP & TMP variables to point your new Temp folder.


Even an old drive with just a few Gigs will help out a bunch. Having the work split between two drives clicking away at the same time really seems to help get things moving.

Hi all, apart from the obvious spyware checking and virus checking software there are a couple of nice and easy pieces of software that i use and have found them very effective. They are,CCleaner and PC Pal both can be downloaded for free and are very effective even in their default settings. Dont forget to make a restore point at the very least though before accepting any changes,then defrag the HD when youv`e finished. Good luck, JT

Well, instead of just one spyware remover, that is mostly ineffecient, you can download Hitman Pro. This program will run a couple of spyware scanners (Ad Aware, Spware Search and Destroy and others), and is more effecient than just one.

I notice than most of these answers are way off-track. No offense intend ? you are typical of the vast majority of PC users, i.e. you are not a techie (and you shouldn?t have to be) and you use your PC to accomplish work or entertainment goals, not as a personal science lab.

Considering that your knowledge of the innards of the machine is limited, and that there as so many tasks to accomplish to do what you wish to do, I strongly recommend that you proceed safely and slowly.

1. Back up your important data to CDs.

2. A very effective solution to 95% of any potential problems is to use a software product such as Norton System Works. I specifically recommend this one, and I have used Norton products since they were still sold by Peter Norton himself (and that?s a while ago).

Everything you need to scan the machine for errors, back up and restore, optimize the hard drive (rearranges the data coherently to speed up the machine) and remove unwanted clutter is all in that package. A further benefit is the effective virus protection & firewall that protects you against on-line threats, and beautifully, the System Works updates itself continually during your annual subscription period.

Get the Pro/Deluxe version, and buy it every year. Once you get the machine scrubbed and clean, then look to adding more RAM memory (boosts speed) and, perhaps, an additional hard drive (same).

Remember, you still need to become somewhat knowledgeable about the hardware in your machine, i.e. processor type & speed, amount of RAM memory, hard disk size, etc. That was part of the deal when you decided you wanted a computer.

You don?t need a PhD in Electrical Engineering. You need a simple integrated solution that will do what it is intended to do, i.e. make the geeky tasks understandable and relatively automated for the average user.

Go to www.crucial.com and use their scan to check your memory. They will tell you if you have open slots on your computer to install which if you haven't upgraded your memory most likely you will have two. If you can, go for the most you can afford. It's worth it. Mine ran like a scalded ape until I put Vista on it. Don't be afraid to open up your computer and put a couple of cards in (unless you haven't unplugged it). If you just can't figure it out, they have people you can call and they will walk you through. Don't do the Vista thing. I think bigger memory cards will fix you right up. You will think you have a new computer. I haven't found deleting old mail and other useless things help. Put a few gigs in there. Good Luck, Kathy

Unfortunately, because of all the different things that can happen to a computer, there's no easy way to *compeletely* clean a computer, short of a fresh install, which is not to be taken lightly.
There are, however, some relatively easy methods of maintaining a currently functioning Windows XP computer that will get you some of your speed back.

The first thing I reccommend is getting Windows OneCare. Before the veteran techs start flaming me for this, let me explain.
Most people don't have a fully functioning security soloution; either something's expired, or not covered, or it's simply a lousy program.
I like OneCare because not only does it cover *all* major aspects of security, it also is relatively inexpensive and is good for up to 3 XP or Vista computers. On top of that, it has a feature that is extremely relavant to this topic: Tune-Up.
The OneCare Tune-Up is important because it covers about 5 major maintanance steps in one click.
First, it does a disk cleanup, which goes through and gets rid of all the temporary files. (Do you really need a copy of all the ads on that website you visited last week? Didn't think so.)
Then, it performs a defragment of your hard drive, which is analogous to organizing your kid's room; yeah, they can get through it, but when you try, it takes forever to wind your way through. Once clean, everything is easy to find and not nearly as cluttered.
Third, it runs a security scan. It checks your computer for viruses, malware (a general name for adware, spyware, and anything else malicious or annoying) and does a fairly good job at getting rid of them.
Fourth, it will try to preform a backup of your computer. Now, this step will only run if you've already followed the Backup Wizard in OneCare (which is another reason I like the program. The backup subroutine is actually really good.), but if you haven't, no big deal. I do reccommend backing up once you're done with this spring cleaning, though.
Last, it will check for any high-priority updates from microsoft and automatically install them.

Now, this Tune-Up might take several hours the first time it runs, so I reccommend that you make this an overnight project. Get it started after dinner, then let it run all night. When you wake up, hopefully your computer will be a little smoother.

Now, there are probably still a few proverbial dust bunnies on your computer, but most of them are cleaned up. There are ways to clean further, but it's most likely not worth the effort.
I would, however, look into possibly getting a RAM upgrade, as it's a very easy and inexpensive upgrade to almost double or triple the performance of your computer. Also, when you get the Memory upgrade, grab a can of compressed air cleaner, and give the interior of that computer a good spray cleaning outside (because you do not want all that dust inside your house) before you install the RAM.

Good luck, and happy computing.
-Launchpad_72

Quite simple really.

As everyone here has recommended, do pickup a portable 300 GB hard drive, and back up your system.

I purchased a Seagate Drive that has a great feature built in it's software to get it done. Under $200.

Now, the ultimate step next is get your XP Pro discs and have someone partition the hard drive first.

This is a great way to keep Your stuff away from the operating system.

One problem that occurs little by little is that some viruses, and or cleaning programs can accidentally damage a file or 2 in Your Operating System.

All it takes is one of these operating files damaged, and your system can suffer greatly.

Your best bet is to reload a fresh partitioned drive with XP PRO, and you basically have a new computer, better than before.

Install all the updates and your set to load back in your data you created.

Good Luck,
Phil Trites
Mpls, Minnesota

The first thing to do is to clean all of the extra junk files out of your computer. I would download ccleaner http://www.ccleaner.com/ it cleans out all temporary files all at once also it has registry check on that program and run that also. Then I would do a error check. Go start button, my computer, C: drive and right click, properties, tools, error check then restart. Most spyware is in the cookies folder that got cleaned out with ccleaner. but you can do a scan if you want. The last thing is to defrag the hard drive you do that the same way you get to the error check in tools. Make sure to defrag last because you will just be moving around the junk you don't want anyway

Hi, how are you doing, Sandy? I doubt you have 200MB of RAM. Maybe you
are talking about 200GB of hard drive space. Maybe you are talking about 256MB of RAM. Here are the things I do to keep my PC up to speed, I do them once a month:

1.)Disk Cleanup

Windows' Disk Cleanup is a built in utility that clean off junk files on your hard drive. To get to Disk Cleanup, you click on the My Computer icon(it's the icon with the big monitor and the tower) on your desktop, right click on your hard disk drive, choose Properties, choose Disk Cleanup. Let it analyze your drive to see what files that are taking up hard drive space then put check marks on the files taking up hard drive space, click OK, then "Yes" to remove the files.

2.) Get CCleaner from http://www.ccleaner.com. This is a freebie program that helps clean your hard drive and registry even further than Disk Cleanup. When you are in the program, you are in Cleaner and
the Windows tabs. Click on Analyze to start analyzing your hard drive,
choose Run Cleaner, you should be done. Next, you can choose the Applications tab, click on Analyze to start analyzing your hard drive,
then choose Run Cleaner. Then click on "Issues". Click on Scan for Issues to find if any shortcuts, dead registry entries, etc are taking
then click on "Fix selected issues".

3.)Run Error Checking to make sure there aren't any bad sectors on your hard drive. To run Error Checking, click on the My Computer icon,
go to the Tools tab, choose Check Now, then make sure both options
"Automatically fix file system errors" and "Scan for and attempt to recovery of bad sectors" are checked. These two options will take a while, say 30-40+ minutes, so go do something while they are running.

4.) Defrag your hard drive to organize files. When files are fragmented on your hard drive, your hard drive has to go to different parts on the hard drive. This takes forever to find files on your hard
drive. To run Disk Defragmenter, go to Start, Programs, Accessories, click on System Tools, then click on Disk Defragmenter. Click on Analyze to have Disk Defragmenter analyze your hard drive. If Disk Defragmenter says to defrag this volume, go ahead and do it. If it says you don't need to defrag this volume, still go ahead and do it.

5.) Get NTREGOPT from http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/. Click on the Server 3 NTREGOPT side to download NTREGOPT. NTREGOPT lets optimize and compact your registry hives. This speeds up your computer. When NTREGOPT is downloaded to your desktop, click on NTREGOPT, let it run, and then click OK to reboot your computer.

6.) Get WinASO Regdefrag to defrag and optimize the registry even further. Download RegDefrag from http://www.download.com/WinASO-RegDefrag/3000-2094-10418079.html?part=dl-WinASOReg&subj=dl&tag=button. Click on RegDefrag after you get the file downloaded to your desktop, let it analyze your registry. If it says that your registry is fragmented, click on Next to start the defrag. Cilck on "Yes" to reboot your computer.

7.) Optimize the pagefile by right clicking on your My Computer icon, click on the Advanced tab, click on Change under Virtual Memory, then for Virtual Memory settings, make sure it's 1.5 times the phyiscal RAM
in your computer. You only have to do this once.

8.) Upgrade your RAM since 256MB isn't enough RAM to run Windows XP. Go to http://www.crucial.com/ with the model number of your system and
it will find the RAM for your computer. I would say 512MB should be the minnimum to run Windows XP, with 1GB or 2GB the maxmium to run Windows XP. If you have 256MB of RAM, files will have to swap to the pagefile a lot more when you run out of physical RAM. Upgrade the RAM so you won't have to use the pagefile a lot.

9.) clean your Temporary Internet Files, Cookies, History, Prefetch,
%Temp%, and Temp folders once a week. For History, I would say 1 day
should be enough. The days in History is make sure that you can go back to the URLs visited. For your browser cache, which you access through the General Settings in Internet Options, then click on Settings, you can set it at 100MB since it is originally set at 1000MB
and that takes hard drive space.

10.) If you are out of hard drive space, try removing applications you
don't used, move pictures and files to a DVD or CDROM.

11.) Make sure to use msconfig to disable applications starting up when your computer does. For example, programs like Quicktime, Real, etc. doesn't to be started out. Remove applications you don't need starting up. Don't disable anti virus, firewall, or spyware applications.

12.) Make sure to remove Norton or Mcafee all in one security apps. They are resource hogs and cause more problems than it's worth.

13.) Make sure to download these three applications and update the definitions:

http://www.download.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition/3000-2239_4-10669237.html?tag=lst-0-1

http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10045910.html?part=dl-ad-aware%26subj=dl%26tag=top5

http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10401314.html?tag=lst-0-1

These free applications will help you remove nasties that use Internet
bandwidth and take up computer resources. Viruses and malware will slow down your computer.

---------------------------------------------------

If these suggestions doesn't work for you, try reformatting your hard drive and reinstall Windows. Reinstalling your applications will take you an hour. Make sure to have a firewall before you go online to updated patches, drivers, etc because you could get hacked.

belarcAdvisor(tells u what u got installed)
and
PowerDefragmentor(way better than windows own one)
and
ccleaner[crap cleaner](uninstalls, fixes registry stuff, cleans cache, unused extentions, unused shortcuts, stuff not needed,space wasters, etc)

google them
download them (they're all free)
install them

note: I found this hard to understand so here goes


PowerDefragmentor needs to be placed with contig to work

1)click on operating system hard drive
2)click on programme files
3)Make a new folder
4)place Contig and PowerDefragmentorGUI in that new folder
5)I like to make a desktop short cut here
(right click on PowerDefragmentorGUI select send to > desktop(create shortcut)

run belarc read it
then run ccleaner
then run PowerMode in PowerDefragmentor

hope this helps