Guide: How to keep your Windows computer running like new

[dullonien]

I come across a lot of computers that are poorly maintained and thus are running significantly slower than they should. Here's a guide to either return some zip into your computer, or as a way to maintain your computer to stop that degradation.

Uninstalling unneeded software

I am a big believer in keeping the software installed to a minimum. Having tens of unnecessary programs installed is a big culprit in bogging a system down. It is important to periodically delve into 'Programs and Features' (Add or Remove Programs on XP) and uninstall all unnecessary programs. If you have a generic HP or Acer (etc.) which comes with a million extra programs such as 'HP Help' or silly games etc. uninstall them all.

Of course there are some possibly unknown programs which need to be kept, if you are unsure have a look on google and if you're still unsure leave them be. Keep any .NET Framework and Visual C++ (there might be quite a few variants, but keep them all) as these are often required for other programs to function.

I know this might be daunting to some, but there are a lot of obvious rubbish installed on a lot of computers I come across and getting rid of it really does help. It's also important to avoid installing toolbars etc.

Must have Software

What software should everyone have on their systems? There's three programs I think everyone should have.

- Firstly is a good anti-virus. I'm a big fan of Microsoft's own Security Essentials. It's free, lightweight, unobtrusive, fast and secure. If you haven't tried it yet, I suggest you give it a go, because its a dream to use. AVG free used to be good, but I've found is bloated and slow of late. Edit. Getofmeland has brought to attention that MSE hasn't been faring well in recent tests, so feel free to chose a different anti-virus program. Both Avast free and AVG free have excellent protection rates on av-test.org, so one of them is probably a safer bet.

For those running Windows 8, MSE is installed from the off, simply renamed as Defender.

Most good anti-virus programs should run scheduled weekly scans, so in most cases you can install and forget. Running a full scan every few months is a good idea though (the scheduled scan is generally a fast scan).

Edit. One final note about anti-virus. It is counter productive to install more than one anti-virus program, as they can conflict with each other, resulting in viruses slipping through the net. So stick with only one a time. The same is true for any anti-malware programs that have real-time scanning, so again it's best to stick with only one at a time.

- Secondly, I advise an anti-malware program. I use Malwarebytes, but there are others. Malwarebytes doesn't scan automatically unless you upgrade from the trial, so it's important to remember to run one every month or so.

- The third piece of software I recommend to all is CCleaner. This is a piece of software that helps keep your Windows installation optimised and free from clutter. There are three parts I recommend running on a monthly basis. The Cleaner part cleans your internet history, cookes etc., as well as temporary system files etc. These can build up alarmingly quickly, and you might find that that it will clean up to a GB a month depending on your usage.

Next is the Registry part. If your computer is slow to start-up, this is most likely the cause. Uninstall any unwanted programs before running this (or run this again after uninstalling anything), because this will remove all the small remnants of uninstalled programs. Run it three or four times in a row, removing all the problems found. Windows 8 users will find that an ActiveX/COM Issue is always found, this can't be removed, so when that is the only problem appearing there's no need to run it any more times.

Finally, under Tools, have a look under 'Startup' and Disable/Delete any unwanted startup programs. You'll find that things like Adobe Reader will have 'quicklaunch' entries here. This means that these programs are partially loaded when Windows starts, giving the false impression of a fast program. What this does though is mean that your computer takes longer to turn-on, not a benefit in my eyes as I don't use these programs on a daily basis. You might see things like Google Update here which you want to leave, as well as anything relating to your anti-virus or anti-malware. Again, Google is your friend here, and if you're unsure leave it be. You can also remove any add-ons to Internet Explorer, Chrome etc. here. Things like PDF Helper isn't needed, so you can delete these.

Defragmenting

This only relates to XP users, because the process is done automatically under Vista, 7 and 8. Defragmenting your hard drive every few months can keep it running quickly. What it does is basically move all your data onto the start of the drive, instead of segmented all over the drive. This reduces the amount the hard drive header has to move, speeding things up. You can find the Defragment option by right clicking on your drive under My Computer, and selecting the Tools tab.

Edit. Just a quick note about defragmenting and SSD's (solid state drives). SSD's are becoming ever more affordable and offer a noticeable performance boost in general Windows use and for many programs as well. They however do not need to be defragmented. Because there are no moving parts, every part of the drive is just as quick to access, and thus there is no benefit to having all the data in blocks at the start of the drive.

That's it for now. If I think of anything else I'll add it later. Hopefully this will help some to keep their computer running in tip-top shape.

 

[Getofmeland]

However as someone who used to say use Microsoft Security Essentials, I would highly recommend buying a product fit for the job, over the last couple of months on the AV tests, I have discovered MSE dropping down the list.

See here - http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/windows-8/janfeb-2013/

I have since moved to F-Secure, which is constantly near the top of the list in the tests in terms of protection, and Microsoft is rooted to the bottom of that table. Its also worth noting that when I installed F-Secure, I discovered that I had a total of 5 Viruses on my machine which Microsoft had forgot to tell me about...

 

[dullonien]

However as someone who used to say use Microsoft Security Essentials, I would highly recommend buying a product fit for the job, over the last couple of months on the AV tests, I have discovered MSE dropping down the list.

See here - http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/windows-8/janfeb-2013/

I have since moved to F-Secure, which is constantly near the top of the list in the tests in terms of protection, and Microsoft is rooted to the bottom of that table. Its also worth noting that when I installed F-Secure, I discovered that I had a total of 5 Viruses on my machine which Microsoft had forgot to tell me about...

Yeah, I'm aware that MSE has been slipping slightly, but hadn't realised by how much. I'm happy to stick with it, as I've not experienced any problems (I know I might not know). However I'll probably edit that out of my guide, as I don't want to give bad advice.

 

[SelimNiai]

I actually used that CConect and it helped a lot thanks.


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[dullonien]

I actually used that CConect and it helped a lot thanks.

I'm guessing it picked up a lot of registry errors? In my experience when running a registry cleaner such as CCleaner on a system that's a few years old, the first scan finds hundreds, if not thousands of errors.

It might be interesting to some as to why this slows a system down, especially the boot process. In a very simplified way, the registry basically tells Windows what to do. When a new program is installed, a number of registry entries are created to tell Windows how to control the program, informing it of new file types etc. etc. When a program is uninstalled, many of these registry entries are just forgotten about and left, but Windows still tries to deal with them, wasting time.

Using a poor analogy, imagine the registry as a notice board full of post-it notes, reminding you to do all of your daily activities as your memories are wiped every night as you sleep. Every day you must go through them all one by one completing the tasks set out. One day you stop doing one of these activities, but forget to remove the post-it note reminding you do said activity. The next day you read the note telling you to do this cancelled activity, and automatically go to do this, only to find out that the tools required are gone, so you then skip it and go onto the next post-it note. This is kinda what happens wit the registry, there might be an entry telling windows to load a certain program that has been removed, so Windows wastes time looking for that program before skipping it. This might only cause a very slight delay, but it adds up when there are hundreds, if not thousands of errors.

 

[SelimNiai]

Yeah, it cleared a heck of a lot of stuff, the basic Disk Cleanup misses 90% of the stuff.