Time to Clean your PC
June 6, 2008 by admin
It’s summertime and time to do the proverbial summer cleaning. But don’t stop with the house and yard. Your computer can also use a good going over. A lot of junk can accumulate on the inside and on the hard drive of your PC.
Computers get real gunky. At least every year, it needs a good dusting.
Start with the fan. Compressed air from a can works, as does a vacuum.
And don’t forget the keyboard. Blow out the food crumbs that have piled up from those snacks you at while surfing the Net. Aerosol cleaning products applied to a clean rag and then rubbed on the grit removes the grime from the keys.
But the real PC spring cleaning challenge is inside.
First, get rid of the Adware and Spyware. Over a year all sorts of needless software can pile up, installed by websites to snoop on your privacy, deliver you unwanted ads and generally clog and clutter your computer. There are lots of programs that remove this. One I’ve had good results with is called No Adware. Two other programs I’ve used that also do the job well are Ad-Aware from Lavasoft and Spybot Search and Destroy. If you are like most users on the Internet, chances are you are probably infected with junkware. Most of the adware removal tools let you do a free scan to see what’s there, then, if you want help in removing it, they charge.
One more thing needs to be cleaned on Windows machines. It’s the Windows registry. The Windows Registry is a big database with the complete inventory of every program that sits on your PC.The more software and hardware you install and uninstall, the more your Registry fills up.
A lot of software doesn’t clean up after itself, and leaves behind old and obsolete Registry entries. This can slow down your machine. The more your Registry fills with this junk, the slower your PC gets and the more often you’ll have system crashes. Error Nuker is one of many special utility programs that will scan the Windows Registry on your machine to identify errors and ways to optimize the performance. A free registry cleaning utility program called Eusing has a lot of fans, too.
There are many, many tools you can get online that do these important tasks besides the ones I mentioned. Do a search for registry cleaners or adware removal to find more. Most offer free trial versions. And before you run any tool that removes anything, make a backup of any file that you are going to change. That way, if something goes wrong, you can easily restore your files and start over.
Get cleaning, everyone.
I can’t believe how much adware I had on my PC! Running much better now.
I have mauch adware but in order for me to get rid of it I have to BUY the program… way it sounded to me it was FREE.. what is there out there that is FREE.. Thanks for trying to help.
From my own experience. The best way to clean the registry is to not use any registry cleaner software. They can do more harm than good. They not only clean the bad registry keys but the good ones as well. If you decide to use one be sure to BACKUP your computer first.
Saw your report on getting rid of “adware” in my computer; So I went to YOUR suggested website (no adware) and paid $40.00 dollars online. But to my disappointment, to find out i just got ripped off!!!!! I followed the instructions to a perfect “T” and for nothing!!!! The download website given to me to does not even exist!(tried it numerous times) Not to mention when i tried to contact them, that is just a blank page. i would really like to hear back from you on this one, thanks a lot, Branden
What site?????
The program downloads fine! You must have done something wrong because it works great.
Here’s their support site. They are very responsive.
http://www.noadware.net/contact_noadware.htm
They even have live support each workday.
I got the program the other day and it is not a ripoff. It downloaded just as instructed and did a very good job. It is like upgrading my old Dell. It’s very snappy now. Good program!
No problems here, either. Glad I got it. My machine is running a lot better,
Per your post, I understood this to be free. It was not. Very disappointed to have spent the time for a paid advertisement.
Same for me as the others. It sounds like you get all this for free plus the kickbacks from the companies that charge everyone else. Talk about scams. http://www.mikepc.com is one of the worst I’ve come across in a long time. Good ridance to you SIR.
I, too, thought the download for the adware programs would be free. Not appreciating the mislead…
Thanks for the tips, I have been using Spybot for a while and it works great and can recommend it to others. Eusing has a cool free MP3 converter that I downloaded. I gave the free version of ad aware a try and it catches a lot of the things that spybot misses. It’s amazing how much junk collects if you don’t clean things up frequently.
For folks who are upset at things not being free, remember the saying, “You get what you pay for”! Ask yourself why a program is free — it may be no charge for a malicious reason. I personally stay away from Free Software - call me skeptical, but there’s usually a catch.
As for Adware/Spyware, I have been very pleased with my purchase of PC Tools Spyware Doctor. I chose it because of the awards it has received from numerous computer program testers and have been additionally happy with its ease of use. The support is pretty good too - I emailed a query to the tech department and received an answer back via email within 24 hours which included detailed step-by-step instructions that a novice would find easy to follow.