7 Secret Tips to Keep Your PC Running at Its Best!

Do you know that the minute you take you're new PC or laptop out of the box that it came in, it starts to loose its spunk and slow down? While this slow-down is generally not terribly noticeable at first, your computer does slow down with each use, and without proper care by you, it will continue to slow down each and every day.

The good news is that there are many things which you can do to keep your system running like the day you first unpackaged it and set it up, and sometimes make it run even better! Here are the top seven tips to do just that:

Tip #1 Regularly Clean-Up Your Start Files – As you will soon notice, every software application you install on your system wants to start itself up every time you turn on your computer. While in some cases, such as virus software, this makes sense, for most applications you do not want to see them unless you have a need to use them. The auto-loading of all of these programs simply serves to slow down your computer and causes it to take forever to boot-up in the morning.

To clean your start-up files, go to Start->Run and type “msconfig.” This will pop-up a dialogue box where you can select the “Startup” tab and remove all of the applications which start on their own that you do not want to. You should do this regularly to see which programs have snuck in there without your knowing about it.

Tip #2 Regularly Remove and Adware and Spyware from Your System – Usually when you install free software which you have downloaded from the internet, it comes with malicious code called Adware and Spyware. These pieces of code run in the background on your computer and track the things you do on your computer. They are an invasion of your privacy and they make your computer slow.

To rid yourself of Adware and Spyware you can download free software programs such as “AdAware” and “SpyBot Search and Destroy” and clean your system with them. Both programs are easy to install, simple to use, emove different malicious files than each other, and they clean up your system very well when you use both of them one right after the other.

Tip #3 Use Proper Un-installation Techniques – You may be under the impression that you can simply delete program files and that removes a program from your computer. Nothing could be further form the truth! To remove programs it is essential that you use the un-install programs which come with them, or use the un-install program in the Windows Control Panel. Doing this helps to clean out the registry of entries which are no longer valid and it helps to remove all files associated with software.

Tip #4 Use a Good Registry Cleaning Software Regularly – Even if you use uninstall programs on your computer system, your registry will still invariably get junked up with erroneous entries. To clean it out, and compact it down in size, you should invest in a good registry cleaning software package such as RegCure or Registry Mechanic. By running your registry cleaning software regularly you will keep your system running at its optimum speed and performance.

Tip #5 Use a Good Anti-Virus Software – If you are using a PC which connects to the Internet, then you need to have a very good anti-virus program running on your computer at all times. You need to make sure that it is set to update its virus definition files on a regular basis, and scans your PC regularly as well. Viruses can be very hard to get rid of once your system has one, and it is always better to head them off with a good anti-virus program.

Step #6 Dump Your Internet Cache Files – When you surf the net, a copy of every website you visit is copied down to your hard drive into a cache file. After a while, this cache file becomes huge if it is not deleted. These files are not needed for anything and should be removed. They are removed from the Tools ->Options tab within Internet Explorer, or in the Tools->Clear Private Data tab in Firefox.

Step #7 Defragment Your Hard Drive – Over time your hard drive gets cluttered up with fragmented data. To fix this problem, go to Start->Accessories->System Tools->Disk Defragmenter and run the defragment program on your hard drive.

With these simple seven steps, you can ensure that your computer keeps running well for years to come.