How do I do weekly computer maintenance?

Question

I've heard that I should defrag weekly among other things, are there any websites out there (for computer dumb people) that have a list and explanations on what I should do weekly to keep the computer in tip top shape? Thanks.

Answer 1

There's a couple of web sites that give straight forward info about cleaning the hard drive. Just search on these sites for defrag, disk cleanup, system file check, etc. and get the info you need. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer so if I can understand these experts, anyone can.

http://www.theeldergeek.com/

http://www.updatexp.com/

http://ask-leo.com/

Answer 2

Update your anti-virus and (anti-)spware programs and run them.

Defragging once a week is excessive--once a month is more like it.

About every 6 months run CCleaner to clean out your temp files, those error reports, and log files. I just downloaded CCleaner (my computer is a little over 6 months old) and there were 4000+ files at 386MB to clean out.

Answer 3

Defrag- Go to start, my computer, then right click on C: and select properties, then go to tools, do defrag, and then run defragment.

disk clean up- do the same thing except when you're in tools, do disk clean up, not defrag. this will delete old files you don't need.

make sure you have atleast 5GB of free space on the hard drive windows is installed on. if not, uninstall old programs you dont use by going to start, control panel, add or remove programs, then remove the old ones.

run anti spyware/adware scanners- http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx thats windows defender. it'll delete all adware and spyware on your computer.

get anti virus- http://www.windowsonecare.com/ thats windows one care live. it'll scan for viruses.

Answer 4

This site summarizes what you should do once a week -
http://netsquirrel.com/fabfive/index.html

Basically,
1 update antivirus/antispyware definitions
2.run microsoft update
3.run Scandisk (or chkdsk)
4.run defrag
5.back up your files

To this list you can add disk cleaning - getting rd of temp files, cookies etc. Use a free utility called CCleaner
http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/

Answer 5

Go to the tools menu - opt for internet options -
delete cookies - yes and then delete files - yes - this will help keep your internet files clean!@

Answer 6

weakly