is there such thing as tuning-up your computer?

Question

I am a old-school mechanic, i trongly believe in preventative maintenance..like tuning-up your car once in a while, clean up your fridge, your heater at home.... everything, just to keep them runing at optimal level. What about computer ? how do you do it?

Answer 1

take control over your system processes....don't let every program under the sun set itself to launch with windows

use the msconfig tool to control your startup programs as well as windows services.

pay careful attention to options when installing software...don't let it assume you want to use the program for everything and set itself as the defualt for more than you want it to do....More often than not I only install the basic functions for a lot of software just to avoid the extra bloat.

also be wary of freeware.....make sure it doesn't come bundled with "third party software"....that's usually adware and such.

If you're on IE version 6....disable active-x controls when heading off to a shady website....quick way to pick up spyware. IE version 7 is more secure as is opera or firefox

anti-virus is considered pretty basic preventative mainenance but good common sense goes a long way too....I don't use any anti-virus or firewall software and I download a ton of software all the time but I manage to keep a pretty clean ship. Know what you're downloading and where it's coming from. No independant release crap that 3 people on a p2p network happen to be sharing....whether I'm getting the new vista or photoshop or even smaller apps....any software i get is a major crack team release and available from thousands of good sources. Same is true for any keygens or activation workarounds. It comes fom either fairlight, clony, razr, deviance, or some other established crack team.

Getting the basics down to be the normal routine is the key. If you just sit in ignorant mode everyone from yahoo to microsoft or any low level hacker with a virus will take advantage of that....that's kind of what they count on to begin with. I wonder how many people have yahoo toolbar, google toolbar, windows live help toolbar....and how many others that auto installed for them and they wonder where all the friggin ram went. I've seen systems with 30 or more programs running at startup and they have no clue why they can't boot without memory errors.

cheers!

Answer 2

well you can tuna fish, and tune a piano, and even tune a computer.

First you need to download some adware software. Get ad aware from www.downloads.com It is freeware and one of the best adware programs out there. make sure you update the defintions.

run the adware program.
run an antivirus.
Under accessories in the start menu, look for systems tools and run disk clean up, and then run disk defragment

each of these options should be set into a schedule task and run weekly (minimum). by doing this you will make sure
1. there is no mal ware, adware on your computer using memory and processor speed
2. that cookies and other things are removed from your computer.
3. that any programs that you may have deleted, or fragmented in any way are cleaned up.

Answer 3

Yes, there are programs that will do a good job but you have to know what you are doing as some of them are quite aggressive and may prompt you to remove stuff that you need. I have Tune Up Utilities but seldom use it as I can do it with other programs. Run Virus scans, spyware S&E, and Ad-Aware, clean out your browser cache and if you have a registry cleaner use it but be sure you know what you are doing. I edit my registry manually to check stuff and also use the registry cleaner in my virus program. Also if your computer is running well, disable System Rerstoreand do a defrag to clean out all the stuff it has stored and then re-enable it and it will make a system restore point at that time.


Ron

Answer 4

Scan for viruses, scan for spyware, run disk cleanup to clear temp files, run a registry cleaner such as ccleaner, and use start>run>msconfig to check for any software loaders you may want to disable. Back up regularly.

On the hardware side, clean out the inside of your case regularly with a small vacuum or compressed air. Make sure all the fans are clean and working. Make sure memory and cards are set in tight. Keep food and drinks away from the PC.

Answer 5

1Quantum mechanics coach all of those assumptions to be incorrect. If Quantum theory weren't superb suited - your television wouldnt artwork - whether it does artwork - you may attempt watching Discovery channel on occasion 2 a million in 10^one hundred is amazingly a small quantity by technique of comparisson to the style of stars that have existed in the universe (i'm correcting your slightly incorrect premise here - that quantity is the cnances of existence latest in theuniverse - relatively mathmatically it particularly is extraordinarily lots specific that existence might strengthen a minimum of someplace - in some sort 3 there are countless self replicating molecules that have been got here upon a number of them occuring spontaneously in nature and a few of them artifical. - there are nevertheless countless hypotheses as to how the unique cells have been shaped - we havent hit on it yet yet we can sooner or later lots as we didnt understand what dna grew to become into till incredibly those days.

Answer 6

Delete unnecessary files and programs,
Back up ur data.
Use Scandisk and Defrag for checking the errors and fixing them.
Just proper dusting and cleaning of monitor, cleaning the mouse and key boards,Checking the wire for the cuts etc....
Thats enough.

Answer 7

you can defragment and clean up drives but i know no other way