B Computing Blog

Well, with this entry I’ve decided to do a ‘Top 10′ list. But this isn’t any old ‘Top 10′ list, this list shows you what you need to do to keep your computer running like the day it was taken out of the box. It has the 10 most useful tips and tricks to get your system back to full speed and makes using your computer a pleasure, rather than a pain.

So, without further ado, lets begin:

1. Delete Temporary Internet Files

You may think this is not important, but whenever you view a picture, listen to a sound, or just view web pages, all these files are stored on your computer as temporary Internet files, as you can imagine, these can build up pretty quickly, and can take up a lot of room, so it is handy to clear this every week or so. And to do that, follow the instructions below for the web browser that you use.

Microsoft Internet Explorer:

Go to Tools -> Internet Options, and a window will pop up, make sure you are on the general tab, and if you are using Internet Explorer 6, the it will look like this:

Simply click on ‘Delete Files…’, then click OK, then OK again.

Or, if you are using IE7, then it will look like this:

Once you have clicked on ‘Delete…’, it will come up with another window which has a list of the type of information held in the folder, here you can choose to delete on certain parts of it, for instance, you may want to keep your passwords, so you would click delete for everything else, or you can just click the ‘Delete All’ button and remove the whole lot, one you have dont this, cimply click OK and OK again.

Mozilla FireFox:

Go to Tools -> Clear Private Data, then as above, if you want to keep your passwords or anything, simply uncheck that one, and when your ready, click on ‘Clear Private Data Now’. And its done.

2. Uninstall any Unused and Unwanted Programs:

You’ll be surprised how many applications you have actually got installed on your PC, web browser toolbars, shopping companions, video plug-ins that you dont use, most of these unwanted and usually not known about programs were most likely installed when you install an application you actually use, such as a virus scanner or a web browser, most of these install small programs that just clog uo your PC. So, heres how you get rid of them:

Click Start -> Control Panel, or Start -> Settings -> Control Panel, depending on how you have things set up, then click on ‘Add/Remove Programs’, and a new window should appear.

It may take a while, but it will eventually load up with a list of programs that you have installed on your system, simply go through the list, select the ones you wish to rid yourself of, and click ‘Remove’, simple as that, you my have to go through a small uninstall procedure, its usually just a case of clicking Next until it says its uninstalled.

If you are not sure what something is, just type its name into Google, and it should come up with what it is and if it is associated with anything you use, as it may have been installed for another application to work, so best to double check.

3. Run the Disk Cleanup Tool

This is a tool which is available by going to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Cleanup.

This helpful tool helps you free some space on your hard drive, you can clear temporary files, compress old files, empty the recycle bin etc. through this, so its saves you having to go to each folder and deleting everything in it, it also tells you how much space you are getting back as well, which is handy to know as then you can see just how much rubbish you have collected.

4. Keep On Top Of Your Start Up Programs

See all those icons at the bottom right of your screen? Click the little arrow if they are getting hidden, all of them load up when you start your computer, so that’s why it takes a little while to warm up and get ready for use. There are a couple fo ways to get them top stop loading up everytime you boot up.

First, go to Start -> Run. Then type; msconfig, and click OK. Once the window had loaded up, click on the ‘Startup’ tab across the top, now see the list, everything with a green tick next to it is starting up when windows loads up. Go through the list and choose which ones you really need, the only ones i usually have on there are my anti-virus/spyware programs, but you may have applications that you use everytime your on your computer, if so, leave them ticked, if not, uncheck them. If you dont recognise some of them, or they have funny names, they may be needed by Windows to start up, best to check them up online first before disabling them. Once your done, click OK, and then decide if you want to restart or not.

The other way of disabling them from loading up to go to Start -> Run, and type; services.msc. To stop it loading, simply double click on the chosen application, and in the dialog box that appears, select ‘Disabled’ from the Startup Type drop down box, then click OK. Some applications still reset themselves and run at start up, to stop this you can open the said program and go to its own settings and stop it from there.

5. Clean Your Registry

Your registry can get clogged up with quite a lot of rubbish which it doesnt need, everytime you unsinstall a program, even though its files are gone, the registry entries are still there, and there are entries which were used by programs, but now they have created a new updated registry entry, so there are entries pointed to file locations or values which dont exist, so are obviously not needed. You can access the registry direct by going to Start -> Run, and type; regedit. But to go through it and find the useless entries would be tedious and a very big waste of time, so there are programs that do it for us, available to download, free. I use RegSeeker, which is a freeware application and is very good, it is available for download here.

This program not only cleans your registry, but it also gives you options to optimise Windows, view start-up applications, view installed applications, amongst other useful tools. Its also very easy to use.

6. Run an Virus and Spyware Scan

There’s no point in doing all this work to your system if a pesky virus or some spyware is just going to download and install another set of applications and slow your computer down again, so keep on top of scanning for viruses and spyware, weekly scans are recommended.

There are freeware applications for both virus removal and spyware removal, which in my opinion, are more effective than some available to purchase. For a free Anti-Virus software try AVG, available for download here. And for an excellent Spyware/Adware removal tool, use Spybot - Search and Destroy, available for download here or there is also Ad-Aware, available here.

7. Update Your Computer

By saying update your computer, i dont mean buying extra RAM or getting a faster CPU, I mean, run Windows Updates, download and install them, Microsoft release security updates amongst other things on a regular basis, make sure you have them, they dont release them for nothing. To do this, go to Start -> Control Panel, or Start -> Settings -> Control Panel and select ‘Automatic Updates’ and from here you can set your system up to check for updates, daily, weekly etc. its up to you. If they were turned off, turn them on and click on the link to go to Microsoft update website to check for any new updates available.

It is also worth checking for updates for your graphics card, motherboard, sound card etc. All these things can perform faster and more efficiently with the latest drivers. Check the manufacturers website for updates.

8. Clean Your Computer

DUST! This is one of the biggest killers of PC, as people buy computers, and never, ever open them up, for years and years, and if they did, they would be appalled. Dust gathers pretty quickly and easily in computers, with fans sucking air in, dust is bound to follow, and it just gathers, in fans, on memory, over hard drives. And when it does this, heat builds up as the dust acts as an insulator, and heat, is the number one killer of computer components.

To clean your computer, turn it off and unplug all cables, unscrew the sides of the case, take a small paint brush, unused, and brush off any dust that you can see, for the places you cant reach, you can use a can of compressed air to blast it out, then give everywhere a once over with the compressed air and then suck out all of the loose dust with your hoover. Use the hoover on all of the fans, including the PSU fan at the rear of the machine, for any dust which is really stuck on, grab your brush again and give it a wipe over to loosen it, and then suck out the loose stuff. Its as easy as that.

Do that 2-3 times a year under normal use, increase according to usage. It doesnt take long but it is a good habit to get in to as it will benefit you in the long run!

9. DEFRAG Your Hard Drive

This is probably the job that should be done quite often, alongside virus scans etc. But, this is probably the most avoided jobs of all. Defragginf your hard drive is quite impirtant, and is a good way of keeping your hard drive and your system in good shape.

Defragging your hard drive puts your files and folders in order. Hard drives write data to the first available section on the hard drive, so if you have been using it for a while, and have deleted or moved files, then there are going to be gaps everywhere. Think of your hard drive as a newspaper, all the stories in a newspaper are programs on a hard drive, if you were reading a story about a recent robbery, and then all of a sudden you found yourself reading the latest football scores, you would have to go looking for the rest of your story. This is what a hard drive has to do as certain files for one program maybe at the beginning of the drive, but the rest of them could be scattered around in the middle or wherever the availble sections were when it was been installed.

When you defrag your hard drive, what it does is put everything in order, so that its not skipping from one side of the drive to the other for the same application. This not only means that it will be faster as it is all together, it also means that your hard drive will last longer because it doesnt have to work as much so it takes longer to wear out.

To Defrag your hard drive, go to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter. When you click this you can choose for your drive to be analysed, and it will tell you of you need it do be defragged or not. If it does, then click for it to start. It usually takes around 30-40 minutes, but can take a couple of hours, depending on the size of the hard drive, when it was last defragged, other processes that are running. Once complete you should see a noticeable difference in performance.

10. Shutting Down Your PC

Although an obvious one, it is also an important one. One of the most common problems that we get is the BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death). This is usually caused by disk errors, and bad sectors and boot sectors. The majority of the time, i ask them when it started, they say they turned it off, and it was like that when they turned it back on, when asked how they turn their PC off, the usual reply is, just hold the button in.

The reason a computer needs to be shutdown properly is because it has t close all of its processes, it writes data tofiles, and registrys, which include files that are used to start windows up, and if a hard drive looses power while accessing files, then this can cause damage such as sector damage. Although this can usualy be repaired using the chkdsk command, it costs you money to do that, and eventually it will stop working and you could end up loosing all your files.

When shutting down the operating system ties up all the loose end and makes sure none of your settings and information is lost. If it wasn’t necessary and important, then it wouldn’t have the option to shut down. Plus, with it only taking a couple of seconds, its an easy way to make sure you dont damage our system.

Well, that it, there’s your Top 10 tips to keep your computer healthy, hope they helped, and hope they will help in the future when your PC just aint as fast as it was!

Keep checking back as there will be more advice coming soon, including how to build your own computer, which will hopefully involve me showing you on camera!

See you next time!