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At my current job, there is a never ending stream of customers that come in with PC problems that can be easily avoided.  PC running slow, taking forever to restart, various forms of virus’s and malware, etc etc.  This list can go on forever.

Here are some tips and some software you can use to avoid a lot of these problems.

1.  MSConfig

To start “msconfig”, click Start and then click Run.  If you don’t see it, hold your Windows Key and press “R”.  This should bring up the run box.  Now type “msconfig” and hit enter.  You now have your “System Configuration” window open.  At the top, Navigate to the “startup” tab.  This list of software are the programs that will run when you turn your computer on.  Disable anything you don’t need and be wary of suspicious looking programs.

2.  CCleaner

Formally called “Crap Cleaner”, CCleaner is another cleanup utility many people use.  It can scan your computer for junk files that you don’t need that will be taking up space, tell you how much space it is all taking up, and then you can clean it all up.  Think of it as the “Disk Cleanup Wizard” from Windows, but better (in all ways possible).  CCleaner also has a registry cleaner which I have noticed works quite well.  Caution : Never forget to make a backup of your registry before making changes to it!

CCleaner (Download from FileHippo)

3.  Hard Drive Defragging

De-fragmenting (aka defrag) is a special process where windows can re-arrange the Physical location of files on the hard drive.  Imagine this; you walk into a library looking for a particular book but everything is out of order.  How long do you think it will take you to find the book you are looking for? Same thing with a hard drive.  It will take longer and put more of a strain on your hardware having to go searching for everything instead of it being clean and orderly.  Recommendations for defragging software?  You can use one that comes with windows; or you can use “Defraggler”; created by the same company as CCleaner (See above).  Only defrag about once a month as over-doing it can put more of a strain on your hard drive.

4.  Make regular scans for malware.

This is one of two musts.  There’s billions of spyware, scareware, and almost-anything-else-you-can-think-of-ware.  There’s plenty of software you can use for this although most of us techies will use multiple ones.  Suggestions?

MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (Download Here) – I have always had good luck with this program.  Can find almost anything I throw at it.

Spybot Search and Destroy (Download Here) – Have seen it find problems that Malwarebytes has missed, but at the same time I’ve seen it the other way around (This is why we use more than 1 program).  It has a really nifty “Immunization” feature where I noticed it will also add a MASSIVE list of known malware sites to your hosts file (127.0.0.1   <malware>) so that if you DO try to load it, it will just time out because you are trying to connect to yourself.

Super Anti-Spyware (Download Here) – Another one used at the office; but personally I haven’t used it.  From what I hear from all my co-workers it works really and no one has reported it causing any problems.

5.  Make regular Antivirus Scans.

This is another must.  There are plenty of antivirus programs out there, most are subscription based on a yearly renewal but there are also a lot of very good and free alternatives.  Most of us at the office use Avast! free edition, others use a subscription based AV from Computer Associates.

…but if you are “browsing naked” as it’s called (not using any antivirus), then you can still run normal scans with ESET Online Scanner (which is another popular one; requires IE and ActiveX).

ALL of these methods can help keep you protected (to an extent) and keep your computer running at optimal speeds.  When I have a client that has problems with their computer going slow, etc.  This is the extact list I use and go down with.  Msconfig, CClean it, Malware and Spybot scan it, then ESET Online scan.  Reboot and hope for the best.

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There’s a million different programs out there and if you don’t already know about FileHippo, you need to know about it.

FileHippo stores programs and all the versions they have ever had.  Want to find the version of Adobe Reader from 2004?  They have it.

Filehippo also has a program of their own called the “FileHippo update checker”.

This application gets a list of most of the applications on your computer, then checks Filehippo if you have the latest version.  I’ve tested and used it and it works great.  Give it a shot.

http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/

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There’s been many, many, many times I’ve had to re-image a hard drive.  At my first job after I moved to a new city, we used “Zen Image” to pull a disk image over the network for deploying new PC’s at a school.  My most recent job we use it to clone a customers hard drive and move it to a new hard drive.

Disk imaging is a quick and easy process with various types of software.  Most are made in Linux.  I’ve used Acronis, which can be found for free if you get it from Seagate, Maxtor, or Western-Digital.  Of course it is re-branded but it’s not that big of a deal.

Anyways, to the point.

Clonezilla is a free disk imaging utility that pretty much anyone can use, assuming you know what disk cloning, imaging, reimaging, etc. even mean.

Consider this more of a resource for all the IT people out there, although they probably already know about it.

Clonezilla has pretty much the same features as many other disk imaging utilities.  Save/Restore disk, Save/Restore partitions, etc.

Give it a try.  To get it, head to their website which can be found here if you didn’t see the links above.

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As you may know computer viruses are everywhere and if you don’t have protection and you get one, owning a computer can turn into something more expensive than you thought.

I would recommend getting AVG, this is what most people I know use.  Here are some quick promo offers from them.

AVG Anti-Virus 9.0 – 2 years for the price of 1!

AVG Internet Security 9.0 – 2 years for the price of 1!

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I’m sure you are like me.

You’ve run into a problem, had to reformat, and didn’t keep a backup of software.  You reinstall software only to find out you have misplaced a jewel case or dvd case and you are lacking the ever-so-important License Key.  You search everywhere and are unable to locate it.

Drown those worries.

License crawler is free software that scans your registry for product keys so that you may back them up properly.   Me, I copy the entire window into notepad and print it out.  This free software ensures that you will never have to go through that frantic scavenger hunt for serials in your closet, countless spindles, booklets, etc.  Keep it all in one place and you will be good to go.

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