My computer is full of unwanted junk (caused by myself and everybody else that uses it) and I’m worried because it is ready to crash. What is the best cleaning method for cleaning it up and getting my computer back to how it should run?
It doesn’t take long, especially when sharing a computer, for a computer to become bogged down with junk. After all, if each user is downloading free games, screensavers, animated cursors, and other gizmos from the Internet, your computer’s hard drive can quickly fill up. What’s worse is that some of these programs may be malicious or may have had a secret payload, further contributing to the system’s instability.
Run Antivirus and Antispyware Tools First
Since it sounds like several users have downloaded programs, let’s start with a good malware scan and cleansing. As you are likely aware, these programs often arrive as hitchhikers on legitimate downloads. If you have multiple computer viruses or spyware programs hanging out on your system, your computer will act up and crash frequently. Use a reputable antivirus program with spyware detection features and run a complete (not quick) system scan. If you need a recommendation, read our Antivirus Reviews page.
Remove Unnecessary Programs
Once your system comes up clean of viruses and spyware, it’s time to remove the junk. Use Add and Remove Programs (Windows XP) or Programs and Features (Windows Vista) to uninstall any games, toolbars, screensavers, and other software that you no longer want on your system. If the programs do not appear in these removal tools, look to see if an uninstall program is included in the application’s main folder. If not, you may need a third party uninstaller to remove it.
Remove Temporary Files
The Disk Cleanup tool (Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup) is an excellent built-in tool for clearing out the other junk including temporary Internet files, Recycle Bin files, dump files, and more. Running Disk Cleanup periodically is a good way to ensure that your computer’s hard disk doesn’t get so full that other programs can’t function.
Run the Disk Defragmenter
Next, use the Disk Defragmenter tool (Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter) to defrag the hard drive. This will realign all of the data on your disk so that Windows doesn’t have to work as hard to find what it needs. For example, when you first save a file to the disk, Windows places it in a specific location where it fits nicely. But, as you use the file and it becomes larger, it no longer fits. Therefore, Windows splits it up, putting pieces here and there and then patching the pieces back together as needed. By defragging the hard drive, all files are pieced back together and placed in locations where they fit in one piece. Once defragged, file access improves dramatically.
These steps are good, basic computer maintenance steps that you can take right now to clean your PC. If you want even more cleaning power, invest in a registry cleaner, such as RegCure, and let the software take care of cleaning out the Windows registry. A good registry cleaning can work wonders on a computer on the brink of crashing. Combined with antivirus/antimalware cleaning, removing unwanted programs, cleaning out temporary files, and defragging the hard drive, your computer should be in excellent shape once again.
Celeste Stewart | July 14th, 2009
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