My new Dell has shipped and will arrive this week replacing a 6 year old XP system. I’m going from 1 gb of RAM to 16.
Regardless of how hot the new system is, I’m a realist and know that with Windows, this system will eventually slow down and become a tedious slow slug just like the old system.
Any tips or suggestions for:
cleaning/tuning up the new system when it arrives.
cataloging what is running as services and options so that I can refer back to my “fresh” system at some later point.
Two programs I use for my PC and laptop, and both are free:
AVG anti-virus and Ccleaner, both available on www.download.com, and believe me I don’t have a piece of either of these.
They require regular updates but they both work great for me, and any problems I’ve had with my computer were mostly my fault, nothing to do with them. The PC has been running fine for 4 years, the laptop for going on 3.
You’ll probably get a lot of shovelware with your new PC. While I have not used it myself, The PC Decrapifier comes well-recommended for clearing it out.
Then, after you’ve done that, make a full system image so you don’t have to use the system restore option Dell gives you, which will just restore all the shovelware too.
Every few months or so, run msconfig from the command prompt. Uncheck any Processes and Startup apps that are unnecessary. Over time, you will find that various apps will install various processes for updating or monitoring stuff. A lot of these are unnecessaril and slow down your PC.
In Windows Explorer, go to Tools->Manage Add-ons and disable any Toolbars or Extensions you don’t use. Other browsers have something similar.
Beware of the word Free, especially if the page is flashy or colorful. Don’t fall for free icons, screensavers, overly cutesy games, etc.
Best course of action is to run your web browser in a “Sandbox”, that isolates it from the rest of your file system. Bad guys keep figuring out how to get their malware run on your computer, and the browser is usually how it gets there.