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Most of us don’t keep our computer as clean as it should be. I’m not talking about the exterior (although I’m sure that could be cleaned as well). I’m talking about cleaning up your hard drive and getting rid of all the unneeded junk that everyone accumulates over the years. You might have anything from partial installs to some nice malware or spyware. Either way, it slows you and your computer down. The following programs will help you keep your computer clean and running fast.
10.5 gigs of fragmented files, I’m glad I wrote this article. Defraggler is an application that will replace the default Windows defragging options. Defraggler is great, because it is extremely light weight and works much faster than defragging in Windows. It also allows you to pick and choose the files you want to defrag. This can make defragging painless and much quicker.
nCleaner is the Swiss Army Knife of this list. It allows you to clean your system, find unneeded junk, tweak your settings and manage your startup. In the past, I had a few programs that did all of the things that are included in this program, but I only need nCleaner now. It’s extremely easy to use, because it is very clear about what settings are recommended and what settings are not. Cleaning programs can often be intimidating or unclear about what they are changing, but nCleaner makes sure to be clear about the changes it is making on your computer.
AVG Free is often regarded as the best free anti-virus software available. It offers basic anti-virus and anti-spyware protection for your computer. The protection is basic, but if you know your way around the Internet and know what to avoid, it should provide sufficient protection.
Spyware is a problem for most computer users, and the thought of something trying to collect as much personal information as possible from my computer is more than enough to scare me. Spybot S&D is one of the best tools to remove all of that spyware and make your computer more private and run faster.
Ad-Aware does for malware what Spybot does for spyware. It will clean up and remove any malicious software that the other programs may miss. Ad-Aware rounds out my list of programs you need to get all of that stuff on your hard drive trying to slow you down.
Using all of these programs together will help keep your computer running fast for years to come. Are there any other programs you use to clean up your computer?
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
I use Defragglr, CCleanr and AVG for spyware I use Webroot Spysweeper, though the alternatives here look pretty good too.
I’m pretty fond of CCleaner, but nCleaner might be something I’ll try out. The others are all pretty good. Nice list!
Even though my computer needs to be cleaned up from time to time, I have to say that the #1 Security Trick is:
LINUX!!!! (You knew this was coming :D).
I dualboot, however, and I think that Ad-Aware and Defragglr are pretty good tools. However, another good trick is to prevent the viruses and malware to be prevented in the first place with Firefox.
Not to make any IE fanboys scream on their blogs, but not only is Firefox more safe, customization (although IE has its own plugin system that isn’t as hyped). Also, Firefox makes CSS simpler to write; When writing CSS for a form to change colors when active to inactive, I required only bare CSS for it to work in Firefox, and Javascipt and CSS integration for IE.
I hear Opera’s good too though.
Or you could just use an OS that doesn’t required constant babysitting with resource draining nanny applications.
Ubuntu is Free; free of cost, free to modify, and free of virus.
I also use DeFraggler and CCleaner. For the all purpose computer tweak and clean I use glaries Utilities, BUT I will say, I will have give nCleaner a try. It looks Like a great program. Thanks for the info.
I personally use JKdefrag and CCleaner.
I love CCleaner because it allows me to shread personal data ^_^
Used nCleaner, must say it is a GREAT too offering stuff that others only offer for money. It is not for beginners.
Universal Extractor(http://legroom.net/software/uniextract) is a pretty good tool to extract files from basic application installers. Pretty handy to have around if you don’t want to have to install anything, but just run it from a folder(thumb drive runs).
@Everyone Thanks for the feedback! I am a going to check out some of the suggestions. Keep ‘em comin!
Hey, Linux zealouts: I realize you need to preach your evangelism everywhere you go, but this blog entry is obviously for Windows people. There’s no need to spew your “Switch to Linux” stuff here. Go do it somewhere else.
Use most of these, haven’t tried ncleaner though will give it a try.
I Use Avira antivir, I feel it’s better than AVG.
Have you all ever try Threatfire? If not, you should try one. it’s free!
ThreatFire continually protects your PC against attacks by detecting malicious behavior, such as capturing your keystrokes or stealing your data, instead of only looking for known threats like normal antivirus software. By implementing sophisticated real-time behavioral analysis ThreatFire is able to stop never- before-seen “zero-day” threats solely by detecting their malicious activity.
Zero-day threats are usually designed to take advantage of new vulnerabilities or exploits that are currently unprotected by traditional security products. They are usually distributed in huge quantities very quickly by mass email (SPAM), website hijacks, instant messaging or over peer-to-peer networks. Because they are undetectable they are able to wreak havoc and compromise your PC even when you have up-to-date antivirus software installed.
ThreatFire’s patent-pending ActiveDefense technology offers protection against all types of internet threats - both known and unknown - spyware, adware, keyloggers, viruses, worms, Trojans, rootkits, buffer overflows, and other malware. ThreatFire uses its unparalleled protection to hunt down and paralyze those threats that are either too new or too clever to be recognized by traditional “signature-based” antivirus software.
the link/url to threatfire website
http://www.threatfire.com/
Relax there NotALinuxFanBoy,Tux-Man and Tyler where just making a valid suggestion. No one is spewing anything.
Also this article isnt written for just Windows users, NCleaner and Spybot can work on some Linux Distros, but there isnt much of a point when little to no spyware or viruses exist for Linux.
I’ve been using for malware cleaning: a-squared… beautiful program.. I use it with the classic adaware (2007 and 2008 adaware are both buggy based on my experience), and the always trustworthy s&D, avg 7.5 is still my antivirus (found some issues with s&d and avg 8 that is keeping hesitante to move on to avg 8). I’ll give ncleaner a try and see!
relax there Morridin, since there isnt much of a point when little to no spyware or viruses exist for Linux, this post is pretty much written just for windows users.
I’d axe AVG and nCleaner for better freeware.
Antivir: for viruses
cCleaner: crap cleaner
Spybot: spyware
AdAware: spyware
Dial-a-Fix: will fix most random glitches and errors in XP
Defraggler or Jkdefrag(takes longer)
HiJackthis: startups, hijacks
I’ve been doing this for years and these tools are absolutely essential.
Last time I used SpyBot, it came up as spyware or adware or something (can’t remember, it was a while ago). It was detected by Norton.
I use the following on my laptop;
avast — antivirus
Defraggler — De frag
Comodo FP — Firewall
SpyBot S&D — Spyware
Eraser (http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/) — Shredder
Revo Uninstaller (http://www.revouninstaller.com) — Swiss Army Knife
cCleaner — crap cleaner
Downloading ThreatFire right now (http://www.threatfire.com/). Tell me, do SpyBot and AdAware do the same job? Must say I like the sound of nCleaner, think I’ll try it out.