What do you do to maintain your PC

[Travelin2]

I notice that after spending some time researching an item to purchase by going to multiple different websites or spending time on some forum boards, that my computer will start running slower, having trouble opening pages or being hesitant and jerky when trying to type into a search bar. I have found that I can resolve some of these problems by running a disc cleaner and restarting. Its' not always perfect because the computer sometimes is slow to get going again. I'm not sure if I should click all the disc cleaner categories before I click delete or only delete what is checked automatically. I have found this helps by just stumbling around through all this new stuff and not from any real knowledge or training.

I was hoping others on here that are sharper than I could help us lower ranked users with your secrets of how you keep your computer humming along happily.

What do you do? How often do you do it? How does one figure out which programs that have mysteriously showed up on the program list can be uninstalled without problems?

[austinjenna]

I run Cleanup by Steven Gould (free) and ccleaner. Malwarebytes and Avast

[2012Coleman]

Travelin2 wrote:
Well, I figured there is no need in asking for advice if you don't make use of whats offered. So, I installed Ccleaner and ran that then I switched to Firefox from Microsoft Edge, and installed the Adbloc add-on. I noticed an immediate improvement in response time in the computer. The Ccleaner ran for about 10 minutes to come up with a list of many, many thousands of files to delete. I will continue to read and learn from the other thoughts offered here.

I do find something odd.....I use "Besthomepageever" for my homepage on Firefox and the search bar on that homepage still has the Google search engine logo on the bar. I'm not sure how I get rid of that and make it use Firefox. Maybe just don't use that bar but the one up at the top on the Firefox bar?

At the top right side, there is a box with 3 lines - click it, select options, then select search from the left. There is a drop down box to choose the default search. If there are no other choices in that box, click on the Restore Default Search Engines button below - and the add more search engines link below that if your preferred search engine is not in the list.

[acker1]

When I have problems I go here: http://forum.worldstart.com/ Been using it for years. It has a couple of people that are excellent with helping out. She will tell you what to run, you post the results, she'll read them then suggest the next step. Also has a list of safe places to download from, list of links to free ad blockers, virus protection, malware protection, etc. Do yourselves a favor and at least check it out.

DICK

[MEXICOWANDERER]

For me
Firefox was the answer
When it gets constipated I press the REFRESH button. Magic

[owenssailor]

In addition to AVG antivirus and CCleaner I have found it very useful to use System Mechanic. It does an excellent job of speeding up slow PC's. I've used it on many computers for people with excellent results.

As for regularly reformatting and reinstalling I have never had to do that to solve any slow PC problem.

[theoldwizard1]

One thing almost no one thinks of is blowing out the dust !

If you have a laptop just you "canned air" and spray in all of the vents. It will run cooler and the fan will not come on as quick.

Desktop need to be taken outside before opening the side and blowing them out because they can have an absolute TON of dust and hair inside them !

I just did my laptop and now the fan is running at idle speed most of the time !

[woodhog]

Try this: Linux Mint

Easy to operate, looks nice, all programs are free.

[Heisenberg]

It would be ********** if it was a bad word.

Heisenberg was a Physicist. Or another was a high school chemistry teacher and a cook.

[wa8yxm]

I have found many ads seem to carry a little something extra with them... Which is why I have a first rate firewall and multiple anti virus programs none of which are McAffee (They have been rumored to release viruses to encourage you to buy their product,, a crime, I do not support them).

Still slows down though.

[2oldman]

Heisenberg wrote:
Wow I did not know Cra_p was a bad word.

For all I know, Heisenberg may be a bad word! 🙂

[Heisenberg]

Wow I did not know Cra_p was a bad word.

[Heisenberg]

I had an IT job. People who worked with me still bring their stuff over. They go to the worst places online. And I have seen their all, I warned them beforehand that they had trails. The best way for them to maintain speeds are the basic settings on **** Cleaner.See here

It is a little bothersome for me trying to sell other versions so I do not use it. I have my own ways. But for most they find it worth the trouble. AND it works.

[MrWizard]

i use Malwarebytes and Avast AntiVirus

[strollin]

HackerAce wrote:
Buy a Macbook, but seriously, when I was a Windows user I would routinely format the hard drive and reinstall everything from scratch.

Look into Cisco Umbrella, a cheap way to protect yourself from the evil ness of the interwebs.

I sincerely don't know what you could possibly be doing to your computer that would require you to reformat it routinely. I built the computer I'm using to type this post about 5 years ago, installed Windows on it then (Windows 7, since upgraded in-place to Win 10) and haven't experienced any slowdowns or malfunctions that would require a reformat. I have had computers that I used for 10 years without reformatting. The onlt time you should need to reformat and reinstall is in the case of a disk drive failure.