Speed Up Your PC in 3 Easy Steps, Part II

Last year, I wrote a Tech Tip describing the three fundamental steps to making your PC healthy:  "Clean, Defrag, and Prevent."  The tip described utilities that are built into Windows XP that help clean up and organize your PC's contents so that it can run more efficiently.

In the spirit of last month's Tech Tip of the Week touting several handy open source utilities available for free on the internet, here is a revision of The Three Steps that uses some excellent third-party applications that won't cost you a dime.


CLEAN.
Disk Cleanup is a basic Windows utility that deletes files off your hard drive that Windows knows you don't need anymore.  CCleaner is a free utility that does that same cleaning job, then takes the Lysol to several other sludgy corners of your hard drive.  It goes into your browser (including Firefox and Opera) and cleans out your browsing history and
cookies.  It examines your Windows Registry and remove unused and old entries, often a source for slow system performance.  (Wisely, CCleaner backs
up your registry before it begins tinkering with it.) It even examines some of your third-party applications and removes known temporary files.  CCleaner gives you the ability to select exactly which of these things to search for and delete, so you have granular control over how far you want to scrub your hard drive.

In my testing, I've found the application to work as advertised.  I have yet to encounter an installation or cleaning run that caused ostensible registry issues or application problems.

When you download and install the application, I recommend you check/uncheck the following boxes on the Install Options dialog box:

CHECK:        Add Desktop Shortcut
CHECK:        Add Start Menu Shortcuts
UNCHECK:  Add 'Run CCleaner' option to Recycle Bin context menu
UNCHECK:  Add 'Open CCleaner...' option to Recycle Bin context menu
CHECK:        Automatically check for updates to CCleaner
UNCHECK:  Add CCleaner Yahoo! Toolbar and use CCleaner from your browser

A final note on CCleaner: I have to give special props to a program that was originally distributed as "Crap Cleaner", but ended up shortening its name as a result of its popularity.


DEFRAG.
The disk defragmentation program built into Windows XP is fairly lame. Many people suspect it is no different than the Disk Defragmenter that was shipped with Windows 95 nearly thirteen years ago.  Windows Vista's version of Disk Defragmenter is actually worse than the one in Windows XP.  Gone is the nice graphical map of your hard drive's contents, showing an up-to-the-second diagram of the fragmented files on your drive.  (In fact, you don't even get a progress bar...the utility just says "Hey, I'm defragging now.  I'll let you know when I'm done.")  Both versions are painfully slow and often don't do a complete job.

AusLogics Disk Defrag is a nice alternative.  The program works quickly, gives you a nice diagram of the disk contents and the defragmentation at work, and sports a reliable progress bar.  After defragmentation, you get a quick summary of the defragmentation and it gives you the option of viewing a detailed report in your browser.

The application also notifies you of so-called "junk files" on your hard drive that you should remove.  This is little more than an ad, directing you to purchase AusLogics' BoostSpeed application for $30 from their website.  A minor
annoyance, but worth it considering the utility of the free Defrag app.


PREVENT.
In my original "Clean, Defrag, and Prevent" Tech Tip, I mentioned setting up your browser to prevent the accumulation of temporary internet files.

Let's expand the scope of this "Prevent" step to include the prevention of malware on your PC.  All Windows PCs should have antivirus, antispyware, and a software firewall installed for maximum
prevention against cyberthreats.  And as I described back in February, some of the best security software is absolutely free.  Installing and running security software can pay immediate dividends by eliminating malware that hogs your PCs resources.  The long-term security gains are less concrete but no less important:  information privacy and peace of
mind.  


Make The Three Steps a regular routine!  If you clean and defrag every few months and ensure you're preventing malware, you can be confident you're always using a healthy PC.