Many of the computers I troubleshoot are the most simplest of problems. Most of the time, there would be a customer whose computer is deeply infected with viruses, taken over by trojans and annoyed by the malware and spyware that beg for new anti-virus programs and credit card information. Too many times where I would only need the same 3 programs to bring a system back to life, they are simple, actively updating and does not use as much processing power as the popular cleaners (Norton and McAfee, GO AWAY!), and the best part is, they’re all free!
The first program I run to tune up a computer is CCleaner. Running the cleaner checks through your internet and system directories, cleans out all cookies and temporary internet files and prevents pop-ups from occurring. CCleaner also has a registry mode, where it checks for inconsistencies from previously installed programs and removes them too keep your system running clean. Norton and McAfee are famous for doing this, I’ll explain more in the third reason. You can control which programs you want to keep, which is easier to use than using the Add/Remove Programs utility in Control Panel.
The second program for keeping computers running smoothly is Malwarebytes, which is a deeper cleaning tool then CCleaner, but doesn’t check your registry base. It does a detailed scan of your computer. Although it may take some time, it is worth the run because it uses definitions that are updated daily, and uses less memory to run. Running CCLeaner and Malwarebytes weekly is ideal.
The last program I use when I want to keep a computer clean for the long run, is the great AVG Free. This anti-virus software works wonders, it is far superior to McAfee and Norton. AVG is great because it doesn’t use as much memory and processes as Norton and McAfee do, monitors your activity more actively and is less of a hassle to deal with. When you uninstall McAfee or Norton and after you restart your computer, you need to go to their support website or Google their removal tool. The uninstall procedures don’t remove all the associated files to completely remove the program, which gets in the way when installing AVG. An error message will say that you need to uninstall the program after you already done so. Norton's Removal Tool or the McAfee Removal Tool is what you may need.
So there you go. These three programs are the best way to get your computer running in the long run. Since they all update automatically, there is no reason why your computer doesn’t run like it did when you bought it.
