For virus protection, I recommend either AVG Free Edition 8.0 (Current release) or PC Tools which costs $50 and can be used on three computers. ($50 as comapred to the hundred or so for Norton) For Spyware and Adware, I recommend Malware Antibytes (Free) which should pretty much do the trick. You can also try Ad-Aware SE Personal or Super AntiSpyware Free Edition. If you want to do a cleanout of your computer without getting a computer technician in, try the following: Deleting cookies, temporary files and temporary internet files: Go to Start>My Computer and right click on the C Drive and select Explore. Go to Documents and Settings>Default User>Cookies and hit Ctrl + A and then delete. Then while still in Documents and Settings, go to Local Settings. History>History IE5 then Ctrl + A and delete. After that, click the folder called Temp which should be directly under History in the left toolbar (It will say History then underneath have Temp and a plus button next to it) and Ctrl + A and delete. Then click Temporary Internet Files which will be directly underneath Temp. Temporary Internet Files>Content IE5 and then Ctrl + A and delete. Then look for a folder called Recent (Make sure when looking for these, you use the left toolbar with the list of folders to make it easy) and Ctrl + A and delete. Next we want to select the folder called Guest (If applicable) and repeat the above steps. Do the same again with your folder (For example my name is Kris and so is my account on my computer so I'd look for the folder called Kris) and repeat as directed above. NOTE: To make it easier to find folders, when you have done clearing out each User Folder (Default User, Guest, [Your name here], [Someone else's name here]) click the Minus icon next to the User Folder. It will hide all folder options from the particular user that you have just cleaned. Now hit the Minus icon next to Documents and Settings. It should now go back to the way it was when you first clicked Explore. Find the folder called WINDOWS and click the Plus icon next to it. WINDOWS>Prefetch and then Ctrl + A and delete. Then find the folder called Temp. WINDOWS>Temp and then Ctrl + A and delete. Then find the folder called System32. NOTE: BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THIS FOLDER, ONLY DELETE WHAT I TELL YOU OR YOU RISK RUINING YOUR SYSTEM WINDOWS>System32>Config>systemprofile>Cookies and Ctrl + A and delete. WINDOWS>System32>Config>systemprofile>Temp and Ctrl + A and delete. WINDOWS>System32>Config>systemprofile>Temporary Internet Files and Ctrl + A and delete. WINDOWS>System32>Config>systemprofile>Recent and Ctrl + A and delete. After that, you should be fairly clean and some of the viruses, trojans and other rubbish should be cleaned out. I suggest running a virus scan (AVG, PC Tools) and a Spyware/Adware scan (Malware, Ad-Aware, Super AntiSpyware) after you have done the clean out to get anything that is left in your system. QUICK RUN OVER OF DELETION: Documents and Settings>Default User>Cookies Documents and Settings>Default User>Temp Documents and Settings>Default User>Temporary Internet Files Documents and Settings>Default User>Recent Documents and Settings>Guest>Cookies Documents and Settings>Guest>Temp Documents and Settings>Guest>Temporary Internet Files Documents and Settings>Guest>Recent Documents and Settings>(Your account name)>Cookies Documents and Settings>(Your account name)>Temp Documents and Settings>(Your account name)>Temporary Internet Files Documents and Settings>(Your account name)>Recent Documents and Settings>(Other account name)>Cookies Documents and Settings>(Other account name)>Temp Documents and Settings>(Other account name)>Temporary Internet Files Documents and Settings>(Other account name)>Recent WINDOWS>Prefetch WINDOWS>Temp WINDOWS>System32>Config>systemprofile>Cookies WINDOWS>System32>Config>systemprofile>Temp WINDOWS>System32>Config>systemprofile>Temporary Internet Files WINDOWS>System32>Config>systemprofile>Recent Hope you find this helpful. PS: This run through was Windows XP only.
Code: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management] "DisablePagingExecutive"=dword:00000001 Will place the kernel in RAM, speeding up boot by upto 60% and reducing seek times. Only use with 512mb or more ram. This may increase the chance of crashes but by a negligable amound (<5%)
CCleaner is safe. I have been using it for a long time, and haven't had any problems so far. Also it cleans out your registry files, start up programs / exe's / files, and uninstalling programs. If you want to try safer then buy Auslogics Boot Speed. It has Disc Cleaner, Disc De fragment, Registry Cleaner, and Security Protection. Zain
CCleaner is safer than manually removing registry entries and deleting temp files. It has the added safety of not being able to accidentally hit the delete button while reaching for enter.
