Cleaning Up Your Computer

[Justanormalguy]

If you notice your computer is a bit slower than usual opening web pages, or you hear the hard drive whirring even though you didn't click on a link to another web page, it might be a good idea to invest some time to clean up your computer. Even if you don't have these problems, it still might be a good idea.

This is what I did:

- from the Start Menu, I went to Settings to Control Panel and opened Add or Remove Programs. I looked at the programs to see if there was any strange programs there. First thing I saw was "Advertisement Service." That's all I needed to see.

- then I ran Windows Update from the Start Menu. I installed 34 security fixes for Windows XP.

- I updated Spybot. I scanned my computer and removed 34 malicious files (malware) including trackers, adware, and such. It didn't remove "Advertisement Service."

- I updated Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware. I disabled Spybot - Search & Destroy, ZoneAlarm and AVG Anti-virus, and scanned my computer. The first pass found two more malware files. Anti-Malware removed them and the registry entries from my computer. The second time my computer was clean.

- I scanned my computer again with Spybot and got a clean bill of health.

- I scanned my computer with AVG (auto updated) and got a clean bill of health.

You might also want to clean up/defrag your hard drive. I didn't clean up/defrag my hard drive though. I didn't bother with this step as I didn't want my computer tied up for the next two days.

BTW, I highly recommend scanning your computer with Anti-Malware. The last time I had a nasty trojan on my computer, I couldn't remove it with Spybot, AVG, Norton's, McAfee and Trend Micro. Anti-Malware wiped it out on the first pass.

It'd be nice to hear how many malware files y'all found on your computers.

 

[dreamblade]

I'm clean, since I do pretty much what you outlined every 3 months. The difference is on top of malwarebytes, I use Avast instead of AVG, and don't bother with spybot anymore.

Also a quick way to check for spyware and useless programs running in the background is to go to RUN in the START menu (SEARCH in Vista), type msconfig, and go through the items in your startup tab. Uncheck anything you don't need (google the .EXE files if you're unsure)

 

[BoringBob]

You should let the windows updates run automatically. Don't wait 3 months, they have plenty of updates that will help you be secure, don't wait.

Make sure you have good anti-virus on your system. Norton Internet 2009 works well and is very quiet (not a memory hog) and does everything in the background.

Don't use IE. Why run the biggest wide open door in the world? Firefox occassionally has issues, but the number of holes is small. IE is like a window without glass, everything can get in.

Don't run files directly. If you want to install something, download it, let Norton sniff at it, and work from there. Don't download from unknown sites, and when unsure, search google for the name of whatever you are intending to download plus "spyware" or "scumware" or "toolbar".

When you install things, click through SLOWLY and read the install screens. Even seemingly "nice and safe" things like java updates now try to load your system up with toolbars. Read carefully and turn off as many things as you can.

More than anything, if you get to a website and it says "you need this to see the content" leave website immediately. Don't download codecs or players or anthing like that from anywhere but the official site. If you get a message saying you need a new version of flash, then close the browser, go to the flash site, and look for the update. DON'T RANDOMLY DOWNLOAD.

Oh yeah, the vast majority of torrent downloads now have spyware and other viruses inside. If you are using torrents as a source of software, good luck - you earned what you get.