How to get more life out of your computer

These steps are used by most professionals and cost you almost nothing to do yourself. They help your computer run like new and last twice as long!

Viruses - We all know the dangers of computer viruses and the potential they have to ruin our computer. The worst one can erase your entire hard drive! Although the idea of making someone suffer is beyond me, I do know to protect my computer. Even if your computers anti virus software is fully upgraded, one bad email can reck havoc on your computer. They have said that one in four emails contains a virus, and that is a scary thought. The best way to avoid opening one of these potentially dangerous viruses is to never open up an email if you do not know how it is from. Also never respond to spam since it will do more harm then good. There are also many links you may see to click on to remove your address from receiving spam emails. Be careful, these are really just spammers trying to see if your email address is active or not so they can pass it on to other spammers!

Clean out the dust - Dust, pet hair, and other debris can build up inside your computer and clog the cooling fans which can overheat and ruin your computer. To avoid this from happening, About every six months or so follow these steps to clean the inside of your computer.
Open the side of your computer, or bottom if its a laptop by removing the few screws with a screwdriver.
Use a can of Air duster you can buy for around $6 a can and use it to clean the gunk inside.
You should do it outside or in an area you don't mind making dirty since it can be messy as the gunk blows out of your computer.

A cluttered hard drive - If you notice your computer running really slow lately it can be due to an over-cluttered hard drive. About once a week you should run the clean up that is already on your computer. Follow these steps to do this.
From the start button, go to Programs, Accessories, then to System Tools
Next click onto the Disk Defragmenter then Disk Cleanup
This helps to delete all of the unused files which cause your hard drive to be clogged and run slow.

To many icons - If you have many icons on the lower right hand corner of your computer next to the clock, well they could be draining the memory on your computer. To fix this problem and boost memory follow these steps.
Go to Options or Preference sections of each program and disable the start when windows start feature.
It does nothing to the program itself, it just means you have to turn them on manually hen you want to use the program.
The two programs you want to leave alone are the anti-virus you use as well as the anti-spyware program. Also any other programs you actively use on a regular basis.

Spyware - You may have multiple spyware on your computer and not even know it. just by clicking on a link or pop-up, it can unknown to you sneaking spyware programs into your computer. Then they monitor your moves online and report it all back t spammers. very sneaky! To help avoid these from getting into your computer you should download and run good anti-spyware software on your computer. You can get a free download of Ad-Aware at http://www.lavasoftusa.com. Also before you ever download any screensavers, wallpapers and other similar items, run them first by http://www.download.com which is a site that scans programs for spyware for you free.

If you are nervous about performing any of these tune ups for your computer then you can always go to a professional. They will charge you typically between $50-$75 an hour. Even stores like Office Max will check it out for free and tell you what is wrong with it and offer to fix it for a fee. To go with anyone else you may want or find a trusted expert in your area by using a website like http://www.kudzu.com which will help you locate one.

Keep your anti-virus up to date and never go online without it!