Keeping a clean, secure and well performing machine...

Question

Keeping a clean, secure system is tantamount to good computer performance. How do you do that? There are several things you should do which will ensure the best possibility of keeping a clean, secure and well performing machine:
1) Install anti-malware software
There are some very good "Free" programs available that are fully automated and will help to keep your system protected from malicious software. Some of these are listed Here...click the "Free Security Software Links Index" link, then click the "Anti-virus" link.
2) Practice safe surfing
"Safe Surfing" requires very little thought really. Using good common sense can help here. Avoid unscrupulous web sites. The "Web Of Trust" will help you identify many of those so you CAN avoid them.
3) Maintenance
Maintain your system by performing a disk cleanup and defrag on a regular basis.
Maintenance requires some planning. Your system accumulates debris from the web. "Debris", in the sense that many of these files are unnecessary to keep.
Getting rid of that debris is a simple process. Microsoft Windows users will find the free utilities provided by Microsoft, in all "Windows" platforms, are quite useful in helping users to maintain their systems. Those are, Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter. You can find these tools by navigating to"
All Programs-->Accessories-->System Tools
...both are friendly and easy to use. I'd like though, to clear up some confusion regarding the "Defragmenter" utility. Many users will neglect a system defrag based upon the analysis findings. I should address the:
"You do not need to defragment this volume"
...message that the defrag analysis returns.
You see, when Microsoft wrote that utility for the Windows platform, there were two distinctly different target audiences to consider. Those are, the corporate and home users. Two very big markets, with very different "needs". The effort and intent was to reach a happy medium when considering the threshold levels that would still work well for both customer bases without causing any significant performance issues for either, should one or the other have to live by those thresholds.
If I explained that well, then you might understand that the "threshold" Microsoft chose for the defrag utility will flag either customer base when fragmentation reaches...let's say it's about 20% (I really don't know WHAT it is, but I do know it's pretty broad) and anything under that will be flagged as:
"You do not need to defragment this volume".
All that means, really, is that you can delay a defrag when an analysis scan returns such a message...but it certainly DOESN'T mean that you should not defrag.
As a general rule, I will perform a full system defrag when my file fragmentation is beyond 3%. For me, that's about twice a week. For you, let's say it might occur once a month. I don't know, only you would but you should keep an eye on it (make ita habit) and see how long it takes to find your fragmentation at about that level. It can vary widely because it depends on the number of files you create, or delete and what type of applications you run during a "usual" user session.
Email, for example, is an application (whether native or not) that causes the creation and deletion of files on the hard disk. If you use an online email client, think of the "browser cache" when it comes to the number of emails downloaded and deleted. Those are all files that become fragmented whether they're on the hard disk, or make up the garbage in the browser cache, makes no difference...it's all still disk space no matter how you think of it.
Don't forget, even if you have your browser set to empty the temp files when you close it, the size of that "dump" file can vacillate, so to empty the cache upon closing the browser makes the next browser session run better but does nothing to assuage disk fragmentation.
You'll see, if you do that, the system performs well on each session.
In summary, install Anti-virus software, practice safe surfing, and maintain your computer. Remember to clean the disk first, then perform the system defrag otherwise you'll be sorting the garbage along with fragmented free space and files.
Keep these principles in mind and your system will perform well giving you years of enjoyable computing.
Microsoft MVP - Consumer Security
Member of Alliance of Security Analysis Professionals
SpywareHammer
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Answer 1

Excellent advice! Thank you for sharing.
ThinkPad: T530 / X1 Gen 2 / Helix - Yoga: Tablet 2 Pro (Win) / Yoga 3 Pro
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Microsoft MVP - Consumer Security
SpywareHammer