How to Protect and Speed-Up Your PC

Copyright (C) Gregory D. Collins
GregoryCollins.blogspot.com

If you have a Mac, you need read no further. Your built-in firewall actually works and you are not plagued with viruses and spyware. No, this article is for those still using a PC for at least part of their work. (Grin)

Here are the four programs that I run on all of my PC. They are listed in the order that I install them.

Each is selected because it is the best of its kind. All of these programs happen to be free, but that is not why I selected them. I have actually purchased licenses for the upgraded versions for the first three programs and wound up uninstalling ang going back to the free versions. The main reason is the free versions are stripped down no-frill versions that have all the memory-hogging, CPU-dragging features removed. The free versions get their respective jobs done without slowing everything down.

Here are the programs with links to download them:
Firewall - ZoneAlarm Free Version
download: http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/free/1001_cnet_zdnet/zlsSetup_65_737_000_en.exe

AntiVirus - AVG Free Version
download: http://free.grisoft.com/softw/70free/setup/avg75free_430a848.exe

AntiSpyWare - AdAware SE Personal
download: http://dw.com.com/redir?pid=10399602&merid=69274&amp;amp;amp;amp;mfgid=69274<ype=dl_dlnow&lop=link&edId=3&siteId=4&oId=3040-8022_4-10399602&ontId=8022_4&dlrs=1&destUrl=http://www.download.com%2F3001-8022_4-10399602.html

General Housekeeping - EasyCleaner
http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/files/EClea2_0.exe

This last program, EasyCleaner desirves some special attention. Have you ever noticed that your PC seems to run slower and slower the longer you have it? Well this little gem will help speed it up and get it running smooth again,

It is a small program which searches Windows' registry for entries that are pointing to files that no longer exist. These are usually registry entries that are left over from applications you have uninstalled but the uninstaller did not remove them. Deleting these entries will speed up your computer up by up to 20% and also help it run more reliably! I have seen random "flakeyness" disappear after running EasyCleaner.

As you already might know, deleting entries from registry can be dangerous for your computer, so it is wise to make a backup of your registry. On my computer, deleting entries which were pointing nowhere, sped up my computer enough that it was noticeable--your millage may vary.

I also use EasyCleaner to find out which directories are using the most space on my hard disk. This is useful when I am trying to free up more disk space.

I run EasyCleaner every few months or whenever my system starts to slow down or run out of room.