Free Spyware Software

When you turn on your computer, does it act like it needs a coffee to wake up? When you surf around the Internet, are you bombarded with pop-up windows? Does your computer freeze up or turn off for no apparent reason?

Before you decide to throw your monitor out of the nearest window, there may be a number of solutions to fix these problems that won’t require you having a degree in computer technology.

There are two primary ways to maintain your computer’s performance, and the maintenance should be done once a week or more. First, acquire and use software that will help you clean and protect your computer, and second, know how to use the programs already in your computer to keep it’s engines running smooth.

SOFTWARE

The software solutions below will not cost you any money, nor will they take you much of your time to download, understand, and implement:

1) Virus Protection - Avast AntiVirus is an excellent free program to guard yourself against Trojans, Worms, and Hacks.

2) Spyware - AdAware and Spybot are terrific free programs for eliminating pop-ups and other wares from your computer. It is recommended that you use them both, as one may find problems that the other may not … a great one-two punch to protect yourself.

3) Registry Cleaners - WinASO Registry Optimizer is a great program for repairing your computer registry. The free version allows you to clean or repair ten items at a time, so you will have to re-run it numerous times if you have many problems.

4) Internet Speed - If you use dial-up, or have a computer the size of a calculator, you may wish to use RamBooster to help give you the best speed possible for the limitations you have.

Go to http://www.download.com for these and other great resources.

PROGRAMS

Now that you’ve taken out the garbage, you should keep the place neat and tidy by using the programs already existing in your computer. Once again, you should do this once a week:

1) Clear your Internet History

2) Defrag your Computer

3) Use a Firewall

You can find the programs that will do this for you by looking in the System Tools or Security Center sections of your computer.

Another option for those of you who’ve got smoke billowing out of the back of your computer, with no seemingly useful solution in sight; you may wish to look at the System Restore feature that your computer may have. This allows you to revert back to a state when your computer actually worked well. It doesn’t work all the time, by it is an option … and not an end all be all … use it only when absolutely necessary.

Austin Culley is the Chief Operating Officer for Oil-Net.Com Inc.
http://www.oil-net.com

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Chances are that if you have used your Windows PC for any length of time, you’ve noticed that its performance isn’t as snappy as it once was. Some of the slowdown in performance could just be simple wear and tear. Some could be caused by a lack of space on the hard drive from all the programs you’ve installed. A large part of it could be problems in your Windows System Registry.

Windows System Registry? What’s that?

The system registry is a database used by Windows to store everything it ‘knows’ about your PC. In one sense it’s a map containing the locations of every file and program on your computer. In another sense, it’s a history book, keeping track of every program installed, modified, or removed during the life of your PC. In yet another sense, it’s a photo album containing ’snapshots’ of your computer’s present condition.

All the programs on your PC use the system registry to store information, receive instructions, and to make modifications. All of this is done ‘on the fly,’ with programs and processes all running to the system registry for information. Picture the registry as a very busy secretary with all kinds of demands made on its time and resources. It’s very easy to see that after a while, that database of information can become bloated and disorganized.

Any number of things can lead to registry problems including regular usage, improper shutdowns, and programs that fail to properly uninstall.

How can cleaning the registry help?

In order to keep your computer running at its best, its system registry needs to be reorganized every now and thenabout once a week. Again, imagine the busy secretary. In order to meet the needs of everyone coming into the office, it helps if all the information was organized and easy to find, but with everyone coming into the office all the time, that’s hard to do. Sometimes information gets duplicated. Sometimes it gets misplaced. Sometimes, it might even be lost all together! All of that can result in slower system performance. Taking the time to ’straighten up the office,’ or clean the registry will help improve performance.

What are some of the signs that a good registry cleaning is necessary?

Signs of a registry in need of repair include:

• slow boot up
• system hang-ups at start up or shutdown
• error messages during boot up
• error messages during shutdown
• missing .dll or .exe error messages
• failure to boot
• individual programs hanging up, freezing, or crashing
• system-wide crashes

The list can go on and on, and sometimes can be misdiagnosed as a virus problem. In fact, viruses can also cause problems with the system registry. If a virus scan does not fix your PC’s problem, a system registry cleaning is most likely in order. How do I clean the system registry?

When it comes to cleaning your Windows system registry, you have two choices: you can do it yourself, or you can use a system registry cleaning program to do the work for you. The first choicedoing it yourselfis cheapest in the short run, but not recommended. Going through the registry yourself is a tedious process, and unless you know what it is you are looking for, it can also be very dangerous. You could end up rendering the system registry invalid and that could prevent your PC from booting up at all. It could even require that you completely reformat your hard drive and start from scratch. The cost in time, lost data and frustration just isn’t worth the effort.

Using a good registry cleaner with features you can manage is definitely the better options.

What will a good registry cleaner do?

A good registry cleaner will do the following:

• check/repair application paths and shortcuts
• check/repair shared program paths
• check/repair file associations
• check/repair Active X controls
• fix your Add/Remove programs file
• check help, font, and most recent files
• check/repair shared DLL files
• check startup programs
• describe problems
• backup your registry

Cleaning the registry should be a regular part of your system’s maintenance along with defragmenting your hard drive, and scanning for viruses. By including a regular system registry cleaning in your regular maintenance, your can keep your PC in top condition for a long time to come. Is your PC slowing down? Need a good registry cleaner? Do a free scan of your registry with Error Nuker. Visit www.ProjectVectus.com/utilities

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This article may be used on the web as long as it is presented unchanged and in its entirety along with this entire resource box. For other uses, please contact the author at glenn@imglenn.net.

Glenn is a freelance writer and online entrepreneur.

Is your PC slowing down? Need a good registry cleaner? Do a free scan of your registry with Error Nuker. Visit http://www.SoftwareVector.com
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