System Maintance programs

[roomwithamoose]

I'll doing my first build here, as soon as my OS comes in the mail. My question is about system maintance. I know about defraging, but what else should I worry about on a pretty good system with WinXP? And what is the best program for this?

[Hags]

well ure definetly going to need virus protection, ad and spyware removers, i reccomend the free utility's for ad ware and soy ware, which are ad-aware and spy blaster

[hobey19]

like Hags said, some virus protection is a must. i recommend AVG anti-virus, which is free from www.grisoft.com. for spyware, i recommend Ad-aware (there is a new one that has just been released, Ad-Aware SE as opposed to the previous version, 6), and Spybot Search and Destroy 1.3. These two programs used in conjunction with each other are a nice combination and will help keep your computer clean if run regularly.

I have also been recommending using Mozilla Firefox as an alternative to Internet Explorer, as it seems to cut down on a lot of the spyware a computer receives. However, with the release of SP2, it is possible IE will be a lot more secure. I don't know, you may want to read up on that.

craig

[roomwithamoose]

Sounds good. How often do you suggest running these programs?

[hobey19]

it depends on how much you do. if you are someone who is going to do some moderate surfing, and generally only hitting the same sites, you would be fine running it every 2-3 weeks. however, if you do heavy surfing like a lot of people, and hitting different sites, it might not be a bad idea to run it once a week. like, take a day of the week, and then just sit there for a bit and run a maintenance on it. this is what i do, and it keeps me running nice and smooth. it takes about a half-hour, and then maybe an hour if i do defragging as well.

i forgot to mention another tool i always use. its called EasyCleaner by ToniArts. its an excellent piece of software that makes it exceptionally easy to clear all your temp files, monitor startup items, and delete unnecessary files.

craig

[HeddaLora]

I like Norton AV/Security.

Also AdAware for cleaning up spyware/adware.

Diskeeper for defragging.

You might also want to look into a registry cleaner type of program (sorry, I can't recommend one) that you install before you start installing other programs.