Thought I'd post this after all the antivirus talk in that thread.
Hope it helps!
A few tips if you have a PC:
After installing Windows and all your old files and programs, run the disk cleanup and then defragment. I use Disk Cleaner instead of the Windows built in one. It's free and here is the link:
Disk Cleaner
Also I use Perfectdisk 5.0 for a defragmenter instead of the Windows one, and the current version is 8.0. The only reason I have 5.0 is because it was free when I got it. I am unsure if they offer any other free versions anymore but this is the best defragmenter out there. Far superior to the windows defragmenter. Here is the link:
PerfectDisk
This is basic system maintenence and only needs to be done generally once every four months or so, depending on how much you use your computer or install/download stuff. Oh and once the antivrus has been run, you shouln't have to do that again.....pretty much ever. The maintenance I was referring to above is disc cleanup and defragmenting.
Also for free Antivirus, I use Avast. Their free version is soooo good I am just completely impressed. The free version offers real time virus scanning protection. Now I am sure a lot of you now use McAfee or Norton. Well Those two programs have basically been deemed completely useless for virus protection. The reason?? Too mainstream. Think about it, you have some computer genius down in his parents' basement developing viruses for the simple fact to corrupt your computer and possibly to run scripts to obtain personal data on your computer.....gross slimey pieces of **** they are, but the first thing they try to do is develop something to get passed what the majority of people have protecting their machines......Norton and McAffee. Here is the link for the free version of Avast:
Avast free download You will have to register it after 30 days, but the registration is easy. And still free. After that the registration is for a year and all that happens if you don't register is it won't update.
Off topic, but I recommend you read it:
Also for those of you who are not up to date with this stuff, in an effort to stop piracy, companies have been using piracy protection and at extreme measures. The are a few overly intrusive protection softwares that install into hidden places on your computer, similar to what a virus would do. I know that some of EA Games' Sims patches have been known to do so. Reason I know? Answer=Avast I was setting up my girlfriend's new laptop a few months ago and she plays Sims a lot so as I was attempting to install all the up to date patches, Avast kept blocking the install and I finally looked it up on the net. The problem was not that the software was a virus, just that it was installing itself into a registry to hide it from you, just like viruses do. So, what did I do? knowing that the patch was ok, and there was nothing harmful about it, I disabled the Avast installed the patch and then re enabled the Antivirus. Everything was just fine after that. For those of you that aren't concerned about it, look at this link and how many games have this hidden evil software that you don't even know about it installed on your comp (if you have these games installed):
Starforce bad!!! There is also a website with a list of games that has Starforce protection software on it. If you don't want to look into it yourself, basically Starforce has caused some people's CD/DVD drives to stop working. Period. Kaput. Thanks Starforce!!! There are others, like remember when Sony put the Illegal DRM software on its CD's last year? it's a huge issue in the world of gaming right now and I think they may have just come up with the best solution for it. A well done CD key technique and requiring you to register your CD key with that company in order to download patches/maps/updates for the game. Company of Heroes is the first one. All that is on the CD is the game. No requirement to have the CD in the drive while playing to ensure that you do in fact have the game. Just need to have a legit copy to get updates and stuff. That's the way it should be done and hopefully we will see more of that in the future. OK, now getting back on topic....
Ok, if you are already set up and running on Windows and have been noticing a slow down in performance, I recommend that you
1) Open your task manager ctrl+alt+del then click on the performance tab I think (don't have a comp to guide me through it I am doing this off of my own memory so it might not all be just right but shouldn't be too far off), and notice you are using more than 0-5% of you CPU and your memory is being eaten up while the comp is at idle, you probably have a trojan/trojans on your comp. Trojans are some of the most intrusive nasty little things that can effect your computer. And they immediately slow performance to a crawl. I have seen this many times and so badly affected on some computers especially those that don't have a lot of memory, seriously take minutes to accomplish simple tasks such as launching a web browser or opening a file or even getting to the start menu. That's why your CPU and memory are being utilized so much. I strongly recommend you ditch any other antivirus software you are running because clearly unwanted 'nasties' got passed it. I recommend you download and install the above mentioned Avast Antivirus software.
After d/l and installing the Avast Antivirus, run a scan and I strongly recommend that you also do a boot time scan. The best way I can describe a boot time scan is compare it to an offline defrag. Trojans start up and running as your computer starts. A boot time scan requires that you restart your computer and kicks off the Avast program right away as your comp restarts, and catches all these little nasty things. Also, I would recommend deleting the files that have been infected and it will give you a warning if the file is a Windaws file. If it is a Windows file, I recommend quarantining it so as you go and if you notice that certain parts of Windows don't work anymore, you can then return the file. However, usually the case is just that a Windows file has a virus/trojan in it and you are deleting just the bad stuff. I have deleted ALL the bad stuff on every comp I have done this on, including the affected Windows files, and have never had any problems whatsoever. However you decide what you are comfortable with and do that. You could also just quarantine any or all of little nasties, but why still have them on your comp, even if not installed and running when you can delete them? I have seen it (my worst case scenario with helping a friend) return results of 597 Trojans on one computer that I helped doctor back to health. This machine was soooo slowed down. He had 512MB RAM and a P4 @ 3.4GHZ and the task manager showed at idle over 60% CPU usage and ate up nearly all of his RAM. After I performed these things in this post on his comp, it idled at 0-2% CPU usage and freed up his RAM considerably. Also he no longer had to wait seriously 2 minutes for his web browser to finally launch. It was now an instant response. This is the same guy I built this PC for:
PC build
And no, the comp I built was not the one affected. It was his old Dell. I fixed it and he decided he wanted a faster comp. The one I built in that link is plenty of computer and probably one of the best bang for your buck comps I have built. I was genuinely impressed and pleased with how well it performed. Ok now back on topic. Oh yeah and I helped him install Windows and get it set up right the first time and he has had no problems with it at all.
I gave him essentially the same class in this post on why he should do the maintenance and keep a good Antivirus on it like Avast.
2) Open your internet browser and clear the cache and history and temp files/downloads.
If you are using Internet Explorer, do this (first I recommend you d/l and install the free disk cleaner): Launch IE go to tools clear history and SSL cache.
If you have Mozilla or firefox go to preferences and clear private data (for best effect check all boxes)
3) Run the disk cleaner or disk cleanup if you didn't d/l the recommended one. And select all the boxes. If you use the windows disk cleanup, it will probably take a while especially if it is your first time doing so and could free a huge amount of space on your HD. I have routinely seen people's computers that have no idea that it is a good idea to use the utilites for basic maintenance, gain upwards of 500MB and up to nearly a whole GB of space, just in the disk cleanup. What the disk cleanup does is removes everything you select, but the things that are most commonly the largest are things like cookies. Cookies are tiny little files that are downloaded to you computer when you go to a website, but over time and you could have a HUGE amount of them just sitting taking up disk space.
4) Defragment your computer using either defragmenter. The version I use is PerfectDisk 5.0 and when you launch it you need to right click on the disk drive and select defragment. During defragmenting I recommend that you let your computer idle. The reason being is because when defragging, your computer is basically re arranging files. So if you use a file/application/or program while it is running, it will just skip re arranging whatever it is you are using. If this is your first time defragging in a while or ever, I would run it twice and then set it to do an offline defrag. All the offline defrag is is basically restarting your computer and the program will analyze which files are used to boot and open first and re arrange them for optimal performance and may increase the speed at which your computer starts up (just slightly and you may not even notice it, but the less the hard disk has to search for the files i.e. they are in order, the quicker and better it will be for you and your comp)
PS, if someone wants to make this into a PDF for download for users that are doing this offline, please feel free to do so.