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Contrary to popular belief, not a whole lot actually. Here’s a list of things that I recommend that you do once a month in the following order:
- Update Windows: If your copy of Windows is up to date with all of the latest patches, then it’s going to be reasonably secure. Not to mention that any bugs that are out there are going to be fixed.
- Use Crap Cleaner: There’s a great freeware tool out there called Crap Cleaner. I use it to clean all the crap that Windows seems to want to create, such as temp files and the like. Plus it will also clean up your registry. I highly recommend it.
- Run Windows Disk Error Checking: You want to make sure that you find out about any problems that may be lurking on your hard disk early enough so that you can fix them or take more evasive action. Fortunately, Windows has built in tools for that. Simply right click your hard drive in My Computer and click Properties and then Tools. You’ll see the option for error checking your hard disk and it’s pretty straightforward to use. You will need to restart your computer to make it happen though.
- If you have Windows XP, defrag your hard disk: Unlike Windows Vista and Windows 7, XP users need to defrag their hard disk from time to time to make sure that everything on it is accessed in an optimal manner. You don’t need to buy any extra tools to do this. Simply right click your hard drive in My Computer and click Properties and then Tools. You’ll see the option for defragmenting your hard disk and it’s pretty straightforward to use.
- Uninstall any programs that you don’t need: If there are programs on your hard disk and you don’t use them, at the very least they’re taking up space. At worst, they’re stealing CPU cycles that can be better used elsewhere. So if you don’t use it, remove it. After you uninstall, it might be handy to run Crap Cleaner again to make sure that everything is gone.
- Back up your PC: You should always have your data safely backed up in case the worst happens. I’ve got tips on that here.
That’s pretty much it. It doesn’t require anything more than that and you’ll find that your PC will run as good as it possibly can.