Keeping your computer up to date and secure is just as important as the regular servicing of your car or motorbike. Like any machine, your computer needs constant care and a regular tune up. If you fail to carry out this important task your PC will gradually become slower and start to develop problems.

To keep a computer in good shape you must keep it free of malicious software, viruses and dust. You should also ensure that your PC’s hard drive is well maintained to reduce any problems that might arise in the future.

A lot of freely available software can keep your PC perfectly well tuned. Its just a question of knowing what to download and how to make the best use of it.

How To Tune Up a Windows based PC

A comprehensive tune up procedure has been developed by QBS PC Help and is used whenever we tune up a clients PC. The detailed steps we take are as follows:

• Physically clean the PC by removing the cover and using a pressurised air duster. Make sure all the dust is removed and make sure all the cooling fans are working. For a thorough clean see the article cleaning your computer, computer components and peripherals.
• Check that Virus definition downloads are set to auto and that the latest definitions are installed. If there is no anti virus software installed and the PC is not heavily used by the client, install the free copy of AVG Anti virus.
• If not present, install a good firewall like Zone Alarm.
• Perform a full system wide virus scan.
• If the Windows Operating System is present install Microsoft Windows Defender for real time spyware/adware removal and protection. Windows Defender is pre-installed in Windows Vista and Windows 7.
• Uninstall any known adware or spyware using AdAware Anniversary Edition and SpyBot Search & Destroy. These programs will find most of the rubbish that resides on a PC’s hard drive.
• Clean your Windows Registry. A highly rated software tool for cleaning Windows files and the Registry is CCleaner. This free program scans your PC for many types of Windows files and extensions and also the Registry for unwanted, corrupt paths and gives you the option to make a backup before cleaning begins. Another tool for an experienced Windows user is CWShredder. If used carefully this can find even more adware and spyware problems and can also clean the Windows Registry.
• Remove any programs that start up automatically but have no right or reason to. Use msconfig to check these.
• With the users permission uninstall any unwanted programs.
• Check the hard drive for errors using chkdsk.
• Defragment the hard drive to realign the files for better performance.

The Final Results of a Thorough Tune Up

You may be surprised at how fast your computer runs after being properly tuned up and as you see from this post you can do most of this yourself, using a few software programs that are free to download.

To keep you PC running well use AdAware Anniversary Edition and SpyBot Search & Destroy at least weekly. And also clean your Windows Registry and files regularly using CCleaner.

We also recommend that you do a full tune up by following our tune up procedure every six months or so. This will keep your PC running smoothly and help to prevent any future problems.

Of course, nothing lasts forever so a major component like a Power Unit or Hard Drive might fail at some point. For more information about hardware problems see our series of PC Help Guides.