Welcome to this extra little help page. If you'd like a really good, up to date computer, then please consider the following instructions. Soon enough, you'll have a computer you can be sure won't die on you! This is recommended for Windows XP users.
1.) If your computer's so slow that it takes about 3 minutes to even start up the computer, just reformat it! Load the System Restore CD-Rom that came with your computer package. Or, if you forgot where that went, go to Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and System Restore.
2.) After reformatting, go to the NetZero website to sign up for unlimited internet access for $9.95 a month! Be sure to go with the Platinum Plan* I'm not an affiliated with NetZero at all. I always used NetZero service because it's cheap. Most people have DSL and if you want speed, then go for that.
3.) Download the software, and install it. Be sure to order a free installation CD, for backup whenever you want to reformat.
4.) Before even beginning to browse the Internet, set up your Windows Firewall! To do that, go to Start, Connect To, then Show All Connections. Then right click on the Netzero Connection Service under "Dial Up" and then click "properties". In the new window, click on the "advanced" tab and check the box where it explains about setting the Windows Firewall. Click OK and then go back to the Internet.
6.) Try updating your computer by going to Microsoft Update and downloading the required updates to make your computer up to date! I'd suggest going to this site every 2 months to look for new updates.
7.) After restarting your computer (by the time you're done downloading the updates from the website, it'll prompt you to reboot your computer), go download Windows Defender.
8.) After doing that, do yourself a favor and try out the new software by doing a Spyware scan. ^_^ Do a scan about every month.
10.) Scan your computer for viruses. Do this about every month also.
11.) Download a registry cleaner. Windows has a list of all of these files. Whenever you uninstall a program, it'll delete itself and all of its files right? Well, sometimes it doesn't. That's where this comes in handy. The following link will give more details and a download link to TweakNow Registry Cleaner.
12.) I personally don't like Internet Explorer because it's been prone to be home to many viruses and spyware. I really like Mozilla Firefox because it's more customizable and has been known to be safer than IE.
The following tools are used to make your computer faster, and the neat thing is, you don't need the Internet to do this!
If you want your computer to be faster, try the Disk Cleanup. Go to Start, All Programs, System Tools, and Disk Cleanup.
Another computer accelerator is the Disk Defragmentor. Go to Start, All Programs, System Tools, and Disk Defragmentor. Click on Analyze and then it'll tell you whether your computer needs to defragmentize or not.
One more really good computer speeder-upper is checking for bad sectors. It's uber important to close all programs when doing this one or else it won't work! Go to My Computer, and right click your hard drive (C: Drive). Click on Properties, and on the Tools tab, click on "Check now." Another window will pop up with things to check. Check the second one and then click Start. If you use your computer daily, do this every week so your computer won't be so sluggish.
Since the internet world is so advanced, this list may be updated a few times. It all depends on what new things I find that'll help my computer.
*Additional charges may apply (such as if you're going to pay using a checking account, expect another $1.50 for check processing fee).
