Computer Maintanence, should I be doing more?

[hamlet]

Hi guys, I apologize if this is under the wrong subject, but I did not see one with a better fit.

Here is my question, the only computer maintanence I really do is a disk defrag. Is there more I can do to make sure that my computer is clean and running at maximum performance. I have Kaspersky antivirus protection, but the way my computer acts, I am not sure that something isn't still slowing my pc down. Any suggestions and directions on how to further clean out my pc would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[iFargle]

The only other thing I'd suggest is physically taking the computer and dusting it out. It won't make it faster, but it'll help it run cooler and last longer.

Personally, I don't use AV programs. I run CCleaner and Defraggler every once in a while, but that's about it.

 

[Garzhod]

I use ccleaner about every 2 weeks. Really don't need much more.

 

[hamlet]

may i ask what ccleaner is and how i run it?

 

[Matt77]

CCcleaner is PC optimization software, it basically cleans up your PC
CCleaner - PC Optimization and Cleaning - Free Download

It works well

 

[GLaDOS]

Yeah, most AV programs are resource hogs (I've never used any of Kapersky's stuff, so they may be the exception). If you want a pretty decent free AV program that is fairly light, I'd go with Windows Security Essentials. If you're running Windows 8, they dropped Security Essentials and built in their own security suite right into the operating system.

Be careful with running defrag pretty regularly. Depending on how old your hard drive is, defragging can actually cause errors down the road. You essentially have a needle going back and forth across the disk platters lots and lots of times which can, over time, wear down the drive. I hardly ever run defrag on my machines. Tools like CC Cleaner are, in my unprofessional opinion, the way to go.

 

[Jungho06]

I too use CCleaner and it does a pretty good job. I'd recommend that as well.

 

[hamlet]

Thank you to all! I did install CCleaner and am very happy with it already.

GLaDOS, I have known for some time what defragging does and how it operates, but my common sense never kicked in to tell me that could be harmful. So where is the happy Medium, how often should I run it. Or does a tool like CCleaner make it obsolete?

 

[GLaDOS]

Thank you to all! I did install CCleaner and am very happy with it already.

GLaDOS, I have known for some time what defragging does and how it operates, but my common sense never kicked in to tell me that could be harmful. So where is the happy Medium, how often should I run it. Or does a tool like CCleaner make it obsolete?

I personally never run defrag on a scheduled basis. I generally only run it if my hard drive space is maxed out (which is very rarely). Again, this is just an unprofessional opinion and I'm sure you could find people who disagree, but I feel that programs like CC Cleaner do a better job of maintaining your computer by cleaning the garbage files and old registry files which improves computer performance far more than defrag.

 

[Matt77]

I personally never run defrag on a scheduled basis. I generally only run it if my hard drive space is maxed out (which is very rarely). Again, this is just an unprofessional opinion and I'm sure you could find people who disagree, but I feel that programs like CC Cleaner do a better job of maintaining your computer by cleaning the garbage files and old registry files which improves computer performance far more than defrag.

I use Defrag on those HDD's I don't care about