Free clean up your computer thingy?

Like I said, you don't really need third party software.

Windows 98 Disk Cleanup

Click the start button, then:

Programs >> Accessories >> System Tools >> Disk Cleanup

You will then be given the option to delete:

Temporary Internet Files :: These files are varied files that are "cached" from pages you visit. It also contains internet temp downloads.

Deleting these files will mean that if you visit those sites again you will have to download the files again. Your computer saves files that you frequently download and puts them on your harddrive for more speedy access. Deleting this means sites that you frequently visit will take a bit longer to load for a short while until you cache the files you most download again.

This is a good idea because older files that you don't need will be cleaned.

If you'd like you can click "view files"and select them individually.


Downloaded Program Files :: This title is pretty specific. This is where programs you download with IE usually go.

It's usually safe to delete all of these though you might have some you want to keep.

Temporary files :: These are files from many applications and sources. It usually is fine to delete them all.

Recycle Bin :: Your trash. You should empty this regularly from your desktop.

Now you can "view more options" to do two more cleanup jobs but let's do that from your control panel.

Open the "Add/Remove Programs" tool in your Control Panel.

In install and unwanted programs. When in doubt leave it there. dOn't uninstall stuff you don't recognize and know about.

After all this cleanup, go through your documents and clean out what you don't need.

Once all the deletefest is done, defragment your computer.

Hello dlowan

Sorry, I noticed when previewing this post that the A2K system changed the salutation that I originally typed to "debbie", a moniker that I know you hate to be addressed by. It will not allow me to change it back, and I beg your forgiveness and request your understanding in this matter. Now on to my originally intended post:

In addition to the previous suggestions, you may wish to take a gander at this page from the Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals site:

http://www.mvps.org/winmac/usertips.html

Although it hasn't been updated in a while, it seems to still hold true in large measure.

Knowing that you spend a fair amount of time on your computer, I have a concern that in addition to the normal accumulation of junk files on your system there is a danger of "unfriendly" items hiding in your machine as well. I am assuming that you already have, and regularly use, a good antivirus program, but such a program will not root out various spy and usage tracking elements that are oftentimes installed in your system without your knowledge and consent; oftentimes when you install a new program. I would recommend installing and regularly running both AdAware

www.lavasoft.de

as well as Spybot

http://spybot.safer-networking.de/

Both of these utilities are free and have been enthusiastically received in the tech press. They have both been available for years and have proven their stability and efficacy.

The sorts of files and ancillary applications that these utilities go after are oftentimes malicious in nature and serve only to track your computer usage and occasionally will transmit data from your machine to a remote computer without your knowledge or consent. In addition to the security concerns pertaining to this, these "stealth" programs will also suck away your system resources. Ridding yourself of them will not only improve your security but will help your machine to run better as well.
Be sure to read and understand the instructions for both of these utilites because haphazard and reckless usage may have detrimental effects.

There are a variety of programs which will help to clean and optimize your system more effectively than the native Windows utilities. Most of these, however, are not free (the aforementioned items being among the exceptions). I have recently read of a free "cleanup" program called BeClean which was recommended by Fred Langa (whose expertise I normally respect) as being the culprit in the trashing of many trusting readers' hard drives. Sometimes in this world one does indeed get what one pays for. If you wish to explore nonfree cleanup and maintenance utility options I will be happy to assist.

whoa! theStoat in Uncle Ermie's coat. That is fabulous.
Good advice. I'll have to do some tidying up myself. I rec'd an enormous file with a photo from a friend a few weeks ago, and it seems to have sucked up huuuuuuuuuuge memory. I guess I'm going to have to learn how to save it to a disk and get it off my 'puter.

Wow! It looks like the A2K gremlins have been at work...my previous message to dlowan has been changed to reflect the greeting that I had originally intended. Thank you, gremlins!

Hello ehBeth,

Uncle Ermie and I are both flattered and honored by your kind and complimentary words.

Regarding your interest in saving an e-mailed photo to a disk, you mention that the photo in question was sent to you in a particularlly unweildy file size. This should be corrected before you save it to a disk. If you don't have an imaging program, you can try the excellent FREE Irfan Viewer

http://www.irfanview.com/

which allows you to do a wide variety of photo manipulations including reducing the file size. Once the file has been reduced to a manageable size you can use a "File / Save As" command from the toolbar (and usually also via a right-click menu of the mouse) and save it to a floppy or to whatever location you choose.

It's unfortunate that your friend sent you such a large file as an e-mail attachment. Part of "internet courtesy" is sending your friends small and manageable files unless you have made other arrangements beforehand.

One item to bear in mind also is that SOME viruses have a behavior where they inflate file sizes to huge proportions. I would recommend that you do a complete system scan for viruses just to make sure that there's no problem in this area. If you don't have an up-to-date antivirus scanner,you can use one of the online antivirus scanners such as

PC Pitstop

http://www.pcpitstop.com

Trend Micro Housecall

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

McAfee Freescan

http://www.mcafee.com/myapps/mfs/default.asp

RAV Antivirus online virus scan

http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/

I hope that some of this info may be of some help. If you have any further difficulties, please don't hesitate to say so and I (and undoubtedly others here as well) will be happy to help

STOAT!!!!! Huge smoooooooooch! (Is one allowed to smooch furry woodland creatures in the bastion of Apollonian discourse that Computers doubtless is? SMOOOOOOOOCH anyway!)

Thankee very muchily!

Your little problem with "bunny" was Craven's April Fool's prank.


Thank you Craven, also - I shall follow all your advisements and hence probably disappear not only my computer, but myself!

:-)
((((BLUSHING PROFUSELY)))))) @ dlowansmooch

"furry wiggle"

Awwwww!!!! I love a happy ending :-D

Stoat
Here's a big smooch from me as well, just because you're so cute ;-)

Lord - shall the haute Apollonian world that is computers survive this furry, wiggly smoochathon?

(((((BLUSHING PROFUSELY))))) @ gezzysmooch

"not wiggling @ gezzy because I know she's married" (deep sigh)

dlowan, I would only wish to congenially suggest that if the technological world is brought to it's knees as a result of excessive smooching and wiggling then we can happily re-usher in the magical world of steam power, which has always (in my view at least) held a much more quaint and endearing place in the cultural landscape. Out with the CPU-controlled Lexuses and BMW's and bring back the Stanley Steamer I say!

Full employment worldwide could be achieved by the elimination of the computer as an accounting tool....reintroduce the Counting Houses of Olde England populated by floors and floors of squinting, green-eyeshade-equipped bookkeepers.

The shamefully high divorce rate might take a nosedive when people are deprived of the internet as an instantaneous means of meeting people all over the world....spouses might need to begin taking a vested interest in WORKING TOGETHER to make a marriage work, and not be so terribly quick to end their union when the prospect of replacing one's partner is not quite so easy and convenient as it once was. True love, based upon a long term committment and a dedication to the phrase "til death do we part" could blossom and flourish throughout the land.

Nintendo-deprived children would begin reading books once again.

Letter-writing as an art form would re-emerge.

Forgive me, I'm digressing here on a thread that isn't a Digression Thread

I would like you computer whiz' opinions on this free anti-virus download:

Webpage Title

Thanks, I've enjoyed reading all these posts and have learned a lot!

Uh oh! A bridge too far, Stoat. She is not married.

Misti,

I am not familiar with that program. I noted that the virus definition updates are free. That is usually the catch with free AV programs.

I do not however trust any free AV program because a free version has yet to show it's reliability in terms of implementing patches and defiitions.

I hope it will happen but I jsut don't trust it yet.

So as to that program, all I can say is what they SAY sounds good.

Maybe a more experienced fella can tell you more.

Thanks CDK ... I wanted your input before I downloaded it. I have Norton so I guess I'll stay with it:)

AVG
Misti:

I know of quite a few people that use AVG and swear by it. For a freebie, it is really quite good.

However, that being said, I would stick with Norton until your subscription runs out and then give AVG a try. Ifit works for you, then go with it.

BTW, the rumor mill has AVG going commercial shortly so I would be downloading it real fast. No need to install, but get the free version on your system.

Murray

temporary internet cleaned out
irfanview installed sometime on easter weekend
pcpitstop taken for another spin (i've been registered there for about a year and half, maybe two years)
things are cleeeeeeeeeeeeeean

LOL! Pit stop just sort of sighs when it meets my computer, and says it is not worth upgrading!

Rude, I call it, rude.

That is rude! I've never hoid of such a thing.

LOL! It sort of butters you up first ...says what your computer does well - reminds me of the "Cognitive assessment of the dead" in "The Journal of Polymorphous Perversity".

While the decedents tested were, on average, underachievers (they had previously higher test results) - they DID get marks for not leaving the test situation...

this is quite interesting and different from the other AV programs mentioned. This is an online site that will anyalze your system in a flash according to which test you select:


http://gemal.dk/browserspy/

BrowserSpy is an amazing tool where you choose which tests you want and they each take about 30 seconds. I ran all of them and copied each to a metapad / Notepad file as I went. There is no fix-it part and no two-way intervention. It just "reads" what it can from your system and reports it back to you. It does look for parasites and has great links for more information in the tests tht are more obscure. In the tests that access security concerns, there is are good links supplied right with each test. I highly recommend this tool, which will tell you things about your system just as important as virus-detection.