So, here is what I did:

1. I scanned my computer for viruses. I have McAfee on my computer and it’s on all the time; my virus scanner is also scheduled to scan my computer once a week, usually during a slow time of the day, when I am not using the computer.

I hope you have virus protection: it’s inexpensive, and gives you peace of mind. It can also save your hard work from being lost.

2. I scanned my computer for spyware with Ad-Aware, as well as Spybot Search & Destroy, both free.

3. I then ran a Disk Cleanup, and after that Disk Defragmenter

4. After that, I used CCleaner to remove unused and temporary files from my system – allowing Windows to run faster, more efficiently and giving me more hard disk space.

5. The last thing I did was to reboot my computer, and I was done. My computer runs better, and best of all, evrything I used to speed it up was freely available.

Even if your computer is not slow, you should go through the above routine at least once a month, to make sure your computer is running optimally.

Don’t hesitate to leave a comment or ask questions if you need more information.