These steps should be taken on any Microsoft Windows computer you are repairing unless there is some specific reason not to do so. These steps generally speed up the computer and remove software that slow down the computer or cause problems. They also repair many errors on disks and may prevent greater problems. It is generally recommended to perform the steps in the order they are listed but if there are problems performing some of the steps, they may be postponed until other procedures are done. In fact, I reccommend that these steps be done at least 2 times or even one time a month. It is always a very good idea to backup all important files on your computer in case of the rare event of a problem. You may also want to have your original Operating systems disk in case something may go terribly wrong. However, as a general rule these task cause no problems and greatly increase the performance of a computer.
CHKDSK is a program that comes with most Windows based computers. It serves to run diagnostic tests on the filesystem and hard drive itself. It can be set to repair most disk filesystem errors. It is usually run by clicking Start, Run, and typing in chkdsk /f and pressing enter. You will get a message stating, "Chkdsk cannot be run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)?" Simply hit 'y' and press enter. Restart the computer and allow the chkdsk program to run. You may want to run the chkdsk program on all the partitions that Windows normally opens This can be done by using the command chkdsk /f D: etc. Now that errors on the windows file system are (Hopefully) corrected, the other steps shouls be less complicated.
If Internet browsing is slow depsite having a fast connection, this could be due to the browser checking it's cache file to see if it has pages stored on the hard drive before trying to retrieve them online. If the cache folder is filled with lots of files, it can take the web browser a long time to sift through the files to see if any of them relate to the page being downloaded. With Internet Explorer, since it is such an integral parts of Windows, this can slow down other aspects of using Wondows as well. In addition, lots of files in cache folder can slow down the process of defragmenting the hard drive and anti malware scanning
To clear cache in Internet Explorer, Click Start, choose Control Panel, Click on the Internet Options icon, click the "Delete Files" button then click the "OK" button. When the hourglass icon disappears, click the "OK" button and close out of the Control Panel. To clear cach inthe Firefox browser, open the Firefox browser and Click Tools, Options, the "Privacy" tab,, and then the "Clear Now" button. Uncheck everything but cache unless you have a specific reason to clear any of the other stuff. Now, click the "Clear Private Date Now" button. After it is finished working click the "OK" button and close out of Firefox. You should do this for each user account on the computer by logging in and repeating these steps.
Malicicous software includes ad-ware, spyware, rootkits, bots, and a whole host of baddies for your computer. There are several products that can clean a computer up for free. These inlude online virus scans such as http://housecall.trendmicro.com, http://www.bitdefender.com/scanner/online/free.html, http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/solutions/activescan/, as well as many others. Unfortunately, many of the online malware scanning tools require Internet Explorer in order to work. If you suspect an infection, then I recommend an anti-malware bootable Linux CD to be used to clean up the computer. The reason for this is the fact that some malicious software embedd themselves so deeply into the operating system files that they are are to trick the antivirus software and prevent their detection and or removal. There are several free antimalware bootable CD's available online. These include http://www.freedrweb.com/livecd, http://trinityhome.org/Home/index.php?wpid=1&front_id=12, http://devbuilds.kaspersky-labs.com/devbuilds/RescueDisk/, http://download.bitdefender.com/rescue_cd/ as well as many others. If the computer has anti malware software already installed, it should be cheacked to make sure that it is up to date and has the latest anti-malware definitions downloaded. An out of date anti malware software package does very little good and can be worse than not having any protection. This is because what may be installed uses up system resources without providing protection and providing an illusion of protection that is not there. If out of date antimalware software is found, inform the owner of the computer that the software is out of date and why it is not good. Suggest that the owner update the software (if payment is required) or to freeware programs such as Avast, AVG, ClamAV, etc. Avast and AVG can be used for noncommercial home use. ClamAV can be used for any purpose. Avast can be found at http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html AVG can be found at http://free.avg.com/us-en/download-avg-anti-virus-free-edition , ClamAV can be found at http://www.clamwin.com ClamAV generally does not provide real time protection out of the box, but real time protection can be set up with free browser and email client extensions. The Firefox web browser can use the Fireclam extionson which is available at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10882 in order to scan downloaded files. The Thunderbird email client can use the clamdrib extension to provide real time incoming email protection. This extension is available at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/6663 ClamAV also works with Microsoft Outlook (but not Outlook Express). One of the best feature of Clam Antivirus is the fact that is it free for both home and commercial use. In fact many, corporate Internet appliances that are used to protect business networks use Clam Antivirus as their defense against malicious software.
One of the best things that can be done to help speed up a computer is to clean the registry of bad entries. These bad entries can cause a computer to look for things that are not present or cause the computer to spend time doing things that are not necessary. The only free registry cleaning program that I know of that works well is "My Little Registry Cleaner." It is available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/littlecleaner/. Before making any changes to the Windows registry, it is important to back up the current registry This can be done by clicking Start, run, and typing in regedit. Once that is opened make sure that all of the catagories on the left side are collapsed. Then click on File, and choose export. You want to stor the backup file in the root directory and not in the My Documents folder. Otherwise a user might see it and click on it to see what it is. Doing that will re-install all of the garbage that was there before cleaning. I tend to use backup-dd/mm/yy in the filename so that I know when the backupo was done. Installing and running the registry cleaner is a good way to speed things up a bit. Another very goo and also free of charge program is called Cleaner. This program not only allows one to scan and clean up the registry as well as cache directories, it also allows one to cleanly uninstall many programs. It is available at http://www.ccleaner.com/download.
Hard disk defragmentation can be one of the most time consuming processes when it comes to speeding up a computer. This is especially true if this task has not been done for a long time. Disk fragmentation occures when files are written, dleted, changed, etc. What happens is that different portions of a file may be stored on different areas of the hard drive. When file fragmentation occurs, the hard disk drive has to move its read write head to each part of the hard drive platter where data is stored. In other words, if a file is stored at 5 different areas on the hard drive, the hard drive has to make at least 5 different mechanical movements just to load this one file. This takes time and also produces wear and tear on the hard drive itself. Defragmenting allows all the file portions to be stored near each other on the harddrive platter therefore requireing less mechanical movement in order to read the file. Hard disk defragmentation is usually very easy to accomplish. One can defragment a hard drive by clicking on Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then Disk Defragmenter. Click Drive C and then Defragment. Do this with each volume listed.
These steps listed here cost very little if any money and can result in great performance increases for a computer. On some computers, doing these steps can result in a twenty fold increase in performance.