If you buy a new computer or install a new operating system and leave it how it is, in several months your computer will be so cluttered it will start crashing. To keep your computer’s performance from degrading over time you should clean up your computer every few weeks or every month, depending on how much and how you use it.
The most common reason computers slow down and crash is unneeded files that are stored. There is no reason for anyone to keep information on their computer that they will never need again. An example of this is a cookie. If you use your computer for lots of research you’re probably going to new sites all the time. Chances are you’ll never return to these websites, but many of them will store a cookie on your computer. They use this cookie so they know you’re a returning visitor on their site if you go back to it. Sites like Yahoo and Google will use these cookies to store your username and password information so you’re logged in automatically, but you don’t need to keep all these cookies from most sites you visit. Depending on the number of sites you visit every day, you might need to clear out your cookies weekly or monthly. Ignoring the buildup of cookies won’t make the problem go away and it will only get worse. Since you don’t want to delete cookies that sites like your email will use to log you in automatically or give you the weather for your location, it’s nice to use 3rd party software to delete your cookies because it can exclude some of them from deletion. I recommend using Ccleaner to delete unneeded cookies. Ccleaner can also help you clean out your computer from other unneeded files like temporary internet files, old temporary files, and unneeded Windows log files. Ccleaner will also check and clean your registry from unused file extensions, abandoned entries, and invalid entries.
Another reason computer slows down and may crash is because data on the hard drive is unorganized. There’s not much to be explained for this; fragmented files take longer to be opened than organized files. Use the built-in Windows defragmenter to defragment monthly to keep your performance high.
Unprotected computers are at high risk of being slowed down because of malware. A slow computer can be a sign of malware, even if you’re not getting error messages. A keylogger will try to be undetectable and won’t be visible but can collect private information from your computer. Some users make the error of installing multiple antivirus and anti-malware utilities. This actually hurts you because of the performance loss. I recommend using Avast Antivirus Home Edition because it free, effective, and doesn’t slow down your computer with real-time monitoring like some other products might (stay away from Norton).
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