PC Maintenance and Security

The first tutorial I watched in the System Maintenance and Security section was the second underneath the “Clean Up and Speed Up Your PC” heading. I did not choose the first video, because I know how to add/remove programs. I chose this section because I am always complaining about the speed of my computer, even though I know it improves substantially if I just shut it down. I chose “Using the Disk Cleanup utility in Windows” because I had never heard of it. If my computer is working slowly, I usually run the defragmenter and hope it helps. That was really my only tool before today. I had to restart it after a while, but that was because I had started several other things at the same time. This also probably contributes to my computer’s lack of speed. (I am restarting this utility for the third time after writing this entire post. I hope it actually runs all of the way through.)

The second tutorial I chose was the first one on the list. I figured if I didn’t know about the Disk Cleanup, there might be something in the first tutorial I did not know either. Actually, I did pretty much know how to do this. The problem is that I don’t know what everything does. I do not want to remove programs that are essential. I did remove the “Bing Toolbar” program, though. It is not needed.

The third video I watched was “Using Windows Cleanup!” It freed up 2.1GB of space on my hard drive. I am amazed. Even though the demo said it would remove 6, I am still happy having that space back. Hopefully it will improve my laptop’s speed.

After learning so much in the first three tutorials, I decided to watch the fourth as well. I have always been scared of “msconfig.” After disabling a few startup lines, something did alarm me a bit. There was something listed in the startup files called “winampa,” and when I searched it on the “Startup Programs and Executables Listing,” it said it was a Trojan! Upon further reading, it stated that it was only a Trojan if it was in the system folder, not if it was in the Winamp folder. I was quite relieved. However, I also learned that I have no idea how to uninstall Winamp from my computer. It does not come up on my add/remove programs list and has no uninstall option in the folder. It also claimed my google update was a virus. There were two entries on the site, one claimed Trojan, and the other claimed it was legit. I am going to go with legit on that one.

I would happily share the Windows Cleanup! with others. I found it to be a very useful and easy to use tool. Learning about msconfig was also very helpful and took some of the scariness out of “messing” with my computer. I am unimpressed with the Disc Cleanup utility, mostly because it has yet to finish running after a third start.