| Ensuring that our machines are running as smoothly at all times seems to be a never-ending task for many computer users. Nowadays we have to consistently perform maintenance tasks on our machines to rid spyware, clean up registries, junk old files, and many more routine procedures to clean up our machines. Regular maintenance on your computer is a good idea to make sure your computer is clean and free of bugs, old files, junk files, or programs that you don’t need all the time. Performing proper maintenance on your machine will ensure it runs smoother, faster, and will ultimately last you a long time. Machines equipped with Windows Vista are no exception. Vista will not keep your machine error free, but with Vista, it is easier to maintain your PC. You just need to know how to do it. |
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Windows Defender is a program offered as a free spyware tool from Microsoft directly for XP and Vista. This is a great advantage of Vista as it also functions as a startup manager for your machine as well. Open this program, and look through the Tools Menu. You will see a link for “Software Explorer”. Here you will see what programs are running on your computer right now, what programs are connected in your network, and what programs are considered start up programs. You can remove programs, or enable or disable the programs that you see listed. Disabling programs that are running when you don’t want them to be, or that aren’t used at all will improve your PC’s efficiency.
Start Up Programs. Every time your PC boots up, a myriad of programs begin working and running immediately. These may be programs such as messengers, email notifiers, graphics program, or anything you may have used even once. Start Up programs immediately begin slowing down your machine as soon as it is turned on. Your PC’s efficiency can be improved if you eliminate the programs from the Start Up run that you won’t be using immediately. Open your Control Panel and enter “Start Up” in your search box. You will immediately see “Stop a Program From Running at Startup”. Review your list and eliminate what you don’t need daily. Windows Defender is good for this maintenance as well.
Windows Vista Disk Cleanup Wizard. Among other things, this tool works to empty your temporary files folder, any files you have picked up or downloaded from the Internet. If you don’t empty this folder, bulk will start accumulating on your machine and slow things down. Use this Wizard at least once a week to clean your registry and to empty your temporary files.
Another method you can use to empty temp files is to enter “%TEMP%” into your Start Menu search and you can manually go through the list to delete.
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