Keeping Your Computer Clean #1

I am going to start doing series of tips for those who are somewhat new to the PC world but know how to use a computer. Sound cool? Great. Here is my first series. Keeping your computer clean of bad stuff like viruses, spyware, and the like.

Tip 1: Use the tools Windows gives you
Windows give you a few tools to help you monitor what is happening with your computer. One tool I like to use often is msconfig. You can access msconfig by going to your Start Menu, then Run. Type in msconfig.exe and then click OK.

This program will give you information on whats loading at startup and a way to prevent the program from loading ever again. What you want to do is go to the Startup tab and click on it. You will see a list of programs that are running at startup. You can use this site’s Startup item database to help you out.

If you see some especially questionable entries you may want to run a virus scanner or a spyware removal program.

Another tool Windows gives you is System Information, it does exactly what it is called. Gives you very detailed information on all aspects of your computer. If you ever need technical support and do not know anything about a certain component someone is asking you about, you can likely find out what setup you have here.