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Like most people I have at some points become frustrated with my computer. Until latley though the issue was becoming ridiculous. The PC was going so slow it was painful and it was always crashing. In fact if I were to compare my computer to how it was when I first got it, I would say it was 80% slower. In fact my computer was so slow it reminded me of my old spectrum which I used to leave to load up while I did something else.

Anyway having endured the problems with the computer for several months I finally snapped and decided that I was either going to fix the computer or buy a new one. With computer being expensive items I decided to pay serious attention to the concept of fixing the computer. I began, as most people would do, by searching the Internet. Having searched the net and read lots of articles I put together a list of possible soultions. The first and clearly most obvious solution to the problem was to “De-Frag” the computer's hard drive. I did this but it had little effect. The next solution to the slow computer issue was to remove any viruses or spy ware that my be on the computer. I ran a program called AVG anti virus to do this and it did have an effect on the computer with it running a fair bit better afterwards. The computer was still not as good it it once was though so I moved on to the last possible solution which was to scan the computer for registry errors. Having run a free registry check, the registry checker I used identified around about one hundred and twenty errors. It cost me thirty dollars for the software to fix the errors but it worked quickly and made a significant difference to the speed of my computer. I guess the lesson is that if you are prepared to put the time in, repairing your computer you can save a lot of money.

A computer that is 5 years old or more can still perform like brand new if you only know how to take care of it. Well, taking care of a computer is just simple. Just the basic things, use the computer properly, get some softwares for computer maintenance, and run various programs that are needed to be run to ensure computer’s smooth performance.

Specifically, remember to:

* Follow the rule in shutting down computers. Until Windows has shut down, never turn your computer off with the power switch. Doing so will prevent temporary and/or permanent hard drive defects as well as prevent Windows problems.

* Maintain free space of 300 MB in your drive C. If you use Vista or Windows XP then make it 400-600 MB. Be aware that not maintaining enough free space for your drive C will cause the dumping of data to your hard drive that will eventually lead to slow performance.

* Secure Norton Utilities to get access of Cleansweep so you can clean up your drive for good computer performance. There are some other hard drive cleaners out there, so if you don’t like using Cleansweep you are free to go for other options.

* Make use of the Add/Delete tool in the Windows Control Panel to get rid of the programs that are not anymore needed from your drive. This will help boost maximum performance of your computer.

* Get a firewall program in case you have a high speed Internet connection. Doing so will keep your computer away from hijackers. You shouldn’t want somebody else run your computer.

* Have a virus checker in your computer and run it frequently. Viruses can seriously slow down your computer’s performance or worst destroy your hard drive permanently. You can try Norton Antivirus or those free online virus checkers like Housecall by Trend Micro.

* Run the Defragment and Scandisk tools even just once a month. Doing so will keep your hard drive healthy. Be aware that if your hard drive is healthy, your computer will also perform at its best.

* In times like your computer starts to show symptoms for a serious registry trouble like for an instance freezes, hardware malfunctions, slow windows start ups, computer error messages, system32 error messages, and the like, secure a registry cleaner right away. There might be some errors and corrupt files in your registry. These errors and possible corrupt files will seriously compromise your computer’s performance.

Back in the Windows 95/98 days, computer viruses and spyware were the biggest stumbling blocks to smooth computing. However, now there is a new computer enemy in town. Its name is registry corruption.

With today’s operating systems being so enormous compared to the old Windows 95/98 size, a corrupt registry gets in the way of our computing more than it used to. Though there are new viruses that come out every day, our technology seems to be able to keep up with them better than in years past. Also, computer operators are better educated as to how to keep a virus from being executed on their computer.

How and why do we concern ourselves with registry corruption and what will happen to our computers if we don’t? These are the topics we will talk about in this article.

Operating System Invaders

Whenever we install a new program or driver on our computer, we add many, maybe even hundreds of thousands of entries to our registry. When this program or driver is deleted or even upgraded, these entries, though they are no longer used, still remain in place in the registry. These entries are a type of registry corruption because they make the operating system work harder to get where it needs to go.

Temporary computer files are added to our registries by the boatload when we surf the Internet. Unfortunately, these files are left in the registry when we are through surfing and then they become registry corruption because they give the operating system directions to nowhere.

Believe it or not viruses, spyware, adware and all the other kinds of malware, though they are unwanted programs, are viable software programs so, when they are removed, they too leave registry corruption behind.

It is important to realize this registry corruption wears on your computer’s operating system. It taxes the OS by giving it more work to do as it lumbers through all these false pointers registry corruption is made of. This of course, will slow down computer operations greatly and after a while it will cause the computer to crash.

So, What Do I Do?

Everything finding its way on to our harddrive these days is whole lot bigger than the things that were around a few years back. Software, drivers, temporary Internet files, spyware, viruses and even the operating systems themselves dwarf the size of their predecessors. It is no wonder that when left alone our registries become corrupted and slow down our computers until they come to a complete halt!

It is easy enough to take care of registry corruption, just install a good registry cleaner on your computer and run it periodically. The best time to run a registry cleaner is after spyware has been removed. You do have a good spyware cleaner installed on your computer; don’t you?

Here it is; the computer that you have always wanted. The manual tells you very little about why or how to use many of the programs on it. You know you are supposed to clean the hard drive but you are not quite sure how to do that. What is antispyware? Well I can answer many of those questions for you and a few more.

First things first; Let us start with what certain programs do. The antiviral software keeps harmful files from getting on your computer or removes them once they are on your computer. Antispyware removes spyware that is attached to some programs or files that you receive or download. It is usually harmless, but not always. A Firewall is like a bomb shelter for your computer, it blocks the bad guys, or hackers from getting into your computer and tells you when they try. Always keep these programs up to date.

You should run your antiviral programs and antispyware programs daily to keep your computer free of harmful content. This content can make your computer run slow, or completely wipe out the data on your hard drive.

When you download and run a program, many files are left in temporary folders and other folders that you know longer need. Every website you visit leaves a file on your computer so you need to clean out the cookies and cache files. There are some good programs out there that will do this for you with just a few clicks. You can find them free or at a small cost. Make sure to keep all of your software up to date.

A registry cleaner can keep your registry clean by removing old file strings, which will keep your computer running better. Keep an anti spyware program on to help you to avoid and clean any spyware from your computer that comes along with some programs like free ones.

Remove any programs from your computer that you do not use. Use the uninstall program that came with your computer, never just delete a program folder. Run the registry cleaner weekly as it will remove stray file strings left on your computer after programs and files are removed.

If you keep up with all of these procedures, this should provide enough maintenance for your computer to run smoothly. If a problem develops run your antiviral software, or your PC doctor program to try to pinpoint the problem. There is also online help available for most computers.