But first, let’s cover some things you don’t need:

• Registry cleaners
• Disk defragmenters
• Driver Updaters
• Personal Firewalls

Registry cleaners and driver updaters cause more problems than they fix. Your registry does not need to be “cleaned”. Ever. If your hardware is working properly, your drivers do not need to be updated. Registry cleaners and driver updaters can cause havoc with your computer, scrambling the registry or destroying the drivers needed for your computer to work. I’ve had dozens of calls to fix computers messed up by registry cleaners and it’s never a quick (e.g. cheap) fix.

Disk defragmentation hasn’t been needed for a few years now. Back in the day hard drives used a system called FAT to store files on your disk. FAT required occasional defragmentation to work as quickly as possible. New computers (anything running windows XP or Vista) use a system called NTFS which doesn’t require defragmentation. You can still do it if it makes you feel better, it just won’t help much. Finally, Windows has a built-in personal firewall that’s as good as anything you’d pay for. Just enable that and you’ll be fine.

Okay, so what do you need?

You need antivirus software. I recommend AVG Free. It’s very good, doesn’t slow your computer down like McAfee or Norton, and is free. You can get it from AVG’s page here: http://free.avg.com/

You also need a program to detect and remove spyware. I use both Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-aware. Get at least one of them and use it to scan weekly. The download page for Spybot is here: http://www.spybot.com/en/mirrors/index.html. Choose one of the mirrors to get the file. The download page for Ad-aware is here: http://www.lavasoft.com/single/trialpay.php.

Remember to schedule daily antivirus scans and every week scan for spyware. If you need help installing these programs (or you’d just rather have me do it) give me a call to set up an appointment.

I plan on putting the occasional post here with advice on how to keep your computer safe and up-to-date.