Clean Up Your PC to Make It Run Faster

If you have a PC, you have undoubtedly suffered from constant Windows updates and downloads.  Maybe your computer is now trudging along like a wounded poodle despite it being less than a year old.  Maybe it freezes up every other time you run it and you have to manually force a reboot.  And surfing the internet… only if you’re really desperate and don’t mind your DSL running like Dial Up.  It’s a frustrating enough problem to make you consider chucking your PC against the wall and investing in a Mac instead.  Only problem with that – you have to learn all new keyboard shortcuts. 

So, other than running off to Office Depot or Staples for their “free checkup,” which will then turn into a $30 bill (or higher depending on what they find), what can you do to make your computer run faster? 

Simple.  Go to www.ccleaner.com and download the free CCleaner program.  This handy little program will clean your hard drive in less than ten minutes, and soon your computer will be running be like new.  How?  Imagine, if you will, a Brainstorming session.  Picture dozens of bubbles, all with a single piece of information, and all connected by lines.  Each line is a logical bridge from one idea to the next.  Now imagine that as you go along, you realize some of those ideas would be reached more logically if you crossed a different bridge.  Instead of destroying the bridge completely, you remove the center so that it cannot be crossed, but leave the main foundation behind.  That is what happens when your PC downloads and installs an update.  Foundations are left behind.  And when you try to access a specific bubble of information, your PC will try to take each and every one of those leftover bridges until it finds the right bridge.  The result…painstaking drudgery and the desire to pound on your computer with your high-heeled Jimmy Choo.  Therefore, think of CCleaner’s as the construction worker who will remove all of those unnecessary foundations and allow your computer to go directly to the information it wants. 

So, if you want to get the most out of this great, easy-to-use free program, download it, install it, then run it.  Once you have it up, you will see four buttons: Cleaner, Registry, Tools, and Options.  Here is what you need to know about each:

1. Cleaner:  You can clean either “Analyze” your entire system (including applications, programs, and internet files), or just select “Run Cleaner” to get rid of all unnecessary paths.  You can pick and choose which Applications you want cleaned, or just clean everything .  Then, once you’ve ran the Cleaner, run it a second and third time.  Each time you Clean some pathways, it will leave new pathways.  After each cleaning, the program will tell you how much space was cleared, and you know will you are done when it says “0 bytes removed.”
2. Registry:  To clean the Registry (aka Missing DLLs, Unused File Extensions, Obsolete Software, etc.), you must first select “Scan for Issues.”  You will be shown a list of issues that can be deleted.  Select “Fix Selected Issues” and you will be given the option to create a backup before you remove those items.  Feel free to create the backup, although in my experience, I’ve never needed it.  Once this is done, I would go back to the Cleaner and run it a few more times until you get the “0 bytes removed” sign again.
3. Tools:  This gives you easy access to programs you would like to remove from your computer, and your Startup Menu, while giving you a place to create System Restore points.  It’s only necessary to use this item if you would like to remove programs permenantly.

4.      Options:  This is exactly what it sounds like… a place to customize your CCleaner.  You can pick programs and cookies that you would like ignored, choose when CCleaner is ran, or be reminded to run the CCleaner. 

Now that you know, try it.  You will be amazed at the improvement.