Time to Trim the Fat Off Your PC/Mac
Ahhh yes January. Time for New Years resolutions, weight loss commercials, and exercise equipment. It’s also a reminder of what we have been too relaxed about in our lives, and what we need to reclaim for next year.
The end of 2008 is quickly approaching. There’s a great deal of blogs displaying their New Years reflections and 2009 wish lists. For me, I have never been one to make a New Years resolution; it seems pointless to promise to do something that will not be. Instead, New Years is a time to be more organized. Out with the old, and in with the new. I am a computer geek chick, for those of you who are unfamiliar with me. The beginning of the New Year is a time for a fresh start (on my computer).
Whether you’re a Mac or a PC owner:
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I just love that saying. It has saved my butt many times over.
Isn’t it funny how we spend more time caring for our car, than we spend on preventative maintenance for our computer? Most individuals spend at least 8 hours a day on their computers and tend to take for granted it will always startup without any technical issues. Let’s start the New Year by giving a little TLC to our friend, “The Computer.”
Organization of files
Clear off that desktop. Come on, I can see the mess from here. How many times have we quickly downloaded something from the Internet and plunked it on our desktop? How many times have we copied something from a USB stick and dragged it onto our desktop? The list goes on, and on. So, your personal challenge is to dispose of the unneeded files on your desktop, and create a new “STUFF” folder for everything else you don’t want to deal with - for now. Or better yet, choose a specific day and sort through EVERYTHING 110% and move things into their rightful place (ie: new folder, recycle bin, external hard drive).
Backup-Backup-Backup!!!
Or else you may regret it sooner than later. Backup frequently and regularly. Backing-up computer files is a task most people dread completing. If you’re like me, I tell myself “I will do it later.” Although, “later” never comes around here much. So, January is when things are put into perspective and “later” is recognized as “right now.”
Uninstall
Now is a great time to uninstall those games your kids put on your computer that’s occupying prime hard drive real estate and causing it to slow down (especially if your a PC user). Also, uninstall any programs you no longer use, have not used, disliked once you installed them, and have no future plans of utilizing. Don’t be afraid - uninstall those unwanted programs.
Virus/Malware
Once you’ve organized, backed-up, and uninstalled unnecessary programs; I would highly recommend running a virus/malware scan on your PC computer. Refer to my prior post “Make Your PC Run Faster,” for tips, software recommendations, and web sites.
Not for the Light Hearted
This isn’t for everyone. I once read an article years ago which suggested formatting your PC and reinstall your operating system. Starting fresh each year is a great way to start fresh and get the bugs out. Without getting to technical, this is a very complex job. Not only because of the reinstallation of the operating system, but because of the reinstallation of all the files that were backed-up. Restoring music into iTunes is what I dread most. I find myself praying to the iTunes Gods. This is not for the simple hearted, however it is my preference and New Year practice.
If you are contemplating this route, make sure you have all of your recovery discs prior to completing this task. More and more companies are hiding a partition on PC hard drives, which contain everything needed for this task. Unfortunately, step-by-step instructions are beyond the scope of this post. Due to the various types of computers, it would be virtually impossible for me to address each individual circumstance completely.
What is on “YOUR” Computer?
Drop a comment and let me know what your preventative maintenance habits are for your PC/Mac. Please share with others what programs you tend to use & what works for you. I do realize the PC has more virus/malware software available than the Mac (we all know why, shhhh “big brother” is watching), however we would be very interested in knowing what you enjoy running on your computer. Through the sharing of information, we can all help each other.
Happy New Year
I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I hope everyone finds time to give their trusted friend, “The Computer” a whole bunch of TLC this holiday.
Thank you for stopping by, and thank you for sharing!
Happy Holiday’s
On Thursday, December 11, 2008, Microsoft reported a “Limited Exploitation” of Internet Explorer. All versions of IE were vulnerable to attacks and exploits. The current threat infects the users computer, then attempts to 
The attacks were started from legitimate web sites to include exploits. In Taiwan, a popular search engine was unfortunately hosting the exploit. Later in Hong Kong, Microsoft discovered a website which contained the exploit. The site contained various content, including adult entertainment. Visitors of these sites were exploited with trojans detected as “
Another feature of CCleaner is its ability to be used as a privacy tool because, CCleaner erases all Internet History from your machine. Although this is a wonderful feature, and deleting our Internet History should be a common practice; do not forget, any passwords which were saved in your history will no longer be available to you once this program is used. You will have to re-enter previously saved passwords, and/or login information to websites which you may have chosen to “Remember Me” from previous login’s. This is a small price to pay when your computer is spitting error messages at you. Trust me.
