Tools to Defrag Your Hard Drive

The hard drive is one of the slowest pieces of hardware on a computer. It is ideal to keep the hard drive running as efficiently as possible One easy and great way to keep the hard drive running well is to defragment your hard drive regularly. In this article, we will be looking at tools you can use to defragment your computer’s hard drive.

Windows Defrag Tool

The Windows Defragmentation tool comes with Windows, does a good job, and is easy to use. To Defragment your hard drive, open up “My Computer”, Right Click on C:, Click properties, Click the “Tools” Tab, Click “Defragment Now”, Click Defragment, click OK. That is it. The great thing about the Windows tool is that it is built-in and super easy to find and use.

Defraggler

Defraggler is a great tool by piriform. This tool is free and easy to use. In my opinion, it also does a better job than the Windows Defragmentation tool. It has many cool features such as a way to defrag free space and a cool tool visualizing space usage on your hard drive and in memory. You can find defraggler at http://www.piriform.com/defraggler.

Auslogics Disk Defrag

The last tool we will talk about is Disk Defrag from Auslogics. This is another great tool. It is easy to use and also is free for home use. We also thought this utility did a bit better than the Windows defrag tool. It was quicker and had more features that the Windows built-in tool. You can find it at http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/.

No matter what tool you use, it is crucial to defrag your hard drive often. I would recommend doing this at least monthly. If you have not defragged in awhile, it may be worth defragging multiple times in a row, especially if you are using the Windows tool. This will help keep your computer from running slow.

Must-Dos When Your Computer is Infected

Here is a great article by mike darwin talking about what do do when your computer gets infected with spyware or a virus.  This is a great how-to for getting rid of the problems.

By Mike Darwin

If you see the message, “Your computer is infected. Windows has detected spyware infection”, on your PC, be wary about installing just any anti-spyware software program. This could just be a clever way of tricking PC owners into downloading spyware into their computer system.

Spyware programs, along with computer viruses, have become among the top Internet threats that PC owners and Internet surfers face. When one’s computer system becomes spyware infected, one becomes very vulnerable to identity theft. Through these programs, it becomes easier for some malicious software developers to steal information about the PC owner. What makes this even worse is that new spyware programs are created every day, each one more sophisticated and more potentially damaging than the previous versions.

Spyware can be a source of major computer trouble. Because it is, PC owners have to get themselves a reliable anti-spyware software program. However, if one’s PC is not yet infected with spyware, certain steps have to be followed to keep it that way. In addition, PC owners should be aware of the methods on how spyware can be transferred or injected to one’s computer system.

One of the proven and tested ways of getting that dreaded spyware infection is when you click a link on a message that suddenly appears on your screen telling you that you need an anti-spyware software. When this flashing message appears on your screen, close it by using the ctrl/alt/delete method that is usually used to manually close some programs. Do not use the close button, as it might be part of the active link that is waiting to be transferred to your PC.

PC owners have to be careful about downloading certain programs to their computer system. Moreover, Internet users also have to veer away from free downloadable programs as these are almost always unreliable. Always choose paid anti-spyware software programs instead. To help you in making a good choice, make sure to read the reviews of these products. With an efficient anti-spyware tool in your arsenal, you will no longer receive deceiving messages saying that your computer is infected with spyware.

PC infested with stubborn spyware and adware? Read this detailed anti-spyware software review and discover which is the most highly-rated spyware remover in the market.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Darwin
http://EzineArticles.com/?Must-Dos-When-Your-Computer-is-Infected&id=1752408

Why is my computer so slow?

Computers can seem to run slow for many reasons.  However, their are many things a user can try to determine the nature of the slowness and what factors are causing it.

Computers that are very old can be expected to seem slow next to a brand new system.  However, an older system can be optimized to perform to the best of its ability.

Here are a few common places to look for the reason your computer is slow:

• Lack of Memory
• Hard drive is too full
• Hard drive is too fragmented
• You have a Virus
• You have some spyware that is slowing your system down
• You have your settings up too high

I will elaborate on the above places in the future and give tips on how to determine if you have a problem.