Basic Computer Management

If you're a Windows user, you'll notice your computer slower day by day, start-up takes longer, unnecessary programs open up once the computer boots, and the list goes on and on. Then one day you can't take it any longer and you are forced to reinstall Windows all over again. You'll have to back-up all your data, find that installation CD, dig deep inside your brain for the license key, set aside a day. Now who's got the time!!

  
Well thankfully there are quite a number of little steps that can prevent that.

First comes an efficient anti-virus software. You really don't have to shell out huge amounts of cash for this. Avast! Free anti- virus is a great freebie.

One of the best features is the Sandbox. As long as Avast! is running, any malicious program can be opened inside this Sandbox. It basically acts as a Virtual system.

So say you accidentally opened a potentially hazardous program, Avast! will detect it for you and prompt you to open it in Sandbox. This way your data remains secure and you can still run the program. Now say the program wasn't a threat, well this time simply click on the "open normally" option when the prompt opens up and you're good to go. Avast! also has a real time shields which you can toggle on and off. So programs which you don't want Avast! to scan can be selected. This will help in a faster performance as you don't have Avast! opening up every time.

Also you might want to turn auto-updates off, and just manually update about every week or so.

Most of the times when Windows slows down is because a few drivers, .dll files, etc. are deleted. A great way to ensure this doesn't happen is to download a system manager program. DriverWhiz is a one of the best ones out there. It's a very simple and straightforward program to use.

A nice little addition is the "Easy Migration". It helps you make a driver CD for any destination operating system. A nice tool to have if you're upgrading your OS.

If all those measures don't work out for you, the best thing to do is to reinstall. If you do decide to do that, make sure you partition your hard disk(it will be an option when you run your re-installation CD). And make sure to save all your data on your newly created drive. This way even if Windows annoys you, you can easily reinstall Windows only on C Drive and still have all your data safe without needing to take a back-up.
Follow these small measures and you can enjoy a very fast and peaceful Windows experience. :)