For my friend XD - basic junk cleanup

Remember I said before in msn that you need to do a good cleanup for your pc? XD
It helps in performance too. It's like getting the poison out of its body, but that requires some work. Sounds disgusting er?

First of all - get the poison out of the computer

First of all, get yourself an antivirus, and update it regular enough that it can catch computer virus.
Then you need a program to check for spyware and malwares, and here are ones that are free. I know that there are paid ones that will work better, but it's better than nothing.

Lets go for free software that cleans up your junk:

• http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html - mainly for spyware not virus, but careful with programs that are adware supported, whereas you should never download those adware supported programs in the first place.
  
• http://free.grisoft.com/ - anitvirus, which caught those stupid memory stick virus for me several times. Not the best one, but hey a free antivirus =O
  

Clean up unneeded programs

Programs have bugs, and microsoft windows itself has bugs too. Face it, It's human error that even the best programmer in the world cannot avoid. I heard from my teacher that even the best programmer can get error per 1000 line of code. To summarize it, it means that incompatability will always arise between programs. In the other word, the more unneeded program you have in your computer, the more likely your computer will have weird problems.

I once installed yahoo messenger for the sake of it, and it turned out that my computer crashes periodically. Since I do not install programs frequently now and then, I was able to recall what I installed. After I uninstalled yahoo messenger, problem fixed.

A few points:

• Free toolbars sucks, usually. Unless it gives you features that are for practical use like the google search, then its useless. Something like free horoscope and free smilies are the worst idea, ever. Remove them at all cost.
  
• Programs that come with adwares should not be touched at all. I had once get kazza when it was popular, turned out that when I tried to uninstall it, the adware, which was at that time named gaitor, would never go off even it claims that it can be removed easily, not to mention a significant slowdown that cost me a restore from my backup image, and I had to reinstall almost everything. Not fun.
  
• Disable autorun. They get you computer virus.
  
• Make sure that you can see hidden files. I'm not saying that you should touch them, but its important for the next point
  
• Be careful with those silly memory sticks, external hard disk, digital camera etc etc you have. They are the best source of virus if you plug in to places other than your own computer. I assume you know where your usb drive will be in the my computer session. Instead of double clicking it. right click for the menu and select open, which bypasses autorun. Then if there's a file named autorun, delete it, before it activates the virus.
  
• Anything weird with the memory stick, like messages poping up with you try to double click it, or if it doesn't like to open itself up etc, is a common symptom of an infected memory stick.
  

If I think of anything more, i'll put it here

I would avira antivirus compare to other free antivirus. Totally blew them out.

Use CCleaner (crap cleaner) to clean out all your windows and hdd rubish with single click. You can repair registry too (Free).

Use Spyware Terminator, Windows Defender and Spyware Doctor (free with google pack) and latest S&D Spybot. Update them and scan your system for spyware. You can remove most of them if you computer getting slow.

yay :3
Should I put it on the guide too?

lol...i did to myfriend before (via msn), well at least, it save him from reformating his pc.

what problem he had before?

what else....virus, spyware..and the list goes on.

aw how about malwares..??

malware stand for malicious ware, which is adware, spyware, trojan and etc.

When i said spyware, the correct term is malware.