How do I keep my laptop in good condition?

neverneverland: How do I keep my laptop in good condition?
I was recently given a brand new dell laptop, because I am moving out and going to a University, so I needed my own computer. The computer I have at home is slow and filled with spyware, mostly due to my little sister and all the crap she downloads. I want to take really good care of my new laptop, so does anyone have any advice? What should I avoid (such as, kinds of sites)? What programs (free or inexpensive) should I use to protect the laptop? How can I maintain its speed? Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Answers and Views:

Answer by leon11357
use firefox as your web browser, everyonce in a while clean out the junk from sites you visit, do not download music or etc unless its itunes or whatnot. do not let people use your laptop cause they may install crap on it. also check out www.zdnet.com for free downloads for anti-virus stuff.

Answer by Thor
defraq your hard drive once a month. don’t download and install any software from the web unless it is extremely necessary. install antivirus software. you can get a free one from AVG. don’t let anyone else but you to use the computer.

Answer by Neussendorfera
my 360 page is being used as a computer help/information site. my blog has a few things that can help – i have a 512MB jump drive with about 20 pgms. on it and i plan on testing all of them tonight on a spare box i have lying around – i will have list of those with links to download (hopefully by tonight [8:00 – 9:00 Central Daylight Time (US)]). so feel free to check it out.

Answer by dewcoons
Install a virus scanner and a spyware program.

AVG is a good (free) anit-virus. Install it and it will run automatically.
Ad-aware or Skybot Seek&Destroy are both good anti-spyware programs (free). You have to run them yourself for them to do anything. Also download and install Defenders from mircosoft.com. It runs all the time to prevent infections.

Answer by tiffer_flower_2003
first off I would not eat or drink by the laptop. make sure you clean the desk top from the junk that gets down loaded every month. I would go to your Control Panel that would be in the start menu and go to add/remove and any thing you don’t need or use take it off you will have more space on your computer. Make sure you get an anti Virus protetion put on your computer I would go with Nortons Anti Virus. As for sites I would just use your best judgement. Make sure your deframent your computer once a month. I hope this helps

Answer by earth_wind_poker
here’s how i maintain mine:

avg free for my antivirus
spy bot for my antispyware
adaware for my anti adware
kerio for my firewall
spyware blaster to prevent spyware

firefox as my browser

this is a common set up, I’ve researched it a lot on www.bleepingcomputer.com (great resource)

i also use ccleaner to clean up unused files
i also don’t use any p2p file sharing programs (it’s not worth it to me) as they may contain viruses, trojans, etc

as for sites to avoid, use popular sites, and don’t wander off too much. good luck!

Answer by dead_man811
DEFRAGMEMT ALL UR DRIVES.

RUN DISC CLEAN UP.

USE FIREFOX AS UR BROWSER and make sure u have installed mcafee site advisor to it. (its really helpfull and free). site
advisor will show u the dangerous sites that could have virus or worms so install in nowwwwww.

MAKE SURE UVE GOT A ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE AND ITS UPDATED.

RUN WINDOWS UPDATE.

THEN INSTALL UR ADDITIONAL SOFTWARES.

AND SINCE UVE ASKED ABOUT MAINTING THE SPEED I WOULD TELL U TO INSTALL TUNE UP “UTILITIES 2006” WHICH IS A TRIAL WARE, BUT ILL GIVE U THE KEYS FOR FREEE.(contact me for keys)
u could have spyware so use spybot s&d or ad-aware se. u could install spyware blaster which will prevent spyware in future. all these softwares are freeeeeeeeeeeeee.

do not search or browse for keygens,cracks,serials etc from ur laptop or pc, go to the browsing or cyber cafe to do so.

Answer by P Wee
Do NOT put the internet on your laptop. If you do you will be filling it up with usless junk. Instead, use your desktop for downloading purposes, then get a CD/RW that you can use to get stuff that you KNOW is safe from your desktop (assuming that you ran a virus scan before downloading files) and transport the safe files to your laptop, then erase the disk and do it again and again until you have your favorite things on your laptop. Don’t bump the laptop too much, because the hard drives are VERY tempermental. Also, they get hot so make sure that you never block the fan(s). Get a case if you don’t already have one.
Don’t update it. It’s already brand new and working, so if it works, don’t fix it, right? Hope this helps!

Answer by oddball
Don’t believe the garbage about Firefox. You can read all about the lies they claim that make them so great.

To have a knowledge of what you are up aginst and how to protect you computer, go here. It it is a great read and you will be able to make an informed decision about the protection.

Answer by great_firefox
Hi, perhaps you can install Mcafee or Norton to protect your computer and remove the virus, but you need to pay for them.

I also recommand you to use firefox with Google toolbar, which can disable the virus to run in your browser, because the virus can only run on IE.

firefox can block any any poppus and disable any virus and spyware, adware on webpage, so, firefox is much safer than IE. as you know, most of the virus is spread throught internet and webpage.

firefox is much smaller than IE, so i run faster than IE.

download firefox for free:

Best Wishes && Good Luck!