Check in the sys tray first (bottom right hand corner) and disable all non-essential items that are running in the background and make a note of what they are - you may want to check on Google to see which ones you want to permanently uninstall. You may also need to tell Windows to show hidden items in the sys tray.
Click on the "Start" button and select "Run" and type "msconfig" (without quotes) into the text box and press Enter.
This will run "msconfig" which has a tab that allows you to select/deselect which programs you want to run at startup. Again, make a note of all the start-up items and use Google to show you what they all are - there may be many that you wish to permanently uninstall. (before uninstalling, you should re-select that item in msconfig so that the entry will be removed when you uninstall).
Download and install cCleaner
http://www.ccleaner.com/
Run this every few days to clean junk from your computer - the first time you run it will probably take a few minutes as it deletes a huge amount of junk. Check the documentation to see what it cleans - you can easily configure it to not clean certain areas if you prefer. Note that by default it will clean out all cookies from your browser - you can add any that you need to a "safe list". It also empties your Recycle Bin, so check there is nothing in their that you may want to recover - once it's gone it's gone.
Update your anti-virus program and do a full system scan (leave it running overnight if you have a large hard drive.
Defragment your hard drive (from the Windows Control Panel) - this may also take quite some time.
Download and install "Spybot S&D" from
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
(It is important that you download via their website as there are some "rogue" versions on the internet)
Update Spybot
Run the "immunize" tool
then scan your system,
(you should update and scan with Spybot at least once per month, and remember to re-run "immunize")
Download and install Spyware Blaster from
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
Update and protect your system.
Spyware Blaster is free, but if you want to use the "auto update" feature you need to pay a registration fee (well worth it if you are not good at remembering to update - and it gives them some income for their work)
Set your Anti-virus program so that it does not automatically scan your system at inconvenient times (such as when you are wanting to record) - If you think that your anti-virus program may be causing a problem, replace it with AVG FREE from grisoft.com (I only use the anti-virus component and use the two previously mentioned programs to take care of spyware). The e-mail checker scans all your e-mail and can make your e-mail program slow and unresponsive - as long as you always scan attachments manually you should not need to install the e-mail component.
Do not have more than one anti-virus programs on your computer at he same time, they will probably conflict with each other.
Install and enable a good firewall - Zone Alarm provide an effective, easy to configure, free version. Note when it updates so that it is not doing it at an inconvenient time, or set it for manual update.
There are many alternatives to these applications, but these are free, light weight and not intrusive.
A good routine is to set your Anti-virus to update when you boot up, and update and run the other security programs once a month. Using cCleaner before scanning with your anti-virus and Spybot S&D can reduce the time that these scans take.
