Hi all. Happy Holidays. Since 2010 is near ending i decided to do a deep clean on my system like check for viruses and clean the hard drive and etc. I already ran the chkdsk utitly and thats all i did so far and it just got completed actually. Now what are some tips for cleaning out a windows 7 starter acer netbook. i think i might have a lot of junk. and also if someone could me with cleaning the INSIDE if possible of my netbook like for dust and all. and one more thing whats a good free online virus scanner except for norton or trend micro housecall?
Doing a little system cleaning but looking for advice
- Thread starter bryan123
- Start date
ScOuT
VIP Member
You can never go wrong with a good CCleaner scan and cleaning...almost every user on this entire forum would recommend it.
http://www.piriform.com/
You can also uninstall programs, select start-up programs and turn them off if you do not use them, cleans all internet browser crap that builds up, cleans the registry of keys that are not needed.
http://www.piriform.com/
You can also uninstall programs, select start-up programs and turn them off if you do not use them, cleans all internet browser crap that builds up, cleans the registry of keys that are not needed.
gamblingman
VIP Member
If you have had the computer for awhile, then you need to clean it out (the dust) before running more diagnostics to prevent overheating.
BUT, this is important and read carefully!
BUT, this is important and read carefully!
- Is this your personal use computer? What I mean is, do you personally own it? If it is a borrowed, school, work, government, etc... computer leave it alone. Take it to the people who are leasing it to you and let them take care of it.
- Is the computer under any warranties? If so you need to contact them to ask how to proceed. Do they mind you opening it for cleaning, would they prefer you take it somewhere, maybe they will want you to bring it in for cleaning. You need to be absolutely sure.
- Do you feel comfortable opening the computer to clean it? Its ok if you're not comfortable opening it. There are usually plenty of shops who will do it for a minimal price.
- Do you have adequate space and time to open it and do the cleaning?
- You will need at least, q-tips, toothpick, can of compressed air, and an assortment of small philips and flat head screwdrivers. Do you have all this?
- Are there small children in your home? Kids like to "look at" things, pick up stuff, and "help daddy". Be mindful of this if you have kids.
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Twinbird24
Member
You can probably find the manual for the netbook online and it will include step-by-step instructions for disassembling your computer. Also, I highly recommend getting small containers or labelled sticky notes to put the varies sized screws in/on, I've taken apart a few laptops and doing this makes it a lot easier when putting it back together.
Also run a disk defragmenter, and like ScOuT mentioned, CCleaner can clean out your temporary files, unused registry items, etc., but make sure to create a backup using CCleaner before doing any cleaning.
Cleaning out registry keys doesn't really give you a performance boost, however, if you do "clean" out your registry, make sure to do it before you defrag your HDD.
Use ATF cleaner or TFC instead to clean out your registry (they are considered more safe, but I haven't used ATF-cleaner just found it on the web as a good registry cleaning program), but make sure to create a backup first, because you could end up damaging your PC.
Actually I'm not sure if TFC or ATF even clean the registry, but they clean out temp files, cleaning out the registry isn't even that important anyways, unless it really bugs you that there are orphaned registry keys in there and you manually go through your registry regularly, which I doubt you do.
Also run a disk defragmenter, and like ScOuT mentioned, CCleaner can clean out your temporary files, unused registry items, etc., but make sure to create a backup using CCleaner before doing any cleaning.
Cleaning out registry keys doesn't really give you a performance boost, however, if you do "clean" out your registry, make sure to do it before you defrag your HDD.
Use ATF cleaner or TFC instead to clean out your registry (they are considered more safe, but I haven't used ATF-cleaner just found it on the web as a good registry cleaning program), but make sure to create a backup first, because you could end up damaging your PC.
Actually I'm not sure if TFC or ATF even clean the registry, but they clean out temp files, cleaning out the registry isn't even that important anyways, unless it really bugs you that there are orphaned registry keys in there and you manually go through your registry regularly, which I doubt you do.
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