Many of the newer Windows operating systems come with their own firewall, cleanup, and desk defragment utilities. For accessing them you have to go to the start button in the lower left corner of the task bar. For firewall, from the start button you go to the control panel and left click twice on the Security center icon, You will see that firewall is on. Also your virus protection and if any updates are on. These can be scheduled to go at your convenience. They are important ones from the Microsoft site. A large number of them fix hackers and bugs. It is very important to schedule updates.

I feel that the best virus protection is AVG. They have a free program and I have used it for many years. I got the information about it from a very highly trained person in the field when I once faced hacking. I like it so much because it is very reliable and for this reason I have bought my 2 year agreement. It offers real time protection and is easily usable. The price is also reasonable. As compared to this McAffee does not have all that this one has. My first one was Norton Anti virus but my computer got shut because of the virus. Norton is very difficult to uninstall because it goes into everything.

For accessing the operating systems maintenance utilities you again go to start and click on All Programs. Then go to accessories and then System tools. I first do the disk clean up for C:. You have to be careful that no useful files get deleted. It happened with me once.

When you start the clean up the box will show you a list that requires cleaning up. You should check this list and download the program files, temporary internet files, office web page, Microsoft office temporary files, recycle bin, web client/publisher temporary files and compress old files. This operation will enhance the efficiency of your computer.

The other tool which is required weekly repetition is defragmentation of the disk.The method is the same as the other only take care that it is the disk c: that will be defragmented. The second disk is your recovery disk. In case you don't use it there is no need for clean up. This process helps in keeping the files together and searching becomes aeasier. This device runs very slowly.

By doing this your system will remain in good shape. I do weekly scans with free version of Spybot Search. and Destrot adware. A very trusted site is CNet. You can download these. You will have to do the operation after understanding the process properly.They will scan things like adware and track cookies that come in y surfing.

I bought my computer desktop a few years back and it is my third computer. It is very powerful and expensive. It runs beautifully because I keep it fit and fine.