i use ccleaner to clear out the crap from my computer
defraggler does a good job of only defragmenting the fragmented files.

Ugh I never knew IM programs slow down your comp so much. And Norton is garbage.

I have McAfee and Stopzilla but ive only been running Stopzilla for a good while now as to me it seems to catch crap whenever anything happens. Does any1 have a comparable chart of these 2 programs as to which takes up more memory to run. Also if one is better then the other or even if I should remove both and replace them with something else?

(always trying to get the most out of my PC for my gaming)

for stuff like KIS and Norton antivirus how bout just make them not start when u boot then start them?

As for my last post KIS 2009 does make it take like an extra 20 seconds to boot up my laptop.

Eliminate useless programs and software
Run a disk defragmentation
Get even more free space
Remove all viruses and malware

Great article!

I personally do the following:

1. Install Windows 7 and additional drivers
2. Install Firefox 3.5, Java Runtime, Flash Player, Microsoft Office, Photoshop, Skype, Daemon Tools Lite, K-Lite codec pack 5, Nero 7.7, Winrar, Foxit PDF reader.

- You really have to pay attention to what exactly you are installing while installing these programs, 'cause if you just press NEXT all the time you'll end up with UNBELIEVABLE amounts of different kinds of toolbars and extensions in all sorts of programs such as Microsoft Office, Firefox, Windows Taskbar and Windows Services.

Example with CCleaner:

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/4082/004mr.png

I uncheck everything and leave the shortcut on the desktop so that I can add this to my quick launch toolbar.

3. AVG Free Edition, Spybot, Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware, CCleaner, Defraggler.
4. Update Windows, Run AVG scan, Spybot Scan, Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware Scan, CCleaner sweap and have Defraggler defrag the hard drive(s)
5. Setup a schedule defrag in Defraggler for 0:00 am every day and the same thing for AVG but to 1:00 and Malwarebyte's AM to 2:00. Like this I just leave my PC on throughout the night once a week or so and let it defrag and scan itself for malware and viruses. I also swipe clean the TEMP folders with CCleaner every day or so (it just takes 5 seconds to do).
6. I go to START -> RUN (if you don't have this then just enable it in taskbar options or press WINDOWS KEY + R on your keyboad) and type MSCONFIG
7. Navigate to the STARTUP tab
8. Here I manage which programs start and which don't, I just disable everything that I don't need, like DEAMON tools, NERO, Photoshop, Java, Quicktime, MS Office, Adobe Updater, etc...

This is how it looks like after the cleaning:

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/4748/003y.png

9. I open START -> Programs, extract the shortcuts that I need to the quick launch toolbar and subsequently delete everything that I do not need, like the folders useless Internet explorer shortcuts and so on.

The toolbar looks like this.
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/6228/005q.png

The start menu looks like this:
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/8690/006at.png

Although it is very tedious for some once you get the hang of it it shouldn't take more then 2-3 hours. I only do this ONCE and that's it. After all of the above I end up with a dramatic increase in booting speeds.

In any case I once again thank LNCPapa for the subject and everyone for contributing some of their know-how

Arthur

Thanks Arthur

But these two are my least favorite: AVG Free Edition and Spybots
Actually I'd even say that AVG will slow down your system (but since Ver9, it only a bit higher in resource than Avira)

My recommendation is to remove Spybots (useless old program now)
Use free Malwarebytes to scan your system when you want
And uninstall AVG and then run the AVG Remover (as it won't uninstall fully without it)
Then install free Avira (oh and do an updated scan to find things AVG usually misses)

Result: System Boost

Kimsland, thanks for the recommendations. Due to the fact that I've not used Avira ever in the past, I decided to give it a try so I went ahead and changed my AVG to Avira. We'll see how it goes, although during the updated scan it found 2 trojan backdoors in my downloads folder.

It's too early for any conclusions but I still want to thank you for the heads-up.

Arthur

Thanks Arthur, I have found that often from doing the exact same thing on Malware affected computers I have worked on
But, I'm not allowed to recommend doing this in the Malware removal forum, as AVG is supposedly so respected, and users who run the free version of AVG just feel like I'm giving Free Avira some type of plug, and I must work for them or something ! (of which I don't)
Actually I'm happy to state which is the best at the time, not exactly a respected anything User

But since you mentioned it in your reply (AVG) regarding slow downs, I jumped at the opportunity And killed two birds with one stone, so to speak
Note: Not everyone finds Malware from doing this. Except I do every single time, on servicing Users computers with Malware, and AVG says nothing found (How strange!)
Edit: Yet the other way around (as I've proven by testing) AVG does not find anything, when Avira scans cleanly

Oh the first few updates can be annoyingly slow, but free Avira will be ok after that.