In today’s business world, personal computers are the center of any workstation and are an absolute requirement to succeed, no matter if you’re a small business owner, large corporation, or a freelance individual. And keeping those PCs running smoothly is a number one priority. Viruses, spyware, and an overall unhealthy PC can bring your business to a screeching halt.

Even if your rig has the fastest processor, highest memory capacity, or biggest hard drive, your PC can still get bogged down with malware and other annoyances. Here are a few quick tips and software solutions to clean out your files, remove malware, and optimize your PC. (Disclaimer: This is a very basic guide for novice Windows computer users. Use these software solutions at your own risk, and backup your files before continuing.)

Cleaning Out The Malware: Seeing a lot of pop-up ads at random? Spyware and other malware critters are lurking all over the internet, and simply navigating down the wrong alley can get you infected. Microsoft’s Windows Defender, which is available for Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Vista, and the brand new Windows 7, has been generally reviewed as a good performer at spyware detection and protection. Another popular detection program is Spybot – Search and Destroy, something I personally use. (Here are some quick guides on how to use Windows Defender and Spybot.)

If you’re looking for an even higher level of protection, you can’t go wrong with a paid software protection platform like the very popular Norton Internet Security 2010.

Adding Virus Protection: If you’re not running some sort of antivirus protection, you’re pretty much a fish in a barrel. Currently, there are two free antivirus software packages that come to mind for home use. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition and avast! Home Edition are both completely free and offer basic antivirus and antispyware protection. Pretty straightforward stuff here – install, scan (and reboot and scan if necessary), and you should be set with protection – check out AVG's free video tutorial if you need some guidance. Again, if you’ve got a few bucks to spend, both AVG and avast! offer paid solutions, and you could also go with a Symantec/Norton security package like the one mentioned above. (I personally am very satisfied with Symantec’s antivirus program.)

Do A Little House Cleaning: Now that you’ve installed some spyware and virus protection, it’s time for a little house cleaning. In your Windows Control Panel, navigate to “Add or Remove Programs” (“Programs and Features” in Windows Vista/7) and uninstall any software you do not plan on using. Freeing up hard drive space in a lot of cases can improve the performance of your PC, especially if your hard drive is nearly full. Also, navigate to “Internet Options” in the Control Panel and clear out your temporary Internet files. While you’re at it, clear out your Recycle Bin, but give it a once over beforehand so you don’t accidently delete something permanently. Also, try using Windows’ Disk Cleanup program - read this free guide on how to use it. And if you’re really running out of space on your PC, consider purchasing an external hard drive to offload some of your files to free up some additional space.

Running System Tools: Once you’ve installed some spyware and virus protection and done some hard drive cleanup, now’s a good opportunity to run some maintenance software. First, you’ll want to defragment your hard drive. Think of your hard drive as a filing cabinet – over time, you’re simply just throwing snippets of paper here and there in an unorganized fashion into the filing cabinet. What defragmenting does is take all of those snippets and unorganized files and rearranges them neatly for quicker access to files.

If you’re running Windows XP, open up “My Computer” and right click on your main C: hard drive, and then navigate to properties. Click on over to the “Tools” tab and click the Defragment Now button. Once the Disk Defragmenter is loaded, “Analyze” your C: drive, and Windows will let you know if it’s time to defrag or not. Simply follow the prompts and set it and forget it. Another program you should run while in the “Tools” tab of your hard drive is the “Error-checking” program. This will analyze your hard drive for any hardware errors and will also check for overall health (you may need a system reboot.) These scans may take some time, but be patient – they’re worth your time. (Here are some more in depth tutorials on defragmenting and scanning your hard drive.)

Once you’ve completed these four steps, your PC should be running in a more optimized fashion. Any of you tech-heads out there have any other software suggestions or overall tips for a faster PC? Leave your comments and suggestions below.

Links:
Elance Blog - Free, Open Source Alternatives To Retail Software
Elance Blog - Avoiding Injury And RSI In Your Home Or Office
Elance Blog - How To Use Twitter Effectively For Your Business
Microsoft - Windows Defender
Safer-Networking - Spybot Search & Destroy
Symantec - Norton Internet Security 2010
AVG.com - Anti-Virus Free Edition
Avast.com - avast! Home Edition