Computer Fitness

Various tips, tricks and resources (free and paid) that can help keep your PC in shape.

NOTE: These resources are meant for your personal/home computer, not SD71 computers.

Other Tips & Tricks

When in doubt, reboot. Most issues are easily solved with a simple system restart.

Watch out for fake system cleaners. There are many malicious system cleaners that seemingly look like they are there to help but really cause more trouble.

Backup, backup, backup! You can never backup too much, too often. You never know when your PC will breakdown, but it's usually when you need it the most.

Automate it. Setup automatic updates, automatic backups, automatic antivirus scans, automatic defrags, etc... Many simple tasks can be automated.

Don't be afraid to open it up. Cleaning your computer once or twice a year is always a smart move, just resist the urge to use a vacuum as they can generate static charge which can destroy computer components. More info

Antivirus Solutions

• Microsoft Security Essentials - A top rated, free antivirus solution.
• Avast Antivirus - Another well rated free antivirus solution.
• BitDefender - A free online virus scanner as well as paid antivirus software for your PC.
• Kaspersky - Many free removal tools and scanners and paid antivirus software. Well rated.
• AVG - Well known and well rated. Free and paid.
• Avira - Free and paid, well rated antivirus software.

Malware Scanners/Cleaners

• MalwareBytes Anti-malware - One of the easiest to use and best rated malware scanning/removal tools available. They provide a free solution as well as a paid version with more features.
• SpyBot Search & Destroy - Another well rated, free solution for keeping your system clean of malware.
• AdAware - Like SpyBot, AdAware has been around for awhile and can be another good option.

System Maintenance Utilities

• CCleaner - One click system clean-up. Also a registry cleaner and start-up manager. Free.
• Defraggler - A third-party option to the built-in defrag tool. It can quite often be faster. Free as well.

Backup Software

• SyncBack - A free backup software solution. Easy to automate your backups. They do provide a paid solution as well with more features.
• GFI Backup - Another free backup solution that's easy to automate. There is a paid option as well.

Other Software

• VLC - A free media player. It can play just about any type of video/music file.
• WinAmp - Another free media player.
• CDBurnerXP - A free solution for burning CDs and DVDs.
• Recuva - Did you accidentally delete a file? Recuva may be able to undelete it for you.
• Firefox - A very popular free browser.
• Google Chrome - Another free and fast browser.
• Thunderbird - A free email client (alternative to Outlook). Made by the same people who make Firefox.