Top 5 Free PC Tools and Software

Hey everyone, Today I am going to be looking at what I think is the top five free PC tools. There are many PC tools out there that are available for free and many that cost quite a lot. The ones that cost are usually the same as the free ones just with a few extra added features that most people can do without.

Avast Free Anti-Virus

Avast free anti-virus can be downloaded from here it is 100% free and will run on computers that have the following windows operating systems; 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, and 7. I have been running this program on my computer now for around 8 months and I have not once had a virus in this time and I do a lot of downloading. It has a very sleek design and will easily be enough protection for most regular peoples needs. The only reason you would need more is if you are doing a lot of online banking and shopping with lots of different websites. Avast offers 8 different real time shields which include, File system shield, Web shield, P2P Shield, and Network shield. It also features a Behavior shield which will monitor how certain programs are behaving and then see if they are acting suspicious.

CCleaner Hard Drive Cleaner

CCleaner can be downloaded from here CCleaner is one of my favorite programs for when I am trying to speed up a computer. I have used CCleaner for around 2 years now and not once had any problems with it deleting anything that was important. When CCleaner has been installed it will delete any unnecessary files that have built up on your hard drive over time. This will free up space and also increase the speed of your computer as it no longer has to wade through all the other rubbish files to find the one it needs.

Auslogics Disk Defrag
This program is one of my favorite programs at the moment. It is only 4.5Mb to download from here it is quick to install and doesn't take much hard drive space which is always good. This program arranges the files on your computer so that they are easy to access by the hard drive. This means that they load quicker and will mean your computer will become faster. All you have to do with this Auslogics Disk Defrag is install it onto your computer and then run it. Click here for a guide on how to use CCleaner and Auslogics Disk defrag. Overall I think this little program from Auslogics is great and makes a noticeable difference to the speed and reactivity of your computer.

Quick StartUp

I really like this program. You can download it from here when you have installed it you will be given a list of programs that start up when you turn your computer on. Usually this list is very big if you have never optimized it before. You can un-tick the programs that you know you don't need at start up such as Java update and MSN Messenger. This will speed up your computer by making less programs start up when you boot and will keep less programs running in the background.

 

Filehippo Update Checker

I really like this program from Filehippo basically you download it from here and install it on your computer. Then when you run it, it scans the computer and finds any out of date software that you have and that they feature on their website. It will then open a list of these programs and you can download them from the filehippo website. Keeping programs up to date increases speed and performance and also keeps you safe from virus' and hackers that have found weaknesses in older programs. Overall it is a great little program that will help keep your computer fast and also keep out bad things.

Thanks for reading everyone and enjoy the new programs. Or read the related article below;
How to Speed up your Computer

How to Speed up your Computer

Hello everyone, In this post I am going to give you a walk through guide on how to speed up your computer using some simple freely available software tools. These programs have all been personally used by me and I have found that they are all reliable and easy to use so any one can do it.

Firstly we are going to download the programs needed to speed up your computer. These programs work on Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7. I am going to be using a windows XP computer as my windows 7 has a faulty PSU at the moment which I will hopefully be fixing soon which I will upload in a post.

CCleaner - http://filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/
Auslogics Disk Defrag - http://filehippo.com/download_auslogics_disk_defrag/

Once you have downloaded the programs to your computer you can begin to install them. This won't take long as they are only small software packages.

Installing CCleaner

Firstly open where you have downloaded the install file to and then run it. This will open up a box that will say unpacking program. Depending on how fast your computer is you may not see this part. The first option that will come up is the language option. Simply select the language you need and then click OK.

Once you have selected the language click next a few more times and then you will get to the Install Options section. This is where you decide what the program installs and how you want it to run.

I usually leave all of them ticked as Piriform (the company that makes CCleaner) usually doesn't try to make you install a load of promotional add-ons that other companies do. Click install and the rest is done for you. Once it has finished un-tick the run CCleaner option and then click finish.

Installing Auslogics Disk Defrag
Once CCleaner has been installed it is time to install Auslogics Disk Defrag. This is a great program and is a lot better than the Disk defragger that comes standard with Windows. This is also the program that will speed up the computer the most. Once the install is started click next on the first window, Then click on the button that says "I accept the License agreement" and click next. You can now select where you want to install the program.

I usually change this to my faster E: drive but you can leave it on the standard C: drive and it will work fine. If you don't have enough free space on the C: drive then you can change the location by clicking the browse button. Once you are happy with where it is going to install click the next button three times and it will start the install. Once it has finished installing un-tick the "Launch Auslogics Disk Defrag" button so that it doesn't load up. Then click the finish button.

Running CCleaner

Now comes another easy part. Open up CCleaner so that you are at this stage.

Once you are hear you can select and de-select as many of the options as you want on the left hand side. I usually tick all of them apart from the "Wipe free space" as that way you free up the most space possible. If you don't know what any of the things are it is best to keep them set to standard. Once you are happy with the selection click on the "Run cleaner" button in the bottom right of the program. You will be told that this will delete items on your computer. Click OK. This will start the cleaner. Depending on how much junk there is on your computer this could take a long time to complete. The longest I have seen was about 10 minutes. Once that has completed click on the "Registry tab" on the left hand side. This is shown by the arrow on the image below.

Once the tab is open then you can click the "Scan for issues" button that is in the bottom middle of the program. Shown by the arrow below.

Once that scan has completed a list will appear of the damaged registry files.You will now need to click on the "Fix selected issues" button in the bottom right of the program. This is shown by the arrow in the image below. It will ask if you want to backup your registry click yes and then save the file somewhere in your documents.

Once this has been completed we are finished with CCleaner and can now move onto defragging the hard drive. This will speed up the computer if it hasn't been done before as it will arrange the files on your hard drive so that they are not spread out and so that they load quicker.

Running Auslogics Disk Defrag

Open up Auslogics Disk Defrag and then select the drives that you use from the list at the top of the program.

Once you are happy with the drive selection simply click on the "Defrag" button or if you want you can hold the arrow down next to the "defrag" button and select "Defrag and Optimize" This will arrange the files in order of when they are needed so that windows loads up quicker and acts more responsive.

Once you have clicked on the button it will start defragging your computer. This could take anywhere between 10 minutes to 4 hours and depending on how long it runs will make a lot of difference to the performance of your PC. If it takes a long time then there was a lot to be defragged and it will speed up the PC loads. Once that program has finished defragging your computer you should have a much faster and smoother running PC. You will most likely notice the speed difference as well.
Thanks for reading and I hope that you have found these instructions useful.

Related Articles;
How to speed up your computer using freely available programs - Old Version of this post

How to speed up your computer using free available programs

This is a short guide one how to speed up your computer/laptop using free available tools that you can download and install quickly and easily.

• Firstly download and install the following free programs. CCleaner, Auslogics Disk Defrag, and Auslogics Registry Defrag. CCleaner and Auslogics disk defrag are free but auslogics registry defrag is only a 30 day free trial which is fine for a one time use.

• Once you have done that close as many programs as possible. This will mean that CCleaner can work more efficiently and quicker as well. You will most likely have to close your Internet browser so it may be a good idea to bookmark this page so you can open it again.

• Firstly open CCleaner and click the "Run Cleaner" button in the bottom right of the program. This will then clean out all of the temporary files and unused folders that build up on your computer over time. Once that has completed click on the "registry" tab on the left of the program and then click scan for issues at the bottom middle of the program. Once it has scanned it will have a list of broken/unneeded registry entries that will be slowing your computer down. Click fix selected issues in the bottom right of the program and then it will ask if you want to back up your registry. Click yes and save the file somewhere that you can access easily such as your documents. Another box will then come up. Click fix selected issues and then you are done with that program.

• Next close CCleaner and open up Auslogics Registry defrag. Click on analyze in the bottom right of the program. It will then scan the registry for fragmented areas which will be slowing the computer down. Once it has done that click on the little "Defrag Now" button that comes up once scanning is complete. The computer will restart and automatically defrag the registry for you. Make sure that you do not switch of the computer during this process. Log back into the computer and then the registry defrag program will come back up. Click finish or just close the program.

• Once you have closed Registry Defrag you now need to open Auslogics Disk Defrag. Once the program is open click on the down arrow that is next to the "defrag" button that is located near the top left of the program and then click "Defrag and Optimize" This part of the process may take a while but it will be well worth it at the end. Little blocks will start to apear on the program that are coloured either green or red. Red is the fragmented parts and green is the non fragmented parts. As the program runs the red will turn to blue which means Defragmented. Once the program has finished you are now ready to enjoy a speedy computer.

• Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy your new speedy computer, Jack-O-Bytes

www.customdesktops.moonfruit.com