| My mother-in-law is not very good with technology. | | | | Even thought the OS knows where to find both parts |
| She understands that computers run the government | | | | of the program’s code to make run without |
| and that the Internet is great for purchasing figurines on | | | | errors, it takes more time to read the instructions from |
| eBay, but that's about it. Like all tech-proficient | | | | all of the different regions. Finally, use the Disc Scanner |
| son-in-laws before me, I am often my in-law’s | | | | Error checker to find possible flaws in the hard drive |
| foil for computer questions and repair. So, when she | | | | that slow down the physical movement. |
| came to me demanding that I make her 1996 PC run | | | | The next step required software to detect for |
| faster, I knew she wanted me to use all my skills and | | | | spyware. After a long, hard search I came to find that |
| computer super-powers to forcefully evolve her | | | | three anti-spyware programs seemed to work above |
| computer into the new millennium. By taking some very | | | | all. The first is a program known as Spyware Killer, or |
| simple, and no-so-well-known cleanup steps both my | | | | by its retail product name, Stopzilla. The programs |
| mother-in-law and I were pleasantly surprised to see | | | | costs about $20 (with rebate) and was the most |
| the notable improvement in performance. Looking to | | | | comprehensive of all programs I used. Stopzilla found |
| do the same with your PC? Of course you are! | | | | programs running in the background that I would have |
| The first Three steps taken were simple: | | | | never spotted myself. The second program is called |
| 1. Run the Disk Cleanup Utility | | | | Spy Doctor. The initial scans are free, however I found |
| ls) | | | | that I had to purchase the whole program to make it |
| 2. Run the Defragmenter Tool | | | | as effective as Stopzilla, and the price was about $30 |
| ls) | | | | instead of $20. The final program I used was the |
| 3. Scan the main disks for errors | | | | Windows Anti-spyware suite (beta edition). The |
| (My ComputerRight-click on C | | | | Windows program ran well, but the beta edition |
| drive-->Properties-->Tools Tab-->”Check | | | | expires and there is no immediate renewal in sight. |
| Now” button under Error Checking) | | | | The last step I needed to take was to run a Registry |
| The Disk Cleanup Utility should be obvious in nature. | | | | Cleaner utility. The registry is a large database used by |
| Use it to remove pesky files that live in your | | | | the Windows operating system to hold information |
| seldom-to-never accessed portions of your hard drive. | | | | about how your machine should look, behave, and |
| These files cause system overhead when performing | | | | operate. Since my mother-in-law’s computer |
| searches or loading program data. The Defragmenter | | | | was almost 10 years old, countless program |
| tool is actually quite old, dating back to the days of | | | | installations left the registry bloated, and |
| DOS when most of the “geeky” stuff was | | | | resource-consuming. We found that “Registry |
| done using that unforgiving command line most home | | | | Mechanic”, made by the same people who |
| users have come to dread. Defragmenter sort of | | | | created the Spy Doctor program mentioned above, |
| rearranges the files on your drive to remove gaps that | | | | was the most popular application for the job. The |
| occur naturally over time. Applications may seem to | | | | program was simple to follow and the free trial edition |
| live in one spot conceptually. However the reality of it | | | | was more than enough to smooth out the registry |
| is that the OS takes portions of unused disk space | | | | wrinkles. In the end, we were able to almost triple the |
| that actually break up the continuity of the program. | | | | performance of her PC for little more than $20. |