I. Priority One - Backup

A. Backup Data

B. Backup Systems Files - System Restore

C. Make an image of your computer:
        Software - Acronis

D. Hardware- External Hard Disk, Flash Drive, CD's or DVD's

II. Priority Two - Prevent and/or get rid of malware.

A. Viruses:    Malicious programs that replicate, spread and can cause serious damage.

B. Worms

A program that replicates itself over a computer network and usually performs malicious actions, such as using up the computer's resources and possibly shutting the system down.

C. Spyware

Any software that covertly gathers user information through the user's Internet connection without his or her knowledge, usually for advertising purposes.

D. Trojans

A Trojan (horse) is malicious code inserted in legitimate software, doesn't replicate itself, but can cause serious damage.   

E. Prevention:

While this can be done to some extent with what is already on your system, it is advisable to add some third party software, much of it very good and free.

1. Firewall: XP comes with a built-in firewall. Unfortunately it protects only against incoming threats, not against outgoing "phone home" ones. Better free firewalls can be downloaded: Zone Alarm. Sygate, Kerio are examples but there are many more. Be sure to disable the built-in firewall before installing another one, or they'll fight each other.

2. Antivirus: Microsoft does not have any anti-virus software. An excellent free one is AVG, available from www.grisoft.com. Some popular commercial programs, notably Norton and McAfee, have been found not to be very good.

3. Other Malware: Microsoft Anti-Spyware can be downloaded from Microsoft's web site and is excellent. Ad-Aware and Spybot are old standbys and are quite good. Garry thinks Ewido is a very effective, free anti-malware program and highly recommends it. It is available at http://www.ewido.net/en/ .Beware of many commercial anti- spyware programs. Some put spyware on your computer just to prove that they can find spyware that no one else can.

4. Keep your Protection Programs Updated: New viruses are constantly being written. Outdated programs will not protect against these.

A. File and folder organization: Organize your data in a hierarchy that makes sense to you and makes it easier to find things. To create a child folder, select a parent folder in the left pane of Explorer and right click in the right pane. Select "new" from the context menu. To move a file or folder somewhere else, right click on it in the right pane and drag it to its new home. When you let go of the right button, you'll get the choice of copy, move or create shortcut. Great for creating a shortcut on the desktop. To change the name of a file, folder or shortcut, press F2. An easy way to open the Explorer is to press the "windows" key and the letter "e" at the same time.

B. Defrag: The built in Defrag utility is fine and should be used regularly. (Start -Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Disk Defragmenter)

C. Delete unnecessary files, temp files, cookies etc. XP has a utility called Disk Cleanup (Start - Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Disk Cleanup), but it doesn't get rid of temp files. Someone wrote an excellent little program that combines Disk Cleanup with other cleanup tasks. It's called CleanBat and can be found at http://www.thezjooj.com .

D. Clean the Registry regularly. There are many free programs to do this but some delete things they shouldn't. A highly recommended program is Easy Cleaner, available at http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/files/EClea2_0.exe .

E Reduce the number of programs running at startup. Many programs, when you install them, decide they want to run as soon as you start Windows. This can really slow things down. Decide if a program really needs to run as soon as you start or whether it can wait until you're ready for it. Some programs give you that option, others need to be told that they have to wait. There are a number of ways that can help you with this. In XP, press Start - Run. Type "msconfig" (without the quotes). Press "Startup" and uncheck whichever programs you don't want to run when you start Windows. Garry uses a free program called Starter which gives somewhat more information and is available at http://www.simtel.net/product.download.mirrors.php?id=57830 .

F .Get rid of programs you no longer use. Do not just delete their folders, use the Add/Remove feature in the Control Panel.

G. Update programs to new versions if you like the new features. If you're happy with a program and it works, leave it alone. Programs many years old may still work fine.

A. Clean vents with a vacuum. You don't want to blow the dust in!

B. Make sure fans are all working

C. Measure and display motherboard temperature. Most motherboards have temperature sensors at various critical points. An excellent free program that display these temperatures, as well as fan speeds, is MBM (for MotherBoard Monitor). You can download it from http://mbm.livewiredev.com/ .

A. Check the performance of your computer at http://www.pcpitstop.com . PC Pitstop will diagnose many performance problems you may have.

B. If you do have a problem that creates an error message, copy it down accurately. Use the "Print Screen" key to copy it to the clipboard or take a picture of it with a digital camera before it disappears. Use Google to find out what the error message means.

C. When you press ALT-CTRL-DEL you open up the Task Manager. It will show you all the processes that are running on your machine. Most of these you will have no idea of what they are and whether or not they should be there. To find out, go to http://www.processlibrary.com/ . This site will tell you whether it's a normal windows process or is it's something that really shouldn't be there.