A great free antivirus program

Today I learned about avast!, the free antivirus program that has a great reputation and blocks most of the more recent harmful programs.  I was actually recently infected by one that pretended to be an antivirus program, but wouldn't let me do anything on my computer except input my credit card number.  It falsely infected all my files and claimed the only way for me to fix it was to buy this software.

I believe it's called Total Security, so be on the lookout for any viruses like this.  They play on fear and desperation - OH NO, MY COMPUTER'S INFECTED AND I CAN'T DO ANYTHING!  The trick is to stay calm, try booting in safe mode (F8 when your PC first starts up) and go online to find a good fix for whatever's breaking your computer.  If it's happening to you, it's happened to someone else, and inevitably, they've found a way to fix it.

Is your PC slow? It may not be malware

When our computers start getting sluggish, we usually blame spyware and malware and other malicious programs that have infiltrated our PCs and corrupted them.  But malware isn't always the culprit; sometimes, computer and browser slowness are the result of disk fragmentation, corrupt system files, lack of RAM, dirty hardware, or too many programs running at once.

The older your system gets, the more 'stuff' gets put on it - the natural result being sluggish performance.  Windows Vista is especially bad for this because it's such a memory-intensive operating system.  There are a few things you can do to speed up your PC's performance:

1. Clean the inside of the computer

Dust impedes airflow and prevents proper cooling.  This can lead to overheating and fan destruction which can result in unexpected shutdowns, bluescreening, booting problems, etc.  Even if you use a laptop computer, you still need to clean it as well.

2. Remove unnecessary programs

The add/remove programs feature in the control panel is your friend.  Use it to get rid of any software you don't use any longer.  You may even find things on there you didn't know you had, since many features come bundled with other software and are installed automatically.

3. Transfer off old files

Store your music, data, and pictures to a CD or external hard drive.  Then run Disk Cleanup to scan for files your PC no longer needs.  The less clutter it has, the better it will run.

Also, run CCleaner  as an alternative to Disk Cleanup if you want.  It will get rid of unnecessary files very quickly.

You may also have system registry errors.  In this case, you need to take time to specially clean and edit the registry to get your PC back up to speed.