Geek Advice: How to protect your computer like a geek, part two.

Read Geek Advice: How to protect your computer like a geek, part one if you haven’t yet!
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Step Four: Update Security Applications

Here is where my favorite trio of security apps comes into play. They are BitDefender, SpywareBlaster, and Spybot Search & Destroy. They are all FREE, although Spybot comes with a very inexpensive paid automatic update service, if you like. (I have linked the download pages for each of these from the FileHippo website. They keep an amazingly up-to-date listing of all the apps you’ll want to try or use, and I have never had a problem downloading from them.)

You will need to open each of these applications and check for updates. Then, obviously, apply them. If this is your first time using them, make sure you take the time to configure them correctly, otherwise they won’t work for you like they’re meant to. Spybot will also want you to allow a program called TeaTimer to run when Windows starts up, and I HIGHLY recommend that you do this. It tells you every single time an application attempts to change the registry in any way (usually the startup registry), so that you can decide for yourself whether or not you want that to happen.

After you’ve gotten your updates out of the way, run Spybot’s ‘Check For Problems’, to make sure there aren’t any nasty worms or Trojans living on your hard drive. If there are issues, fix them (usually the program will do this for you, but sometimes you have to delete the file(s) in question yourself).

[I'm going to stop here and explain that I use BitDefender for my antivirus needs because I have used Mcafee, Norton/Symantec, Panda, and AVG Free, and this is HANDS DOWN the best of them. It doesn't hog system resources, which is my biggest pet peeve with most virus apps, and its scans are effective and efficient. It is definitely worth your while to try if it you're looking for a better virus scan, and it's free.]

Next up, run several of BitDefender’s scans. When you install this program, make sure you set up a time for a daily scan – sometime when you’re not going to need to use your computer, like maybe two in the morning. Aside from this daily quick scan, you don’t know if there may be problems lurking deeper in your system. I recommend these scans to be done weekly: Deep System Scan, Scan Memory, and Scan for Rootkits.

This may take a while, but stay way from the computer while it’s being scanned. You might be antsy, but leave it alone!

When it’s done, go on to the next step.

Step Five: Clean the Slate

Using CCleaner, first ‘Analyze’ your system. Look over the checked boxes first, because there may be things you don’t want cleaned; I don’t like my Recycle Bin emptied, for instance. I like to do that myself. I also don’t want my Firefox cookies or history messed with. Decide what you want and then analyze the system. Once it’s done, you can either choose to run the cleaner, deleting the files it found that you don’t need, or you can change your configuration and analyze again.

When that’s finished, go to Registry, and click ‘Scan For Issues’. You want to Fix Selected Issues, but it will ask you to back up changes to the registry first before you fix them. DO THIS.

Now, go to Tools, then ‘Startup’. You just installed some new programs (most likely), and it’s good to take a look at your startup list at least once a week anyway. Check that you’re only loading on startup the things that you DO want loaded; if you’re not sure what an entry is, Google it.

Hooray, you’re done with this step!

Step Six: Put It Back Together

Figuratively speaking, you’ve made a mess of your computer’s virtual file system. It’s like you took drawers and shelves full of your data and pulled them apart, looking for things, rearranging them, and making copies to put other places. They never get put back the way they were before, and some of them might have gotten misfiled or kicked under the desk, so at the end of all your updating you need to run a defragmentation app to put things away neatly.

You can either use the Windows native defragger, called Disk Defragmenter, or you can use Defraggler. The only reason I mention a different program than what you already have is that Defraggler offers you a choice of WHAT you are defraggling (haha, I can’t help but call it that now). For those of us that are more anally-retentive than others, even having a choice of what gets defraggled is EXCITING.

For the rest of you, roll your eyes and use the Windows program you already have. It doesn’t really matter. :)

You’re done!

Congratulations! You’ve just protected your computer like a geek. If you’re lucky, it didn’t take you all day – but the good news is that next week it won’t take you nearly as long because now you know what you’re going to do from here on out. I encourage you to make an appointment with yourself every week to get this done – my ‘Computer Maintenance and Backup Day’ is Saturday (yes, I know, incredibly imaginative name!). Your future self will thank you.

Feedback?

This is the part where you get to tell me what you do instead of what I am telling you do. Because, of course, this post is all about the RIGHT way to do it and you’re all doing it the WRONG way. (That was a joke, in case you have a morbidly serious personality and are now completely offended. I apologize.)

You have a system, all of you, even if it’s OH CRAP!! when your computer dies and you have nothing but two dusty old disks shoved in a drawer somewhere to show for it. Tell us about it in the comments!