STEP 1 - SCAN FOR MALICIOUS SOFTWARE
Update your scanners and then run a full manual on each of your particular scanners (See PC Security
section).
STEP 2 - UPDATE WINDOWS
Check the Windows Update site for any new updates to Windows XP and install all important updates (See
Internet Explorer section).
STEP 3 - CHECK FOR NEW STARTUP PROGRAMS & SERVICES
Using MSConfig, quickly check for any newly installed startup programs or non-Microsoft services, and
then identify and disable those which are unnecessary (See Startup Programs and Services sections).
STEP 4 - RUN A DISK CHECK
Open Windows Explorer, right-click on your main hard drive and select Properties>Tools>Check Now. Tick
'Automatically fix file system errors', click OK, then reboot your system to allow Windows to run a Check
Disk scan and repair of your hard drive.
STEP 5 - CLEAN WINDOWS
Manually delete any files you are certain are unnecessary on your system, then run the Disk Cleanup utility,
then CCleaner to delete all additional unnecessary files (See Cleaning Windows section).
STEP 6 - CLEAN & OPTIMIZE THE REGISTRY
Use either RegSupreme or RegCleaner to run a thorough clean of your Registry, then use NTRegOpt to
compact it (See Windows Registry section).
STEP 7 - DEFRAGMENT
Using either the default Windows Disk Defragmenter along with PageDefrag, or a commercial package like
Diskeeper, run a full defragmentation of your hard drive (See Drive Optimization section).
STEP 8 - OPTIMIZE BOOTUP
Clear your Windows Prefetch folder (if not using Prefetch) and then use the Bootvis utility to optimize your
Windows startup layout (See Drive Optimization section).
Där det räcker för dem flesta. Jag brukar gå några steg längre dock.