The good news is there are a few simple things you can do to minimize your chances of getting a virus or installing something malicious on your computer.  Turn on Windows Updates.  Windows should update on its own if your settings are set accordingly.  It takes the guesswork out of whether or not an update is valid when they are performed automatically.  The other thing you can do is go directly to Adobe’s site for updates–or go directly into Adobe Reader or whatever program and update it right within the program itself (Help/Check for updates).  Lastly, never update things via an e-mail link unless you know 100% it is from a trusted source (and even then…!).  If you mouse over the link you’ll see the real address it is going to direct you to.  So when you get an e-mail from the IRS saying you owe $12,872.65 in back taxes –click here to learn more–don’t do it!  Most of these places will never contact you via e-mail anyway–same with Microsoft–they don’t have a bunch of techs with their feet up in the air randomly calling people to tell them their computer isn’t functioning properly!

There will more on some of this later, but for now, using some of these techniques will help prevent you from falling victim to the next scammer.

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Run Disk Cleanup.  This free tool comes with Windows and will clean basic .tmp (temporary) files and other odds and ends.

Reboot!  One of the first things I ask when troubleshooting something is if the user restarted their PC.  It tends to fix many little glitches that may occur.  You don’t even have to power off all the way, just select ‘Restart’ from the power menu and let it reboot.

Do a virus scan.  If you have ESET antivirus, it will perform a startup scan every time the computer starts Windows.  Other antivirus software doesn’t always do it by default, so it’s a good idea to periodically (every couple of weeks) run a full system scan to make sure your PC is virus-free.  Sometimes people bring in their PCs for service saying Windows is really slow, only to find they’ve had a virus for several weeks!

Lastly, consider upgrading to a SSD (Solid State Drive).  When these drives first came out they were several hundred dollars for a very small drive.  Now you can get a 1TB SSD for around $100.  They have no moving parts so it’s like your computer is running off a big memory stick–because it basically is!  I tell my customers, if I put in the drive and you don’t think it sped it up, I’ll take it out and put the old one back in for no charge.  I’ve never had anyone take me up on that one

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