6 Easy Tips for Keeping Your Computer Clean

These six easy tips will help keep your computer run faster and more smoothly. Just like straightening up your house, or maintaining daily cleanliness, taking care to organize and straighten up your computer will help you work, surf or play more efficiently.

1. Running your antivirus software routinely not only keeps your computer secure; it also keeps it running more efficiently. A Computer Analyst on JustAnswer recommends running your antivirus every month, or as it pops up in automatic updates.  

2. Don’t load up your desktop with files, especially larger ones. Take a few minutes to place files in folders and store them properly on your computer.

3. Don’t install software programs you aren’t going to use. They take up space on your computer and slow it down. If you need more memory, have more RAM installed. You can also upgrade your hardware and operating systems as needed.

4. Be careful when you surf. The web is filled with sharky waters sometimes, and many sites will place viruses, malware and cookies on your site without your knowledge. These can weigh down and even damage your hard drive.

5. Check your speed (go to speedtest.net or testmyspeed.com). If it is too slow then you need to upgrade your Internet speed through your provider.

6. A Computer Analyst on JustAnswer offers these tips and steps for cleaning up files on your computer:

For Windows:

• Opening the “Computer” window

• Right-clicking on the drive you want to check

• Selecting “Tools”

• Clicking in the error checking area

For Mac:

• Restart Mac

• Delete cache files by going to >Go on your Finder menu > Go to Folder and type ~/Library/Cache > Select All and delete files > Empty Trash

• You can also download a free program called CleanMyMac (https://macpaw.com/cleanmymac), it will clean it up and get it running faster