I have no AV or AS programs and computers starting to slow

[watforddude]

I have never run a virus or spyware program on here and its starting to slow down and ithink its becuase its got rubbish on it somewhere, just needs a clean up.

any programs that are good for that sort of thing, just general clean up of the computer, spyware removeal etc

cheers

Tom.

[joel_spencer]

CCleaner is good reg and temp file clearer and you can tell it to keep cookies for sites that you want to keep. Spyware wise think people reccomend adaware usually.

[CrazyMonkey]

I'd run Avira if you believe there is something a bit more malicious on the system.

Adaware or spydoctor will clean alot of minor crap.

Bar that, i'd clear temp files and defrag.

[watforddude]

I left defrag running all night and it didnt finish so i just assume that dont work or something

[Terbinator]

I left defrag running all night and it didnt finish so i just assume that dont work or something

Depending on how fragmented your drive is it will take longer/shorter. Asmentioned by others try some cleaning programs and deleting your temporary files. Tune Up utilities is a good program which i use quite frequently to be honest, it has options for a lot fo house-keeping stuff like registry cleaning, defragging etc.

[watforddude]

That Tune Up Utility is really good, thank you!

[Dingo]

Like the other guys have said it is always a good idea to run cleaners and defrags on a fairly regular basis.

Grab the Iobit Security from here, it's FREE and very useful for general tidy up's
http://www.majorgeeks.com/IObit_Security_360_d6088.html

and add the Auslogic disk defragger to Spring clean those HDD's
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Auslogics_...rag_d5266.html

[watercooled]

Run this to check for malware: http://www.eset.com/onlinescan/

[Phage]

The article below is a bit old now but has some great links and advice. The writer is an old aquaintance of mine, and way smarter than me.

http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/11...are-adventure/

[ascension]

When I help friends out with cleaning up their systems, this is my usual routine.
First back up all the data that is important, to an external device.

Then,
Complete anti-virus scan with Antivir with the latest virus definitions file.
http://www.avira.com

Anti-spyware scans with Super Anti-spyware and malwarebytes.
http://malwarebytes.org/
http://www.superantispyware.com/

Check if all Microsoft security updates are applied.

A disk cleanup to get rid of all the junk from the drives. I just use the built-in utility...works pretty good.

Disable unwanted items from background services and startup.

Optional: Run chkdsk once to scan for file system errors.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265

Finally, run a comprhensive disk defrag for all drives, including defragging the MFT and page file (if necessary, with boot-time defrag) using Diskeeper 2009. It's fast and automatic, and works quietly in the background, so I don't have to wait around for it to finish.
http://www.diskeeper.com


This usually does the trick unless the problems involve hardware and/or driver issues.

[OilSheikh]

Ccleaner > Iolo System Mechanic > Defraggler ?

[gingerBen]

If your not connected via a router with a firewall you could try comodo firewall.

Also maybe install the home version of avast antivirus.

Then there's Spybot search and destroy for spyware removal.

[armoured_smiler]

Another good website for AV checking over the internet foir free is Trend

Cheers
Paul

[gingerBen]

Kaspersky have a free online scanner, which can found at:

http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner