'Viruses and worms and associated nasties range from irritating to destructive. It's best to avoid getting viruses in the first place.'

Suzanne Elvidge looks at ways of cleaning your computer, both inside and outside.

Spring is apparently getting earlier every year. Out in my garden there are already signs of daffodils and the fuchsia bush has a haze of green buds. Traditionally, Spring is when you clean the house — so once your kitchen floor is sparkling and the windows are gleaming, why not have a go at your computer?

The digital clean

Just for the moment, ignore the grubby fingerprints on the screen and the coffee splashes on the beige box and focus on cleaning up the hard disk. Apologies if some of this is rather Windows-oriented, but that’s what I use at the moment. Windows can also be rather more prone to picking up bugs and nasties.

Start by going through your files and folders. Is everything where it should be? Is there stuff on there that you don’t need any more? Why not burn it to CD? or DVD, label it carefully and delete the files from your computer to free up a bit of space.

Are there any programs there you don’t use any more? Why not remove them — if you use a Windows operating system, go to Control Panel via the Start Menu, select Add/Remove Programs and select programs to remove.

When you search the Internet and visit web pages, your web browser saves versions of pages in a cache — this means that they load up more quickly the next time you go there. This can clog up your hard disk, so empty the cache every now and then. In Internet Explorer, go to Tools, then Internet options, and click Delete files. In Mozilla Firefox, go to Tools, Privacy, and click Clear next to Cache.

Other programs generate temporary files — software such as CleanDisk, DiskCleaner and Norton CleanSweep can clean these out. Windows XP also has a built in version — go to Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and select Disk Cleanup. This will also remove Windows components and installed programs. Other versions of Windows have a similar utility.

Something else that clogs up your hard disk, but more important; can cause harm, is Malware. Malware, or malicious software, includes viruses, worms, Trojan horses, wabbits, adware and spyware.

Viruses and worms and associated nasties range from irritating to destructive. It’s best to avoid getting viruses in the first place.

I’ve got a cold at the moment — believe me, I know!, so install good antivirus software, run it regualrly and keep the definitions up to date. I use Grisoft’s AVG free antivirus software; others include Norton Antivirus and McAfee VirusScan. If you think you have a virus, look at the Symantec website for removal tools.

Adware is advertising software; spyware is the same but can spy on your computer usage. Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware and Spybot-S&D are both good; some commercial antivirus software packages also include these capabilities.

Once you’ve got rid of all the files, it’s a good idea to run a disk defragmenter. Computers save files where there is available space, so parts of the files are not always all kept together. When files are fragmented like this, the computer has to search across a number of locations, slowing things down. Disk defragmenters pull all the parts of the file together and put them in the best place on the disk. In Windows XP, go to Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and select Disk Defragmenter. Other versions of Windows have a similar utility and versions are available commercially. If you haven’t done it before, it may take some time — if you watch the process it can be somewhat hypnotic!

Disks can end up with errors, and Windows has a built in utility, ScanDisk. To access this in XP, double click My Computer, highlight a disk by clicking on it once, right click, go to Properties, Tools, and click Check now to check the drive for errors. You may need to restart your computer to run scandisk in a safe mode. Other versions of Windows may have ScanDisk in the System Tools section of the menu.

Now your computer is all bright and shiny digitally, you need to stop it getting grubby in the first place. If you use Windows, make sure you keep up to date on your Windows updates. You’ll need to access this link using Internet Explorer. You could put a firewall in place, switch to another operating system like Linux, change your interent browser to something like Mozilla Firefox, or move to using Apple Macs.

The physical clean

The outside now needs to match the inside!

Cleaning keyboards

There are more bacteria on your desk and keyboard than on a toilet seat… OK, a disinfectant company did the research, but research by AOL UK showed that almost 0.318 tonnes of dirt would accumulate beneath all keyboards over the space of a year, 56% of which is food.

Allegedly, you can wash a keyboard in the dishwasher but personally, I wouldn’t try it, unless you have a washable keyboard. You can deal with keyboard spills, give your keyboard a quick once over or a intensive clean. The technique for cleaning a laptop keyboard is different.

Cleaning mice

Is your mouse getting a bit erratic? It’s probably got all bunged up inside, and needs taking apart and cleaning. It’s worthwhile using a mouse mat, and making sure you keep it clean, too.

Cleaning the monitor

It’s no good having sorted out the insides of your computer if you can’t see what’s coming up on the screen. Give your monitor a clean — you might need some help to do the inside of the glass.

Cleaning the outside

The outside of your computer can get really rather grotty, but cleaning it up is really very simple .

Cleaning the inside

Finally, you can also clean the inside of your computer, but this job is really only for the confident, and should only be done after looking at your computer manuals carefully and before you open it up, not when you are trying to put it back together and have one screw and something grey and unidentifiable left over… If you’re feeling brave, then go for it. 

Now it’s all lovely — perhaps it’s time you had a bath too !

Suzanne Elvidge is the editor of www.echurchactive.net.