Okay, this doesn’t have anything to do with servers, websites, or even Linux for that matter. However, if the computer that you are working on is riddled with malware or adware odds are the work you do for your website will be affected. Another issue you can run into is viruses that infect your email clients and send out spam. Now this can directly impact your server as there is a good chance your mail server will get on some blacklists. Keeping your computer and your work place computers is very important. So here are some great tips for cleaning a PC at your home or work.
The first thing we should cover is what anti-virus program you are using. If you have Windows 8, then you don’t need to worry about it. Windows 8 uses Windows Defender (it took the place of Microsoft Security Essentials) and it does a good job. If you are using Windows 7 or Vista then I recommend using Microsoft Security Essentials. It’s free, it’s not resource intensive, and works well overall. If you are running Windows XP for some reason still (Microsoft has stopped supporting XP…so DON’T USE IT ANYMORE), go ahead and user Bit Defender Free. So that’s your anti-virus solutions, and it’s all free.
If you really want to buy an antivirus protection program, because that’s what you want to do, then I’d recommend Trendmicro Titanium. That’s about the only program I feel is worth paying for if you don’t like free programs that do just as good a job.
Alright, so anti-virus is more geared to prevention of infections, not for cleaning. Here are some tips for cleaning up the computer and I’d recommend doing once to twice a month, or if your computer is bogging down.
The Primary Five
Here are the five essential programs that I recommend that you run and in this order. I download them from Bleeping Computer’s website, it’s the perfect place to get great programs.
1. rkill
2. JRT
3. mbam (malwarebytes)
4. ccleaner
The Deeper Cleaning Three
I’ve found that the vast majority of malware and adware that are on computers can be cleaned right with this. However, there are times that your computer needs more intensive cleaning. Here are three programs that do a deeper cleaning job for you.
1. rougekiller
2. combofix
3. TDSkiller
The System Three
Now, if your computer is still acting odd or not working as it should, it could likely be the core files for windows that need to be fixed. What I recommend here is to do a system file check, then a check disk, and then to run tweakings all in one windows repair.
1. sfc
2. chkdsk
3. tweaking AIO
If your check disk and system file check come back with errors and explain that they can’t be fixed they you likely need to get a new hard drive.
It is possible that even after all of this your computer isn’t running how you want it to. There is a good possibility that you need to run this programs from safe mode w/networking.
Safe Mode w/Networking for Windows 7 and Windows 8.
One thing I prefer to do once I’m done running all these programs is to uninstall the ones that need to be installed to run. Malwarebytes, Ccleaner, and tweaking all have to be installed in order to run. After running through this your computer should be running much better and completing work on it should be much more successful.