swansonager – what is matt up to?

Firefox crashed on me yesterday and when it restarted, I was presented with this. love it.

There are times when I just assume that everyone knows the little tips and tricks that I use when I work on my computer everyday. Sometimes I need to take a step back and do a better job at sharing things with others that I’ve picked up over the past 10 years in the internet industry. One major area that I constantly hear my friends complain about is how slow their computer is running or acting. I’m sure you’ve been there.

I run Windows XP Professional on my Dell XPS M1330 Laptop (not that you really care what type of machine I work on daily, but thought I’d throw it in there). Here are some things I do to ensure that my machine is running fast, quick and snappy on a daily basis.

#1 – Use AVG for FREE Virus Protection

#2- Surf the Web with Firefox

Ditch IE and Surf with Firefox today – it rocks.

#3 – Use Sygate Personal Firewall

I know that AVG Free has a firewall but I personally like Sygate Personal Firewall (I use version 5.5) much better. It’s very good at probing any incoming IP or site that might try to gain access to your machine and will prompt you to either allow or not allow the connection. It’s great and I’ve used it for years now.

Free Download of Sygate Personal Firewall from OldVersion.com

Using a firewall will ensure that any spyware that you might have inadvertently gotten infected with can’t call out to the mothership (i.e the annoying person that infected you with it). On that note if you do have spyware, most of the time a fresh install of XP or whatever Operating System you are using is in order.

Which tools do you use to ensure your machine is running fast?