One topic I see discussed often on the net is computer slowdown. People complain that they are doing things one minute on the net and everything is fine, then the next minute everything slows down. Working with the computer becomes like swimming through molasses. Some people complain that everything was fine when they turned their computer off for the night, but the next morning the computer was like an evil twin of the machine they used to know.

Understandably the computer user is perplexed at this sudden change in speed of performance. This kind of thing is frequently reported by newbies and they immediately suspect that their equipment might be defective.

There are a lot of reasons why computer performance degrades and why it sometimes degrades quite suddenly and drastically. It appears that a high percentage of the times it degrades suddenly due to the invasion of the computer by alien forces. The favorite terms used to describe the agents that are likely to cause these problems are adware, malware, spyware, rootkits and keyloggers.

Without going into the technical definitions of these strange words and the differences between each of them, a general discussion can instruct computer users how to do everything they can to avoid or defeat these monsters. To make things easier to follow in this post I will use the term ‘malware’ for the entire class of evildoers that are responsible for computer slowdowns most of the time. Bear in mind that no one can diagnose all slowdowns from afar. There could be many causes. What follows is a summary of the most frequent cases. Your individual case may or may not be different.

1. The company you keep. Most websites are safe to visit and leave no bad aftereffects. A lot of websites leave cookies, which is a kind of reminder of the visit. But most cookies are harmless.
There are some websites that leave more than innocent cookies on your computer after you visit. Many computer surfers don’t want to admit it but they visit XXX rated sites once in a while. Some XXX rated websites leave bad residue on the visitor’s computer. A few of those get-rich-quick websites do bad things to your computer. Some sites that claim they will teach you underhanded tricks to get expensive things like programs for free also plant bad seeds in your computer. In other words, some sites not only are shady they also can be destructive.

If you never ever walk on the wild side your computer might never be the victim of malware. But if you cross the tracks you might regret it, or at least your computer’s memory might.

2. It might not be your shoes, it might be your browser. There are several browsers available to help you surf the net. Apple system users usually use Safari. Safari users tend not to have many malware problems because the percentage of surfers who use Apple and Safari is relatively small, so the bad guys do not bother to waste their time on this small percentage.

Users of the PC system are likely to use Internet Explorer, and less than a quarter of the PC system users – generally the more tech savvy users – use FireFox. Chrome is a recent addition to the mix, but to date the percentage of surfers who use Chrome is relatively small.

Being the most popular browser by far, the trouble with IE is that hackers and the bad guys like to pick on the flaws in IE. Which is why most of the malware that makes the news attempts to bother IE users. Microsoft, the inventor of IE, works hard night and day to keep up with or to keep ahead of the bad guys. They try very hard and they transmit many updates all the time to try to plug holes in their system. But to many people it always seems as if they are one step behind where they should be.

3. Never go naked. Regardless of which browser you use your computer should be loaded up with protection. There are many programs which protect against viruses and malware. Some cost a few dollars. McAfee is perhaps the best known of the commercial systems and it has a great reputation of being easy to use and effective. For those who cannot or choose not to afford McAfee and its cousins there are several good freeware anti malware programs available. Avast and Avira are two of the best known. All three of the programs mentioned so far can be found by typing in the names followed by .com.

No single program protects against 100% of all malware. Each has strength and weaknesses. Each has holes. It is possible to have more than one system at work at the same time if you can spare the memory.

Another anti spyware system that has a good reputation comes built into Yahoo’s toolbar. It is free, fast and pretty effective. It does not run unless you click on it.

To find even more freeware anti malware programs go to Major Geeks .com. There are always new malware agents being invented and new anti malware programs being created. If you surf the net a lot and stray into dangerous territory every once in a while, you should keep up with what’s new in protection. A program that was great yesterday could fall by the wayside today unless it keeps up with the latest developments.

4. Keep your nose clean. Some anti malware programs stand guard in the background of your computer system day and night. Usually the programs mentioned in the section above stay on 24/7/365. There are some other, specialized programs that you have to turn on yourself if you want special cleaning jobs done.

The two I like best in this category are Ccleaner [spelled with two consecutive c's] and Malwarebytes’ AntiMalware. Each of these programs does slightly different things. They should be run about once a week. In the same once a week category are anti fragmentation programs, or defraggers, as they sometimes are called. My personal favorite in this category is Smart Defrag. Again, check with Major Geeks .com and FreewarePlanet .com to see what is new and better.

Yes, it is a nuisance to run these utilities once a week or so. Even if you run them regularly you are not guaranteed 100% problem-free surfing. But the alternative is worse. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, Benjamin Franklin once said. And he never heard of computers.

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Tags: adware, malfunction, malware, problem-free surfing, spyware, tech savvy users