Spring clean your PC in 5 easy steps

I have a few less-than-tech-savvy friends who have no clue what to back up on their personal computers or how to go about doing it.

So I usually recommend a Clickfree drive, which automatically finds all your important files on your PC after you snap it into a USB port — including irreplaceable photos, documents, camcorder footage, bookmarks, and so on.

And as the name suggests, you don’t need to click anything once you insert it into the computer — it does it all for you.

And so, with spring cleaning season upon us, it’s a good time to start cleaning up your PC to protect your data and make your machine run smoother and more reliably.

Clickfree has created these following simple tips to help you take a proactive approach to spring cleaning this year.

1. Back up your hard drive. This is a good first step, whether you prefer to do it manually — by dragging and dropping important files onto an external hard drive, USB stick, recordable CD or online back-up solution — or want an automated approach, such as the Clickfree C2 products, with its integrated PC/Mac software and built-in USB cable.

2. Delete old, unused software and out of date documents. This includes old online statements, e-receipts and duplicate files. On a PC, go to the Control Panel and click on “Uninstall a Program.” Don’t just look at the file size, Windows tells you the date a program was installed…and the last time you used it.

3. Clear your browser cache and temporary file directory. The easiest way to do this is to right mouse-click on your C: drive (say, in Windows Explorer) and click Properties, followed by Disk Clean-Up. Click off all relevant areas to clean up. You’ll also recover some hard drive space by doing this.

4. Give your memory a boost. If you’ve cleared enough room on your PC, give your memory a boost without ever opening the computer. Right Click on My Computer (or Computer in the Start Menu) and select Properties. On the left side of the window, click Advanced System Settings. Hit the Settings button under Performance. In the Advanced tab, change the Virtual Memory. The more space you give it, the faster your PC gets. Just remember that you lose that space for file storage.

5. Defragment your hard drive. This is another way to help your computer operate faster with more stability. Click on the Start button, find All Programs, select Accessories, then System Tools and finally Disk Defragmenter. Run the program on your hard drive to give your PC maximum efficiency.

Another good tip is to consider software designed to fix, speed up and maintain your PC, such as System Mechanic 9.5, with its more than 40 tools to whip an aging PC into shape. iolo technologies says this suite is the no. 1 best-selling PC tune-up software.

Oh, and speaking of spring cleaning tips, be sure to clean the outside of your PC, as well, such as taking moist wipes to your keyboard and mouse, carefully cleaning your monitor, removing dust from the fan, and so on.

Readers, have any spring cleaning PC maintenance tips of your own you’d like to share?