here are some helpful tips to keeping your pc running smoothly
everyday:

-Check for virus/spyware definitions: viruses spread within hours so keeping your antivirus/spyware software up to date is crucial.
-Backup critical data:Make sure that when you get some data that is very important you back it up in case of a system failure.
Every week:

-Search for spyware/adwarepyware and adware can slow down your pc by taking up space or it can annoy you by constantly having ads pop up onto your desktop. The tools I reccomend are spybot search and destroy and ad-aware.

-Check windows update: To make sure your system is in the best condition you should use the windows update to scan for microsoft software and hardware driver updates.

Every Month:

-Check for software updates: make sure you have the most up to date software on your system so that your software performs at its best.

-Create restore point: Creating restore points for your system is always a good idea because sometimes you never know when something is going to go wrong.

Every Year:

-Cleaning your system:
-Clean the inside of your pc very carefully to make sure that no dust is clogging fans or anything like that.
-uninstall old or useless programs that you dont want or need anymore so that you create space on your computer for better stuff or whatever
-Delete your old registry files: after you uninstall software a registry key is still left behind so you want to get rid of those so that they dont conflict with new registry files. Goto start<run<regedt32 then expand the folders HKEY_CURRENT_USER and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and expand the subfolder software then scroll down the list and delete any registry keys for programs that you have uninstalled (be carefull while doing this and if you downloaded a trial then bought the serial make sure you that you arent going to get that app again or that you have the serial somewhere).

you forgot defragment, which is quite important to keep the files on your PC organized and running smoothly.

I'd say to do this once every 3-5 months

... And backup the registry before making any changes with regedit.

And dont install SP2! haha.

Seriously. So far from what ive seen and tested, your computer is better of with no service packs or with SP1 at most.

You also forgot to mention: cleaning up temp files every week or so, cleaning the registry, removing unwanted/unused programs, and defragging.

hey mastadex did you see this part of the post
"-Cleaning your system:
-Clean the inside of your pc very carefully to make sure that no dust is clogging fans or anything like that.
-uninstall old or useless programs that you dont want or need anymore so that you create space on your computer for better stuff or whatever
-Delete your old registry files: after you uninstall software a registry key is still left behind so you want to get rid of those so that they dont conflict with new registry files. Goto start<run<regedt32 then expand the folders HKEY_CURRENT_USER and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and expand the subfolder software then scroll down the list and delete any registry keys for programs that you have uninstalled (be carefull while doing this and if you downloaded a trial then bought the serial make sure you that you arent going to get that app again or that you have the serial somewhere)."
next time read it before you tell me what i missed

Who bumped my rep for this post. Nothing here could hurt someone's system.

Hi Billy,

I recently used a program called "Ad-aware" to remove spyware & adware on a friend's new PC. It found 660 files to be removed!

This was fine except I was unable to establish an Internet Connection after. Apparently I had deleted files with the association 'data mining' which also corrupted a file "Wsock32.ll". Thankfully I found a Winsock fix for windows xp, which repaired this file (and also my relationship with my friends.)
When I ran this software again on my own machine, it was littered with 'data mining' references. Is there any way I can distinguish which ones are safe to delete? I have zero technical knowledge but am hoping to learn from this forum!!

Many thanks,
xxxxxx

well you should post this in either the security, internet explorer, or windows forum there more people will be able to help you this is more a tutorial section and some of the higher up techies dont check these post to often.

came to know a lot of tips :p
thnx friends

here is an addition:

To keep your windows xp running at better speeds there are some visual styles that you can disable to make your speed increase. Certain things like slide menus into view and show windows content while dragging are really just stupid effects that dont matter.

To turn off and on visual styles right click the my computer icon then select properties in the drop down list. a window will apear select the advanced tab then clcik settings underneath the performance section. Once you clcik the settings button a new window will apear there will be three tabs at the top if you are not already in it then select the visual effects tab. There are 4 options there they are 'let windows decide what's best for my computer', 'best appearance', best performance, and customize. the first 2 options are the same thing and are exactly how your windows should look when you install it. the third option runs your computer in classic mode which looks like the older version of windows. So like it says if you want best performance you should like that but if you still want to keep some xp style on your computer then you should customize.
here is a list of effects that are unnecessary (all effects are unnecessary but you wont like the look without some of them):
Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
fade or slide menus into view
fade or slide tooltips into view
fade out menu items after clicking
show window's content while dragging

if you want even better performance out of your windows xp you should run it in 16 bit color this is a good idea if you have a bad graphics card or low system memory. to do this you just have to right click on the desktop then select properties. a window should apear select the settings tab then click on the drop down box and select medium 16 bit color. I also find that it is easier to run things in a 1024 by 768 screen resolution.