A lot of computer novices don’t realize that their computers require maintenance, just like your car, truck or SUV. Windows tends to store many files unnecessarily and over time, those unused files pile up causing things to slow down. You’ll notice it takes longer for Web sites to load or programs to open up. Rather than doing extreme solution of reformatting the computer, a few easy to use freeware utilities can be used to optimize your system again.

• Ad-aware - One of the best anti-spyware programs for the money. A few clicks and spyware is gone. It is important to make sure you keep the program up to date which it tells you if you are or not. Depending on how much time you spend online, you should run this program either weekly or monthly.
• HijackThis - Not the prettiest program out there but HijackThis is great at removing unwanted toolbars and buttons from Internet Explorer. If you see something you don't know about, I recommend looking into what the program is through Google. Run this program as necessary.
• CCleaner - A very simple to use program that will eliminate many old files and clean up your systems registry. I recommend running this weekly or monthly depending on how much work you do on your computer.

After using these programs, defragmenting your hard drive is your next step. This is built into Windows, just go to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools and choose Disk Defragmenter. This should be done about once a month. Restart your computer and things should be running a little snappier just like your vehicle after its 30,000 mile maintenance.