You may not need to buy a new personal computer. You may only need to give your old one a spring cleaning. If you periodically take certain steps, you can make your computer run more smoothly, efficiently and faster.

You should start by backing up any files you consider important or vital. Do you have any pictures you could not replace if they were lost, e-mails you are saving because of their importance, web bookmarks, video footage or calendar and address book entries you do not want to lose? These can be uploaded to a service such as Google Drive, SkyDrive, Dropbox, iCloud and others. You can often upload between two and seven gigabytes of data for each account.

You should next get rid of programs you believe are no longer necessary. If you are using Windows, you should first click on “Control Panel,” followed by Add/Remove Programs. You may wonder, however how to determine what you do and do not need any longer. Do you have a game you haven’t used for three years? It is probably safe to remove it. Have you ever used the DVD burning program that came with your computer? You can safely remove that feature, if the answer is no. When you get rid of programs you no longer need, you will also be getting rid of the icons that go with the programs. Your screen will look neater when you use your computer, and you may even be able to see your wallpaper.
In addition to getting rid of files or programs you no longer need, you should delete duplicate files. Many times duplicates are files that have been copied to more than one file folder. Such files waste space, especially if they are the kind of files that take up a great deal of space, such as videos.

You should remove all your junk files. These can be such files as temporary Internet files, temporary system files, outdated logs and other unneeded files. If you delete the unnecessary files, your computer will be faster and be more secure. Your disk cleanup tool can help you. To use it, you should start by clicking on Start, followed by Programs. After that, you should click on Accessories, followed by open System tools. You should then run your Disk Cleanup tool. The last step is to pick the disk you desire to clean. Your program will then run the cleanup and analyze your hard drive.

What is one of the most important tasks of regular spring cleaning? If you are thinking dusting, you are correct. Your computer also needs dusted, just like anything in your house. One of the biggest dangers to your computer from dust is overheating. One step is to open the case and blow air into it. That will blow the dust out. To get rid of dust in a laptop, blow air into ventilation holes. You should also clean the keyboard. Do you ever eat or snack when you are using it? In addition, you should clean the screen with a lightly-moistened cloth.

You should also use anti-spyware and antivirus programs to remove viruses and spyware that can cause problems. Besides doing this during spring cleaning, you should scan your computer weekly and update the anti-virus and spyware programs regularly.
You should delete bookmarked webpages. These can slow your computer down.
You should give your computer a spring cleaning every year. Doing so can mean the difference between a slow computer and one that runs efficiently and as fast as new.