Why you need to Wipe & Reload your computer

Every day we hear someone tells us that their computer isn't running as fast as is did when they got it. This is usually caused by one of two problems working independently or in tandem with each other:

1) Infections - You know how that goes - you see a pop-up telling you for only $XX.xx they'll remove the six million infections they found on your machine. Or you get porno pop-ups, or you get a nasty-gram from your internet vendor telling you your account is shut down for spamming the network.

Infections are pretty obvious. They are immediate, destructive, and you need to get rid of them without delay. Dilly-dally even a week or two and you can kiss your data, pictures, music, accounting and checkbook data goodbye.

For that CyberSmart Computers offers its malware removal service, or the malware removal service that for only $20 more includes installing Norton Internet Security with our 1-year warranty. Call for all the details.

2) Overstuffed hard drive and registry files - This is the most common cause of your computer slowing down. There are so many ways that this particular problem can arise to slow down your machine.

Typically, you will have all sorts of what are called "orphan" files - files that were attached to other files, services, and programs, but are no longer needed, or the programs associated with them are no longer installed and when removing the program, these files just got left behind.

You also see an accumulation of temp files - files created by a program for temporary use while manipulating data. Word processing, spreadsheets, photo editing, video editing, audio editing, desktop publishing, games, and other programs that make changes to data in one way or another, create temp files and often leave them behind on your hard drive.

What this causes is a real slowdown as your computer has to go through all the temp files to find the one it needs now. We've seen computers with literally thousands of these temp files on the hard drive, and they are speed killers.

A bloated registry with useless entries is another death wish. The registry is a database of instructions telling Windows and the programs installed on your hard drive how to interact with each other and with Windows. It contains an unimaginable collection of fine-detail files that control everything from your background colors, how wide to make the lines in your program boxes, the order to execute instructions, how to remove installed programs, and other instructions about how your computer operates.

This data file - the registry - is too important to risk with so-called registry cleaners. Unless you are highly trained in what each file does, removing them based on the blind faith in a computer program is a foolish adventure. Once removed in bulk as these programs do, you are dead if the program guessed wrong and took out vital files you need to run your programs correctly.

So if they are left to themselves, they grow and do the same thing to slow down your computer that temp files do - they accumulate and it takes your computer just that much longer to go through them all to find the one it needs.

What to do?

The answer is Wipe & Reload!

I asked Glenn Obert, CyberSmart's hardware guru and owner of WebfootEnterprieses.com, the area's leading website developer, what frequency he suggests to schedule Wipe & Reloads.

"I wipe the hard drive of my Windows installation every three months," but he readily agrees this is way too often for the average user.

"Between one and two years is about right," for these users. "It starts your computer off with a clean slate. Nothing is there that isn't vital for the computer at that point in time. No temp files, no bloated registry, no old, unused programs or other trash."

And there is another type of file it also removes - undetected or super-stealth malware.

"A Wipe & Reload takes off everything on the hard drive and let's you start fresh. There are highly sophisticated malware programs and infections out there that you just can't detect using the methods available to everyday users, " Glenn added.

So plan to do this between 12 and 24 months. Getting ready for a Wipe & Reload is not difficult.

First, back up the data you want saved. You can do this to a flash drive you plug into the USB slot, or with an external hard drive, or with a CD. If you can't do it, or you're unsure about getting everything, CyberSmart offers a data backup service to ensure you get all your data, word processing documents, pictures, videos, and music.

If your computer is a national brand, it will either have a Recovery Partition to make the process work, or come with Recovery Disks. These disks usually are a collection of disks with various items on each; an operating system disk, a disk with software for the computer's hardware, an application disk for programs that came with your computer, and maybe some specialty disks for various extras you bought that came with the computer.

If your computer has neither a Recovery Partition or a set of Recovery Disks, then you will need to either download the driver disks and put them on a CD, or have CyberSmart provide that service.

If you own a CyberSmart computer, then things get easy. All the software you need came with your computer. You got a copy of Genuine Microsoft Windows, and a disk with all the drivers your motherboard needs to operate correctly.

After you get the data saved, and get the proper disks, all you have to do is leave it with CyberSmart Computers for a couple of days - and Viola!! - your computer runs just as it did the day you got it!

From your point of view, it's almost like a new computer - all the speed you got when you first brought it home, stable performance, peace of mind knowing there are no surprises in the way of infections or other hidden files . . . it's a vital, regular maintenance item you need to implement every one to two years.

Get all the details about how you will be happier with your computer than you've been since the day you got it - call CyberSmart Computers today for details and the particulars of your computer!