5 Top Tools to Clean & Speed Up Your PC

I wanted to post 5 of my favorite free maintenance tools that can assist in cleaning up your system and help to speed it up. The tools below are all free and from my personal collection. So, why not catch up on a little much needed maintenance?

1. CCleaner (Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista)
This is probably my favorite maintenance tool. What does the C in CCleaner stand for you may ask? C = Crap and it’s exactly what it does. Cleans out the crap by removing all the stuff you don’t need such as your temporary files, recycle bin, clipboard, etc. You can also use the registry tool to find and fix errors.

2. Revo Uninstaller (Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista)
Revo Uninstaller lets you uninstall programs in a quicker and smarter way. It scans before & after you uninstall a program & finds all the folders and files associated with the program. You can remove all traces of the program, including registry items.

3. Ad-Aware 2008 (Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista(32- and 64-bit)
Ad-Aware cleans your system by scanning your RAM, Registry and hard drives for known data-mining, advertising & tracking components.

4. Auslogics Disk Defrag (Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista/2008 Server)
Disk fragmentation leads to system slowdowns, PC crashes, slow startup and shutdown and sometimes to system failures. Auslogics Disk Defrag is designed for fast optimization of today’s modern hard disks. Get the maximum performance out of your expensive hardware investments.

5. Auslogics Registry Defrag (Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista)
Your registry is accessed by Microsoft Windows and many other programs hundreds of times per second. This leaves your registry fragmented and can slow your computer down. Auslogics Registry Defrag can speed your computer up by defragmenting your registry.

Other Great Optimization & Cleaning Tips
11 Ways to Optimize your MAC
Guide to Tweak & Optimize Windows Vista
Optimize Windows XP
LifeHacker’s Top 10 Ways to Clean Up Your PC

I currently use each of the programs listed above on a regular basis and love them all. Each of the programs listed is awesome in it’s own respect, but CCleaner is hands down my favorite maintenance tool. Revo Uninstaller is shooting up my list of favorites as well. The ability to remove all traces of folders, registry entries, etc. when uninstalling programs is fantastic. Do you have any favorite, free maintenance tools you’d recommend? As always, I’d love to hear from you.