It's time for spring-cleaning. And if you thought your house was a mess -- have you looked at your computer lately? Clean up your computer on the inside and out -- and save time and frustration in the long run.

OUTSIDE Your Computer

If you eat at your computer -- you don't even want to know what could be lurking inside your keyboard. One easy way to clean it is to take a can of "compressed air spray" and spray between the keys. Don't try to take your keyboard apart, unless you know what you are doing. Getting the keys on and off properly can be a pain and canned air will usually do the trick.

Cleaning the outside of your computer isn't too tough. It might even be a good job for your kids. KidsCentral.com has a handy guide.

GENERAL CLEANING TIPS:

Don't do anything until you turn off and unplug your computer.

Never spray liquid onto a computer.

Monitors are dust magnets, due to strong electric fields. Even if you are tempted to wipe it off with your hand --- don't touch an LCD screen with your fingers. Oily fingers ruin it.

If your desk is dirty, your mouse is probably really dirty. Bascially, turn it over, take out the ball, (which could be coated with junk) and clean the ball with 80 percent (and not higher than 80 percent) isopropyl alcohol. Then blow into the mouse or use your canned air, put the ball back in and you're set. Might be a good time to get a new mouse pad while you're at it. ( Full Instructions )

More Tips

INSIDE Your Computer

Remember when you first got your nice new computer? It was super fast and you loved it? Since then, it seems to have gotten slower. You are not imaging it. It has. Don't worry, you don't have to toss it. Computers get slower through use. Why? Disorganized files, too many unnecessary software programs, too many programs that automatically run. You might even have a virus or the dreaded spyware on your computer. Here's help to speed things up:

Back Up Data: If you're working on the next great American novel, or even if you're not, you don't want to lose any files that you have spent a lot of time on. Make backup copies.

Windows XP includes Restore Wizard: Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup. ( Read More )

Dantz Retrospect Backup For Mac: offers instant backup with a single click, after it's installed. Try a free trial download before you buy.

Uninstall Unnecessary Programs: Downloading new programs can be fun and exciting -- so fun and exciting that you probably do it all the time and then forget about it. Well, all those extra programs are sapping your memory, so clean out the ones you don't need.

For PC: Click Start, and then click Control Panel. Click Add or Remove Programs. Scroll through the list of programs, pick the ones you no longer use, click the Remove button, and follow the prompts to uninstall.

Disk Cleanup: After you have gotten rid of old programs, you can clear out even more space by using the "Disk Cleanup" tool on most PCs.

On XP: Open My Computer, right-click Local Disk, and then click Properties. On the General tab, click the Disk Cleanup button. Disk Cleanup will spend a few minutes examining your disk. The Disk Cleanup dialog box opens. Select the desired check boxes in the Files to Delete list, and then click OK. Disk Cleanup will spend several minutes clearing space.

Remove Autostart Programs: When you start your computer, some programs start automatically. That's good for the programs you use regularly -- such as your Internet browser and probably your e-mail. However, you don't need every program every time, so turn off the autostart functions so you can get to work faster and not wait so long for your computer's start-up process. Some of the active programs show an icon on your taskbar to let you know that they're running, but some don't, so don't assume your taskbar will tell all.

Windows XP has a system configuration tool (Msconfig.exe). To start it: Click Start, click Run, type Msconfig, and then press Enter. You'll see a list of all the programs and processes that are set to auto run.Clear the check box next to any item you think you don't need. Click Apply, and then restart.

Autoruns: free software that allows you to quickly delete autorun programs.

NOTE: Do not delete autorun for any programs that you don't recognize. You need some programs, such as Userinit.exe and Explorer.exe, just to run your computer. So only delete things you know you don't need on autorun, such as Instant Messenger or Photoshop. Not sure? Look at Paul Collins' Startup Applications List.

Delete Temps Files: Everytime you look at anything on the Internet, your computer keeps a copy of the page and images. That could be a lot of files -- hogging a lot of disk space. Delete your Temp file about once a week to keep the file size from getting too big.

For PCs, open My Computer, right-click on your C:\ drive (that's usually where your Temp files is) and select Properties. Click Disk Cleanup, check the Recycle Bin and Temporary Files boxes. Then hit OK to delete those files. It might be kind of scary if you see a lot of files in there -- but it's really OK. Go for it.

Clear Out/Filter Your E-Mail: Do you really need to save all of your e-mail? If you really and truely do, get it out of your inbox and burn a CD copy. The less e-mail you have in your invbox, the easier searching for certain e-mails will be if you ever need to go back and find stuff.

If you are on a lot of listservs or other groups, or you get a lot of spam, create filters.

Back Up/Save Outlook Mail

How To Guide for Netscape, Outlook and and Outlook Express (Mac)

Spam Arrest: This is one of the most common methods. Basically, what happens is that you give the service access to your e-mail box, and their filters go through it, remove "spam" and leave the rest. You can sign up for 30-day free trial. Costs: About $35 a year.

Mailwasher.net

NOTE: If you don't have an e-mail program and want one, try Microsoft Outlook Express 5, which is a free e-mail program available to you when you download Microsoft Internet Explorer. ( Read More )

Organize Your Bookmarks: If you have been saving bookmarks ... forever, you probably have quite a few. Put the ones you use regularly on the top of the list. Delete the ones you don't need. And move the ones you use all the time to your Personal Toolbar for easy access.

Check For Spyware: If you are inundated with pop-ups everytime you go to the Internet, unscrupulous advertisers and Web sites (such as Kazaa) may have secretly installed autorun software on your hard drive.

Ad-aware Standard Edition: award-winning, free, multicomponent detection and removal program that works well. (Only free for noncommercial use.)

Defragment Your Hard Drive: Basically, a defragmented computer is an unorganized computer. An unorganized computer has to work harder (and slower) to recall information. Defragmenting your hard drive will let your computer organize itself and work quicker. Be warned -- this will take a long time to accomplish on today's big hard drives. But it will make your hard drive run much faster. Sometimes it's a good idea to defragment overnight. You don't need to do this very often -- once or twice a year should do the trick. This option is built into most Windows systems:

Option 1: Start Menu->Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Disk Defragmenter

Option 2: Open My Computer, right-click Local Disk, and then click Properties. On the Tools tab, click Defragment Now. The Disk Defragmenter opens. Click your first hard disk, and then click Defragment. As shown in Figure 4, Disk Defragmenter will work for at least several minutes, though it may take several hours.

Virus Protection: This is a never-ending battle. It's worth the money to make sure you have a good program, such as Norton Anti-Virus or McAfee Virusscan. After you have the programs, make sure you update them regularly or they are moot. Or you can set up auto-updates.

Mac Users: Here are some more Mac-specific sites:

Optimize Your Mac's Performance And Stability

Spring Cleaning: Uninstaller for the Mac.

Whew! This might look like a bit of time to invest, but you won't regret it!