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Spyware and viruses drive all of us to just chuck it at some point and simply re-install Windows, starting fresh. After swearing to pay more attention to the links you follow and walking through the installation process you find yourself staring at a brand new desktop -- now what?
You system if fresh and untarnished, nows the time to tweak it to your satisfaction. Start by running Windows Update to make sure you're up to date with all the patches and security updates and then follow our handy guide to get the most out of Windows.
==Drivers==
If you've never paid much attention to drivers, consider yourself lucky. Drivers are small chunks of software that control and communicate with a device or part of your computer -- for instance, there are video card drivers, drivers for peripherals, and more.
Both XP and Vista ship with common drivers installed for most of the things you'll need, but the driver included may be out of date and if you don't get the latest version may find yourself encountering subpar performance or bugs that have already been fixed.
Even you don't have a lot of peripherals you still might want to upgrade your video driver, especially if you're installing an older manufacturer-specific version of Windows XP. There's a really good chance you won't have the latest video drivers since a lot has changed since XP was released.
The two most common video drivers are those from [http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html ATI] and [http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp NVIDIA]. Find out what video card your computer uses and then search the manufacturer's site to download the right driver for your video card.
Peripherals are another story. If, like most people, you've got a printer, scanner, digital camera and more, you'll want to head to the device maker's website and find the latest driver for your model.
==Clear out the junk==
If you're installing a retail copy of Windows you can skip this step. However, if you're installing Windows from the CD that came with your machine you'll likely end up with a bunch of trial copies of software you don't need or want.
You can use the built-in Add/Remove functionality bundled with Windows to clean up the cruft, but the freeware app [http://www.revouninstaller.com/ Revo Uninstaller] makes the process faster and easier. Revo actually manages to make the process somewhat fun with its "Hunter Mode," which lets you drag a cross-hair onto any application to uninstall. Just aim it at your system tray, applications folder or where ever you see an app you don't want.
Revo Uninstaller also sports a very nice startup manager, which lets you control what apps start with Windows.
==security==
Make sure that Windows Firewall is enabled. Open up the Control Panel and click "Security Center and find Windows Firewall. Make sure it's set to "on" and then click okay.
We recommend installing [http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ Firefox 2] as a more secure alternative to Internet Explorer, but if you're not a fan at least make sure you have some decent anti-virus and anti-spyware software.
There are hundreds of possibilities for anti-spyware and anti-virus software, we're partial to [http://free.grisoft.com/ AVG] for virus protection. [http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx Windows Defender] is a free anti-spyware app from Microsoft and, while it isn't perfect, it's free and it won't hurt. Also worth grabbing are [http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html SpywareBlaster] and [http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html Spybot Search & Destroy].
Alone none of these three are really enough, but running all three should cover most of your bases. If you find yourself constantly infected with spyware consider one of the commercial solution like [http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/ PC Tools Spyware Doctor] ($30).
Keep in mind that you should only run one anti-virus program, but it's a good idea to have a several spyware detecting and removing applications. Be sure to set whatever apps you choose to scan your computer frequently and remember to keep them updated.
==Windows Update==
By default Windows Update is generally set to automatic, but there are a number of reasons you might want to switch it to manual. There's nothing worse than finding out an update is broken after it's already installed.
Keep in mind though that if you do turn off the auto-update feature you need to be diligent about running it by hand.
==Free Software==
There are thousands of software packages out there covering just about anything you'd ever want to do with your computer. Here's a few we like
# Photos - Google's [http://picasa.google.com/ Picasa] is the best breed when it comes to managing your photos.
# BitTorrent - [http://www.utorrent.com/ µTorrent] is a popular lightweight choice. [http://azureus.sourceforge.net/ Azureus] offers more options, but will also eat up more processor time.
# Chat - It's hard to beat the multi-protocol options of [http://www.pidgin.im/ Pidgin].
# [http://www.dopdf.com/ doPDF] is a great little utility that installs a virtual printer and lets you print any document as a PDF.
# [http://www.ccleaner.com/ CCleaner] is a must have for sweeping out old and unnecessary files
# [http://www.mlin.net/Clipomatic.shtml Clipomatic] is a nice way to get more out of your clipboard.
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