Saturday, February 27, 2010

Help me keep my Windows 7 machine running lean, clean, and mean

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CNET Reviews
February 27, 2010
Help me keep my Windows 7 machine running lean, clean, and mean

Dear CNET members,

Happy Saturday! For those of you who contributed to last week's topic on "What's your take on online backup services?", well I have a treat for you. Member Sandy C. e-mailed me to thank you all for your help, so I've posted her e-mail in the discussion thread from last week. It's always wonderful to hear back from our fellow members in response to your help. Thank you Sandy; we all appreciate it. Here's the e-mail.

Now let's touch upon this week's topic of how-to keep a Windows 7 machine running lean, clean, and mean. To my surprise, we didn't get very many member responses to Luis' question and the only thing I can think of that caused this lack of response is there are still a lot of folks out there who haven't jumped on the Windows operating system ship yet, and Windows 7 is just still too fresh (taking this to the polls). But no worries, there are many helpful responses, but I'd like those of you who haven't had an opportunity to respond to this topic to offer your personal advice and experiences on how you make your Windows 7 system run like a champ. The more we share the better!

And for Luis, if you've followed the advice from the previous newsletter on keeping your Windows machine running lean, clean, and mean (by the way that newsletter is from October 2004) and have done great this far with Windows XP, you'll find that many of the same basic principles of maintaining your Windows XP system can be also applied to your Windows 7 machine. And you will continue to keep your new system running smoothly for the year to come. Thanks to everyone who contributed and have a spectacular weekend!

Cheers!
- Lee


Got suggestions? Send me an e-mail: messageboards@cnet.com

Lee Koo
Lee Koo
CNET Community manager
Last week's question
Help me keep my Windows 7 machine running lean, clean, and mean
QuestionA few years back, you published a terrific piece of information on how to keep your Windows XP running lean, clean, and mean. That discussion proved to be incredibly helpful in keeping my computer in a healthy state all these years and I'm grateful for all the advice from your members.

Well, today I have moved on to a new computer with Windows 7 and I would like revisit those good housekeeping practices. If you can please provide me with a checklist with details of the things necessary of keeping this new machine running smoothly, I would really appreciate it. Thank you in advance!

-- Submitted by: Luis O. of San Juan, Puerto Rico

AnswerFeatured member solutions
for last week's question:

 "Windows 7 - Error Free??? "
-- Submitted by: charleswsheets

 "Keeping your new Windows 7 PC running lean, clean and mean "
-- Submitted by: mddy

 "I have always found this site useful"
-- Submitted by: WintermuteX

 "Here are some tips from forum moderator John Wilkinson "
-- Submitted by: Lee

 "Link only, Optimize Windows 7 for better performance "
-- Submitted by: Lee

 Read all member contributions

 Thanks to all who contributed!

Previous questions and answers
1. What's your take on online backup services?

2. Please help me find a cost-effective way to secure my flash drive

3. Windows XP: How do I completely remove items in my start-up folder?

4. I accidentally deleted the files on my SD card. How can I recover them?

5. What is a simple way to convert old VHS tapes to DVDs?

 All previous Community newsletters
Community buzz
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4. I want to turn my old desktop into a storage only device

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6. Picture quality of streaming/surfing Web on large-screen HDTV?

7. Best non-iPhone phone?

8. XP: "Add/Remove Windows Components" feature does not work

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1. News - February 26, 2010

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Check out next week's question:
How do I back up my e-mails from free online Yahoo Mail and Gmail accounts?
Next week's question Over the past several years I have been depending on free online Yahoo mail and Gmail accounts for my everyday e-mails. I've been lucky thus far of not losing anything yet, but I'm weary about it as friend told me that free email services aren't trustworthy as anything can go wrong and there are no recourse if my accounts were suddenly to disappear or somehow get compromised because they are free.

Now that this has got me really concerned, I would like to back up all my e-mails from these free online e-mail accounts, but I really have no clue as to how to go about it. Can your members help me out and give me some step-by-step instructions on how I can get this accomplished for both Yahoo mail and Gmail? I would like to be able to store them on my computer and retrieve them once I have established a nonfree online service. I would be most grateful for this help.

-- Submitted by: Isabelle W.

  Know the answer? Click here to submit it!

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