Get a Clean and Organized Desktop Computer

This is the first of a series of articles I will write about how to clean our computers. By “clean” I mean:

• Uninstall useless applications (maybe you or someone installed the application and never used it, or even worse, it come preinstalled with the computer).
• Disabling applications that run on windows start. Lot of applications start with windows by default. They consume memory and system resources and most of the time you don’t need them there.
• Cleaning your desktop. Normally the desktop gets cluttered with shortcuts, and most of us use it as a workspace, saving lots of file on it. As the desktop get cluttered very fast, it’s important to talk about ways to organize and clean it periodically.
• Cleaning the Quick Launch Bar.
• Checking for spyware and virus.
• Saving an image of your computer state.

The articles will be written thinking in Windows users (sorry Mac users). I will try to give important ideas and information for beginners, intermediate and advanced users.
In some of the articles, I will mention some software that can be of help. I will try to choose freeware when posible or very unexpensive software (<$30), I know our budgets are tight.