Make Windows faster and more reliable by performing a set of simple household chores to keep it lean and mean

It’s frustrating trying to find things in a house full of clutter and the same can be said for your PC. The messier it gets, the longer it takes your computer to get stuff done and the more likely it is to crash during the process. So, we’ve come up with some simple steps to help you maintain and tidy up your PC, leading to a faster, more stable experience.

1. Disk Cleanup

The Disk Cleanup tool helps remove redundant files from your computer. You access it by clicking Start and selecting Computer. Right-click your hard drive icon and choose Properties, then click the Disk Cleanup button. Once your drive has been scanned, a list of files will appear. Choose one to find out more about the files then tick the items you want to clean.

2. Clean up system file

To clean up more files using Disk Cleanup, click the Cleanup System Files button. If Service Pack Backup Files is available, and your PC is functioning well, select it and you’ll save more disk space. Choose More Options and choose to delete all but the most recent restore point to claw back even more space. Finally, click OK to clean your computer.

3. Disk check

It’s a good idea to ensure that your hard drive is working properly. Disks can pick up software errors that stop data being managed effectively, or they can have physical damage on the disk surface. From the same disk properties dialogue you used to open Disk Cleanup, switch to the Tools tab. Click Check now, under Error Checking, and tick both options. Click Start then restart your computer for the check to take place. It takes a bit of time so be patient.

4. Remove unnecessary programs

Getting rid of programs you don’t use can also help keep your PC ticking over in trim condition. Choose Start > Control Panel > Uninstall a program. When the program list appears, look for applications you definitely don’t use – if in doubt, leave it alone. To remove a program, select it and click the Uninstall button, then follow the wizard to delete it from your PC.

5. Defragment disk

Fragmented data basically means files that are stored in multiple pieces, scattered all over your hard drive. It takes your drive longer to stitch the files back together, which increases the wear and tear on it and reduces its lifespan. Defragging the drive fixes this problem, speeding up performance and protecting your hard drive.

Windows 7 and Vista automatically defrag your drive once a week. For XP users, you need to choose Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter. Select the drive to process and choose Analyze disk, followed by Defragment Disk, if necessary. Note you should not defragment a SSD (solid-state drive), if you’ve fitted one in your PC.

6. Startup items

Many programs are set to start automatically with your PC, but if too many are installed your computer will take longer to start. You’ll also find the overall performance of your PC is reduced, as too many programs are using up its resources.

To manage which programs start with Windows, download a free program called Autoruns. For a guide to using Autoruns to remove unwanted programs from startup, click here.

7. Windows update

For optimum performance, you need to keep Windows up to date. Important updates usually install automatically, but optional ones can improve performance too. Choose Start > All Programs > Windows Update and click Check for updates. When the scan completes, check the optional updates offered and install any you think might be useful.

8. Update drivers

The latest driver updates can improve performance, fix bugs and add new features. Check the optional section of Windows Update for the latest driver updates for your Advent PC.

9. Indexing options

Click Start, type indexing options into the Search box and press [Enter]. Choose Modify and pick which folders and drives you want to index, to speed up future searches. If you index too many areas, overall performance is reduced, so try and get the right balance by choosing folders you might need to search in the future.

10. Visual effects

Right-click Computer on the Start Menu and choose Properties. Select Advanced System Settings. Under Performance, choose Settings. Select Adjust for best performance and click OK to turn off all visual effects but improve overall speed.

There are many important stats to keep track of if you’re interested in the working health of your PC, but few are as important as the temperature of major components like your central processor. If you’re not sure how to do so though, don’t worry about breaking out the mercury thermometers, there are a number of quick and easy ways to keep an eye on how toasty your CPU is.

In this guide we’ll walk you through exactly how to check your CPU temperature, from your motherboard’s own reporting tools, to great third-party apps for occasional checks, to software and hardware solutions that keep you in the loop whenever you’re system’s booted.

Windows apps

You don’t need to get into the nitty-gritty of UEFI/BIOS to measure your CPU’s temperature. Monitoring applications use the same physical temperature sensors in your system as your UEFI/BIOS, but make it accessible right through Windows. That means you can check it without a restart and you can also force your CPU to do something difficult so you can see how warm it gets when it’s working hard.

There are a number of first and third-party apps out there that you can use to get quick and easy access to your CPU’s temperature and a lot more information besides. Some of them can be a little overwhelming, but if you’re just looking to find out how to check your CPU temperature, our favorites listed below will see you right.

INTEL XTU

If you have an Intel Core processor, then Intel’s Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU) is arguably the best way to check how hot your processor is running. Although designed primarily as an overclocking tool, Intel XTU comes with a number of built-in monitoring functions as well.

Step 1: To find out how hot your CPU is when running it, download the program from Intel’s download center and install it like you would any application.

Step 2: Booting it up, you’ll be presented with a lot of information, but in the lower panel of the main screen, you’ll see a few pieces of key information about your CPU. Most important for this particular guide however, is the “package temperature,” and associated graph. That’s your CPU temperature.

Step 3: You can also see how hard your CPU is working by its “CPU Utilization” percentage. The higher that is, the more your CPU is having to do. If you want to see how it does under stress, you can use the XTU’s built-in CPU benchmark under the relevant left-hand tab.

AMD RYZEN MASTER

Step 1: If you’re running one of AMD’s new Ryzen processors you can make use of AMD’s own Ryzen Master tool. It works in much the same way as Intel’s XTU, but for Ryzen chips instead. Head on over to its download center to install the program.

Step 2: Alongside its core clock tweaking abilities, it also has a CPU temperature monitor you can view on the left-hand side. Like the XTU, there’s also a graph that can plot your CPU’s temperature over time, even breaking it down by the core, so you can see if individual cores are getting warmer than others.

Step 3: The Ryzen Master tool can also give you average and peak readings, so you can see how hot your CPU gets over a long period of time — great for those concerned about time of day or outside forces affecting CPU temperature.

AN ALTERNATE SOFTWARE OPTION: HWMONITOR

A classic PC monitoring solution, HWMonitor can tell you everything about the various components in your system, from the voltages they require — to the temperatures they run at. It doesn’t feature any sort of overclocking tools and its interface is barebones, but it’s clean, lightweight and easy to parse at a quick glance.

Hardware monitors

If none of the above methods are quite what you’re looking for when it comes to checking your CPU temperature, you could always opt for a hardware monitor. These typically come as part of fan controllers which slot into one of the optical drive ports on desktop systems. They sometimes use your onboard temperature sensors, but many come with their own wired thermometers to give you additional information about how hot your CPU is getting.

Note: These hardware monitors do require installation to some degree, so be prepared to open up your system to fit them, or pay to have it done by a professional.