by Lee Mathews on February 9, 2011 at 09:00 AM

You may have noticed Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool in your list of available Windows Updates. Heck, you may even have seen it in your Add/Remove Programs and wondered where it came from. The MSRT can actually be quite useful, and it's a fast, simple way to remove a number of common malware infections.
In an update pushed yesterday, Microsoft added Cycobot to the list of malware ...
by Lee Mathews on January 4, 2011 at 05:00 PM

BleachBit -- the open source system clean-up utility for Windows and Linux -- has added several new features to its latest version that make it an even better tool for removing unneeded files files from your computer. Support for Google Chrome and Chromium has been greatly improved: BleachBit can now remove everything from DNS prefetch data, to autofill history and DOM storage. Support for HTML5 ...
by Lee Mathews on November 21, 2010 at 10:55 AM

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The holiday season has always been a time for gathering -- but in recent years, it's also been a time when family and friends come bearing gifts of computer ...
by Lee Mathews on October 29, 2010 at 10:30 AM

When it comes to system cleanup programs, CCleaner is pretty much the hands-down favorite with Download Squad readers. It's been a trusted tool for years, and the newly-released CCleaner 3 is better than ever.
What's new in v3? To start, there's now a native 64-bit version in both the installer and portable CCleaner. Windows 7 users also get the benefit of a handy jump list, which offers quick ...
by Lee Mathews on June 2, 2010 at 02:30 PM

Due in no small part to the popularity of Windows 7, 64-bit desktop computing is finally starting to take off. Some developers were quick to get on board, but we're still a long way away from seeing the disappearance of the 32-bit compatibility layer (if it ever disappears).
Mozilla recently started making x64 builds of Firefox available to Windows users, and now the popular anti-malware tool ...
by Lee Mathews on May 16, 2010 at 01:00 PM

Whenever there's a new post about cleaning, maintenance, or tune-up apps on Download Squad, it seems like there's always at least one commenter who proclaims their affinity for Advanced SystemCare. And with good reason: SystemCare does a good job of cleaning up temp files and browsing traces (including Flash cookies), tuning the Windows registry, and it can even clean up some basic spyware.
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by Lee Mathews on August 3, 2009 at 01:00 PM

My worst Windows habit? Indiscriminantly downloading new files and dumping screen captures onto my desktop. When things start to get too messy, I'll go on a wholesale deleting spree or chuck everything extraneous into a single folder and bury it in the recesses of my d: drive. Enter Deskcretary, a free app which claims to be the "most advanced Windows desktop cleanup software ever." When you ...
by Lee Mathews on June 24, 2009 at 03:30 PM

Yesterday I wrote up a little list of things I wished people would quit installing on their PCs. Today, I've put together a selection of handy programs those same people can use to take care of some of the annoyances I mentioned - and more. Here are six (seventeen, really, but some are grouped) simple applications that will help - and they're all free for personal use! 1. PC Decrapifier - A lot ...
by Lee Mathews on June 9, 2009 at 02:00 PM

Update: Looking for more apps to help tune up, clean, and repair your computer? Check out this list of six programs that help you solve your problems for free! Nobody likes useless junk taking up valuable hard drive space. Fortunately, there's a whole slew of good, free programs out there to help us keep things ship-shape. And yes, most of them are called [letter] + Cleaner. Here are five worth ...
by Lee Mathews on July 4, 2008 at 12:00 PM

If you're like us, your hard drive is anything but tidy. That's because us power users can't be bothered to keep things organized - there are just too many awesome things out there to download, extract, and forget about because half of them turn out to be garbage. FlexTK for Windows helps make short work of cleaning up after yourself, offering a full complement of file management tools in one ...