CatherineL

Thanks so much!

I definitely asked on this forum before purchasing a new laptop. It's my desktop that is older. Here's what I recently purchased:

How do I know I have enough security on my desktop? What programs should I be looking for? Just windows defender? I do some banking online so that's my main concern.

Wow, seems like it a snowball effect. I just purchased a laptop, so I will most likely hold off until black Friday for a desktop deal, unless you know of any that happen before (hoping it makes it that long). Thanks so much for the explanation, I appreciate it so much.

On Webroot's website I went through their "help me choose" for a plan and it suggested Webroot Security Complete. I googled it and it's $15 cheaper on Amazon than purchasing through their website. Would there be a major difference?

My subscription officially expired and now I have been getting spam emails. So i feel like I need something, but when I can't seem to find the same product I had before. I am up to date on the Windows update. Sometimes I am working is PS and sometimes I am sitting on the other side of the room and no where near it when it starts running like that. Using NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6G

I am up for renewal for my WebRoot subscription. Do you still recommend this brand/software? The past two years have worked great, as far as I can tell. Just not sure which plan I need. It's just for my PC and laptop. Also, when running PS my desktop it sound like it's going to explode. I looked back at this convo and I was wondering if you have any other updated suggestions for the Samsung SSD Drive listed above? Thanks for your help!

Well, that's why I asked the question, I WANT to learn. I'm asking for a good resource on the basics of maintaining my computer. What should be deleted, and what shouldn't. Like, I never knew that I was supposed to go through my downloads and delete them after saving them. Simple things like that...

Oh, I have pretty much everything categorized for sure! (For the most part.) I'm thinking what I need to do is to go back and delete the raw files my clients did not buy and just keep the ones that were purchased. When I say basic maintenance, I mean like when I see people talk about cleaning their desktops. I have icons on my desktop but I never click on them as a shortcut (if that's what they are there for?). I just for the first time went through my downloads folder and deleted a bunch of stuff in there. This seems like embarrassingly basic stuff everyone should know about owning a computer, but I didn't go to college and we were not taught this stuff when I went to high school.

I want to learn this as I am tired of not knowing how to do this kind of maintenance. Where would one begin with the basics of storage and how to manage it?

Where do I find the "local" folder? No, I don't believe they take up space on my HD, but then again I'm not sure. I am going through my computer and I basically need to walk me through what can get deleted and what can be saved. I'm afraid of deleting something or a program that I shouldn't.

Thank you. In the past when my computer was running REALLY slow, I made a lot of folders available "online only". Should I do that with these? I do pay for Dropbox-the monthly subscription and use it as a backup ( I also use CrashPlan along with external hard drives).

Ok, after doing some investigating I found this:

First off, I am not a techie kind of person-at all. I have no clue what I'm doing when it comes to computer maintenance and everything that goes with it. This is what my PC looks like now and I would like to figure out what I'm supposed to do to fix it. My computer is not that old (to me) and replacing it is not an option right now. I just ran Glary and it didn't really change much. Is there a company that offers help with teaching people how to maintain a computer? I thought I removed most large (PSD) files from my PC. I can't figure out what is taking up so much space. Any ideas?

Brian, any input? Also found this one: