Computers and Virus checkers

One thing I get a lot of being in the computer industry is questions on why does my PC run slow or Lockup etc.? My answer is normally pretty vague, stating that many different things contribute to a PC's poor performance or causing it to lock up. But recently I've had to laugh at quite a few cases where I go to my friends house to repair the PC and guess what...

I find no fewer than 5 virus checking applications, at least one "registry cleaner" (3 in one case), and numerous other "free" downloadable applications to fix this, that and the other thing.

All I can say to them is "lots of people do this".

and it's true - so many "noobs" out there think that the more protection they have the better off they are. Absolutely not true. While it is good to have a virus application, spyware protection and utilities to keep your system running smoothly, you don't need a ton of applications to do this.

now I'm not a Microsoft junky, but if you are using a MS operating system you have some pretty easy to use options for everything you need.

Defender and Microsoft Security Essentials