A personal computer is one of the most precious devices at home. The pain of not having a computer in proper running condition can only be felt when something happens to the computer and it just refuses to start — be it malware, virus or worms.

So in order to avoid spending weekends and late nights in fixing a computer, try out these top free maintenance tools which have been downloaded the most by Windows operating system users in the last year, and continue to be on the most downloaded list of Download.com.

CCleaner

Available for free from Download.com, it’s a super fast analyser that checks for browser-based and otherwise useless stuff hogging up disk space. It identifies browser caches, temporary files, cookies and browser history data that can clog up to half a GB of data within a few months time if not cleaned in time.

CCleaner takes care of deletion without any user intervention, making the whole process smooth and easy to follow, with a progress bar updating the status. Once done with the cleaner, the second tool in the left side toolbar of CCleaner is that of Registry. Known for its clunkiness and notorious for keeping remnants of unwanted software and even governing the auto start-up of malware, Registry has traditionally been a tough nut to crack.

Given the size of Registry which grows with usage, the analysis can take up to a few minutes with an option of fixing all known issues, such as invalid entries.

The third tool in the CCleaner toolbox is named Tool itself and is a collection of software and driver management tools not available in Windows XP or 7 by default. The first tool is Uninstall which unlike the default Add / Remove program, provides information about size and exporting the list of installed software as well. Then there’s start-up tool to manage all auto-run programs from a single interface. Along with computer start-up programs, it also lists browser start-up programs which may cause delays.

The next useful item here is listing of programs that appear when a right click is made, also called the context menu. One common example is archiving option that appears on right click after installing utilities like WinRAR or 7-Zip. With CCleaner, context menu items can be disabled and enabled without having to delete or uninstalling the base program itself.

The third tool is System Restore that lists backed up system files as of a particular date. This is a feature that enables users to restore their system configuration and other critical settings to a defined date on which the system restore point was earlier created.

The last tool in CCleaner is Drive Wiper for additional security of hard disk. It performs multiple write and delete operations over free space of hard disk in order to make it difficult to ‘restore’ deleted data in case some sensitive or personal data is to be deleted and wiped out completely out of the computer.

With these functionalities and a super fast speed, CCleaner is a must have tool in the arsenal of anyone who is keen to keep the computer lean and clean.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

The next must-have utility is Malwarebytes Anti-Malware available from Download.com. As today’s computing is increasingly web-oriented with cloud computing, online office applications, web based email, chat, videos, social networking, blogging, etc, it’s obvious that the black hat hackers are now targeting web users more than ever before to distribute their malware. And that’s what exactly Anti-Malware tackles.

The first time it starts, it checks how old the database is and updates it, ensuring it remains current. Once updated, it offers both quick and comprehensive scan options, along with a flash scan only for memory and auto-load items. It boasts a proprietary technology, allowing the utility to be installed on infected computers as well.

Other than scan, there’s a More Tools tab which lists some other useful tools such as File Assasin to delete individual files rather than scanning the whole disk for malware. Then there’s link to Anti Root Kit tool to detect and delete a particular type of malware that are considered to be nastier and difficult to remove as compared to normal malware. Last, there’s a link to Start-up Lite for users to take control of their computer’s start-up by removing suspicious or unwanted programs that refuse to leave the computer otherwise.

Advanced SystemCare

The third utility that helps keeping the computer performing at its peak is Advanced SystemCare. Available from Download.com, this nifty tool is aesthetically designed, attracting users into taking some time out and understand the options available in a rather mundane activity of managing and fixing problems.

The scan part takes care of registry, malware, junk files and other such issues. Next set of options is Toolbox which contains file shredder, disk cleaner, RAM booster, registry cleaner, etc., — a total of 26 tools.

Advanced SystemCare offers another interesting tweak — optimise the computer for working or gaming. In case of gaming, some of the Windows services and other parallel programs taking up processing power and memory are closed automatically.

Keeping a Windows operating system in great shape requires a bit of time and effort. And the above three tools make the job easier and fun.