New Laptop

I am not very experienced with anything that has to do with what is inside a computer or how it works.
Because of this i have gotten many viruses in the past on my older laptop.
This time i plan to start new on my laptop and have only the neccesary programs that i can put to the most use. Through this i am interested in finding out how to have it staying fast and efficient as it was when i unboxed it [.i just got a new laptop not too long ago...(Christmas) and i was just wondering what the best software is to have on it that is free(and where to download it)]

-so what programs or what must i do to keep it in tip top shape?
-how should i manage my memory or with what?(if i have files that i dont need do i just throw it in the trash bin and delete it from there?)
-Does the way i use my laptop affect its conditions dramatically?



---Thnx in advance

Main thing is to remove bloatware. That's sw that comes preloaded that you don't use or hardly use and starts up and runs all the time. Be careful not to remove something that you need to support the system. To remove sw, etc, use add/remove programs in control panel.

Then it depends on how much you want to update and keep sw current. When my computer starts up, besides the OS/sound/vid/etc, only wireless and antivirus loads up. This makes it boot fast. I don't need apple, etc searching for updates so disable all that and manually update when you feel like it. Or let it run, but the more things that look for updates etc, the more resources your computer will use. Common things that auto update are Antivirus sw, adobe stuff, os stuff, browsers, apple stuff, media players, blaotware/sw that comes loaded with laptop, etc...

The current norton anti virus is pretty good on memory.

Malwarebytes is good to have to check for viruses every so often.

VLC player is a great vid player.

Load other browsers like opera, firefox, etc and try them out. Whats good about this is you can have 2 instances of gmail, etc running from 2 different accounts. IE is pretty secure right now, but that changes and sometimes other browsers are more secure.

Loading too much junk on hd slows it down. Defrag every so often depending on how much junk you store on your hd. I do it once every 6 months or so because...

External HD are great for laptops. You always want around 20-30% free space on drives. Movies, pics, music, etc can be kept on externals when your main HD gets loaded up.

Most important is to keep your computer virus free. That will slow it down or worse, let someone into your computer.

Like showtime said, get rid of the bloatware. Be careful though, depending on the brand there might be some things you shouldn't or may not want to remove, look for a bloatware guide for your laptop's brand on the internet. There's a few on forum.notebookreview.com.

Anti-virus: Avast free version

Anti-spyware: malwarebytes anti-malware/ microsoft security essentials

Windows media player 12 (the one that comes with windows 7 is good enough, get VLC if you have files that wmp can't play)

Chrome is rather low on memory usage so i would recommend that or Opera. If you're a browser add-on freak go for Firefox though.

Also get CCleaner and use it to clean temporary files and fix registry once in a while

Defrag often, i recommend defraggler to do that since if works well and it's free.

EDIT: Also disable startup items you don't need. You can do it through CCleaner or msconfig.