You’ll hear people refer to Windows as an "unstable" operating system.  I always laugh.  I consider my own system to be extremely stable.  It very rarely freezes up or melts down, nor do I ever see the fabled Blue Screen of Death.

Following are some of the methods and habits I suggest to keep your Windows system healthy and happy.  None of them take any extra money or great deal of time.  Most of them are really just common sense:

• Most important of all, keep the background routines that programs install eliminated.
   
• Use the real Microsoft version of Windows, not the proprietary Windows found in computers made by Compaq, Gateway, Dell, Sony, IBM, etc.
   
• Buy standard name-brand hardware and peripheral devices.
   
• Religiously run Norton DiskDoctor (hard drive checker) and WinDoctor (system checker) or similar at least once a week, as well as a Registry cleaner.
   
• Make sure your system has lots of memory, at least a gig, and 2 gigs would be better.
   
• After closing a program, give the system one full second to regroup before moving on to the next thing.  Give the system time to refresh itself before plunging into the next project.
   
• You should usually reboot when a message box asks you to.
   
• Windows likes being rebooted.  It clears out the "Ram vectors" and any libraries that refused to vacate the memory area when the program was closed down.  So go ahead and reboot occasionally if you’re going to be off doing something else, anyway.
   
• Get in the habit of taking a few minutes to write a backup image file if you’re about ready to install (1) a large program for the first time, (2) a program you’re not sure if you’re going to use or not, (3) a program you know you’re only going to use once, or (4) a handful of programs you’re going to test out and pick the best of.  Then do the dirty deed and reinstall the image file when you’re through unless you’re planning on keeping the program.  It’s better to do it that way than rely on Windows to actually remove everything the program installed (both files and the Registry).  It rarely does.
   

Expanded Information:

• It’s to note that Dell, Compaq, Gateway, etc, all ‘tweak’ the original Microsoft Windows, so it really isn’t "Windows" any more, it’s "Dell’s Windows" or whatever.  So if suddenly some online guide says to "Click on the ‘Help’ tab" and Dell has turned it into the "Dell HelpDesk" tab, don’t be surprised.
   
• The Dell-type proprietary systems are usually okay as long as you don’t try to upgrade anything.  The problems arise when video cards, sound cards, etc, are upgraded.  If these devices were designed for the Microsoft version of Windows, and Dell mixtweaked something in their version, you’ve got problems.  The same is true with programs.  If some new game’s programmed to meet the latest video standards, and Dell hasn’t kept up on its end, too bad.  Because they’re proprietary Dell devices, there’s nowhere else to turn, and Dell, itself, won’t have bothered spending the money to get individual games or programs to work.

When it comes to removing programs that you don’t use anymore, there are two schools of thought:

One school says never uninstall anything, assuming you have plenty of hard drive space.  Every time you uninstall something, no matter how careful the uninstall ‘Wizard’ tries to be, there’s always the chance that some vital file (that some other program is going to be looking for) will get axed.

The other school says, sure, go ahead an uninstall anything you want, just be sure to run the various system-checkers when you’re through, like Norton WinDoctor and a good Registry cleaner.  The idea is to get rid of every reference to the program that you can.  99% of the time, everything else will run just fine.

In both cases, the usual rule of thumb is to answer "No" if the uninstall program asks you about deleting any specific file.  Given their tiny size, you definitely don’t want to delete any driver file that some other program might need.