These are all great ideas. Here's another easy one: Hit Ctrl+Alt+Del to open task manager. Click on the "Processes" tab and look for anything that seems out of place or unfamiliar, especially if it's using up system resources. If you're unsure of something, do a google search for the name of that process.
Another place to look is next to your clock. Click on the little left arrow << next to your clock in the bottom right corner of your screen. You'll see a bunch of little applications that you probably didn't realize were running in the background. These little buggers sometimes cause pop-ups and always steal system resources. If you don't absolutely need them, shut them down.
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