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My computer seems like it has been going a lot slower than usual lately. And I know that it's been faster, and there are ways that I can do that. What do you guys think are the best ways that I can improve my PC's performance and "cleaness"?
P.S. I have CCleaner installed already. :P
Format your hardisk and reinstall everything. Its a pain, but its guarateed to remove all malwre, registry entries and other crap floting around. Plus its effectivey a defrag too.
After that, devote a regular part of your schedule to updating software and disk maintenence.
Watch what you do on the web and secure your browser from now on, too.
Well, there's registry fixing software to get rid of crap in the registry, then there's disk defragmenters and, of course, registry defragmenters. And naturally, spyware cleaner.
Running all of those might do a lot of wonders.
..or stop using windows...
Or maybe stop sprouting nonsense.
Go for linux if you like linux, not because of the lack for cleaning.
It doesn't need to be cleaned, and that's one of the reasons to like it. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Elysia
Anyway, l'm outta any further Linux vs Windows discussion. :p
Yes, but it's also fundamentally different from Windows. If you aren't a power user, then you're probably going to find linux intimidating, for example, so just recommending using linux, say, over windows because it doesn't need to be cleaned doesn't hold up as a valid argument.
But anyway...
You get a better browser - Firefox or Opera, an antivirus, anti spyware and defragment your disc regularly. There are links to many free software in a sticky thread in General discussion, if you don't want to pay.Quote:
Originally Posted by michaelp
Here's what I've done to keep my computer clean:
I check my computer once in a while with Spybot.
I removed all non-critical startup processes (it's comfy to do it through Spybot).
I removed all non-critical services (services.msc - settings)
I removed all non-necessary shell extensions through ShellExView.
I removed all possible visual effects and switched to classic skin.
I do a disk defragmentation about once in two-three months.
I keep an eye on things to see if there's anything suspicious.
Everything is as fast as it was 3 years ago and I haven't reformatted my hard drive.
I don't know if these counts to keeping the computer "clean." Mostly you're just disabling things to save memory and/or startup time.Quote:
Originally Posted by maxorator
It's true that some malicious applications or extensions like to embed themselves, but you don't mention removing harmful stuff, only removing "unnecessary" stuff...
You can still have a computer even with all those things which isn't infected by spyware and all of those other things.
The best solutions are typically clean the registry, defragment registry and disk and be watchful of what you download or use.
People often think they have some spyware or viruses on their computers, because the computer is so freaking slow. But usually it is only the hundreds of startup applications, processes in the background, services and shell extensions.Quote:
Originally Posted by Elysia
Typically, however, having enough memory, I have never seen the need to disable services, themes or the like because I gain little or no benefit.
Computers today are just under-equipped.
I also find that disabling services will get you into trouble later when something won't work right because you disabled its service.
I don't have such problems. Maybe because I use too much open-source software, which don't rely on bloatware? Go figure...Quote:
Originally Posted by Elysia
Maybe...
Windows is a very complex piece of software :P
Microsoft has over-complexed it. Everything can be done much more easier than it is done by MS usually. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Elysia
But this thread is about keeping computer fast. And if you don't want your computer to be fast anyway, then it's not really relevant to this topic. I have worked on computers that have mega-hardware but are full of bloatware and lag like hell. So I think getting rid of unnecessary stuff running all the time is a good thing to do.
These keep my system tip-top:
- Diskkeeper 2008. Actually runs silently in the background and removes fragments on the fly. They use some new invisi-tasking technology that uses unused system resources. It's not just hype either because I can play Oblivion while this thing is running and there is no performance hit. Excellent product that will keep your drives free of fragments. I swear by Diskkeeper that it is one of the best, if not the best, disk defrags out there.
- AVG Free - simple, fast, and effective. Not sure about the new version 8 but version 7 is great. Finds stuff the other guys miss. Not sure if it is as good as Avast but since both are free if you use both you are probably covering all bases.
- Zone Alarm - I tried another firewall type program b/c I thought Zone Alarm was a hog. However Zone Alarm is actually very small, very aware of the status of your ports, and can be configured to run as silent as you want it to.
- Spybot S&D - no computer is complete without this essential tool. Tons of copy-cats but no one beats Spybot. The many different things it can cleanup such as unused registry entries, incorrect registry paths, references to DLLs that no longer exist, a secure shredder for internet files, a spyware detection engine that detects tens of thousands of malware, spyware, etc. A 'tea timer' systray app that detects changes to your IE as well as a bad download blocker that will go as far as blocking ads that are from known spyware type companies and/or sites. You can't go wrong with Spybot. Recent problems with SD Helper have been a nuissance for IE users but I still
love my Spybot.
PerfectDisk is known to topple Diskkeeper, though..
> Maybe because I use too much open-source software, which don't rely on bloatware? Go figure...
Ever used KDE? :rolleyes:
What do you mean by that? :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by zacs7
KDE does not rely on bloatware in any way.
Ahh, just a Gnome boy picking on KDE :)
Let it rest...
But in that case GNOME is bloatware to :confused: Enlightenment is a kick ass WM and its only around 6MB. Fluxbox is stupidly small, but I don't like it as much.
I use AVG Free, Commodo Firewall and do period scans with CCleaner, PerfectDisk, Spybot S&D and TuneUp Utilities Registry optimization component. I only have Commodo and AVG running in the background. Everything else is only used on demand.
After around 10 years of following Tiny Personal Firewall development (later Kerio Personal Firewall and now Sunbelt Personal Firewall) I finally moved away. Selling this excellent firewall to Sunbelt didn't please me. I was already slightly annoyed at Kerio's changes to what used to be the smallest (the core was entirely written in assembly. Only the GUI in C) and most effective free firewall ever - in my opinion, naturally.
In addition to the software above I disable or move to manual about every service I can from services.msc. That means even things like Automatic Updates, BITS, WebClient, etc... I run windows on 19 active services. If I need something I go back and activate it for that windows session. Meanwhile I keep my taskbar to the absolute minimum, avoid going crazy on firefox extensions, and run windows XP on classic mode with 0 visual effects. I'm also usually not eager to update every single piece of software I have. If it's working and the new features don't hit me as important or the bugs corrections uneventful, I skip the upgrade.
PerfectDisk... the one which nicely put the files in this order: rarely used files in the beginning of the drive, then occasionally used files and at the very end it put frequently used files. Then it filled the last sectors of my hard drive with "boot" files. They call it "SMARTPlacement"? Sounds like they haven't heard that the inner circles of a hard drive are faster...Quote:
Originally Posted by Elysia
I don't know which side is the inner and which is the outer, but all the boot files are placed at the beginning of the map so far as I can see.
Hmm. :/Quote:
Originally Posted by Elysia
Edit: And as the Windows Disk Defragmenter shows, that stuff it added to the end of the hard drive is all fragments.
A usual sign of slowdown is when a BHO (Browser Helper Object) gets installed. I try to keep no BHO's.
It's really unfortunate that certain pieces of software deem themselves so important that they need to track every keystroke the user enters, or "phone home" every 5 minutes to see if a new version of itself is available for download. It's ridiculous.
I get tired of playing administrator and being a slave to threats. It's B.S.
I use PerfectDisk for years and never even once saw what you see Maxorator. *shrug*
I'm pretty certain I see the purple blocks at the beginning of the map all the time. But I don't do a habit of defragmenting until I get at least 10%, so it's kind of disorganized now, but not disorganized enough to defragment, so I can't really take a look and see or a screenshot...Quote:
Originally Posted by maxorator
Normally I tend to format and reinstall my windows xp every 6 months (at least).
What i do is format, create an admin account, demote myself to normal user.
Then install the basic stuff: drivers, office, FF, some webdev tools, compilers, ide's and the like... Take an image of everything (obviously only the first time, later on only if updates have taken place).
I especially like the user mode in windows xp, as soon as something wants to write to any dangerous place it pops up that I need to be administrator (makes you check twice before you install anything). Although I have to note it comes with quite a bit of abnormal behaviour for some programs, since not all installations ask for which users the program should be runnable, editable(config files) etc... So it still requires some manual tweaking after installing anything to get it really executable and runnable ...
Anyhow thats my approach to a clean computer while running windows xp. I use the same setup for my parents their computer and even though they are computer illiterates the system has been runnning fine for the past 2 years without a format or anything... (once in a while I get a phonecall asking me for the admin pasword so they can install something but I rather have a 1 minute phone call then to go over there and format the whole damn thing).
KDE sucks ass.Quote:
Originally Posted by zacs7
:P
Almost forgot about this thread.
When I did say "keep my PC clean and fast" stuff like disabling start-up services and registry tweaks were part of what I was looking for.
I'm not really a Linux kind of person, so I'm gonna stay on Windows XP.
Just recently, I updated to SP3 through Windows Update, so I should be fine for updates.
I haven't defragmented in a while. I should do that... I'll get the trial of Perfect Disk and do one.
I have Spybot S&D, but I haven't run a scan in a while. I'll do that.
I'm gonna try to stay away from a full format and re-install. Although if my computer gets slow enough, it may be a possibility.
I use Firefox.
I will also try to un-install some un-used programs.
-michaelp
nah...I got confused by the thread title "best way to keep pc clean an fast". What I said is still the best way to keep a pc clean and fast :pQuote:
Originally Posted by michaelp
Good Luck :D
Yeah, whatever. :P
:D
Anyways, instead of format/reinstall, if I just did a reinstall of Windows XP and no format, how much would that help with my performance?
It would typically help a lot. Except for fragmentation of the hard drive.
Okay. I'll probably do that soon then. :D|
Thanks.
Just remember that all installed application will probably stop working (as well as drivers, etc).
Really? Does a reinstall clear registry entries or something?
Of course it is. It's a reinstall.
What if backed up the program registry entries? Or would I be able to get all of them?
The registry is just a bunch of files on your computer. Delete the files or reinstall the OS, and those go away. Erased. Reset.
Then you're back to before you reinstalled. If you can back them up.Quote:
Originally Posted by michaelp
The registry contains all the information about programs, the system, etc.
This registry can get sluggish, full of bad information, etc, slowing the system down. Reinstalling resets the registry and gets rid of all that information, which is why it's so effective. But it will also destroy anything you've installed.
This is why people recommend backing up your data.
Can anyone tell me where the registry is in C:\ ?
edit:
Is it C:\System Volume Information ??
No, they're located under X:\WINDOWS\system32\config.
They're several files. But I'll warn you - do not back them up if you're reinstalling. It will destroy the reinstalling, potentially also causing a blue screen.