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Pages: 1 scopemankit sage Reged: 01/27/09 Loc: south africa How do I clean up my computer?       #5674124 - 02/11/13 01:59 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Every couple of years I have to take my ever slowing down computer to an "expert" to get it brought back up to speed. What files does he clear to unclutter the machine? (I regularly clear out the temp and temp internet files under "Local Settings") When it gets slow it can't even handle a stack using DSS. I have my V Memory set to 4536 M. I am using Win Xp SP3. What else can I do? Post Extras:       SpaceOtter member Reged: 06/02/09 Loc: NorCal Re: How do I clean up my computer? [Re: scopemankit]       #5674195 - 02/11/13 03:00 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   I've used CCleaner for computer clean-up. It clears out the junk, and usually doesn't overdo its job. Post Extras:       Edward E professor emeritus Reged: 03/26/06 Loc: Tucson, Arizona Re: How do I clean up my computer? [Re: scopemankit]       #5674208 - 02/11/13 03:09 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   I use CCleaner. It is free and does a good job. Once every other month I run the following: MS antivirus (full scan) Clamwin antivirus (full scan) Spybot Search & Destroy (full scan) CCleaner MS disk defrang This is overkill but doing it seems to keep my laptop spinning like a new top. Post Extras:       FrankenCub member Reged: 08/26/11 Loc: Whitney Point, NY Re: How do I clean up my computer? [Re: Edward E]       #5674437 - 02/11/13 04:54 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   There's great advise here for you. When I used a Microsoft pc I used Malewarebytes, SpyBot, CCleaner, and disk defrag religiously. That was on a Dell with a Celeron processor and minimal memory. The defrag is very important due to the way Windows writes to the disk, left untouched it will slow your system quite substantially. Age of the system, I believe, also plays a big role in how much it slows. My mother has a Dell with the Pentium 4 processor and it's getting more and more difficult to keep it running up to par, I think she's had it for at least 8 years now. It's getting tired. Depending on what you have you can probably pick up a newer mobo with an i3 processor and DDR3 memory for cheap that will smoke what you are using now. Just something to consider. Post Extras:       rmollise Postmaster Reged: 07/06/07 Re: How do I clean up my computer? [Re: SpaceOtter]       #5674458 - 02/11/13 05:04 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Quote: I've used CCleaner for computer clean-up. It clears out the junk, and usually doesn't overdo its job. +1 for CCleaner... Post Extras:       rutherfordt sage Reged: 05/07/06 Loc: Northeast Tennessee USA Re: How do I clean up my computer? [Re: scopemankit]       #5674495 - 02/11/13 05:24 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Chris: Many programs assume that you want them to pop up at a moment's notice instead of waiting 5 seconds while they load off of the hard drive, iTunes, Quicken, Office, and many others do this. Under the START menu, go to RUN and type in "msconfig", click on the STARTUP tab. If you have never done this before, you will see a lengthy list of dozens of programs, all of which are loading with each start-up and running in the background-- that's right, everyone of those programs is running on your computer at all times. Uncheck EVERY box, except those that have the name of your AV program. Restart your machine and you will be amazed at how fast it runs compared to how it used to run. Please note, you are not uninstalling anything by unchecking the boxes, everything is still there-- all you are doing is keeping them from autorunning. The programs are still available by clicking their icons or through the START menu. If you find you actually need one of those programs to autorun, just go back and check its box. Tom Post Extras:       FrankenCub member Reged: 08/26/11 Loc: Whitney Point, NY Re: How do I clean up my computer? [Re: rutherfordt]       #5674516 - 02/11/13 05:38 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Quote: Chris: Many programs assume that you want them to pop up at a moment's notice instead of waiting 5 seconds while they load off of the hard drive, iTunes, Quicken, Office, and many others do this. Under the START menu, go to RUN and type in "msconfig", click on the STARTUP tab. If you have never done this before, you will see a lengthy list of dozens of programs, all of which are loading with each start-up and running in the background-- that's right, everyone of those programs is running on your computer at all times. Uncheck EVERY box, except those that have the name of your AV program. Restart your machine and you will be amazed at how fast it runs compared to how it used to run. Please note, you are not uninstalling anything by unchecking the boxes, everything is still there-- all you are doing is keeping them from autorunning. The programs are still available by clicking their icons or through the START menu. If you find you actually need one of those programs to autorun, just go back and check its box. Tom I forgot all about that one I haven't used Windows for a long time lol Post Extras:       scopemankit sage Reged: 01/27/09 Loc: south africa Re: How do I clean up my computer? [Re: scopemankit]       #5674699 - 02/11/13 07:47 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Many thanks guys. CCleaner is great! Post Extras:       p1taylor professor emeritus Reged: 02/19/08 Loc: West Midlands UK Re: How do I clean up my computer? [Re: scopemankit]       #5675404 - 02/12/13 08:39 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Hi All, Will CCleaner and Toms clean up work with Windows8. peter Post Extras:       Mark9473 Postmaster Reged: 07/21/05 Loc: 51°N 4°E Re: How do I clean up my computer? [Re: p1taylor]       #5677544 - 02/13/13 11:53 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Next to CCleaner I also use Soluto which allows to finetune what loads into startup or when opening your browser. See http://www.soluto.com for this nice tool. Post Extras:       Edward E professor emeritus Reged: 03/26/06 Loc: Tucson, Arizona Re: How do I clean up my computer? [Re: Mark9473]       #5681910 - 02/15/13 04:34 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Nice App! Thanks Mark. Post Extras:       StarWars Mr. Postmaster Man Reged: 11/26/03 Loc: Karma Chameleon... Re: How do I clean up my computer? [Re: Edward E]       #5682756 - 02/16/13 02:14 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   You should DeFrag your Hard Drive once per week... I use Diskeeper 9.0 Pro I paid $20 years ago... Here's some free DeFrag programs.. http://www.filehippo.com/download_defraggler/ http://www.filehippo.com/download_mydefrag/ http://www.filehippo.com/download_oo_defrag/ Post Extras:       csa/montana Den Mama Reged: 05/14/05 Loc: montana Re: How do I clean up my computer? [Re: StarWars]       #5683083 - 02/16/13 09:53 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   If you are using Vista (not sure of others), you can have it set to defrag on an automated schedule. I never have done it manually. Post Extras:       Pages: 1

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