New Year's Maintenance - usefull windows utilities to keep your system running!

IMPORTANT - software mentioned in this guide is free/shareware and might rely on advertisement such as a t00lbar, or search engine MAKE SURE YOU ONLY INSTALL the programs and AVOID  installing anything else that might come bundled with. make sure you read the install settings!

Lets begin the new year with a clean and fast system!  - without having to reformat!

Its a hassle to keep our computers running fast , a  program here, and a tool bar there, and windows takes minutes to boot, internet browsers takes ages to load and a lot of space has gone missing from our hard disks.

Cleaning the scraps - windows leaves a lot of garbage behind!
Windows loves to open and make temporal files, the internet cache, or a program might need to unpack in order to install, these TEMP folders serve their purpose, but windows rarely cleans up after itself!

CCLEANER - empty temp folders and other garbage

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner - get it here!
I have been using Ccleaner for a few years and i have found this program to the best overall to get the job done, cleaning up the common dirt and readying your system for the next steps, head over to piriform website on the url up there and download the latest version. theres tools and options but dont fiddle with those for the moment.

 Recommended settings - cookies store your browser passwords you can keep them if you want

second tab has options for other browsers, remove or keep cookies, your choice

Might not seem a lot, but i installed my system a week ago, imagine how much junk you might have!

There is also a Registry option and you should give it a try, over the past years ccleaner has never damaged the systems i have used it on, i have read of OTHER cleaner programs causing trouble tough (registry b00ster is plain scareware!)

Scan and then "Fix selected issues", several times, i had 72  then another 50 then none :D

Strangely i always have to scan twice or thrice to get rid of all errors, from xp to vista to 7, i think it has to do with the way Windows manages the Registry file at any given moment, just keep scanning and cleaning till it shows no errors or just a few.

Ausolgics Registry cleaner - a great compliment for keepin the registry in top shape

http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/registry-cleaner/  - get the free version avoid the cnet offer!

On older systems with windows 95 or Xp, it was often a probelm to have big bloated registry files, due to having barely any ram to run programs, and you could have registry files as big as 20 mb, compacted down to 4mb and you could notice the speed up for the system, recently with more than 1 gig of ram, you will hardly notice the effects of a bloated registry,

DO NOT INSTALL THE ASK T001BAR - DO NOT SET START PAGE TO ASSK

Registry cleaning can also help REMOVE errors caused by spyware adware and even some viruses, this is not a one click fix it all, but it could help you fix some issues you migth have with your system

This program has never damaged a system i have run it on, so feel free to give it a try!

 select advanced categories and "scan and repair"

a week old system and with a few "errors" nothing to be scared, its easy for the registry to get bloated and "dirty" just repeat  2 times to verify its all clean

Again like Ccleaner, i often run the scan and fix  procedure 2 or 3 times, just to make sure the registry is scrubbed down good!, i have seen significant performance increase on systems with windows XP, more than vista or 7, sometimes missing files can lead the computer to delay a few seconds at boot, from windows trying to use a file that is "mentioned" on the registry.

Now to really do a deep cleaning, its time to do a virus check up and a Defragment,  even if you got a good antivirus you might be surprised at what you coudl find with Escan Antivirus toolkit, See you next post!