Computer fixes

[Yuri_Rage]

I began having issues with my computer recently...the standard, "Windows has been installed for longer than a few months, and now my computer is bogged down with garbage," issues. I did everything I knew how to do as far as manually cleaning unused programs, eliminating persistent system tray/background memory hogs, and going through a bit of the registry to clean it up. It wasn't working, and I REALLY didn't want to wipe my hard drive and start over.

So, let me begin with saying that I'm always VERY skeptical of the generic, "speed up your computer" software. I think most of it is very gimmicky, and it probably doesn't do much to actually help your computer. But...

I found the Uniblue Powersuite via Google search. It got some good reviews, so I went for it. $60 and about 30 minutes later, my computer seems to be doing MUCH better. All three tools seem to actually do what they claim. The registry tool cleaned my system registry without crashing anything (yet). The optimization tool deleted a ton of temp files - not sure what it did for "memory optimization" or "internet optimization" but it told me it did something...I guess that's fine. The spyware utility is as good as any I've seen as well.

Overall, I think it was worth it.

 

[Vermicous]

I have always been leary of all-in-one optimization programs. But if it works, it works.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I have always been leary of all-in-one optimization programs. But if it works, it works.

I completely agree! Most of the time they are just smoke and mirrors that may, for a brief period of time, make your computer seem to work faster. This set of "utilities" might actually be useful. They automate the tasks that I usually do manually in order to help x86(-ish) systems running Windows. So far, I'm impressed.

 

[user 4295]

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

I do seem to remember the MACs we were using to edit films in filmschool, havingto be rebooted every half hour or so.

It was't a matter of restarting the application. You had to reboot. Got used to it. The smokers just rebooted every snoke break. lol

 

[olllllo]

Is that an aluminum apple or SS?

 

[user 4295]

I do seem to remember the MACs we were using to edit films in filmschool, havingto be rebooted every half hour or so.

It was't a matter of restarting the application. You had to reboot. Got used to it. The smokers just rebooted every snoke break. lol

How long ago was that? What OS? I'm sure it wasn't OSX if they needed to reboot every hour! A problem that used to occur with Mac OS 9 and earlier, was extentions, that give the computer functionality, would conflict with each other and cause problems. Extentions like that were done away with in OSX. In OSX, if an application takes a dump there is no need to reboot. The system is not affected, only the application. A simple force quite and you are back in business, you will loose any unsaved work in that application though.

I have an old G3 iMac that I use as a web server that is running OS 9. It is stripped down to the bare bones and has been running without interuption since Dec 2000!

 

[user 4295]

Is that an aluminum apple or SS?

It's acually plastic, but it is food grade!

 

[zoebisch01]

Along the lines of different utility programs...the best I have seen for hard drive integrity management is Spinrite.

It does what it says it does...period.

 

[user 574]

Re MAC - Hackers like volume & larger impact.

 

[Rick91981]

Be very careful with random utilities, ESPECIALLY ones that mess with the registry. As far as spyware removal there is no better than AVG anti spyware........and it is free as long as you don't use the realtime protection feature.

 

[scottthorn]

Be very careful with random utilities, ESPECIALLY ones that mess with the registry. As far as spyware removal there is no better than AVG anti spyware........and it is free as long as you don't use the realtime protection feature.

A large part of my job used to be cleaning up spyware infestations. I tried all the free anti-spyware utilities but never found one program that did it all. Spybot would find dozens of problems, but you could run Ad-Aware right after and it would pick up dozens of others...

Finally my company ponied up the dough for Webroot's SpySweeper. I don't think it's just because I'm a computer geek, but this program is wonderful. Yes, it does cost money, but that cash infusion allows the company to spend more on R&D to keep upgrading the application. I've been thoroughly impressed.

Prevention is of course the best solution - and doesn't cost a thing - but if you have ongoing issues with spyware, consider SpySweeper....

disclaimer - I am not an employee of Webroot or anything like that. I provide desktop support at one of the top medical schools in the U.S. and this program really made my job a lot easier.

Oh, and there's a great *free* registry cleaning tool called RegCleaner which can be downloaded HERE

 

[HarvInSTL]

Another vote for SpySweeper. For friends and clients its the only program I recommend.

 

[Rick91981]

Another vote for SpySweeper. For friends and clients its the only program I recommend.

See spysweeper is ok, when it actually works. I have seen it cause major issues with computer slowdowns and even shutdown issues. I will however note that their support is fairly good and knowledgeable.