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#52186 by Neil Blanchard
Wed Feb 16, 2011 6:21 pm
Here is the process of what I do to maintain a Windows computer:

Vacuum the dust out of the inside of the case, and the power supply, the intake grills, the optical drives, the CPU heatsink and duct -- all the places that air flows. I check the sounds that the fans make to see if they are wearing out or not.

Install CCleaner and EasyCleaner. I use these to remove unneeded files from the hard drive, and I run the Registry clean up tools in these as many times as it takes until they find no more issues. I use CCleaner first, and backup it's changes, then EasyCleaner, and the reboot; and repeat until they find no errors. This typically takes about 6 cycles. Removing all the temporary files and all the uninstallation files from Windows then makes defragmenting the hard drive a little faster. Also, the Registry gets to be very problematic the longer it goes between cleanings.

Install Startup Control Panel by Mike Lin and use it to remove unnecessary programs from running at start up, to streamline the use of RAM. Anything that it turns out that you need something, you can easily reselect it.

Install Spybot Search & Destroy, and run it to find Trojans and malware and tracking cookies, and then to "immunize" the remaining files. This is an invaluable tool with situations with machines infected with malware programs.

Install Microsoft Update, which supplants Windows Update, since it updates all Microsoft programs as well as Windows. I then install all the recommended updates and many of the optional updates. I specifically avoid some, like Desktop Search, and on Dell machines, I do not install any driver updates. Obviously, this requires lots of rebooting.

I run the Windows defragmenting utility as many times as it takes to finish in say a minute or less. This utility is not very thorough, so it takes it about 6 or 8 times to streamline the hard drive files as much as possible, if it has not been done often enough. It is free, though. If you want a good defragmenting program that does it right in one pass, I like one called Perfect Disk.

Upgrade/update the antivirus program and/or definitions, and run a full machine scan. Also schedule it to run once a week. It is amazing how fast these scans can be on a completely defragmented machine. If you want to continue to use your WinXP machines, I highly recommend using something like ESET Smart Security: This includes a robust software firewall as well as a very good antivirus, that is a bit less CPU intensive as AVG, as well. The Windows XP firewall is almost useless, especially after a computer gets infected; as it does nothing to stop *outgoing* Internet access. This is how you can prevent Trojan programs from "calling home".

Repair any driver issues in the Device Manager. On Dell machines, you typically need to go to Dell.com for the specific drivers, by looking up the specific model.

Create a Registry Restore Point after all is cleaned up. This would let the system be rolled back to a known "clean Registry" if it get infected by malware. Creating a new Restore Point after installing any new programs or cleanings, in the future would be a good way to help maintain a computer.
#52217 by Neil Blanchard
Fri Feb 18, 2011 11:37 pm
Here's a program that was recommended as being more effective than Spybot Search & Destroy:

http://malwarebytes.org/

For truly nasty Trojans, I use a bootable CD called "Ultimate Boot CD for Windows", which is Linux with enough Windows tools streamlined in to be able to read and write to NTFS so you can delete "hidden" and protected files. It takes a bit of work to make the CD, but it is *well* worthwhile having on hand!

When you need it, there is no substitute.
#52460 by Neil Blanchard
Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:30 pm
Hello,

I have learned about another excellent utility from Piriform (the folks who make CCleaner), called Defraggler:

http://www.piriform.com/defraggler

It is a much better defragmenter than the built in Windows utility, and it is also free. Download it from here:

http://www.filehippo.com/download_defraggler

Click on Download Latest Version in the upper right.
#53201 by Bruce111
Wed May 11, 2011 3:42 am
thanks Neil. I will give these a go. :)
#53209 by nevyok
Wed May 11, 2011 10:52 am
Gday Neil ..... thanx m8 ! Nev Griffiths in Albury Australia ..... about 6 hours down the road from Nick Pyner in Sydney !
#53484 by artmanvt2000
Thu Jun 16, 2011 8:56 am
Niel, the EasyCleaner and Malwarebytes worked great!!! The Malware program found 2 trogan that Norton would not find. The EasyCleaner worked well to remove registry errors. My compute is work better, thanks a bunch for the suggestions.
#53485 by Neil Blanchard
Thu Jun 16, 2011 9:05 am
You should also use CCleaner for general Registry maintenance. It asks you if you want to backup the changes before doing them, and I do this; browsing to the Program Files/CCleaner folder. CCleaner and EasyCleaner work pretty well in tandem, and you need to use them several times; rebooting in between, until there are no more errors. The Registry is a big and complicated and so finding some errors reveals others.

There are some good (and free) anti-malware programs that can be run along side your regular antivirus: ThreatFire, MS Security Essentials among them. Spybot! Search & Destroy is similar to Malwarebytes, but it must be online to install, and it takes a long time to scan.
#53684 by jimgoodman
Thu Jul 07, 2011 1:53 pm
The Dell website offers a System Checkup that uses System Mechanic from Iolo Systems. Do you see any danger in giving this a try, other than the cost involved?
#56402 by fsoliver
Mon Jan 02, 2012 6:21 pm
Neil,

I use to use Easy Cleaner and stopped using it and I couldn't remember why. So when I read this post I loaded and used it again (along with CCleaner). Well now I remember the trouble I was having with it. Ever time I clean the registry and the unnecessary files, the computer has to run a Setup configuration to start Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007. That is very annoying and probably the reason I stopped using it. Do you know what I can do to keep this from happening? I do like the idea of keeping the computer clean.

Shan Oliver

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