Best program for computer to...

Bako_Dmax

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Apr 3, 2008
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Bako
Im looking for a program that will clean up my computer to help speed things up a bit. Its really slowed down recently.

Looking for some suggestions that others have had good experiences with.
 

MMLMM

Tunergeek
Mar 2, 2008
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www.dyncal.com
first you have to figure out whats slowing it down. and where its slow. Is it space, memory, processing?

Also Most of the time once you know where the issue is, you can clean it up with out buying programs.

Is it infected? Have you ran a virus scan on it? If not, AVG is a free anti virus. Download it and run its test, see if it finds anything.

What are your computer specs, and what programs are you running that slow it down?
 

Bako_Dmax

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Apr 3, 2008
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Bako
Its on my laptop. It doesnt really have a lot of programs on it (except for EFI :D), takes forever to start up and run programs. Ive ran a virus check nothing came up, Ive also ran that spybot which is a spyware remover along with a defragment. Its still super slow.
 

duratothemax

<--- slippery roads
Aug 28, 2006
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when it gets to that point, I usually just save all my stuff on an external hard drive and reformat.

IMHO its not worth screwing around with defragmenting, spyware programs, disk cleanup programs, etc...half the time they dont even work, or dont clean up every last little bit...especially considering its really not that hard to just blow out and reformat the whole thing; guaranteed a 100% clean computer that way. :)

ben
 
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Bako_Dmax

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Apr 3, 2008
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Bako
Ok. Im down with that, Im assuming you mean to erase everything and reload programs etc back on? Whats the best way of doing that? I have an external hard drive that I have already backed up alot of my stuff on for fear that the computer would die and I would never be able to get it back lol.
 

MMLMM

Tunergeek
Mar 2, 2008
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theres way easier ways of cleaning up a pc than reformatting. Remember you will need to load drivers and such, re install all your programs, registrar everything...

again, find out where your pc is bogging and fix it there. Dont mess with purchasing programs to do what you can look for. look at your process running, bet there is a ton of stuff starting up you dont even use. also lots of anti virus programs and spyware protection uses a lot of ram up and will bog down a system. again what are your pc specs, and what are you running? What os as well?

just a clean up in msconfig in the startup area will speed many PCs up as over many months of use you are adding more and more processes to start up automatically.
 

Cougar281

Well-known member
Sep 11, 2006
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Ben pretty much hit it. There comes a point after some time (usually somewhere more than a year or two of use) that the PC will "Just be slow". Crap that's been accumulated by Windows in the registry, etc, and there's no way to make it run "Like New" without a reload.

On the other hand, Spybot is semi-useless as a anti-spyware app. MalwareBytes, SuperAntiSpyware, ComboFix (ONLY download from here, anywhere else is actually malware), and Windows Defender are all better, and all Free. Also, AVG SUCKS. Their AV used to be Ok for standalone home PC's (Always sucked for corporate networks)m but not so much these days. If you have one of the newer versions and installed the defaults, it would include their "link scanner", which is notorious for causing issues. Get rid of AVG and get Microsofts Security Essentials, which is also free. It has shown to be quite promising and lighter on the system than AVG.
 
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Cougar281

Well-known member
Sep 11, 2006
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I have ran AVG on a machine and never really had issues. a machine I hardly use, but its free why i suggested. Never tried MSE yet, maybe Ill even look into checking it out.

Unfortunately, I'm a Network Specialist (HATE my job... Can't get the #@^& away from it...) and have dealt with AVG on dozens of PCs. Sometimes it works ok, without any "showstopper" issues, but more and more, we're seeing problems, especially with that linkscanner and pegging the CPU, dragging system performance into the ground. Back in the "old" v7.x days, we used to recommend it, even the network edition, until we discovered just how much it sucked to manage (You DON'T want AVG on a terminal server. You'll end up with a copy of AVG running for each logged in user and eat up all the memory). After that, we still recommended it for standalone PCs, until somewhere after v8, it started downhill. The last version or two made it the last nail in the coffin, and as such, customers that had purchased AVG are being moved to Trend or Symantec Endpoint, and any time we deal with someone using the free edition, AVG gets yanked and Security Essentials gets installed.

If you want a laugh, check out the attached pic... That was a never ending cascade of errors caused by AVG... While trying to uninstall it, IIRC... I couldn't even get it to uninstall right (THAT was fun :rolleyes:). The AVG box behind the "Microsoft Office Word" box said, and I QUOTE (IIRC, LOL) "Something Bad has happened" (Not 110% sure that's EXACTLY what it said, but if it wasn't exactly that, it was something equally ambiguous and stupid :rolleyes:). Ya think? :dontknow:

Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled programming :D
 

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Cougar281

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Sep 11, 2006
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www.ccleaner.com

here is some freeware that will eliminate some cookies...it will help some

Yep, that's another good one, but cookies are actually your friend and don't impact performance. They are what allow you to stay logged into sites like DuramaxDiesels :D. Each time you ick the cookies, you'll have to log in to all your sites that you've cached. It'll clean out temp junk, but I'd recommend unchecking the "Cookies" box in the first section and checking the "Hotfix Uninstaller" box in the last section. It'll probably find lots more junk to get rid of.
 
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duratothemax

<--- slippery roads
Aug 28, 2006
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Also, the biggest thing is just dont be stupid when you use the computer, know what to look for and whats a virus, and you can avoid 99.9999999% of all problems.

I havent had ANY anti-virus software on my own personal computer in years and knock on wood, ive never had one virus.

ben
 

Dozerboy

Well-known member
Jun 23, 2009
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just a clean up in msconfig in the startup area will speed many PCs up as over many months of use you are adding more and more processes to start up automatically.

So what do you have to leave in the start up area? There is probably 20 programs in there doubles of EFI V7.5 and V8. Our computer isn't bad after start up, ut damn its slower then shit for 10mins or so.
 
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MMLMM

Tunergeek
Mar 2, 2008
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set un-nessary programs from auto-start up. You dont need a bazillion programs starting up by themselves, when you prolly are not going to run them that session.
 

Bako_Dmax

GTO Slayer
Apr 3, 2008
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Bako
I backed up all my improtant data, then wiped it clean and started over. REally wasnt that difficult and is like new.:D