Comp Cleaning Utilities

[Tuffgong4]

Just looking for a good cleaning utility for my computer. I need to clean the hell out of my computer right now and my manual cleaning skills about as bad as they come

 

[Kr0m]

Well, for a start I guess you could goto Control Panel - Add/Remove Software and uninstall any unwanted programs.

Then maybe use the 'Disk Cleanup' provided with XP(Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Cleanup or Start, Run, cleanmgr.exe).

Next, there's a few registry cleaners out there(be very cautious when doing this, maybe make backups of the registry if you aren't familiar with this).

jv16 has a registry cleaner HERE

or AATools, HERE

I guess this is a good start, maybe others can jump in and suggest other ideas.

 

[zalood]

Whatever you use, it is a good practice to have it reformat and clean install once every 6 months or so.

 

[Tuffgong4]

yeah I just reformated and I lost the cleanup programs that I had but I didn't want to install and uninstall a bunch of cleanup programs so I just wanted to ask before I did anything

 

[Tuffgong4]

oh yeah...what do you guys use to backup your harddrive before you reformat

 

[the_tazinator]

I have been using System Mechanic for years. It cleans your registry, boken links, temp files and more.

 

[Tinker]

I use another hard drive. This only makes since because hard drives are less expensive than they use to be. You can buy a 40 Gig hard drive for 100 USD. I watched the sales really close and bought a 100 Gig for 100 USD. If you look at the price of using a Zip drive or backing up on CD this makes good sense. If you do not have a lot space to back up, say less that 50 Mb of important files you can upload them to a host that offers free hosting. Of course you will have to download after the clean install. There is some free FTP software out there that will aid one in this effort.

Just some ideas........

:happy:

 

[wn van deursen]

re Registry Backups

The advice to do some backupping before you start meddling with Registry is all over Internet, but I wouldn't know how to proceed. I mean, it's not quite like blocking the stuff on the spot & click to Save As, right? In Explorer, Windows I found a map "Registration". Is this the one to copy, or is another magic trick needed?

 

[Kr0m]

Re: re Registry Backups

Originally posted by Doubleu
The advice to do some backupping before you start meddling with Registry is all over Internet, but I wouldn't know how to proceed. I mean, it's not quite like blocking the stuff on the spot & click to Save As, right? In Explorer, Windows I found a map "Registration". Is this the one to copy, or is another magic trick needed?

Is this what you were looking for?

http://www.techtricks.com/assorted/regbackup.php3

 

[Tinker]

** How to back up** the registry in XP...

Note : You just got there before me Kr0m.........:happy:

 

[zalood]

I never use a cleaning utility nor system backup . . just rely to System Restore.
As for data file/disk, I prefer synchronizing software rather than backup . . do this once every 3-4 weeks and just before a reformat.

 

[dreamliner77]

I find a can of compressed air works good for cleaning my computer...

 

[marnmacca]

cleanup

http://cleanup.stevengould.org/
works for me..

 

[wn van deursen]

re comp cleaning/reg backup

One of those info sites I would never have found on my own...Both Tinker & Krom; thank you so much

"The meek shall inherit the earth"
"The first rational thinking computer shall disinherit the meek"