[manu08]

Can someone please tell me a little more on system utility softwares such as Registry Mechanic etc. I've seen in many forums (not Geekstogo in general) where the advice given is to run a system utility software to 'improve' system performance and get rid of system crashes, lock ups and so on. Is this a good idea or do the system utility softwares just bring on trash to your computer and not improve the performance? My computer has been giving problems lately; random restarts, random freez ups, when the computer is restarted a majority of the time the machine will not boot back up, I would boot into safe mode and then restart the machine cause that seemed to work, and then after booting in normal mode I'd run a sfc /scannow then for the next few reboots it would work fine but after that get back to not booting up. All this lead me to believe I've got problems with my system files or the registry or something like that and researching online I found that system utility softwares seem to be an easy solution to it all. Right now I would not get into having hardware problems cause almost certain that is not the cause of al of this. Please, any input is appreciated.

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With your hardware profile, it looks to me like you are the kind of user who really wants to do some serious computering. I suggest that you take a look at my Vox: http://doc1101.vox.com/ I'm sure that much, if not most of what you find there will be familiar, but I include a list of sites that provide information about running processes. Can you really say that you recognize all the processes you see in Taskmanager, and know what each does? That's the best way to gain control of your system. Yes. There are programs that say they will do it all for me. I've tried several, and none really answer. It was only by gaining understanding of how my system works, and what processes and Services did to make it work right (or wrong) that I got to the point where I felt comfortable. I can't think of a single All-in-one app that I can recommend without reservation.

[1101doc]

With your hardware profile, it looks to me like you are the kind of user who really wants to do some serious computering. I suggest that you take a look at my Vox: http://doc1101.vox.com/ I'm sure that much, if not most of what you find there will be familiar, but I include a list of sites that provide information about running processes. Can you really say that you recognize all the processes you see in Taskmanager, and know what each does? That's the best way to gain control of your system. Yes. There are programs that say they will do it all for me. I've tried several, and none really answer. It was only by gaining understanding of how my system works, and what processes and Services did to make it work right (or wrong) that I got to the point where I felt comfortable. I can't think of a single All-in-one app that I can recommend without reservation.

[manu08]

Well, I totally get what you mean in the sense that "you" know best what is on "your" computer and that way you could/should have maximum control of it. However, I'm not exactly looking to gain control of my computer in that sense. I've been having problems with the computer and am rather reluctant to reformat or repair install Windows XP on it but I do believe a majority of my problems are related to corrupted system files and/or a corrupted registry. Now cleaning this up manually would be very tiresome if not almost impossible. I do run a sfc /scannow occasionally and it does help get rid of the errors and crashes temporarily but I'd like it be effective for a much longer time if not permanent. So what I really want is a way to repair my registry and system files and well, system utility softwares seem to be the easiest way to go about it. I've downloaded the trial version of TuneUp Utilities 2007 and it has a registry cleaner, not used it yet though. A lot of the reviews for the software said that after running a full system maintenance with the software the computer ran faster, smoother, had more disk space and a majority of the errors and crashes that were happening now stopped. But I've been told the registry is fragile and should only be meddled with if your 100% sure of what your doing. I'm feeling ambivalent!

[1101doc]

Well, you've found the utility that I have seen suggested by other members here. Since scannow seems to correct the problem for a while, I would think that something is interfering with system files. Do you have DEP enabled? All your updates? (Skip IE7-too many bugs) Do you use any P2P? Are you confident that you are malware-free? While your hardware is excellent, are all the drivers fully functional? Are you suffering high Hardware interrupts? Are your board and drive temps good? Is the inside of the case clean? Do you run 16 bit apps? Do you make a habit of command line control? Do take a look at my Vox and at least get ERUNT for Registry backup and restore. Let me know how its going.

[manu08]

I'm sorry what is DEP? Yes all my updates are installed and I do have IE7 too, quite happy with it also, just the occasional freeze up but I like it a lot better than IE6. Yes I do use P2P, I've been using it for many years now, on this computer since I purchased it (3 years ago) but these problems started only recently. Just a note; I'm in Sri Lanka, over here P2P software is "not" illegal. I just finished with a post in the malware forum about a week ago so malware is not causing the problems. I'm not sure what you mean by are all the drivers functional, how am I supposed to find that out. I think I do have the latest drivers for most of my hardware, however I've always read everywhere that driver updates are not exactly essential unless you experience problems with the hardware. Is there any software that can run a full system diagnostic, hardware of course? Alienware told me that if you run 3DMark without any problems your hardware is perfectly fine. What do you say about that? What do you mean by am I suffering high hardware interrupts? Well, my temperatures are not very satisfying but we've got to keep in mind I live in a tropical environment and generally the temperatures here are higher than in most other places, on the inside being clean, it's relatively clean but I mean dust does collect up soon enough. The temperatures are,
Motherboard - 42C
CPU - 54C
GPU - 59C
GPU Ambient - 49C
Hard Disk 1 - 37C
Hard Disk 2 - 39C

What are 16 bit apps, could you give me a couple of examples, I don't think I use them though.

[1101doc]

PCPitstop is another forum that attracts many serious hardware and overclocking geeks. They offer a scanning service that will test your system on many levels including drivers. No charge, but registration is required. They will try to sell you their commercial "Optimize" program, but not too hard. After running the tests a log is created which can be reviewed and discussed. Might want to give it a try: http://www.pcpitstop...top/default.asp

DEP--Data Execution Prevention, is the Windows default setting to protect system files. Control Panel>System>Advanced>Data Execution Prevention tab. Radio button for "protect system files" (top) should be checked as default.

P2P itself is not illegal, but is so often a source of malware and corrupted files that can create problems.
When you get Process Explorer (see Vox) it will list interrupts as one of the system processes. Interrupts occur when hardware needs must be attended before continuing with the software flow. 16 bit apps are the old programs that require XP to "fool itself" in order to be run. No longer common. The temps in the 50's are a little high, but you'll get better feedback on that from PCPitstop.

[manu08]

DEP is set on "Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only." Is this fine?
I've been to PCPitstop before. Had a look at the website again but didn't find any place to test the system's hardware in terms of it functioning correctly. It runs basic tests which I think are probably just like a basic foundation of what other more advanced softwares can test. I'm going to go with what Alienware told me and run PCMark or 3DMark depending on which one runs a stress test for the entire machine rather than just the graphics, if the stress tests pass I'm sure it would be wise to say my computer is not having hardware problems. This would lead us back to system files and the registry. On PCPitstop I saw "Optimize 1.5", read about it and well, it's just another system utility software and going from reviews online by users and professionals (CNET Editors) I'm going to lean towards TuneUp Utilities 2007 instead of Optimize 1.5, they both offer very similar scans and tests, just TU 2007 offers a few more than Optimize. First of all I'll make sure my hardware is error-free. Just getting back to my main question then, system utility softwares "could" get you out of problems and can be given a shot if your machine is having various different problems that could be related to a corruption of system files or the corruption of the registry, would you agree to that?
About the temperatues, those were given when it was afternoon here, today was very hot. Lol.
I checked the temperatures right now again and this is what I got:
Motherboard - 37C
CPU - 46C
GPU - 56C
GPU Ambient - 45C
Hard Disk 1 - 34C
Hard Disk 2 - 35C

As you can see there is quite a difference.

[1101doc]

Yes, usually DEP is set for system only. If your problems are related to various settings, then I expect that Tune will do a fine job. All I'm saying is that I, myself, would not rely on a "utility" to correct a system that has glitches that I do not understand. Once I know what is going on, then I would use whatever tool would do the trick, including such a utility, if that would do the job. Perhaps I'm just anal about it, but it's my computer! I want to know what it is up to! Good luck, and post back later with how things are going.

[manu08]

I ran PCMark05 and it ran perfectly fine. It's basically a stress test so it does in a way test your hardware for any problems. Now that hardware problems can be crossed out I'll run TU 2007 sometime soon. Just wanted to know should I do take any precautionary steps before running a system maintenance through TU 2007?

[1101doc]

Standard stuff. If you're using System Restore (and it works for you), create a new restore point. I also suggest making a complete Registry backup with ERUNT :http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/
Tutorial (easy): http://www.larsheder...erunt/erunt.txt
In another thread, I am working with someone who used Tune to change some boot screens and now has problems. I suggest that you not make any changes to your system deeper than your user account level. That can easily be handled.

[manu08]

I suggest that you not make any changes to your system deeper than your user account level. That can easily be handled.

What do you mean by that exactly? I only have one user account on this computer and that has administrator level access.
I downloaded and installed Erunt and backed up the registry.

Edited by manu08, 30 March 2007 - 02:44 PM.

[1101doc]

My user account starts after the Welcome screen. I log on to one of my accounts and that desktop comes up. What I am suggesting is not to make changes to boot screens or even the Welcome screen itself. Those changes won't be part of your user profile, but rather changes to the system itself. I can mess up my account completely and then just make a new one and change over to it. Fixing system problems is a bigger headache.