[Artellos]

I've been planning to give this guide an update for a while now.
I just haven't found the time to do so yet

Thanks for your input, NeonFx.

Regards,
Olrik

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ATF Cleaner and TFC.exe is most common Temp File Cleaning tools. Those are not a viruses. I never recommended AVG as proper virus guard, Use Avast and Microsoft Security essentials..It's Free and Develop by MS. Both can Use together and your PC become Proper Protection.

[Dhanushka]

ATF Cleaner and TFC.exe is most common Temp File Cleaning tools. Those are not a viruses. I never recommended AVG as proper virus guard, Use Avast and Microsoft Security essentials..It's Free and Develop by MS. Both can Use together and your PC become Proper Protection.

[Troy]

Do not use both together, you obviously haven't read the guide properly. Never run two antivirus programs together.

Also I have seen the MyDefrag program but I still use the JkDefrag version which is available, the last version released was 3.36.

[pennywise]

concerening MyDefrag and JKDefrag...


do they both do the same job with the same efficency? does that then bring the choice of either down to personal preference rather than the ability to do the job?


thanks for the guide, very informative.


pennywise

[Artellos]

do they both do the same job with the same efficency? does that then bring the choice of either down to personal preference rather than the ability to do the job?

I am not quite sure, as I haven't had the time to test this yet. Hopefully Troy can say more about this?

I'll hopefully do some editing on this guide this week.

Regards,
Olrik

[Troy]

I used MyDefrag once and preferred JkDefrag for simplicity, so I haven't actually in-depth compared them... From what I saw the difference was that MyDefrag was much more customisable, however overkill for most users in my opinion. JkDefrag is a simple click and run (that is, click the program and run away from the computer). If I've got it severely wrong someone let me know and I'll bother to compare the two properly.

[rshaffer61]

I prefer Auslogics myself. It would probably be a good ideal to try each and decide which one is the easiest for you. I found the report Auslogics gives when it was done to be helpful to let you know exactly how much room it freed up and a basic speed increase after it was done. It will also show you every file it moved and didn't move. Maybe a little more information then you would normally use.

[Troy]

JkDefrag will create a similar log file as well, it saves it in the same directory as where the executable is run.

[whydie]

Hi. Thank you for this guide, it's just what I was looking for since my laptop is a few years old and can easily get over-burdened.

I'm wondering if there are other services (besides indexing) that could be safely disabled to increase speed. If further disabling of services is more of a custom thing for one's own personal computer, which forum would one post in too get such advice?

[Troy]

Your OS forum.

[Joshua2u]

Hello..!!

Most Important of All is the Flow of Electricity Supply. The Temperature of the Space surrounding the PC needs to be maintained, though in some cases it is not essential. The Voltage being supplied to the UPS or PC needs to be monitored. If there are Power Surges and Power Fluctuations, most of the times there is a Hardware Malfunction. However at the same time many Internal Programs {Software Programs}Installed on the Computer are Corrupted, Due to which many Errors Occur.

A Precautionary measure must be taken to keep the Desktop Away from any kind of High Level Power Cables of any sort of Cables & Any sort of Electronic Devices that Carry or Use a High Frequency of Bandwidth must Always be Kept at a Safe Distance, Far Away from the Computer.
Secondary measure is Keep the CPU Dust Free. Try to make sure to Prevent any sort of Dust Particles to enter the CPU. A Thin Layered Cloth Cover is Preferable as it Prevents the Dust Particles from entering the CPU and at the same time it helps the CPU to Breath, i.e. it Allows the Air Circulation in the CPU Box.

Anyways a Good Attempt done on "Maintaining you Machine" - Article. However I feel that you missed out on both of these Important Ones.

CHEERS...!!

Till then HAPPY COMPUTING to all NETIZINES...!!

[Troy]

A Thin Layered Cloth Cover is Preferable as it Prevents the Dust Particles from entering the CPU and at the same time it helps the CPU to Breath, i.e. it Allows the Air Circulation in the CPU Box.

I have never heard of this before... can you explain further and post pictures if possible?

[geekmyownpc]

Some of the listings under startup I do not recognize. How do I know which ones to leave on? Thanks.

[Amst3rDamag3]

Some of the listings under startup I do not recognize. How do I know which ones to leave on? Thanks.

Google would be a good start...

[John Bull]

I like this thread. It gives most of the basic guidance that ordinary users need without going into any advanced and complicated issues.

Almost all of the suggestions made are highly recommended to PC footsloggers who just want a safe machine.
My own package is :- Windows 2002 XP Home, SP3, Firefox, AVG 2011 Free, Sandboxie Free, ZoneAlarm, SpywareBlaster,
NoScript, Adblock Plus, KeyScrambler, RIP, WOT with a number of offline programs as optional support and convenience.

I have not had a single infection for ages, cannot even remember the last time. Not even a tracking cookie. I have visited all the sites you can imagine - the Good, the bad and the very ugly. Tramped all over the web with impunity and come through t all without a scratch.

I attribute 99% of my impenetrable armor to Sandboxie, with AVG 2011 and ZA as solid defenders. There is a mountain of information about security on the web, many Forums are saturated with it and I have read most of it. My verdict ? Sandboxie is the most remarkable program to offer almost complete security protection in existence today. Returnil is very good, but probably more complicated than Sandboxie which is very user friendly. In my opinion Sandboxie is untouchable.

There are many so-called geeks that take great delight in pointing out Sandboxie`s very few weaknesses. Well, you always get a handful of people devoted to destroying the very best of things, they get some personal satisfaction out of it, but my advice to any Sandboxie user or potential user is - just configure the program properly and forget these extremists.

Cleaning ? I only carry out minor maintenance and have no time for drastic measures. For this I use ATF every day at shutdown - this is an excellent little program and has never given any trouble - everybody should have it. As secondary more thorough checking I use CCleaner and BleachBit, but I only clean my own selected items, kind of trimming really. I have never hit the button on any massive clean-up in my life and do not intend to. My Temp. files amount to a lot of MB, but it does not keep me awake at night. When it does, I will take notice.

I treat any Registry cleaning with great apprehension and generally leave it alone apart from obvious rubbish and program residue.
General policy ? If it works OK, don`t fix it !

Defrag ? Without a shadow of doubt - Auslogics and Piriform Defraggler - they both work quick and have never caused any problems. I mostly use Auslogics, every other day just before shutdown.

The point about slow response ? Your hint is correct. 9 out of 10 times it is due to other causes within a users particular set-up. Again, too many programs at Start-up is a prime cause and cutting some of these out as suggested by the OP is desirable and can result in improvement. Slow behaviour is seldom due to any virus or malware, which is an erroneous conclusion often suggested. Regular scans of your system will dispense with this issue. My system has been consistently clean for a very long time.

I myself have a great many programs on my desktop and in folders and YES it takes a while to start up, but I tolerate that in order to have these programs loaded and ready for use during any given session. It is my choice and not everybody's.

John

Edited by John Bull, 27 September 2011 - 02:42 PM.