My Guide to Basic Windows Maintenance

[deanj20]

Hey CF,

If you've been repairing computers for as long as some of us have, you have probably come up with your own methodology for what you do when a user complains of a "slow computer".

Any regulars to this site know that several times a day a noobie will post up, begging to know why his PC is running so sluggish.

I had a "Slow Computer Rant" saved, and I would usually just copy and paste it to reply to such threads. I thought I ought to make a webpage on the subject - a "Slow Computer Rant" page of sorts...

So I did.

Any questions, comments and criticisms are appreciated. Let me know what you think.

http://www.jeremydeanonline.com/tips/goFast/goFast.php

 

[Metal Man 2]

Excellent!!!

 

[kobaj]

My .02$

Why bother with "Auslogics Registry Cleaner" Ccleaner's registry repair works well enough, and ARC is simply redundant unnecessary software.

In the services section, there are actually a lot of unnecessary microsoft/etc services running that you can safely disable (like print spooling if you don't have a printer, HPQ, etc).

You should include a "recommended browsers" section. EG, installing Firefox or Chrome and Adblock for both. And updating Flash, etc.

You should include an "update your drivers" section. EG, removing yellow question marks in device manager, and updating video drivers.

And a small section on Microsoft Boot Vis for Windows XP.

Though the rest of the guide is very nice, and should speed up a majority of home computers without getting into the nitty gritty details of say, modifying specific registry entries to gain that precious 2 extra seconds of boot speed .

 

[CrayonMuncher]

I only skimmed the first paragragh atm but you forgot to say you need to update malware bytes after you install it and then scan your computer.

 

[Shane]

Nice guide and website. :good:

 

[deanj20]

Thanks for the input guys.

kobaj: In my experience, Auslogics Registry Cleaner detects a ton of stuff CCleaner ignores. It's fast and it's free. I don't see why I would leave it out?

I didn't want to get into disabling Microsoft Services, as this was made to be a generalized guide, and you can't really start disabling services without first knowing what services a user may need.

I kind of glossed over updating other software in "Phase 4" -

Equally important to keeping you OS up-to-date is keeping your programs and applications up to date, especially your web browser. Most software has a "check for updates" option under the help menu.

An entire website could be dedicated to the "how and why" of updating miscellaneous software. Getting your OS and browser up-to-date are the most imperative, imho.

A "recommended browsers" section would be completely unrelated to the aim of the tutorial, which is to give common computer users a guide to effectively speed up and maintain their machines.

I definitely should have mentioned to check Device Manager for yellow '!'s and red 'x's - I'll have to go back and add that. Thanks for catching that.

innercx: yeah, I should mention that. In fact... [pulls up Textpad and adds two lines]... now I have.

Nevakonaza, Metal Man 2 - Thanks.

 

[kobaj]

*snip*

A "recommended browsers" section would be completely unrelated to the aim of the tutorial, which is to give common computer users a guide to effectively speed up and maintain their machines.

*snip*

But what do 99% of people use their computers for? Surfing the net. And if they're on IE, which is the slowest browser; switching to Firefox or Chrome will speed up their experience. By including adblock, the user is also maintaining their pc because they won't have to run malware bytes every 4 days.

And you didn't comment on updating addons, such as flash (java/reader/etc), but I'll retort anyway. Flash 10.2 uses hardware acceleration, far faster than 10.0. So updating that will once again update the users computer speed.

/just saying/

 

[deanj20]

But what do 99% of people use their computers for? Surfing the net. And if they're on IE, which is the slowest browser; switching to Firefox or Chrome will speed up their experience. By including adblock, the user is also maintaining their pc because they won't have to run malware bytes every 4 days.

Well, you've got a point there. However, it's been my experience that many users are just not comfortable with anything except for IE (even though I can hardly tell the difference between IE and Firefox as far as layout - Opera and Chrome are a little different)... and even if it takes a few seconds longer to come up, once it's up I haven't noticed much of a difference in terms of loading normal web-pages (i.e. cnn.com, youtube, hotmail, etc), so long as they're using the latest version of IE (which I did cover - in updating Windows and updating your browser). As far as becoming infected by using IE - as long as it's up to date and users stay away from "shady" websites, I don't believe it's much of an issue.

But, nevertheless, I will probably add a preferred browser article in my tips and tricks section now, complete with my own tests and results. I'll have to write a separate article on safe browsing practices (including safe-guard plug-ins)

And you didn't comment on updating addons, such as flash (java/reader/etc), but I'll retort anyway. Flash 10.2 uses hardware acceleration, far faster than 10.0. So updating that will once again update the users computer speed.

Well, again, I kind of glossed over updating other software in "Phase 4" -

Equally important to keeping you OS up-to-date is keeping your programs and applications up to date, especially your web browser. Most software has a "check for updates" option under the help menu.

And, like I said - An entire website could be dedicated to the "how and why" of updating miscellaneous software. Getting your OS and browser up-to-date are the most imperative, imho.

Thanks for your input kobaj. I'll post up when I get a "preferred browsers" article up. :good:

 

[Nanobyte]

To jump in on the IE issue, IE has nothing to do with Windows speed. If you are going to get into applications that is a different matter and should be handled in a different section.

While I disagree with some experts opinion that all registry cleaners are potentially detrimental (I use one!), most registry cleaners remove fairly useless data - empty registry keys, defunct MRUs. All that stuff comes back the next time you run the app or access different files. Limited value.

Re automatic updates, I think you need to be careful here. I don't have anything updating automatically, partly because I may be automatically recording video in the middle of the night or other sensitive applications. For some users though, having automatic updates is a good idea if they have no interest in maintaining their PC. While those updates may slow things down short-term, they may speed things up long-term by preventing malware. Otherwise, manually initiating updates is more efficient and controls what is added to the PC. You should put forward both alternatives.

Re software recommendations, should you be recommending your personal favourites? That's OK but wouldn't it be better to give a list of alternatives too, similar to the list of freeware in Computer Forum?

I would not check CCleaner to run on startup. Isn't that slowing things down? I run in Auto ("C:\Program Files\CCleaner\ccleaner.exe" /Auto) using a shortcut or hotkey and usually do so after I just closed the browser. You can run it quickly any time but best if browser closed to clean out temp files. If I want to see what is going on or change settings, I start the application manually.

I also disagree with Empty Recyle Bin using CCleaner. That should be done manually - it's a final chance not to delete.

 

[deanj20]

...most registry cleaners remove fairly useless data - empty registry keys, defunct MRUs. All that stuff comes back the next time you run the app or access different files. Limited value.

I use them primarily to cleanup broken entries left behind by programs that have since been uninstalled and processes that only are run once (IE updates). Limited value? I disagree - I have seen first-hand how much a corrupt registry can slow down a computer, especially in the startup process.

Re automatic updates, I think you need to be careful here. I don't have anything updating automatically, partly because I may be automatically recording video in the middle of the night or other sensitive applications. For some users though, having automatic updates is a good idea if they have no interest in maintaining their PC. While those updates may slow things down short-term, they may speed things up long-term by preventing malware. Otherwise, manually initiating updates is more efficient and controls what is added to the PC. You should put forward both alternatives.

Certainly you can't trust the users to update. I used to leave automatic updates alone - then (about a year ago?) I noticed that the Automatic Updates service had a huge memory leak (I noticed this in XP - can't remember if other OSes were affected). I don't remember the details of it - just that I pulled up taskmgr on several XP boxes in a short time, and all of them had svchost running at over 80,000K. Disabling Automatic Updates solved the problem, and from there on I haven't trusted Automatic Updates. But since I recommend users follow the steps in my article once every month or so, that should keep them up-to-date.

Re software recommendations, should you be recommending your personal favourites? That's OK but wouldn't it be better to give a list of alternatives too, similar to the list of freeware in Computer Forum?

Yes - I should absolutely recommend my personal favorites. These are my suggestions, this is my guide - this is what works for me. If users aren't happy with it, they're welcome to seek out alternatives.

I would not check CCleaner to run on startup. Isn't that slowing things down? I run in Auto ("C:\Program Files\CCleaner\ccleaner.exe" /Auto) using a shortcut or hotkey and usually do so after I just closed the browser. You can run it quickly any time but best if browser closed to clean out temp files. If I want to see what is going on or change settings, I start the application manually.

I also disagree with Empty Recyle Bin using CCleaner. That should be done manually - it's a final chance not to delete.

AFAIK, CCleaner doesn't run on startup (nor does it request to), and never has. As for emptying the Recycle Bin, CCleaner gives a notification that "this program will delete all files blah blah". That's good enough for me. :good:

Thanks for your input Nanobyte.

 

[Nanobyte]

AFAIK, CCleaner doesn't run on startup (nor does it request to), and never has

I mistook the "Run on Startup" in the Registry Cleaner as meaning run at startup, not the startup entries in the registry!

As for emptying the Recycle Bin, CCleaner gives a notification that "this program will delete all files blah blah". That's good enough for me.

I'm still not sure on that one as not everyone will check what is in the Bin before proceeding. As I never use it I don't know whether CCleaner lists the files. That would not suit my use in Auto because I would not want the Bin emptied nor the warning to appear. CCleaner in /Auto is more or less a background task (just the chomping icon in the tray).