Basic PC Maintenance

[freckles]

My laptop is only a year or so old, but recently it's started running kinda slow.

Web pages are taking a while to open up, as are documents.

I haven't done anything other than turn it on & use it for word docs, spreadsheets, iTunes, internet surfing, etc. so far & I don't know too much about these things, so I was just wondering if there were some basic maintenance type things I should be doing regularly to keep on top of things & keep it running smoothly if anyone could reply with a few pointers, I could hopefully follow your instructions.

Thanks

[dx100uk]

download and run a program called glary utils
or Ccleaner
both can be searched for or gotten from the major geeks website

glary is the better of the two as it has a one button tuneup option
but i think recent versions are limited use before oyu have to buy

Ccleaner is not, and is free but you need to navigate through its menus to find things like registry cleaner

one of the quickest ways to speedup certainly the internet, is to click
tools/internet options/advanced
and scoll down toward the end of the list and look for a tick box that says
'empty temp internet files' or alike.

there could well be several reasons barring the above for slowness.
it is always worthwhile t orule out virus/trojan/malware infestations by running one of the many online scanners

a good one it the microtrandsystems housecall scanner [search for 'housecall' on a search engine].
first run will be very slow and take al ong time.
but it will ruleout/cure any of the above issues.

keep us informed.

dx

[blueivy]

My laptop is only a year or so old, but recently it's started running kinda slow.

What antivirus software are you running and is it up to date?

I would start looking at malware as that is by far the most common reason for a computer suddenly slowing down.

My advice would be to stay away from CC Cleaner or any registry cleaning tools if you're not sure what you're doing. If you don't know what you are doing with these utilities you could end up having to reinstall Windows.

[TBH]

What antivirus software are you running and is it up to date?

I would start looking at malware as that is by far the most common reason for a computer suddenly slowing down.

My advice would be to stay away from CC Cleaner or any registry cleaning tools if you're not sure what you're doing. If you don't know what you are doing with these utilities you could end up having to reinstall Windows.

I concurr, I have had many problems in the past through using these registry progs, stay well clear.

[dx100uk]

no sorry , i think both of you are giving known good programs bad press here.

To recommending or not, the use of progs that deal with the registry issues, usually comes from past experience.

Typically, this will be from the fatal click on the screen of an trojan infected pc, that runs a fake one & thus all get a bad name.

if running either Ccleaner or glary, results in a pc being worse off or unusable, then the problem was simply being masked.

this is why it is important to confirm no infections by using an online scanner first.

dx

[blueivy]

no sorry , i think both of you are giving known good programs bad press here.

I don't agree we're giving anything bad press. We're advising somebody who said "I don't know too much about these things" that they should probably stay away from programs that make changes that they don't understand. That applies for registry cleaners or anything else. If you don't know what you're doing, don't do it.

To recommending or not, the use of progs that deal with the registry issues, usually comes from past experience.

Of course it does! On the few occassions I've used CC Cleaner I've never had a problem with it. But then I know what it does and never accepted the default changes that it wanted to make. However my experience with other people and helping to fix the problems that registry cleaners cause isn't the same. They used the cleaners and it caused them problems. This is also the experience of TBH and also others in here as I'm sure there have been a few threads like this in the past.

Typically, this will be from the fatal click on the screen of an trojan infected pc, that runs a fake one & thus all get a bad name.

Are you saying that everybody who runs a registry tool and has problems must have clicked a fake one on their trojan infected PC? Are you serious?

if running either Ccleaner or glary, results in a pc being worse off or unusable, then the problem was simply being masked.

That's simply not true.

this is why it is important to confirm no infections by using an online scanner first.

It's important to always confirm there are no infections on your computer and if you do have infections and run anything (registry cleaner or otherwise) then you may get additional problems that you didn't bank on. However that doesn't take away from my recommendation that if you don't know what you're doing, don't use a registry cleaner as you may end up having to reinstall Windows.

[dx100uk]

oh don't do this , don't do that, might break it or make it worse.

come out of the business advisor role and work in the real world, in somewhere like a uni with helpdesk teams of techs having p'haps 2500+ pc's to look after every single day 24/7, i don't want my teams to waste their time or nor the punters money, by a needless visit, when a piece of software or free advice should cure it.

tried and trusted reg cleaners like i have pointed to, do not render a pc needing a rebuild, they might well expose an indepth problem that has existed for a long time or as the result of punter screen clicking, and yes, nearly all are the result, 'cause most don't even admit to it.

over 28yrs [yep even before the pet32!- sad] i've never had a lappy nor a pc fail cause of a reg cleaner alone. known loads where the punters swears blind they've done nothing, but, yep, they have.

anyhow, if caithness forums are not an open one, where members can help each other, without picking to pieces other peoples posts, 'cause thats 3 times now it's happened, then words will be had.

dx

[TBH]

no sorry , i think both of you are giving known good programs bad press here.

To recommending or not, the use of progs that deal with the registry issues, usually comes from past experience.

Typically, this will be from the fatal click on the screen of an trojan infected pc, that runs a fake one & thus all get a bad name.

if running either Ccleaner or glary, results in a pc being worse off or unusable, then the problem was simply being masked.

this is why it is important to confirm no infections by using an online scanner first.

dx

I'm just stating my own experience that messing with the registry, if you are unsure of what you are doing, is not a very good idea.
Registry cleaners can cause more problems than they solve if used unwisely.

Most notably, critics say there is no reliable way for a third party program to know whether any particular key is invalid, redundant or neither. Poorly designed registry cleaners may not know for sure whether a key is still being used by Windows or what detrimental effects removing it may have. This has led to examples of registry cleaners causing loss of functionality and/or system instability.

[RIR]

come out of the business advisor role and work in the real world

Paul isn't in the business world on here, he does it for free. In fact, he has done home visits for free.

i've never had a lappy nor a pc fail cause of a reg cleaner alone.

I have. Several. I have one here now, because someone downloaded one from giveawayoftheday. That's why the likes of Ccleaner offer the option to back-up the registry first. And I first trained in computers in 1978, two years after I joined the cops, on the PNC. And in home computers from OpSys CP/M+.

anyhow, if caithness forums are not an open one, where members can help each other, without picking to pieces other peoples posts, 'cause thats 3 times now it's happened, then words will be had.

It is an open one, but your attitude is not that great to be frank, and, "words will be had?" What does that mean exactly? And no-one has been "picking to pieces other peoples posts". Just providing better informed advice.

I also learned how to use Capital letters and punctuation at Primary School.

Try not to be so abrasive, no-one is here to score Brownie points, they just try to help.



Ian.

[dx100uk]

thank ian
atleast you took the time to decypher my posts.
i'm talking as you are about the like of Ccleaner, where a backup can be done & yes i've cured a few of those getyourfree software jokes too !

where a piece of software works & gives back-up, i see little point in continually critising its use & yes it's obvious blueivy is not out to make money from this forum, but, i'm sorry i feel it a too high and mighty attutude to run others help down & i beg to differ on the better informed advice comment.

i think i'm actually not going to bother openly to help anyone in this section again, i'll do it by the backdoor PM.

i moderate on 4 such sites inc one for cisco engineers, if one of my eng acted this way they would be banned.

luckily i know this sites software well so i'll employ the ignore user option..

bye bye

pc forum is yours

dx

[blueivy]

oh don't do this , don't do that, might break it or make it worse.

I don't understand this. It seems you are putting down what was recommended?

come out of the business advisor role and work in the real world, in somewhere like a uni with helpdesk teams of techs having p'haps 2500+ pc's to look after every single day 24/7, i don't want my teams to waste their time or nor the punters money, by a needless visit, when a piece of software or free advice should cure it.

Now you're getting personal. I've not said anything personal to you. In fact in this thread you were criticising myself and TBH. I recommended something that was different from yours. Nothing more.

I'm not a business adviser. Freckles isn't a business.

I am a techie / geek / nerd / whatever you want to call me. My previous roles have been in Directline working with around 30 odd servers and several hundred PC's local and hundreds of servers and tens of thousands of PC's internationally; Scottish Enterprise who had hundred's of servers in 11 countries and tens of thousand's of PC's all controlled from their Glasgow HQ. I've never worked on a Helpdesk but always in 2nd or 3rd line technical support, projects and specialist roles (usually related to servers).

I would never have suggested using a tool such as CC Cleaner or it's ilk in any of my roles as I would have been frowned upon. You've no idea what the changes these tools are going to make to a standard desktop image and I would probably have been looked down upon for suggesting it. That's no slant on you or anybody else it's merely a statement of fact.

tried and trusted reg cleaners like i have pointed to, do not render a pc needing a rebuild,

They can and they do. Windows is 'tried and trusted'. Linux is 'tried and trusted'. Cisco kit is 'tried and trusted'. The fact is it's software and nothing can be 'trusted' when it's making changes to your system which you are not aware of. If you are not sure of what you are doing and you run one of these tools then that is exactly the situation you are in - you don't know what changes it's making so don't do it.

they might well expose an indepth problem that has existed for a long time

It could expose an indepth problem. My issue is that when it exposes it it will gleefully try to fix it and cause further problems. It may not do this. Then again it may.

or as the result of punter screen clicking, and yes, nearly all are the result, 'cause most don't even admit to it.

You're making statements you cannot back up with any verifiable facts. I'm sure there are a lot of problems being caused by people clicking this and that. That's not what I'm talking about. I was talking about the problems that somebody running a registry cleaner can get into when they don't understand what it's doing.

over 28yrs [yep even before the pet32!- sad]

The Commodore Pet 32 was released 32 years ago in 1977. My first computer was a ZX81 in 1984. My dad's bigger than your dad. What exactly does that prove?

i've never had a lappy nor a pc fail cause of a reg cleaner alone.

We seem to be in agreement here. I've never had any compute go wrong in the very few occassions I've run a registry cleaner but then I understand the changes it was going to make and either allowed them or stopped them. We are not talking about me, you or anybody else who understand registry cleaners. We are talking about Freckles who clearly said she didn't understand it.

known loads where the punters swears blind they've done nothing, but, yep, they have.

I'm sure we all know people who have said they've not done anything wrong and then had. A lot of it however comes from a lack of knowledge - you don't know if you've done something wrong if you don't understand it. Which brings me back to what I've said umpteen times - Freckles doesn't know what she is doing with Registry Cleaners (she's made that clear) so therefore I and TBH advised that they not be used as she wouldn't know what she is doing with it.

anyhow, if caithness forums are not an open one, where members can help each other, without picking to pieces other peoples posts, 'cause thats 3 times now it's happened, then words will be had.

You're welcome to have words with whoever you need to. Everybody in here helps each other out. The problem I have with the two posts you made is that the advice you gave was incorrect and could (in the last case) waste somebody's time and in this case was, in my opinion, inappropriate to advise somebody to use a tool that could lead to problems given the technical knowledge that they had. At no point did I criticise you as I don't know you from Adam. What I did was offer my opinion in this post without criticising your post in any way. You decided to have a go at myself and TBH for offering that advice. It seems to be you who wants to stifle us from helping people not the other way around.

What I would say, without trying to appear to criticise you (as I said I don't know you) is that I agree with RIR. You certainly don't come across as somebody who works in the IT business, is the age you claim to be, or who moderates other sites. If I'm wrong, I'll be the first to apologise. The way you write, the lack of punctuation or capitalisation, your tone and general attitude doesn't represent you well. I have always found that the best IT people to be around are those who listen more than they talk and share ideas and opinions and don't force them on others.

This is my last post on this as I don't want to continue, what is going to end up an argument. Freckles is free to take whoeever's advice she sees fit to fix the problem. This thread isn't going to help her do that so it's pointless. If you have a particular issue with something I've said then you can always PM me.

[blueivy]

Some more information I read today in the Sunbelt Security Newsletter. The people below are all from Sunbelt:

Registry Cleaners - Godsend or Myth
As you might expect, registry cleaners are not a panacea (cure-all) to your computer problems. Since I get several emails a month asking about them I figured I would check into it a bit deeper. Therefore, I interviewed some of the top people at Sunbelt and I am reporting what they said so you can make up your own mind.

Stu: "Overrated kind of utility - can help to cut down the Registry size sometimes but I would not pay a lot. I tried some of these tools but did not have much luck."

Mike: "This is a tough question to answer. While I see the benefits of cleaning up the registry, I have a personal hang up with letting a program run rampant through my computers central nervous system. From a support point of view, I have seen a number of people that have messed up the registry and some programs by using one of these utilities. I guess my advice would be "to look very carefully at what it wants to fix before allowing it to take action." As I mentioned, I don't use one, so I really couldn't tell you if one was better than the other was."

Alex: "Largely snake oil. Generally, just use the free CCcleaner if you're so inclined. If you have codec problems, you could also use the free K-Lite tweak tool to fix codec difficulties in the registry, but that's something you do only if you're really having trouble. But don't bother buying something. I wouldn't."

I hope it helps.