Spring Cleaning for your PC

[SoulRider4Ever]

I'd thought I'd share with you some simple, yet effective programs to run to get your PC running faster and free up Hard Drive space and system memory. Most of the programs are FREE and work well to get your computer running top notch.

First thing is to determine what programs are running at startup... quickest way to do that is to use

AutoRuns
http://download.sysinternals.com/Files/Autoruns.zip
Notes - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysintern...s/Autoruns.mspx

open the program and click the LogOn tab, start unchecking/deleting files under the HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run tab.
Now reboot the machine and you should notice less icons showing up in the system tray.

A good idea is to also check your temperatures, I use a program called
SpeedFan
SpeedFan - Access temperature sensor in your computer

Just make sure everything is under 55C, and if it's over look into more case fans or cooling the ambient temperatures...if anything is over 65, that will probably cause a lot of program crashes/blue screens.

After that, download
Crap Cleaner
Download CCleaner 2.08.588 - FileHippo.com

Just make sure to uncheck the yahoo toolbar crap, then install, run and click Run Cleaner. Also, click the issues tab and scan for registry issues. I usually do this 2-3 times in a row as it cleans out old reg. values, new registry issues occur.

Next download
ATF Cleaner
http://www.atribune.org/public-beta/ATF-Cleaner.exe

A simple little program, doens't need to be installed and will clean out temp files from all user accounts on your O/S

Now, it's time to scan for spyware and other BS you can get on the internet. Popular ones are of course
Adaware 2007
Ad-Aware 2008 - Free software downloads and reviews - CNET Download.com

Spybot Search and Destroy
http://http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html
Both of these should be run, but not at the same time. If you are SLAMMED with spyware, more than likely just these 2 programs won't take care of everything. So, also try

Asquared
http://download5.emsisoft.com/a2FreeSetup.exe
This program is particularly good at finding Trojans, I love it

Now, if your still paranoid about having spyware, download
Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus
http://www.pctools.com/downloads/sdasetup.exe

I only recommend this program if you've got at LEAST 512MB RAM, as it's pretty RAM hungry. Also, this program costs $, but if you look around on the net, you'll be able to find a way to register it. But, you can at the very least get a free scan, and then decide for yourself whether or not to pursue purchasing, but it's my absolute FAVORITE anti-spyware program.

Free Online Anti-Virus Scan thats really good is
TrendMicro
http://prerelease.trendmicro-europe.com/ho...mp;locale=en_US

This works great, and usually cleans up A lot.

If your looking for a good free anti-virus software that runs on your machine all the time (like norton) try
AntiVir
http://www.majorgeeks.com/AntiVir_Personal...ion_7_d955.html


TuneXP
TuneXP - Reviews and free TuneXP downloads at Download.com

This is a pretty cool program, but it requires a bit of understanding what your doing...basically here is what I enable...you can check the help file if you think you want to tweak further. *note-this software is not compatible with GameXP (I no longer recommend using GameXP btw)

Check enable on the following
Disable Paging Executive (if you have 512MB or more)
Faster Shutdown
File Allocation size tweak
optimize prefetch
Increase NTFS performance
IO Page lock limit - set to whatever amount you have
Speed UP Windows IRQ handling
DNS cache increase
Then Clear the Prefetch Folder, press Y for yes

Disk De-fragmenting in windows pretty much sucks, I recommend
IObit SmartDefrag Beta 3
|MG| IObit SmartDefrag Beta 5.01

A free disk defrag program that has a auto defrag mode to keep your disk defragged 24/7

If you really want the BEST .. get
DiskKeeper
http://downloads.diskeeper.com/trialware/D...-ProPremier.exe

but it's only a 30 day free trial ... again if you do some internet searching...you can get a serial key.

Now uninstall all the stuff you don't want left on your pc and install
RegVac
http://superwin.swmirror.com/regvacz.exe

It's a trial, but it'll clean up your registry pretty damn well. Run this twice, then uninstall.

Wise Registry Cleaner
http://www.wisecleaner.com/soft/WRC3Setup.exe

Another good registry cleaner, however this one is freeware


Reboot and you should be free from spyware/malware/greyware and running A LOT better.

Enjoy!

[manpi2]

I've used most of the software on the list and I will continue to use them because of their effectiveness. Just remember that you may have problems when running more than one anti-virus suites on your PC at a time.

[Chadj77]

Nice List! I would like to add a couple to the list. Hirens Boot cd (does nearly everything for hardware troubleshooting and it auto-boots from dos) Malwarebytes (spyware removal program for windows) NOD32 (antivirus program that finds nearly everything but is not free)

[rocky2]

Nice list, I have used Spybot for a while it does Ok. I am downloading Ad-ware now I want to see if it gets some stuff Spybot doesn't.

[BrownOut]

What a great line up this needs to be stickied. Thanks for the info. I'm hi on the CCleaner and malwarebytes.

[NickT916]

this is great!!! i dont have anti virus at all, and just do some of these scans, is it ok not to have anti virus and get away with just these scans?

i also used house call, it seems to catch some stuff too