computer maintenance question

iintense

Banned 15 years ago

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Lawrh 15 years ago

This is a paid program that optimizes your system. It can also be set to run automatically in the background once a week or however often you want.

TuneUp America - TuneUp Utilities 2009

There is also a free trial.
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â€œStrategy without action is a day-dream; action without strategy is a nightmare.â€ â€“ Old Japanese proverb -
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- Mike Shain 15 years ago
  
  I also use TuneUp Utilities 2009 - have it on 3 machines.
  
  There is a free trial download here.
  
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- 2bneil 15 years ago
  
  You should also defrag your computer on a regular basis. Although there is a defrag program built into windows, it does not always work without fiddling with it. One of the best defraggers on the marketplace is Diskkeeper.
  If you want a good free defragger, JK defrag which has been renamed MyDefrag is also highly recommended.
  
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seasoned

15 years ago

Vanquish,

A full tweak is UNLIKELY. There are too many problems with setting ram speed, etc...

And PLEASE do NOT fall for the "You should also defrag your computer on a regular basis." garbage. It takes a LONG time, puts stress on the heads, encourages soft errors, makes soft errors harder, and slows down your system for the LONG period that it is running. In short, you will LOSE more than you could generally ever hope to achieve, and could cut the life of your drive into a fraction of what it should be.

If you REALLY have a problem, and REALLY want the benefit, maybe defrag once a year or less often and consolidate free space once a month or less often. Defrags DO generally consolidate space, but space consolidation gives you much of the benefit and reduces future fragmentation, and takes less time and puts less wear and tear on your drive than a full defrag. In fact, a consolidation may take only a few minutes while a defrag could take over a day!

Steve

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Vanquish

15 years ago

Thank you everyone for your suggestions I will look into the programs mentioned!

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Nothing to sell, only value to give and new knowledge to learn.

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CouchSurferCed

Banned 15 years ago

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Tina Golden

15 years ago

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geolt7 15 years ago

I personally use these 3 programs:
1. Zone alarm - firewall
2. Avast anti-virus
3. Spybot SD - registry checker and spyware removal
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seasoned

15 years ago

Originally Posted by TMG Enterprises

Hey, Steve - how do you consolidate the free space without defragging? I didn't know you could do that or that defragging is so hard on the drive.

Tina G

There are programs that do it. Consolidating is basically moving the files that are at the end of the disk up so that you have one big chunk of empty space. This means that, if a files space is preallocated, that file will actually not be fragmented. And THAT means that a newly created swap file will likely be sequential so your system speeds up in 4+ ways!

1. New files aren't fragmented.
2. Swaping is faster.
3. Finding free space is faster
4. free cluster scans are as fast as they can be.

The problem with defraging is that it checks each file. If the second file on the disk was recently updated, a new cluster may be at the END of the drive. The system can't defragment the file, because there is no space there. What it generally does is move the clusters at the end to the end of the current file. That means that the third file, even if it wasn't fragmented, is now defragmented. It must then rewrite that file, which wipes out the fourth, etc.... If a defragmenter were VERY smart, it COULD move the early files to the end, and try a best fit, but most don't work that way, they generally DO consolidate, etc....

Anyway, that means that a LOT of blocks are rewritten. THAT is why it takes SO long. And that DOES degrade the disk. In some cases, that may become apparent in only a few defrags, and other cases it may seem to take a while. That generally depends on the quality of the disk and the frequency of the defrag. Anyway, I just think it is bad advice.

Defragging CAN help. The signal can get a bit stronger, assuming the disk is still good. The space will get consolidated, etc... But doing it even once a WEEK is probably OVERKILL!

It is like when I was gone for a while and I eventually found that my mother started my car every day, figuring it was good for the car. Most wear on the car happens when it starts, and it is a BIG drain on the battery. But she did what someone ELSE told her. Never mind that any decent mechanic will tell you that the oil, heated by the engine, will go back into the pan, and that the solenoid and starter motor gets all its stress then, and that a LOT of power is used to start the engine. You never notice that because after a few minutes of the car RUNNING the alternator recharges the battery a bit. With a week battery, only a few starts with no run time can mean the difference between things running fine or being STRANDED!

Steve

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Floyd Fisher

15 years ago

Originally Posted by TMG Enterprises

Hey, Steve - how do you consolidate the free space without defragging? I didn't know you could do that or that defragging is so hard on the drive.

Tina G

It can be, depending on how defragmented your drive is, or how often you run defrag.

Basically, what it does is move data on the hard drive around so it's easier to access. That means it's reading, writing, and erasing.

In windows defrag, there is a checkbox that says 'optimize free space only'. Look for it next time you run defrag.

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Intrepreneur 15 years ago

I have considered answering this question but when I think about it, it took me more than 60 pages to explain it in noob talk without any technical jargon.

Unfortunately though, I sitll haven't got around to finishing up with it all. Considering that I do see here so much different opions and views that it could be confusing you, maybe you could help me while I help you?

or any other interested parties?

Best Wishes
Intrepreneur.
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SEO, copywriting and backlinks service UK
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Randy Meirndorf

15 years ago

A program If been using for years is Spybot search and destroy, its free and it finds programs that are often sneakily bundled with other programs, and removes them. As well as finds malicious ware, trojans and such.

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Geopentagon

15 years ago

Hi,
You can use these softwares
Comodo AntiVirus
Avast! Home Edition
AVG Anti-Virus Free
Clam AntiVirus
Panda Cloud Antivirus

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Floyd Fisher

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Vanquish

Hey warriors,

I'm sorry if this question is off topic but I do know that their are many computer savy people here and as internet marketers we rely on our computers everyday as a source of part time or full time income.

I'm wondering if anyone knows any good freeware or paid (not alot hopefully!) programs that run a maintenence check on your computer and make sure everything is functioning optimally or tweak it to perform at its best.

Yeah, it's called the utilities that came with Windows.

-Disk defragmenter (very important IMHO)
-Scandisk
-Windows configuration utility
-regedit
-DX Diagnostic tool

Anything else is a waste IMHO.

You can then take the money you just saved, and buy a real antivirus antispyware tool like Norton Antivirus (my fav).