System cleanup software?

[Gordon]

What would be a good choice in some cleanup software for my old
computer. It is running Windows 7 SP3 and seems to be in pretty good
working order except that it is very slow. This computer will run very
well for a while then it will stall out and the little donut icon will
spin for a minute or two before the computer comes back alive.

Gordon

 

[Paul]

What would be a good choice in some cleanup software for my old
computer. It is running Windows 7 SP3 and seems to be in pretty good
working order except that it is very slow. This computer will run very
well for a while then it will stall out and the little donut icon will
spin for a minute or two before the computer comes back alive.

Gordon

The OS is probably WinXP, if it's at SP3.

A clean install will fix it for sure

Any other approach, is less of a sure thing. A Repair Install
or sfc /scannow, might not touch the add-ons in your system
that are slowing it down.

Using Task Manager, or Process Explorer, you can try to determine
what correlates with the slowdowns. What process becomes active
during the slowdown. For example, there have been cases in the
past, where a Windows Update related process, runs amok in the
background, and uses 100% CPU.

Your options are:

1) Analyze

or

2) Crush

HTH,
Paul

 

[Drew]

What would be a good choice in some cleanup software for my old
computer. It is running Windows 7 SP3 and seems to be in pretty good
working order except that it is very slow. This computer will run very
well for a while then it will stall out and the little donut icon will
spin for a minute or two before the computer comes back alive.

Gordon

Didn't know there was a "SP3" for win 7. Have you tried disk cleanup
located in accessories under system tools. Also try Ccleaner from
Piriform but stay away from using the registry cleaner in that program.
There are others I believe but I will leave that up to the experts here
to explain those.

 

[Michael]

"Gordon" wrote in message

What would be a good choice in some cleanup software for my old
computer. It is running Windows 7 SP3 and seems to be in pretty good
working order except that it is very slow. This computer will run
very
well for a while then it will stall out and the little donut icon
will
spin for a minute or two before the computer comes back alive.

Download and run CCleaner for the registry.

Also, go to start - run- type in Prefetch - delete everything.

Go to start - run - type in %temp% - delete everything.

Download something called Temp File Cleaner v 3.1.1 from here:

http://download.cnet.com/Temp-File-Cleaner/3000-2094_4-11815568.html

check off all boxes and run - it will take 15 minutes or so the first
time. You will be amazed at all the crap it gets rid of.

Your machine will fly.

Also - delete all your IE temp files.

 

[Gordon]

Didn't know there was a "SP3" for win 7. Have you tried disk cleanup
located in accessories under system tools. Also try Ccleaner from
Piriform but stay away from using the registry cleaner in that program.
There are others I believe but I will leave that up to the experts here
to explain those.

I goofed re the SP3 statement. I was thinking of my wife's comuter
which does have Windows XP installed with SP3.

The computer I'm having the slow down problems with has Windows 7 Home
Premium with SP1.

Sorry for the blunder. Maybe another cup of coffee will get the
cobwebs out or my brain. Gordon

 

[Ken1943]

"Gordon" wrote in message


Download and run CCleaner for the registry.

Also, go to start - run- type in Prefetch - delete everything.

Go to start - run - type in %temp% - delete everything.

Download something called Temp File Cleaner v 3.1.1 from here:

http://download.cnet.com/Temp-File-Cleaner/3000-2094_4-11815568.html

check off all boxes and run - it will take 15 minutes or so the first
time. You will be amazed at all the crap it gets rid of.

Your machine will fly.

Also - delete all your IE temp files.

It has been proven that deleting everything in the Prefetch will slow
down loading programs until it rebuilds its contents. Every 3 days that
folder will clean up automatically.


KenW

 

[Ken1943]

"Gordon" wrote in message


Download and run CCleaner for the registry.

Also, go to start - run- type in Prefetch - delete everything.

Go to start - run - type in %temp% - delete everything.

Download something called Temp File Cleaner v 3.1.1 from here:

http://download.cnet.com/Temp-File-Cleaner/3000-2094_4-11815568.html

check off all boxes and run - it will take 15 minutes or so the first
time. You will be amazed at all the crap it gets rid of.

Your machine will fly.

Also - delete all your IE temp files.

Checking the date of the layout.ini will tell when it did it's thing.


KenW

 

[Ken Blake]

What would be a good choice in some cleanup software for my old
computer.

As a general rule, there is *no* good choice for system cleanup
software. All such software is nothing but snake oil and is more
likely to cause a problem than to solve one.

...seems to be in pretty good working order except that it is very slow.

There are many possibilities as to why it is slow, but the first one
you should explore is malware infection. What anti-virus and
anti-spyware programs do you run?

 

[whoknows]

As a general rule, there is *no* good choice for system cleanup
software. All such software is nothing but snake oil and is more
likely to cause a problem than to solve one.




There are many possibilities as to why it is slow, but the first one
you should explore is malware infection. What anti-virus and
anti-spyware programs do you run?

This computer has Norton 360 installed and it gives no indication of
any problems. It just did a deep scan this morning and found nothing.
Gordon

 

[Stan Brown]

Download and run CCleaner for the registry.

And here we go again.

Folks, there is NO NEED for a "registry cleaner". It can't make
things noticeably better, and there is an excellent chance it will
break something.

Not just that one -- any registry cleaner.

 

[Scott]

And here we go again.

Folks, there is NO NEED for a "registry cleaner". It can't make
things noticeably better, and there is an excellent chance it will
break something.

Not just that one -- any registry cleaner.

Do you have any evidence to support this assertion or is is just
speculation?

I have used Registry First Aid since the release of the present
version (in fact, I tried out a beta) with no problems that I have
been aware of.

 

[Michael]

"Stan Brown" wrote in message

Download and run CCleaner for the registry.

And here we go again.

Yeah - here we go again.

My bro has owned a computer business for thirty years - and he, I and
his customers have been using CCleaner for years - on a bunch of
machines with no problems.

Folks, there is NO NEED for a "registry cleaner". It can't make
things noticeably better, and there is an excellent chance it will
break something.
Bull.

Not just that one -- any registry cleaner.

Maybe other cleaners.

Are you in the computer business?

 

[Michael]

"Ken1943" wrote in message

"Gordon" wrote in message


Download and run CCleaner for the registry.

Also, go to start - run- type in Prefetch - delete everything.

Go to start - run - type in %temp% - delete everything.

Download something called Temp File Cleaner v 3.1.1 from here:

http://download.cnet.com/Temp-File-Cleaner/3000-2094_4-11815568.html

check off all boxes and run - it will take 15 minutes or so the
first
time. You will be amazed at all the crap it gets rid of.

Your machine will fly.

Also - delete all your IE temp files.

It has been proven that deleting everything in the Prefetch will slow
down loading programs until it rebuilds its contents.

Every 3 days that folder will clean up automatically.

Looking in there shows files that are only three days old - so you are
right. I guess I can drop that one from my regimen. However, I
loaded a few programs , timed them opening, then deleted all the
Prefetch data, reopened them - no difference in the speed of loading.

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Gordon:

What would be a good choice in some cleanup software for my old
computer. It is running Windows 7 SP3 and seems to be in pretty good
working order except that it is very slow. This computer will run very
well for a while then it will stall out and the little donut icon will
spin for a minute or two before the computer comes back alive.

My personal choice is an imaging application like TeraByte's
"Image" at the low end cost-wise or StorageCraft's
"ShadowProtect" at the high end.

And I suspect there are dozens in-between.

Once you learn the discipline of keeping data someplace besides
the System partition, all you need to do is take an image of the
system when it's probably healthy (as in just after building
it...) and restore that image whenever things start looking
flaky.

This seems to get right to the heart of the matter instead of
hoping that somebody's utility will sniff out hundreds of
possible problems.

After several years with "Image", I layed out the big bucks
(about $100 IRRC) for ShadowProtect because of it's ability to
open up an image as if it were another disc drive. Before
re-imaging, I take an image of the current system. Then, when I
make the almost-inevitable discovery that I forgot and left some
data on the desktop or something, I can open that image and copy
the data to the restored system.

 

[The Seabat]

I think you just ID'd the main problem, huh? Norton!!

 

[s|b]

It has been proven that deleting everything in the Prefetch will slow
down loading programs until it rebuilds its contents. Every 3 days that
folder will clean up automatically.

Prefetch can even be disabled when using a SSD.

 

[s|b]

And here we go again.

Folks, there is NO NEED for a "registry cleaner". It can't make
things noticeably better, and there is an excellent chance it will
break something.

Not just that one -- any registry cleaner.

There are people who say registry cleaners are 'snake oil'. I don't know
about that, but I haven't had any problems with CCleaner's registry
cleaner. Then again, there are those who say that running a registry
cleaner is like playing Russian roulette. Not with a 1 in 6 chance, but
more like 1 in 1.000. One in a thousand times it will go wrong, so now
I'm kind of reluctant to run a registry cleaner...

 

[Ken1943]

Looking in there shows files that are only three days old - so you are
right. I guess I can drop that one from my regimen. However, I
loaded a few programs , timed them opening, then deleted all the
Prefetch data, reopened them - no difference in the speed of loading.

I admit my tests were with 32 bit XP with 3.1 cpu speed.
Haven't tried with this Win 7 64 bit with 3.4 cpu speed.

Just might make a "slight" difference !!!

KenW

 

[Wolf K]

What would be a good choice in some cleanup software for my old
computer. It is running Windows 7 SP3 and seems to be in pretty good
working order except that it is very slow. This computer will run very
well for a while then it will stall out and the little donut icon will
spin for a minute or two before the computer comes back alive.

Gordon

I use CCleaner, which disposes of out of date files of all kinds, and
has (safe) registry cleaning tool that eliminates keys for missing
(uninstalled) software and such.

OTOH, slow-downs are also caused by starting unnecessary services and
background quick-start applets for applications. You can use CCleaner's
Startup inspection tool to decide which of those start-up applets you
want, and either disable or delete the ones you don't want. You can also
stop various services. One that takes a lot of time, especially on older
hardware is indexing. You get to this setting (and others) via Control
Panel >> Administrative Tools >> Services. You can always turn services
back on.

If the above don't restore the system to acceptable speed, as suggested
in another post a reinstall may do the trick, but you'll lose all your
customisation, including any programs you added over time. Make sure
that you have install packages for those extra programs, or that they
are available on line, before you take such a drastic step.

HTH

 

[Gordon]

"Gordon" wrote in message


Download and run CCleaner for the registry.

Also, go to start - run- type in Prefetch - delete everything.

Go to start - run - type in %temp% - delete everything.

Download something called Temp File Cleaner v 3.1.1 from here:

http://download.cnet.com/Temp-File-Cleaner/3000-2094_4-11815568.html

check off all boxes and run - it will take 15 minutes or so the first
time. You will be amazed at all the crap it gets rid of.

Your machine will fly.

Also - delete all your IE temp files.

Michael, I did this as you suggested but can not see any difference in
the original problem. This may be something that is indexing or
otherwise going through everything on this computer. The computer will
operate very well for a few minutes then stall out like it's busy with
some other function. This stall out may last a few seconds or it may
last several minutes, but eventually the computer will pop back alive
and all is well for a short while before the process repeats.

As to Norton 360...well, I bought and installed Norton 360 in the
hopes that it could find and clear up this problem. That is, the
problem predates the installation of Norton 360 on this computer.

I'm beginning to think a reformat and re-install of the OS and all the
client software may be the only way I can overcome this problem.

Gordon