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How to improve your machine (warning: Some dollars involved)

Operating System, Common Application & ThinkPad Utilities Questions...
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fleamourian
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Cache Sentry Pro

#31 Post by fleamourian » Wed Jan 24, 2007 3:03 pm

I'm intrigued...my ancient desktop has virtually ground to a halt, the only thing I thought could be done is to have done with it & format the HDD & then a fresh install of Windows. Will Cache Sentry Pro work with Mozilla Firefox?
X250 i7 Max Spec - Mint Cinnamon 20
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jdhurst
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Re: Cache Sentry Pro

#32 Post by jdhurst » Wed Jan 24, 2007 6:22 pm

fleamourian wrote:I'm intrigued...my ancient desktop has virtually ground to a halt, the only thing I thought could be done is to have done with it & format the HDD & then a fresh install of Windows. Will Cache Sentry Pro work with Mozilla Firefox?
I am pretty sure it will not. It is geared entirely to IE's cache.
... JD Hurst

whomung
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Re: How to improve your machine (warning: Some dollars invol

#33 Post by whomung » Sat Jan 27, 2007 5:43 pm

jdhurst wrote:I have been experimenting with tools for my ThinkPad (and on my NetVista Desktop) with some positive results.

Summary: That processes slow down a machine - Myth. That properly maintained Windows slows down over time - Myth. That a properly maintained Preload is crap and slow - Myth.

Here are things that *work*


2. Defrag your hard drive regularly. I recommend PerfectDisk.

O&O Defrag is also very good, highly configurable, and you can run it at boot, so no windows involved

3. Get rid of SpyWare and Malware. I recommend AdAware Pro.

I'd ad AVG AntiSpyware, and Spyware detector... All three seem to find things the others miss --different algorithms I guess

4. Keep your registry fresh. I recommend Registry First Aid. The newest version (5.1) maintains its excellence for registry garbage collection and now adds registry defrag. I have run the registry defrag twice now on my laptop (about a month apart). I am saving nearly a minute at start up time. This one is manual - run it monthly.

This is why I'm writing...... THANKS!!!! What a GREAT TOOL!!!...

I'd been using the modules in SystemMechanic, and Ashampoo Win Optimize.... OK.... No probs....
But... based on your advice in this thread, I downloaded a trial "Pro" version.... It found 1000 errors... After both of the other reg cleaners reported my Reg was 100% clean

In the past, I've been burned by reg cleaners that got too darn happy, to darn fast -- but I wanted to find out --so I bought it

  • I eased into it.... cleaning just portions entries marked "safe to remove" ( green ) at a time....
  • Ultimately.... All the keys identified as safe to remove were gone....
  • Notably faster boot up, and all my apps still work, including the Thinkvantage stuff
  • All the entries the app flagged for my attention were smart (yellow and red).... And gave me options for repair... I just left them for now
  • But what knocked me out is ALL the entries marked "safe to remove" are gone --that was like 850 bad entries --and everything still works
[/color]

Cheers, ... JD Hurst
Nice tool.... Thank you very much for the tip, JD
--
:cool: whomung

RealBlackStuff
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#34 Post by RealBlackStuff » Wed Jan 31, 2007 5:08 am

I've been using Diskeeper Workstation since v7, the last update I made (last year) was to DK v9. When v10 came out I was considering it, but when I saw the price, I decided to stick with v9 OR look for an alternative.
I always was very pleased with DK, but it is too slow for me.
When I found and tried PerfectDisk v8, I was immediately 'sold' on it.
I feel PD8 does at least as good, if not better, a job than DK, and it is certainly faster.

PS: see this post, a discount is still available today!
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=34583
Last edited by RealBlackStuff on Wed Jan 31, 2007 5:13 am, edited 2 times in total.
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
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pianowizard
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Re: How to improve your machine (warning: Some dollars invol

#35 Post by pianowizard » Wed Jan 31, 2007 5:12 am

jdhurst wrote:1. IE Temporary files. The default setting is 1.2 Gb and *that* will slow down your machine.
I just realized that IE7 has a default setting of only 50MB![/list]
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Re: Cache Sentry Pro

#36 Post by pianowizard » Wed Jan 31, 2007 5:16 am

fleamourian wrote:I'm intrigued...my ancient desktop has virtually ground to a halt
Just curious, what are the specifications? I am running WinXP Pro SP2 with all updates (including IE7) and Symantec virus scanner on a 10-year-old Package Bell desktop computer (233MHz Pentium-MMX, 128MB SIMM memory, either 4200 or 5400rpm HDD), and it's tolerable.
Dell Latitude 7370 (QHD+, 2.84lb); HP Pavilion x2 12-b096ms (1920x1280, 3.14lb); Microsoft Surface 3 (1920x1280, 2.00lb);
Dell OptiPlex 5040 SFF (Core i5-6600); Acer ET322QK, T272HUL; Crossover 404K; QNIX QHD2410R; Seiki Pro SM40UNP

jtconte
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Any Updates To This?

#37 Post by jtconte » Tue Mar 27, 2007 9:49 am

Hi, I just purchased an Z61t. I have and continue to work with IBM/Lenovo laptops but this is my first purchase of one! This is also my first post here. I have read through this thread and found it very interesting and informative. I will be setting up a small network in our home with 2 desktops and this 1 laptop. I like the idea of automating defrag, etc. and was wondering if JD is still using the products originally posted? Any other thoughts on keeping Windows clean and fast?

Thanks,
John

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#38 Post by jdhurst » Tue Mar 27, 2007 11:32 am

I am still using all the products I mentioned at the beginning of this thread. I look for, and am willing to pay modestly for, "set and forget" tools. Most that I recommended are in that category. My 3 and half year-old T41 continues to perform exceedingly well. I rebuilt it once long ago because of a failed hard drive, but other than that, it just runs and runs.
... JDH

lefei
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#39 Post by lefei » Tue Jun 05, 2007 12:00 am

I just got PerfectDisk, but I can't find any option to minimize the program to system tray. Did I miss something out?
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#40 Post by jtconte » Mon Jun 18, 2007 9:26 am

Is Ad-Aware still needed with the new version of NOD32? What about a personal Firewall like Zone Labs?

nimba
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#41 Post by nimba » Sat Mar 08, 2008 8:48 pm

about cache sentry and IE cache: arent you able to just limit temporary files in Internet Settings to whatever you want? Why the need for the extra software? sorry im sure this is just me missing something
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#42 Post by jdhurst » Sun Mar 09, 2008 10:58 am

Cache Sentry Pro deletes temporary files, old cookies, some kinds of stray files and so on, so I find it to be valuable. I use Cache Sentry to further limit temp files to 20 Mb as well. ... JDH

Quagmyre
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Re: How to improve your machine (warning: Some dollars invol

#43 Post by Quagmyre » Wed Jul 02, 2008 4:21 pm

jdhurst wrote:I have 80 processes running.
Wow, what's all that? Is it Vista?
I've got 34 processes running in Windows XP and don't miss a thing.

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Re: How to improve your machine (warning: Some dollars invol

#44 Post by jdhurst » Thu Jul 03, 2008 2:54 pm

Quagmyre wrote:
jdhurst wrote:I have 80 processes running.
Wow, what's all that? Is it Vista?
I've got 34 processes running in Windows XP and don't miss a thing.
No - XP Pro. The number of processes is generally meaningless. They generally use memory, that's all. What I do is run what I want (and that is generally a lot). ... JDH

Gustavo
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Re: How to improve your machine (warning: Some dollars involved)

#45 Post by Gustavo » Mon Feb 16, 2009 7:02 am

I have used Ccleaner for browser clean up and registry clean works pretty well. And FreeRamXPpro for freeing up Ram and keeping
track off how much Ram I have. Used them for couple of years now.

Just clean up the registry regulary and the temp files, have a good spyware software and your computer should be pretty snappy.
X60 |3GB Ram|T1300|7K320
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Marin85
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Re: How to improve your machine (warning: Some dollars involved)

#46 Post by Marin85 » Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:36 am

The the built-in registry cleaner of CCleaner is not really safe, but pretty much close to safe... For example it finds "bad entries" pointing to the synaptics engine, the removal of those causes "synaptics stopped responding"... However, if one pays attention to exactly what entries CCleaner suggest, it might be indeed very helpful. Recently, CCleaner managed to fix an issue with my Outlook 2007 with very annoying prompt to type in my password...
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sir_synthsalot
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Re: How to improve your machine (warning: Some dollars involved)

#47 Post by sir_synthsalot » Thu Oct 21, 2010 7:02 pm

I've read this about the so called "RAM Optimizers".
Myth - "Increasing the amount of available RAM using RAM Optimizers/Defragmenters improves performance."

Reality - "RAM Optimizers have no effect, and at worst, they seriously degrade performance. Although gaining more available memory might seem beneficial, it isn't. As RAM Optimizers force the available-memory counter up, they force other processes' data and code out of memory. Say that you're running Word, for example. As the optimizer forces the available-memory counter up, the text of open documents and the program code that was part of Word's working set before the optimization (and was therefore present in physical memory) must be reread from disk as you continue to edit your document. The act of allocating, then freeing a large amount of virtual memory might, as a conceivable side effect, lead to blocks of contiguous available memory. However, because virtual memory masks the layout of physical memory from processes, processes can't directly benefit from having virtual memory backed by contiguous physical memory. As processes execute and undergo working-set trimming and growth, their virtual-memory-to-physical-memory mappings will become fragmented despite the availability of contiguous memory."
from: http://home.comcast.net/~SupportCD/XPMyths.html
I'M DONE WITH THINKPADS, JUST DONE!!!

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Re: How to improve your machine (warning: Some dollars involved)

#48 Post by ThinkRob » Thu Oct 21, 2010 9:59 pm

I hate to say it, but the above isn't the only snake-oil mentioned in this thread. Also from the above link:
A few hundred kilobytes of unused keys and values causes no noticeable performance impact on system operation. Even if the registry was massively bloated there would be little impact on the performance of anything other than exhaustive searches.
My current process count? 239... but then again, I don't run Windows on this machine. :)
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