howto clean windows?!?

[dorin]

hi guys,

today i've decided that my windows goes quite slow, despite of registry cleaning (ashampoo) so i came back to factory settings (had an acronis dvd) and after reinstalled exactly same software i used before i was totally shocked to find out 1.2 gb less than before.

for one year i had one image which from time to time i updated it (like x+update=y y+update=z and so on), and always cleaning redundant files and registries with ashampoo, but clearely in one year i got 1.2 gb of junk files.

how can i clean windows for not to go again in this situation?! any ideas, programs?

thanks,

dorin

[GomJabbar]

Try a squeegee!

If that is insufficient, turning off System Restore (which I don't really recommend) will regain you some disk space. Of course, keeping Windows up-to-date with Windows Update, and keeping your Antivirus up-to-date will necessarily result in your system taking up more hard drive space all the time.

If you start with a blank hard disk, then applying an image should result in the same space taken up each time. Perhaps you are only applying the image to the C: Windows partition. The hidden service partition may have grown in the mean time. This might be the case if you used Rescue and Recovery or Rapid Restore Ultra to make a backup, or if you upgraded Rescue and Recovery, or if you installed the Client Security software.

EDIT: I just realized my statement regarding System Restore may be misinterpreted. What I meant was: I don't recommend turning off System Restore.

[awdark]

I like ccleaner (google it) it works quite well.

I really like system restore and it has saved me from many spyware attacks. So keep that.

[bill bolton]

and always cleaning redundant files and registries with ashampoo, but clearely in one year i got 1.2 gb of junk files.

After a fresh install you will probably have empty Windows caches, history files, left over Windows update files, etc, etc.

Also its quite possible that that ashmpoo is simply not doing what you think it is doing!

Cheers,

Bill

[ibmuser]

Here's a simple guide:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/OptimizeXP.html

[masterus]

hi

I use EasyCleaner and TweakNow RegCleaner..fast and easy

[DavidNZ]

I tend to use RegSupreme every now and again. I generally do not install software beyond what I use daily (Office, etc.) so I accumulate less junk. I usually do a full restore once a year just as a clean-out, but I don't normally see a huge increase in speed because it was running quite well to begin with.

[schen]

I do a "clean" reload on a regular basis as well. Partly that is due to me testing out all manner of freeware/software, fixes etc. on my machine. Partly because that's what Windows machine seem to need on a regular basis.

I once had an interesting discussions with a MS support guy when I was on the phone for a few hours trying to resolve an Access upgrade issue. This guy had been over in the OS service area for some time before going to work over at DBs. When you do stuff like this, you tend to be on the phone for long periods where nothing is happening because the machine is rebooting or something is loading. Anyway, when he found out that I was an IT support guy, we started swapping stories. One thing led to another and I told him that I have a policy that all front-line machines get a fresh windows load every year. He basically said that, that was the only real way to keep Windows machines running well.

[DavidNZ]

schen: very interesting! Just read something similar on a blog but marked it as read in FeedDemon (great programme!) and can't recall. It was basically someone quoting an MS rep and saying the same thing: that with nasties such as rootkits, etc. sometimes the best thing to do is nuke the thing from orbit. The blog entry did praise Defender, however.

[DavidNZ]

Found:

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1945808,00.asp

Also, the Digg comments:

http://digg.com/security/Microsoft_Says ... Impossible

[egibbs]

Just to add a different viewpoint...

Nuking Windows does clean out some of the clutter - but it does not in fact result in a clean system. If you doubt that do a clean install, then immediately download the trial version of System mechanic and run the duplicate file finder. It will find thousands of duplicate files taking up hundreds of MB.

And if you update your system with the latest drivers and patches a lot of the clutter comes back. I'm not talking about registry keys, but caches, downloaded patches, old drivers, etc. The rest of it comes back in a week or two of web surfing and normal use. A certain amount of garbage is a fact of life with modern OSes, and you just have to tolerate it.

I use System Mechanic to do registry cleaning, and it's pretty good. But even it misses stuff. My practice - if I install something and then get rid of it I backup the registry and run a registy cleaning cycle

Then I get personal. I open regedit and use Find to look for strings that might be associated with the program I just removed - name of the manufacturer, name of the program, names of files or directories I know were used by the program. You need to use a little judgement - a lot of keys are clearly leftover bits of the program, and they get deleted. Others, such as Most Recently Used lists and the like are harmless and will go away on their own. Anything you're not sure about, leave alone.

I've been using computers for a very long time - my first personal computer ran at 4.77 MHz and had dual floppies, no HDD, but I was working with computers for 10 years before that. In all that time I have never nuked an OS to fix a problem or restore lost performance. It's not necessary, and worse it teaches you nothing. And since you never understand what the problem really was, you'll probably do it again.

That said, I can understand the advice from MS and others. If you are paying someone (or being paid by someone) to provide tech support, you want the quick and easy solution.

Ed Gibbs

[Aroc]

Registry cleaners are a left over from the win9x days. these are not needed (nor recommended) on NT-style systems (NT, 2000, XP, 2003). Try some of the things Bill Bolton hinted at (temp files, cached files). Also look into removing unneeded programs, defragment, etc.

[ibmuser]

Found:

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1945808,00.asp

Also, the Digg comments:

http://digg.com/security/Microsoft_Says ... Impossible

Ouch. I ran this program:

http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/R ... ealer.html

and was rather taken by the results. I kept as many drivers from loading as I could, and found a couple of entries in the registry hive. Not sure if these are false positives at the moment.