What programs do YOU use for system maintenance/optimization?

E

edwardb

New member
I am curious what programs (if you do) you use for system maintenance such as for cleaning "junk files", registry clean up, defragmentation, start up...

to start the discussion:
defraggler- defragmentation
tuneup utilities- junk files, registry
ccleaner- junk, registry
revo uninstaller- leftover junk
soluto- startup (new software, you have to check this out!)
 

My Computer

OS
Windows 7 Ultimate x32
I use all of the above maintenance tools except I use comparable free Auslogics defraggers and NO Tuneup Utilities.

Win7 needs no tweaking as it is a perfectly balanced OS requiring only normal system settings.

Tweaking beyond that will come back to bite you every time.
 
I used to use all of the above and more for XP. But as Greg said, 7 is very stable and highly optimized out of the box. I now use Microsoft's own tool for general performance and cleanup tweaks. I figure Microsoft should know what's best for their own OS.
  • Get rid of junk on your hard disk
  • Improve your PC's performance
What's new - Windows Live OneCare safety scanner for Windows Vista and Windows 7
 

My Computer

Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sony Vaio VPCEB47GM Laptop
OS
Win 7 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel i5 2.4 Ghz
Memory
8GB DDR3
Graphics Card(s)
Intel HD 3000
Sound Card
IDT High Definition
Monitor(s) Displays
15.6 WGXA Anti-Glare LED
Screen Resolution
1280x800
Hard Drives
640Gb 7200rpm
Antivirus
MSE
Browser
Opera (primary) with IE9 backup
C Cleaner, Diskeeper 2010. If I get a real problem I use a mirror image saved previously in ACRONIS. I also occasionaly use Malware bytes and SUPERAntiSpyware
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Privately built
OS
Windows 7 32 bit
CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.00GHz
Motherboard
ASAUS P5KPL/1600
Memory
4GB
Graphics Card(s)
AOC LM729 on NVIDIA GeForce 7300 SE/7200 GS
Sound Card
On board
Monitor(s) Displays
AOC LM729 @ 1280x1024
Screen Resolution
1280 X 1024
Hard Drives
1X150BG 1X250GB
PSU
Intel core 2 DUO E8400
Case
Antec
Keyboard
Trust PS/2
Mouse
Trust PS/2
Internet Speed
10Mb
CCleaner + PuranDefrag, nothing else.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
OS
Microsoft Windows 10 Professional / Windows 7 Professional
CPU
Intel i5-3570
Motherboard
Lenovo Mahobay
Memory
16GB DDR3
Graphics Card(s)
AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB
Sound Card
(1) Realtek HD Audio (2) AMD HD Audio
Monitor(s) Displays
LG LS192WS
Screen Resolution
1440 x 900 @ 32bit color
Hard Drives
(1) SUV300S37A/120G (2) ST3500413AS SATA Disk Device AHCI mode enabled.
PSU
Corsair HX620
Case
Thermaltake V4 Black Edition
Cooling
Cooler Master Hyper 212 + Artic Silver 5 on CPU/GPU
Keyboard
Dell SK-8115
Mouse
Razer Copperhead with MAPED mat (awesome!)
Internet Speed
100 Mbps up/down
Browser
Chrome
none of the above

- registry cleaners do no good and can do harm. I thought at least ccleaner was safe so I used it to carefully clean up files. It destroyed all my Windows 7 scheduled tasks and I had a hard time recovering (I only had it set to clean up after internet explorer and some LRU files). Out it went.

- I would only trust the Windows 7 defragmenter with defragmenting my MFT and pagefile and other system metadata files. I have had issues with Diskkeeper on XP in this regard, so I removed it after trying it on Windows 7. The Windows 7 defragmenter took some time defragging the disk after that - says to me they defrag in quite different ways.

Even though Windows 7 does a good job of only starting up programs and services on demand, the best thing you can do to improve performance is reduce the number of third party programs that start up with the computer, defragment once a week with the windows defragmenter (on a schedule).

IMO
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Home built (GeneO industries)/Model 4
OS
Windows 10 Pro. EFI boot partition, full EFI boot
CPU
i7 4770k 4.4GHz (44-44-43-43 turbo) @ 1.248V
Motherboard
ASUS Maximus VI Hero
Memory
16GB (8GBx2) @2200 MHz G.skill Sniper 10-11-10-30-1, 1.6V
Graphics Card(s)
MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G
Sound Card
Onboard SupremeFX Audio
Monitor(s) Displays
NEC Spectraview 2490WUXi-SV
Screen Resolution
1920 x 1200
Hard Drives
Samsung 850 Pro 256GB (OS), Samsung 2x 128GB 840 Pro SSD in RAID0, 3x WD Blue 6Gb/s 1TB RAID0, WD 2TB Black external USB 3.0, 2TB WD20EARS Green external USB 3.0, 2x 500GB Seagate and 1 750 GB external USB, 1x 350GB external USB3
PSU
Seasonic X-850 (2012 KM3 model)
Case
Fractal Design Define R4
Cooling
NH-D14, NF-F12, NF-A15; NF-P14, NF-P12,NF-A14, S12A PWM
Keyboard
Cooler Master Storm Quickfire Rapid - Brown
Mouse
Logitech G602
Internet Speed
126.4 Mb/s down, 24.3 Mb/s up
Other Info
USB 3.0 x8 , SATA III x8, eSATA, USB 2.0 x6. Samsung DVD R/W drive.

WEI: CPU 7.8, Memory 7.9, Graphics 7.9, Disk 7.9
Have put CCleaner along with Auslogics defraggers on hundreds of installs representing thousands of uses without a single issue.

The CCleaner is perhaps the most highly regarded genius app in all of tech, used by almost all Pros and Tech Enthusiasts alike.

Claims that it harms registry always turn out to be something else. If you have any doubts accept the offer to back up your registry files cleaned, then merge them back in or SysRestore if you have problems - which you won't.

IME ;)
 
thanks for the feedback!


marsmimar said:
I used to use all of the above and more for XP. But as Greg said, 7 is very stable and highly optimized out of the box. I now use Microsoft's own tool for general performance and cleanup tweaks. I figure Microsoft should know what's best for their own OS.
  • Get rid of junk on your hard disk
  • Improve your PC's performance
What's new - Windows Live OneCare safety scanner for Windows Vista and Windows 7
Click to expand...

What is this "Microsoft's own tool"? are you referring to just the built in disk cleaner and defragmentation? is there something im missing?
 

My Computer

OS
Windows 7 Ultimate x32
btw - defraggler isn't Volume Shadow Copy safe I believe (unless they recently put support for it, which I doubt). If you are not careful, VSS will make shadow copies of the files defraggler moves, consuming disk space that is reserved for volume shadows, and eventually overwriting your restore points. I think you have to turn the VSS service off before using defraggler.

Diskeeper, Auslogics and Microsoft defraggers have VSS safe modes.

Gene
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Home built (GeneO industries)/Model 4
OS
Windows 10 Pro. EFI boot partition, full EFI boot
CPU
i7 4770k 4.4GHz (44-44-43-43 turbo) @ 1.248V
Motherboard
ASUS Maximus VI Hero
Memory
16GB (8GBx2) @2200 MHz G.skill Sniper 10-11-10-30-1, 1.6V
Graphics Card(s)
MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G
Sound Card
Onboard SupremeFX Audio
Monitor(s) Displays
NEC Spectraview 2490WUXi-SV
Screen Resolution
1920 x 1200
Hard Drives
Samsung 850 Pro 256GB (OS), Samsung 2x 128GB 840 Pro SSD in RAID0, 3x WD Blue 6Gb/s 1TB RAID0, WD 2TB Black external USB 3.0, 2TB WD20EARS Green external USB 3.0, 2x 500GB Seagate and 1 750 GB external USB, 1x 350GB external USB3
PSU
Seasonic X-850 (2012 KM3 model)
Case
Fractal Design Define R4
Cooling
NH-D14, NF-F12, NF-A15; NF-P14, NF-P12,NF-A14, S12A PWM
Keyboard
Cooler Master Storm Quickfire Rapid - Brown
Mouse
Logitech G602
Internet Speed
126.4 Mb/s down, 24.3 Mb/s up
Other Info
USB 3.0 x8 , SATA III x8, eSATA, USB 2.0 x6. Samsung DVD R/W drive.

WEI: CPU 7.8, Memory 7.9, Graphics 7.9, Disk 7.9
I rely on none myself. My registry is perfectly fine, and I have no need for 'cleaning' - and I am an old hand at using Windows-based machines. In the past orphaned entries were the norm, especially with XP, and malwritten uninstaller routines for different applications.

Now, with VMs and such, I am easily able to test applications without having to worry about orphans, only installing apps into the main OS when I am sure that I m going to use to.

As for defragmenting - well, my system drive is an Intel X-25M SSD, so....not gonna happen.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
    The Beast Model A (homebrew)
    OS
    Windows 11 21H2 Current build
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 9 3950X
    Motherboard
    MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE
    Memory
    4 * 32 GB - Corsair Vengeance 3600 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti XC3 ULTRA GAMING (12G-P5-3955-KR)
    Sound Card
    Realtek® ALC1220 Codec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2x Eve Spectrum ES07D03 4K Gaming Monitor (Matte) | Eve Spec
    Screen Resolution
    3x 3840 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    3x Samsung 980 Pro NVMe PCIe 4 M.2 2 TB SSD (MZ-V8P2T0B/AM) } 3x Sabrent Rocket NVMe 4.0 1 TB SSD
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling’s Silencer Series 1050 Watt, 80 Plus Plat
    Case
    Fractal Design Define 7 XL Dark ATX Full Tower Case
    Cooling
    SteelSeries Apex Pro Wired Gaming Keyboard
    Keyboard
    SteelSeries Apex Pro
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3S | MX Master 3 for business
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex Ftth
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender + MB 3
    Browser
    Nightly (default) + Firefox (stable),Chrome, Edge
  • Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model Number
    Dell Latitude E5470
    OS
    ChromeOS Flex Dev Channel (current)
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6300U CPU @ 2.40GHz, 2501 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
    Motherboard
    Dell
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel(R) HD Graphics 520
    Sound Card
    Intel(R) HD Graphics 520 + RealTek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell laptop display 15"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 * 1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 128GB M.2 22300 drive
    INTEL Cherryville 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SATA III SSD
    PSU
    Dell
    Case
    Dell
    Cooling
    Dell
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3S (shared w. Sys 1) | Dell TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex Ftth
I use ccleaner, a bit of manual tweaking of the registry, services and msconfig, the ubuntu live installer on a bootable flash drive and jkDefrag or MyDefrag for cleaning and maintenance on other people's computers. On my own computers, I just reimage the system partition to whichever setup I found to be most efficient but I usually don't keep any computer long enough for it to slow down much.
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Toshiba Satellite S875D-S7239 laptop
OS
MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit
CPU
AMD A10-4600M
Motherboard
AMD Pumori (Socket FT1)
Memory
6.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 798MHz (11-11-12-28)
Graphics Card(s)
AMD Radeon HD 7660G
Sound Card
High Definition Audio Device
Monitor(s) Displays
Generic PnP Monitor (1600x900@60Hz)
Screen Resolution
1600x900@60Hz
Hard Drives
SSD 119GB Corsair CSSD-V128GB2 ATA Device
Keyboard
Standard PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse
HP Wireless Optical Mobile Mouse Model FHA-3410
Internet Speed
What the local pub, local coffee shop offers.
Other Info
Optical Drive:MATSHITA BD-CMB UJ160B ATA Device


Also have an Asus ha1002xp netbook with Win 7 Ultimate installed.
edwardb said:
thanks for the feedback!







marsmimar said:
I used to use all of the above and more for XP. But as Greg said, 7 is very stable and highly optimized out of the box. I now use Microsoft's own tool for general performance and cleanup tweaks. I figure Microsoft should know what's best for their own OS.
  • Get rid of junk on your hard disk
  • Improve your PC's performance
What's new - Windows Live OneCare safety scanner for Windows Vista and Windows 7
Click to expand...

What is this "Microsoft's own tool"? are you referring to just the built in disk cleaner and defragmentation? is there something im missing?
Click to expand...

Microsoft has its own scanning tool that is perhaps misleading in its name. The safety scanner (referenced in the above link) offers a free service designed to help ensure the health of your PC. In addition to a virus scan it also provides a clean up scanner and a tune up scanner. Yes, the clean up scanner is similar to the default disk cleaner and the tune up scanner is similar to the default defragger. But on my machines the safety scanner tools do a deeper cleaning and defragging than the built-in tools based on my own comparisons. You can choose to follow the recommendations or customize the clean up / defragging.

View attachment 105658

Not saying everyone will have the same results, only that the safety scanner works better on my machine than the built-in utilities.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sony Vaio VPCEB47GM Laptop
OS
Win 7 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel i5 2.4 Ghz
Memory
8GB DDR3
Graphics Card(s)
Intel HD 3000
Sound Card
IDT High Definition
Monitor(s) Displays
15.6 WGXA Anti-Glare LED
Screen Resolution
1280x800
Hard Drives
640Gb 7200rpm
Antivirus
MSE
Browser
Opera (primary) with IE9 backup
Perfect Disk 11 Pro
Ccleaner
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom (Self Build)
OS
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
CPU
Intel Core i7 2700k
Motherboard
eVGA P67 SLI
Memory
8GB Mushkin Redline Ridgebacks @1866
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA GTX570 SC
Sound Card
XiFi Titanium HD
Monitor(s) Displays
LG W2453V
Screen Resolution
1920x1080
Hard Drives
Intel 320 80GB -- Intel X25-V 40GB --WD Black 1TB x2 -- WD Blue 640GB
PSU
Seasonic x750
Case
Corsair 600T SE White
Cooling
eVGA Superclocked CPU Cooler
Keyboard
Saitek Cyborg
Antivirus
Kaspersky
Browser
IE
Other Info
LG BD/DVD
Nothing.

The result is a system faster than many others with a lot of "tune-up" utils, and that never ever had strange problems, typical if you regulary use the useless reg cleaners instead. Vista/7 won't load or use old keys left over so simply ignore them because they can't hurt sys performance at all. It's untrue that reg cleaners make your system faster, remember.

defraggler- useless (internal scheduled defrag is ok and keeps disks defragged forever below 10%)
tuneup utilities- I type "Disk clean" in Start if I need to free more space on the HDD
ccleaner- useless and dangerous
revo uninstaller- dangerous, I've read many users reported problems after using these kind of tools
soluto- ??? another useless app for unneeded maintainance?

Just my 2 cents
 

My Computer

Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
MSI GX660-262it
OS
Windows 7 Home Premium x64 SP1
CPU
Intel Core i7 840QM
Memory
8GB DDR3 1333MHz
Graphics Card(s)
ATI Mobility HD 7970M 2GB DDR5
Screen Resolution
1920x1080
Hard Drives
Intel SSDSA2CT040G3
Hybrid ST750LX0ST750LX003
Antivirus
360 Internet Security
Browser
IE10
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