Need Advice...Regular Maintenance Schedule.

[Shaymac]

Hello everyone,

First of all, I am very glad to be here! It seems like you have an extremely helpful community...

I have just recently picked up a new netbook with Windows 7 Starter installed. I must say; I am very impressed with it thus far. Not only am I finding myself unwilling to install Ubuntu, I am considering switching my other bots to Windows 7 as well. I've been using Ubuntu for some years now...anywho... I could really use some basic maintenance advice:

What dose your maintenance and cleaning schedule consist of? Do you complete all of your tasks using Windows (internally), or using other programs? How often do you run your maintenance tasks, daily, weekly, or even less? Any advice you could send my way would be great! Thank you for your time and consideration.

Note: Only thing I have done thus far is; uninstalled Norton...installed WSE.

Thanks again all! Have a great day...

Best regards,

Shane

 

[Sik00]

To be quite honest, I used to use Ccleaner and similar programs to clean my Windows XP..but with Windows 7, I don't see the need. It's still as fast as the day I installed it, so why mess with it if it's working for me, right?

I would take a look in the Secutiry section for AV suggestions, since you uninstalled Norton. I personally use Avast and MSE together. I have Avast set to scan my drive once a week, and I use Malwarebytes' to run a full scan once a week.

If you go to Control Panel > Performance Information and Tools, and click on Advanced Tools in the left pane, you can view all the performance tools that come with Windows 7.

 

[gregrocker]

I'd use CCleaner and Defraggler free tools monthly.

Monitor your logs to google repeat errors to resolution and to learn more about your computer: Win7 troubleshooting tips

Tips for cleaning up factory bloatware

 

[Maguscreed]

My route was to create a rather large task scheduler set up that makes sure the system runs all my regular maintenance and scanning every Sunday night at midnight (I just leave the machine on) then shuts down when it's done. I use MBAM for scanning because it's been the least problematic for me. Auslogics disk defrag because it's free and includes a optimize and defrag feature, and Ccleaner for cleaning out the garbage ...a good bit of common sense will go further than any software though.

 

[Shaymac]

To be quite honest, I used to use Ccleaner and similar programs to clean my Windows XP..but with Windows 7, I don't see the need. It's still as fast as the day I installed it, so why mess with it if it's working for me, right?

I would take a look in the Secutiry section for AV suggestions, since you uninstalled Norton. I personally use Avast and MSE together. I have Avast set to scan my drive once a week, and I use Malwarebytes' to run a full scan once a week.

If you go to Control Panel > Performance Information and Tools, and click on Advanced Tools in the left pane, you can view all the performance tools that come with Windows 7.

Thanks for the reply!

I think MSE with the internal firewall will be fine. I have read to NEVER run more then one AV. Mind you, I have not used any AV for some years up to now, and I am NO pro, lol... I went of topic on that part, I must apologize.

After some reading I've come to the conclusion: Never touch the registry, and to be wary of external cleaners. I just wonder if the built in disk cleaner is enough for wiping junk files. For now I will stick with those tools you mentioned above.

Thank you for posting!

 

[Shaymac]

I'd use CCleaner and Defraggler free tools monthly.

Monitor your logs to google repeat errors to resolution and to learn more about your computer: Win7 troubleshooting tips

Tips for cleaning up factory bloatware

Thanks for the info, I'll have a read.

 

[Sik00]

I have read to NEVER run more then one AV. Mind you, I have not used any AV for some years up to now, and I am NO pro, lol... I went of topic on that part, I must apologize.

After some reading I've come to the conclusion: Never touch the registry, and to be wary of external cleaners.

Agreed on the external cleaner..I do have CCleaner installed, but I choose not to use it unless absolutely necessary, because I have not run in to any performance/lag issues.

Normally 2 AV programs are not recommended, but thankfully, Avast has worked with Microsoft to ensure MSE and Avast work together seamlessly:
avast! blog » Greetings from Redmond

Edit: Btw, welcome to the forums

 

[Shaymac]

I'd use CCleaner and Defraggler free tools monthly.

Monitor your logs to google repeat errors to resolution and to learn more about your computer: Win7 troubleshooting tips

Tips for cleaning up factory bloatware

VERY helpful! Thanks again...

My route was to create a rather large task scheduler set up that makes sure the system runs all my regular maintenance and scanning every Sunday night at midnight (I just leave the machine on) then shuts down when it's done. I use MBAM for scanning because it's been the least problematic for me. Auslogics disk defrag because it's free and includes a optimize and defrag feature, and Ccleaner for cleaning out the garbage ...a good bit of common sense will go further than any software though.

[/QUOT

Thanks for posting.

 

[theog]

Your first job should be make your Recovery Disks.

 

[Shaymac]

Your first job should be make your Recovery Disks.

This netbook has no disk drive. It has built in recovery software. Is that the same? Should I do more? Sorry, I should have posted: HP mini cq10-500.

Thanks!

 

[theog]

HP mini cq10-500 recovery

Page 37
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02489494.pdf

Creating a Recovery Disk on a USB Flash Disk HP Pavilion dv6700z CTO Entertainment Notebook PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

You can Order HP Recovery Disks from here:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...ortFAQ&prodSeriesId=4247485&prodTypeId=321957

 

[pparks1]

My maintenance of Windows 7 consists of the following.

1). Letting automatic updates run and pull down new updates when needed
2). Letting MSE get it's updates via Windows Update when it wants
3). Launching MalwareBytes manually every 2-3 weeks and running a Quick Scan.
4). Launching my imaging application (acronis) about once per month and taking a system image
5). Backing up my data files to a pair of external drives whenever the mood strikes.

i "only" load what I need to use, anything else that I am going to simply "mess around with and test", gets put onto a virtual machine. This keeps my main machine clean and eliminates slow downs and the need for uninstaller tools and registry cleaners.

 

[Shaymac]

HP mini cq10-500 recovery

Page 37
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02489494.pdf

Creating a Recovery Disk on a USB Flash Disk HP Pavilion dv6700z CTO Entertainment Notebook PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

You can Order HP Recovery Disks from here:
Compaq Mini CQ10-500 PC series -  HP Notebook PCs - Order Recovery Discs for Windows 7, Vista, or XP - c00810334 - HP Business Support Center

Thanks again for the links.

I will take your advice at once.

My maintenance of Windows 7 consists of the following.

1). Letting automatic updates run and pull down new updates when needed
2). Letting MSE get it's updates via Windows Update when it wants
3). Launching MalwareBytes manually every 2-3 weeks and running a Quick Scan.
4). Launching my imaging application (acronis) about once per month and taking a system image
5). Backing up my data files to a pair of external drives whenever the mood strikes.

i "only" load what I need to use, anything else that I am going to simply "mess around with and test", gets put onto a virtual machine. This keeps my main machine clean and eliminates slow downs and the need for uninstaller tools and registry cleaners.

Great advice!

I will try to run it as lean as possible. 1 GB ram is not much, but seems to be enough so far, (simple usage).

Have a great one!

 

[Joan Archer]

My maintenance routine is, every Monday morning after turning on the computer run the built in Disk Cleanup, run a quick scan with MalwareBytes, although I have the Pro version which is running all the time, then a quick scan with SuperAntiSpyware, the free version, task scheduler is set to run a Defrag every Monday night and Microsoft Security Essentials is set to do a quick scan every night.

I also have SpywareBlaster quietly doing it's thing in the background and I get all updates that are needed through Windows Update.

Acronis is set to do an image every Friday and I use the built in firewall plus I'm behind a very strongly set up router which has a firewall.

I think that's it.