What is "mrt" and "mrtstub"?

[TheTalker]

Well, if it doesn't hurt should I just keep it on? Or change the schedule? I might forget about it and never do it. And I'd say that I do a lot of installing these days.

Also my brother, who is a man of little words, told me to leave it turned on. And of course he won't explain why I should leave it on.

Edit:

The need for defragging depends on how you use your computer. If you install and uninstall a lot of programs or create and delete a lot of files, you should probably run defrag on that schedule. I defrag about once a month.

Well, I do install and uninstall a lot so maybe I should keep the defragging on.

 

[richc46]

Why not compromise set it for 2 times a month. Once a week is too much.

 

[TheTalker]

How do I set it to do it twice? I can select the frequency, the time and the day and how many disks but how would make it do it twice a month?

 

[richc46]

I just turned it off, so not familiar with the frequency setting. Just set it for once a month. That will be more than enough.

 

[seekermeister]

I agree that automatic defrag should be turned off, unless your use of the computer is the type that creates heavy fragmentation. But, I install programs that tend to do that in a separate partition from the OS, so system fragmentation is quite slow. Plus, I have always been the kind of person that prefer to do things manually. It is simple enough to periodically open the defragger and analyze a partition to determine it's state.

EDIT: When I defrag most often, is when doing a clean reinstallation of the OS, which probably means reinstalling the programs also, due to their need to be registered. On some programs, like games, I may defrag after every one or two installations, because that seems to always produce a high degree of fragmentation.

 

[richc46]

Poster is afraid that he will forget to defrag, he wants a schedule.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I have 3 hard drives.

I have Windows 7 scheduled to defrag Wednesday at 1 AM. Sometimes my computer is on at that time and sometimes it isn't. I never notice defrag running in the background.

I installed Windows 7 when it was released last October. Since that time, I have NEVER done a manual defrag. I just rely on the scheduled defrag.

I periodically check on how badly my drives are fragmented. Since I installed Windows 7, none of my 3 drives has EVER been more than 2% fragmented. I'd say I am a typical user. I install programs from time to time, do a lot of downloading, and do a lot of file deletion and moving files around.

Here are my stats right now:

C: 0% fragmented
D: 1% fragmented
E: 2% fragmented.

That is typical of what I have seen since I installed Windows 7. I am still using my original Windows 7 installation.

It appears that Windows 7 manages fragmentation better than Vista. Under similar circumstances using Vista, my 3 drives would often get into the range of 15% fragmented when relying on a weekly schedule.

 

[richc46]

I have 3 hard drives.

I have Windows 7 scheduled to defrag Wednesday at 1 AM. Sometimes my computer is on at that time and sometimes it isn't. I never notice defrag running in the background.

I installed Windows 7 when it was released last October. Since that time, I have NEVER done a manual defrag. I just rely on the scheduled defrag.

I periodically check on how badly my drives are fragmented. Since I installed Windows 7, none of my 3 drives has EVER been more than 2% fragmented. I'd say I am a typical user. I install programs from time to time, do a lot of downloading, and do a lot of file deletion and moving files around.

Here are my stats right now:

C: 0% fragmented
D: 1% fragmented
E: 2% fragmented.

That is typical of what I have seen since I installed Windows 7. I am still using my original Windows 7 installation.

It appears that Windows 7 manages fragmentation better than Vista. Under similar circumstances, my 3 drives would often get into the range of 15% fragmented when relying on a weekly schedule.

My results are about the same. Defrag is required very rarely unless you install and unintall a lot.

 

[TheTalker]

I agree that automatic defrag should be turned off, unless your use of the computer is the type that creates heavy fragmentation. But, I install programs that tend to do that in a separate partition from the OS, so system fragmentation is quite slow. Plus, I have always been the kind of person that prefer to do things manually. It is simple enough to periodically open the defragger and analyze a partition to determine it's state.

EDIT: When I defrag most often, is when doing a clean reinstallation of the OS, which probably means reinstalling the programs also, due to their need to be registered. On some programs, like games, I may defrag after every one or two installations, because that seems to always produce a high degree of fragmentation.

I'm going to schedule it to perform once a month. I don't want to forget or anything.

Poster is afraid that he will forget to defrag, he wants a schedule.

I'm a girl.

But, yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. So I'm going to schedule it to perform once a month every Wednesday.

I have 3 hard drives.

I have Windows 7 scheduled to defrag Wednesday at 1 AM. Sometimes my computer is on at that time and sometimes it isn't. I never notice defrag running in the background.

I installed Windows 7 when it was released last October. Since that time, I have NEVER done a manual defrag. I just rely on the scheduled defrag.

I periodically check on how badly my drives are fragmented. Since I installed Windows 7, none of my 3 drives has EVER been more than 2% fragmented. I'd say I am a typical user. I install programs from time to time, do a lot of downloading, and do a lot of file deletion and moving files around.

Here are my stats right now:

C: 0% fragmented
D: 1% fragmented
E: 2% fragmented.

That is typical of what I have seen since I installed Windows 7. I am still using my original Windows 7 installation.

It appears that Windows 7 manages fragmentation better than Vista. Under similar circumstances using Vista, my 3 drives would often get into the range of 15% fragmented when relying on a weekly schedule.

That pretty much sums up what I do on my computer. My drives are 0% right now and I didn't defrag since last Wednesday as far as I know.

 

[TheTalker]

I used Malewarebytes and it says it found 7 items! I had them removed and then restarted. But that's scary.

My brother said that it's possible it's stuff that Kaspersky already removed but there were still remnants of them in the registry. He said that Kaspersky doesn't change the registry so that's probably what they are. I don't know though.

It's scary.

 

[CarlTR6]

The Talker, once a month should work just fine.

 

[TheTalker]

I did a Quick Scan with malwarebytes and it says it found 7 items! I had them removed and then restarted. But that's scary.

My brother said that it's possible it's stuff that Kaspersky already removed but there were still remnants of them in the registry. He said that Kaspersky doesn't change the registry so that's probably what they are. I don't know though.

I'm now doing a Full Scan and it says it found 6 items already.

It's scary. Is malware really bad?!

And thank you for your input about defragging Carl.

 

[richc46]

See Malwarebytes does a good job. No reason to be scared they are gone now, do harm done. Just check on a regular basis.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Malware is probably a greater threat than viruses for most people.

Malware Bytes and Super Anti Spyware are 2 good ways to fight it.

If you get your system clean and keep Malware Bytes and your antivirus program up to date, you've got a pretty good chance to keep the bad guys beaten down.

 

[TheTalker]

See Malwarebytes does a good job. No reason to be scared they are gone now, do harm done. Just check on a regular basis.

Thank you for reassuring me. And definitely for recommending this program.

I'm going a Full Scan now and it's 13 minutes in and found 6 infected items so far. That's 13 altogether. But my brother said it's obviously not something harmful as the computer has been working all these months with no weird problems that can't be explained or anything like that.

Malware is probably a greater threat than viruses for most people.

Malware Bytes and Super Anti Spyware are 2 good ways to fight it.

If you get your system clean and keep Malware Bytes and your antivirus program up to date, you've got a pretty good chance to keep the bad guys beaten down.

Okay. I've got Malware Bytes. You would say that's good right?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Yeah, it is a good program.

There are such things as false positives--it may find a file that it suspects is a threat, when in reality it is not a threat. All antivirus and anti-malware programs do this occasionally. Malware Bytes has a forum where you can try to find out if a particular file is really a bad guy or is just a false positive. They try to minimize the number of false positives, but still some will occur.

 

[richc46]

You are OK. You caught the malware, you have no virus. You know which are the dangerous sites, etc. Just enjoy, now. Im serious, just enjoy the system. Follow the advice that you were given and read the information that I gave you yesterday. Any future problmes, you know that you have friends here and you know we will be there for you.

 

[TheTalker]

Ah, okay. Now False Positives could actually be stuff that's good and stuff that's needed correct? And if I remove them then something could go wrong correct?

 

[TheTalker]

Can I do things while Malwarebytes is running? Like play games and stuff?

You are OK. You caught the malware, you have no virus. You know which are the dangerous sites, etc. Just enjoy, now. Im serious, just enjoy the system. Follow the advice that you were given and read the information that I gave you yesterday. Any future problmes, you know that you have friends here and you know we will be there for you.

Thank you very much for this!!

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I'd run Malware Bytes when I wasn't using my PC for any particular purpose. If you do other stuff while it's running, it will take longer to complete and your games won't run as fast as they should. Do one or the other. A complete scan might take a half hour or more?

You should familiarize yourself with "System Restore" in Windows 7 if you have not done so already.

If you delete a file that is actually necessary, you can use System Restore to restore your PC to the way it was before you made the deletion. It is VERY useful and you might need it if you delete a false positive file that is actually needed by your system. But don't let false positives ruin your day--they are relatively uncommon and you should be able to recover from deleting them if needed.