Vijay Kumar Gupta asks:
Which are the best free and paid system maintainence utilities and suites for Windows XP, like Glary Utilities etc. Please specify free and paid options, specially for suites.
6 Answers -
FIDELIS
January 23, 2011This is a link with the top free maintenance utilities:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-free-computer-maintenance-tools/
These are top 10 most downloaded utilities:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-10-downloaded-utilities-movers-shakers/
Here is a link for the best of Windows Software:
http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/best-windows-software
Mike
January 23, 2011CCleaner (http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner) + CCleaner Enhancer (http://thewebatom.net/programs/ccleaner-enhancer/)
IObit Toolbox (http://www.iobit.com/toolbox.html) for your USB-Stick
or if you want an entire Suite go for the IObit SystemCare Free (http://www.iobit.com/advancedsystemcareper.html)
I also keep a copy of the following tools on my second hard drive
HW Monitor (http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html)
HijackThis (http://free.antivirus.com/hijackthis/)
And then there is also a guide for the Windows built-in maintenance tools
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/setup/maintenance.aspx
Anonymous
January 24, 2011Hi
Reduce Recycle Bin
By default, the size is set at 10% of the hard drive, which is excessive on today’s large drives. A more practical limit to the size is something like 1%. To change the amount of space that is set aside for the deleted files, right-click the Recycle Bin and open “Properties”. The figure in the left illustrates. Move the slider shown on the properties sheet to decrease the amount of disk space that is reserved for storing deleted items.
Freeware
JV16 PowerTools 1.3.0.195
http://www.puntocr.it/index.php?module=downloads_riz&func=display&pid=3&lid=26
EasyCleaner
http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm
RegSeeker
http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm
It allows to search the registry and set favorites in the latter. It also contains a small panel of options to improve Windows
In te Startup panel Here are listed all the programs that launch at startup of your system. You can also find the Start Run msconfig. This menu will let you delete the unnecessary introduction of some programs at startup
First download and run EasyCleaner. See what it does on your system. Next, download and run JV16 PowerTools 2005. See what additional cleaning it offers you, above and beyond what EasyCleaner did. Also you can try JV16 PowerTools 2010 Shareware version (30 days free trial) then compare your results and if you see advantages then register this version to use it forever.
Defrag hard drive
Auslogics Disk Defrag
http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/#portable
JkDefrag
http://www.kessels.com/Jkdefrag/
JkDefrag boasts command line support to allow you to set up your disk defrags on a schedule. Perhaps even better, JkDefrag has an installable screensaver that will automatically start defragging your hard drive whenever the screensaver is launched—it even displays the defrag process
Uninstaller
RevoUninstaller free and Paid Version
http://www.revouninstaller.com/
Revo Uninstaller analyzes an application’s data before uninstall and scans after you uninstall an application. After the program’s regular uninstaller runs, you can remove additional unnecessary files, folders and registry keys that are usually left over on your computer
MyUninstaller
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/myuninst.html
NirSoft Uninstall allows you to remove the application name from the listing, even when its uninstall files no longer exist on your Hard Disk. (This typically happens when you delete an application’s folder, without running its Uninstall program). In fact, it uses an application’s own Uninstall command, augmenting it with more features, to bring you an amazing uninstall solution in this microscopic 44 KB application
Some programs don’t allow themselves to be removed or modified. You can change this behavior through a registry search. Open Start, Run, enter Regedit. When the Registry Editor opens up, search the hive HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE for any keys named NoModify or NoRemove. When you find them, delete them, or change their binary values to 0. Then look through the add/remove programs applet in Control Panel and see if there’s anything in there that wasn’t there before.
Aibek
January 25, 2011Check below, all free, best in each category
http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/best-windows-software#maintenance
http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/best-windows-software#uninstallers
http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/best-windows-software#defrag
pceasies
January 29, 2011In terms of system maintenance as in cleaning up misc files the 3 leaders are probably nCleaner, CCleaner, and Glary Utilities, all are free. Paying for those types of apps are a waste of money.
For defragging I’d recommend myDefrag or Defraggler. Those are both free as well.
Antivirus:
-Free
Microsoft Security Essentials
Antivir
Malware Bytes (not active protection, run once a month)
-Paid
NOD32
Kaspersky
Firewall:
ZoneAlarms
Comodo
Billy321wiebe
January 30, 2011Top 30 best free essential utilities for Windows Vista
January 11, 2008
http://vista.blorge.com/2008/01/11/30-free-essential-utilities-for-windows-vista/