Regular maintenance is usually required to keep a computer optimized and running at its best. Here are four programs that will make your computer faster, and four trade-offs to help make the best use out of the amount of RAM that’s installed on your computer.

MSConfig

For those who despair endlessly that their computer lags too much at start up yet don’t know how to go about fixing that, taking a look through MSConfig would be the place to start. Msconfig can by accessed by hitting Windows-R, which brings up the “Run” dialog, and typing in “msconfig”. Under the “Start Up” tab, there is a list of programs and executables that are launched when the computer starts up.

Having a lot of programs that start up when the computer boots is one of the main reasons that boot times are so long, for most PC users. Thus, the remedy would be to go through the entire list and uncheck anything that is unnecessary to have on boot up. If there are any entries you are not sure about, be sure to check them thoroughly on the internet before messing with them, as unchecking the wrong entries could potentially mess up the functionality of some of your programs.

CCleaner

CCleaner stands for “Crap Cleaner” and that is exactly what the program is great for. Over time, temporary files bog down your system, and take up unnecessary space in your harddrive. Thus, it is good PC maintenance practice to go through your computer once every while, and delete all the temp files.

It is incredibly simple: just navigate to the Cleaner tab in CCleaner, check everything you want to clean up (it would be best to leave the “Advanced” section alone, unless you know what those entries refer to), and then clean Analyze. You’ll then see an overview of what CCleaner is about to clean up and delete, and how much space CCleaner will free up for you. To permanently erase the temp files off your computer, simply click “Run Cleaner,” and all those temp files will be history.

Temp files aren’t the only junk files cluttering up your computer, however. Broken registry keys also pose a huge problem when it comes to useless files clogging up your system. Fortunately, CCleaner also has the ability to keep your registry clean.

To do this, use the “Registry” tab in Ccleaner. Once again, select all the entries you want CCleaner to prune, and let it do its thing. The only difference between this type of maintenance and clearing temp files is that if you accidentally delete a key that is still being used by your system, your computer can begin to function strangely. With that said, you should back up your registry settings before you give CCleaner the go ahead to torch everything. When you click “Fix Selected Issues” to delete the faulty registry entries, CCleaner will prompt you to back up your registry, and you should always click ‘yes’.

CCleaner was also discussed by Stefan in his article How To Uninstall Applications Efficiently And Remove Obsolete Files.

Revo Uninstaller

Revo Uninstaller is like the on-steroids version of your own Add and Remove Programs option in the Control Panel, but it also scans your computer for any files that the default uninstaller doesn’t catch, and deletes them. Revo’s layout is pretty much exactly the same as the Add and Remove Programs dialog, so it should be simple to navigate.

Revo also has a panel that lists all of the clean up tools that are provided with Windows systems. This menu can be accessed by clicking the Tools icon, and then the Windows Tools tab on the left.

For a more in-depth review of Revo Uninstaller, check out Jimmy’s article Revo Uninstaller Will Hunt Down Your Bloatware.

Defraggler

So once you’ve cleared all of the unnecessary files from your computer, there are now a bunch of holes where the data for those files used to be. While this may seem like no big deal to most people, having random gaps of empty space can also slow down your computer, because the rest of your files are still splintered into many different pieces, and the newly generated empty space isn’t being used efficiently. The more pieces a file is split to, the longer it takes the computer to access that file, so it makes sense to put all these pieces back together, once space has been cleared up to store whole files.

Defraggler is one of the best free defragmentation tools on the market. The visual representation of the space on the computer as pieces of files are being reunited is extremely enlightening, because most people don’t realize the extent of file splintering on their systems.

But cleaning up your computer isn’t the only thing you can do to optimize how fast your computer runs. Believe it or not, the programs you choose to perform daily actions such as chatting, or opening PDFs, can also affect your computer’s running speed.

Best Program Trade-Offs

This section discusses several alternative applications that perform more efficiently and provides your computer with the speed boost that it needs. Especially on slower computers, the difference is quite noticeable. Try it them out for yourselves!

1. Pidgin vs. AIM

If you don’t mind the spartan interface, Pidgin is a great multi-protocol IM client with a light footprint. Unfortunately it doesn’t natively support video chat, but it does have a plug-in for Skype (although you’ll need to have Skype running to use it).

2. Firefox or Chrome vs Internet Explorer

I recommend this switch not just based off memory footprint, but also because both Firefox and Chrome trump IE when it comes to customization and start-up times.

3. Foxit Reader vs Adobe Reader

Adobe Reader is notorious for its slow load times, especially when it comes to huge documents. Being a student, I regularly load 500+ page PDFs (the digital versions of my textbooks), so having to wait ages for them to load would be severely detrimental to my productivity. Foxit Reader, however, is so snappy that a 500+ page PDF loads almost instantly, and the browser integration is much smoother and faster than that of Adobe Reader. Once again, the interface is a bit more spartan, but Foxit definitely packs more features, and is a very worthy switch.

Click here for Guy’s article on more light alternatives to Adobe Reader.

4. VLC Player vs Windows Media Player

VLC is like the Pidgin of media players in that it supports a multitude of different video formats, and has a quick loading interface. Another great, recently implemented feature of VLC is that it can now be skinned to fit in with your windows theme!

5. Foobar2000 vs iTunes

The great thing about Foobar is that it is so customizable: everything from the layout of the interface to the plug-ins to extend the program’s capabilities can be tweaked. Many people worry that without iTunes, they wont’ be able to sync their iPod or iPhone, but Foobar actually has a plug-in to support iPod syncing.

Today, I’ve covered eight of the best programs for de-crapping your computer and maximizing your available RAM. Hopefully you’ve found a few of these programs to your liking, and decide to trade out your slow, sluggish apps for something a bit more snappy. Here they are again:

CCleaner – Download
Revo Uninstaller – Download
Defraggler – Download
Pidgin – Download
Firefox – Download
Chrome – Download
Foxit Reader – Download
VLC Player – Download
Foobar2000 – Download

Try out our suggestions, and let us know if they help speed up your computer a bit. If you have your own favorite programs for speeding up your computer, let us know in the comments!

Image credit: cod_gabriel

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• 3 Essentials to Keep Windows in Top Shape (14)
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• Ncleaner – The App That Tells CCleaner To Take A Hike (29)
• Glary Utilities – System Maintenance Made Easy (6)
• 8 Best Defragmenters To Keep Your PC Running Like New (28)

Wait what were we talking about again?

Oh right memory. Well I might have a horrible short term memory but the part of my brain that remembers DOS  commands works great!

So yours truly remembers all his DOS commands and I have to use them on a daily basis to get my job done. I find myself releasing DNS, requesting a new DHCP address, defragmenting and the list goes on and on. So what do you do if you need to get these Windows tasks done and you don’t know how?

Download and fire up Matt’s System Helper Outer. You can grab the executable from here. Once you run that file, the application will be ready to umm uhh help you out

You will be greeted by a screen that looks like this:

That is what the programs interface looks like. Let’s take a look at it. You will see 5 tabs across the top and 7 buttons across the bottom. The tabs on top have different Windows tasks and commands associated with them and the buttons on the bottom launch their respective control panel. Go ahead click around we will wait!

Good you are back….let’s look at the tabs. The first tab you see above lets you release and renew your DHCP address, the button below that flushes your DNS cache for faulty entries or register it. All at the push of a button. Need to run IPConfig /all for your full IP settings? Just hit the run button after checking the /all switch!

You can see the output here:

Pretty nifty eh? You can also run DOS commands from that New Command field at the top of the output. As you can see here, I issued a dir to show a directory listing:

Let’s look at the other tabs with more Windows tasks:

The second tab contains a few options for users or admins trying to troubleshoot Windows freaking updates! Here you can stop the Windows update service or re-register it. You can then start it. Having problems with the Windows Installer? Stop or start the service from here as well as registering and unregistering it.

In the storage tab you will find links to defragment a drive with the optional force option as well as running a disk clean up on the drive of your choice. You can choose which drive you want to defragment the same way by trying the drive letter in the box before hitting run.

The Misc. tab holds the System file checker that scans all your windows system files for imposters or problems. There is a button to not only start and stop the print spooler but another one that will empty your spool! Nice!

And that last line will let you issue a custom DOS command or hit the manual cmd button to open a command prompt.

Whooo! This sure does quite a bit! Do you use something similar? We would love to hear about it in the comments!

Get Matt’s System Helper Outer.

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• NirLauncher – Awesome Portable Utilities To Have On Your Flash Drive (10)
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• Total Defrag 2009 Special Edition [Now Free for Home Use] (20)

I went to this link http://www.paragon-software.com/registration/td2009.html to grab my copy. They ask you to register and provide an email address where you can receive your license information. For those of you who still do not like giving out their email address we have covered plenty of self destructing email addresses which you can find here and here.

You can start your download before you get the email so you will be ready to go when the information arrives. You have to log into http://kb.paragon-software.com/ess with the information in the email. The trial download does not allow you to register it with this information.

My email came pretty quickly it looked like this:

Thank you for your interest in Paragon Total Defrag 2009 Special Edition!
The product is registered with:
PRODUCT KEY / USER NAME: PRODUCT KEY DELETED
SERIAL NUMBER: SERIAL NUMBER DELETED
Additional information about this software can be found in Paragon’s Knowledge Base available at http://kb.paragon-software.com

With that product key and serial number I was able to download and install the software. It is a 17.5 MB installer that came in very quickly. You are downloading the trial version and then you will input your registration information. Make sure the following window does not say ‘TRIAL’.

When the install is complete you will see an image of your first drive like so:

Let’s take a quick look at the minimal settings:

We should leave it on Safe Mode even though it will take longer to run to completion – there is little to no chance you will mess up your Windows install in safe mode. You have options from the menu to Check File System Integrity. It requires exclusive access to your file system and will ask for a reboot.

This is a beefed up version of scandisk. Total Defrag can do a volume surface test as well in ether normal or extreme mode.

Analyzing your partition will give you information about your fragmentation like so:

And finally what we have all been waiting for the defragmentation…Click on Partition – Defragment – Defragment Partition to get the ball rolling.

You will have the above options for your defragment… Nice! I love having options . Set your options and click Yes. The defragmenting will take off. A warning will pop up telling you that you should back up your data before you begin. I would say that you should ALWAYS have a backup of your files.

Feel free to back up first and then click Yes. If Total Defrag sees problems with the volume you will get a message telling you to use ChkDisk first…

In this case I would run the File System Integrity Checker and have it fix the errors. When Total Defrag is complete your drive should be mostly green like this:

Stay tuned for more reviews on the now free Paragon suite! What do you use for defragmenting? Do you have a favorite free tool? Share it with us in the comments!

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• Top 8 Programs That Can Make Your Computer Run Faster (168)
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• Clean Up Your PC Safely with Hard Drive PowerWash (Windows) (18)

Whatever the case, the Windows operating system still holds dominance on the market. With dominance though, comes much feedback and much modification from the users.

No matter how much you like a certain feature of Windows, there is always someone out there modifying it some way or another. This not only includes some of the integrated features of Windows, such as the Start Menu or Windows Explorer, but also individual applications, such as Notepad and MS Paint.

I have put together a list of the some of the best Windows apps and feature replacements that I could come up with.

1. Vista Start Menu (Start Menu Alternative)

As confusing as the name is, Vista Start Menu not only gets you a Vista-like Start Menu in Windows XP, but also enhances and improves the Start Menu Interface in Windows Vista.

It adds the ability to tab items, quick access to shutdown options, zoom capabilities and simple shortcuts to search on both the local PC and Google.

Other Alternatives:

* JetStart
* Open Menu+

2. Replace Windows Taskbar with RocketDock

Rocketdock is a Windows taskbar replacement with a Mac-like feel. It’s essentially a combination of the quick launch toolbar, the taskbar and desktop widgets, all rolled into one. It looks incredibly futuristic, it has a very smooth feel, and it doesn’t eat up a lot of resources.

Other Alternatives:

* Moby Dock
* Object Dock

3. ExploreXP – Windows Explorer Replacement

ExplorerXP is a free file manager replacement for Windows Explorer. We’ve previously written about Windows Explorer alternatives in the past, but I have found ExplorerXP to be a much more stripped down version of some of its competitors, while still giving you everything you need at the same time.

It has built in tab ability, folder sizes, quick access to My Computer, Recycle Bin, My Docs, Desktop, multi rename tool, all running on just 410KB of size.

If you are looking to upgrade Windows Explorer with many must-have add-ons, while continuing to use many of its built-in capability, this is the freeware to get.

Other Alternatives:

* Explorer2 Lite
* Q-Dir
* XPlorer
* FreeCommander
* A43
* UltraExplorer

4. Process Explorer – Task Manager Alternative

Process Explorer from Sysinternals is a great Windows task manager alternative to get an in-depth look at all of the running processes on your computer, including where individual executables are located, search capabilities for individual DLLs, plus a much more detailed look at system resources, and where they are being allocated.

Other Alternatives:

* What’s Running
* Task Manager Extension 2.1
* MKN TaskExplorer

5. Notepad++ : Wordpad / Notepad Replacement

Notepad++ is a much more comprehensive, in-depth textpad editor, with built-in tab ability for multiple documents, drag and drop support, color print capability, zooming, auto completion, bookmarking, and even macros. It’s not your typical plain ole’ Windows notepad or wordpad. It’s built for code writers and programmers, but used and available to all. Overall, it’s a great Notepad replacement for Windows.

Other Alternatives:

* Notepad2
* Programmer’s Notepad
* PSPad
* MetaPad
* DocPad
* TED Notepad
* AkelPad

6. Defraggler – Faster Replacement for Windows Defragmenter

Defragmenting your hard drive has become an essential part of keeping your computer running at an optimal speed, and keeping your hard drive in tip top shape. It essentially takes all of the separated files on your hard disk, and pieces them back together so that everything just runs smoother.

Windows, for as far back as I can remember, has always had some type of defrag utility. The problem is that it’s never been that good. Fortunately with time, comes faster computers, smarter programmers and a much better interface. Defraggler appears to have all of this rolled into one. It is incredibly easy to use and understand. It has an incredibly nice interface and most important, it’s incredibly fast.

Other Alternatives:

* Auslogics
* Contig
* PageDefrag
* Five Programs To Defragment Your PC.

7. LogMeIn Free – Windows Remote Desktop Alternative

I was amazed when a co-worker referred me to this website, a couple of years ago. The incredible speed, security and capability sold me from day one. The LogMeIn Free version lacks printing and file transfers, but if you are simply trying to access your home or work computer without ever having to touch a firewall, LogMeIn is the best way to go. From all indications, it sounds like it’s the best free alternative to ‘GoToMyPC’ as well.

Other Alternatives:

* UltraVNC
* TightVNC
* CrossLoop

8. Replace Paint with Gimp

Gimp is quickly becoming a strong competitor to Adobe’s Photoshop. It comes bundled with a very similar interface, it has many of the same features as Adobe’s massive product, and it has plenty of tutorials via YouTube or blogs, to go along with it.

As far as a replacement for Microsoft’s Paint, I don’t think it even falls into the same category. However, it is free, and can easily become a full-time replacement for Paint. Keep your eye out for future MakeUseOf tutorials, in regards to Gimp. We had a few Gimp tips already.

Other Alternatives:
* Paint.NET
* PhotoFiltre

As you can see, there are plenty of alternative options out there for many facets of Microsoft Windows. I didn’t dive into the most obvious of items, such as Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer, but I gave a fairly in depth breakdown of many of the free replacment apps available for many different versions of Windows, but specifically for XP and Vista.

Do you have additional suggestions for alternatives? Do you have more items you’d like to see replaced in Windows? Please leave your feedback!

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• The Cut Out and Keep Guide to Essential Software Programs (25)
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Diskeeper

Diskeeper is one of my favorite defragmentation softwares out there. In the past, I used to depend on the Windows built-in defrag utility to optimize and keep my hard disks in check but the perception changed after I tried Diskeeper.

After you have installed it, start the defragmentation once and it will fix any problems that your hard disk is currently suffering from. After that just leave it to Diskeeper. It will sit in the background and defrag your disks in real-time automatically when necessary. You’ll discover the change in your computer’s performance in no time.

You must be wondering that if it’s running in the background, your RAM/resources are being used making your PC slower. The answer to that is it doesn’t affect your system resources at all. It only uses the idle untapped resources to get the job done.

Download Diskeeper

PerfectDisk

PerfectDisk is an extremely thorough defragmentation application that completes defragmentation in a single run instead of multiple passes. It’s easy to use since it walks you through step by step instructions to give you the maximum outcome with detailed statistics on the fragmentation status of all of your files.

PerfectDisk uses the minimum of your system resources and has the ability to schedule automatic system defrags. Just put it on autopilot and it take care of the rest.

Download PerfectDisk

O&O Defrag

O&O Defrag is another great defragmenter which offers great flexibility. It automatically analyzes, defragments your internal and external hard disks. It comes with 5 defrag methods which particularly have different aims, each one achieving optimal results for the range of applications on each of your systems.

O&O’s defrag capacity is its other plus point which gives you the ability to defrag multiple volumes simultaneously. Its new background monitoring tool helps you defrag newly added and modified files automatically whenever your system is idle.

Download O&O Defrag

Defraggler

Defraggler is a freeware defragmenation software developed by Piriform Ltd, the same company that brought you the famous applications, CCleaner and Recuva. It allows you to defragment selectively individual files to get the job done in no time. All you need to do is run a analysis and it will list down all the fragmented files on the drive so you can select the files that you want to defrag.

It’s very easy to use. The latest version includes 64-bit support, has a nice interface and a faster defragmentation alogrithm.

Download Defraggler

IOBit Smart Defrag

IOBit SmartDefrag is a free software that offers the same features and quality as Diskeeper. The graph (as shown below) shows that it stands up head to head with the best defragmentation software out there. It gives you the options to do manual, automatic or scheduled defrags.

You’ll also notice “express” and “comprehensive” defrag options. If you choose “express” it will defrag your drives in much less time but if you choose comprehensive, it will do a great job.

It’s extremely easy to use and with its “install and forget” feature which works continuously, automatically and quietly in the background on your PC, it’s a must have

Download IOBit Smart Defrag

Auslogics Disk Defrag

Auslogics Disk Defrag is a great freeware application that gets the job done in no time. After downloading and running it, it took less than 10 minutes to defrag one of my drives giving a full detailed report. It is, no doubt, designed for fast optimization. The interface is sweet and anyone whose using a defragmenter for the first time won’t have any problems at all.

It’s simple, reliable and quite fast. I would recommend Auslogics for anyone to try, since it’s free of charge anyway.

Download Auslogics Disk Defrag

JKDefrag

JKDefrag is a very simple, free to use, application that can completely take you by surprise. It’s a free GPL project; and it runs by default without you having to set up anything. Installation is very easy, just unzip the downloaded file to a specified folder and run it.

JKDefrag is completely automatic, very easy to use, does not impose any kind of load on the computer resources, with several optimization strategies, and can handle floppies, USB disks, memory sticks, and anything else that looks like a disk to Windows.

Download JKDefrag

WinContig

WinContig is another great tool that lets you quickly defrag files without the need to defrag the whole disk. It’s easy to use and doesn’t create any installation directories or Registry entries on your computer. It gives you two options; “Quick and Smart”.

If you choose the Quick method, WinContig does look for the first amount of free space large enough to defragment a file into and uses it. Use this defragmentation method if you use tools like Windows Defrag to defragment your hard disk on a regular basis.

If you choose the Smart method, WinContig does look for the amount of free space that best fits a file into and uses it. Also, if there is no free space large enough to fully defragment a file into, WinContig does try to reduce the number of fragments of that file.

It’s free of charge for anyone, does a fine job and can be a good fit.

Download WinContig

These were the 8 best defragmenters in my opinion that can get your hard disks clean and your computers optimized. If you think I missed something which should be mentioned and is better, please mention it in your comments.

You may also want to check out Mark’s defrag article from last October as well as Make Use Of’s poll on best disk defrag programs.

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• 3 Essentials to Keep Windows in Top Shape (14)
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Disable Hibernation

Hibernation is, if you haven’t used it before, a method of “sleeping” your computer and have it stay on, but in a type of halfway on position, so that you can – especially with laptops – save battery and lower power consumption without turning off your computer.

Hibernation does, though, take a lot of disk space to run, because Hibernation simply saves the current state of the processes running, as well as the rest of your desktop, to be used when you use your computer again.

(Note: If you use a laptop primarily, then we do not suggest disabling Hibernation, because it can be quite useful in many cases when you need to simply close your laptop and/or put it to sleep quickly, etc.)

Ready?

Step 1: Go to Control Panel (”Start,” “Control Panel”)

Step 2: Click “Power Options”



Step 3: Click the Hibernation tab. Uncheck the box labeled “Enable Hibernation.”



Step 4: Click “Apply,” and you are done!

Defragment Your PC

Defragmenting your hard drive is a common way of keeping on top of your operating system. It consists of simply, analyzing your hard drive and finding fragments with files and drives, etc. (More information here.) There are many programs out there that are effective and efficient for defragmenting, and thus I will cover only a few here. If you would like an extended list of programs you can see an article by Mark (5 Programs to Defragment Your PC), as well as a MakeUseOf Poll on best disk defragmenter.

Here are just some of the top, free, defragmenting applications:

1. Auslogics

Auslogics is one of the best disk defragmentation applications on the web. It includes numerous features not usually available on many similar applications, and is extremely fast. You can see a full review here.

2. JKDefrag

JKDefrag is an extremely fast and efficient defragmenting application. Particularily, the scanning. Many defragmentation applications take an extremely long amount of time to scan the hard drive, but JKDefrag took around 1 minute or so to scan approximately 70GB of data. It then – also quickly – runs more analyzing of the system and runs the defragmentation process itself. I highly recommend trying it out.

3. Defraggler

Defraggler is another incredible defragmentation application. It was created by Piriform Inc., who were also the creators of the popular application CCleaner. Defraggler is small (573kb) and lightweight, making it easily portable as well as easy to run. (For a more complete review you can see a previous article here.)

Clean Registry

The Registry, though a customizable and effective tweaking tool, can become rittled with unnecessary registry keys, etc. due to installed applications, and simply using the computer. By “cleaning” or fixing registry keys that contain errors, you can make sure your computer is in top shape.

There are many applications you can use as registry cleaners, but one of the best is CCleaner. CCleaner has been previously mentioned on MakeUseOf a few times due to it’s all around great use for speeding up your PC, but it definitely should be mentioned again due to it’s incredible ability to do numerous things that are extremely effective. There are other applications, such as Eusing Registry Cleaner, but I would still recommend CCleaner as one of the best.

Hope this helps some of you get closer to that nearly perfectly tweaked computer.

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• Top 8 Programs That Can Make Your Computer Run Faster (168)
• Glary Utilities – System Maintenance Made Easy (6)
• 8 Best Defragmenters To Keep Your PC Running Like New (28)
• 10 Most Downloaded Free Security AND PC Care Programs (24)
• Top 5 Freeware Registry Cleaners That Improve PC Performance (13)

Anyone who’s owned a Windows PC for a long time will probably agree that eventually you have to defrag the hard drive. As you move files around and keep installing new programs your disk gets fragmented. Fragmented files take longer to run and results in slower performance. So if you want to keep the hard drive at its peak performance, make sure to defragment your computer once in a while.

As with any other piece of software, some defrag tools tend to perform a lot faster and better than the other ones. While certain people prefer in-built Windows Defragmention Tool, others (incl. myself) prefer something else. There are also those who are simply not aware of alternatives.

Anyhow, what do you use? Please vote! (you can select up to 2 options)

Defrag Tools – Download Links

• Wincontig
• Auslogics
• PageDefrag
• JkDefrag
• Defraggler
• SpeedDefrag
• DisKeeper (non-free)
• O & O Defrag (non-free)
• Ashampoo Magical Defrag (non-free)
• Contig
• PerfectDisk (non-free)
• DefragNT
• Ultra Defragmenter
• Power Defragmenter (based on Contig)

Please share your thoughts in comments.

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• The Cut Out and Keep Guide to Essential Software Programs (25)
• Last Minute Spring Cleaning of your Windows XP System (9)
• Freeware to Speed up your Computer (Part 2) (8)
• Five Free Programs to Defragment your PC (33)
• 3 Essentials to Keep Windows in Top Shape (14)

The image to the left was graciously provided by Roma Flowers via stock.xchng.

1. Unclutter

Remove excess software through >start >control panel >software. If something won’t uninstall because it was never installed properly in the first place, try Microsoft’s Windows Installer CleanUp Utility.

For one, unused software takes up space which you might want to use differently. What you should also keep in mind is that outdated software poses a potential risk, possibly harboring security holes that may serve as entry points for malware.

2. Clean up

Installing and uninstalling software will leave traces. To get rid of the junk, clean the registry and delete all left over files. A great tool for this is CCleaner, which has been mentioned many times at Make Use Of, and which will take care of many more nasty problems.

3. Clear & Compress

One quick and easy step to empty the recycle bin, remove temporary files and compress rarely used files, free space and remove junk!

- Click [Windows] + [R], the Run dialog box will open.
- Type “Cleanmgr.exe” (without brackets), another dialog box will pop up.
- Select the drive you wish to clean.
- Wait for the application to complete its calculations.
- Select files you wish to clear and actions you wish to take.
- Click >OK to confirm and let it do its job.

4. Control Autostart Programs

Lots of tools insert themselves into the Autostart folder or boot process, but many of them just eat up resources without ever being of any use whatsoever. A free tool which allows you to control which programs run when you’re booting your system is Startup Control Panel.

5. Defrag

Defragmentation is a process which physically reorganizes data written onto a disk. The goal is to not have gaps between pieces of a file, but rather store them contiguously. This is something you best do when you won’t need your machine for a few hours. Overnight is a good idea.

You can defrag your hard drives as follows:

- Go to >Start >Programs >Accessories >System Tools >Disk Defragmenter
- The defragmentation window will open.
- Click >Analyze to see whether a defrag is necessary.
- Choose the volume you wish to defrag and click >Defragment.

What many people don’t know is that you cannot only defrag hard drives, you can also defrag the registry! For the registry defragmentation however you will need a tool, for example Free Registry Defrag.

MakeUseOf did a good article on Five Free Programs to Defragment your PC. Definitely check it out.

Finally: Speed Logoff

Is your system taking ages to shut down? Chances are it’s waiting for files that seem blocked by a faulty program or driver. It takes ages, i.e. a long internal timeout, until Windows forces the handle to unload. Microsoft provides a tool called User Profile Hive Cleanup Service which can speed up this process.

For more information on how to spruce up an old installation, make it faster and safer, please check out these great Make Use Of articles:

The Cut Out and Keep Guide to Essential Software Programs by Mark O’Neill

10 Quick Fixes to Make your Windows Computer Faster by Shankar Ganesh

Best Programs To Keep Your Computer Secure by Will Mueller

Needless to say, you should ALWAYS keep virus and malware protection updated, and it’s recommendable to repeat steps 1 through 5 on a more regular basis than just once a year.

What’s your routine? Do you have a more radical attitude and actually enjoy a fresh installation once a year? Please give us your feedback.

(By) This post was written by one of our regular authors, Tina from Recommended.

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• The Cut Out and Keep Guide to Essential Software Programs (25)
• Speed up file Copy’n Paste with Piky Basket (9)
• Some non-Registry Windows tweaks (7)
• Registry Tweaks to give your Windows an ooomph! (2)
• MUO Polls: What Tool Do you Use to Defragment your Computer? (30)

Anti-Virus

AVG Anti-Virus

AVG Anti-Virus – AVG has been around since 1991, and have been updating their program since then. This program as well is definetely one of the best anti-virus programs out there. (See MUO Poll on Best Antivirus Software). AVG has numerous features that most certainly assist in keeping your computer secure, including periodic scans, built in email scanner, the ability to heal some virus infected files, and a “virus vault” that holds virus’.

Mark previously wrote a review on the new AVG 2008 Antivirus here.

ThreatFire

ThreatFire – ThreatFire is an extremely sweet Anti-Virus application. It does not only do all of the things many Anti-Virus applications do, it also addresses problems differently. On a regular Anti-Virus application, numerous different steps need to be taken to find and destroy a threat, unlike ThreatFire which automatically detects threats and malicious behavior, and addresses them automatically in the background while keeping logs of this.

On their website it states that ThreatFire has 243% more protection then traditional Anti-Virus applications in tests and that ThreatFire has examined 17,836,589,477 programs for suspicious behavior!

Avira

Avira Anti-Virus – Avira AntiVir is one of the highest rated Anti-Virus applications out there.

It runs in the background checking for malicious behavior and runs occasional checks, while checking opened and closed files.

Anti-Spyware

Windows Defender

Windows Defender – Microsoft created Windows Defender which is an incredibly awesome Anti-Spyware application built into Windows Vista and is available for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

It includes many features that make it one of the best applications out there, including: Monitoring start up applications as well as system configuration and Internet Explorer, monitoring applications as they run, etc. Again, check out our poll what’s the best spyware removal.

Spybot Search and Destroy

Spybot Search and Destroy – This program has been around for a while now. I use it for many things as a general security suite as well.

Spybot removes Adware, Spyware, keyloggers, trojans, usage tracks, shreds malicious programs, the option to get back the programs that have been removed, etc.

Secure File Erasers

Eraser

Eraser – Eraser is one of the most used file removers. It can erase files and folders, password protected files, temporary files, internet cookies, paging files, internet cache, compressed files, etc. It adds an option to “Erase” something to the right click menu when you click on a file or folder.

You can check previous MakeUseOf review of Eraser here.

UltraShredder

UltraShredder – UltraShredder is another one of the most used secure file shredders. It overrides files with random characters, while saving it to the disk, and then removes the file without the recycle bin of course. Thus, if a file recovery service attempted to access the file, all they would find is random characters. See our earlier round-up on free file shredders here.

Keeping your computer fast

CCleaner

CCleaner – CCleaner is one of the most essential tools for keeping your computer fast. It takes up an extremely small amount of space and should be used often. The specific use of it is to remove and/or fix temporary internet files, cookies, other types of temporary files, fix the Registry, and fix applications.

It includes an extra start-up list to allow you to edit and an uninstall option to replace the standard Windows Uninstaller.

Defraggler

Defragger – This application is from the same company that created CCleaner. It is an incredibly awesome disk defragger that replaces the standard Windows Defraggler. Unlike many defragging applications, Defragger allows users to defrag a certain file or folder, and not an entire drive if you like.

The actual application is small, around 1 MB, and thus can be put on a flash drive. After it is done, Defragger creates a map of your hard drive showing the parts that were fragmented and how much space they take up, etc.

Defraggler is a great disk defragmenter, though some people may prefer something else, for other disk defragmenting tool check out earlier article on 5 Disk Defragmenter Programs to Defrag your PC.

Startup Control Panel

Startup Control Panel – Startup Control Panel is one of the most effective applications for speeding up your computer out there. It gives you a list of applications and other things that start on startup and allows you to remove those to speed up your computer start time.

Be sure not to uncheck your Anti-Spyware or Anti-Virus software, yet there are many things you can remove. It comes with the option to download the full program (59 kb) or a single executable (34 kb).

WinPatrol

WinPatrol – WinPatrol is another extremely helpful small program, that assists in not only speeding up your PC, but also keeping it secure. It runs in the background and monitors system changes to find added and taken away registry keys. Mark briefly covered it in an article last year.

Is there anything I have forgotten? Anything in the list you disagree with? Let us know in the comments!

(By) Will is a complete computer nerd and geek and currently works on his website at Advanced Tech Solutions and his blog at Online Free Tech Tips.

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• The Cut Out and Keep Guide to Essential Software Programs (25)
• 10 Most Downloaded Free Security AND PC Care Programs (24)
• 3 Tools to Test Run your AntiVirus/Spyware Program (10)
• Top 8 Programs That Can Make Your Computer Run Faster (168)
• Stop & Delete Spyware With Malwarebytes [Windows] (29)

So for all the newbies, parents, grandparents, techno-phobes and computer doofs out there, here’s what should be on your computer.

1. THE BASICS

A good firewall – my personal preference is ZoneAlarm

A good virus checker – why pay through the nose for Norton when you get the free and excellent AVG Anti-Virus?

A good spyware checker – despite their 2007 version not quite being up to scratch as its predecessor, I still recommend Ad-Aware for ease of use and efficiency at finding those nasty spyware critters.

I covered AVG and Ad-Aware in a previous MakeUseOf article which you can find here. They were also mentioned in our round-up of free security programs .

2. BROWSER AND EMAIL

You’ll obviously get Internet Explorer as the default browser but you should definately shun it in favour of Mozilla Firefox. If you prefer, Opera is also excellent but Firefox is (in my opinion), the top browser. But don’t try to uninstall Internet Explorer. Best to keep it on the PC, at least to get the Microsoft security patches downloaded (Microsoft doesn’t allow you to download their patches using the Firefox browser. You also cannot use Firefox to access the Microsoft Office templates.)

If you want to have your email downloaded to your PC, Microsoft will naturally push you in the direction of Outlook but again, you can shun that in favour of Mozilla Thunderbird. Similarly to Firefox, Thunderbird is full of useful extensions. If you decide on Thunderbird and don’t want Outlook cluttering up your computer, you can remove Outlook (and any other Microsoft product for that matter) by inserting your Windows set-up CD into the CD drive of your computer then go to the start menu then Add/Remove Programs –>>Add/Remove Windows Components (on the left side). You can then uncheck what you don’t want and they will be uninstalled for you. But you need the original Windows installation disk for the programs to be uninstalled properly. You will also need the Windows installation disk if you want to re-install anything later. So keep that disk safe!

3. THE REST (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)

Winpatrol – alerts you when programs secretly try to burrow their way into your start menu. You can also customise and control your other computer functions as well as set up scheduled tasks. You can see the MakeUseOf review here.

Winamp – for playing audio and video. Customisable and easy to use.

7-Zip – for zipping and unzipping files. There’s also the previously reviewed Universal Extractor but that is only for unzipping files. To zip them, you would also need something like 7 Zip.

TrueCrypt – for encrypting those files you don’t want anyone else to see. See the MakeUseOf review here.

Picasa – one of the best photo management tools out there. I like how you can set up photos on the page before printing them out on photo paper.

Skype – the best VOIP telephone program on the internet. Also has an excellent chat function, and is highly customisable.

Pidgin – got more than one chat ID? Manage them all with this alternative to Trillian. Constant upgrades being put out.

The Google toolbar – I am not normally a fan of toolbars but the Google toolbar is the exception. Highly useful with quick access to the search engine and most Google services. The Firefox version can be found here.

Unlocker – helps you to stop any system processes that may be stopping you from deleting, moving or renaming a file on your computer. See the MakeUseOf article here.

Google Earth – this is my time-wasting application. I like to zoom in on people’s houses!

FileZilla – for moving bulk files from my PC to my website. See the MakeUseOf review here.

CDex – it’s perfectly legal to make private backup copies of your CD’s and keep them on the computer. I use CDex which is an easy CD ripping tool.

CCleaner – clean out all the junk that has accumulated on the computer. Cleans out temp files, cookies and much more. See the MakeUseOf review here.

Auslogics – along with CCleaner, use Auslogics to get your files defragged and in order. You can see the MakeUseOf review here.

eBay Turbo Lister – if you sell on eBay, Turbo Lister can help you to write and list your auctions offline. Totally invaluable, although sometimes it is a little buggy.

That’s the basic list but of course there are other programs based on your needs. For example, I find a video editing program called VirtualDub totally invaluable but unless you deal with a lot of raw video footage, VirtualDub will be not much help. I also use a paid program called SnagIt but some of you may not want to pay for a screen capture program (does anyone know of a free screen capture program?). Oh and if any of you have a website and need to make thumbnail pictures, a good program is Easy Thumbnails.

So that’s the total sum of my PC at the moment. What do you think of the above list? Do you agree with my choices or do you have better alternatives? Let’s hear it in the comments.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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• Best Programs To Keep Your Computer Secure (27)
• 10 Most Downloaded Free Security AND PC Care Programs (24)
• Some non-Registry Windows tweaks (7)
• Registry Tweaks to give your Windows an ooomph! (2)
• MUO Polls: What Tool Do you Use to Defragment your Computer? (30)

To do a proper defrag, you need to use the built-in Windows defrag tool (which can be found in your start menu). But if you haven’t defragged for quite some time, that would mean that the Windows defrag tool will take hours to complete the job thoroughly (at the beginning, my defrag sessions would last 7 or 8 hours!) – and you can’t use the computer in the meantime. Now I often leave it running during the night while I am snoring away in bed and in the morning, the computer is ready to go again.

Out of the following free defrag tools, I prefer Auslogics, but always remember that these tools will not do a thorough defragging job. All they will do is generally keep your files in good shape and do a bit of defragmenting. The advantage to using them though is that when you finally run the proper Windows defrag tool, the time it takes to finish the job will be slashed by hours. I run Auslogics once a week and now the Windows defrag tool subsequently only takes 2 hours.

Auslogics – I mentioned Auslogics in a previous MakeUseOf article but I think it is the best of the free defrag tools out there so it merits a second mention.

Wincontig – WinContig is an easy-to-use stand-alone defragmentation tool that doesn’t create any installation directories or Registry entries on your computer. Its purpose is to quick defrag files without the need to defrag the whole disk. In addition, WinContig allows you to group files into profiles, and also it accepts a number of optional command-line switches that you can use to control how the program operates.

Contig – this one is also becoming a favourite. You operate it from the Windows command line and you use it to defrag a single file. It saves you having to fire up the Windows defrag application just to deal with one file.

PageDefrag – PageDefrag defrags your Windows page file, Registry hives, event log files and hibernation files. These are files that the built-in Windows defragger is unable to defragment since they are open for exclusive access when Windows is running. PageDefrag is a boot-time defragmentation utility which means it will re-boot your computer then defrag these areas before it allows Windows to start up again. So don’t start this program if you’re in the middle of anything important!

DefragMentor Lite CL – with this program, you can defragment a single file or a group of files as well as to obtain information on file and disk fragmentation.

I’ve only skimmed the surface here regarding defragging tools, so I’d appreciate hearing from you. What defrag tools do you use? Do you think computers should be defragged or is the whole defragging thing a complete waste of time?

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• The Cut Out and Keep Guide to Essential Software Programs (25)
• MUO Polls: What Tool Do you Use to Defragment your Computer? (30)
• Last Minute Spring Cleaning of your Windows XP System (9)
• Freeware to Speed up your Computer (Part 2) (8)
• 3 Essentials to Keep Windows in Top Shape (14)

TOP 5: Free Security Programs (Antivirus, Spyware Removal, etc.)

(1) AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition Memory-friendly free antivirus program that comes with lifetime free access to virus definition updates. Highlights include automatic update, real-time protection, free virus database updates, and some more. With nearly 1 mil. downloads (926,832) last week alone, this gotta be a good tool.

(2) Ad-Aware 2007 – Free utility to remove Spyware, Adware and whatever Crapware you may have. Scans your RAM, Windows Registry, hard drives, and external storage devices for known data-mining, advertising, and tracking components. One of my personal favorites. Note: After installation, it will ask you for a registration code. Just hit Cancel and you’re good to go. (Nr. of downloads last week: 864,874)

(3) Spybot – Search & Destroy – Yet another spy/ad/craplet removal tool. Also lets you clean-up program and web-usage tracks, and even fix spyware-caused Registry inconsistencies. I have been using it for more then a year now and love it. (Nr. of downloads last week: 184,292)

(4) Advanced WindowsCare Personal – Comprehensive PC health maintenance utility that offers one-click clean-up and repair wizard. Features include: Spyware removal, security warnings, privacy protection, Registry fix, temporary files clean-up, Windows repair and more. (Nr. of downloads last week: 101,321)

(5) Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic – By far less popular than above AVG, also some users report rather slow scan process. Nonethless, with 85,154 downloads last week still remains listed as the second most popular free antivirus software.

TOP 5: Free PC Maintenance / Optimization Programs (Disk Defragmenter, Registry Cleaner, etc.)

(1) Advanced WindowsCare Personal – see above (Nr. of downloads last week: 101,321)

(2) Auslogics Disk Defrag – Faster, more efficient and dead-simple alternative to Windows Disk Defragmenter. Looking at it’s feature set the only drawback I can think of is lack of auto-run scheduler. Other than that, seems like an excellent program. [Note: Disk Fragmentation leads to system slowdowns, PC crashes, slow startup/shutdown and sometimes to system failures] (Nr. of downloads last week: 44,967)

(3) CCleaner – Extensive and rather fast registry fixer + browser junk clean-up tool. Includes registry backup feature. Make sure to back up your registry before running CCleaner cleanup. (Downloads last week: 36,940)

(4) XP SafeGuard – XP SafeGuard lets you alter and disable several Windows settings to boost system performance. Disable questionable services, remove windows messenger, performance tweaks, disable windows automatic update, and lots more. (Downloads last week: 21,777)

(5) WinDirStat – Handy piece of software that offers an informative visual display of your hard-drive usage. Lets you quickly figure out what occupies most of your disk space (movies, documents, pics, those hidden videos , etc.) Downloads last week: 11,566.

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• The Cut Out and Keep Guide to Essential Software Programs (25)
• Best Programs To Keep Your Computer Secure (27)
• 3 Essentials to Keep Windows in Top Shape (14)
• Top 8 Programs That Can Make Your Computer Run Faster (168)
• Glary Utilities – System Maintenance Made Easy (6)

WinPatrol

Winpatrol is a very robust and impressive program and I love it. Its main appeal lies in taming your start-up menu but it also has other features which I will also get into later.

When you install a program on your computer, more than likely it will try to wriggle its way into the start-up menu. By “start-up menu”, I mean the programs which automatically load when you switch on your computer and Windows starts loading. If you have too many programs loading at start-up then it will take forever for your computer to fully boot up. Now with a lot of programs, there is normally an option in the program settings to disable the program loading at start-up, but if you have a program without such an option then WinPatrol can disable it for you.

Note however that this does not disable the program from working altogether – it only disables a program from starting up when Windows loads.

All you have to do is find the program in the “start-up programs” tab, highlight it, click the “disable” button and it is instantly disabled. To enable it again, just highlight the program and click “enable”. Easy, nothing to it.

WinPatrol also analyses your system to show you your currently active tasks, what file associations you have, what cookies you have, scheduled tasks and hidden files. You can then use WinPatrol to delete them, disable them or change them. Everything is reversible later.

But the best part of all is that WinPatrol runs silently in the background and if a program later tries to covertly install something on your computer, WinPatrol instantly lets you know with a pop-up window on your screen and it gives you the option to either allow the program or kill it.

I use the free version of WinPatrol but there is also a Plus version for $30. As yet, I haven’t felt the need to upgrade as the free version does everything I need it to do.

So if it takes forever for your computer to boot up, give WinPatrol a go, disable unneeded programs from start-up, and then watch a dramatic decrease in computer booting up time.

Auslogics Disk Defrag

Defragmenting your hard-drive is an essential part of keeping your computer running smoothly but the Windows defrag tool makes the job last for hours (I have to run it overnight when I am in bed) and you can’t do anything else with your computer while it is running. There is however a tool called Auslogics Disk Defrag which partly defragments your files, does it quickly and you can continue to use your computer while it is running.

Notice how I said “partly defragments”. Auslogics doesn’t do a complete job and this is NOT a replacement for the Windows defrag tool. This merely keeps on top of the defrag problem, keeps your files in generally good shape and when you finally do run the Windows defrag tool, you’ll notice that the job will go much faster because Auslogics Disk Defrag did some of the work already.

Just install and run, and then minimise to the status bar. Leave it to do its job and eventually it will be finished. The second time I used it, I then ran the Windows defrag tool immediately afterwards, and the defrag task was cut short by a little over 2 hours presumably because Auslogics already took care of some of it.

(By) Mark O’Neill is a freelance writer, editor and blogger. Visit his blog at BetterThanTherapy.net

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• WinHack – Speed Up Your Windows XP Computer (Part 1) (21)
• The Cut Out and Keep Guide to Essential Software Programs (25)
• MUO Polls: What Tool Do you Use to Defragment your Computer? (30)
• Last Minute Spring Cleaning of your Windows XP System (9)
• Get Your Computer Startup Under Control With Autoruns (11)