Nope, but I personally just make sure I'm not doing much on the PC at the time it's defragmenting. Speeds it up, and it's more efficient because you won't be using temporary files. :cool:

I would be cautious of registry cleaners, They could remove important keys.
As far as I'm aware the registry doesn't store any type of creation or access dates so these pieces of software have to guess whats not important.

Having old, useless registry entries won’t slow your pc down, but removing them can help prevent any software issues you might have encountered if not removed.

Trial - Register Programs:
Speedupmypc3 +
RegistryBooster2

Ad-aware2007 +

Free apps:
Spybot search and destroy
Adaware personal se

I've got the above top 3 and have no problems. all i get once a week is cookies and few trackers. Which are cleaned and removed each time i scan. PC runs perfectly.
Use these along with what is said in the first post. I.e your anti virus software and also your defrag etc your computer should be fine! :)

Avast is abit better then AVG as its more secure, but avast does always pester you on things were as AVG just sits in the background doing its own little thing. abit better secure though i think.

Good guide mate !

..also i know this is really covered in the defraging as it asks if you want to get rid of the temp files etc...but also if not defraging you can clean disk using disk clean up under >accessories > System tools > disk clean up.

More advanced users can disable unneeded services too, like the print spooler service (unless you do a lot of printing).

I did a fresh install of XP and disabled everything that wasn't needed, had it down to 16 processes as standard, boots in seconds rather than minutes.

msconfig command is also worth mentioning to disable problems / sartup programs you dont want, also speeds up loading the desktop

you may also want to add 'wise registry cleaner' to this
a simple little program that sorts out mishmashed files - beter than defragging - i dont care what you say

also - free firewalls like zone alarm - get rid if your router has inbuilt firewall - use it
hardware>software anyday
limewire - get rid - its crap - you will download stuff that harms your pc
the amount of machines i fix on a weekly basis because of limewire is stupid

your computer runs best when windows has just been installed - so the less crap you put on there the faster it goes

my windows has office/nero/itunes installed on my main drive

everything else /games/music/data/pictures/video
all on organised seperate drives

because if you see what is being installed - you get

less chance of malware
less chance of viruses
less chance of headaches

if you know what is on your pc - then you wont need to ask questions about it

oh and if you can - clean and update latest drivers for your hardware at least every two months

i do this every two weeks

i would also reccomend running "reg mechanic"

AVG does that, also when integrated with outlook using pop3 it more or less fucks my pc when it pulls down e-mail from my pop3 server :homme:

But cant argue because its freeeeee

Personally all registry cleaning software is shit imo, if you are downloading one of them you clearly dont know what your doing in the registry, i downloaded one as my mate told me it tries to delete your registry, he was right, it detected almost everything as damaged and to remove it! it was a recommended download from downloads.com too :homme:

Best thing to do is the start up list from all programs and remove anything like itunes and shit from there.

Or if your a little more hardcore start > run >msconfig and remove any start up items, anything you dont know of i would personally leave :y:

Another way of speeding it up is right mouse clicking my computer > properties > advanced > performance settings, select adjust for best performance, then scroll to the bottom of the list and select the bottom 3 ;)

So then you can still keep your lovely theme :P

http://www.blackviper.com/ is essential if you want to have know how to speed your PC up.

Full explanations of everything and how to disable them.

CCleaner is essential to any pc.. Along with everything stated here you should be running a smooth beast of a pc.

also use disk cleanup thats a really good tool to have!

This website is fantastic to check if things are needed or not. http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php

Right ive just gone through the startup part on msconfig and used http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php to get rid of the ones that i didnt need.

Restarted my laptop and it came up with a textbox saying that i should re-tick the prgrams that ive just taken off and put 'normal startup' on... Does that always happen??

also just simply uninstall programs that you dont need! alot of them start at start up to, instead of using msconfig to stop them running why not look to simply uninstall them! obviously some you might still use but im sure theres a few things you could free up memory by deleting...

anyone kknow of a program to find out which processes are being used and wat they are actually doing.. this bugger of mines is runnin 63 but i think it should be runnin about 30 at the most

Windows defender does this i think.

avg works a treat....thanks!