Can You Advise About Using Any of the Fix It Tools?

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

My 5 years young PC is running slow and I am considering trying one of the Fix It Tools that are advertised as cleaning up PCs so they run like new again. Can anybody advise me, from personal experience, which product is the best alternative or maybe which one(s) to avoid trying to use? I have kept up with all system updates and have had no Blue Scree Issues, just slow response times. I have kept my system secured using avast!Free. I work on this computer all day but only to work with files and review posted information. I listen to Internet Radio while I work. I do no gaming or social networking on this computer. Thank you.

My aVast Free Current Version is: 6.0.1367
My specs: MSIE version 8.0.6001.18702 ; 128-bit ; Build 86001
System Info: Windows XP Home Edition, 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600; x86 Based Dell PC, Physical Memory 1,024.00 MB Available 488.08MB;
Total Virtual memory 2.00 GB, Available Virtual memory 1.96 GB, Page File Space 2.30 GB

2

You could try this: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

DJBone

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Thank you DJBone. Is CCleaner compatible with avast!Free AV ?
Is there anything major that it is incompatible with?
For example, I use Adobe Reader 9 to view and edit files all day and
I use MSIE to access web sites I keep my data in Wordpad for easy desktop access.
Thanks for any folowup.
:slight_smile:

4

CCleaner is fully compatible with avast!Free AV.

DJBone

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Just a comment. Not everyone recommends CCleaner (or any cleaner for that matter) as a general-goal tool. The use of CCleaner is recommended when you already know what you are doing or when you analyze the system and know which items to actually clean. Applying the cleaning items “by default” may have some “cons” too.

A simpler (and safer) method is to use the built in cleaner of Windows, uninstall old software not being used, defrag once in a while…

Windows usually needs at least 20 or 30% of free HDD space to work “normally”. For example, a 500GB disk(or volume or partition) with less than 100GB of free space might cause some slow behaviour on Windows, even if clearly 100GB is not a “small free space” ( 100 / 500 = 20% ).

If you still want to try CCleaner anyway, use it only in “analyze”, and UNcheck any item that you are not 100% sure about what it cleans or what the consequences are.

Of course, this is my personal opinion, and others may recommend it with no reservations.

6

I agree with you ady4um. Always be careful what you are deleting with cleaning tools!

DJBone

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As for CCleaner, I would recommend that you uncheck any item related to security software.

You can find any supported security software (including Avast) in the Applications tab of CCleaner and then uncheck it.

8

I have not had a problem with CClener on my systems other than not letting it clean avast! or WinPatrol logs.

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we use a lot of tools in our service company and my guys there test everything, and In my personal opinion only and my guys we don’t like CCleaner, we used to use it but after you run it on a pc, if you go into the profile and look under the temp folder there the rubbish is still there, and same with windows temp, so we found what we call a better product and its free and works like a gem.

Temp File Cleaner v3.1.1
Developed by Justin Murray
http://software.addpcs.com/tfc

it just works and it dose remove all the rubbish, and you can customize it to not hit AV apps ect.

(Just a note : i don’t have any ties to temp file cleaner or to CCleaner, and these are just my opinions)

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Thank you all very much for this information. Pardon my ignorance but what is meant by the “built in cleaner of Windows” as mentioned in the response by ady4um, posted on 2-2-12?
I run checks of my installed programs from time to time and uninstall the obvious programs that are noted as being “rarely” used. I defrag too but only when Windows tells me that it is advisable. Am I NOT doing something that I could be doing myself to regain lost speed? Again, Thank you for any advice.

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Look here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310312/en-us

DJBone

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Well the reason why there are temp files left is because the default settings in Ccleaner doesn’t delete temp files that are younger than 24 hours.

you have to go to advanced settings and untick the box to delete all temp files.

So imho Ccleaner is a great program easy and save to use, i never had a problem with it and i’m using it est. windows 95

System cleanup is also a nice little gem that is in my toolbox for years.
check everything exept: empty prefetch applications cache
it does remove things Ccleaner leaves behind.

http://franckey.home.xs4all.nl/franckey/software/systemcleanup.htm

I also would recommend Puran defrag free: http://www.puransoftware.com/Puran-Defrag.html

Again imho the best free easy to use defragger with boottime registry/mft/metadata defrag iv’e ditched Perfectdisk (paid) for it

daaf :wink:

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For a little more varity…
I’ve used SlimCleaner lately a few times and it seems to do a good job. You need to know what you are going to clean or it may get rid of a few things you want to keep. But you can specify what kinds of things and areas to clean. So far I’ve had no problems with it and it seems to get more than CCleaner (which is also good program).

http://slimcleaner.com/

I also use Oldtimers Temp File cleaner from time to time. Seems to clean a little more than they others, generally speaking.
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/files/file/187-tfc-temp-file-cleaner-by-oldtimer/

Your preference and mileage may vary.

14

Again, many thanks for this information and for providing these links.
Can anyone advise, from personal experience, what it is that these programs do (or claim to do) that are advertised on TV so often for making your old PC speed up and run like new again?
Could it be that all that these programs do is run the built in Windows Cleanup Tool? Or do they use a custom defrag utility, such as the one by Puran that was recommended by daaf (and thank you, daaf!).
I had thought that too much defragging was a bad thing for the average home based PC and especially the Boot Time defragging that the Puran Product claims to do. Am I mistaken?
:-\

15
Can anyone advise, from personal experience, what it is that these programs do (or claim to do) that are advertised on TV so often for making your old PC speed up and run like new again?

I would never run that sort of program on my pc. Ever.

Could it be that all that these programs do is run the built in Windows Cleanup Tool?

Exactly. If not the same program code, then the same principle would apply.

You do not need these other programs at the moment.

To run Windows Cleanup Tool, go to My Computer>double-click that>right-click the drive you want to clean up>go to Properties>click that and run the Disk Cleanup Tool in ‘Local Disk (C:) Properties’. NOTE: Run only the Disk Cleanup tool; do not have the ‘Compress drive to save space’ option ticked off. Very important to not check this off.

This what I think ady4um meant by a built-in Windows maintenance program. Use that instead of the other programs suggested.

Reason I say this is because the skill and competence level of the user is very important. If one is a beginner, one should stick with programs provided with Windows, i.e., use the Windows defragger program to defragment the drive, and so on.

I had thought that too much defragging was a bad thing for the average home based PC

If one does not defrag a Windows XP or Vista system periodically, a system slowdown can result simply from excessive fragmentation. Fragmentation is the result of Windows writing a file to disk in open available data spaces; not all files are written in complete sections without being broken up into several smaller parts.

Excessive fragmentation can result in the hard drive working too hard to retrieve the file(s) being asked for; this will impact system speed noticeably.

These instructions are for XP, Vista may differ to some extent.

Running Microsoft Disk Defragmenter, do Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Defragmenter. Note that Disk Cleanup is also available here as well (for XP)

If your system is badly fragmented, (I suspect it is) this will take some time, go have a cup of brew and wait for it to finish.

As before, work within your competence and comfort level. Advanced tools are just that, for advanced users.

Windows 7, as I understand it, is set to automatically defragment the drive(s) periodically without the user being involved. Hence, Windows 7 usually does not require defragmentation maintenance, as it does it for you.

16

Many “cleaners” and/or “optimizers” are useless. Some of them might show you some temporal improvement in a certain area (which of course they can show you how to measure ;D ), but they don’t usually show you “the price” you pay in terms of some other resource being used.

So, IMHO, you should know what you are trying to achieve, and its consequences, before using a certain “cleaner” or “optimizer”. Then the adequate tool can be used so to make your life easier :).

For example, I use CCleaner, but only in certain areas and items I know what I want to achieve. I have seen CCleaner “cleaning” remnants or “unnecessary files” of a MS Office installation, only to find out then that some feature of the package is not working and throwing errors.

A different example. You can “clean the registry”, and then, when you try to use some software you already have installed before the “cleaning”, you find out something there shouldn’t had been “cleaned” (when the program fails).

BTW, “cleaning the registry” implies some kind of erasing (I won’t get into details of what exactly is that you are erasing). Then, you find out that the “cleaning” left you “the registry fragmented” and that you should use some “registry optimizer” to make the registry “work faster”. It never ends, and I’d rather work (or enjoy), since the time I gain from those “optimizers” I also spend in the optimizing task itself.

About the defragmentation, I already stopped doing that. The expectancy life of my HDD welcomes the extra mileage, and the potential gain depends on the way you really use your system. Since I’m not a high-end gamer, I personally don’t feel any noticeable gains that really affects or improves my daily use. In addition, Vista and Seven already take care of the defrag once in a while (unless you specifically disable the function). The minimal extra gain, compared to the normal built in defrag, of using a different algorithm so to improve the defragmentation is not worth in my particular case.

So, IMHO, it depends on the use of your system and your personal preferences. Other users here will tell you almost the opposite I just did. Any method is valid, if it fits your particular needs.

17

OK…again I thank you, ady4um, for the advice. Any thoughts on why Forum member mchain advised NOT to let the Windows Cleanup Tool do the “compress drive to save space” option?
I am always curious when advice is given w/o explanation. My sense is that mchain feels that it is not good to compress a drive to save space or, in my situation, it would be to try and gain some speed (actually resonse time).
BTW, as a followup, I had been running the Windows Cleanup Tool on a bi-monthly basis but this has not been improving my speed. Where I am particularly slow is when I restart Windows manually and when I open up my Wordpad files.
Also, for all who might still be following this thread, for me, it is much easier to run the Windows Clean Up Tool from Start>Run> then type in cleanmgr, then hit OK. I do this on the last day of every other month, at the very end of my work day, usually about 2AM, then go to bed while it does its thing. I also disconnect my pc from my Internet cable connection before I run this (Windows XP Home). As mentioned previously, this has not regained any lost speed for me.
Thanks again. This thread has provided me with a lot of info.
8)

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If you want more speed, I agree that “compressing” is not recommended for you. It would make your system slower (Windows would need to add an extra task, decompressing, every time you want to read some compressed folder). Moreover, it adds some additional step to resolve in cases when some information is somehow corrupted and you want to recover it. With the current HDDs, for a home personal user it is not recommended.

About other methods (whether it is part of the Windows clean up tool or any other tool), no tool by itself is going to improve your situation in each and every aspect at the same time. You can get more free space, but if Windows finds less than 20 to 30% of free space, it is going to be less effective (independently of the absolute value; it may be 100GB of free space in a 500GB HDD, and it is still 20% of free space).

There might be remnants of software that you think you uninstalled. Or old drivers that may have some update available (or even no updated driver is available, which is worse when you have a driver not working correctly).

The storage drivers are important, and if the HDD is working (for whatever reason) in some old (but compatible) mode, then it is going to be slower than expected.

Some “optimizers” will let (and recommend) you some procedure that may sound good, but in fact it is going to make things worse (like deleting windows “prefetch” or some “cache”).

I have no way to know what is going on in your specific case. You might want to make an image (or two) of your entire HDD and, separately, a backup of your personal data, and try a clean install of Windows (or Factory Default Restore). To be clear, I am not specifically recommending this (as I have no idea what’s the specific problem). I am just commenting a possible method that might help, maybe.

Having the drivers, Windows and software updated (according to the technical specifications of your system) should be a “must”. And having “too many” unneeded items using some “autostartup” method is also one place to look at.

HTH.

19

dutch98

Any thoughts on why Forum member mchain advised NOT to let the Windows Cleanup Tool do the "compress drive to save space" option? I am always curious when advice is given w/o explanation. My sense is that mchain feels that it is not good to compress a drive to save space or, in my situation, it would be to try and gain some speed (actually resonse time).

I am sorry if I did not explain why a drive should not be compressed. Quite simply, Windows mounts the compressed drive as a separate drive, and if any settings should become corrupted, data on it is a high risk of being lost. This was true, at least, with FAT and FAT32 drives. I do not know if this applies to NTFS drives.

Sometimes the simplest answer is the easiest fix.

Have you checked for DMA compatibility? What is your DMA mode at the moment?

Here is how to check:

  • Right-click ‘My Computer’ icon on the desktop
  • Select ‘Properties’ and click that
  • System Properties window will open>Select the Hardware tab
  • Click Device Manager>click the IDE ATA/ATAPI icon
  • Right-click Primary IDE Channel>Select Properties again
  • Primary IDE Channel Properties window will open>Select Advanced Settings tab

There should be a setting for your hard drive that says: Auto Detection/DMA if available/Ultra DMA Mode 5

You may see more than one Primary IDE Channel listed, as I have two on my XP system.

If you see PIO mode, this is the default setting Windows will use if there is a problem with the settings. Unfortunately, this mode will cause the symptoms you are seeing, slow booting, slow operation, as the data transfer rate of the drive affected is much slower than the DMA setting when running in PIO mode. At least PIO will allow the drive to be continued to be used, albeit at a slower rate.

This is a known XP bug.

You can manually reset the drive to DMA Mode 5 or utilize a quick fix here, if this applies to you:

http://winhlp.com/node/10 Read the entire page before doing the repair.

If you set DMA Mode 5 manually, you must reboot for the settings to take effect.

EDIT: Fixed typo error.

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Sometimes the simplest answer is the easiest fix.

Below is a more in-depth explanation of what PIO is and why it happens. This link is direct from Microsoft.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463526.aspx

Note the part about repeated DMA errors. You would have to remove and reinsert the drive to remove the CRC errors.

The above is assuming that this is an issue with your system.