From Bret Bart Will it work? -Hush

SPONSORED ARTICLE
Is Your Computer Slower Than When You Bought It?
(ARA) - Is your PC slower now than when you bought it? Do you get error messages when you try to un-install software? Do you have desktop icons that aren't working?

If so, your computer is likely experiencing problems with its registry database, the operating system component that stores information about the system, application settings and hardware. Even if you're extremely careful about how you use your computer and never download questionable material, over time it is inevitable that your system will accumulate unwanted registry entries, errors, clutter and debris.

The most common causes are the installation and removal of software, online games, application crashes and upgrades of software programs. While many errors will go unnoticed, the more errors your computer has, the higher the chances that you'll experience trouble. But there is something proactive you can do to protect your system: install a one-click tool called Advanced Registry Optimizer 5 (ARO 5) that will scan, identify and repair errors.

Not sure if you really need one? Sammsoft, a Washington State software company, offers free trials of their ARO 5 software people can use to check their systems for errors. Click here to begin the download process.

Once the download is complete, just click the "Run" button to install ARO 5. Once installed, the program will do a complete scan and diagnosis of your computer's registry and tell you how many errors are present. It will then fix the first 20 problems completely free of charge.

There's no catch. The company just hopes you'll love the personal version of ARO 5 so much you'll consider purchasing the unlimited commercial system which retails for $29.95.

You just posted an ad.

It says "SPONSORED ARTICLE."

This is not a free program -- it will only show you the problems but won't fix them until you pay $30. There is a good free one but I forget what it is called.

rsilvers wrote:You just posted an ad.

It says "SPONSORED ARTICLE."

This is not a free program -- it will only show you the problems but won't fix them until you pay $30. There is a good free one but I forget what it is called.

Yes I know its an ad but I thought it interesting because my PC has slowed down and I'm sure others have also.

Plus they do have a free program that will repair 20 problems free, "
Once the download is complete, just click the "Run" button to install ARO 5. Once installed, the program will do a complete scan and diagnosis of your computer's registry and tell you how many errors are present. It will then fix the first 20 problems completely free of charge. "

I realize also that fixing 20 problems isn't much but its a start.

Hush wrote:Plus they do have a free program that will repair 20 problems free, "

No, they have nothing for free. 20 problems is nothing. The average PC has about 2000 registry issues. That problem has zero utility without paying $30.

I use CCleaner for pretty much the same thing (and then some, if judging by their description). It's free as well.

I use CCleaner as well.
It cleans files as well as registry's.

You can set it up in the beginning to keep certain cookies (like silencertalk) and it wipes the rest off the computer.

At the end of a day when I run it, CCleaner usually cleans 50-80mb of crap off the computer.
Sometimes, as much as 250mb.

Highly recommended

Jay

I use CCleaner all the time. It's taken off more then 2,500MB on more than one occasion.

If I am remembering correctly, this one will work for free:

http://www.eusing.com/free_registry_cle ... leaner.htm

Thank you.

adaware is best for the cookies and spam, along with spybot search and destroy. i run both on my computer on a regular basis and for a four year old laptop, it runs pretty fast.

CCleaner is great, but it really helps having a computer for gaming and solidworks modelling and a seperate computer for web browsing and what-not [I still have more computers than firearms...working on that ]

Honestly if you don't want to deal with that crap and all you do is web browsing and email...get linux. Sure people have a hard time getting it configured to do other things, but it's free and if it has firefox built in it's really not that difficult to use assuming you don't use dial-up.

I'll have to try out ccleaner.

thanks for the heads up.

Here are some free disk defrag tools.

http://www.freewaregeeks.com/UltimateDefrag_Free.html

Be careful when doing this on your own...if you don't know exactly what you/it is cleaning up, it could delete/turn off or move your internet connection utilties. I just used Ccleaner, everything worked perfectly for me until I restarted my computer. Then, I had no internet. Nothing. I had to go into the network utility that controls my network and reconfigure.

So, if you don't know how to do any of that, I wouldn't mess around with using a registry cleaner.

Suppressor Professor wrote:Be careful when doing this on your own...if you don't know exactly what you/it is cleaning up, it could delete/turn off or move your internet connection utilties. I just used Ccleaner, everything worked perfectly for me until I restarted my computer. Then, I had no internet. Nothing. I had to go into the network utility that controls my network and reconfigure.

So, if you don't know how to do any of that, I wouldn't mess around with using a registry cleaner.

Well, CCleaner allows you to save a copy of your registry before deletion in case just such a thing would happen. Then just reset the registry to what it was before and then excercise greater caution the next time you clean. As opposed to the warnings Windows Vista will give you anytime you try to add or delete something (because Microsoft apparently assumes we've all become less apt with computers during the years with XP et al), the warnings in CCleaner are actually there for a reason.

CC does work well......if I can do it anyone can.

In CCleaner, all of the options should be checked to achieve maximum effect

Half of the stuff that CC cleaner deletes are useful cache files and cookies. Those are not always nuisance files -- they are there to help.

rsilvers wrote:Half of the stuff that CC cleaner deletes are useful cache files and cookies. Those are not always nuisance files -- they are there to help.

You can uncheck those boxes and just run what you want on CCleaner.
I'd give a +1 to CCleaner.
Or just do a fresh reinstall.

Yeah, well, after running that ccleaner, I am now having to connect to the internet each time manually....grrrrrr

I must have deleted a cookie/something important for my internet connection utilities...

Deleting all cookies is probably not a good thing. I would leave that up to Ad Aware or Spambot Search and Destroy because they just deletes cookies which are known to be insidious.

Speed can be the result of many things, allot of time just shutting down services that aren't needed and keeping your temp internet files cleaned out.

My wife's notebook was running slow due to all the unnecessary chit starting up and I took care of that w/msconfig.

Registry cleaning software is really only needed if you make a habit of adding and then removing software on a routine basis.

I recommend using Firefox and MS defender, along with a reputable AV solution. Nod32 and AVG seem to be stellar right now.

As for firewalls, if you've got a reputable router that does NAT you are fine, however I would recommend ZoneAlarm if you are plugged directly into the cable modem.

If you run Norton expect that to make your $2000 PC feel like a $600 PC. That is my honest estimate.

Kaspersky seems to be vastly better.

+1, I'm no Norton fan...

rsilvers wrote: There is a good free one but I forget what it is called.

Ubuntu.

www.ubuntu.com

Makes slow machines faster - make efficient use of old hardware.
Not susceptible to viri.
Has a darn good spam blocker.
And, it is free.

I have used it for over a year at home. I also have it on a couple of PCs at work.