Free from computer related worries.

[askpc]

With increasing technologies, there are increased threats of virus and various other issues. We generally get worried on even small issue with the computer/PC. The best way is avoid all these by taking some careful steps:

1. Keep some free space in the hard drive.
2. Format your system at least twice in a year. Don't wait for a problem to occur to format.
3. Keep firewall updated.
4. Install anti-virus (only 1) and keep it updated.
5. Use the operating system that is supported by your computer/PC, i.e as per RAM size.
6. Scan every program before you run it. For this, use firewall command.

For any problem that occurs, there is online computer support service available widely today. You can take their help if any problem still occurs.

[alphaomega]

Why would you format twice a year? If you run only applications you work with and abstain from trying every free program on Computer mag disk, you will not need format at all. To run computer these days you need 3GB of RAM. Unless you have 64bit OS, that is all Windows can handle. Your slowest part is hard drive, so invest into fast drive. Usually the large disk are slow. Have a drive for OS and applicatins and another for data. That way you can have a relatively small drive for OS (350GB or so, like Western Digital 2.5" Velocitor), which runs at 10,000RPM and has good seek time. Also set the virtual ram on separate drive, this virtual memory fragments drives. Invest into good defrag program. Not just one free.
Most of all stop yourself from indulging in installing all the stuff that you offered from mags free disks and games. Keep away from adult websites also. They will plant malware.

[askpc]

Why would you format twice a year? If you run only applications you work with and abstain from trying every free program on Computer mag disk, you will not need format at all. To run computer these days you need 3GB of RAM. Unless you have 64bit OS, that is all Windows can handle. Your slowest part is hard drive, so invest into fast drive. Usually the large disk are slow. Have a drive for OS and applicatins and another for data. That way you can have a relatively small drive for OS (350GB or so, like Western Digital 2.5" Velocitor), which runs at 10,000RPM and has good seek time. Also set the virtual ram on separate drive, this virtual memory fragments drives. Invest into good defrag program. Not just one free.
Most of all stop yourself from indulging in installing all the stuff that you offered from mags free disks and games. Keep away from adult websites also. They will plant malware.

Thanks for the tips. I just shared the tips on the basis of my experience. I had been facing problem of slow speed with my PC for long, until my friend told me to format it and do it twice a year. From then onwards, I'm using that guideline.

[Sogo7]

Would suggest a few tips for WiFi security owing to its rise in popularity.

1. Stop using WEP encryption, use WPA especially if anybody lives within 100meters of you or your home is near a main road
2. Disable the routers SSID broadcast
3. Enable MAC filtering
4. Change your encryption key regulary
5. DISABLE auto connect options for BTOpenzone/Fon network [this applies to mobile devices and some smartphones]

1. WEP takes about three minutes or less to crack using statistical analysis
2/3/and 4 make life more awkward for a hacker to crack the key
5. Hackers can set up fake access points pretending to be BTOpenzone/Fon so when your PC or smartphone tries to connect it sends them your login credentials

[EdmontonEnquirer]

Advanced system care, MS security Essentials, Defender, definitely use another partition for your data files and everything you'd want to keep when Windows BSODs, and even trying last know good configuration fails so try a new install, and viola! You still hAVE all your datas and pics, vids, backups. Secunia PSI seems to be a decent regitstry monitor, but always, always, number one thing you do is keep windows updated, install WOT or MacAfee site advisor. These are fantastic for warning you if you try to go to a known malware site and gives you a report. I went anyways last week and by the time I figured out something was wrong, I had about a dozen trojans, several worms, keyloggers, other spywares and tracking and recording software, backdoors.. - 116 of the above, serious serious stuff. About one hour surfing a nature biology site is ll it took man do I talk a lot!

[Clint1]

Why would you format twice a year? If you run only applications you work with and abstain from trying every free program on Computer mag disk, you will not need format at all.
However frequent one reformats depends on their PC's, but it is necessary for the best running PC's. But you shouldn't need to format ever if you do mirror backups. Do a backup just after a format and installation of all your programs, and save that, and just restore that when there are problems.



To run computer these days you need 3GB of RAM.
Of course that depends on the OS, and how the PC is used.



.......That way you can have a relatively small drive for OS (350GB or so, like Western Digital 2.5" Velocitor), which runs at 10,000RPM and has good seek time.
I have one, and they are FAST! (BTW, that's "VelociRaptor").



Also set the virtual ram on separate drive, this virtual memory fragments drives. Invest into good defrag program. Not just one free.
If you mean swapfile, or pagefile, the drive has to be faster than the main drive, or at least as fast (as in the same model HD). The pagefile does not get fragmented if you set it to a fixed size.

There are great free defrag programs out there, for both HD and pagefile. Diskeeper is good (but I think no longer free), and PageFile Defrag, I THINK this is it: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897426

[alphaomega]

Diskeeper is great program. I am using this for years. Even the low cost is better than all the others I ever used.
And of course the amount of RAM depends on the OS. RAM is the cheapest way to make your computer faster.
Back up, back up and back up. Disaster sits just around the corner. Computers are still very unpredictable. If cars are as incident prone as computers, we would be much healthier doing lots of walking.

[deepsand]

2. Format your system at least twice in a year. Don't wait for a problem to occur to format.
This is not only unnecessary - diagnostics can be used to determine HD health - but unduly burdensome unless one uses re-imaging to repopulate the HD. Absent that, it may for many be impossible to fully restore all.


4. Install anti-virus (only 1)
There is no single security application that will suffice for guarding against all threats.


5. Use the operating system that is supported by your computer/PC, i.e as per RAM size.
What does this mean?


6. Scan every program before you run it. For this, use firewall command.
Firewalls are not designed for such scanning.

[Clint1]

There is no single security application that will suffice for guarding against all threats.
I didn't even read the OP, (I figured it may have some "inaccuracies" in it and I didn't want to get into it. :lol:, I just read AlphaOmega's post), and I now see my expectations on the OP were correct--Couldn't agree more with Deepsand. But this may be a contextual thing since it's not a good idea to have more than on anti-virus program on a PC (they can conflict, and/or slow a PC down quite a bit), whereas with anti-malware programs are concerned you can never have enough. But if they are the real-time type they too shouldn't be all running all the time in the background because that too can of course slow a PC down. I have more than a dozen and I still get malware that only ONE may recognize.




6. Scan every program before you run it. For this, use firewall command.
Firewalls are not designed for such scanning.
Yeah that too (#6) isn't exactly correct. AV software's "real-time" scanning should always be enabled because that is what will automatically scan each file accessed. However, a firewall should be in play as well because a file can be benign as far as malware goes, and even heuristics, yet its behavior can be malware as in "calling home in a nefarious way" which only a firewall would notice and be able to block. I have seen that countless times:

I don't know if its still the case, but on XP (SP2 at the time I believe), and when using the classic native search, each time you search for something on your HD M$ is apparently notified about your own personal HD search! I was alerted by my firewall that the search, my PC, was sending the info to (if I remember corectly) sa.windows.com.

Yep, it is sa.windows.com, if you search for that you'll see info on the.....sniffing: It would seem "sa" is "search assistant" but contrary to comments, using classic search did not prevent the packet dumps. I had to add a rule to my firewall to block the IP, and domain (which doesn't appear to exist, at least not as a webpage).

That's just one example of many how a benign file (or action) can be capable of doing or resulting in some potentially not-so-benign things. While its action may be actually benign in the end, personally I don't think it's ANY of M$'s business WTF I search for on my own PC!

I've also seen this happen with actual full-blown malware numerous times; a file will scan clean by all scanners, yet it can be sending info to some cyber-terrorist scum IP, (and nefarious actions back to your PC), against which only a firewall would protect.

[alphaomega]

Since there was a mention of firewalls and antivirus I like to present something I just read.
What PC Authority thinks about NOD Eset Smart security (Antivirus and firewall combined). Read article bellow as printed in PC Authority in Australia.
Eset Smart Security 4 Home is efficient protection for those who don’t need the kitchen sink

Eset is one of the few security vendors that doesn’t insist on upgrading its software every year, and Smart Security is fundamentally unchanged since our last roundup in early 2010. But that’s no bad thing.

For a start, Smart Security 4 has always made very low demands on your PC’s resources. This month, it added just 60MB to our test system and a reasonable nine seconds to startup. That’s achieved partly by eschewing extraneous features: you’ll find neither redundant parental controls nor gimmicks such as Registry cleaners or browser plugins here.
That clarity of purpose also keeps the interface clean. The basic front-end is simple but sober, giving Smart Security 4 a more grown-up feel than some of its rivals. For those who like to get more hands-on, there are no fewer than 49 panels of settings hidden away under the Advanced Setup option.
Happily, there’s no need to get your hands dirty. With default settings, Eset’s package protected us against 94% of our malware samples – not perfect, but certainly respectable – without registering any false-positives.
Things went even better in the firewall test. The software asked us if we wanted it to run in Strict Mode or permit file-sharing, and to simulate a typical home setup we chose the latter. Even then, our attacking PC was prevented from probing network ports or extracting any useful information.

The lack of features makes the price seem high, but if you just want straightforward protection with minimal impact on your system, Eset is a good choice.

[Clint1]

The lack of features makes the price seem high, but if you just want straightforward protection with minimal impact on your system, Eset is a good choice.
By far the most important thing in AV software (or a Security Suite) is detection rates and accuracy. If you find one that does that, and it has lots of features, then I don't see the point in Eset, especially since you said the price is high. Even if it were rated #1 by top independent testing sites, a high price and lack of features would make me sway away from it to perhaps #2, if #2 has more features; because it could be those certain features which actually give #2 the edge in actual real-world use.

Detection rates are one thing, and of course very important. But those great detection rates may end up being of little use in the real-world if a program lacks certain useful needed important features that allow it to live up to its great detection rates.

At least with me, I want features and features, and options and options. Only with them can an anti-malware program be "custom made" or tailor-made to each user's own personal use and habits. It is this "custom tailoring" which can actually give perhaps a slightly lower rated program the edge in actual use.

There's also popular well-rated AV software that can be had for free after rebate. While totally free AV software usually isn't very good (you generally get what you pay for), paying a decent amount for it then getting it back in a rebate seems the best deal....as long as it is highly rated.

[LD]

Diskeeper is great program. I am using this for years. Even the low cost is better than all the others I ever used.


I have a licence for Diskeeper, which I ran on my system before hardware and OS upgrade and I was pretty happy with it. I've currently got 360 installed and it controls the Win7 Disk Defrag which states there is 0% defragmentation. My question is, is the Win7 defrag a sufficient tool to use?

[deepsand]

I have a licence for Diskeeper, which I ran on my system before hardware and OS upgrade and I was pretty happy with it. I've currently got 360 installed and it controls the Win7 Disk Defrag which states there is 0% defragmentation. My question is, is the Win7 defrag a sufficient tool to use?
That depends on which school of thought one belongs to in the ongoing debate re. the value of defragging.

Even those who have been involved with PCs since the beginning disagree.

Perhaps a knowledge of the practices are for mainframes might help.

[LD]

That depends on which school of thought one belongs to in the ongoing debate re. the value of defragging.

Even those who have been involved with PCs since the beginning disagree.

Perhaps a knowledge of the practices are for mainframes might help.

Good point. However, a boat load of companies are making a lot of johnny on this type of utility. This time around, with a nearly clean system, I'm trying to be more selective with respect to installs.

[deepsand]

There are more than a few decent free ones as well, with every kind of granular control one might want.

On Win XP machines, I've been using Auslogics Disk Defrag (http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/) for some time now, with no complaints. It lets me defrag at the volume, folder, and file levels.

On machines with multiple HDs, I do the data drives every 1 or 2 weeks. The C: drives generally get defragged & optimized once a week at most.

I try to keep defragging to a minimum, so as to reduce both mechanical wear & tear and the risk of corruption.

[Clint1]

On Win XP machines, I've been using Auslogics Disk Defrag (http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/) for some time now, with no complaints. It lets me defrag at the volume, folder, and file levels.
This is an awesome program. (Green when I can give it again). It has many more features than that of Diskeeper. It does not require a Service as Diskeeper does (which caused me to have to create a batch file to automatically start its Service and launch the program, and that would automatically stop the Service when exited, while never having to keep the Service running all the time). I love the optimizing feature (have no idea yet if that really works since I just did it). It also has right click context menu you can add, and it's "View detailed report" is VERY detailed. AlphaOmega you should check that one out. It appears to be free, but with features like this I'll be waiting for a nag to appear in a week or 30 days.

The only thing I don't like about it is you have to hover the legend icons to see what they mean....until you learn and remember what they mean.

One thing I don't understand about it, is it said none of my partitions or drives were fragmented, yet Diskeeper says C is always "heavily fragmented", and in the case of D (a partition of C where I keep OE's storage and Temp net files folder) is "very heavily fragmented". I don't understand that wide disparity.

Unlike Diskeeper, it says it was able to defrag all files on my C partition. But when I opened up Diskeeper again, it still said the same files were unable to be defrag'd. :confused:

Does anyone know if their "BoostSpeed" is free? They don't say, they just say "download". For that matter I'm wondering the same about the rest of their programs that have both a download link, and a cost listed. BoostSpeed is one that has the download link, but no price listed, yet it's listed under "Purchase". :confused:

[deepsand]

This is an awesome program. (Green when I can give it again). It has many more features than that of Diskeeper. It does not require a Service as Diskeeper does (which caused me to have to create a batch file to automatically start its Service and launch the program, and that would automatically stop the Service when exited, while never having to keep the Service running all the time). I love the optimizing feature (have no idea yet if that really works since I just did it).
The default optimization algorithm seems to be to first defrag, in order by file size (largest to smallest), and then simply compact free space, with some chunks left empty where file growth is expected.

I only recently tried the only other algo. choice offered under Settings / Program Settings / Algorithms, that of "Move systems files to the beginning of the disk." It virtually cleared the entire first display line, and then moved some files back into the first 12 chunks of that line, leaving the overwhelming majority of it blank. It'll take a few runs to see how that develops.


It also has right click context menu you can add, and it's "View detailed report" is VERY detailed. AlphaOmega you should check that one out. It appears to be free, but with features like this I'll be waiting for a nag to appear in a week or 30 days.
In approx. one year of usage, it has yet to do that for me.


The only thing I don't like about it is you have to hover the legend icons to see what they mean....until you learn and remember what they mean.
In case you missed it, go to Settings / Program Settings / General, where you can choose from 12 different Color Themes. You can change this on the fly by hitting Pause, and then changing said setting; the new color scheme will be immediately effected, so that you'll see what it looks like right away.


One thing I don't understand about it, is it said none of my partitions or drives were fragmented, yet Diskeeper says C is always "heavily fragmented", and in the case of D (a partition of C where I keep OE's storage and Temp net files folder) is "very heavily fragmented". I don't understand that wide disparity.

Unlike Diskeeper, it says it was able to defrag all files on my C partition. But when I opened up Diskeeper again, it still said the same files were unable to be defrag'd. :confused:
Many files are constantly changing, even when the machine is just idling. If you run Auslogic, leave it open, and run it again, you'll notice that certain files, e.g. AVG log files, on a given machine immediately show as being fragmented. Perhaps Diskeeper ascribes a level of fragmentation as measured by one metric, such as total number of fragments, whereas other use a different metric, such as percentage of total clusters used that are fragments. As for the latter's inability to defrag certain files, could it be that Auslogic suspends the processes that have those files locked, defrags them, and then releases them, whereas Diskeeper makes no such effort?


Does anyone know if their "BoostSpeed" is free? They don't say, they just say "download". For that matter I'm wondering the same about the rest of their programs that have both a download link, and a cost listed. BoostSpeed is one that has the download link, but no price listed, yet it's listed under "Purchase". :confused:
That's a purchased product that provides a 15 day free trial; see CNET: Auslogics - BoostSpeed (http://download.cnet.com/Auslogics-BoostSpeed /3000-2094_4-10358299.html) for a review and download mirror.

I've not looked at it, as I use Rose City's Registry FirstAid, owing to the fine granular controls it provides. Among other things, it allows for checking of all Keys, or only the CurrentUser; user selectable Paths to checked for both errors and possible corrections; and, most importantly, full user control over which individual entries are changed or removed.

[Clint1]

I only recently tried the only other algo. choice offered under Settings / Program Settings / Algorithms, that of "Move systems files to the beginning of the disk." It virtually cleared the entire first display line, and then moved some files back into the first 12 chunks of that line, leaving the overwhelming majority of it blank. It'll take a few runs to see how that develops.
Yeah that's what I meant, I called it "optimize" because if you right click a drive there's the "Defrag and Optimize" option. But I wonder if that's the same thing as this "Move systems files to the beginning of the disk"? Maybe if you right click and choose that option it will "move systems files to the beginning of the disk" without having that option checked in the settings. ?



In approx. one year of usage, it has yet to do that for me.
Ok then I guess it's obviously safe to assume it's free.



In case you missed it, go to Settings / Program Settings / General, where you can choose from 12 different Color Themes. You can change this on the fly by hitting Pause, and then changing said setting; the new color scheme will be immediately effected, so that you'll see what it looks like right away.
Yeah that was one of the first things I did because the default color scheme didn't give enough contrast or difference between colors. Looks like "Windows Standard Style" gives the greatest differences.



Many files are constantly changing, even when the machine is just idling. If you run Auslogic, leave it open, and run it again, you'll notice that certain files, e.g. AVG log files, on a given machine immediately show as being fragmented. Perhaps Diskeeper ascribes a level of fragmentation as measured by one metric, such as total number of fragments, whereas other use a different metric, such as percentage of total clusters used that are fragments. As for the latter's inability to defrag certain files, could it be that Auslogic suspends the processes that have those files locked, defrags them, and then releases them, whereas Diskeeper makes no such effort?
Could be. I just now opened Auslogic and it said D: had some fragmentation to it, I looked at which files and it listed 3 files that don't even exist on the partition, and I even have all hidden files shown as well as protected system files shown. If I right click the files and "Open containing folder" it says the folder doesn't exist! :confused:..(Files are $Bitmap, $MFTMirr, $UpCase. I know the MFTMirr is the master file table mirrored copy and I believe Bitmap is some kind of index image). At any rate, those files are not even listed in Diskeeper! But it lists dozens of others that are fragmented that are not listed in Auslogic. Obviously different determining algo's.


It would seem this page tells you what's free by the lack of "Purchase" links.
http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/



I've not looked at it, as I use Rose City's Registry FirstAid, owing to the fine granular controls it provides. Among other things, it allows for checking of all Keys, or only the CurrentUser; user selectable Paths to checked for both errors and possible corrections; and, most importantly, full user control over which individual entries are changed or removed.
Standard or Platinum? Looks like the only feature the Platinum has that can't be had in other freeware is the "Registry snapshot". http://www.rosecitysoftware.com/reg1aid/register.html "...find changes made to the registry" is a good feature. Looks like the Standard version isn't exactly free since it appears you have to go through other try-ware from affiliates.

Since they generally cannot be trusted and often create problems, the only Registry optimizer of sorts I've ever used is from the people that have ERUNT (since ERUNT is so awesome), but it doesn't say what it's doing.

[Clint1]

Since they generally cannot be trusted and often create problems, the only Registry optimizer of sorts I've ever used is from the people that have ERUNT (since ERUNT is so awesome), but it doesn't say what it's doing.
I just ran it again and all it says is:

Optimizing registry.....
[key name]
[progress bar]
1 of 11 hives optimized
[progress bar]

So I don't know if "optimized" is defrag'ing, compacting, or something else.

Ah, I guess it always helps to RTFM!
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/ntregopt.txt
Similar to Windows 9x/Me, the registry files in an NT-based system
can become fragmented over time, occupying more space on your hard
disk than necessary and decreasing overall performance. You should
use the NTREGOPT utility regularly, but especially after installing
or uninstalling a program, to minimize the size of the registry files
and optimize registry access.

The program works by recreating each registry hive "from scratch",
thus removing any slack space that may be left from previously
modified or deleted keys.

Note that the program does NOT change the contents of the registry in
any way, nor does it physically defrag the registry files on the drive
(as the PageDefrag program from SysInternals does*). The optimization
done by NTREGOPT is simply compacting the registry hives to the
minimum size possible.

*I have that program and it doesn't say anything about the Registry in the program's interface! :confused:

[deepsand]

Yeah that's what I meant, I called it "optimize" because if you right click a drive there's the "Defrag and Optimize" option. But I wonder if that's the same thing as this "Move systems files to the beginning of the disk"? Maybe if you right click and choose that option it will "move systems files to the beginning of the disk" without having that option checked in the settings. ?
Only does such file moving if the "Move systems files to the beginning of the disk" setting is effected.


Yeah that was one of the first things I did because the default color scheme didn't give enough contrast or difference between colors. Looks like "Windows Standard Style" gives the greatest differences.
That's the one I settled on, owing the greater contrast between colors.


Could be. I just now opened Auslogic and it said D: had some fragmentation to it, I looked at which files and it listed 3 files that don't even exist on the partition, and I even have all hidden files shown as well as protected system files shown. If I right click the files and "Open containing folder" it says the folder doesn't exist! :confused:..(Files are $Bitmap, $MFTMirr, $UpCase. I know the MFTMirr is the master file table mirrored copy and I believe Bitmap is some kind of index image). At any rate, those files are not even listed in Diskeeper! But it lists dozens of others that are fragmented that are not listed in Auslogic. Obviously different determining algo's.
Despite the fact that there are clearly different behaviors exhibited, I've yet to see a defragger that clearly documented how it determines which files are to be touched/untouched. I have noticed that Auslogic does touch some so-called "unmovable" files.


It would seem this page tells you what's free by the lack of "Purchase" links.
http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/
From Boost-Speed: FAQ (http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/boost-speed/#faq)


How do I register Auslogics BoostSpeed 5?
Please follow these steps to register BoostSpeed 5:

1. Download, install and launch BoostSpeed 5
2. Go to Help -> About (if the trial period has already expired, click on the “I already have the license code” link)
3. Copy the code from the order confirmation e-mail (highlight it and press Ctrl+C)
4. Paste the code into the registration box (click inside the box and press Ctrl+V)
5. Press “Register”



Standard or Platinum? Looks like the only feature the Platinum has that can't be had in other freeware is the "Registry snapshot". http://www.rosecitysoftware.com/reg1aid/register.html "...find changes made to the registry" is a good feature. Looks like the Standard version isn't exactly free since it appears you have to go through other try-ware from affiliates.
Platinum provides access to info. over and above that required for Reg. Hive maintenance itself. As I rarely need such, I'll have to do some digging to reacquaint myself with them.

Trial versions are available direct from Rose City. The only limitation is on the number of Reg. entries that can be altered in a single pass. And, there is a nag prior to effecting any changes as to whether or not you want to buy the product.

[Clint1]

i never ever formatted my laptop since i bought it. the key is use good antivirus program,cccleaner and save your maximum files in D and e drives
Do you mean CCCLeaner (http://www.cccleaner.info/) or CCLeaner (http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner)? There's results for both, looks like they may be the same thing and that first URL just tried to capitalize on the product.

While it makes sense to do those things, that isn't going to indemnify one against file corruption. Sometimes a reformat (or mirrored backup restore) is all that may fix certain things.

[Clint1]

Only does such file moving if the "Move systems files to the beginning of the disk" setting is effected.
Do you mean "checked"? If so, that's the case even if you right click and select the option "Defrag and optimize" ?

[LD]

Any program that cleans/changes/manipulates the registry, just plain scares the hell out of me. Yes, I understand there usually is a list of registry issues presented before changes are made, but when ever I've used this sort of thing, it finds hundreds, if not a thousand or more, suggested changes. I would never have the time to go through each suggestion and approve or not approve the suggested changes, let alone understand what each entry means or does. When I've left it up to the prog to make the necessary changes usually I end up with more problems afterwards than I had before.

[Clint1]

very difficult situation.
You first make partition with DOS. After partition you use easily format option.
:confused: Huh??

[LD]

Originally Posted by hiseredman
very difficult situation.
You first make partition with DOS. After partition you use easily format option.


:confused: Huh??

It must have been intercepted from deep space by NASA and inadvertently redirected to WPW in error. :shock:

[Clint1]

Any program that cleans/changes/manipulates the registry, just plain scares the hell out of me. Yes, I understand there usually is a list of registry issues presented before changes are made, but when ever I've used this sort of thing, it finds hundreds, if not a thousand or more, suggested changes. I would never have the time to go through each suggestion and approve or not approve the suggested changes, let alone understand what each entry means or does. When I've left it up to the prog to make the necessary changes usually I end up with more problems afterwards than I had before.
That's precisely what I'm dealing with right now with the one from AusLogics. Thousands and thousands of results, but no info on what exactly each of them is for! You have to search for each one (and they nicely have a button at the top for "Google it", ........ho hup poh-leeeze....google "this"......why not another SE, perhaps a hack is in order........), ok, it's helpful and better than none, but no one can possibly do a search on each of several thousand results. Most are not listed with any identifiable strings or names! So the only thing to do is: nothing; or let it "fix" everything which is a bad idea; or do a search for each one to find out what it's for. :evil: Why can't someone come out with one of these that has right click (or hover) and a "This is for.........", etc., then one can immediately determine whether or not it needs "fixing". Or even better, sort results by product or vendor. Even being able to search the results would be of great help.

As Reg cleaners go, it is one of the best ones I've seen (the search link, backups created for each "fix" the and ability to "restore" them, change results' sort order), but still lacking what I mentioned makes it (and all of them) not very easy to use.

[Clint1]

It must have been intercepted from deep space by NASA and inadvertently redirected to WPW in error. :shock:
ROTFLMAO. That happens a lot here. Perhaps there is an error with deep space telemetry. Or, my guess would be that Lord Ba'al has undermined the Stargates' correlative updates again leading to inaccuracies in the cartouche resulting in inaccurate destinations. :lol:

[LD]

ROTFLMAO. That happens a lot here. Perhaps there is an error with deep space telemetry. Or, my guess would be that Lord Ba'al has undermined the Stargates' correlative updates again leading to inaccuracies in the cartouche resulting in inaccurate destinations. :lol:

LOL! That reminds me. It goes something linke this... Freddie says, "Are you a fan of the Phat?". John MacLean answers, "No, I'm more of a Star Wars guy."

[deepsand]

Do you mean "checked"? If so, that's the case even if you right click and select the option "Defrag and optimize" ?
"Defrag and optimize" behaves differently depending on whether or not the "Move systems files to the beginning of the disk" option is checked.

Without its being checked, optimization consists solely of defragging free space following files having been defragged.

[Clint1]

"Defrag and optimize" behaves differently depending on whether or not the "Move systems files to the beginning of the disk" option is checked.
That I know. What I'm trying to ascertain is how right click & "Defrag" differs from right click & "Defrag AND Optimize".



Without its being checked, optimization consists solely of defragging free space following files having been defragged.
So how does that differ from just "Defrag"?? Just plain "Defrag" does not defrag free space?

[deepsand]

Just plain "Defrag" does not defrag free space?
For Auslogic, that appears to be the case.

By contrast, Windows internal defragger always both defrags files and free space, the latter step being called "compacting" by it.

[Clint1]

Ok let's see if I understand this:

With "Move systems files to the beginning of the disk" selected, each time you simply "Defrag", that operation will move the systems files to the beginning of the disk.

The right click (or via the toolbar) and "Defrag and Optimize (slower, use once a week)" only defrags and compacts free space. ? Does that particular selection's functionality remain the same regardless of whether or not "Move systems files to the beginning of the disk" is selected?

There seems to be 3 options of defragging: Simple defrag; defrag and compact free space ("Optimize"); and defrag but also with moving system files to the beginning of the HD.

[deepsand]

Defrag: Defragments files only.

Defrag & Optimize:
"Move systems files to the beginning of the disk" de-selected - Defragments files & compacts free space.
"Move systems files to the beginning of the disk" selected - Defragments files, compacts free space, and moves certain files close to boot sector.

[Clint1]

Defrag: Defragments files only.

Defrag & Optimize:
"Move systems files to the beginning of the disk" de-selected - Defragments files & compacts free space.
"Move systems files to the beginning of the disk" selected - Defragments files, compacts free space, and moves certain files close to boot sector.
That's what I figured, thanks.