Free from computer related worries.

[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 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 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.

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".

[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.

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".

That's a purchased product that provides a 15 day free trial; see CNET: Auslogics - BoostSpeed 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! ..(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-on...t/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!

[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! ..(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

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.