Windows OS degrades over time: why?

Just curious. I figure t has to do with uncleaned registry values, missed files, etc. but I'd like to hear more.

 

Leftover registry entries, fragmented files, installed programs doing -weird- things...any number of reasons. Clean and defrag your hard drive regularly and generally TAKE CARE of your system and you won't really ever notice much of a slow-down or any related problems.

 

a couple of programs I'd suggest to keep it running brand new:

Diskeeper (auto defrag so you don't have to worry about it)
Registry Mechanic (cleans the registry)
CCleaner (cleans random crap from installing things and surfing the web)

 

Easy Cleaner by Toni Arts is good too.

Ron

 

Second law of thermodynamics.

 

Reformat = Clean Windows XP Install!

 

One of the reasons I dislike (with a passion) windows: I have to back up all my data and reformat once a year. Windows slows down over the course of the year without fail. I know its about time to reformat again because I'm starting to get a bit of jitteryness in CSS and my startup time has increased to around 50 seconds when it was 35. I'm going to give that registry cleaner a try though.

 

Reformatting once or twice a year doesn't bother me. It just means a new, clean, quick, Windows system.

 

Because Windows is based on a really crappy legacy OS and while they can rewrite the code, they still have to support some ridiculously bad decisions made in the past to allow software to keep working.

The registry is certainly one of the big offenders here. One single bloated point of failure which each and every program can abuse any way they like, and the OS is unable to control or enforce any kind of rules over.

The more or less monolithic design doesn't help either. It's very much an all or nothing approach. If you need a feature, you have to install a software bundle including 500 other features you didn't need. And just using certain software often stuffs even more data into the registry that is never removed, either because you can't uninstall the app (IE, MSN, other built-in apps), or because the uninstaller doesn't have to remove everything it installed.

I suspect the OS patches don't help either (partly just because they're installed through the lousy install mechanism into the even lousier registry)

 

You can consider to use an image backup software with creating 2 partition in a hard drive. Whenever the Windows have some problem, you can backup your own data and use the image software such as Ghost or Acronis to recover the Windows from 2nd partition to 1st partiton. These way will help you save much time without a completed installation.

 

I recommend diskeeper lite, it was preinstalled on a thinkpad I used to have.

 

Good thing I switched to Mac.

 

Do you wear hoodies?

 

I just usually do the simpliest and easiest way. backup everything and reformat/resintall windows or recovery cd

 

Today it's Windows, tomorrow it's the heat death of the universe. Can nothing quench the bloodlust of entropy?

 

Iv been running fast windows for the past year on my 1.7 Pentuim M chip...
with 512 mb ram..

Registery Booster (cleans and defrags registry entries)
CCleaner (deletes temporary files,fixes registry entries)
Windows Defragment (once a month, depends on how much you use)
Windows Check (make sure there are no errors on your hard drive, can cause slow boots if you have bad sectors or currupted files)

run these ruitinely and everything will work fine.

NO NEED TO SWITCH TO MAC!!
No offense to MAC owners,,,I love their style and hardware specs, if i buy one, i would install windows!

There just isnt useful software on Macs for every day person like me...unless all you do is mess with the Itunes ,iphoto all day!!

anyways try these things...Mac OS is too new to compare with windows xp. You can compare OSX with Vista next year if you wish...

goodluck

 

I have no problems at all. For years. I don't install every little thing I see, I patch it automatically, I defragment C disk from time to time (every month or two). I install Ati drivers if they are worthy of installing.

And in my experience the more you install - it is slower booting, needs more ram etc... Keep it tidy. No multiple players, readers for instance. No multiple TSR programs for chat, antivirus, antyspyware.... If you really need it - use it, otherwise, it becomes slow because it runs all that in background all the time.

Registry fragmentation is not a real problem - disk fragmentation is. Ram can also be a weak link and when you install Windows - there is only windows in fact. It is fast because it is light - put more on it and it will slow down simply because of higher ram usage for example.

And in the end - of course it is best to reinstall once you have played with it for years - because many programs leave a lot behind - using your disk space.

Ivan

 

Well said Ivan, a little common sense and taking the time to learn a bit about your OS, the better off you will be.

OT

Megaman81

NO NEED TO SWITCH TO MAC!!
No offense to MAC owners,,,I love their style and hardware specs, if i buy one, i would install windows!

There just isnt useful software on Macs for every day person like me...unless all you do is mess with the Itunes ,iphoto all day!!

anyways try these things...Mac OS is too new to compare with windows xp. You can compare OSX with Vista next year if you wish...

The underpinnings of Mac OSX is UNIX which began life around 1969. Try it first, ya might like it

 

Reinstalling the OS...whats is that....oh wait....I use a Mac!

*cough*virusescrashesreinstallsslowdownBSODbiosbillgatesregistry*cough*

 

How do you reinstall windows? And does that delete everything else on your hard drive?

 

I thought they were supposed to wear black turtlenecks with jeans.

Oh well. Good thing I run Linux

 

It's the equivalent of the MAC spinning circle of death that refuses to let you do anything except press the big shiny power button.

While Macs do have less problems than PC's (mostly because the hardware is all made by one company so they don't actually have to deal with any hardware beyond one set) they still break...

 

something I recommend is a program from Sysinternals called PageDefrag...I have it run everytime my computers start and we never have any issues associated with fragnented registry & page files...it's free too..

http://www.sysinternals.com

Oops...I forgot that MS "aquired" them about a year ago or so...all the orginal utils are still there though...and there are quite a few really useful tools there

 

@arla....I have never in 5 years of using a Mac had the spinning circle forever and needed to hold down the power button to restart. User error usually make that happen...example is when disconnecting from a network incorrectly makes the ball spin for close to a minute or two while trying to reconnect and most think that the com has frozen, but it hasn't. I have never seen a Mac error that wasn't user created. Also winxp slow down over time and Mac doesn't.

I would love to see somebody who has used the same os for 5 years with not one crash, freeze, problem, degrading issues, viruses or anything. Nothing in the world is perfect, but Mac is definately my choice because i hate headaches.

 

Well, I've used almost every OS under the sun, including a little under half a dozen Linux distros, 3 varieties of Windows (not counting Vista), and Mac OS 9 and OS X (only thing I've not used extensively is Unix, and I've got that lined up); and I've had no problem making all of them crash or suffer a system error in about a week or two. Now, usually the error is fixable, not life threatening, etc; but the point stands that while OS X makes it easy on non-technical users, it is by no means invulnerable to intensive use.

 

OK - that's reasonable. I can also crash all OS-es that I encounter. Nevertheless, you have to accept that Linux does not degrade over time the way Windows does. No matter how well you keep your Windows install (defrags, scandisk-ing, constant cleanup of temp files, anti-spyware, etc) it WILL slow down after use. Linux doesn't. When I talk about slow downs, I mean two things: Windows is generally slower, and also it get slower the longer you have the OS booted up...ie, that a 'perfectly fresh' install of Windows on two computers will have one machine slowing down after being always on for three days vs. one that is on for only a day.

 

I find the comparison between Mac and Windows very unfair. Apple's commercials are scams - they make outrageous claims such as:

- Mac OS X is more secure; is it? I never knew, it's not as if all the world's malicious hackers are targetting Mac OS as in the case of XP. Now, I know most people are going to say "but Mac OS X is based on Unix lol" but the truth is, it hasn't stood up to what Windows has dealt with over the years. Microsoft's track record and experience makes them a superior alternative for security solutions. The only reason why Mac OS X seems more secure is because there are few hackers wasting their time on writing code to harm the OS; they're spending all their time targetting Windows. The commercials are making a hollow claim.

- Mac OS X is more easy to use; if people find XP or the upcoming Vista difficult in any way, they shouldn't touch a computer at all.

- Mac OS X lets you do more things; I don't believe that. Mac OS X is useless for gaming and I personally dislike the Mac OS X interface. It's too dumbed down and diluted. Windows enjoys far more technology support and can do way more things, a reason why, if the two OSs were equally common in use, Windows would have more trouble remaining uncompromised. But this is because more people use Windows, and so place more demands on it.