Best General Maintenance Program

Hey everyone,

What program do you recommend is the best general all around maintenance program out there for the PC? I'm running Vista 64 bit.

I've seen:

Iobit Advanced Windows Care
JV PowerTools 2008
Glary Utilities
Tuneup Utilities 2008

etc...

I have CCleaner and I love it, but it's mostly just a junk cleaner. I'm looking to add an all-around maintenance app and was wondering which is the best. I don't want to mess up my new computer and I was worried when I saw so many registry errors detected with Iobit's Advanced Windows Care even right after a CCleaner scan and registry cleanup.

Thanks!!

 

I've used 3 of those programs (Iobit, Glary, and Tune Up) and I've got to say that Glary Utilities is the best. Iobit cause me more problems than solving them and Tune Up Utilities 2008 wasn't a huge improvement over the 2007 version.

Glary Utilities updates every so often with large improvements (spyware definitions, cleaning and registry, etc.). So far it has been the most stable or reliable with me.

 

I don't think any of the above are really needed TBH. If your careful about what you download and install there should be no problem.

Here's NBR's best free software thread it should be everything you need.

 

I think I'll give Glary Utilities a shot. Any tips on settings/config?

Thanks

 

I cannot speak to 64bit, but run both CCleaner and jv16PowerTools on 32bit Vista

 

I use CCleaner, EasyCleaner... JkDefrag... RevoUninstaller... and most importantly, [/B] followed every bit of Les' Vista Tips n Tweaks guide... and been following it since.. And Les' had a pretty good 'weekly maintenance schedule' which I follow as well.. though not weekly.. but once in two weeks, simply because at the moment my system is good and clean..

 

Can you tell me what that is?

Thanks

 

I use Glary as well. It's pretty awesome. I recommend that but theres also Advanced WindowsCare Personal, Ashampoo, VCOM Fix-It Utilities 7 Express, and System Mechanic 8

 

On this page:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download5870.html

It says:
Limitations: The 64-bit versions of Windows XP/Vista are not supported. Asks to install Ask toolbar, which you can simply opt out of.

So should I not use it?

 

If its not 64 bit bit compatible DON'T use it.

 

So which of the programs are 64 bit compatible that you recommend?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=166532 >> Trust me when I say this - I have followed just this guide till now, and my Vista has been awesome... I have of course read through and book marked other things, but with just this guide its a major improvement in better and memorable user experience.

**** FROM the guide >>>
18. Commit to a Weekly Maintenance Schedule.

I think one of the best tweaks we can do is to commit to doing a proper cleanup of our system at least weekly. I will confess Im a nut for this and do it daily but, most importantly, it does ensure your system is in top shape and running its best.

Through internet use, trying new things and...yes tweaking, your system will save internet and tmp files which will build up over time to an incredible size, slowing your system down quite a bit. Further, installing and uninstalling new programs and applications leaves tons of unneeded registry entries in your system.

So...I will walk you through my regime. I hope it helps you along.

1. Clean Internet files. I use Internet Explorer but have used FireFox which is similar. Lets start by going into the 'tools' menu (IE) and deleting our browsing history. I choose to delete all the different allowable otions just to make sure we got everything.

2. Clean your Registry. In Tweak # 4 above, we downloaded CCleaner. Lets use it now to first clean our windows files, then applications and follow this with a registry scan and fix.

3. Scrub your System Clean. Im gonna let you in on a little secret that the God's are gonna condemn me for. I do a thorough scrub of my system with a program called Easy Cleaner 2.0 by ToniArts. BE CAREFUL THOUGH! This program was originally intended for XP and is over a year old. Do not touch the 'Registry' or 'Duplicates; buttons. Its more of a 64Bit concern but they are not fine tuned for Vista. Use 'Unnecessary' and click to choose all file types. 'Find' followed by 'Delete all'. You will be surprised at the vast amount of files that are found and cleaned.

4. Empty your Recycle Bin.Go to the Recycle Bin and empty it. EasyCleaner puts all its discarded files there.

5. Confirm with a Disk Cleanup. Start/Computer/Rt Click on 'C'/Properties/Disk Cleanup.

6. Finish with a System Defrag. Start/Computer/Rt Click on 'C'/Properties/Tools/Defragment Now.

Feels like your computer just had a good bath doesn't it. This regime has been used by me for the longest time and I have found my system stays in tip top shape with this.

For the hard disk users (Im SSD personally), lack of cleaning and continuous use will cause a huge buildup of garbage files followed by extreme file fragmentation which will slow your system immensely.

To put this into perspective, its like walking down a road and then walking down it again once its been hit by a few hundred bombs. Which would be the quicker trip?
**** End of copy / paste from the guide <<<<

 

From all the ones I mentioned, I've only tried Glarys. And I'm not sure on the 64 bit compatibility on the other apps, since I'm a 32 bit user.

 

ok, Well I sent an email to Glary asking about 64 bit compatibility so we'll see what they say.
That program would be my top choice if it's compatible.

I was also looking around and saw:
Auslogics BoostSpeed 4
Ashampoo WinOptimizer 5

Any thoughts?

And I'm also looking into JV PowerTools.

Thanks

 

CCleaner finds just a few errors but AdvancedWindows Care found over a thousand. I don't feel safe in deleting that many.

 

I just received a response from Glary.

Hi,

Yes, the latest version 2.6.1 is now compatible with 64bit Windows. Thanks.




Can't wait to download it.

 

I use Auslogics' Boost Speed. Worth the money and they have a free trial. Programmers need money too.

 

(Vista SP1) jkDefrag and cCleaner - so far so good

cheers ...

 

i've tried tuneuputilities.. and it was pretty gd. lately however i just use ccleaner + defraggler once every week or two.
winbubble has a few gd tweaks too...

 

hEY

I have only used normal security. ccleaner and defrag never ever had a problem and things run smooth.

I just think that some of these programs are time and money wasters.

I would not use them, You can clean your computer by just deleting files you dont need, use CCleaner and FF3 and bobs your uncle.

You just waste resources when using the programs I find and to me thats just more junk.

But that just one mans opinion

 

Personally, I don't use any of the programs that you guys mentioned because I don’t thing it is necessay. Normal maintenance like disk defragemnt and disk clean up should be more than sufficient for Vista. It is a modern OS, and the registry structure is a lot different than XP. Actually, registry file is like less than 5 MB. It isn’t going to effect overall OS permormance unless you install a new software dialy, and it has to be a bad one too. A good software will delete itself and registry entry too.

 

I like Glary Utilities a lot.

Just one question though-

My computer had 149GB of free space, and little by little it's gotten down to 144. I haven't really installed any new programs. Even Glary says I have 149GB of space. So why is "My Computer" incorrect?

Thanks

 

Its probably the system restore at work.... dont worry.. you can check for that by running the command prompt as an administrator and type ion "vssadmin list shadowstorage" and you will see the space usage...

Alternatively, you can disable system restore completely (which I wont fully recommend as such, at least for a while)... or even more simple you can delete all the restore points except the most recent one...

 

Your Vista uses it for system restore. It back up the registry and other files in case you messup your OS.

 

But I deleted all but the most recent restore point and I still have the same space.

Glary Utilties says I have 147,915 MB free space.

My Computer says I have 144GB.

Why is this different?

 

bahh.. sorry, no idea.

 

There's some sort of difference in measurement. Somewhere on NBR there was a thread talking about how if you're buying a 250GB HD it'll really be 234GB.

 

From the "Where's All My Disk Space Going?" Thread:

Many people notice missing space right when they open the box. They bought a system with a 160GB hard drive, but Windows shows the total drive capacity as 149GB. That's a difference of 11GB right off the bat. The reason for this has to do with how you measure capacity to begin with. We measure bytes using progressively larger sizes, starting with K (kilobytes), M (megabytes), G (gigabytes), each one standing for a multiple of 1000. So 1K = 1,000, 1M = 1,000,000 (1000 * 1000), and 1G = 1,000,000,000 (1000 * 1000 * 1000). These are the units that companies use when they advertise the size of their disks, so your 160GB drive is 160,000,000,000 bytes in these measurements.

However, computers are binary systems, and measuring in multiples of 1000 isn't the way they do things. The closest thing we have in binary is 1024. So, for a computer, 1K = 1,024, 1M = 1,048,576 (1024 * 1024), and 1G = 1,073,741,824 (1024 * 1024 * 1024). As a result of this, a computer thinks that 1GB is bigger than what a person typically refers to as 1GB (a difference of 73,741,824 bytes). If we take our example of a disk that's advertised as 160GB, and divide by what a computer thinks is 1GB, we wind up with: 160,000,000,000 / 1,073,741,824 = 149.012, which is what Windows says is the drive capacity.

This measurement makes it seem like the drive is smaller, which is the reason I call this "marketing". Everyone wants to make their drives seem bigger, so they use the larger number, even if it's not exactly accurate.

Because of this confusion, new standards of measurement have been devised to help clear this up. Officially, the term "megabyte" refers to 1,000,000 bytes (1000 * 1000), and the term "mebibyte" refers to 1,048,576 bytes (1024 * 1024). The abbreviation for "megabyte" is "MB", like you're used to, and for a "mebibyte" it's "MiB". Notice the "i" in there. It's subtle, but important to make the distinction. You probably won't see these units in use by large companies for a while, but it's something you should be aware of anyway. See mebibyte for more information.

Here's a table comparing the "marketing" size vs. the computer size for some typical drive sizes:
Typical drive sizes Marketing Computer
80 GB 74.51 GiB
100 GB 93.13 GiB
120 GB 111.76 GiB
140 GB 130.39 GiB
160 GB 149.01 GiB
200 GB 186.26 GiB
250 GB 232.83 GiB
300 GB 279.39 GiB
320 GB 298.02 GiB
350 GB 325.96 GiB
400 GB 372.53 GiB

 

advanced system optimizer is my favorite.

 

I just had that lol

But now im trying out Glary Utilities

 

Restarting your pc should make them all equal

 

Restarting didn't change anything...

I'm really happy with Glary Utilities.

 

Well now all of a sudden I have 148GB of space.

The only thing I've done is download the new Google Chrome and I also took one screen shot in a game and saved it to my desktop.

Any ideas why it finally shows my accurate HDD size now?

 

Here's what my schedule looks like:

Update: Relocated here because it is easier for me to maintain in a single location and simply reference via URL elsewhere.

 

Prior to finding this forum, PC Pitstop Optimize was recommended by a friend. I bought version 1.5 for $25 lifetime subscription. Now it's 2.0 and $29.99 per year.

http://www.pcpitstop.com/store/optimize2.asp

I still use my version from time to time and it works great but with other free utilities around it may not be worth spending $30 per year for 2.0

 

Thanks John And I am using your format for showing mine.... Hope you don't mind

Here's what my schedule looks like:

***
Basically following LES' recommended/suggested weekly maintenance schedule with disk clean up, EasyCleaner and stuff plus

Sunday 12:00 Norton Complete Scan
Sunday 20:00 Windows Defender Scan
JkDefrag - Once in 3 weeks for now, but will soon start with once in 2 weeks, if needed.
Finish with, Gary' boot defrag/optimize batch process.

Sunday - Complete PC backup
Everyday - Backup data/important files (and whenever modified / created.)

Second Tuesday Microsoft Updates

On-Demand ThreatFire (also real time on)
On-Demand SpybotS&D
On-Demand SuperAntiSpyWare
On-Demand CCleaner

On-Demand Specific Program Updates/Upgrades

Every Shutdown of Firefox - Clear Private Data
***

<< Every Shutdown of PC - Clear Page File >>

John, can you please explain in simple words about the clear page file thing? How do you do it? Why should we do it? Many thanks in advance

 

I just have a general cleaning day once a week or so when I defrag, scan for virusus, and delete system restores and other temp files.

 

Not at all; however, I relocated it to my website for a single point of maintenance.

It slows the shutdown down a bit, but overwrites the page file with binary zeros. It can help remove traces of passwords and such that otherwise would still be readable from the hard drive. I have the registry path/key (for Vista) documented on my website. Here is a Microsoft article that describes it for XP (and also Vista Basic and Home, although it does not explicitly say so). Here is a second, alternative method for the Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise versions.

 

Okie, I got it.. now I understand Thanks. And yes, thats a nice site you have got there Bookmarked it.. Thanks

 

@founduekid

I found out that your routine is a little extreme! You have to run all those programs to keep Vista running? I run only antivirus software and let Vista take care of itself. I don't have any problems with the OS at all. It runs pretty good actually.

Just a comment. Please don't take it seriously.

 

How so? Of those in the post, quoted here:

I would only not run these:

• Gary' boot defrag/optimize batch process
• On-Demand ThreatFire (also real time on)
• On-Demand SpybotS&D

 

Wow. I'm the exact opposite of you.

I don't do anything Les suggests in the tweak guide. I let all of Vista's automated maintenance stuff (Defrag, Defender scans,...) happen normally, except that I set Defender to scan once a week instead of once a day. Then every month or two I run a virus scan from NOD32's or Kaspersky's free "online" scanners.

Oh yeah, I ran SUPERantispyware once too, just for kicks.

I tend to reboot about every week or two, and just sleep or hibernate the rest of the time.

No registry cleaners, no cleanup utilities, no boot defrag, no easycleaner (whatever that is), and certainly no maintenance schedule. Maybe I'll try Vista's built-in Disk Cleanup one of these days.

By the way, my system runs great.

Every once in a while I backup files to an external HD using Explorer. I should really start using Vista's file backup utility though... I know.

 

Nope, it is not Extreme. In fact, you should take a look at some other professional / expert users here who follow incredibly tight security and maintenance procedures... so much that their systems are impenetrable as the great wall probably and well performing.

I am not an expert, and when I got my system, I dropped in here reading extensively, trying out different things... and settled upon this routine after personal conversation/discussion with the security experts here..

Also, as you may (or may not be) aware, any security program does not detect all the bug' out there.. so its better to have at least a couple of real time options.. as well as couple of different, trusted, proven on-demand scanners... Further, after using this schedule for the last 4 or 5 months, I can tell you from my own experience that my system is super clean, super well performing, no loss in resources for my basic computational needs, and everything has been great

 

I don't run Gary' batch process often.. when I do a defrag with JkDefrag I finish off the whole thing with this.. and after using it all this while, I found it does help. I have seen the difference between not running it and after running it.. But as I said, not often..

ThreatFire I started using recently, after some discussions I had with some comp security experts.. in fact they suggested not having that since NIS in itself is very good.. but when I started using ThreatFire, that was the time when I had subscription issues with NIS and I was trying to fix it with symantec support as a result of which there were times when Norton was completely turned off... but then I got NIS back and working fine, and I figured having ThreatFire did not affect my system in any way except proving to be a good added protection. Further with TF, I did see 1 or 2 detection' that were missed by the others.. So I thought I will just leave it running... and on-demand TF scan I run once in a while.. not so often..

Well, for SpybotS&D, I took it as soon as I got this system, since I have been using SpybotS&D before and I like that one.. again, its just an on-demand use for me right now.. usually do complete scans and immunize once in a couple of weeks

Of course, I am not saying these are a must since I am using them, but just that I am happy with them, they work fine, no problems with them taking up system resources or whatever... and as long as its like this, I don't mind keeping them

 

I think its a personal choice, no? May be you are experienced and know whats happening.. As I have mentioned before to others like Les and Gary and Crash who have helped me initially with getting this system, setting up Vista and such, I am not into computers So I preferred starting off with listening to suggestions and advise from others, and then learn slowly and then probably start doing things my way.. as I said in the prev posts, as I learnt about stuff gradually (and mostly about Vista, since I have never used Vista till now) I figured those suggestions and tips in the guide were quiet useful and similar to all the other sources on the web that give you suggestions on how to optimize Vista and have it running great...

So there... Yep, I think in the end, its a personal choice and everyone' personal choice is well respected

I have SAS too.. and I think its nice... and me runs it for much the same reason like you..

Oh, and the Vista built-in disk cleanup, you should try it.. Its really nice and good.. I use it often and recently I had to do an in-place upgrade/repair of Vista, and there was so much things placed around in my system after the in-place upgrade/repair which disk cleanup saw and cleaned it up It was nice.. and even otherwise, its pretty good and better, IMHO

And finally You should try out Vista' backup utility.. I use it.. and I must say its really nice.. particularly with the Ultimate complete PC backup thing, its very good, IMHO.. I use it regularly and once I had to do a complete PC restore and it worked like a charm super good stuff... I was so happy I got Ultimate then just for this reason..

 

The built-in defragger in Vista is actually pretty good, it just does not provide much visibility nor control over what it does. I tried PerfectDisk and liked it, so kept it.

SpyBotS&D does not seem to be quite as capable as other alternatives these days. I stopped using it quite awhile ago.

SuperAntiSpyWare (SAS), like WindowsDefender (and ZoneAlarmAV for that matter), never finds anything, but it is a fairly well-respected second opinion. I do not run it in real-time mode; SAS is only invoked and active on-demand.

 

To foundukid and AKAJohnDoe

I am going to answer both of you at the same time. I manage 1500+ Vista machines not including servers, and I don't use any of the software that you mentioned above. Only thing you need is a good antivirus software, which is a personal choice. I use Symantec at my place. It isn't the best, but it does the job at some levels. Now, Vista is much more capable to maintain itself. For example, automate defragment is a new feature that be redone on the OS. It has a new algorithm that calculates what to or not to defrag. I am not going to do a lecture here, but it is vastly improve over XP. Windows Defender doesn't catch cookies, but it mornitors the registry and protected area of the OS. You can run spyware software all you want, but you will catch mostly cookies on the web browser.

IE on Vista is run on a sand box mode, and it has the lowerst privilege possible. Most of the spyware will infect only on the virtual registry part of the OS, so it isn't necessary to do anything with it because virtual registry will be deleted after the web browser session ends. I can't vouch for Fire Fox though.

It is very hard to get Vista infected if you leave UNC on because it monitors the file system for you if a software wants to modify the OS system file and registry. The UNC will let you know by asking the permission.

I would run my PCs at the lowest overhead possible. Those software are the overhead in my opinion. It isn't really necessary. Please feel free to ask the question that you may have.

 

I personally do not need AV software on my PC, but ZAAV was the lowest cost option to get a ZA version that included the Program Control feature of the ZA firewall.

I agree that Vista defrag is adequate. My purchase of PerfectDisk was a personal extravagance.

I would not run IE if it were the only choice available. Likewise ActiveX. And don't even get me started on SilverLight. I'm not a MS basher, but why on earth would I run something that is easily 5 to 10 years behind the times?

And it is UAC, not UNC.

I don't have any spyware nor viruses on my machine. Never do. ZA and Firefox (with NoScript) works.

Remember, some people just like to tweak. When I managed groups that had responsibility for systems (hardware and/or software) the folks who had to maintain those systems really had issues with people like me.

BTW, I have been running Vista exclusively since June of 2007 myself. No complaints (other than WMDC is a bit flakey). Not a bad OS overall, and I have seen a few in my 30+ years earning my living in various aspects of professional computing.

 

Well, you don't run antivirus all all. How do you know you don't have any? Why did you say that ActiveX and SilverLight are 5-10 years behind? You want to shed some lights for me?

 

I don't think anyone here denied that Vista is vastly improved.. we were just discussing the personal choice of program' and personal way of maintaining individual systems As long as the user is happy with what he has (like me) I don't think it gives me a one-up or gives you a one-up simply because you don't use any and still you are being fine I just said, JkDefrag is more better for example, simply for the fact that it' quicker (probably I din mention this reason above, but please take a look at the other JkDefrag discussion threads), and has a good optimization feature towards the end.. of course, as you could see from the JkDefrag website, it uses the same methods as Windows builtin defrag' but still it has some advantages.. there is a list in the JkDefrag site if you want to take a look about why its even better than the improved Vista defrag options.

Well, I don't know how much this is true, but with the spyware' I am running I did initally detect some trojans n cookies.. haven't found anything else of now since I have some pretty clean browsing habits. Still I don't mind keeping them just in case I might need it in the future. Have always had them before, and I think I am happy to have them even in the future It does help...

I think we cannot generalize about what is necessary and what is not.. Again, I think its an individual preference and choice and belief I guess.. I have spoken with the security experts here in NBR and also others, and I figured its better to have a good protection just in case... It might not be a 'must have' thing, but again it doesn't have to be "it isnt really necessary'.. I believe, to an extent, it is necessary... At least, you should look at the number of people posting here about their computers n laptop' getting screwed up with all the bugs out there and how they manage to clean it with many of the tools mentioned here (as well as in the security software forums).... anyways.... to each his own I guess