What Programs Do You Run Regularly?

I built a gaming beast machine about 8 months ago. Lately my system, using Windows XP, is a little sluggish. With regards to speed, my computer is still blazing, but just not as fast as before. I understand that your computer gradually slows down over a period of time, and thats when I usually format. I end up formatting my computers about once every year. I'm trying to be proactive this time around and keep it running as efficient as possible for as long as possible.

I don't boot up that many things at all, just the basics. I have 35 processes running when I boot up as well, which I think is relatively low.

Just wondering what the computer gurus run regularly to keep their system in tip top shape?

Currently I run the CCleaner, but I don't do the registry. It lists a bunch of errors or fixes that it will or should fix. I don't know how safe it is to run that? Any thoughts?

Thanks all!

 

CCleaner is good and one of the best available out there.. and it gives u an option to make a backup of the reg from inside CCleaner before the fixing process.. And I have had no issue with CC till now.. I'd recommend it.

As for the other slowing down issue, (may be u have done this already) but a disk defrag, clean up, error-checking might be of some use..

 

CCleaner is very good......I do the registry every now and then....never had a problem with it at all....and it's a very light weight program too.

 

CCleaner, JkDefrag, various spyware checks, Spybot S&D's immunization feature, disk cleanup.

 

Defrag is big. Do that.

 

1. 35 is a lot. you could disable a lot of those, i'm guessing. here's my task manager. miranda, foobar, opera, and task manager don't count, so i actually have only 12 processes running. try disabling services, closing programs you don't need, go through msconfig and remove unnecessary items, etc.

2. have you considered using nlite? you can use that to remove unnecessary components, including services, to speed up your system.

3. instead of reformatting every time, you could create an image after you format and get everything the way you want it and just restore that whenever you want. i use ping to do this.

 

35 isn't bad. If you keep most the Windows services running plus a few programs you add over time that's pretty average.

If you want to trim it down, go into msconfig and eliminate the unneeded programs from starting up at boot. Abobe & Java updater for example..

Also using a sandbox (Sandboxi is good) will keep your computer pretty clean. If you tend to install a lot of programs that you only plan to use a few times then uninstall, install it in the sandbox. It will prevent the files from going into your folders and registry... Then when you delete the sandbox there will be no real remnants bogging you down.

 

Here is my routine for best performance:
-Run scandisk on your drive. If it asks to check at next boot, even better.
-Use CCleaner to clean out all the temp files. Default settings is fine. I never use the registry cleaner.
-Download JK Defrag and extract files somewhere. Create a shorcut to JKDefrag.exe, and change the Target (found by: right click -> Properties) to include -a 7 at the end. (e.g. if you extracted JK Defrag to the C:\ directory, then the target would read C:\JkDefrag.exe -a 7) Don't run this yet.
- Boot into safe mode, and use the shortcut you created. It will take a few hours so doing this before you sleep may be a good idea.

What that does is tell JKDefrag to organize files on your hard drive according to the folder hierarchy on your computer. It means the hard drive doesn't have to move very far to find the next file it needs to read if you were doing something such as opening a program. This process is very intensive for the hard drive as it pretty much re arranges your entire hard drive. Don't do this more than once a month as any more is overkill and likely to not have any effect.

 

I believe that JkDefrag GUI can perform that task more simply without having to add the "-a 7" switch directly to the .exe It's a quite useful program for JkDefrag users.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with doing it your way, I'm just suggesting an alternative.

 

wow..just 12..how did you get it down to just those?
which ones are safe to end in the task manager?

also while i'm at it..in the processes tab in task manager it shows 23 processes running..but when looking down where it says processes..by the cpu usage and physical memory...it shows 53.and it jump around to 53 to 55 at times. is this normal?

 

I run Ccleaner and i defrag daily using PerfectDisk 2008. its awesome and it keeps your system frag-free. My services are around 50ish

 

It's because you are in vista which hides all the system services unless you click that "show processes from all users" button

 

These are my process I have running when I start up.

I use Norton Antivirus.

Anything in there I can remove safely?