PC errors- best software fix

[mick s]

I have scanned my laptop and it appears to have around 300 faults according to the software programs I have run offering a free diagnostic service.
Wondered if someone could recommend the best package to cleanse my computer of faults.

It still works fine although it is a bit slow.

[RedFox]

Originally Posted by mick s

I have scanned my laptop and it appears to have around 300 faults according to the software programs I have run offering a free diagnostic service.
Wondered if someone could recommend the best package to cleanse my computer of faults.

It still works fine although it is a bit slow.

Hmm. 'Fault' can cover a very wide range of things from the imaginary to the very serious, and diagnostic programs vary from tolerably reliable to spyware.

I've used several programs over the years and currently prefer CCleaner (freeware). But I use it with great caution and never follow all the suggestions it makes, especially when it comes to the registry.

[mick s]

There appears to be over 100 so called faults in registry how can you tell which to delete?

[Gav]

Originally Posted by mick s

I have scanned my laptop and it appears to have around 300 faults according to the software programs I have run offering a free diagnostic service.
Wondered if someone could recommend the best package to cleanse my computer of faults.

It still works fine although it is a bit slow.

Did the "free" software suggest that they could fix it all if you bought the full version?

[Dreadful Scathe]

Originally Posted by Gav

Did the "free" software suggest that they could fix it all if you bought the full version?

indeed - sounds like scam software to me. Feel free to use adaware or spybot search and destory for spyware, ccleaner for tidy up (as suggested). But if your computer is just a bit slow - it could be simply that you have too many programs installed on boot up - but ccleaner helps with that - uninstall stuff from STARTUP you rarely use.

[RedFox]

Originally Posted by mick s

There appears to be over 100 so called faults in registry how can you tell which to delete?

In theory you should be OK to clean everything suggested by CCleaner (in my experience it's not as aggressive as some other registry cleaners), but there are no 100% guarantees.

Messing with certain registry settings does have the potential to stop your system from booting. A reputable product such as CCleaner is unlikely to do that, but the chance of screwing various other things is higher. If using CCleaner, when you hit the 'fix the selected issues' button you will be asked if you want to backup the registry. You do, but this is not a full backup; rather than just deleting the entries from the registry it copies them into a separate registry file. You can restore this file at any time - right click on it and select 'merge'. For added caution you could clean once section at a time over a period of a week or two (giving each backup the name of the section - e.g. 'shared dlls'), then if you have problems you probably only need to restore the last section.

For extra insurance you could also backup the entire registry before you start too. You can do this by going to Start -> Run. Then type in "regedit" and hit OK to launch the registry editor. In this, go to Registry -> Export registry file... and in the 'export range' section select "all" before saving the file.

Having said all that, with only 100 'faults' in the registry, I would probably leave the registry section alone and just clean the other sections. Then defragment the hard drive (after backing up your data).

[bigdjiver]

Originally Posted by mick s

I have scanned my laptop and it appears to have around 300 faults according to the software programs I have run offering a free diagnostic service.
Wondered if someone could recommend the best package to cleanse my computer of faults.

It still works fine although it is a bit slow.

I have no idea which is "best", or even good.

Microsoft supply:-

Windows Live OneCare - Home

and do a free cleanup:
Clean Up Center - Windows Live OneCare safety scanner

Registry Cleaner, Optimize Windows with our System Utilities | Macecraft Software used to supply regcleaner which was well thought of and have three new products that are allegedly availiable for free trial.

[Agente Secreto]

Originally Posted by mick s

I have scanned my laptop and it appears to have around 300 faults according to the software programs I have run offering a free diagnostic service.
Wondered if someone could recommend the best package to cleanse my computer of faults.

It still works fine although it is a bit slow.

PCs do get slow over time as you load more and more on them and the registry does get a bit cluttered. So cleaning up every once in a while and defragmenting the hard disk is a good idea.

Mick, what is the package that is making the recommendations and where did you get it? This is a standard trick of some vendirs to market their products, they get you fired up by thinking you're insecure or badly configured and in reality you're not.

In terms of security and configuration products I personally use Norton Internet Security (although any of the big vendors are broadly similar) and these mostly come with packages that do PC cleanup and config checks. I also use a product from Lavasoft called Ad-Aware which checks for spyware.

[Dreadful Scathe]

Originally Posted by Agente Secreto

In terms of security and configuration products I personally use Norton Internet Security (although any of the big vendors are broadly similar)

NOOO not Norton...run away. Its worse than the spyware itself

[bigdjiver]

Originally Posted by mick s

I have scanned my laptop and it appears to have around 300 faults according to the software programs I have run offering a free diagnostic service.
Wondered if someone could recommend the best package to cleanse my computer of faults.

It still works fine although it is a bit slow.

Allegedly there was an open source registry scanner published. Various people have used this to produce their own registry scanners to get money for something that was / is free. Getting money can be anything from exposing users to adverts on their sites to planting malicious software on users computers.

For those using XP the May edition of Windows XP magazine carries an article about cleaning up your PC and there is relevant useful software on the CD.

[Beowulf]

Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe

NOOO not Norton...run away. Its worse than the spyware itself

Lavasoft Ad-Aware have a free version of their software. it's a great package.

There's ZoneAlarm by Check Point for a free full featured firewall.

and if you're at all worried about the sites you visit there's McAfee SiteAdvisor which gives you information about the sites you visit .. before you visit them

and of course, last but not least... there's AVG antivirus for a free anti virus package.

Your PC should be pretty ok with that little lot.. and not a penny spent

[Brian Doolan]

Originally Posted by mick s

I have scanned my laptop and it appears to have around 300 faults according to the software programs I have run offering a free diagnostic service.
Wondered if someone could recommend the best package to cleanse my computer of faults.

JV16 Power Tools, I've used it successfully for many years now without the slightest problem, you could also try Diskeeper to automatically defrag your hard drive(s), you'd be surprised how much fragmented drives will slow down your PC/Laptop.