Suggestions on making the PC go faster..

[ScratchedAt]

My mothers computer is very.. pathetic.

Older.. about 4 or 5 years now. Has a lot of files that don't need to be there.. including half-files for programs that can't be uninstalled normally. Printmaster is among these stupid programs.. that have corrupt uninstall files or something other.

Any programs that help clean out registry or any programs that not only clean out registry but also do a little bit of a clean-up on my PC?


One thing I like about Vista .. and there aren't a lot.. is the ability to kill off start-up programs a little bit easier. Any suggestions on THAT?

[Khaos]

I would just reinstall Windows. It is recommended to reinstall Windows once a year to let you start off nice and clean and problem-free.

You can edit startup entries by going to Start > Run and typing msconfig and hitting OK.

[ScratchedAt]

Eh. Re-installing would be dumb due to lack of CD.

MSConfig..

I know you don't believe me.. but not too many years ago I was amazing with computers... and things like this just make me feel stupid as hell...

[Khaos]

I've heard of people putting Ubuntu on their parents/grandparents PC's, too. ;-] And you can always download an Windows CD off of bittorerent, provided that you already have the CD-key somewhere (should be on your PC's case).

As for cleaning the registry and such; I'm not sure of programs to use... Garf may have some suggestions.

[Garfunkel]

Aye, do. You can use ccleaner:

http://www.ccleaner.com/

which is a great and free tool to make backups and clean registry files (ALWAYS MAKE A BACKUP OF THE REGISTRY). It can also be used to uninstall applications similar but easier and better then the add/remove shit. That will help you clean it out.

What security applications do you use? please do not say norton or mcafee...

There is also registry mechanic but it is not free and i wouldn't trust it.

One more thing, i know this sounds drastic but what kind of work does your mother do? If you were to install ubuntu GNU/Linux on her machine (you can run it without doing anything to your HDD, called a "livecd" environment, where the OS runs from CD only). I am sure she would find it more then adequate or better. You would never have to worry about registrys and crap software that won't uninstall as in GNU/Linux, there is no such thing as a registry and programs are always removed completely (as it's basically what we believe in, things should be fast and clean!).

There is only so much you can do to clean up windows, eventually it just all grinds to a halt and craps it's pants one day so bad that nobody here would be able to fix if for you, not kraptoration, not I, not nuke, not dralor etc... windows is unpredictable like that...

Again you would never need to help her clean viruses or spyware or anything, if she actually ever managed to contract one in linux i would be god-awefully surprised. She could run it for half a decade and it would still perform like it was the day she started using it...

anyway, that's enough from me trying to convert your mother. ;)

[ScratchedAt]

My mother basically uses it for Pogo.com .. lol. Nothing important.. she just tends to wander to random sites and add shit that doesn't need added.


Wow. Garfunkel... you're a god.

[Garfunkel]

Well Linux would be perfect for her! It doesn't accept loading shit onto it!