windows registry cleaner

tammy

A friend wants me to look at his laptop which is apparently running very slowly. I'm going to download a registry cleaner and was wondering a) if anyone could recommend one and b) if anyone could suggest other tools such as diagnostic tools that are freely available. Oh and if anyone knows what other areas I might consider looking at to find the problem.
Ta much

Basq

Those registry cleaners are useless, to be honest!

They either miss out a load of invalid registry entries.. or delete important registry entries.

But if your friend still wants to do it: http://www.createwindow.com/wininfo/regclean.htm

snappieT

Running slowly = Malware

AdAware
Spybot: Search & Destroy
AVG Free

All available from www.download.com

Also recommending Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

greglo23

download regcleaner here http://tinyurl.com/3fem2. install and click on tools,registry cleanup,do them all. when scan is finished click select all and remove selected. this program also creates a backup which you can delete later if all is ok. i`ve been using this for 2 years and no problems with it.

tammy

Thanks for the tips guys. I have to get the lappy off him now, and hopefully it'll be straightforward. ta.

garthv

Got to start -> Run and type msconfig
This will bring up this box:



Go to the startup tab and deselect any programs he doesnt need to startup with his machine(most viruses startup this way too,deselecting most *.exe files will stop a lot of them)

Dempsey

Registry Cleaner IMO dont anything noticable for performance. PC's run slow because a) virus b) spyware c) Not enough RAM OR too many processes running.

As snapscan1212p said get those spyware removal tools, all of them, update their defintions and run them once a month.

Keep you Virus Definitons updated. Out of date Definitons are as good as no Anitvirus Software at all.

The biggest slowdown of all is processes taking up 80-90% of the RAM. When I first installed XP i had 25-30 processes running on startup, now I have 40-45. Luckily i have 1Gb of RAM so it isnt a major problem for me yet. GaRtH_V has said how to stop processes that arent necessary to ya.

Tell us when ya get a look at the laptop, amount of processes running on startup, Total RAM usuage and any process using large amounts of RAM.

SouperComputer

regvac and registry compressor are handy. TBH, in these days of 256mb ram minimum, they dont make a difference.

i somtimes use them when installing on an older machines with 64mb ram

rsynnott

Dempsey wrote:

Registry Cleaner IMO dont anything noticable for performance. PC's run slow because a) virus b) spyware c) Not enough RAM OR too many processes running.

D) Windows

Seriously, tho, check DMA is enabled. WinNT,2000,XP enjoy disabling it on older hardware (and even some new stuff) and it does make a big difference.

Chalk

Dempsey wrote:

When I first installed XP i had 25-30 processes running on startup, now I have 40-45.

wow,
i think i have 2, antivirus and firewall,
ill check msconfig tonight but at most its 4 or 5 at most the last time i checked,

ahh,
on rereading im guessing you mean ctrl+shift+esc not msconfig,

joseph brand

@chalk: How only 2 processes?? Is that possible??

I have 27, YAY!!

Basq

joseph brand wrote:

@chalk: How only 2 processes?? Is that possible??

I have 27, YAY!!

As Chalk said, he presumed Dempsey meant how many processes had he ticked in his MsConfig.. or in other words, how many items he had set to run on startup.

Whereas Dempsey actually meant the processes running in your Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Delete) usually greater than 25, which include any items running in the background and also the required system files running alongside them.

Dempsey

Ya, I was refering to Task Manager (Total Processes). I have 23 User Processes, 26 System Processes, 1 Local Service and 3 Network Services running. All the user ones i regulary use so I always need them running. I think SP2 created a few more system processes, i never took note.

timeout

I'd run chkdsk and defrag also to try and sort out the filesystem slightly. It can help.