Computer Cleanup/Maintenance Software

[Myrm]

Hi

I know there is a lot of debate about these software packages that allegedly scan your computer and "fix" it by cleaning junk files, plugging security holes and scanning and cleaning the registry. The impression I get is that most people advise keeping well away from them. Such software I've seen regularly promoted by various vendors is Iolo's System Mechanic and Iobit's Advanced System Cleaner.

I get confused as many people say not to use them, but then you have companies such as PC World recommending them.

I'd be vary interested in hearing your views on such software utilities.


Thank you.

 

[shale]

only software that is worth is CCleaner for me,tried everithing else and i can tell that ASC and other similar programs is rubbish and do more harm than repair

 

[Oussebon]

I too limit myself to CCleaner and the in-built windows Disk Cleanup utility.

It's possible there are legit software packages of that kind out there but there's so much snake oil (often anything with the word 'driver' in it) I can't be bothered to try to sort the wheat from the chaff.

I'll do a clean install of Windows every few years and that's usually enough to fix any issues I've caused by poking around with my PC during the intervening time.

 

[ubuysa]

Another yes for only Ccleaner, and then only to clean the junk files. Don't run the registry cleaner in Ccleaner, in fact don't run any registry cleaner software no matter how much they tell you it helps. The only registry cleaning I do is when uninstalling software (I use IOBit's uninstaller) and even then I check every key before allowing it to be deleted.

I've seen countless problems where people have run a registry cleaner that has removed keys that they actually need, in all my years I have never ever seen a problem that could be conclusively proven to have been caused by a redundant entry in the registry. The simple fact is that if the Windows registry benefited at all from being 'cleaned' then Microsoft would provide a cleaner.

The other 'tune up' tools that I've seen (and in my time I've come across many) make questionable registry and configuration changes that make minuscule improvements if they do anything positive at all. It's really all snake oil.

If you have a hard disk in your computer then that's where the biggest performance gains are to be had. This is because an HDD is the slowest component in your computer, and by several orders of magnitude, so anything you can do to improve HDD performance makes a big difference to overall performance. The three main (and pretty basic) things you can do to get the best performance from a hard disk are:

1. Clean out the junk files regularly to recover wasted space. Ccleaner does an excellent job of this.

2. Defragment your hard disk on a regular basis, generally every couple of months or so. This has the biggest impact on performance because it reduces seek time - the time taken to move the read/write heads over the wanted fragment. Seek time is a big component of hard disk access time. The Windows defragger is ok and if you have nothing else then use that. If you want to get really serious about hard disk defragmentation, file and folder placement, and getting the best performance from your hard disk, then get a third-party optimising defragger.

3. Try not to allow any regularly used hard disk (i.e., one not used for archive or backup) to become more than about 70% full. Seek times increase markedly as a hard disk fills up and this has a major impact of disk performance.

 

[Myrm]

I have two hard drives in my PC. The main (C) drive is a SSD on which I installed Windows 10 and other software - I have heard you should never defrag those. My second is a normal HDD on which I store all my files and stuff.

I don't understand people who advise not to use these software cleaners, yet promote CCleaner. CCleaner does the exact same thing as the other products you advise against.

 

[ubuysa]

I have two hard drives in my PC. The main (C) drive is a SSD on which I installed Windows 10 and other software - I have heard you should never defrag those. My second is a normal HDD on which I store all my files and stuff.

That is correct. An SSD does not need defragging and it shortens the life of the SSD if you do defrag it.

I don't understand people who advise not to use these software cleaners, yet promote CCleaner. CCleaner does the exact same thing as the other products you advise against.

Ccleaner does several things...

The junk file cleaner (just called Cleaner and with a broom icon) is perfectly safe to use, all it does is remove temp files and other junk files that are no longer needed from your hard disk. It is this feature that we are all recommending.

Ccleaner also contains a registry cleaner (called Registry and with a white square with a cross in it icon). As I said earlier, do not run this registry cleaner, nor any registry cleaner.

Ccleaner also has a tools menu (called Tools and with a spanner icon). This contains a number of useful features that you can use. It lets you easily temporarily disable startup items and temporarily disable browser plugins, these can be useful during problem determination. The other tools are of less use to me but you might find then useful.

I also always go into the options menu item (called Options and with a gear wheel icon) and turn off all monitoring. Personally I don't want Ccleaner running in the background telling me it can cleanup when I uninstall software for example.

In summary, the junk cleaner of Ccleaner is far better than the Windows disk cleaner, that is the feature we are recommending.

 

[Tony1044]

Not one of these products does anything you cannot do with a bit of manual work. Also, by researching and doing it yourself you can actually understand what it is that is happening.

I can think of no reason you would defragment an SSD given it uses things like TRIM. HDD's start off by laying down the data contiguously - i.e. all in blocks that are next to one another. Over time as things are deleted, "holes" appear between where the data is written. When you defragment it, it takes the data and moves it around so as much of it as back to being in the same place as possible. That all means less moving around of the heads, less waiting for the platter to spin back around etc. But with SSD's the OS is blissfully ignorant of where the data is kept - the SSD itself moves it around so that the the same cells aren't being repeatedly written to and read from. That basically means the OS may think the data is in one particular area when it's actually in a completely different place. And of course you're not waiting for a metal disk to spin around - it's memory.

Personally, I'd rather just reinstall my OS and applications if I feel that my machine is struggling. As I've mentioned before when I first get a machine, I set it up how I want it, with my baseline drivers and applications and then take an image of it. Down the line, if I need to do a reinstallation, I have that image and it's trivial to drop back on. My data is backed up so again, it's trivial to restore.

I wouldn't trust a PC World employee to wipe my backside. Honestly they are incetivised to sell products and rarely have either the knowledge or care to have a customers' best interests at heart.

That's my two pence worth.

 

[Myrm]

Hi

Thanks to everybody for your help so far.

Just looking at my optional drivers on the disk, what do the following things do? Are they recommended to install?

Intel Management Engine Interface

Inter Rapid Storage Technology

Control Center AP

 

[ubuysa]

Just looking at my optional drivers on the disk, what do the following things do? Are they recommended to install?

Intel Management Engine Interface

The short answer on this one is that it does nothing for the home user, so no don't bother installing it. IMEI is primarily a business tool that allows for remote management of the PC at the hardware (BIOS) level. This might help http://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/uk/en/support/technologies/000005974.html?wapkw=management+engine

Intel Rapid Storage Technology

This is really only required if you're using a RAID configuration, although Intel claim it can improve the performance of even one SSD. Since it's likely to do no harm I would (and I have) install this driver. This might help https://www-ssl.intel.com/content/w...-and-technology/rapid-storage-technology.html

Control Center AP

This is a Clevo laptop driver/software that allows you to control several hardware features (brightness, sound, power level, etc.). I have it installed on my Optimus IV but never directly used it, though it may be doing useful stuff in the background. You'll find posts on here from people who never install it and don't seem to have any issues. That said, when people do start to have control type issues one of the first suggestions made (by me too) is to install Control Center (also known as Hotkey).

 

[Myrm]

Hi ubuysa

Thank you so much for answering all my noob questions, I really appreciate it that there are people, like you, out there who give up their time to patiently answers my questions.

 

[Myrm]

Oh, another thing I noticed when reinstalling Windows yesterday: When I used the Windows 10 disc that came with my laptop (OEM), when I got the first screen up where you get to choose what language you want installed, the only choice I had was English (United States). Why didn't I get the option to install English (United Kingdom) or Swedish? I was able to select a UK or Swedish keyboard.

 

[Tony1044]

Depends entirely on the ISO it was burned from. Unless you get one that is specific to a region, it tends to be US-English for the OS with additional language and keyboard settings available. Generally it doesn't affect the software you run though I have seen in the past where localised UK ISO's didn't allow a particular application that demanded US-English.

And that's the only one I can recall actually and it was years ago.

 

[ubuysa]

Oh, another thing I noticed when reinstalling Windows yesterday: When I used the Windows 10 disc that came with my laptop (OEM), when I got the first screen up where you get to choose what language you want installed, the only choice I had was English (United States). Why didn't I get the option to install English (United Kingdom) or Swedish? I was able to select a UK or Swedish keyboard.

I don't know is the honest answer, though I suspect Tony1044 is correct that it depends on how the install disk was created. You should be able to change your region to Sweden though along with the display language and keyboard.

 

[Tony1044]

I am ;-)