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bsmith · Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 8:06 am Post subject: Windows Clean Up.

What does everyone recommend for the best way to clean up a system. It can be very tedious to try and remember every little thing to backup on a system before wiping the hard drive clean.

Do you have a checklist of things to remember? A walk though on the best things not to forget.

Or... do you know of a better solution, product, etc. that can restore and clean a system without having to do a complete wipe.

I like my computer setup, but I do have some config issues, etc. And I used to wipe my PC clean and start over about ever 6 months. I haven't done it in about 2 years... so I thought this might be a good discussion.
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twin_rotor · Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 12:22 pm Post subject:

2 years is about my average. Even with upgrades..

I upgraded to Vista in Febuary.

Here are my rules of thumb that I follow and have for years:

Uninstall any programs with the contol panel/add remove programs only. This prevents problems with your registry and file sharing. I allways leave "shared" files behind.. Most are small but unless you really know what the file is, don't delete it.. MS loves to use a single .dll for mutiple programs.

Hardware upgrades/uninstalls go pretty much the same. This applies only to hardware that does not have a WHQL driver that automatically installs. If you never installed a driver, simple turn off your machine and pull the hardware out. But if you loaded any kind of software/drivers, follow the next steps. First unintall any software under add/remove programs that your piece of hardware might have installed. Look for multiple entrys. I.E., ATI video cards install both the Catalyst package and a driver package. The newer Cayalyst actually will have an entry in add/remove software thats literally labled "Add/Remove ATI Software". In this case, thats all you have to do and it will remove the drivers/WMI/ect in one step. When you have no drivers/software listed in the add/remove software menu, or there wasnt' any to begin with, open your device manager. Find the peice of hardware you are removing. It should either not be listed, or should have a yellow ! mark next to it. If any entry for that hardware is there, right click it and select remove. Reboot only after you have complete ALL STEPs. Do not turn it off and remove the hardware untill you have rebooted. Once it reboots, you will get the Add New Hardware Wizard.. Select cancel on all and any that pop up. Once you are certain there are no more wizards(just wait a minute or two), turn off your computer and remove the hardware.

Partitions Partitions Partitions. Sizes vary depending on the actuall implementation of the computer and harddrive space. Point is, I keep all volital information(stuff you don't want to loose if your OS goes screwy) on a different partition or a completly different harddrive.

Know who you're getting your software from.

Websurfing corruptions(virus/dataminers/trogans/ect) is 90% of my business. Somtimes you can correct the issue if you know a few simple DOS commands and can figure out how to load Restore(XP). I've run into many that corrupt so many files that no matter what you do, you're reinstalling your OS. That comes back to common sense.. Google is good about keeping most mailicious sites out. The most problems I see come from banners. I don't care if its on this site or anywhere eles.. NEVER CLICK A BANNER. If you're really interested about whats advertised, google it then go from there. Again, this is all mainly from years of use and just knowing whats legit and whats not. Of course porn sites, warez sites ect. are an absolute no-no. Nobody will ever admit to that stuff though..

I do not use registry cleaners nor do I recommend them. Average users have no buisness in the registry at all. If you think you can interpret it, do it manually.

Malicious software scanners can be tricky as well. Ad-Aware is one of my favorites, but I've had it pull registry entries that shouldn't have been added as well. But it does do its job very well with trogans and data miners.

If you get errors or worse(BSOD), google it.. Most likely someone eles has had the same issue and someone with greater programming knowledge will have found a solution.

I use AVG Free(or your choice of virus scanner) at least once a month.. I have about 250GB worth of volitle data thats I allready know is good, so you can skip that partition/drive to make things go much quicker. Virus scanners have much less risk involved with corrupting your registry, so no warnings there. If you scan and it finds somthing, immidatly quarenteen the file, then delete it. If its not that simple, then the virus has got you by your you know whats. The actually removal of stuff like this is a completly different subject and I do not advise novice users in proceedures.. Yeah, I do it to keep buisniess, but my repair charge is half of my wipe/restore charge if you decide to take matters in to your own hands.

Hardrive capacity will greatly affect performance when you start getting full.. Depending on how much physical RAM you have and your page file size are the main factors when things get tight.. Yet another lengthy discussion...

I've never used any "system settings backup" or the like. Again, I keep all my pictures, documents, software, ect on a seperate drive. The rest of the "settings" in Windows are simple enough to just change in about 10 minutes once you get running again. Besides, the majority of users never change as much as their resolution anyways.

Sorry I've gotton a bit vague on your actuall question.. But prevention is the easiest way to insure a great running system. Unless you are completely comfortable using the Restore Console and have a little knowlege of extracting .dlls, a format/restore is allways going to be the easiest way out. Again, if you have a specific error, google it first.

Brian, I'd be more than happy and try to help you through your "config issues" if you'd like Smile

Being up for 2 years is somthing to be proud of. My customers average about 6 months. Smile

If I've confused anyone or left crucial info out, please ask.. I don't mind sharing at all. I don't want anyone to think that I prey on my customers or other users for buisness.. If I did, I wouldn't have the customer base I have now..
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bsmith · Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 3:31 pm Post subject:

Nice answer/article/reply... thanks. Cool

I have some issues... and I'll start some new threads on them when I get a chance.
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twin_rotor · Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 10:58 am Post subject:

Fire away

Please ask questions if anything doesn't make sense or is confusing. I have a bad tendency to forget that most people I talk to have no clue about anything I talk about.. My wife tells me to shutup all the time cause I like to talk tech Smile

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bsmith · Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 8:07 pm Post subject:

I know what you mean... sometimes I have a hard time bringing conversation down to a level other people (non-web designers / non-photoshop freaks) can understand.
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