Thread: How do I clean my computer up so it starts faster...

Originally Posted by vnx205

Another option is to get rid of Windows and install Linux as your operating system.

Unless you have quite specific needs like playing games or using a particular program for something like accounting, CAD, music composition, or graphics work, you will hardly notice the difference after a short while.

It's free and it does all the things that the majority of casual users need a computer for.

PCLOS gets my vote in a dual booting system with Windows 7 for the odd program needing a windows OS.

Originally Posted by Disco Dave

PCLOS gets my vote in a dual booting system with Windows 7 for the odd program needing a windows OS.

PCLOS is about as close as Linux gets to a windows OS, i do like it but with kids and their crap Win7 does all we need, dual boot and server applications Linux is great.

Jet clean is free and will remove untold crap beyond ccleaner, ( which I still use and like). Smart Defrag2 will help things along and is free.
Tune up Utilities is a pay utility but you can try it out for free for a month.
Tune up will show all the startup programs in an idiot proof way and tell you what is safe to disable. Also does a good job of speeding up start times and stopping unwanted and unneeded windows processes again in a idiot proof way.

When loading any of these Free utilities be careful to un check any add-ons they all seem to want to dump on you like web browsers and browsers tool bars

Originally Posted by Aussie

Windows command msconfig is your friend, it'll fix your startup problems.

Yep , and, if I can, I propose you this :Disk Defrag - Fast and Safe Defragmenter for Your Disks

free is "sufficient" , and better than the "on bord" deffrag.....

• Slow program start-ups
• Poor responsiveness

Defragments and re-
arranges files to ensure the most efficient file placement.

Click on "Start" and in the "Search Programs and Features" box (to the left of "Shut Down" at the bottom of the start menu, type "msconfig", wait a few seconds for the list to populate and then click on the "msconfig" result.)

One the new window comes up, select the "Startup" tab. Untick any programs you don't think should be starting automatically when the PC starts. Click OK and then reboot and see if your PC boots faster.

If you want to uninstall programs after you're sure they are not needed:

Click on "Start" and in the "Search Programs and Features" box, wait a few seconds for the list to populate and then click on the "Programs and Features" result.

You should now see "Uninstall Programs or Features" at the top of the windows which opens. Below that is a list of programs. Any program you are sure you don't need, you can uninstall. Select the program and click "uninstall".

If msconfig doesn't work to speed up PC boot you might need to have someone look at it.

"regedit" is my best mate to kill nasty stuff. The ensure your kids have thier on log on and are "limited or standard users" not administrators. Your ADMIN account is password protected and consider a seperate log on for yourself as a non admin account as well.

housekeeping to Lock it down to stop coruption starting is the first step in my opinion. Then uninstall and kill the programes installed by the others and check regedit to ensure everything is removed after the uninstall.

If you realy want a rocket put the OS on a SSD drive. If a standard drive boots in 1 minute a SSD would take 90% less time. Still a bit pricey but getting lower in price every day. Linux is fine but Win 7 is as well espically as you can have the abilty to contain the kids if you choose to

Regedit should only be used by users that that are very experienced, it should never be used by a novice as it has the ability to completely destroy windows. It was also never designed to be used in a group environment as you are using or to make/edit user accounts/privlidges. If you really wanna do it this way use local group policy on the desktop.

There is only 2 really effective ways to control childrens internet usage.I have 5 kids ranging from 14 to 22 and have experimented for many years to "lock'em down" so both the wife and I are happy with what they can view, and also what time they can view it.

The 1st way is AD group policy using a local domain.-This is the best, but it is also the hardest to implement. It gives you total control and allows you to replicate any changes to all pc's in one hit, but requires many hours to implement and maintain.

The 2nd way and easiest is through a router that allows ip/mac rules plus URL filtering. There are some that will even allow time rules.

In the end I used a combination of both. I used GP to enforce rules on the desktop plus time based router rules to shut em down and prevent them from logging on again.(bed time)
Another reason I went down this route was that having children of such a varying age meant that they all had different needs. You cant apply the same rules to a 14 year old that you would to a 22 year old

As for killing nastys and administering users accounts whats wrong with a good upto date AV and using user accounts in the OD. Regedit wasnt designed to admin local accounts or "lock it down", Microsoft made group policy for doing this kinda work as well as many other useful things.

As for admin rights, by default windows 7 doesnt grant you admin rights on your account. Every time you want to right to the registry or install it will ask permission and/or disallow unless you run eleveated privlidges. The only OS that gives you Admin rights on the desktop by default is XP and microsoft learnt their lesson.

I do agree with the SSD install. I have an Intel 520 SSD and they are F&^%#*! fantastic, although pedro might disagree

I found two all in one utility`s Ibot and Glary at a site called Major geeks to be quite good. Glary is the better one as you can get a version that does not have a tool bar or a search engine. It will do a verity of tasks as a one of click or you can do individual tasks. These are a free version with pretty much all working. Main difference between the Glary free and the pay version is the up dates are not automatic.
Cheers Hall