PC Maintenance tips and advice
- Thread starter Wolfram23
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Congrats on the post, Wolfram. I've never had any problems maintaining my PC, but this ties in nicely with a thread I replied to, earlier, where some guy griped that computers were too complex to keep in working order. If anything, your post proves that this isn't true. It's all just a matter of cultivating a few healthy habits.Wolfram01 said:
It's kind of a minor point, but I'd suggest adding that looking for updated drivers once a year is also good practice, particularly in the case of GPUs. Those who do have a sound card don't have to keep it updated as much, but it's a good idea to ensure that your graphics solution is always up to date in this respect. I remember lagging behind for two years and finding that my most recent games were fairly laggy. As soon as I installed the new drivers for my card, things turned smooth again.
Also, quick question: I'm still using the good old IDE disc drive. Are solid-state drives a worthwhile upgrade? I hear that they're a little slower, but I don't know if that's true.
I'm going to cover drivers and chipset updates in the next maintenance - performance post, as well as touch on SSDs, which will then have a post of their own =PIamLEAM1983 said:
And yeah, an SSD is a massive increase in performance. Windows and apps will just pop open almost instantly rather than having to wait. HDDs are almost always the slowest component of a system.
That said, you need to have at least a SATA 2 compatible motherboard and you'll need to change to ACHI settings, which can take a little tinkering if you are set to IDE in the BIOS. It's not that hard, googling it will solve this.
Also, thanks!
SSD slower ? We're talking about fastest disc drives money can buy man.IamLEAM1983 said:
Not yet. Not yet... Too small, too expensive.Wolfram01 said:
I'm afraid that we'll all switch to Cloud computing before SSDs greater than 2 Tb become affordable. :|
no no, not that sensitive, just saying if you're gonna use an SSD they wear out faster than standard drives when used for paging files which generally read/write constantly due to their importance in all system operation, hell even if you aren't doing anything they'll wear on that drive like a ************, mainly constantly moving or writing to the ssd causes wear as with anything else, but it's just that runniong your games or movies off of it causes less reading/writing than your OS or paging file, just saying you CAN use it for all that just due to the results I've seen at least in the older SSDs when they first hit the market, I wouldn't really wanna push it just yet, friend of mine burned out 2 64gb ssds in a year and then figured out his paging file was the cause, he's had the same one since, and he uses it as a games/media drive, for which it works great, just apparently having something that causes a constant stream of rewritten data isn't the healthiest thing to do, also you can get a fast SATA drive for cheap for your OS drive, and it shouldn't cause any problems with the speed you'll experience with loading and whatnot that the ssd will give you for gaming...Pebkio said:
As somebody who's worked tech support for about a decade, the OP needs help. One glaring flaw I need to correct him on is the Registry. DO NOT USE A REGISTRY CLEANER. It's essentially taking a placebo with the added side of effect of possibly killing you. Don't buy the hype of registry errors causing blue screens, it is complete and utter nonsense. As for clearer performance, taking out a few killobytes of data from a file that could be as large as 200 megs (really, go look in C:\Windows\System32\config, those are your registry files) is like watching the federal government attempting to slash it's budget by a few hundred million dollars and calling it signifigant. With stuff like SSDs (or high speed RAIDs) the difference is negligible at best, laughable and dangerous at worst.
Here's an annecdote. At one point I had to deal with being the manager of a consumer support group (you pay, we fix anything) and was constantly listening to calls. When we caused a machine to no longer function by something we did we had to sign a brick because we bricked a machine. One of my underlings was working on a problem and decided that he should be downloading and running a registry cleaner (CCleaner actually) as his first step for fixing his problem. I told him it was a bad idea, he said trust me. I continued to listen to the call and his steps. He then says "Okay, restart your computer." I wait with him 30 minutes and it won't boot up. Safe mode fails, nothing goes right, the machine is "bricked". I interject with a supervisor call saying I'll call the customer back in 15 minutes. I hand the tech the brick, make him sign it, take the brick and say "Clean out your desk." I spent the next seven hours (four hours after my shift ended) reinstalling windows to customer satisfaction. Registry cleaners do not help, they are wastes of time and money.
Aside, here's a few other bits.
The service pack "Ghost Image" is actually a backup for System Restore/Uninstall mechanic. Please correct your comment.
Cleaning out your rig is a good idea, but do it smartly. Unplug everything, take your computer outside (as in outside, fresh air and all that) then blow it out. This way the dust will be gone from the rig and the dwelling you have.
Use MSConfig (or I preffer Hijack This because I know how to read it) to cut out unessisary startups. Performance is largely based on RAM consumption and CPU usage.
Make sure every drive can have a page file on it (unless it's a removable bit).
For those of us with magnetic hard drives, try using Readyboost and never removing the flash drive. Buy a new empty one of 8 gigs and it can be rather useful.
Finally, System Internals put together some good tools for maintaince. As has been said before, defragging is good for non SSD drives, but for all drives, Page Defrag is beautiful. Find it here. [http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897426] It works with any NT based system and is done in usually a minute or two. Find more awesome stuff (including the original whacky BSOD screen saver) at System Internals here [http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default].
I have tons more stuff on my own site, though it's in need of an update since it was XP centric. Here. [http://zeroserenity.com/?page_id=121] Also, this can be useful onsite if you go here instead. [http://zeroserenity.com/toolkit.php]
Here's an annecdote. At one point I had to deal with being the manager of a consumer support group (you pay, we fix anything) and was constantly listening to calls. When we caused a machine to no longer function by something we did we had to sign a brick because we bricked a machine. One of my underlings was working on a problem and decided that he should be downloading and running a registry cleaner (CCleaner actually) as his first step for fixing his problem. I told him it was a bad idea, he said trust me. I continued to listen to the call and his steps. He then says "Okay, restart your computer." I wait with him 30 minutes and it won't boot up. Safe mode fails, nothing goes right, the machine is "bricked". I interject with a supervisor call saying I'll call the customer back in 15 minutes. I hand the tech the brick, make him sign it, take the brick and say "Clean out your desk." I spent the next seven hours (four hours after my shift ended) reinstalling windows to customer satisfaction. Registry cleaners do not help, they are wastes of time and money.
Aside, here's a few other bits.
The service pack "Ghost Image" is actually a backup for System Restore/Uninstall mechanic. Please correct your comment.
Cleaning out your rig is a good idea, but do it smartly. Unplug everything, take your computer outside (as in outside, fresh air and all that) then blow it out. This way the dust will be gone from the rig and the dwelling you have.
Use MSConfig (or I preffer Hijack This because I know how to read it) to cut out unessisary startups. Performance is largely based on RAM consumption and CPU usage.
Make sure every drive can have a page file on it (unless it's a removable bit).
For those of us with magnetic hard drives, try using Readyboost and never removing the flash drive. Buy a new empty one of 8 gigs and it can be rather useful.
Finally, System Internals put together some good tools for maintaince. As has been said before, defragging is good for non SSD drives, but for all drives, Page Defrag is beautiful. Find it here. [http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897426] It works with any NT based system and is done in usually a minute or two. Find more awesome stuff (including the original whacky BSOD screen saver) at System Internals here [http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default].
I have tons more stuff on my own site, though it's in need of an update since it was XP centric. Here. [http://zeroserenity.com/?page_id=121] Also, this can be useful onsite if you go here instead. [http://zeroserenity.com/toolkit.php]
Wait, wait, wait, you're saying you fired someone just because he made an error ?Zero Serenity said:
And what's with that Windows XP 7 hours long reinstallation ? I understand that maybe you wanted to make some additional adjustments, but dude... 7 hours ? No, seriously, what machine was that ? 486 with EISA gfx ?
About various cleaners... There's always risk when you're using software to do your job. Always. Especially if it's an app that scratches most vital parts of OS like registry or service list.
Still, considering the amount of time one needs to learn some tricks and gain enough experience to do everything by himself i think it's worth the risk.
Thank you for this informative feedback! Some of this is performance oriented, which I just added a new post for that sort of thing (this post is mostly just to keep a computer running decently well). I'll definitely look into some of these links you've provided and make any necessary changes.Zero Serenity said:
As for registry cleaners, I've heard negative things about them before, but also have not had any issues myself. I don't know that I will remove it from the list, but at the least I will add a disclaimer and recommend backing up the registry before cleaning.
Thanks again.
I fired him for insubordination. I said don't do it, he did, bricked the machine and cost me my evening. Also, going through a Windows XP installation over the phone with a meh rig from it's age (This was 2008) while reinstalling everything that the customer wanted was entirely a 7 hour affair (I think I also threw her a partial refund). There's customer service, then there's me.
- So you're saying that it was better to fire someone because he badly judged the situation instead of reprimanding him and making him pay for the damage he done ? Also i don't understand this "cost me evening" part. It was him who screwed things, so it's obvious that he should fix it.Zero Serenity said:
- I've bought my Athlon XP Thoroughbred 2.0+/512 Mb RAM/AGP Ati 9550 - based rig around 2003 year. Even with additional time needed for searching and downloading of drivers, a-virus software and a few apps more AND drinking in the meantime it never took me more than 4 hours top. But it's like i said - i had to search for drivers and soft.
I'll say...
http://www.freegamesnews.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/Fishy300-2.jpg
...mr. There's Me.
I'll say this yet again. Install Windows XP on those rigs. Now install all the drivers. Now install all the software the customer uses (I can't remember it all, but it was quite a lot of stuff). Now imagine doing that over the phone.
Harsh is one thing, but he had a history of not listening to me (he signed the brick twice before then as well).
Harsh is one thing, but he had a history of not listening to me (he signed the brick twice before then as well).
That's the proper way to handle this matter !believer258 said:
OT :
Visit this place :
http://portableapps.com/apps
- Check if software you wish to install isn't available in PORTABLE version.
- PORTABLE applications seldom (if ever) add anything to both the registry and different folder than their own. For example Libre/Open Office. They add at least a few hundreds (if not thousands) entries to the registry. Portable version ? None.
- If they are placed on other than system partition (usually C
then they stay there after re-installation of your OS... Ready to use immediately after. - You can copy take your portable apps to your USB pendrive, take it with you wherever you go, run it on every computer with modern Windows. Actually you can run them from Pendrive. They'll be a little slower but they'll run.
BTW - you leave no, or very small traces of your activity this way. Useful for browsing the Internet.
All right Mr. There's ME.Zero Serenity said:
Reinstallation of Windows XP is 5 minutes long. This long it takes to restore backup from image file and enter correct key or change the serial/key to proper one with sysprep or similar software. Actually MS itself delivered tools for that.
Back in the 2000 i had collection of DVDs with database of thousands of drivers collected from various rigs. Most of people in the IT sector had similar collections. But of course there's customer support in some shitty country like mine and THERE ARE YOU.Zero Serenity said:
No big deal. It's the matter of focus and experience. Even with swollen apps like Solid Edge or Autocad it couldn't take so much time.Zero Serenity said:
Unless, of course, you wrote those applications on the fly in Assembler and complied them immediately after.
Now you're adding elements to make it look like you're the Good one. You aren't. Remember, Mr. There's Me - this is the Internet. And it's not the most forgiving plane of existence.Zero Serenity said:
I call your story bullsh*t and you - a liar.
Hehe, just open it up and behold the grey mounds (tit joke)
Just a side note, if you ARE going to use a registry cleaner, highlight the whole computer in the registry and export (back it up) somewhere else on your 'puter, USB stick, whatever. I made that mistake once, innocently using Ccleaner and had to re-install win 7 and spend hours and hours installing drivers, software and all the gaems....
Just for good measure I periodically back up my whole damn drive as an image to an external USB 2.0 just in case it ever happens again. Peace of mind. Good for putting Pr0n on, too....
Just a side note, if you ARE going to use a registry cleaner, highlight the whole computer in the registry and export (back it up) somewhere else on your 'puter, USB stick, whatever. I made that mistake once, innocently using Ccleaner and had to re-install win 7 and spend hours and hours installing drivers, software and all the gaems....
Just for good measure I periodically back up my whole damn drive as an image to an external USB 2.0 just in case it ever happens again. Peace of mind. Good for putting Pr0n on, too....
I just want to point out to people that believes ssd will break if you rewrite more then 1gb a day.
I've used my ssd for about a year, and all my steam and other downloads goes through it and considering I download around 0.5tb on a normal month( at least) and it's still at 100% health so no it will not break from a pagefile.
and I have an estimated lifetime: 8 years 5 months 17 days.
I've used my ssd for about a year, and all my steam and other downloads goes through it and considering I download around 0.5tb on a normal month( at least) and it's still at 100% health so no it will not break from a pagefile.
and I have an estimated lifetime: 8 years 5 months 17 days.
Great Jester. You can do that yourself. Now can you instruct somebody with no backups to do that over the phone with somebody not as technologically savy as you? Seven hours isn't my record call (it's 8) but even so. You have to realize I worked in tech support with some of the dumbest people out there.
Useful, but full of the usual waste of time stuff that most hints and tips about PC Maintenance have.
I agree with the AV idea, I would highly recommended MSE as it consistently scores highly and has a very small resource footprint, you could also use Spybot and some other anti Malware software but as MSE uses MSes own Malware detection software and this software is often run as part of most Windows Updates it's a step that adds reassurance rather than a really needed extra layer of protection.
Backups and Restore points
Backups, yes, Restore points, no. Back in the day restore points where useful in the instance were you some how managed to totally balls something up, if you can balls up any installs on a Win 7 system to the point where you need to use a restore point then you shouldn't be using a computer. They also add the false sense that if you do get infected a simple restore will fix it, when in fact most Virus and Malware will by pass the restore feature.
HD Defrag, HD Error check, Reg defrag and Reg tidying
All of them are wastes of time, if you have some compulsion that forces you to install any and all software and then feel that you need to remove said programs within days of installing them then yes maybe you will see some benefit but most people will install a core set of programs and then will continue to use them for the most part, yes you'll try new stuff some will stay, some will get removed but here's the thing
1). A modern HD at 1Tb will cost £40 if you are filling that up with programs to the point that you need to un install stuff to make room then you have issues that simple HD cleanups won't help (Please note I said programs and not media as it is very easy to fill 1Tb worth of HD with Media but in that instance you would be better with a separate media drive.)
2). The time it takes to defrag a HD you will never make that time up with the reduced load times in your games, 20 minutes to defrag a HD so you can save 5 seconds loading a CS level? Really? You want to speed things up buy 8gig of RAM and disable your cache file. (The link is convincing but if flawed, it is a test to see how defragmentation affects a PC running Win XP in a corporate environment.)
3). Reg defragging and tidying sits with the HD space and the compulsion to install any and all crap, if you do what most folk do, run a core set of the same programs and only install and remove stuff as it comes up then you don't need to be messing with the registry. (Remember end of the day the way these reg cleaners work is by scanning the reg and then fixing the things IT thinks needs fixing, at best you'll waste 5 minutes and see no real improvement at worst you'll bork the registry and be unable to boot back into Windows.)
4). HD error checking is also a massive waste of time at least as a proactive measure. Windows has the ability to deal with duff sectors on your HD, most people will have duff sectors on their HD and never see any effect from it, if the condition of your HD is what concerns you then turn on SMART, Win 7 can then tell you the condition of your HD.
Cleaning the inside of your PC
Yeah go for it if you really have a compulsion to do light house work inside your PC, all you're doing is increasing the risk of ESD every time you stick something in there to clean it. Had 10 PCs over the years, four of them high end gaming rigs, never had to crack the case to do anything other than update hardware. If your PC is overheating as a direct result of dust build up then
a). Your PC was never heat stable to start with
b). Your PC needs some dust filters on the intake fans
Or failing that the reg can be recovered from command prompt using the recover tools that come with the XP install disc all of it can be done and dusted in ten minutes tops
Tech support finding the hardest way to solve the simplest problems.
I agree with the AV idea, I would highly recommended MSE as it consistently scores highly and has a very small resource footprint, you could also use Spybot and some other anti Malware software but as MSE uses MSes own Malware detection software and this software is often run as part of most Windows Updates it's a step that adds reassurance rather than a really needed extra layer of protection.
Backups and Restore points
Backups, yes, Restore points, no. Back in the day restore points where useful in the instance were you some how managed to totally balls something up, if you can balls up any installs on a Win 7 system to the point where you need to use a restore point then you shouldn't be using a computer. They also add the false sense that if you do get infected a simple restore will fix it, when in fact most Virus and Malware will by pass the restore feature.
HD Defrag, HD Error check, Reg defrag and Reg tidying
All of them are wastes of time, if you have some compulsion that forces you to install any and all software and then feel that you need to remove said programs within days of installing them then yes maybe you will see some benefit but most people will install a core set of programs and then will continue to use them for the most part, yes you'll try new stuff some will stay, some will get removed but here's the thing
1). A modern HD at 1Tb will cost £40 if you are filling that up with programs to the point that you need to un install stuff to make room then you have issues that simple HD cleanups won't help (Please note I said programs and not media as it is very easy to fill 1Tb worth of HD with Media but in that instance you would be better with a separate media drive.)
2). The time it takes to defrag a HD you will never make that time up with the reduced load times in your games, 20 minutes to defrag a HD so you can save 5 seconds loading a CS level? Really? You want to speed things up buy 8gig of RAM and disable your cache file. (The link is convincing but if flawed, it is a test to see how defragmentation affects a PC running Win XP in a corporate environment.)
3). Reg defragging and tidying sits with the HD space and the compulsion to install any and all crap, if you do what most folk do, run a core set of the same programs and only install and remove stuff as it comes up then you don't need to be messing with the registry. (Remember end of the day the way these reg cleaners work is by scanning the reg and then fixing the things IT thinks needs fixing, at best you'll waste 5 minutes and see no real improvement at worst you'll bork the registry and be unable to boot back into Windows.)
4). HD error checking is also a massive waste of time at least as a proactive measure. Windows has the ability to deal with duff sectors on your HD, most people will have duff sectors on their HD and never see any effect from it, if the condition of your HD is what concerns you then turn on SMART, Win 7 can then tell you the condition of your HD.
Cleaning the inside of your PC
Yeah go for it if you really have a compulsion to do light house work inside your PC, all you're doing is increasing the risk of ESD every time you stick something in there to clean it. Had 10 PCs over the years, four of them high end gaming rigs, never had to crack the case to do anything other than update hardware. If your PC is overheating as a direct result of dust build up then
a). Your PC was never heat stable to start with
b). Your PC needs some dust filters on the intake fans
What the five minutes to boot in to Command Prompt and do a copy of the backup file was too much?
Or failing that the reg can be recovered from command prompt using the recover tools that come with the XP install disc all of it can be done and dusted in ten minutes tops
Tech support finding the hardest way to solve the simplest problems.