{"id":457,"date":"2011-03-04T17:29:48","date_gmt":"2011-03-04T22:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/?p=457"},"modified":"2011-03-04T17:32:07","modified_gmt":"2011-03-04T22:32:07","slug":"spring-cleaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/spring-cleaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring Cleaning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tip for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7<\/p>\n

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, we’re less than \t\t\t\t\t3 weeks away from the vernal equinox – or spring. For those \t\t\t\t\tof you in Australia, New Zealand and other locations in the \t\t\t\t\tSouthern Hemisphere, you’ve had your spring and summer – \t\t\t\t\tit’s our turn. This will be “Fall Cleaning” for you OK.<\/p>\n

Spring is a good time to do some of the things you’ve \t\t\t\t\tforgotten to do all year. Things that won’t make your \t\t\t\t\tcomputer a super-fast net machine, but things that will keep \t\t\t\t\tthat old computer chugging merrily along until next spring. \t\t\t\t\tHere are our suggestions for things you should do when you \t\t\t\t\tdo Spring Cleaning for your computer.<\/p>\n

Before starting, make sure you have a few hours to do this. \t\t\t\t\tIt’s going to take some time, but you only have to this once \t\t\t\t\teach year, so set aside a rainy day to complete this \t\t\t\t\tproject. It will pay dividends all year long.<\/p>\n

1. Make a list of all programs installed on your \t\t\t\t\tcomputer. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Belarc Advisor is a free program that will create a list \t\t\t\t\tof every program on your computer and give it to you in a \t\t\t\t\tnice, easy-to-read-list. You can get Belarc Advisor here: \t\t\t\t\t http:\/\/www.belarc.com\/free_download.html<\/a> .<\/p>\n

Don’t rely on Control Panel\/Programs to show you a list of \t\t\t\t\tall programs on your computer. It will be missing some – \t\t\t\t\tmaybe quite a few.<\/p>\n

2. Take the list of programs and go through it..<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And, if you find yourself asking yourself “what the heck \t\t\t\t\tis that?” quite often, you should uninstall that program. \t\t\t\t\tYou’ll be surprised how many programs you’ve downloaded and \t\t\t\t\tinstalled, but never used – or more likely used only once. \t\t\t\t\tRemove all the programs you don’t use. If you have a program \t\t\t\t\tyou rarely use, consider uninstalling it. You’re going to be \t\t\t\t\tdownloading and installing more programs between now and the \t\t\t\t\tnext spring after this one – so clean out as many \t\t\t\t\tunnecessary or underused programs as you possibly can. It \t\t\t\t\tmakes no sense to fill up your hard drive with programs you \t\t\t\t\tseldom or never us. It not only takes space on your drive, \t\t\t\t\tit adds unnecessary clutter to your Start Menu and Windows \t\t\t\t\tRegistry.<\/p>\n

Don’t use Control Panel\/Add or Remove Programs (XP) or \t\t\t\t\tControl Panel\/Programs\/Remove Program to uninstall programs. \t\t\t\t\tIf you do, you’ll leave a lot of debris behind – not just in the folder in which the program was installed, but in the \t\t\t\t\tWindows registry too. Why Microsoft doesn’t offer a better \t\t\t\t\tuninstaller, we don’t know. All Control Panel does is run \t\t\t\t\tthe program’s own uninstaller. In most cases, this leaves a \t\t\t\t\tlot of debris behind. Use RevoUninstaller to remove programs \t\t\t\t\tfrom you computer. The free version is fine. Revo tries to \t\t\t\t\tupsell you to the pro version but we’ve found the freeware \t\t\t\t\tversion works just fine for removing programs from your \t\t\t\t\tcomputer. You can download the free version from \t\t\t\t\t http:\/\/www.revouninstaller.com\/start_freeware_download.html<\/a> .<\/span><\/p>\n

Note: When you click that link the download will start, and a \t\t\t\t\tpage will open with another download button – but that \t\t\t\t\tdownload button is for a 30-day free trial of the Pro \t\t\t\t\tversion which is not freeware. So don’t click it unless you \t\t\t\t\twant to pay for it or uninstall it after 30 days.<\/p>\n

After you’ve removed all the programs you don’t use, it’s \t\t\t\t\ttime to run something you probably don’t know you have, but \t\t\t\t\twhich is actually quite good at what it does – removing junk \t\t\t\t\tfrom your computer. It’s called Windows Disk Cleanup or \t\t\t\t\tcleanmgr for short. All you have to do to run it is press \t\t\t\t\tthe Windows Key + the “R” key to bring up the Run dialog and \t\t\t\t\ttype in cleanmgr.exe and click “OK” or press Enter. Disk \t\t\t\t\tCleanup will start right away. It will scan your \t\t\t\t\tcomputer and show you a list of files and junk that can be \t\t\t\t\tremoved. You can safely remove the items which Windows has \t\t\t\t\tpre-checked, However, there are other items which take up a lot \t\t\t\t\tof disk space, which won’t be pre-checked, that you can remove too – if you’re sure you \t\t\t\t\tdon’t need them. A lot of these files are related to Windows \t\t\t\t\tError Reporting and system crash “Dump” files. If you’re not \t\t\t\t\thaving problems with your computer or you don’t ever look at \t\t\t\t\tyour error logs you can go ahead and delete them – they take \t\t\t\t\tup a lot of disk space. These files can come in handy if \t\t\t\t\tyou’re having a problem with your computer and you call a \t\t\t\t\tcomputer tech or Microsoft. They may want to look or have \t\t\t\t\tyou read to them information Windows keeps in logs when \t\t\t\t\tsomething happens to your computer – like programs crashing, \t\t\t\t\tWindows Explorer crashes, and\/or critical system errors or \t\t\t\t\tsystem freeze-ups. If you’re an advanced user, or you’re not \t\t\t\t\thaving any problems with your computer, or if you didn’t \t\t\t\t\teven know this stuff existed, you can go ahead and check \t\t\t\t\tthose boxes as I did (see screen shot below):<\/p>\n

\"InfoAve<\/span><\/p>\n

If you’re really gung-ho because you never knew these files \t\t\t\t\twere there, or didn’t even know Windows XP, Windows Vista \t\t\t\t\tand Windows 7 had “Windows Disk Cleanup” you can watch a \t\t\t\t\tswell \t\t\t\t\t Microsoft-produced video about Disk Cleanup here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After you’ve checked all the boxes you want checked, click \t\t\t\t\t“Clean up system files”. Windows will seem to be cleaning \t\t\t\t\tyour files, but instead will come back with another dialog \t\t\t\t\tthat all offers a new tab at the top called “More Options”. \t\t\t\t\tYou can skip the top dialog “Programs and features” because \t\t\t\t\tthat’s going to take you back to Control Panel\/Remove \t\t\t\t\tPrograms – and you’ve already removed all the programs you \t\t\t\t\tdon’t use – right?<\/p>\n

The second feature in “More Options” is called “System \t\t\t\t\tRestore and Shadow Copies. You want to be very careful here. \t\t\t\t\tDon’t click “Clean up” in this section unless your computer \t\t\t\t\tis running well and you don’t use Windows Backup to create \t\t\t\t\timage backups. If you do click the Clean up button in this \t\t\t\t\tsection it will remove all your system restore points but \t\t\t\t\tthe most current one – and older backup images too. So don’t \t\t\t\t\tclick this unless your computer is running well and you \t\t\t\t\tdon’t use Windows Backup. After you’ve made your choices, go \t\t\t\t\tahead and click OK. Now all the items you checked in the \t\t\t\t\tfirst dialog and anything you’ve chosen in the second dialog \t\t\t\t\twill be removed.<\/p>\n

One last thing about Disk Cleanup. Many of you use other \t\t\t\t\tcleanup programs- Zappit, CCleaner, Captain Optimizer’s \t\t\t\t\tcleaner, CleanUp! or other system cleaner. If you do you may \t\t\t\t\tbe dismayed that Disk Cleanup finds so much more “junk”. \t\t\t\t\tWell there’s a reason for this – the “junk” that Disk \t\t\t\t\tCleanup finds isn’t all junk. It depends on how you use your \t\t\t\t\tcomputer and whether you need to keep error logs and \t\t\t\t\tdump files – most of you don’t, but some of you might. Most \t\t\t\t\tcleaner programs aren’t going to touch these kinds of files \t\t\t\t\tbecause they’re not junk. One man’s treasure is another \t\t\t\t\tman’s garbage you know.<\/p>\n

After you’ve done all of the above you have a leaner, less \t\t\t\t\tcluttered computer. But wait, there’s more. Even though \t\t\t\t\tyou’ve used Revo Uninstaller and you’ve used Windows Disk \t\t\t\t\tCleanup, you still have three more steps to go. You’re \t\t\t\t\talmost done though, so let’s go ahead and finish our Spring \t\t\t\t\tCleaning.<\/p>\n

3. Run an online virus\/spyware scanner just to be sure. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you’ve been reading our newsletters for any length of \t\t\t\t\ttime you’ve got good anti-spyware and a good anti-spyware \t\t\t\t\tprogram or two installed and you’ve kept them up to date. \t\t\t\t\tStill, it’s always a good thing to double-check your \t\t\t\t\tcomputer just in case something sneaked through the cracks. \t\t\t\t\tIt’s not likely you’ll turn up anything when you run an \t\t\t\t\tonline virus\/spyware scanner, but it won’t hurt anything and \t\t\t\t\twhen your computer gets a clean bill of health you can go \t\t\t\t\tgrab a bottle of champagne or beer and toast your computer.<\/p>\n

There are many free online malware scanners, here are a \t\t\t\t\tcouple we have used:<\/p>\n

Housecall
\n http:\/\/housecall.trendmicro.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

BitDefender QuickScan
\n http:\/\/quickscan.bitdefender.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

If you don’t like either of those two, just google “Free \t\t\t\t\tonline malware scanners”. You’ll come up with a list, but \t\t\t\t\tplease don’t get too off-the-wall. Stay with names you \t\t\t\t\trecognize or at least have heard of somewhere.<\/p>\n

4. Use Soluto to crunch down your Windows startup times.<\/span><\/p>\n

We covered in this newsletter before, but there’s no time \t\t\t\t\tlike the present time to cover it again. It’s the greatest \t\t\t\t\ttune-up program for sluggish Windows start-ups (aren’t they \t\t\t\t\tall?) we’ve ever seen. It’s easy to use and it works. It \t\t\t\t\treally works. We know you’ve tried a bevy of start-up \t\t\t\t\tmanagers before, but this one is different and if you use it \t\t\t\t\tas directed, and your boot time is five minutes or more, \t\t\t\t\tSoluto will cut your Windows boot time by more than half.<\/p>\n

We’re not going to rewrite the Soluto tutorial here, \t\t\t\t\tbut you can view it online at \t\t\t\t\thttp:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/?p=421<\/a> .<\/p>\n

Hey! \t\t\t\t\tYou’re almost done….<\/p>\n

5. Do a registry scan and clean up and optimize your \t\t\t\t\tregistry<\/span><\/p>\n

Regardless of the registry cleaner\/optimizer you prefer, now \t\t\t\t\tis a great time to run it. You’ve removed all the programs \t\t\t\t\tyou don’t use, you’ve dumped all the junk files and other \t\t\t\t\tfiles that may have been clogging up your computer – and \t\t\t\t\twasting hard drive space – and doing all that may have left \t\t\t\t\ta few untidy or unnecessary things in your Windows registry. \t\t\t\t\tThere’s no better time to clean and optimize your registry \t\t\t\t\tthan after a good, thorough spring cleaning like this one.<\/p>\n

We recommend Registry Commander and we’re offering it to you \t\t\t\t\tfor $20.00 off. You can get all the details at \t\t\t\t\t http:\/\/thundercloud.net\/sale\/2011\/commander\/<\/a> . If you’re \t\t\t\t\tusing Registry Mechanic or another registry \t\t\t\t\tcleaner\/optimizer that you’ve used with success, now’s the \t\t\t\t\ttime to run it. If you don’t have one, you should get one \t\t\t\t\tand run it once a week and whenever you do a lot software \t\t\t\t\tinstalling \/ uninstalling. If you run it often your \t\t\t\t\tcomputer will run faster and your computer will run faster \t\t\t\t\tlonger.<\/p>\n

There you go. You’re done with your spring cleaning – now \t\t\t\t\thead outside and start getting the garden ready – it will be \t\t\t\t\ttime to plant before you know. Aren’t you glad we planted \t\t\t\t\tthis spring cleaning idea in your head?<\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tip for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, we’re less than 3 weeks away from the vernal equinox – or spring. For those of you in Australia, New Zealand and other locations in the Southern Hemisphere, you’ve had your spring and summer – it’s our turn. This will be “Fall\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[247,243,242,245,244,248,246,135,136,7,249,62,6,5],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":459,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457\/revisions\/459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}