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Answer» I know I have too many utilities, I just don't know which to remove in the interests of free memory; duplication; stability; other factors. These are on my HP Pavilion a1350n desktop as well as my Dell Inspiron E1505 -- both with IE7:
1. Spybot S&D
2. CCleaner
3. Fidler
4. PC Dr Windows
5. PC Pitstop Driver Alert
6. " " " Optimizer
7. " " " Erase
8. " " " PC Disk MD
9. TweakNow Reg Cleaner
10. Argente Reg Cleaner
11. Glary Utilities
12. AVG AntiVirus 8 Free
13. Karen Replicator
14. " " Protection from Adware
15. One Button CkUp
16. Advanced System Care Pro
17. Belarc Advisor
18. What's Running
19. Good Sync
20. Auslogics BootSpeed 4.2
21. Safely Remove Hardware
22. ALOT
23. SolarWinds
24. ClipBd (Ditto)
25..WinDirStat
26. Recuva
27. SpeedFan
28. Key Scrambler
29. GetRight
30. Privacy Guardian
Will welcome all comments!
You have a lot of cleaners and just CCleaner alone is enough.
Uninstall:
4. PC Dr Windows
5. PC Pitstop Driver Alert
6. " " " Optimizer
7. " " " Erase
8. " " " PC Disk MD
9. TweakNow Reg Cleaner
10. Argente Reg Cleaner
11. Glary Utilities
14. " " Protection from Adware
15. One Button CkUp
16. Advanced System Care Pro
19. Good Sync
20. Auslogics BootSpeed 4.2
22. ALOT
29. GetRight < If you don't use it
30. Privacy Guardian
Now run CCleaner and restart the computer.Thank you, for prompt reply, evilfantasy.
Assume your removal reference applies to CLEANERS, but there are so many interactions between various other utilities I'm unsure just which you mean (suggest using my numbers 1-30).
Reason I have several of them is experience has shown after CCleaner, others find more to clean -- everything from Windows itself to Window Washer (which was not on the list because I find it so valuable).
Do not believe you intend to have removed only anti-virus program, AVG, among other verieties of utilities, defrag, etc.Just the ones listed should be safe to remove. AVG was not on the list.
CCleaner and Window Washer should be fine. If you are talking about Registry cleaners finding more stuff then it really isn't needed. Any registry cleaner always has a slight danger to using it. Many people have used them and suddenly had a computer that wouldn't boot up. Besides the speed gained from cleaning a registry is so minimal that a human would most likely never notice the difference.
Runing CCleaner and Window Washer now and then is plenty. Then you might want to defrag the hard drive every other month or so.
Personally I would uninstall all of the programs listed below. It's up to you.
4. PC Dr Windows
5. PC Pitstop Driver Alert
6. " " " Optimizer
7. " " " Erase
8. " " " PC Disk MD
9. TweakNow Reg Cleaner
10. Argente Reg Cleaner
11. Glary Utilities
14. " " Protection from Adware
15. One Button CkUp
16. Advanced System Care Pro
19. Good Sync
20. Auslogics BootSpeed 4.2
22. ALOT
29. GetRight < If you don't use it
30. Privacy Guardian
All you need for security is an antivirus, firewall and I would also suggest using SpywareBlaster and WOT. They don't use much resources. The real security comes from being smart about what sites you visit and what you download. No program will protect you from everything.
WOT - Web of Trust. WOT is a free Internet security addon for your browser. It will keep you safe from online scams, identity theft, spyware, spam, viruses and unreliable shopping sites. WOT warns you before you interact with a risky website. It's easy and it's free.
SpywareBlaster - Secure your Internet Explorer to make it harder for ActiveX programs to run on your computer. Also stop certain cookies from being added to your computer when running Mozilla based browsers like Firefox.
* Using SpywareBlaster to protect your computer from Spyware and MalwareMany thanks indeed. That's just the advice I was looking for and I'll be guided accordingly.
My only hold-back relates to the PCPitstop programs (none free!); and possibly Advanced Windows Care Pro (also not free!).
Interesting that I used to have SpywareBlaster but removed it as redundant and needing more free Memory.
When removing per your valued opinion I'll reinstall it as well as WOT, with which I was totally unfamiliar.
Happy New Year!if my memory serves me right; I did some tests with the free PCpitstop program that used to be distributed.
it wasn't malicous, but it didn't do any good either. On a clean windows 2000 install, it somehow found hundreds of instances of adware/spyware/viruses, which would have made a little sense if the computer had ever been connected to the internet; and then it required the "full version" to do anything further.
Even if their paid version DOES work (and it might, but it cannot possibly remove something that doesn't exist) I don't trust it and place it in the same league as other scam Anti-virus programs, with the exception that this one might actually do something useful (probably not, IMO).
Overall, when searching for new tweaking utilities or cleaner programs, one has to be EXTREMELY careful what you use, or BUY, if the program is a paid program. many are distributed by unscrupulous vendors simply out for the cash; once they have the money and you've got the useless software program that couldn't remove a sticker, you'll find support is non-existent.
regarding your discovery that some registry cleaners can "clean more" then ccleaner... look at it this way- you could clean ALL the cruft from the registry by deleting the entire hive. Of course, there go all the necessary keys... basically, as EvilFantasy said, many of them are simply too aggressive in determining what to remove.Many thanks BC_Programmer.
You've given me pause re PCPitStop as I have had very different experiences with it for quite sometime.
In particular, their OPTIMIZER is used routinely at shut down and I believe it useful without being able to prove it.
Hopefully some otheres will add their comments pro-and-con.
just to clarify: most of what I said regarding "scamware" programs wasn't necessarily directed at PC pitstop; it was merely an observation regarding other programs that I've seen.
After a short search on google, I believe I was mistaken; it appears that PC pitstop is likely a legitimate program. Sorry for any confusion; I must have ENCOUNTERED malware that used it's name. This may also explain the confusion online and the different stories given on multiple locations.
I think it may be in the same league as programs such as "System Mechanic"; for me, System mechanic has many useful tools. However, I opted to keep it off my system because it insists on keeping a background process running, and I simply cannot stand to have more background programs then I need.
This is the trouble with many system management/cleaners optimizer tools; they insist on installing a background process. If you install many of the programs, chances are they will conflict, and at the very least waste processor time.
Glad to have your further comments.
Particularly as regards BACKGROUND PROCESS.
Obviously this is not apparent when checking msconfig startup list, and various other places, possibly including What's Running.
I'd like to have exact path to use to determine if present at each program.
Thank you!
Cordially, they will be displayed in task manager(processes tab), if they are running; the only one I can remember is System Mechanic's "SMSystemAnalyzer" process;
for starters; how many processes do you have running? For comparison, I have 28.
Evilfantasy made a very good point:
Quote from: evilfantasy on December 28, 2008, 02:16:39 PM All you need for security is an antivirus, firewall and I would also suggest using SpywareBlaster and WOT. They don't use much resources. The real security comes from being smart about what sites you visit and what you download. No program will protect you from everything.
basically, you should only be running what you need. Registry Cleaner programs are known to cause problems, and I personally have dealt with my fair share of them (some requiring a complete format/reinstall )
many of the programs you are using are a bit extraneous, for example, "privacy guardian". I haven't used it myself, but chances are it's functions can be superceded by a good firewall/anti-virus.
Here is a good way of going about it; remove everything but the base level Antivirus and firewall programs of your preference and CCleaner as well as select other programs (WOT, and spywareblaster, as EF suggested). Run CCleaner a anti-spyware solution (ad-aware or Malwarebytes Anti Malware) every week or so, and defrag relatively frequently as well.
If you feel you need to reinstall on of the other applications afterward, do so, but make sure that you need the program, as opposed to just wanting it (it's a fine line, really).
over time, you'll find that you haven't installed some of the previous applications you had, have programs installed that get used, and have a faster machine.Well, good illustration of my computer ignorance, answer is 40; IE Explorer notable for its 100,444K, which for unknown reasons now shows 99,832K.
Agree as to evilfantasy comments and will implement.
All very educational and helpful. Thanks again.
QuoteInteresting that I used to have SpywareBlaster but removed it as redundant and needing more free Memory.
SpywareBlaster only runs while you have it open. Once it's CLOSED it is turned off. What it does is add known bad sites to your Hosts file and blocks the malicious content from loading if you were to venture onto a known bad site. Just be sure to open it and run the updates now and then to keep it current.
PC Pitstop had mixed reviews for a while. They have gone to great lengths to clean up their IMAGE. I fully trust them. Only I have never seen a need to pay for anything they have. You can find most of the tools to do the same thing for free.
More helpful info evilfantasy. Thank you. Happy New Year! Know this is wrong place but too rushed to correct my error; please excuse!
Thanks, Nathan. Well understand deletions; only wish I had the discipline to do the same!
OK, leave all as is, UNLESS & ASSUMING the login cannot duplicate the display name (as was the case).
In my experience anything PCPitstop does is garbage and questionable.....
Disclaimer: I in no way attempted to slam the employees of PCPitStop including but not limited to the guy that does the restrooms.
Any other interpretation of the comments above cannot be mis-construed in a Court of Law for personal or Corporate financial gain...
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