Re: clean up programs

Lanwench [MVP - Exchange] wrote:
In news:OMwuHy6TGHA.424@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
Cynanthis <nospam@xxxxxxxxxx> typed:
Hi. I use 'clean up' on 2 of my desk tops. It appears to work fine
and have never had a problem with that progrm. I installed 'clean up"
on my new HP Laptop.and as soon as I finished runing the program,
everything went weird. I did a system restore in safe mode, and all
is fine now. luckily for me. after this I did a bit of reading and it
appears that this has been the case for HP laptops from other people.
Can anyone recomend a clean up program that is safe to use and does
not require for me to be a pro at computers . I like keeping my pc's
junk free (as can be) thnks

I don't know what software you're talking about (what exactly is 'clean up'
and who makes it?)

Why do you actually think you need such a program in the first place? With
regards to keeping your computers 'clean', it's mostly a matter of
practicing safe hex...and you can periodically run disk cleanup to get rid
of temp files, etc.

I tend to avoid third party products that purport to "clean up" Windows.
Especially anything that touches the registry. Yes, you'll always have some
shards of old stuff in there, but they don't really do any harm--whereas a
piece of software that goes in and removes things it doesn't believe you
need, can do a great deal of harm.



I agree with Lanwench about the Registry. However, I've used a few
third party cleaners along with XP's disk cleanup. Especially since
when I had Windows 2000, I ran into a bug where "Cleanup" (Windows 2000
cleanup that is) would lock up and force me to do a hard reboot.

The one that I use the most is called EasyCleaner by ToniArts. You can
find it at http://www.toniarts.com/easyclean or if you search around for
it on google, you can find his older freeware version also.

I would, however, stay away from SystemWorks and McAfee's version (if
they have one). Just because you'll get a lot of 'bloatware' for the
little bit you want/need. I've used SystemWorks (2003) and it was
alright. However, if you just want something to clean up, I wouldn't
recommend paying the money for all of the extras.

If, for some reason, you do decide to play with the Registry (I've done
it once or twice with EasyCleaner) before you even start the program,
open up Regedit or Regedit32 and do an export of all of your registry
keys. Save it to a .reg file on your C:\ (not in any sub folders) then
do the cleaner. That way, if for some reason, it does wipe out
something that you actually did need, you can always restore from that
backup. Plus, if the cleaner that you use doesn't let you select which
registry entries you can remove (EasyCleaner and a few others that I've
tried let you select the items) don't use it. Also, I would say before
you select anything that you're not familiar with, search online for
information about it.

HTH a little.
Patrick.
.

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