I sorted the last problem by swapping out the computer, but now I need some advice for a computer I can't change. My boss is complaining that her laptop is running like a pig, and wants me to have a look at it. Before I plough in, I thought it would be good to get some advice on tools you guys use to keep thing running sweet.

Firstly, I don't know if it's XP or Vista - pretty sure it's not 7.

Secondly, I'm planning to run CCleaner and Malware Bytes to make sure the registry is clean and to make sure there's nothing untowards going on. Whenever I tinker with PCs, there always seems to be some crapware that doesn't have an entry in 'Add or Remove Programs' or something listed there that says it has already been uninstalled - can anyone recommend me a really good (freeware) uninstaller that really gets to the root of what is and isn't there?

I'm familiar with using msconfig to turn off unnecassary services and processes.

I'm assuming that Windows builds up big log files somewhere that can be purged - where are they, and how do I do it?

I'd welcome any recommendations for getting this (as yet unseen) machine tuned up.

Yeah, run ccleaner, then defrag the hard drive. As well as the startup list in msconfig, there's also a prefetch folder that you can clear of everything.

Cheers Jon - where's the prefetch stuff?

I used to do this regularly. If people's pcs were running slowly they were sent to me.

My fix was to back up their data and reinstall it from scratch. For windows it is the best, fastest and easiest way of sorting any problems.

Ccleaner etc... Will work but the problems will return fairly quickly (ie within a month).

LOL, I just said much the same on the adjacent thread

I don't do anything much.

I make sure that things like the Adobe Reader helper and updater don't load automatically, I just check for regular updates myself.

Other than that, the best advice is don't install crap constantly, then de-install it.

My Windows XP machine ran 4 years without significantly slowing down, my Windows 7 machines are in a similar state. They aren't showing any ill effects or "bit rot".

+1 and take a system image as soon as the updates are installed, to avoid having to re-install drivers, etc.

So true.

Scratch my previous piece of advice, it's actually only applicable to XP, and also appears to be bollocks as XP just rebuilds it anyway:

http://www.edbott.com/weblog/2005/06/on ... ch-folder/

I am in the process of writing a guide for work on this for when customers email in about slow running notebooks.

Interesting, thanks for the link.

Ironically, she was out all day so I didn't get to go over her laptop. Her trip out led to her using a Mac, which led to plenty of questions I could answer!

Been using TuneUp Utilities for a couple of years now, and it seems to do a pretty good job of keeping mine running smoothly:

http://www.tune-up.com/products/tuneup-utilities/

SSD +6gb ram!

+1

Running CCleaner and Defraggler every so often, disable most startup items and not installing god knows what from the internet. The last one being the most important.

I've not reinstalled one of my XP Pro systems for at least 6 years now, and I rarely install anything I don't keep and use, as it's a key development platform to match a client's XP systems. Startup takes ages, but it is crammed to the gills with stuff! I have a Mac that's older and never been wiped, and that starts up and shuts down very fast, so it is windows which gets far worse with time, IME.

You might want to have a look at Soluto http://www.soluto.com
which can help with all the startup cr4p that loads forever and a day, mine is pretty light at startup but still takes several minutes before it's actually usable, I've only 7 essentially apps running in the system tray and regularly keep an eye on startup/msconfig. The virus checker always takes over first updating in the morning, I tend to come back after 5 minutes when it's all ready to go.

I disable most things at startup including any pre-office loading and acrobat/adobe reader.

Soluto wasn't much use for me, but I know what most services are for and can enable, disable or stop with a fair bit of knowledge, but it's good for less technical people.

Prefetch will get regenerated as needed, so clear if you like C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch

User Temp is here C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Temp

CCleaner can do a lot of that automatically.

If you are running low on space, clear out all the old Windows updates (in blue) from the C:\Windows folder, except the $hf_mig$ which are required and $xpsp1hfm$ which I keep for safety.

If you use spotify you can save space by clearing the enormous cache here:
C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Application Data\Spotify\Storage

A decent amount of HD space can improve performance too.