- Which optimization software should I use?
- Can I use registry cleaner should I use and wich?
- Which defrag software should I use?
- Which uninstaller should I use?
- Do I need the optimization software use daily or weekly?
1. With Vista and later versions of Windows there is not much of a need for optimization software. Also, as I will explain below they should be used with caution because the registry cleaner components, quite often want to remove valid registry keys. Also, while optimization software often comes with impressive claims about how it will make your computer run like new, or fix problems. The truth is that while such software can speed up your computer, the chances are it won't make it run like new. As well as this, there are very few problems, that optimization software will actually fix.
One exception, however is
Kerish Doctor, as it can actually fix a range of issues. It is the only optimization software I recommend.
If you are looking for free software,
Clean Master For PC, does a good job of cleaning junk files, and you can use MSCONFIG (or Task Manager in Windows 8 or later), to remove unneeded startup items, to make your computer boot faster.
2. The short answer is
never use a registry cleaner.
Now for the long answer. For the most part there is no need to clean the registry. While a registry cleaner will usually find hundreds of "errors" and sometimes even thousands of errors, around 99.9% of the time these "errors" do no matter, and there absolutely no benefit gained from cleaning them. While the publishers of registry cleaners claim that cleaning the registry will increase PC performance, Windows is designed so that excess registry entries will not slow down a computer, and due to this, cleaning the registry should not make a computer run faster. Once, I deleted around ten thousand keys with several different registry cleaners, and then did a registry defrag. After rebooting, there absolutely no noticable increase in speed. In many years of using registry cleaners, even on computers which are running much slower than they should, only once have I ever seen a noticable speed increase from cleaning the registry.
Also, cleaning the registry usually won't fix any PC problems. I can only think of four instances out of hundreds (possibly even thousands) of times I used registry cleaners that they have actually fixed any problems. I often have problems with my PCs due to constantly installing and uninstalling new software, and never doing clean installs of Windows. I often fix computers for others as well, and no matter what weird problems they have, using a registry cleaner never fixes them.
To make things worse, just about all registry cleaners mistakenly delete valid registry keys. Understandably, doing so is not a good idea, and can cause problems. Probably 99.9% of registry cleaners identify some valid registry keys as being errors.
3. If you're running Vista or a newer OS, then the included deframenter is more than adequate, and there is not going to be a lot benefit gained from using a third party defragmenter. The Windows defragmenter is scheduled to run a defrag in the background once a week, so there is no need to run it manually.
As an example of how well the included defragmenter works, the results of an extensive test and benchmark of defragmenters can be found
here, and the conclusion about the Windows 7 defragmenter was:
The Windows 7 Defragmenter does quite a decent job. Unlike its Windows XP counterpart, it does not perform as well at the boot optimization, but scores in the disciplines defragmentation and consolidation of free space. Thus, the Windows 7 Defragmenter is competitive with the other defragmenters. In other words, other defragmenters are struggling to make the system noticeably faster. An advantage of the Windows 7 Defragmenter is that it automatically works in the background. The user does not need to worry about anything in that regard
4. If you want to scan for leftovers after uninstalling software, Revo Uninstaller is excellent and usually finds more leftover files and registry keys than any of the alternatives, but only the paid Pro version supports 64 bit versions of Windows. For a free uninstaller, IObit Uninstaller is very good. It's often not quite as good at finding leftovers as Revo, but still does a good job, and a major new release is going to happen soon. However, if you are going to use any other these uninstallers, you should manually verify the found leftovers before removing them, as on occasion they will find data not related to the program you are uninstalling - which can cause problems. If you're not prepared to do this, stick with softwares included uninstallers.
Another option for uninstaller software is uninstallers which monitor any changes made when you install software, and then use this information to cleanly uninstall the software. They work better than uninstallers like Revo becuase they have a record of exactly what files and registry entries are created when you install software.
5. Kerish Doctor runs in the background has realtime protection against issues. If you open it, every few days it will recommend you run a full scan.
As a final note, if you ever have any computer problems,
Windows Repair from tweaking.com, does an excllent job of fixing issues with Windows, is reguarly updated and is free unless you opt for the Pro version.
I hope this helps.
