Thanks Jolie that is great advice. =)

Microsoft and many others advise against using msconfig this way! It was meant to diagnose problems only. The items are still there but disabled. You should use a program that removes the items.

Like Jolie, I sometimes use msconfig, but generally I run "services.msc" I have never had any problems running that. As far as I know altering the start up to manual means that it will not load as a process until you invoke it when you need it. (eg from your Start / All programs tab! )
As Bilbo says Msconfig and its tabs is primarily a diagnostic tool !
Soluto basically alters the services at start up for you.
Cheers wbool63

so many different ways to clean up! Since I just got a message about not enough swap memory or something like that, I did some minor cleaning, mainly eliminated a bunch of stuff that my grandaughter had on her desktop (uninstalled stuff, deleted files, etc)...it seems to be running faster now!!! I also took off a bunch of unused desktop icons from everyone's desktop, and made sure that there was only the minimum on start up. I'm too scared to actually go into msconfig or anything like that, I never even opened the tower without a computer-savvy person helping.
Yesterday I got to spend a few hours playing with a macbook (not online, though)...Oy, I'm in love, lol! I'm really wanting one although I'm not sure how to translate certain Windows stuff into Apple...like what do they call add/remove programs. I was sort of disappointed that there was no graphics/drawing program installed, so I didn't get to try out that sort of thing, but I did find that iPhoto and Photobooth were super easy to do minor photo-editing. I want to try gfx on the mac before I make any decisions.

The people from Soluto sent me an email with a link to download it. I went from 5:30 (5min, 30sec) to 4:40. Otherwise, it's pretty much the same. I hate Quicktime, as it keeps re-enabling it's fast launch, which takes up my time and space.

Don't forget flash cookies during your cleanup. Many users are not even aware that Flash tracking cookies (otherwise known as Local Shared Objects) even exist or how much of an insidious privacy invasion they are.

A couple of interesting articles here and here.

Also, a bloated Window's registry can really bog you down as well. Getting a bloated registry over time seems unavoidable, unless you're really on top of it.

MalwareBytes is a phenominal program for keeping things running. I use the free version and I love it. It has saved several machines that were stuck with a faux virus hoax!

I just used malwarebytes a couple weeks ago...it found over 300 things it got rid of!!! BTW, not sure what a registry is and how to clean it up. I'm just happy that my 6 yr old computer is running faster than it has in months.

Can Malwarebytes be run at the same time as regular anti virus software? I was always told that you cannot have two anti vurus softwares installed at the same time. Want to make sure that Malwarebytes isn't anti virus software.

Whool63, any pointers of what to do when you're in services.msc?

Malwarebytes free version does not run as a live app. You ned to manualy run a system scan. The paid version runs as a background app.

Malwarebytes also looks for malware type actions, which can detect problems that aren't yet identified as problems.

With Malwarebytes, as with any anti-malware program, you should always review the actions before you click delete. These programs aren't perfect. For example, I ran a scan and it detected over 80 problems. When I looked, some of the pograms didn't make sense. I tend to group programs into sub folders by type. All the problems were in the folder "AV" for Audio/Video. Since there is a rouge anti-virus program that installs in a folder called AV, it marked all the programs in that folder for deletion. If I would have not checked, it would have deleted al my programs, including GIMP.

I always check to see what it suggests, but have never had a problem. It isn't an anti-virus program, so is totally compatible with all AV programs. The faux virus programs don't get seen by AV programs, since they are malware and not a virus. They are every bit as dangerous, though. Maybe even more so. They pretend to be an AV program, and report a virus (faux virus) and say that you need to buy their program to fix it. Then they get you to willingly give them your credit card info. MalwareBytes cures that hoax.

Malwarebytes found only 4 problems on a 3 year old laptop. I feel like such a good girl. Apparently I'm not visiting all the naughty websites.

Maybe I need to??

lol ... found 111 on mine =\
uh ohhh!

fixed em though! =)
question though, it says you can purchase it.Does that mean this is not the full version?

The full version monitors your system, where the free version only runs on command.

Need to what? Visit the naughty websites? Call me thick but I don't get it.

Hi Jolie , no there are no real pointers as to what to do. I only use that listing because it has explanations of what each process does and its dependencies. I probably use it the same way as you use msconfig to try and keep system overheads down or starting stuff when I have been fiddling with the system.
I usually have problems after I see something while browsing and think "yeah , that could be handy". Invariable I should not not have down loaded that little thing and so I have to restore things. In the end I have lots of little programs that want to "self start" and every now and then things go pear shaped and I have to "repair" the system. I actually play with all the services . Services.msc is only one of them and it is the least harmful one! You have just introduced Malwarebytes to me . Tomorrow I will have a play with that !
Cheers Wbool63

oh ok that's no big difference then. =)

for a bit i was thinking it was going to shut down on me after so many days.

I need to visit the naughty websites. I could learn something!




Keeps right on running!

Sorry for dragging this old thread out of the mud.
Just want to tell something that might be of help to some windows users here.

I recently found out that my aunt who is using a six year old laptop never does a virus scan and ignored windows updates. Luckily the latter was set to automatic but she never installed XP service pack 3, it was just waiting there for years.

The laptop has been used by her for the last three years, she surfs the internet on an old version of IE. From what I understand the laptop is on most of the day and she likes surfing a lot.
It has had Avast! Free antivirus installed on it since the beginning. But it was running an old version because she had no clue how to run a scan let alone how to upgrade, but the virus definitions still updated automatically.

There were some weird things going on on that laptop so I talked her through how to run a scan over the phone. It found two viruses and then gave a weird log screen with all kinds of stuff. From what I could understand a really old version of ad-aware was in the way, but I'm not sure because I never saw the screen.

So I had her bring the laptop to me. I uninstalled ad-aware and avast. Then installed Malwarebytes and after two hours of a full scan it found nothing! After six years, nothing! That's a better score then my much newer laptop with a paid virus scanner. I then installed the latest version of Avast! Free, ran a scan, nothing again. But that made sense since the old version had already scanned it not long ago. Then I found out that the weird behaviour was caused by some wrong settings.

The point of this post it, if you don't have an up to date virus scanner, get avast! free. It seems to be doing at least as good a job as well known paid for packages. From now on I'll only pay if it's offering features that you cannot get with avast! free and after I've done some intensive research into what the best scanner really is.

A footnote. Avast! Free doesn't offer a firewall. So if you're not behind a router the windows firewall might not be enough. There are some free great firewalls out there. Comodo and Zonealarm are usually recommended.

Just posting this here because lots of people said malwarebytes picked up dozens, if not hundred threats, and on this old laptop used by someone who isn't very computer literate, it picked up none.
Maybe just lucky, but this free scanner is doing something right.