General Computing Cleanup Tips from a Professional

[dave]

Greetings fellow Huskers! I'm one of the behind-the-scenes guys that helps out with server issues from time to time for Chad and the HB crew. I saw this forum and figured I'd put a little bit of information out there for you all. Enjoy!

 

There is an outstanding tool out there called MALWAREBYTES. It's become such a great tool for our computer repair department that it's nearly the only tool we use to clean up computers. You can download it here: http://www.malwarebytes.org The free version should be just fine.

 

Once you download it, you'll need to run it to have it actually on your computer and running. Just accept all the default choices.

 

At the end of the installation it will automatically update itself and open up - let it do this. IF it doesn't update, you have a more severe problem and should contact a professional or seek further self-help sites on the net that are outside of the scope of this document. (HINT: search for HiJackThis - but be very careful!) You can also feel free to contact my office using the contact information at the bottom of this post.

 

Once the updates are done it will return you to the main screen of MalwareBytes. Click on the option to do a quick scan - it's the first option in the list. Let it do its thing, and while it's doing it, don't use your computer. In fact, before starting the scan, it would be a good idea to close down all programs you have running. This will allow the program to run faster and have a better chance of cleaning up any problems.

 

Once the scan is done, you'll have an option to view/fix the problems that were found. Do this, and if prompted to reboot it's IMPERATIVE that you do the reboot right away.

 

After rebooting (if necessary) come back in to MalwareBytes and run the full scan. Again, you will likely need to reboot when it's complete.

 

Continue running reboots and full scans until the scans come up clean. IF your scans continue to come up with the same infection, again, it's probably your best bet to contact a professional.

 

Repeat the entire process above (other than the program download) under each user account your computer has, if you happen to have more than one account.

 

Once finished, we HIGHLY suggest changing your computer so that you have one single account with administrative access, and one account (or more) that are restricted/limited users. NEVER use the administrative account unless you're specifically wanting to do updates to your computer. This will make it so that when you're online on Facebook, MySpace, Youtube, Yahoo, etc, that if you accidentally run in to a virus installer, your computer will not allow you to run and execute the virus. THIS ALONE is enough to prevent you not only from getting viruses on your computer in the first place, but to not have to trouble yourself with anti-virus software, which makes your computer work MUCH better in the first place. Now, it would probably be foolish not to have some kind of anti-virus software, but I personally don't use anything on my own computers. Running with limited accounts has worked flawlessly for me.

 

Once that's all done, you'll want to do some disk cleanup - most Windows computers have a disk cleanup utility that you can run. This is the safest option.

 

If you want to get under the hood of your computer and do some more advanced things, you can click on START, then RUN (or just type in the search box for Vista and Win7 computers): msconfig .... That will bring up a utility that lets you disable certain services and startup programs in a very easy manner. If you've set up the administrator user as described above, you'll need to run this command as that administrative user. Don't just shut everything off -- that will have VERY bad effects on your computer. I typically go through and search Google for everything I find there. This will give you a good concept of what is actually on your computer, why it's there, and you can use your brain if you want to shut things off or not. Oftentimes people have old printer and camera drivers loading that they no longer need.

 

You can also use your computers "Add and Remove Programs" utility to uninstall software that you no longer want. You should NEVER just delete the program folder from C:\Program Files\Whatever -- this would make it so the uninstall process would not work properly for most programs.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to post back here, but I really don't get on here too often, so you might want to contact me outside the board. My contact information is below.

 

Dave Stahr

IT Consultant and Integrator

Virtual Impressions Incorporated

Website: http://www.virtualimpressions.com

 

Current contact information is located on our website. You can also do a remote support session with me if you'd like me to look at something for you. Our standard rates would apply for this service.

[Malth]

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

 

Makes a few things, like disabling apps on startup, easier

[AR Husker Fan]

1. After every clean install of the OS and apps - create an image. There are a number of programs out there for it; Symantec's Ghost being the most commonly used.

 

2. Make backups of your data. With the price of external drives and the abundance of backup software, scripts and utilities, there's absolutely no reason to NOT backup. You can now "set it and forget it" and it'll be a life saver some day. I like using Microsoft's free SyncToy for Windows installations - not only can you set it to run on a schedule (using Task Manager), it will only copy those files that have changed since the last backup - AND, if you delete a file from your hard drive, you can have it set to automaticaly delete it from your external drive if you wish. In other words, your backup will be automatically identical to the data on your computer.

 

If you ever have a crash or an infection that you can't get clean, restore is easy. Pop in the image, run all the updates, restore the backup.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

My computers extremely jacked up, I may be contacting you guys.

[Stu]

Dave,

Thanks for this.

Followed your instructions today, and my computer is running well again. last couple days it was acting 'funny', kinda slow, like it had a cold or something.

Working well now, thanks for the tips bud!

[RedNLeader]

Will it help stop my computer from shutting down and restarting all of time?

[Overland Park Husker]

Will it help stop my computer from shutting down and restarting all of time?

Is there any pop-up message that occurs before this or is it just random? What OS?

[RedNLeader]

No pop ups it just shuts down and restarts alot....or sometimes when i go to hit the power button it will power up then shut right back down...so?

[AR Husker Fan]

That sounds more like a hardware issue rather than a software issue. Failing power supply, bad capacitor, bad fan.

 

The first thing to do is crack the case and make sure that there isn't something causing a short. What that could be - well, hard to say. If you've added any hardware just before this started, make sure it's seated properly - as things heat up they tend to expand. It could be a motherboard off-set if you've added new hardware that plugs into the motherboard - it's weight may be causing a contact with the motherboard tray or a cable routed behind it.

 

It could be a failing CPU (or other) fan. If it has a stock fan, particuarly, I'd guess that. The good news is that it's a relatively easy fix. Buy a new fan (one designed for your chip), clean the old thermal paste off the chip, apply new paste, then add the fan. But before doing that...

 

If you BIOS has the feature, you might want to enable temperature alerts first, to see how hot it's getting in your case. Or crack the case, make sure the fan is clean (no excess dust or gunk), and that the fan is working. Also, try running your system without the side panel - if it works then, odds are that the case is getting too hot and you either have a bad fan or insufficient cooling. Be sure and check all vents are clear of dust and hair.

 

If the fans are working and clean, then I'd look at the power supply next. Unfortunately, no easy way to test that without some specialized tools, but if you have an extra "good" PSU that can handle your hardware, you could drop it in and run it for a while to see if it's that.

 

For capacitors, crack the case and look at them. Failing capacitors will usually had a bulge at the top - kind of like a dome. It should be flat. Bad news - if it's a capacitor, there is not a DYI fix unless you're REALLY handy with soldering and know your way around electronics; you're better off getting a new motherboard. If you're lucky, you can find an exact replacement on eBay or at retail.

[C N Red]

1. After every clean install of the OS and apps - create an image. There are a number of programs out there for it; Symantec's Ghost being the most commonly used.

 

2. Make backups of your data. With the price of external drives and the abundance of backup software, scripts and utilities, there's absolutely no reason to NOT backup. You can now "set it and forget it" and it'll be a life saver some day. I like using Microsoft's free SyncToy for Windows installations - not only can you set it to run on a schedule (using Task Manager), it will only copy those files that have changed since the last backup - AND, if you delete a file from your hard drive, you can have it set to automaticaly delete it from your external drive if you wish. In other words, your backup will be automatically identical to the data on your computer.

 

If you ever have a crash or an infection that you can't get clean, restore is easy. Pop in the image, run all the updates, restore the backup.

I am looking for a back up external hard drive so I can backup my computer. I know a few things about computers, but the in depth stuff I'm pretty lost on. Anyways, does anyone have any good recommendations for backup hard drives to buy? How much memory should I buy? Thanks for any input.

 

Also, do backups HDs save operating system stuff too? Guessing not, but just wondering. I am looking to get a new computer and want to eventually transfer everything over from my current computer to the new one. Guessing I will have to reload Office on new computer if doesn't come with it, correct? But I will need the actual CD to do it, right? You can't transfer Office from one computer to another, correct?

[NUance]

1. After every clean install of the OS and apps - create an image. There are a number of programs out there for it; Symantec's Ghost being the most commonly used.

 

2. Make backups of your data. With the price of external drives and the abundance of backup software, scripts and utilities, there's absolutely no reason to NOT backup. You can now "set it and forget it" and it'll be a life saver some day. I like using Microsoft's free SyncToy for Windows installations - not only can you set it to run on a schedule (using Task Manager), it will only copy those files that have changed since the last backup - AND, if you delete a file from your hard drive, you can have it set to automaticaly delete it from your external drive if you wish. In other words, your backup will be automatically identical to the data on your computer.

 

If you ever have a crash or an infection that you can't get clean, restore is easy. Pop in the image, run all the updates, restore the backup.

I am looking for a back up external hard drive so I can backup my computer. I know a few things about computers, but the in depth stuff I'm pretty lost on. Anyways, does anyone have any good recommendations for backup hard drives to buy? How much memory should I buy? Thanks for any input.

 

Also, do backups HDs save operating system stuff too? Guessing not, but just wondering. I am looking to get a new computer and want to eventually transfer everything over from my current computer to the new one. Guessing I will have to reload Office on new computer if doesn't come with it, correct? But I will need the actual CD to do it, right? You can't transfer Office from one computer to another, correct?

You might want to look into Dropbox as an alternative to getting an external HD for backup.

[C N Red]

1. After every clean install of the OS and apps - create an image. There are a number of programs out there for it; Symantec's Ghost being the most commonly used.

 

2. Make backups of your data. With the price of external drives and the abundance of backup software, scripts and utilities, there's absolutely no reason to NOT backup. You can now "set it and forget it" and it'll be a life saver some day. I like using Microsoft's free SyncToy for Windows installations - not only can you set it to run on a schedule (using Task Manager), it will only copy those files that have changed since the last backup - AND, if you delete a file from your hard drive, you can have it set to automaticaly delete it from your external drive if you wish. In other words, your backup will be automatically identical to the data on your computer.

 

If you ever have a crash or an infection that you can't get clean, restore is easy. Pop in the image, run all the updates, restore the backup.

I am looking for a back up external hard drive so I can backup my computer. I know a few things about computers, but the in depth stuff I'm pretty lost on. Anyways, does anyone have any good recommendations for backup hard drives to buy? How much memory should I buy? Thanks for any input.

 

Also, do backups HDs save operating system stuff too? Guessing not, but just wondering. I am looking to get a new computer and want to eventually transfer everything over from my current computer to the new one. Guessing I will have to reload Office on new computer if doesn't come with it, correct? But I will need the actual CD to do it, right? You can't transfer Office from one computer to another, correct?

You might want to look into Dropbox as an alternative to getting an external HD for backup.

Thought about cloud but have heard some bad experiences with the cloud and was thinking about doing external hard drive instead.

[NUance]

1. After every clean install of the OS and apps - create an image. There are a number of programs out there for it; Symantec's Ghost being the most commonly used.

 

2. Make backups of your data. With the price of external drives and the abundance of backup software, scripts and utilities, there's absolutely no reason to NOT backup. You can now "set it and forget it" and it'll be a life saver some day. I like using Microsoft's free SyncToy for Windows installations - not only can you set it to run on a schedule (using Task Manager), it will only copy those files that have changed since the last backup - AND, if you delete a file from your hard drive, you can have it set to automaticaly delete it from your external drive if you wish. In other words, your backup will be automatically identical to the data on your computer.

 

If you ever have a crash or an infection that you can't get clean, restore is easy. Pop in the image, run all the updates, restore the backup.

I am looking for a back up external hard drive so I can backup my computer. I know a few things about computers, but the in depth stuff I'm pretty lost on. Anyways, does anyone have any good recommendations for backup hard drives to buy? How much memory should I buy? Thanks for any input.

 

Also, do backups HDs save operating system stuff too? Guessing not, but just wondering. I am looking to get a new computer and want to eventually transfer everything over from my current computer to the new one. Guessing I will have to reload Office on new computer if doesn't come with it, correct? But I will need the actual CD to do it, right? You can't transfer Office from one computer to another, correct?

You might want to look into Dropbox as an alternative to getting an external HD for backup.

Thought about cloud but have heard some bad experiences with the cloud and was thinking about doing external hard drive instead.

Yeah, I used to use Carbonite and I hated it. I use Dropbox now and it seems a lot better. But even Dropbox does slow your computer down some on startup while it's equalizing files among the various computers sharing common files.

[AR Husker Fan]

1. After every clean install of the OS and apps - create an image. There are a number of programs out there for it; Symantec's Ghost being the most commonly used.

 

2. Make backups of your data. With the price of external drives and the abundance of backup software, scripts and utilities, there's absolutely no reason to NOT backup. You can now "set it and forget it" and it'll be a life saver some day. I like using Microsoft's free SyncToy for Windows installations - not only can you set it to run on a schedule (using Task Manager), it will only copy those files that have changed since the last backup - AND, if you delete a file from your hard drive, you can have it set to automaticaly delete it from your external drive if you wish. In other words, your backup will be automatically identical to the data on your computer.

 

If you ever have a crash or an infection that you can't get clean, restore is easy. Pop in the image, run all the updates, restore the backup.

I am looking for a back up external hard drive so I can backup my computer. I know a few things about computers, but the in depth stuff I'm pretty lost on. Anyways, does anyone have any good recommendations for backup hard drives to buy? How much memory should I buy? Thanks for any input.

 

Also, do backups HDs save operating system stuff too? Guessing not, but just wondering. I am looking to get a new computer and want to eventually transfer everything over from my current computer to the new one. Guessing I will have to reload Office on new computer if doesn't come with it, correct? But I will need the actual CD to do it, right? You can't transfer Office from one computer to another, correct?

Really, any of the external drives will work. If you want the easiest route, get something like the Seagate Backup Plus - those are more than just a drive in an enclosure. They come with backup software that will automate the process for you. They have USB connections and a power cord - that's it. If you computer has USB 3.0 ports, be sure that the drive you select supports USB 3.0 - much faster backups. I'm assuming you mean the amount of storage the drive should have when you ask about storage. What I would recommend is look at the size of your current drive. If it's nearly full, buy a drive that's larger than your current computer's drive. If it's only, say, half full, you can get by with a drive that is smaller than your current drive. But you can never have too much storage, so get as much as you can afford. No, they generally don't backup the OS or programs; you need something like Symantec's Ghost for that level of backup.

 

If your current computer has Office installed, then yes, you will either have to install it on the new computer or, again, ghost your current computer and then restore the image to the new computer - that will set up your new computer with EVERYTHING on you current computer. Whether you need the CD depends on how you installed on the current computer. Microsoft sells Office in a download version, and it may be possible to download it again. If not, then you will need the CD.

[CornHOLIO]

If I replace my HD and use my existing HD as a slave, do I need to copy my OS to the new HD?

 

I think I may have deleted too much after Malwarebytes found a couple of pages of nasty stuff.