Clean up

Hi

I see that my Vista computer has a cleanup program? How often should I do the clean up of my computer? I see that some people have installed CCleaner program on their computer. Is it good to get another cleanup program to scan your computer? thank you.

CCleaner is a good program. Always set a system restore point before using. I use Auslogic for the last few years but have used both. I clean my system and run my spyware program weekly. Trend Micro .

You can go to www.cnet.com and www.zdnet.com to read about and download software.
Read both the "expert" and user review of each as sometimes I think these sites get a kickback. Also make sure it says program for window all or vista.

Hi Springrobin,

You can schedule Vista's disk cleanup using Task scheduler , or run it manually.

These tutorials will show how to use it

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76073-disk-cleanup.html
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/87831-disk-cleanup-correct-shortcut-vista-64-bit.htm

Ccleaner is a very popular app.- you need to make sure you you set it up first, have a look at the options it provides.

Make sure you uncheck the box for Windows Defender History under the Applications tab - or Defender it will forget it has scanned and keep nagging.
There are options to choose whether to delete IE History, Cookies, etc.

During istallation, you can uncheck the boxes for shortcut icon and desktop icon - then access Ccleaner by right clicking the recycle bin.You can run him at the end of every session and he cleans up in less than a second.

I really like Ccleaner - right now, I use it every day.

SIW2

Hi everybody

thank you for all the information you have given...i will certainly go to the tutorial and learn how to schedule the clean up on a weekly basis. I also plan to download ccleaner if it is Ok to have two programs to do clean up of my computer..thanks again

Hi Springrobin,

It won't do any harm to use both programs , but if you are using Ccleaner regularly, Diskcleanup won't have much to do and vice versa.

SIW2

Hi

thank you for your response. Another question...I see that there are defaults in CCleaner with all the boxes checked...so I assume it is Ok to leave them as they are and to go ahead and clean up ..What are the registries..Isn't Ok to tell it to fix all selected items.....thanks

It is okay to run ccleaner with all boxes check but be sure to set a restore point using system restore to insure you can restore your setting if anything quits working properly. I have never had to use it but it is better to be safe than sorry.

Hi Springrobin,

Look at the options and uncheck the things you don't want it to do - don't think any of them will be disastrous, but it can be annoying to cleanup some things.

In the Cleaning section, look under the Applications tab and uncheck the Windows Defender box - otherwise it wil clear the scan history and Defender will keep telling you it hasn't scanned.

Also , you may not want to clear your Internet Explorer History every time, e.g. if you want to use the History tab in IE to revisit a site later that day. It will get enormous if you never clear it though.

The Registry is a database in which Vista and your programs store their file locations,configuration settings, and so on.

It is debatable whether cleaning this confers any real advantage, and deleting the wrong keys can cause all sorts of problems, which is why you will always see advice to backup your registry before you do anything to it.

If you don't feel comfortable with that, don't use the registry cleaner and uncheck the box that says Registry Integrity, just to be sure.

Having said that, I use the registry cleaner regularly and have never had any problems.

Hope that's of some help

SIW2