Short List of Utilities for Vista

Tried a trial of advanced windows care pro...and ran it...created a bunch of problems cleaning up things it should not have touched...like toolbar icons became inactive....uninstalled and ran a system restore to get rid of it...fortunately all back to normal.

I'm using CCleaner for my registry errors; Are there any good free Registry cleaners?

I just purchased the latest version of Casper.

Version 5.0 has a complete 64 bit application

Casper hard disk copying software provides complete PC backup protection | Future Systems Solutions

I have never used it, however, by all reports nothing much goes wrong with it

Anything like Crucial Memory Mechanic that is x64 compatible?

I noticed Wise Registry Cleaner recommended on this board so I'm trying it out on my old XP machine first. Also ran the Wise Disk Cleaner from the same people. So far my XP machine still boots and seems normal. After a couple of days if nothing blows up I'll try it on my 32 bit Vista machine. Just for grins I ran CCleaner registry issues thing after rebooting and it only found a few items. Wise Registry Cleaner had some marked as not safe to fix, but I guess CCleaner just went ahead and fixed 'em!! It claims to have an Undo for the Registry cleaner so as long as you can boot then you should be able to reverse it. My impression is that it didn't do any damage. I'm just waiting as a precaution.

Edit: Just as a follow-up, after installing Wyzo browser, then removing it with ZSoft uninstaller(via analysis/removal) I was unable to complete system restores using restore points I made before Wyzo install. I'm not sure if it's Wyzo or Wise Registry Cleaner, but I notice another bad comment about it here:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best...ry-cleaner.htm

Fortunately I had a system snapshot only one day old to put back on my XP machine. Guess I'll get wise and stay away from stuff with wize, or wise, or wyze in the name for awhile!!

I did notice that when I analyzed the install with Zsoft it showed a lot of registry changes so it may have been the Wyzo browser download. But I'm goin' back to stuff I've used for awhile, like CCleaner.

Hi Folks. I'm running Vista 64 bit Sp1 and I think it is absolutely superb. I'm using Kaspersky Security Suite 7 which costs about 30 GBP. As I still have a few months to run on my licence I've been able to upgrade to verion 8 for nothing.
I think that Vista 64 is naturally more secure then XP but I can't fault Kaspersky. I still have Spybot S&D and Adaware and I run them every couple of weeks. They rarely find anything and when they do it is something that is not much of a threat.
I also use CCleaner, Auslogics defrag and Ashampoo Winoptmimizer and am pleased with the result.
Maybe this is overkill but my system runs like a rocket and I've not had any problems that weren't my own fault for almost a year now so I would definitely recommend Kaspersky. I know it's not free but it's cheaper than some competitors and works great.

Cheers to you all, John

I'd like to add Glary Utilities. Does System Registry cleanup, fixes shortcuts, cleans temp folders out, etc. Seems to work well. I use it on both XP and Vista.

Also, I'd add Avast anti-virus software. I like it better than AVG (Have used both). With AVG , I have had problems getting it to install on my Vista Utimate pc, while Avast just loaded and works.

Avast do a 64bit virus checker and it is free. I use this and it is not a resource hog like some others (not kasperkey).

Hey Joe,

you mention you've removed spyware doctor because it now only removes spyware if you purchase it? Well....that's only sort of true. If you go to pack.google.com and download spyware doctor through them, you get the fully functioning version, but for free.

Only downside? It does not work with the 64bit version of vista yet.

Actually, that is mentioned on the Spyware Doctor's web page:

And you can also download *just* the starter edition from C|Net: Spyware Doctor Starter Edition - Free software downloads and reviews - CNET Download.com

The starter edition is NOT the full edition.