Many PC users do not think about maintenance as long as their system is running as intended. The issue here is that they might be able to resolve future issues, or mitigate them at least, if they would run a set of tools regularly on their PC. The following guide looks at some of the recommended programs – my recommendations – that should be run regularly on a PC. Not all are maintenance related though, you also find security and privacy programs in the list for instance.
1. Security
Windows PCs these days are better protected than they were ten years ago. Microsoft is for instance shipping additional security software with newer versions of the operating system, and providing free downloads of tools such as
But even if your PC is Fort Knox, I’d suggest to run additional on-demand software to make sure the system has not been compromised.
2. Privacy
Privacy is all about making sure that you do not leak information or data out in the open. On PCs, this usually comes back to removing temporary or deleted files.
3. Maintenance
Maintenance ensures that your system runs as smoothly as it did on the first day of operation. Even if you are a light user, operations eventually will take their toll on your system.
4. Hardware
Some hardware related issues can be detected before it is to late. This includes hard drives that will likely stop working in the near future, or overheating issues of the built-in video card.
Closing Words
It is not really necessary to run all the tools all the time. Others can be scheduled to run them completely on the system without user interaction.
Do you think an essential tool is missing? Post your favorite tools in the comments.
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Responses so far:James Kelly says:
A nice concise and I hope to some illuminating article. I’ve got a few others I run on a regular basis. I run CCleaner every time before I close down the PCs and run Security essentials at least once a day, I keep Panda running in the background.
Of course the old adage is “If you’re unsure about something DON’T open it” which I’ve tried to instil into users I support. The majority don’t even know what a Spam filter is!
Oh well back to pushing water up a hill. Now where did I put that recovery USB…….
I use all the ones you have pointed out plus I use Malwarebytes running the “Perform Full Scan” mode, every week, or as needed.
Superantispyware is another good one in my tool box.
Both of these are free, however I bought the real-time version of Malwarebytes, it’s well worth it to avoid going to websites that are malicious.
Also Speccy from Piriform to review your system specifications for drivers and some temps is good too.
Regards – Tom
I think many of us who read your great newsletter are home users and browser history isn’t a huge issue but removing temps and cleaning up once a week is big. I do want to suggest 3 different programs. Soluto identifies start-up programs and browser add-ons and makes suggestions to speed up your system with a real clock to show your changes. Secunia PSI (personal software inspector) will keep you updated on all your programs & security patches. And one of my favorites… the never reviewed but often revered Rising Free anti virus and malware… self updating and thourough and a favorite of mine. All free.
I like the Soluto idea, but not that it will undo all changes once you uninstall the software again.
Soluto is a webapp now. I’m not sure how that affects what I agree was an issue before they changed their process.
https://www.soluto.com/
It is still the same unfortunately.
beware says:I don’t trust Chinese software
All very good tools and as usual, this is another great article from Ghacks.
I stopped listing Microsoft Security Essentials a while back. avast! and Comodo Internet Security are much better IMO. Also Emsisoft’s scanner could be mentioned as I find it detects more malware than any other…though it also lists more false positives, the trade off isn’t an option for me. I also recommended Todo Backup for a while, but I’ve had several images fail even after verification, therefore I went back to Macrium Reflect, though fewer features, is much more reliable…I’ve never had an image fail.
Here is a link to my two major plans I promote as something everyone should read and I freely share it. Years of research and continued monitoring for updates have been applied to these:
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVERY COMPUTER USER SHOULD DO
http://goo.gl/zy8Oy+
Comprehensive Security Plan
http://goo.gl/QKPHm+
Outside of system processes (which I have no control over), I’ve noticed that MSE (now in release 3.x) is the BIGGEST USER of CPU time on my system!
Are others seeing this?
The free “Absolute Uninstaller” will show and uninstall 32-bit apps that do not show up in the list provided by the free Revo Uninstaller or the default Windows uninstaller. These ‘hidden’ apps get installed along with other apps without informing the user. Check it out, you may be surprised by what you find. Search for info on what you find to decide if it is safe to remove them.
“HWiNFO” is a very good free utility for displaying hardware info. There is a 32-bit version and a 64-bit version.
“SUMO” is good for finding software updates. It detects apps more than “Update Checker” and “PSI”, but you have to go the websites and download them yourself.
The free version of Revo seems to have slowed down a lot these days. I just tested it again and it took 59 seconds to list 310 applications (this on an overclocked E6750 dual core CPU). That time seems excessive to me.
Does anyone suspect that Revo might be throttling the speed on the free version?
Don’t know about Revo slowing down, but Comodo Program manager is ten times better than Revo even if it were combined with ZSoft. It runs as a service…very light, and monitors all installs. Unlike Revo, but like ZSoft it records all of the entries and files made by the installation and uses the program uninstaller to uninstall, then deletes the files missed. Files that can’t be deleted will be deleted on reboot. It can do more even if it didn’t monitor an installation.
All other free uninstallers have been left behind.
http://www.comodo.com/home/support-maintenance/programs-manager.php
One more thing about Comodo Program Manager. Another great feature of it is when you uninstall a program, you can choose to monitor and save the uninstall so if you wish to reinstall the program later, you can use the saved uninstall to do so. There are more features.
acr says:Nice list. I like to use Puran Defrag because it offers a boot defrag which seems to set apart from most other free defrag programs. Also for an on demand scanner I like to use Hitman Pro which scans for free using multiple cloud based antivirus programs. But removal of malware triggers a 30 day trial. I’ve been fortunate that it’s not found anything on my system.
One tweak to settings I always do is to set Java updates to check daily. If a person sets this through the control panel the settings will revert to the default update checking of every 30 days. So to make the daily check stick a person has to change the settings running as admin. To do this go the following path: Program Files>Java>jre7>bin>Right click javacpl.exe and Run as administrator. Once there the settings can be made to check daily. I have had mixed results as sometimes the settings will revert to every 30 days anyway, maybe that is after every actual java update…not sure. But with so many java exploits these days it’s nice to check for updates daily as opposed to monthly. Also, old versions of java should be removed, such as JRE6 and prior.
Best Free Microsoft Downloads
Updated 2. March 2012 – 21:40 by IronPlatypus
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/best-free-microsoft-downloads.htm