and reinstalling your OS?

should I just do something else without completely reinstalling?

my computer's not really slow or anything, but I imagine it could benefit from a reinstall, right?

I don't have much computer expertise in that regard, and could use some pro tips, thx

9/4/2010 10:08:05 PM

ibtwipingyourassparodythread

9/4/2010 10:10:58 PM

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

9/4/2010 10:13:41 PM

^I mean I just imagine I probably have problems, I don't know

maybe I don't

it's not painfully slow or anything


I guess maybe you guys could suggest some programs for me to run or things I should do to keep it running well

like I guess I should defrag every now and again, but I think it does that automatically

9/4/2010 10:13:43 PM

spybot s&d & adaware are the two programs you need if you search random porn sites




if you don't visit sketchy sites and don't download tons of illegal things with cracks you really don't need any kind of software to protect your computer. Defraging can help but odds are if your computer is slow its from random shit you have running that you don't know about.

Obviously your computer will feel smoother if you wipe and reinstall, but it technically shouldn't be any faster than if you got rid of all your behind the scenes programs/services/scripts that are on autostart

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

[Edited on September 4, 2010 at 10:17 PM. Reason : then again i don't know that much about computers]

9/4/2010 10:15:33 PM

I also use malwarebytes

any other good ones u guys can think of

other than deleting system32 (I hear that works)

9/4/2010 10:17:47 PM

i like to wipe my hard drive and reinstall ~twice a year. Sometimes more for funzies.

I end up with a bunch of things I don't need anymore, so I just back up the essentials and keep it light and fast.

9/4/2010 10:34:55 PM

so your advantage is mainly getting rid of stuff you didn't need?

9/4/2010 10:36:10 PM

ANd free up corrupt registry files...

9/4/2010 10:38:28 PM

Everything stays as fast as possible, and I keep things I don't want/use off. I really like things to be light and fast, which is why for a while I was running ubuntu.

9/4/2010 10:39:00 PM

so is that a vote or two for me doing it

9/4/2010 10:39:13 PM

Put it this way, back-up things you need and it can't hurt.

9/4/2010 10:40:24 PM

9/4/2010 10:40:41 PM

less chance of skid marks

9/4/2010 10:41:08 PM

get ccleaner and perfectdisk

use them

between the two of them i kept a single install in top form for the better part of a decade

fresh installs are pretty damn unnecessary if your system isn't compromised

9/4/2010 11:43:21 PM

dumb question

how can I tell if my system is compromised

use that malware stuff and the programs you suggested?

9/4/2010 11:50:15 PM

"compromised" as in "broken"

if you're not having problems, there's no need

the registry cleaner in ccleaner has never steered me wrong

careful not to delete your cookies and form info if you don't remember all your passwords an SNs though

9/5/2010 2:23:02 AM

ok, sort of related question

I know this chick that has a REALLY REALLY slow computer

how can I get her computer working faster?

I'm pretty sure she has antivirus software, so it's not a virus probably

should I suggest the ccleaner and perfectdisk like fermat said, and the malwarebytes or some kind of spyware program?

is there any way we can get to the root of the problem?

9/20/2010 1:17:31 PM

easiest thing to do sometimes is to start over. reformat, reinstall.

9/20/2010 1:18:44 PM

Attention BubbleBobble-Oriented Incoming Freshmen

9/20/2010 1:19:20 PM

Quote :

"I know this chick that has a REALLY REALLY slow computer"

tahts the problem!

9/20/2010 1:19:59 PM

Check for shit that starts at startup; use Mike Lin's Startup Control Panel or if you're hardcore you can look around in Autoruns by Sysinternals.

9/20/2010 1:21:31 PM

^it's a chick, she won't understand all that.

9/20/2010 1:22:07 PM

sadly girls seem to slow down their computers more frequently than guys. Guys I see can't even use theirs from some porno virus. But the girls are the ones with TONS of malware slowly grinding to a halt.

And the only reason I would reload a computer would be if there was a virus. Even the best anti-virus can't repair every problem caused by a virus - there's always a port left open or something stupid. So I just reload from Ghost image.

9/20/2010 1:22:53 PM

I agree, unless the computer crashes and you can't get rid of a virus, you don't have to reinstall.


What's with new computers not being sold O/S software anymore. Fuck capitalism.

[Edited on September 20, 2010 at 1:26 PM. Reason : .]

9/20/2010 1:26:27 PM

ok well

let's start with something easy, cause I can't make it over to her house or anything like that lol

so first check the startup programs? that's easy enough right

don't I type something in the command box for that

let me google that for me

9/20/2010 1:28:56 PM

Wipe and reinstall. Trust me nothing else will be as easy and effective. Most people have photos on facebook and music on an mp3. But make sure you back those up on an external then wipe that shit. You'd be surprised how much faster it will run, obv not going to start running crysis but it should be significantly faster at erryday tasks.

9/20/2010 1:54:33 PM

I don't believe she has a reinstall disc or anything like that

nor a backup hard drive

I think she's honestly not smart enough to figure out how to do that on her own

9/20/2010 1:56:03 PM

there should be a folder marked "start up" in the list of programs after you click the start button. There you should see a list of the programs that open at start up. You can also see what programs open at start up by doing a fresh reboot and look at the icons that are present near the cpu clock


press ctrl alt del once to view task manager.
Go to the "Processes" tab. Click View -> Select columns and make sure username, Cpu usage, Memory usage, peak memory usage, virtual memory size are all checked off.

Go to the "performance" tab and look at your PF Usage. Make sure the number in the PF usage is smaller than the amount of RAM she has.

Look at "processes" again and focus on the usernames that aren't system or network services. Click on VM size column heading and it will list the VM size from highest to smallest. Close the programs with the highest VM size until the PF usage in the performance tab is smaller than the amount of RAM.

Once you accomplish this, the computer should run faster.

[Edited on September 20, 2010 at 2:03 PM. Reason : .]

9/20/2010 2:02:16 PM