My computer is acting crappy right now, and I plan on fixing it. Because the free version of Windows Registry Defender was already downloaded to my computer when I got it, it keeps suggesting that I buy the full version to repair all of the errors. I’m just wondering if there’s any other programs like this that are better, or cheaper, or whatever. What do you suggest?
Tagged with: free version • registry defender • windows registry
Filed under: Clean Up Computer
Best one is free, always has been.
A Data Backup is and has been the best and most assured way of fixing,repairing and cleaning up any digital data for a LONG time.
Ever used an emoticon, it has a story :
The First Smiley 🙂
The smiley 🙂 and its many variants are an important (and fun!) part of the worldwide online social culture — allowing emotions to be conveyed in plain text. It has been in widespread use since the early ’80s, when it was first proposed. Yet the original message in which the smiley was invented had been lost — until now. 🙂 After a significant effort to locate it, on September 10, 2002 the original post made by Scott Fahlman on CMU CS general bboard was retrieved by Jeff Baird from an October 1982 backup tape of the spice vax (cmu-750x). Here is Scott’s original post:
19-Sep-82 11:44 Scott E Fahlman 🙂
From: Scott E Fahlman <Fahlman at Cmu-20c>
I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers:
🙂
Read it sideways. Actually, it is probably more economical to mark
things that are NOT jokes, given current trends. For this, use
🙁
To see the post in context you can read the "joke" thread on the bboard that led to the invention of the smiley. For even more context you can view the full contents of the bboard from the October 1982 spice vax backup tape. Also, see Scott’s page about the smiley.
http://research.microsoft.com/~mbj/Smiley/Smiley.html
Fred Langa wrote a very good thing on backups and how to:
http://www.langa.com/backups/backups(1).htm
There are a thousand sites that will sell you a backup doohicky, but like that corporate spyware that came prepackaged on your system they are normally more headaches than anything.
I suggest that you get in a habit of incremental backups then you can dump all those permitted spyware things from the Systems OS.
It will also speed up the performance of the PC and OS.
Holy smokes, what a hot button. Going by the flood of email I’ve gotten, I guess backups are a far more controversial topic than I realized!
I still soon will present a feature on backups, and am keeping many of your comments for that. But a few emails I’ve gotten either are timely enough or outside the areas I’ll cover in the feature to warrant separate mention. For example:
I’ve heard from many people who are great fans of "Go Back," the software that continuously tracks changes you make to your files and system settings, allowing you to "go back" in time— to put things back the way they were— if you encounter a problem.
Hi, Fred: I have been reading the LangaList for a while now, and I eagerly look forward to every issue. I have a question about backups using drive imaging techniques. You recently mentioned Drive Image as your favorite, with Norton Ghost as a second choice. I seem to remember your writing about Go Back in the past….Can you please refresh my memory? How does it compare to your favorite two? — David
Generally speaking, there are three main kinds of backups. First, there are the "imaging" programs like Ghost and Drive Image (and several others: a web search will show you the full range of choices). These tools don’t copy files per se. Instead, they’re disk-oriented, and make a bit-by-bit, sector-by-sector copy of your hard drive.
This is important: These imaging tools not only capture what’s on your drive, but also the exact placement and order of each bit, byte, cluster and sector on the drive. When you restore an image, you’re not just putting the files back: You’re actually putting the hard disk into exactly the same state— bit for bit— it was in when the image was made. That’s why, if you image a "perfect" setup— error free, defragged, etc.— when you restore it, you get that perfect, defragged setup back. In fact, whatever was on the disk, no matter what, will get put back in *exactly* the same way it was. This is why imaging is the "gold standard" of backups.
Moving down a notch, there are the standard backup tools. These are file-oriented utilities that make no attempt to replicate things like the placement or order of data on your system; instead, they simply focus on copying the files themselves. When used to restore files to the disk, a standard backup usually will do a good job restoring user-created data files, but may or may not get system files back into the same configuration as before (as we’ve discussed in recent issues, backup tools may sometimes miss "open" or "in-use" files). And usually, a standard backup will *not* get the disk back into perfect, defragged condition in one step.
Moving down another notch, tools like "Go Back" and the "System Restore" in WinME and XP work by tracking some or all of the changes you make on your system, either in real-time (as you work) or on some preset schedule or when triggered by specific events, such as installing new software.
A tool like System Restore may help you get your system running again after a software installation problem because it can restore the system files to a prior state. But it won’t automatically clean up leftover files caused by the bad install, and it can’t (for example) just let you selectively restore some data file you erased but now want back.
Go Back does offer file-level recovery, but has its own limitations that may or may not be an issue for you. For example, if you have many files that change often (I sure do!) you may find that Go Back needs to work almost constantly, trying to keep up with you. That’s what happened to me: With Go Back running, my PC was so busy trying to protect itself there wasn’t much horsepower left for actually doing new work. 😎
If Go Back were so reliable that it eliminated the need for backups— if it were a perfect safety net— there might be some benefit to letting it consume resources. But even Go Back’s makers clearly state in their documentation that Go Back is no substitute for full backups:
If GoBack is not able to revert to a time that allows you to properly start your computer, then you need to restore from your traditional backups…. Go Back complements a traditional backup by providing recovery ability to virtually any point within GoBack’s reach…. It provides a window to the recent past to which you can easily jump back….. Thus, GoBack complements your current backup process.
This makes sense if your standard backups are so slow (as with, say, tape) or labor-intensive (as when you must feed in Zip disk or blank CDs one after another) that you make backups only infrequently. But the method I use takes literally about 2-3 minutes— you can run it during a coffee or bathroom break. With frequent, full backups, the need for something like Go Back is much reduced, especially given that a fast-method backup isn’t intrusive at all, while heavy use of Go Back may place a noticeable drag on your entire system.
On the other hand, any kind of backup is better than no backup at all. So you can construct a mental model like this: System Restore is better than nothing. Go Back is better than System Restore. Standard backups are better than Go Back. And "imaging" a drive is better than a standard backup—imaging is as good as it gets.
All these methods can coexist if you employ them carefully and in the right way so as to maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. That’s what we’ll soon cover. Stay tuned!
Click to email this item to a friend
http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm
I suggest that you get in a routine of making backups.
It saved the 🙂
You could use Ccleaner in a situation like this. Its free , simple to use and packs a lot of power. Fixing isues in the registry, clearing browser history, getting rid of cookies, deleting temp files and also unistalling software are some of the major features.
All the best.
Two thing, do you use the internet every day?
Then you should have a firewall installed. I use Zone Alarm free edition.
http://www.zonealarm.com
Second I would say to clean up and repair I rely on Ad-Aware.
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
Also you could give SpyBot Search and Destroy a shot if your system still needs help after that.
Here’s some freeware you can try for now.
http://ccleaner.com/
You could try AVG free edition. it’s worked well for me.
If you are using Win XP, you may try TweakXP or similar. Google for it.
thanks
L.u.c.c.h.a™
Been using this 4 years…