[Dabhand16]

One for you techie bods.

I'm looking for a good utility toolbox to keep my computer in shape, preferably, but not necessarily, in one application.

I've been using System Mechanic and their TurboBackup , but am getting fed up with the updates making more and more things automatic with little manual input to trim what the program is doing. It does a lot of things well, but the defragment tool is very slow when it does the 'proper' defrag and I'm not convinced it does a good job.

I'm looking at Syncback for backups, and have CCleaner installed, so what else would you recommend that will do a good clean up, sort out those loose ends and defrag with reasonable speed?

[emmettleffel]

Ashampoo WinOptimizer Platinum 3 reviews and free downloads

I use this Graham, it's quite good

[silkstone]

I'd recommend Linux.

OK, seriously, beware of some of the registry cleaners. I used RegCure on my XP machine and it managed to delete some installer entries necessary for MS Office updates. To be fair, it was my fault in as much as I let it delete these entries which it had flagged as redundant, but how are you supposed to know if they are really needed? Since then I've become very suspicious of this type of application, although CCleaner seems OK.

For backups on XP I use ViceVersa which does the job of synchronising files between drives/partitions very well. For disk imaging, Acronis True Image seems to work, and I've also used it to clone an XP drive onto a larger drive.

[Dabhand16]

Thanks Doug and Paul - they look promising

[Charlotte]

Same as emmettleffel, I use WinOptimizer Platinum 3. Mostly use the defrag, it's excellent They (Ashampoo) do loads of utilities + they're very good by all accounts, but the WinOptimizer has quite a few utilities all included in the one package, so it's quite neat, in more ways than one

PS Only thing I don't like about Ashampoo is that I get LOADS of junk email from them so, if you go for their stuff, be sure to say 'No' to junk mail from them!

[stepheno]

I think that the majority of these applets were designed for people who know little about the hardware they are using - but I am not saying that all people who use them know little about their hardware.

Some hijack your machine, some are shareware, most drop bits all over your system that are there for ever doing God knows what, and many promise the earth and you pay the earth for them to do it. So, IMHO - the most you can do for yourself the better it will be.

I can't cover everything but for example -

• Backup - why not just copy and paste?
• Clean-up, Windows has most facilities built in
• Firewalls etc - again built in
• Browser cleanup - again IE6, FF etc all have good built in tools.

I use as few proprietory applets as possible but the ones I find indispensible are

• AVG Free Edition for anti-virus
• Spybot
• CCleaner
• HiJack This
• CWShredder

You will notice that the above are all free, all very good and most important are all used to combat internet infection. I do a cursory reg clean with CCleaner but deep cleaning I do manually using Regedit. I do not recommend using Regedit unless you know what you are doing. HTH.

[Dabhand16]

Originally Posted by stepheno

I think that the majority of these applets were designed for people who know little about the hardware they are using

That's me

I think that although there is some excellent shareware available, it is more likely that you will get your machine hijacked with shareware that a paid for program.

Windows tools, although improving, are limited to defrg and clean up - I would not touch reg edit with a barge pole! Some utilities also include rescue from deleted files too.

I like the idea of an automated back up and recovery system - set and forget. The day I forget to do a manual back up is the day I'll have a disaster.

Doug and Charlotte - I've had a peep at the Ashampoo site and they also have WinOptomiser 4. Any idea of what the difference is? I've tried to e-mail them, but the site will not allow the e-mail to be sent. (Something I'm not impressed with).

[silkstone]

The advantage of something like ViceVersa is that you don't have to remember which files have changed. It syncs between drives based on timestamp, so you can just set it to 'Update target' and it will just copy across any new or amended files.

Because Windows won't let you copy files that are in use, and also because the disk location of some files is critical, you need something like Norton Ghost or Acronis TrueImage to backup the system files, so everything can be restored if you get a disk failure.

One thing to watch for with bought software is that you may be 'subscribing' rather than purchasing. I 'bought' Spyware Doctor from PCTools before AVG brought out AVG Anti-Spyware which I prefer. Without any warning, PCTools deducted another year's subscription from my CC, and then pointed to their T&C which said that they could do this unless you cancelled in advance. After a little battle they refunded, but it came as a surprise that something like this could happen without anyone asking if you wanted to buy another year's updates.

[Charlotte]

Originally Posted by Dabhand16

Doug and Charlotte - I've had a peep at the Ashampoo site and they also have WinOptomiser 4. Any idea of what the difference is? I've tried to e-mail them, but the site will not allow the e-mail to be sent. (Something I'm not impressed with).

Graham, it's the latest version

[Dabhand16]

Thanks Charlotte. I was confused by the omission of 'platinum'. Wondered if 'platinum 3' was better than plain 'optomiser 4'.

[Charlotte]

Graham, I think the word "platinum" is just a bit of hype. If you didn't see a 'platinum' version of WinOptimizer 4 on their web site, then they've probably incorporated the 'extras' into their latest version.

[Dabhand16]

Yes - I think you are right. I did try the 'contact us' to ask them, but the site would not send the message.

[j sotelo]

I use Fix it Utilities 8 Pro
it has an

Antivirus
Anti Spyware
Anti Virus Email Scan
Anti Virus Auto File Scan
Clean up
Automatic Updates
JET Defrag
Smart Disk Check
PC Diagnostics
Error Tracker
Media Verifier
Registry Fixer
Registry Editor
Disk Fixer
Clock Sync
System Optimizer
Disk Cleaner
Registry Cleaner
Shredder
File Undeleter
Creates Checkpoints
Disk Snapshot
Manage Checkpoints
Restore Checkpoints
ONE Click Solution (click on this button and it runs everything for you)
it has more stuff I dont even use or remember

But what I like is that it doesn't conflict with my other Spyware and my other Antivirus.