Good way of cleaning up/speeding up without formatting?

[Hammyton]

I've been regularly running stuff like adaware and virus scans as well as defrags but is there anything else I can do to help speed up my computer other than formatting? (Can't afford to lose all of my precious stuff ).

 

[montag451]

more RAM.
Faster HDD.

There are alot of sw that claim to be able to speed up systems, but um.... no. They each work on certain algorithms and are optimised for certain setups.

 

[FlyingPenguin]

If your computer is slower than it used to be, it's either due to spyware and/or too many background apps running.

Use MSCONFIG to prune your startups and keep backgrounds apps to a minimum.

Adaware is a joke - I haven't used that program in 9 months. They sold out to the enemy. Please refer to my detailed spyware cleaning instructions here: http://theflyingpenguin.com/spyware-removal.shtml

Hope this helps...

 

[Hammyton]

Thanks a ton man I went through the steps and I think it helped a lot

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Backing up with images and restoring them is easier than reformatting as well. Although I prefer just to do a good ol' reformat every once in a while, to keep Windows on it's toes.
Tas.

 

[Calin]

Very interesting pages you have on your site, FlyingPenguin.

 

[Carbo]

FlyingPenguin, very nice layout on your site. Gobs of good info. Appreciate it.

 

[FlyingPenguin]

Np.

Backing up with images and restoring them is easier than reformatting as well.

I agree. I make a Ghost image of all my systems (server, customer loaner, workstation, wife's computer, laptop) on a bi-monthly basis or before installing any MAJOR updates or drivers. I also do this for clients. Bailed my ass out of trouble lots of times. Much easier to restore a known good image than do a clean install.