What are some essential tools for XP?

[Arkitech]

I just recovered from a major issue with XP and now I'm thinking I should start using a few tools to try and keep my system running smoothly. Can anyone recommend a few essential tools for XP? (even better if they're free)

What's the fastest utility for defragging drives? I normally use the one built into XP but it's really slow.

What do you guys backup your OS with?

What's the benefit of cleaning the registry? Does it improve system performance?

Are there any tools that keep an eye on hard drive health? Last month one of my drives stopped working, I tried to access it and XP said it needed to be formatted.

 

[Slowlearner]

(1) Clone your harddrive with Ghost or Acronis True Image, both not free but not expensive either in OEM versions

(2) Check hd using Seagate or WD's free downloadable utilities every other month

(3) Defrag every other month using built-in defrag if needed, or buy Diskeeper (sp?) - not worth it IMHO

(4) Set updates to automatic, run full weekly av scans, weekly run ad-aware and spybot, after a disk cleanup

(5) registry cleaning is not required or necessary

(6) Check out Karen's Power Tools for a bunch of free utilities for folder backup, registry trimming etc etc.

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: Slowlearner
(1) Clone your harddrive with Ghost or Acronis True Image, both not free but not expensive either in OEM versions

(2) Check hd using Seagate or WD's free downloadable utilities every other month

(3) Defrag every other month using built-in defrag if needed, or buy Diskeeper (sp?) - not worth it IMHO

(4) Set updates to automatic, run full weekly av scans, weekly run ad-aware and spybot, after a disk cleanup

(5) registry cleaning is not required or necessary

(6) Check out Karen's Power Tools for a bunch of free utilities for folder backup, registry trimming etc etc.

thanks bro, looks like I'm all set