Good, easy-to-use, free registry cleaner
 

Hey all,

I am unsure whether this should go into the software or the help forums.

A friend of mine's computer is running very slow. She said it freezes at times, and that it takes forever for the computer to load up into windows (she is running WIndows XP on her laptop...no, unfortunately I do not know the specs).

She does not have her Windows Installation CD...that's home, far, far away.

So I am now helping her go through things such as detecting and removing spyware, defragging, etc. Another thing I am thinking of is a registry cleaner. I have already researched and used CCleaner and will use that, but I was wondering if there are any other ones that are easy-to-use, free, good registry cleaner? Remember, that the goals I am trying to obtain are 1) stop her computer from crashing so often and 2) make it that it doesn't take fifteen minutes to load up into windows.

Thanks for your suggestions on a good registry cleaner (and if you think of anything else I am missing, that advise as well).

Try Registry Mechanic. Not free, but there are ways around that.
Ad-aware has always been good for me as well.
Has your friend got a firewall? If not try ZoneAlarm. It is free, and is quite effective. My folks PC has it installed and has stopped a lot of stuff getting on the computer that shouldn't be getting onto the PC anyway.

"Cleaning" the registry won't make the computer faster. Your friend probably just has a bunch of useless autostart programs running in the background.

Hit Start, go to "Run", enter "msconfig", deselect anything non-Microsoft from the "Services" and everything in the "System Start" tab. Additionally, empty the "Autostart" folder in the Start Menu. This process will help you increase bootup time significantly.

A good thing to run is an anti-spyware program, which could help things out a bit.

Besides Spybot, I'm really taking like to this new one called "ewido anti-spyware", by a group affiliated with Grisoft (makers of AVG). It's (mostly) free. You can run scans at any time w/o cost, the part that costs is getting automated updates and the real-time scanner, but you at least get to try it for a bit before those turn of (or just find a patch. lol).

Running that never hurts and can sometimes find some things that are chugging down the system.

NO! WRONG! BAD!

Never ever use msconfig to manage services.

The problem with using msconfig to manage services is that unchecking it makes Windows stop and completely disable the service. In some instances, it would just be preferrable to set the service to "Manual" startup, where it doesn't automatically start up, but it will load when it's needed.

It also allows you to, even if by accident, disable core services, like RPC, which will end up just screwing your computer over. If you use the Services applet in the Administratve Tools folder in the Control Panel, it won't allow you to make changes to critically important services.

Just use services.msc, it's safer, and sometimes third party services have descriptions as to what their service does.

I have had her run SpyBot and Ad Aware. Both caught a slew of spyware. I am also having her defrag her hard drive, which may help too.

I am thinking of going with CCleaner next to work on the registry and other issues.

Next, I guess services.msc could be used, but my concern is it being something that is "user-friendly". Is there any program that can help out with this type of stuff?

Thanks for all your help so far.

Careful with editing the registry, you might do more harm than good. If you want to speed things a bit up, then be sure the page file is on a separate drive and not on the main OS HD. After running programs like Spybot, Adaware & ewido, I recommend you run ccleaner - options - settings - secure file deletion 7-passes.

Listen to Merv, he's right. I apologize for suggesting this kind of drastic procedure of disabling services through msconfig. I don't even use it myself, but I thought it would be convenient for beginners. Thanks for pointing out its risks.

The services control panel is actually quite easy to use. Just check the list for anything non-Microsoft and see what it does form the description. As a rule of thumb, anything non-Microsoft is useless, except for something like third-party wireless services and so on. It's generally safe to set these services' startup type to 'manual' or 'disabled', you won't break anything. You can always re-enable the stuff you need later on.