BleepingComputer.com: Searching For Optimization / Clean-Up Application

Hi,

I am an IT Consultant, and am looking to find a good optimization/clean-up program that I can use on my client's machines. Currently, I do all the optimization manually because it seems a lot of the optimization and clean-up programs out there are either not great at doing their job, or aren't transparent in what they do, or potentially cause problems either because they are poorly designed or inundated with spyware/adware/etc.

I think the most important feature of an optimization/clean-up program for me would be one where I maintain total control over what it is doing (i.e. it says it wants to do A, B, C, and then I tell it to only do A and C and it only does A and C and nothing else). Also, I'd want a reputable one that doesn't contain any spyware/adware or anything else that could potentially cause problems. Hopefully it would be able to run on at least WinXP and WinVista (and maybe on Win2000 and Win7 also).

Obviously, the program would have to have the option of doing things such as clean up temp files, defrag, list/diagnose background processes and startup processes that might slow the computer down, and more. I'm thinking I'd prefer the program not do any registry cleaning (or at least give the option to not do this) as its been my experience that allowing a program to "clean" the registry can cause more problems than it solves.

I'm hoping that some of you out there might have some suggestions for me. Any information is greatly appreciated!

Also, if anyone out there has any other good diagnostic programs (such as a network diagnostic tool that maybe does stuff such as measuring bandwidth and latency, etc.) I'd be very interested in hearing about them as I'm always looking for new tools that help me diagnose and fix issues faster and more efficiently.

Thanks!

This post has been edited by mbressman: 04 September 2009 - 09:56 AM

I can suggest Autoruns as probably (IMO) the best startup monitor/control program. The typical startup items are listed on the Logon tab, but the program will list literally every item which begins with startup (drivers, Windows O/S files, etc.).

AutoRuns for Windows - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinte...s/bb963902.aspx

I can't suggest any cleanup/optimization program...I've never seen the need for such and would not suggest that anyone use such. To me, the native tools available in XP are more than adequate (and trustworthy). Mind you, I do not engage in troubleshooting PC issues for a living of any sort, so my needs are simple.

To monitor/explore background processes...I suggest Process Explorer, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinte...s/bb896653.aspx.

Louis

Ccleaner is a program many use. It will give you a list of things that the program thinks needs cleaned and you can pick and choose the ones you want or don't want.