Do you like mucking around with YOUR system?

[Avastfan1]

Dear Forum,

Do you often get the motivation to muck around with you system's settings?

Although I would strongly discourage anybody from doing this, I really enjoy it sometimes! Apart from a few minor incidents, it always manages to work itself out. :-)

Some of my favourite areas to tinker with are:

- The startup list
- Msconfig
- Hijack This
- Window$ registry
- Settings in Firefox

Do you have any favourite areas you "test"? :-)

Avastfan1

[spg SCOTT]

Hi Avastfan1

For me, the startup and firefox setting are a must, but I think that the others are a bit too risky...at least for me...

I think you would probably be one of th ones that the quote in my sig applies to

-Scott-

[Pedro Hin]

I frequently get into the startup items, and msconfig.

I pretty much stopped using HJT since I use MalwareBytes to find rogue browser plugins and startup items.

The registry I will only mess with if I find a registry tweak which was necessary to provide application compatibility

***CAUTION***
One of my favorite power tools I play with and use when troubleshooting a system is SystemExplorer -- http://systemexplorer.mistergroup.org/ . With this, you can remove/disable;
IE plugins, startup items, system addons (shell extensions & protocol handlers), drivers, services

SystemExplorer also allows you to monitor process trees, resource usage, network connections by application name, lots of other stuff.
***CAUTION***

[.: L' arc :.]

Here are some of those I tweak:

• Start-up listing
• Services
• Group Policies
• Tweak UI Powertoy for XP
• Firefox & Chrome dev settings

[cinchez]

I second the Start-up and FF areas^^

Since many of some useless programs run on start-up, its a good option to tweak some of its settings for a change^^

-AnimeLover^^

[Omega40]

Here's what I have "played" with from time to time:

 Startup list
 Msconfig
 Window$ registry
 Settings in Firefox

 So far I've been ok....but who knows what will occur in the future. 

[Avastfan1]

Haha!

It's nice to see that I'm not the only one who likes messing around with system settings :-)

Avastfan1

[mkis]

I tend to settle on what I think are the ideal settings and go with them - only changing when I've been put onto an alternative or better setting through advice of a technician or something I've found myself on the internet or other reference. But I like to tune up and optimise within my existing settings, as well as keeping all my existing as up to date as possible.

For tune up of unnecessary 'junk' files - like freeloaders and overstayers - I will regularly run a directories search (either C: drive or All local drives) using the following keywords -

     *.tmp,*.chk,~*.*

I have a look at what turns up and delete what I don't what. Good advice says you can delete anything and everything that this search turns up, as none of the files is indispensable to system running. And sometimes I just delete everything, especially when I'm in a rush. Other times I look through the list and take out the obvious junk, and look over the other files for interest sake.

[Avastfan1]

Hi Mkis,

This tool will save you doing directory searches and clean temporary files with one click:

http://www.ccleaner.com/download/builds/downloading-slim

I, and many other forum users, have been using it for years. Never had a problem with it at all.

Although, I wouldn't recommend the registry scan and fix, rather JUST the 'cleaner' function.

Good luck,

Avastfan1

[mkis]

yep. already using it.  


Edit - if you use registry scan in ccleaner you can use the fix option one file at a time rather than fix all files at once. The option can then be interesting in that you can learn more stuff about your system and its component parts (although also can be bit boring, bit mundane). Mostly thats why I use the directory search for junk files, just to see what might be happening thats of interest. And to be honest, not a lot interesting pops up after the first time I search as I get chance to clean junk and thats about it for a while - at least a month or so, I have found, even longer.

[Tarq57]

Yeah, I've tinkered. And still do, from time to time.
I've played around with all sorts of tweaking tools, and sometimes borked my installation, requiring a repair install.

I've removed a lot of the useless software components that seem to ship with Windows, replacing them with light alternatives.
 
I've cleaned the registry, and borked Windows again.
 
I've uninstalled software without undoing what it did first, and had to manually clean and remove and change things back to how they should be.

About this time (2 or three years ago) I chose the Avatar you see to the left, as a reminder to not get carried away with blind, full-on experimentation.

I've since been more methodical. An interest in internet security led me to make a few changes from default, to harden the web interface items (where known/possible.)
I've disabled some of the services in line with the recommendations made by BlackViper. to speed Windows slightly, and improve security. I, like most others, have a maintenance routine, using a few favorite and well-proven tools. I've got XP running about as fast as possible, while still being capable, functional, and secure, and, like anything, that's a compromise, one I'm quite happy with.
My current tinkering is quite limited compared to the experiments I used to try out.

[Sesame]

I've disabled some of the services in line with the recommendations made by BlackViper. to speed Windows slightly, and improve security.

Another vote for Black Viper, which is very informative.  It's surprising how short Hijack This logs can be after shaping up our systems but the real treat is that we can get moderately secure and highly responsive systems without any cost.

[nmb]

Another vote for Black Viper.

+1

nmb

[Avastfan1]

Yeah, I've tinkered. And still do, from time to time.
I've played around with all sorts of tweaking tools, and sometimes borked my installation, requiring a repair install.

I've removed a lot of the useless software components that seem to ship with Windows, replacing them with light alternatives.
 
I've cleaned the registry, and borked Windows again.
 
I've uninstalled software without undoing what it did first, and had to manually clean and remove and change things back to how they should be.

About this time (2 or three years ago) I chose the Avatar you see to the left, as a reminder to not get carried away with blind, full-on experimentation.

I've since been more methodical. An interest in internet security led me to make a few changes from default, to harden the web interface items (where known/possible.)
I've disabled some of the services in line with the recommendations made by BlackViper. to speed Windows slightly, and improve security. I, like most others, have a maintenance routine, using a few favorite and well-proven tools. I've got XP running about as fast as possible, while still being capable, functional, and secure, and, like anything, that's a compromise, one I'm quite happy with.
My current tinkering is quite limited compared to the experiments I used to try out.

Would be interested to hear more about your maintenance routine. In particular the favourite and well-proven tools.

Thanks!

Avastfan1

[Tarq57]

Ccleaner by Piriform, Eraser (5.8.2)by Heidi.ie, JKDefrag (current version is called MyDefrag), Macrium Reflect (for backup to an external hard drive, periodically) Tweak Now registry cleaner, ERUNT reg backup utility (they also have a reg defrag.) Moz Backup (for Firefox and Thunderbird) Revo uninstaller (when required).
There are also a few tools for diagnostics in the event of Bad Things happening, which I haven't had to use for a while. Like process explorer, A2 hijack free, a RAM tester, Unlocker, etc.
And the usual crop of demand scanners, in case of different Bad Things.
(In addition to what 's in my sig.)

I use Ccleaner at the end of each browsing session, Full defrag once a month, quick defrag once a day, backup the HD when I remember to, ditto the FX and T'Bird profile. ERUNT automatically backs up the registry daily, keeping 30 such backups. It is used by some in lieu of System Restore.

Malware scanning with MBAM maybe once a week, with Avast maybe once a month, when I remember or when time permits. Like if the internet is down. Scans don't find much, if anything, and that's the way it should be.