Comments for What kind of maintenance should I do to avoid software rot?

Comment from Mark Jacobs on 2009-06-26

2009-06-26T13:07:08Z

I strongly disagree with the statement that "I'd also stay away from the registry cleaning that it offers," On several occasions my wife and our friends have come to me with computers which have slowed down to a craw. I ran CCleaner on them (both the free disk space option, and the registry clean-up option) and the computers got started working much faster. I always say yes to the backup option. I would warn that if you are not a reasonably experienced trouble shooter there may be a danger in running any registry cleaner.

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A comment on: What kind of maintenance should I do to avoid software rot?

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Comment from Mark du Preez on 2008-12-15

2008-12-15T17:07:33Z

Try "drivermax" to look after your drivers.

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A comment on: What kind of maintenance should I do to avoid software rot?

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Comment from Pete Whitfield on 2008-12-10

2008-12-10T08:46:51Z

You mentioned that there was no easy way to back-up drivers in your article on software rot. I have used a couple of freeware driver backup packages when re-installing windows on a machine that has become slow/clogged/impossible to continue with and have had no problems. I forget exactly which programs I used but a search for "driver backups for windows xp" will find you plenty to try and choose from. Basically one backs up to an external disk and then after re-installing windows one just restores them or points your browser to the backup as and when required. When looking through my list of downloaded software the installation files I have under driver backup software are DML.exe, DriverMagician.exe and drivermax.exe to give you a clue of the ones I have used. An important thing to remember when doing a re-installation of windows is to get the product key numbers of your software such as Windows operating system, microsoft office etc. I use an old freeware program called Aida but this is now no longer available so one will have to find some other programs that can give you this info. Also don't forget to backup things like your address book, favorites etc etc.
cheers
Pete

Belarc Advisor will report all the product keys before you reinstall.

- Leo
10-Dec-2008

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A comment on: What kind of maintenance should I do to avoid software rot?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from mauro lembert on 2008-12-04

2008-12-04T16:23:49Z

okdok, txs! however how can I know where they re, so I can
"
take a backup image of your system after taking all the updates (and ONLY taking updates, no other installations), and use that as a snapshot to start over with next time.

- Leo
03-Dec-2008"

You don't need to know where they are. Just take a full system backup image after having installed windows and taken all the driver and other updates.

- Leo
05-Dec-2008

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A comment on: What kind of maintenance should I do to avoid software rot?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Peter E Avon on 2008-12-03

2008-12-03T19:33:23Z

I've read the article and thou I have used a computer for too many years and I have often thought about cleaning it I never have but I had a guru who occassionally cleaned it up for me but now he is gone.. so I live in fear for THAT day???

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A comment on: What kind of maintenance should I do to avoid software rot?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Rocco on 2008-12-03

2008-12-03T08:13:49Z

I use Acronis for B/U's. I use CCleaner and Diskeeper for defragging everytime I shut down...takes about a minute and keeps the PC perky all the time.

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A comment on: What kind of maintenance should I do to avoid software rot?

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Comment from Uday Rege on 2008-12-02

2008-12-03T05:23:41Z

For persons who, like me, install and uninstall a lot of programs, it would be preferable to use either Sandboxie (www.sandboxie.com) or Returnil Virtual System (www.returnilvirtualsystem.com) both having freeware versions. Returnil in effect "clones" your C: drive. Any changes made to the OS get removed after a clean reboot. If you want to preserve the changes for some time, it is better to go into "hibernation" mode, but as soon as you perform a clean reboot, the system returns to the state before installing the program. If you decide that you want to keep it permanently, or if you have to install updates, you can do it in the allowed mode and then set up the protected mode for testing other programs. The protected mode also saves you from nasties such as viruses, worms etc.

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A comment on: What kind of maintenance should I do to avoid software rot?

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Comment from anth11 on 2008-12-02

2008-12-03T04:03:47Z

You can see the real benefit of Ccleaner when someone brings you a machine that has never been cleaned. I have seen it remove almost 2GB of junk in one pass, reviving PCs that were unusable. in those cases i would also use the reg-clean function, but i agree with Leo, that should be saved for special occassions.

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A comment on: What kind of maintenance should I do to avoid software rot?

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Comment from Nicholas Gimbrone on 2008-12-02

2008-12-03T01:27:53Z

Historically I've found that Windows does not do a very good job of cleaning out its temp directories. I believe this is one of the areas MS's DiskCleanup touches, but I've never really trusted it enough to use it... so I just periodically clean out the temp directories myself (by hand).

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A comment on: What kind of maintenance should I do to avoid software rot?

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Comment from Craig on 2008-12-02

2008-12-02T23:25:08Z

yes, "software rot" is not something you should be overly concerned about. There is very little you can do about it other than just running your scheduled preventative maintenance.

I use also use revo to uninstall all my software and CCleaner about once a month as well as their defragger. I'll run their registry cleaner maybe once every 6 mths or so but I make sure to analyze first and uncheck anything I'm not sure about.

As for doing a complete system "re-install" I use Acronis True Image Home. I'll install the O/s, update the drivers, install any core programs I use all the time and then I'll make a complete system backup using their secure zone. That way all I have to do is boot from a floppy/cd/dvd, format the drive and on the reboot, press the F11 key and restore the system. It cuts down on all the re-installs, not to mention having to re-activate/register software.

I've been pretty lucky following these steps. I've only had to do one complete system "re-install" and then I upgraded to Vista x64 Business.

So, I recommend the following programs, Acronis True Image Home, Ccleaner, Defraggler, Revo Uninstaller. Run these tools on a monthly - semi-annually schedule and you should be ok. If a specific issue comes up, run them at that time.

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A comment on: What kind of maintenance should I do to avoid software rot?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Anonymous Penguin on 2008-12-02

2008-12-02T20:04:11Z

Solution to software rot and fragmented hard drives?

Linux. :)

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A comment on: What kind of maintenance should I do to avoid software rot?

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Comment from mauro lembert on 2008-12-02

2008-12-02T19:38:52Z

Leo, perfect explanation!!I think my windows is at the point I ll have to reinstall it from scratch. Just wondering here if anyone can give me a clue on how to save all the driver updates I ve done - and dont even remeber where they are - so I won t have to go through all the pain of updating all of them again??

In general, there's no easy answer to that. Typically you do, when installing from scratch, have to start over - including driver updates. One way to mitigate this is to take a backup image of your system after taking all the updates (and ONLY taking updates, no other installations), and use that as a snapshot to start over with next time.

- Leo
03-Dec-2008

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A comment on: What kind of maintenance should I do to avoid software rot?

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Comment from Frank Walker on 2008-12-02

2008-12-02T18:43:16Z

I think it's a good idea to run a computer in "sandbox mode" when downloading and installing anything. If something goes wrong none of the changes are applied. If everything seems to be OK then you can apply the changes. Acronis True Image has this capability.

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A comment on: What kind of maintenance should I do to avoid software rot?

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Comment from John on 2008-12-02

2008-12-02T18:17:22Z

Usually with new software, I create an appropriately named Restore point (Before installing Program XYZ). Then if I decide fairly quickly to uninstall the new software, I can restore the system without any hassle, cleaning up the "rot" at the same time.

No.

System restore does not restore everything you think it does. Yes, it does backup and restore the registry, but assorted other files that may have been left behind by an improper uninstall (a common contributor to software rot) will not get cleaned up.

More on that here: Why can't I rely on System Restore for backups?

- Leo
03-Dec-2008

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A comment on: What kind of maintenance should I do to avoid software rot?

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Comment from Diane Louw on 2008-12-02

2008-12-02T16:57:38Z

I downloaded free windows registery cleaner and it got rid of some of the rot. I also defrag once a month and do disk cleanup. But when downloading software one gets alot of *&^ with it so it gets confusing to know what you can and cant delete. I wish someone would develop a programme that will remove anything automatically that is not been used. Windows updates take up a lot of space and i am not sure whether one can delete the old ones or not.

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A comment on: What kind of maintenance should I do to avoid software rot?

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Comment from Billy on 2008-11-27

2008-11-27T16:33:46Z

I use Revo Uninstaller to do my uninstalling now days so far it seems to do what is asked, must be very careful not to uninstall other listing that belong to other programs when doing the maximum, make sure that you only delete the type that is in Bold.
http://www.revouninstaller.com/uninstaller_help_page.html

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A comment on: What kind of maintenance should I do to avoid software rot?

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