OT computers

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, That is why I delegate all matters to accountant and lawyer whom I trust. If they screw up, I am off the hook.

[Mayayana]

I do my own taxes, but mine are fairly simple. I guess it depends a lot on what you have for property, investments, writeoffs, etc. But I do let the IRS decide if I owe a penalty for late estimated tax payments. In the past, when my payments have been late, the IRS seems to be less harsh about it than my own calculations indicate they might be. :)

I've never tried tax software. I assume it's just a convenient way to figure out which deductions and requirements apply to you.

[clare]

For your own personal systems that is fine. Good idea, too. I have one client that does this. HOWEVER, when I get called out to "Joe Blow"'s to fix his slow computer it is not an option. The computer is dragging it's ass. The customer wants it fixed. What I do speeds the computer up. The customer is happy. I get paid, so everbody is happy (except you, because you say it doesn't work)

[clare]

Whatever it is removing is obviously not needed and is affecting the performance in a big way. The proof is in the pudding.

I DO know not to allow it to do anything with the "file/path reference" area if they are running Autocad (particularly with a survey sadd-in) or any other specialized software. Sometimes on a "plain vanilla" machine running that option DOES make a sizeable difference. Com and DocX issues, Shared DLLs, Uninstall entries, are some of the items that are checked and removed. Not an issue if you set up a machine and never change it - but who does that today?? And if you install any apple or adobe or symantec products there WILL be crap to get rid of.

As for the "super duper power charger" and auto mechanics, if you believe all additives are snake oil and nothing but a rip-off, you are talking to the wrong guy.

As an auto mechanic in a former life, there are DEFINITELY additives out tthere, that when used properly for the right reasons, can be VERY effective, and a mechanic who will not use them before tearing into the vehicle for expensive repairs is not doing anyone any favors. There are many situations where a 8-20 dollar can of chemicals can eliminate the need for 800 to 2000 dollars worth of repairs - or even more. Selling the product to the customer can be the best thing the mechanic can do for the customer in MANY cases. In the aviation world, a can of AvBlend properly applied can save a plane owner $8000 for a top-end overhaul, and used regularly can extend the life of a $30,000 engine rebuild by a factor of 2 or 3.

And I, as a technician, would feel like a crook selling a home user on something like carbonite and a $200 maintenance contract - and would be even less inclined to recommend a commercial client allow his data to be kept outside his premises on an open server like carbonite.

[clare]

and 99% or more of "geeks" cannot understand a registry - muchless normal users or technicians.

[clare]

It is a simple way to enter all your data and do the calculations - allowing "what-if" situations, and they print out the forms and e-file for you.

I don't use all the wizards.

[Mayayana]

| Whatever it is removing is obviously not needed and is affecting the | performance in a big way. The proof is in the pudding. | | Com and DocX issues, Shared DLLs, Uninstall entries, are some of the | items that are checked and removed. Not an issue if you set up a | machine and never change it - but who does that today?? And if you | install any apple or adobe or symantec products there WILL be crap to | get rid of.

You never did come up with actual samples of removed settings. Were you, by any chance, reading those items from the CleanMyPC homepage?

They're all irrelevant. I explained that earlier. Work it out for yourself. Learn what the settings actually are and you'll see they have nothing to do with speed or efficiency. (Also it's ActiveX, not DocX. And COM is the same thing as ActiveX. The latter is just a marketing term for the former.)

Here's a simplified explanation of COM entries, for anyone who's interested:

Basically, the idea is that installers "register" files for use by software. Software can then use the file's functionality by looking it up in the Registry. If the file is not registered, the software using it will not work. On the other hand, if the software that uses that functionality, including the COM file itself, is removed without unregistering the COM file -- for instance, if you just delete a program without running its uninstaller --

*nothing will happen*. The registration will still be there, but it does no harm.

In the unlikely event that some other software wants to use that COM file, which is now registered but gone, you'll get an error like, "Unable to load library". And what will happen if you remove the outdated entry as part of your Registry "cleaning"? Same thing. It won't matter unless some software tries to use the COM file. If that happens you'll get an error like, "Unable to load library". In neither case is it possible for any of this to affect the speed of your computer.

Likewise with the Uninstall settings. At worst, a mixup there could do something like show a program in Add/Remove that's already been uninstalled. That might be nice to fix, but it doesn't happen very often, and it would have no effect on speed.

I don't see any reason to argue about this, but I don't want to see people get misled into wasting money on pointless software, so I'm trying to post enough information so that people who want to can do their own research and reach their own conclusions.

[clare]

No I was not.

Look - I'm not going to argue any more. You believe what you believe. I KNOW that when my machine slows down, I run the utility, and the computer speeds right back up. That is ALL I NEED TO KNOW.

[Bob_Villa]

You don't need me to agree with you...I'm just slightly smarter than the average PC user. But I have heard this for many years about "registry cleaners"...they are there for people who think they work.

[Ron]

Maybe I missed it...what is the name of this utility?

[ChairMan]

I'm not a tech and don't know what they use, but I know a few and they all use Ccleaner and so do I

[Ron]

Read my post from 4/15/2014 11:28 PM

[ChairMan]

I did.....right after I posted my reply. And i agree, and most of the tips I already do. Any utility such as CCleaner should be used with caution

[Vic Smith]

Tax software saves time. It prompts you for possibly relevant info, so you don't forget anything. Lends a sense of comfort. Paperless. You don't have a hassle getting the right forms. No going to the post office for a stamp. Many employers and banks now participate in providing W-2's to an outfit that Turbotax (what I use) accesses, so you don't even have to enter that. It catches mistakes. You can easily experiment with different strategies. It saves the government money. It costs me about 39-49 bucks. Worth it to me.

[clare]

Clean My PC from Registry-cleaner.net (not to be confused with the totally useless (or worse) my clean pc

[G. Morgan]

Has anyone noticed the OP has only replied once in over 250 replies to his queries?

[Not]

I've read all these postings; quite a chore. But I want to set out what I think I have learned. For my laptops, I have external hard drives that I use for, among other things, backups. On this particular Dell, I have a Western Digital hard drive, and have their software set to back up everything weekly. Alas, I think all they do is back up the data, and because I use uncommon software (Wordperfect, Seamonkey [son of Netscape], F-secure AV, etc.) they don't seem to know where to put the data when I ask for a restoration. So this charming Dell, which I actually like, with Vista, has eaten two hard drives, and when I send it for repair, they put in a new hard drive, and reinstall Vista, and that is it. I am supposed to reinstall my programs and data, which is a hassle, since I don't remember all my programs, and the restoration service doesn't seem to work well. In anticipation that my current hard drive will die before I do, I want a way to put my current setup on a new hard drive.

It seems to me that making a disk image (which disks, C only, or C and D?) with disk wizard, would be a good solution. I haven't looked for disk wizard yet, it might even be somewhere on my machine. So my question is, is this a good solution, and if so what is the best cloning program for the unsophisticated, and where can I get it.

[Bob_Villa]

" So my question is, is this a good solution, and if so what is the best cloning program for the unsophisticated, and where can I get it."

I use this free version:

[Mayayana]

| It seems to me that making a disk image (which disks, C only, or C and | D?) with disk wizard, would be a good solution. I haven't looked for | disk wizard yet, it might even be somewhere on my machine. So my | question is, is this a good solution, and if so what is the best cloning | program for the unsophisticated, and where can I get it.

There's a lot of information in the thread about that. I use BootIt ($35). Bob_Villa posted a link to a free program. You can research others, but you should probably also do a bit of reading up if you're not familiar with disk partitioning.

A disk can have primary partitions (normally up to 4) and logical partitions. Any number of logical partitions can be in an extended partition, which is a kind of primary partition. Data and Linux can go on any partition. Windows can only go on a primary partition. (The terms really don't matter. They could just as easily be choc, vanilla and strawberry. You just need to know how they work.)

I usually put up to 3 primaries on a disk and then fill the rest with logical data partitions. XP can get by easily with 5 GB. Vista/7 will likely need at least 20 GB. (The point being that if you do disk imaging you don't store data on C drive where it can be lost. C drive is the cab of your 18-wheeler. Data partitions are your trailers. If you need to replace the engine you don't want to lose your cargo.)

So, say for instance that you have Win7 on a 1 TB disk. You could shrink C drive to, say, 60 GB, then install XP on another primary partition behind C drive, then put data partitions behind that. You can then dual boot Win7 and XP. All of that can be done with a typical disk management program: deleting, resizing, creating partitions. The part you need to understand is how to do that, in what order, and why. Most programs will also let you hide one partition from another, set the active boot partition, etc.

To keep it simple, let's just say you only want Win7 and you just want to image that.

Disk imaging is to make a compressed, single file copy of a partition that can then be restored to any hard disk. That's distinct from cloning, which is to copy one disk to another. For reasons of practicality, it's best to disk image when your OS is fresh and relatively small. If you can't fit your image on one or two DVDs (or CDs for XP) then it will be awkward to keep and restore your disk image.

You say you have C and D. Are they separate partitions on one disk, or 2 separate disks? Either way, C drive is a primary partition. Even if it fills the whole disk, it's formatted as a partition. Disk imaging will make a copy of that *partition*. If D drive is data you don't need to image it. Just back up the data to CD/DVD/stick/etc.

In most cases, when you restore a disk image you'll need at least as much empty space as the original partition took up. That's another reason not to make your C drive unnecessarily big.

What I do is to maintain disk images with software installed. Then I periodically back up App Data settings like email, address book, Firefox bookmarks, etc. (That's a whole other topic. Programs can sometimes store data very obscurely and you need to know where to find it.) I also keep many data partitions, one of which is basic data that I want to have backups of. I back that up regularly to CD. Other things, like my graphics/photos partition, I back up less often.

As a further protection, I use two hard disks. Most of my data exists in matching partitions on each disk. (Graphics1 and Graphics2, for instance.) I'm not using a RAID array. Just redundant disks in case one goes suddenly.

[Mayayana]

He actually replied twice. The second time was to say he was going to check out cheap used PCs at Microcenter.

That kind of thing happens a lot. I chalk it up to inattentiveness and lack of courtesy. Many people just don't realize that they could help their own cause by providing information, and many people don't think to say thanks. For all we know Jerry might have bought a new PC last week and just couldn't be bothered to tell us. But that's OK. The OP provides a way for useful information to make it to people who need it -- whether he's listening or not. :)