Am I using all the necessary tools to keep my installation in good condition?

[willhub]

As above.

I use:

Avast Antivirus - as I understand this is one of the best AV's?
CCleaner
MyDefrag - is there any defrag program better?

I make sure all the apps not really needed at startup are disabled in MSConfig.

Anything else good for maintenance?

Cheers.

 

[4T5]

Ad Aware - Use it once a week.

 

[3dcandy]

or spybot search and destroy, like ad Aware...

 

[Commala]

You don't mention your OS, but I will assume that you are using Windows 7. You have an AV solution you like, so that box is ticked, and I also use CCleaner but only really for manually removing registry entries left over from uninstallers.

MyDefrag is a good program, although as far as I know it isn't Volume Shadow Copy safe so it can inadvertently delete System Restore points if that worries you. Really, though, if you are using Win7 then the built-in defrag is actually pretty good if you can live without the lack of extensive GUI. It is won't delete your System Restore points and uses new algorithms to only defrag what is necessary rather than being overly aggressive and increasing disk wear.

As mentioned above, an anti-malware program that you can manually run once a week is not a bad idea for the security conscious. Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy are good, although I now prefer Malwarebytes Anti-Malware free edition or SUPERAntiSpyware portable for their simplicity.

 

[NathanE]

You need to adopt Virtual Machines.

Then you won't need any of that crap.

 

[marc2003]

i use ccleaner to clear my temp files every so often but that's it. i like the fact i can specify cookies to save so all my chosen site preferences stay but it gets rid of the rest. i wouldn't use the registry cleaner - i've seen nothing but tales of woe related to it.

 

[3dcandy]

ccleaner is very good at removing registry entries left by uninstallers etc. and you can backup the registry if problems arise. Seems to be the best in that regard