Best way to keep my system clean for gaming and general use

[opethdisciple]

Hi Guys,

My question here is what software do you all use to keep your systems nice and tidy for gaming but also general use.

My pc is used for general use, video editing and gaming. I currently use tuneup utilities 2011 but after a clean install i noticed improved fps but then when i reinstalled the few programs i use then let tuneup utilities do its stuff the fps in games droped a little.

Now im the type of guy that sticks to what i know until software fails on me. Could it be that tuneup utilities is not that good if so what are all you lot using.

Best registry cleaner

Best tool to defrag my hard drives (windows and tuneup always show different results).

Best software to remove junk files, clutter and temp files etc.

Thanks in advance

None of those things!

Using registry cleaners and other 'tuning' software, is excatly what your trying to avoid!

Just keep your drivers up to date, defrag the hard driver every now and then, dont install too much crap on the computer, keep it up to date etc...

Simplier the better!

 

[SiriusB]

If he is looking for a little extra boost in performance while playing games, Try GameBooster from Iobit, i used to use it on my laptop not found the need for it now, but it shuts down Aero, Programs hogging memory in the background and Services you won't use while playing a game, worth a look if thats what your after.

On any gaming desktop with 4GB RAM etc etc you shouldn't need to disable any services. Most background processes can be left alone too, unless you are running something memory/cpu intensive of course.

As for Aero, you can tell Windows to disable it when you run certain programs by following my link.

In short, there is nothing much you need to do other than a bit of common sense. Gone are the days of XP where every scrap of CPU and RAM counted just to play a game. These days hardware tends to be more than enough to cope with gaming and Windows.

 

[Deleted member 77746]

The one thats in the original topic regarding software to keep my pc in top shape removing junk, defrag etc

PS: Why would i want to read a thread about xp that is 7 years old!!!!

For the reason of.... the same topics come up over and over on this forum about the same thing your asking with every operating system.

 

[Breach]

All my gaming is through Steam, so i found it easier to just have the Steam shortcut disable Aero when executed.
I tried doing it for each individual game but it was a pain, and it didnt work properly for one or two of my shortcuts.

 

[gravitie]

Best registry cleaner

Best tool to defrag my hard drives (windows and tuneup always show different results).

Best software to remove junk files, clutter and temp files etc.

I've never used a registry cleaner, never felt the need to.
Defrag is managed by Diskeeper.
CCleaner for the junk.
Nothing much besides these has helped maintain the speed and performance so far. Touch Wood!

 

[Deleted member 77746]

All my gaming is through Steam, so i found it easier to just have the Steam shortcut disable Aero when executed.
I tried doing it for each individual game but it was a pain, and it didnt work properly for one or two of my shortcuts.

A man with sense.

 

[FoxEye]

Was thinking the other day, whether it would be worth installing big apps (Office, etc) and other junk into a virtual machine, and leaving it off the host.

Anyone here tried that? Good idea or not?

 

[kylew]

None of them. Registry cleaners are useless snake oil. The amount of stuff they remove is minuscule compared to the size of the registry.



Defraggler or MyDefrag.



CCleaner.

Registry cleaners are useful for fixing say an application that won't uninstall properly, or trying to install a fresh version over the top.

 

[BlackAle]

Registry cleaners are useful for fixing say an application that won't uninstall properly, or trying to install a fresh version over the top.

In those instances, I'd of thought regedit would be far more efficient.

 

[Dewotter]

Was thinking the other day, whether it would be worth installing big apps (Office, etc) and other junk into a virtual machine, and leaving it off the host.

Anyone here tried that? Good idea or not?

Will make no difference to the host system and will only annoy you at the apps not running at full speed.

 

[kylew]

In those instances, I'd have thought regedit would be far more efficient.

Not when there's a huge amount of entries and it's difficult finding them.

 

[Mattus]

My advice: stop thinking about it and enjoy your games I found that I got into my games much more once I stopped thinking about getting every last FPS and 3DMark point and immersed myself in the game.

Besides, Windows these days is quite good at managing itself. Beyond the things which you know about (clearing temporary files, defragging, etc.) there's not many software tweaks which will improve your performance in a noticable way, especially on a decent system.

 

[Deleted member 77746]

My advice: stop thinking about it and enjoy your games I found that I got into my games much more once I stopped thinking about getting every last FPS and 3DMark point and immersed myself in the game.

Besides, Windows these days is quite good at managing itself. Beyond the things which you know about (clearing temporary files, defragging, etc.) there's not many software tweaks which will improve your performance in a noticable way, especially on a decent system.

Well said, quoted for the truth.

 

[Chiribo]

Don't have youtube (or any flash app) running in a browser window whilst playing a game. Especially if flash makes use of hardware acceleration.