PC health check.. what do you do?

Admiral Huddy

Admiral Huddy

Admiral Huddy

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You are brought a slow, sick PC that could really do with a tidy up and health check etc..

List the actions you would perform to get it back to speed (without doing a format ;) )

Cheers
 
And RegSeeker or NTREOPT. Give the registy a clean up. SpywareBlaster as well to stop anything else getting on.

Perhaps install a free AV just to scan the PC.
 
Ewanb75 said:
Install adaware, spybot and ccleaner. Then give it a good dusting and de-fragging
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Once that's done I'd get rid of any old, un-needed Restore Points, uninstall any old software, check MSConfig and services.msc for any nasties, check the Hibernate feature's off (if it's not required) and disable Indexing.

Check for driver updates too for the graphics, sound, MoBo etc :)
 
Admiral Huddy said:
You are brought a slow, sick PC that could really do with a tidy up and health check etc..

List the actions you would perform to get it back to speed (without doing a format ;) )

Cheers
Click to expand...

- Boot into safe mode, make sure nothing dodgy's running during safemode.
- Stop system restore (right click my computer, properties, system restore, turn off system restore)
- Install Ad-aware, Spybot, A-Squared, Windows Defender, AVG Anti-spyware.
- Update them (you might need to boot into safe mode with networking) and run a full system scan with each of the above.
- Run CCleaner and clean everything, even cookies.
- Run CCleaner and scan for issues (registry issues)
- Get RegSeeker, do a full scan and repair/remove all issues.
- Install a decent firewall and anti virus, do a full scan & set it up to auto update etc.
- Make sure all Windows updates have been applied
- Reboot
- Check nothing dodgy is running.
- Go through msconfig and remove all unwanted entries.
- Install Speedfan and check the health etc. of the hard drive with SMART
- Install Everest Free Edition & check temps etc. are alright
- Defrag
 
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Craig is right if you want a very thorough job Safe Mode is the way forward, its underused. Safe Mode run all your clever proggies (as craig states booting into SM w/networking to update them) it doesn't matter which spyware programs you use most are good, but all work better in SM. When you're done with everything boot back into normal windows, then update driver/windows. Uninstall all the programs they won't use, remove all the random startuphooks they won't need. Last of all after everything else defrag for good measure. Done.

If you're really nice install a Free AV, MS Defender (integrates well people like it) and set up scheduled runs for those and Defrag, tell the person when they will run automatically once a week/month so they know to leave the PC on. Tell them it will be for the best, and maybe organise it around their schedule.

Thats what i do anyways...

//Edit: I forgot if you clean up their Desktop (check when the shortcuts where last accessed to determine if they ever use them). People always think clean desktop = quick :)

Same can be done with the start menu. just reorganise it. I usually add "Windows Security" put AV and MS defender in here, and then go from there really, you'll make your own system up the more PC's you do this to, and get pretty fast at it. But it's always a little thing that impresses them :)
 
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nothing beats a format tbh

acronis or copy their data to a spare hard drive that you have, install windows again, and any apps they need, like office and acrobat, thne copy stuff back
 
I would check its specs against the OS and software it is running, Does it have enough memory, processing power etc and as other have said, if this is not the cause, then run spybot et all and Virus checking software. Make sure the primary drive has enough room left on it for the swap file (at least 10-15% of total drive to be free is best really). Reg cleaners are a bit like snake oil and don't really do anything in my experience. Sometimes an OS just needs to be reinstalled, you don't have to format, so you wont lose all files.

What I actually do is this, tell the PC owner to get all there files off the pc they need. Format and re-install drivers programs etc, charge em £50. Job done.
 
bledd. said:
nothing beats a format tbh

acronis or copy their data to a spare hard drive that you have, install windows again, and any apps they need, like office and acrobat, thne copy stuff back
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That's too dramatic and time consuming to be honest unless of course it's been requested..

Some good point here.. I'm basically compiling a check list really.. :)
 
Yeah a format is best but depends on the circumstances. Like if the customer is on holiday or not. ;)

There is a lot that can be done without formatting but sometimes its the best solution.
 
Admiral Huddy said:
That's too dramatic and time consuming to be honest unless of course it's been requested..

Some good point here.. I'm basically compiling a check list really.. :)
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Definately to time consuming i hate installing all their silly Kodak picture carp porgrams etc... they have and never used but want anyway?! So i leave them too it and just sweep the crap away...

Another few points huddy, stop MSN/Skype/AIM/loads of other programs from running at startup, theyre not needed byt a lot of people. Put a nice big shourtcut in the start menu and tell them if they want to run them run them from the start menu. Becuase it obviously speeds up the startup time a lot which impresses them :)
 
MarcLister said:
Yeah a format is best but depends on the circumstances. Like if the customer is on holiday or not. ;)

There is a lot that can be done without formatting but sometimes its the best solution.
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Indeed.


I view the the purpose of a health check is to just keep things running smoothly .. call it preventive medicine. The problem with reformatting is risk.. loose data.. you end up having your balls boiled. :D
 
In that case, check for updated drivers. Check av and fw are up-to-date and set-up proper innit.

Run the old CCleaner and registry cleaners. Try and reduce the number of apps running on bootup. Give them shortcuts as LeperousDust suggested. Also try fiddling around with the pre-fetcher. Could be on XP default and the PC might benefit from speedier bootups if you change that to only prefetch boot stuff. Or even disable it all together.

Then disable services they won't need like Firewall/ICS if appropriate. Indexing etc. Park any others they may use from time to time into manual. So they only run when needed and don't use RAM until then.
 
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