All in_one system maintenance utilities

[wdhpr]

There has been allot of discussions concerning these utilities. It seems for every product there are people that swear by them and there are people who warn you to stay clear and avoid. For instance gizmo writes a glowing review for Advanced SystemCare Free. Others say the utility wiped out their system and they had to do complete re-installs. There are websites that will give reviews and comparisons of products. However one must contemplate if there is any bias. I for one have determined that these utilities provide at best moderate improvements to system performance. Newer versions of windows starting with xp have incorporated these utilities in these boxed versions of windows. I for one, long for a no nonsense discussion on what works and what doesn't and what can be harmful. Gizmo has addressed these issues and issued warning as to detrimental results.

I feel the public needs to be aware of whats useful, whats snake oil and whats harmful. Besides making sure your data is backed up. What can people do when using these utilities to ensure they prevent serious harm to their systems.

Sorry about the pole. I misunderstood how to do the pole questions.

[grimbles]

Hi wdhpr - Let me begin by stating I used Advanced WindowsCare for well over 2 years and have been using Advanced SystemCare since it first morphed from AWC. It has never, ever done any harm/damage to my system.
Frankly, I fail to see how anyone's system would suffer any permanent damage, there are so many safeguards in place within the application itself. All the scan and remove/fix features in ASC are fully explained (within the program) complete with customizable options. Each and every change/fix can be scrutinized and canceled prior to putting changes into effect, plus all changes are backed up to ASC's in-built 'Restore Center' from where they can be completely reversed/restored.
The usefulness of these type of apps can only really be judged over an elongated period of time. I deal, day to day, with the average home users' machines and a whole lot of problems can be put down to 2 or 3 years use devoid of any kind of regular cleanup and maintenance. I recommend both CCleaner and ASC to all my clients.

cheers now...JIM

[Jojoyee]

Good post. I use CCleaner more often.

[elizabeth]

I use Advanced System Care and up to now it works well, no problems.

[George]

I clean up my system manually, mostly using Sysinternal tools and regedit. If I need a helper once in a while I use CCleaner to support me. Sometimes I just let it find things and I do the cleaning myself.

Note: I don't understand the poll.

[grimbles]

No George - I don't understand it either.

[bk_7312]

I think the poll is asking about your knowledge of optimization utilities but it doesn't quite make any sense.

P.S.-How often should optimization be performed? Seriously how often?

[grimbles]

BK_7312 - There is no definitive/absolute answer to that question. It all depends on usage...i.e. a cleanup and maintenance policy for someone who just uses their machine 2 or 3 times a week to perform simple chores would be totally different to someone who is on the computer for long hours and connected to the internet for elongated periods. It's a true case of horses for courses.

I generally advise the 'average user' (if there is such a thing) to run CCleaner, ASC, whatever, once per week.

cheers...JIM

[wildman]

I have a few programs to clean the machine and keep it going.

(1) Comodo Registry cleaner.

(2) Free Windows Registry Repair.

(3) AusLogics Registry Defrag.

(4) CCleaner.

(5) Wise Disk Cleaner.

(6) Eusing Free Registry Cleaner.

(7) Diskeeper Lite Defragmenter.

All of these are "FREE" ware.

Thanks
Wildman

[Anupam]

The poll dosen't make much sense. Its more of questions rather than a poll.