[Pmb (OP)]

Does anybody know of freeware that will let me tue up my computer so that it will run at top speed/efficiency?

[graham.d]

I have been told by a very good IT manager that these "tune up" programs are for the most part a con. The registry cleaner used to be importent when the registry occupied lots of available memory but the reason microsoft don't bother with any clean up is that it does no harm, occupies little memory (relatively) and takes negligible extra time (or no extra time) to interrogate. And editing it can be risky. All the other functions (like getting rid of temporary files) can be carried out by the tools in Windows. If such programs were really useful I think Microsoft would provide them free (or at least packaged within the Windows you buy). It would not be in their interest to not do so unless you believe the conspiracy theories that the old software is deliberately allowed to go slower so as to encourage purchase of a new version (along with new hardware). I have tried some of the freeware (and some paid for) and found that it does not make significant difference and my computer still runs like a dog (and not a greyhound unfortunately). The ads seem convincing.

A new computer with a fast multi-core processor is what you (and me - when at home) need. My machine at work is very quick and I have Windows 7 running in a virtual machine running in Linux. The one at home was good in its day (which is sadly in the past). One general problem nowadays is the startup time. I have found that this is due to some specific programs initiated by the virus protection software (in my case Sophos). SavService (for example) occupies huge amounts of CPU time and slows everything down for about 20 minutes following startup. I am told other virus checkers do not have such impact but I don't know whether they are as good; I get Sophos free as my company uses it and it is then free to employees for home use.

[Pmb (OP)]

Thanks for the advice. I always thought that they might be a scam. But my system is running much slower than normall and my brower gets hung up so easily!

[RD]

... my brower gets hung up so easily!

If your problem is browser hanging it is likely to be a problem with browser-addons, (e.g. they are outdated or conflicting).

If you temporarily run the Internet browser without addons and the hanging does not occur then you know that’s the problem. To temporally disable brower-addons see ..

Internet Explorer … http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/windows-vista/tips-for-solving-problems-with-internet-explorer

FireFox … https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-using-safe-mode

[ There is a feature within Firefox to check your addons are up to date, and a webpage which checks the plugins in FireFox are up to date ... https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/ . NB: "addons" and "plugins" are similar but not the same.]

[graham.d]

Of course you may have a virus or some malware which could be affecting performance. Worth running scans for these if you can.

[RD]

I have used this free registry cleaner ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wise_Registry_Cleaner
which seems to have no strings attached.

NB:

#1 back-up everything which is on your computer, (the Windows OS and your data), on an external drive before you use Wise_Registry_Cleaner as it modifies the registry which can render your computer useless, ( if that happens you'll need to do a reinstall, it's quicker than trying to work out what went wrong).

#2 Only remove the registry entries it says are definitely safe to remove: "safe to fix".

#3 IMO only clean and defrag the registry when it's size can be reduced by over 15%
only then is an increase in speed noticeable. This equates to when several hundred registry entries are found by the program which "can be fixed safely".   [ I only use this program about twice a year ]

#4 registry cleaner won't cure a hanging programs, it just makes the computer run a bit faster.

#5 general rule : IMO wherever possible, block free-software from accessing the internet, just in case it's up-to no-good, by creating a specific rule in the firewall ... http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2008.06.security.aspx  ...

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