Going back to Windows 10 from Mac. What maintenance programs?

[nicolaidenmark]

Hi all,

I'm going "back" to Windows 10 after having used a Mac for several years.

I realise there are some discussions about whether or not maintenance programs are needed for a Mac as well.

 

However,  I know they are needed for Windows. Thing is I would hate to install, say, 15 different maintenance programs on my computer. 

 

I have watched linus's YouTube video from 2015 regarding recommended programs for cleaning up your PC, completely remove apps and so on.

 

However, I'm wondering if there is an all-in-one maintenance suite,  would you guys can recommend and which can give me a good overview and central place to manage everything. 

 

Any recommendations as to such Suites but also individual apps would be most welcome.

 

Thank you very much and have a great weekend. 

[Slottr]

If by maintenance you mean anti virus type software, Malwarebytes and Windows defender should be all you need

[nicolaidenmark]

16 minutes ago, Slottr said:

If by maintenance you mean anti virus type software, Malwarebytes and Windows defender should be all you need

For anti-virus and malware, I have a subscription with Bitdefender total security so this shouldn't be a problem.

 

I was thinking more along the lines of cleaning remenants of apps, disk defragmentation, registry cleaning and so on... 

[GoodBytes]

57 minutes ago, nicolaidenmark said:

I was thinking more along the lines of cleaning remenants of apps, disk defragmentation, registry cleaning and so on... 

Windows already maintains itself. Nothing to do.

 

Registry cleaner is useless, and only breaks things. The registry is a database. It doesn't matter if there is 1 item inside or hundred of millions, performance remains the same. That is one of the reasons why database are used and not text files.

[nicolaidenmark]

10 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Windows already maintains itself. Nothing to do.

Does it carry out Defrag et. Al. automatically? Or can I setup a schedule? 

[homeap5]

My advice is - focus on more interesting things than cleaning your system. Is not what system is made for. Windows will work for years without your help (even if there is common myth that it needs reinstalls - it doesn't). People who trying to improve system too much or clean too much ends with broken system. And yes - then they made reinstall.

[GoodBytes]

59 minutes ago, nicolaidenmark said:

Does it carry out Defrag et. Al. automatically? Or can I setup a schedule? 

Yup, and executes TRIM of you have an SSD instead.

The schedule of Windows maintenance task is found under the Security and Maintenance panel. Just type in the start menu or search box on the task bar for Maintenance, and the panel will appear.

 

You can find additional settings under the Settings panel of Windows 10 (Start > Settings (Gear icon)).

[nicolaidenmark]

Thanks, I guess a lot changed since the days of XP lol!

[GoodBytes]

48 minutes ago, nicolaidenmark said:

Thanks, I guess a lot changed since the days of XP lol!

Massively, back and front. And that is not an exaggeration.

[Godlygamer23]

You can still use cleaner programs like CCleaner and Disk Cleanup(included in Windows) to remove files that aren't needed anymore, such as Windows Update files. 

[homeap5]

3 hours ago, nicolaidenmark said:

Thanks, I guess a lot changed since the days of XP lol!

Lol, in my workplace I have computer with WinXP installed 12 years ago. Still working, without reinsall, even cloned to SSD from HDD and after motherboard change. So it all depends if you believe in myths that Windows needs cleaning, reinstalling etc. or if you use common sense.

[Godlygamer23]

2 hours ago, homeap5 said:

Lol, in my workplace I have computer with WinXP installed 12 years ago. Still working, without reinsall, even cloned to SSD from HDD and after motherboard change. So it all depends if you believe in myths that Windows needs cleaning, reinstalling etc. or if you use common sense.

One example doesn't make something a myth. It just means you could've had an experience outside of the norm. With that said, yes Windows does need cleaning, in that you do have to remove leftover files every now and again due to Windows Update, for example. It depends on how you define "need".

 

"Common sense" also doesn't always work. It's a common thing touted on this forum - "just use common sense" until things go wrong of course because you relied too heavily on it. Heuristics can be pretty useful but they're not perfect. I would argue that "common sense" includes not relying on others to protect you. Which means you also run a security program in the background actively scanning because you can't be too careful when it comes to your own security. 

[GoodBytes]

23 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

One example doesn't make something a myth. It just means you could've had an experience outside of the norm. With that said, yes Windows does need cleaning, in that you do have to remove leftover files every now and again due to Windows Update, for example. It depends on how you define "need".

I forgot about Windows XP case, but I know for sure that since Windows 7 at the very least, Windows clean up Windows Update files automatically.

The biggest issue with Windows XP is defragmentation. It didn't do it automatically. And while the built-in defrag tool today is better than before, it doesn't address the issue that Windows XP was creating a lot, and that was open space fragmentation. Currently, Windows still doesn't fix it, but I don't think Microsoft cares anymore as SSDs are the future, they are now inexpensive, and you start to see SSDs on more budget friendly systems. With SSDs fragmentation is an issue that is none-existing. Open space fragmentation is free space on disk that is split between files. So it will be like:

[File 1][ some free space ][File 2] [--------   some free space    ------] [File3] [free space[[File4][File5][space][File6].

So the head has to do more traveling to read the requested series of data. In addition, data is not sorted. So over time, with updates from Windows and your programs, your web browser cache, your personal files you add and remove, and defragmentation, you can have files from program or OS at the opposite side of the disk. So now, the HDD head needs to move all over the place. And all that was before NCQ was a thing, and Windows XP didn't natively supported (let alone SATA).
 

 

[GoodBytes]

4 hours ago, Godlygamer23 said:

You can still use cleaner programs like CCleaner and Disk Cleanup(included in Windows) to remove files that aren't needed anymore, such as Windows Update files. 

The only advantage that CCleaner brings is that you have a 1 button click solution to clean things.

Cleaning disk does not improve system performance, just frees up space (unless you run an HDD and that happens to be filled near max, which is an issue for NTFS formatted drives where performance degradation is a thing under such state). And assuming you want to clear up, well there is really 2 things to do: Clear your web browser cache or set it a disk size limit in your web browser options, and make sure that "Storage Sense" is enabled.(Settings > System > Storage), and make sure that it is configured to your needs (same location in Settings, just pick > "Configure Storage Sense or run it now" link)

[homeap5]

46 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

One example doesn't make something a myth. It just means you could've had an experience outside of the norm.

Because I wrote only one example doesn't mean it's the only I have. But this is something I discuss so many times, that it becomes boring. And yes - need for reinstalling Windows or need for cleaning are most common and stupid myths imo.

[Godlygamer23]

12 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

need for reinstalling Windows or need for cleaning are most common and stupid myths imo.

Just because you believe it to be a myth doesn't mean it actually is. 

 

I'm not claiming to support the idea that reinstalling your OS is a necessity nor that it actually does anything. Based on what I've done in the past, the only time I felt the need to reinstall Windows is because I screwed something up from deleting a registry entry that was required for something to function. But I'm also not claiming that that's the only valid reason to reinstall Windows, at least not until proper testing is done showing it to be total bunk, which I don't know how many people here actually have the time to do it or perhaps do something similar as a job/career. 

[Godlygamer23]

29 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

I forgot about Windows XP case, but I know for sure that since Windows 7 at the very least, Windows clean up Windows Update files automatically.

The biggest issue with Windows XP is defragmentation. It didn't do it automatically. And while the built-in defrag tool today is better than before, it doesn't address the issue that Windows XP was creating a lot, and that was open space fragmentation. Currently, Windows still doesn't fix it, but I don't think Microsoft cares anymore as SSDs are the future, they are now inexpensive, and you start to see SSDs on more budget friendly systems. With SSDs fragmentation is an issue that is none-existing. Open space fragmentation is free space on disk that is split between files. So it will be like:

[File 1][ some free space ][File 2] [--------   some free space    ------] [File3] [free space[[File4][File5][space][File6].

So the head has to do more traveling to read the requested series of data. In addition, data is not sorted. So over time, with updates from Windows and your programs, your web browser cache, your personal files you add and remove, and defragmentation, you can have files from program or OS at the opposite side of the disk. So now, the HDD head needs to move all over the place. And all that was before NCQ was a thing, and Windows XP didn't natively supported (let alone SATA).
 

[image removed]

 

27 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

The only advantage that CCleaner brings is that you have a 1 button click solution to clean things.

Cleaning disk does not improve system performance, just frees up space (unless you run an HDD and that happens to be filled near max, which is an issue for NTFS formatted drives where performance degradation is a thing under such state). And assuming you want to clear up, well there is really 2 things to do: Clear your web browser cache or set it a disk size limit in your web browser options, and make sure that "Storage Sense" is enabled.(Settings > System > Storage), and make sure that it is configured to your needs (same location in Settings, just pick > "Configure Storage Sense or run it now" link)

I'm not denying anything that's being said here because most of the time, drives don't really get full enough to really be affected. Hard drive technology has also improved significantly where fragmentation is significantly less of an issue than it used to be. But it again comes down to how "need" is defined. If you're trying to reap every bit of space possible without destroying Windows, then it makes sense to use CCleaner and Disk Cleanup. If you're "OCD" about those things, then it "needs" to be done.

 

But does Windows need it to function? No, and even with me mentioning removing temp files and installation files manually, Windows might already do that periodically anyway. 

[homeap5]

I think reinstalling Windows is a myth because I read huge number of articles, comments and opinions that Windows needs this without any logical explanation other than "because everyone knows that" or "because it's good practice" etc. If this is not a myth, then I don't know what it is.

 

I understand that sometimes someone may broke Windows by accidentally delete files or important registry entries and not always fixing that is worth someone's work, especially if that system is used for browsing internet and playing few games. And I'm not talking about that type of situations. I'm taking about mindless reinstalling Windows every even small problem or "just in case". This forum is full of examples of that. Posts like "my mouse don't work, I made clean install, but that don't fix a problem" are example how bad is that.

[nicolaidenmark]

Thanks for the comments so far.

[soulreaper11207]

On 2/17/2019 at 9:17 AM, Godlygamer23 said:

You can still use cleaner programs like CCleaner and Disk Cleanup(included in Windows) to remove files that aren't needed anymore, such as Windows Update files. 

Also don't forget to run Disk Cleanup as admin. This allows you to remove older version after build upgrades, and you can clear out your update cache to save some more room there too.