How do you maintain your PC?

[Ergroilnin]

Speaking software-wise only.

 

I usually do not do all that much to maintain my PC these last five years.

 

The only thing I pretty much do is run CCleaner on like monthly basis, not installing bloatware, have a common sense while surfing web and mail and that's it.

 

Do you for example reinstall Windows (I do not have almost any experience with MacOS and literally zero experience with Linux, so I do not know about those) completely for a fresh install say every year or use some other software etc. to maintain your PC?

[jiyeon]

Software-wise, I'm extremely conservative and monitor my storage space wisely.

 

Say for example Fallout 4 mods, if I want to uninstall Fallout 4, I'll need to find every branch of mod that relates to Fallout 4 in order to keep my storage as uncluttered as I can.

 

If I ever do feel the need to freshen up, I only ever do 'Reset this PC' and not fresh installs, because it's cumbersome having to buy another Windows 10 key just to have a new Windows, when a reset does essentially the same thing, and leaves no residual files in my experience.

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Run CCleaner every so often and make use of a VM where neccesary

[GoodBytes]

Assuming you don't have storage limit issue, where you need to clean Temp folder, web caches, etc.

Then Windows 10 does a fairly good job at cleaning things up, and maintaining itself.

This is also less of a need if you have an SSD (no defrag needed).

 

[Fasauceome]

Take a sponge to my SSD. Steel wool if it's been an active month.

 

Well that or keep neatly labelled folders.

Edited January 24, 2019 by fasauceome

[WereCatf]

I don't use any CCleaners or other crap naive people have been inundated to think they should be using. The only thing I do is delete the various crap left behind by Windows Update, especially after big patches, and that's all.

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, campy said:

Really makes you wonder what happened to take that to 4gb idles on windows 10

It doesn't use 4GB at idle, unless you count in cache, but that'd be idiotic.

[JohnDongus]

Every few months I image my Os and put it on my NAS, save whatever i need and reinstall

[WereCatf]

Just now, campy said:

It's mainly windows superfetch, but if it's eating ram it's eating ram. Anything over 2gb is just not acceptable by any means. Nothing on that OS should use that much ram.

Theres no justifying that, every time I read about someone complaining about high idle ram usage it's all "unused ram is wasted ram!" Or "it's just cached, it will clear when it's needed!"

 

No. 

B L O A T

 

I hate windows 10 for many other reasons, mainly the fact that it refuses to give you full control over anything and tries its hardest to trick you into enabling safety features if you turn them off, but the ram issue isn't helping.

You clearly have no idea what cache is.

[Constantin]

An absolutely needed software in Win 10 is a defrag.

It is the only maintenance that mechanical drives need.

I have seen that Win10 defrag is mediocre as in the past few days, i was trying to defrag a 2TB HDD and the result was stuck to 2%.

I Downloaded a software "Auslogics Disk Defrag" and it showed 36% fragmentation, i let it take care of it and went to 0%

I run after that Win Defrag and it was the first time it showed 0%

[Tristerin]

Malwarebytes or Reinstall.  Anything else isn't worth your time.  At least I live in a po-dunk 400 population town and get 125mb internet service even.  Takes less than an hour to get things back to complete fresh working order, another hour and every game is reinstalled on my current play list. 

 

My situation is different, I use my desktop only for gaming, pr0n and downloading less than on the up and up software for the most affordable (Free) price I can get it.  If I happen to get something with ill intent to my PC I just wipe it.  If Malwarebytes free version doesn't catch it, a fresh install always will.  My NAS keeps my important records, videos, pictures etc.

[WereCatf]

6 minutes ago, campy said:

I'm very well aware of what it is and why it's causing higher ram consumption, it does not excuse that ram consumption.

This just goes to show that you don't understand what you're talking about. Cache is thrown away the instant anything wishes to use the RAM, so there is literally no downside to it.

9 minutes ago, campy said:

There is no reason to windows to cache half the programs you use just so they open slightly faster.

You just gave the reason yourself.

[Eaglerino]

I haven't done anything to it for the last 3 years, haven't even reformatted since switching to an SSD

[Guest]

Not much these days. Speaking to my main OS, nothing important is on the OS drive. If I run into major issues, I just re-load the OS, remap my drives, and re-install my programs. Any software worth using has its configs backed up for an easy restore. I have the reload process down to about an hour and a half.

[r2724r16]

45 minutes ago, Ergroilnin said:

Speaking software-wise only.

I just delete viruses that I accidentally download. That's all I do in terms of maintaining my PC (software-wise).

[Crunchy Dragon]

Usually once a year I'll go through and clear out old files that I don't need stored locally anymore.

I try to stay updated on drivers, usually update those a day or two after the new version releases.

 

As far as software, that's it.

For hardware, I'll take it apart and dust it every few months. I haven't come up with a schedule for the thermal compound, but I'd probably do that bi-yearly.

[TetraSky]

I don't install every garbage I find on the internet.
The large majority of the applications I use other than games, are "portable" meaning no install/registry keys being generated. This allows for quick turn around when/if I need to format Windows.

 

I used to use CCleaner a lot, but that software has honestly gone to shit and caused more issues than it fixes at this point.(Especially in regards to Windows 10 Feature updates)

 

As for software updating.... I only update the ones that connects to the internet for security purpose, when and if I run them.

Why update that which isn't broken and doesn't connect to the Internet after all.

I go through my portable apps maybe once every 2 or 3 years to see if there are newer versions that maybe adds new stuff.... but that's really it. The other applications like my web browser tell me if there's a new version.

 

Once you're past the initial set up, there really isn't much reasons to go out of your way to try and "maintain" your PC if all you're doing is play games, watch movies and browse the internet. It's mainly for people who have no clue what they are doing and install crap they find on Facebook or don't realize the importance of things like a firewall.

[Amazonsucks]

Well first off i never run junkware that does nothing or worse than nothing actually breaks things like CCleaner or other registry optimizer BS software.

 

Optimize drives(TRIM SSD and defrag HDD) with windows built in tool weekly.

 

Keep windows updated with security fixes. Keep drivers updated with stable versions.

 

Occasionally run Disk Cleanup and do the system files version.

 

Run DISM and sfc after any major software failures like BSODs.

 

I use Windbg from Microsoft to establish the cause of BSODs by reading the dump files.

 

Malwarebytes premium with custom anti exploit profiles and Windows Defender.

 

I dont browse the internet on my PC or install stupid shit. Locked down phones and tablets with VPNs are for browsing.

 

Regular system image backups.

 

My Windows installs usually last as long as the PC with no slowdown over time. I usually keep my PCs 4 or 5 years with heavy daily use and years of actual powered on time.

 

There is NO reason to reinstall the OS usually.

 

 

[_Hustler_One_]

In case you need to uninstall any software in your PC maintenance, if any, I recommend using iObit Uninstaller to be able to deep clean the uninstallation. Unless someone have a better recommendation on this similar apps..

[Amazonsucks]

10 minutes ago, _Hustler_One_ said:

In case you need to uninstall any software in your PC maintenance, if any, I recommend using iObit Uninstaller to be able to deep clean the uninstallation. Unless someone have a better recommendation on this similar apps..

IObit software should NEVER be used under any circumstances. I mean unless youre TRYING to break someones PC as a meme.

 

They are a garbage company out of China that was caught stealing Malwarebytes intellectual property.

 

Their software is worse than useless garbage(scareware, bloatware, breaks things, uses stolen code).

 

Its hard to find a company i hate more than Amazon or G2A but IOshit comes close.

 

 

[_Hustler_One_]

9 minutes ago, Amazonsucks said:

IObit software should NEVER be used under any circumstances.

 

They are a garbage company out of China that was caught stealing Malwarebytes intellectual property.

 

Their software is worse than useless garbage(scareware, bloatware, breaks things, uses stolen code).

 

Its hard to find a compa i hate more than Amazon or G2A but IOshit comes close.

Really? I never knew that LOL..

[Amazonsucks]

Just now, _Hustler_One_ said:

Really? I never knew that LOL..

Its a horrible company. Idk if it leaves stuff behind but i would go to Control Panel, Uninstall A Program and nuke everything related to IObit off the PC ASAP.

 

If you need to get rid of traces left behind, Microsoft has that covered.

 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns

 

That will let you find autoruns left behind by software. Any non-malicious registry entries left behind shouldnt break anything.

 

If something malicious was installed then this will usually obliterate the registry entries.

 

https://www.malwarebytes.com/adwcleaner/

 

To find any running processes and get their associated .exes you can just use this.

 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

 

After uninstalling something major or malicious, open an elevated command prompt by going to search, type in command and right click command prompt, then run as administrator.

 

Type these commands in this order. Each will take a few minutes to run. The spacing has to be exact. 

 

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

 

sfc /scannow

 

If you had IObit stuff on your PC id run both commands just to be sure. Windows sucks in a lot of ways but it really dkes have a lot of built in tools to fix and diagnose things.

[_Hustler_One_]

13 minutes ago, Amazonsucks said:

nuke everything related to IObit off the PC ASAP

How to do that? LOL

[Amazonsucks]

8 minutes ago, _Hustler_One_ said:

How to do that? LOL

Go to control panel, uninstall a program, look for anything made by IObit in there. Uninstall it.

 

Then use Autoruns and Process Explorer(links in my previous post) and look for traces there. Delete them of you find any.

 

Run Adwcleaner.

 

Reboot. Then do the DISM and SFC commands i also posted to fix any remaining damage. You should be good after that.

[mr moose]

I run malwarebytes once a month and keep windows updated. 

 

I just don't have any problems that would lead me to need software to do what windows already does.