I was wondering what you experts would recommend I could use to defragment
my hard disks that is either free or low cost, and actually does a good job,
especially on ntfs partitions. I have used norton but I don't like it
because I have found it can be destructive and it is also cost prohibitive.
Also what utility is good to optomize my registry under xp, to remove
redundant keys safely and restore my os to a decent performance level.
Everyone knows how windows boxes get slowed down over time, and I have not
been able to find a product that is good at cleaning it up and restoring its
performance.
Thanks Dave

-- 
"We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own.
Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile. We are the
Borg."
"A product is not necessarily more secure because fewer vulnerabilities are
discovered"

Tails1 <tails@MUNGED.dragonlair.org> wrote:
> I was wondering what you experts would recommend I could use to
> defragment my hard disks that is either free or low cost, and
> actually does a good job, especially on ntfs partitions. I have used
> norton but I don't like it because I have found it can be destructive
> and it is also cost prohibitive. Also what utility is good to
> optomize my registry under xp, to remove redundant keys safely and
> restore my os to a decent performance level. Everyone knows how
> windows boxes get slowed down over time, and I have not been able to
> find a product that is good at cleaning it up and restoring its
> performance.
> Thanks Dave

I use VoptXP for my defragger and I use Easycleaner to clean my registry.

http://www.vopt.com/

http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm

-- 
Robert
GRC newsgroup tips - http://www.imilly.com/noregrets.htm
List of Lists - http://lists.gpick.com/
Privacy and Security - http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ehowes/main-nf.htm

In grc.techtalk Tails1 wrote:

> I was wondering what you experts would recommend I could use to
[ ]
> Also what utility is
> good to optomize my registry under xp, to remove redundant keys
> safely and restore my os to a decent performance level. Everyone
> knows how windows boxes get slowed down over time, and I have not 

If you are thinking that NT/2K/XP are like W9x in this regard, don't.  
The NT family is not subject to registry "gabage slow down" in the 
same fashion as the 9x series.  In fact, I don't recommend registry 
cleaners for later OSs at all.  They can create more problems and in 
some cases prevent booting or normal operation.  But others have a 
different opinion and do use registry cleaning tools.  All I can say 
is backup, backup, backup.  Meaning a restore-point or manual 
registry backup (using OS-provided tools or 3rd-party like ERUNT) 
before "cleaning".  This backing up of the registry is as critical as 
regular data backups IMO and provides a way out if your "cleaner" 
tool does you wrong.

I leave it to others to make a recommendation.  BTW a good registry 
installation tracker is a great tool to have.  Some track/un-install 
tools are also good.

In general, check out the List of Lists.  http://lists.gpick.com/

Tails1 wrote:

> I was wondering what you experts would recommend I could use to defragment
> my hard disks that is either free or low cost, and actually does a good job,
> especially on ntfs partitions. I have used norton but I don't like it
> because I have found it can be destructive and it is also cost prohibitive.

Use the tool that came with your OS: Hard disk-> Properties-> Tools-> 
Defragmentation. (Win2k and probably XP)


> Also what utility is good to optomize my registry under xp, to remove
> redundant keys safely and restore my os to a decent performance level.

Like Mark V said, you don't need it. Leave well enough alone.


> Everyone knows how windows boxes get slowed down over time, and I have not
> been able to find a product that is good at cleaning it up and restoring its
> performance.

They do? Mine don't... What does cause slowing?

Example: My friend is neither computer savvy nor interested in them. His 
son is both. The problem was that the computer was much slower than it 
was new. Sorry I forgot the OS. Anyway, upon inspection I found the icon 
tray (next to the clock) had about 20-25 icons in it. It turned out that 
his son had installed everything he had found on the Internet, 
everything his friends sent him, in short everything but the dog's 
dinner. I went through the installed applications and weeded out most of 
the 25 tray-resident icons, rebooted, and the computer seemed to be 
about 40-50% faster after the cleanup.

Perhaps you should look at what resources you are using.

Its not a resource issue, I keep my machines clean and malware free, and I
dont install crap that autostarts and fills my tray, but I do find that
system performance is never what is is after 6 months, even kept clean. I
use xp pro and win2k server on all my machines , and 2 are duel bootable to
knoppix (linux). I was just getting some opinions from experience about
keeping things running smoothly.
Dave

-- 
"We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own.
Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile. We are the
Borg."
"A product is not necessarily more secure because fewer vulnerabilities are
discovered"

I find that the xp "slow down" as you put it isn't from registry problems
like mark said, and it isn't neccisarily from installing alot either.
Granted I do install and have alott of apps, one which I'm rather mad at
right now for zeroing out the first 4 sectors of my compressed ntfs drive
"grrrr" nothing is recoverable unless someone here knows what I can use to
recover the data, like kerry noted use either the windows defragger or if
you want a nice one with set and forget features use diskeeper. It's not
cheap though I've used it for 6 years now with no probs on any of my drives
and it will consolidate your directory tree as well, the choice is yours and
like kerry also noted most slow down's are from installed programs that
possibly have drivers loading during bootup such as nero or other cd burning
software. Has no one here noted that all of the micro$oft window$ os's tend
to occasionally change settings. I find this on computers all the time, but
befor you jump to conclusions format and reinstall a computer from scratch
bet every time is slightly diffrent with xp. Xp is known to react diffrently
with every computer, I'm a network admin and just finished formatting and
installing xp on 5 computers every install was diffrent, but try the install
first you might find that the os isn't at fault it is occasionally hardware
bugs. Mayton82

Yeah thanks for the info, you gave me some things to think about. However
regarding your data loss problem, try knoppix, its a linux "clone" that is
loaded entirely from a bootable cd. Google "knoppix" and get the image from
their site (its free) make sure its the latest version, burn it to a cd,
then boot the computer with the sick drive with it and once its finished you
should be able to mount and view (and copy) the files from your ntfs
partition. (You also have a working os in like 30 seconds :D..Im really
impressed with knoppix and another point as to why open source development
is better) I can't see a bad boot sector like you described stoping you from
doing that. Also the latest version of knoppix claims you can also write to
ntfs partitions once you mount them, however I havent tried it yet but I do
know you can read them, and then use samba to make them available over a tcp
network so you can recover your files. Let me know if you try this and I
will try to help you further if need be.
Dave
-- 
"We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own.
Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile. We are the
Borg."
"A product is not necessarily more secure because fewer vulnerabilities are
discovered"

Mayton82 wrote:

> ... Has no one here noted that all of the micro$oft window$ os's tend
> to occasionally change settings. I find this on computers all the time

I've never heard of that nor observed it.

> , but
> befor you jump to conclusions format and reinstall a computer from scratch
> bet every time is slightly diffrent with xp. Xp is known to react diffrently
> with every computer,

Different computers maybe, but not the same computer with no hardware 
changes. Okay I can't speak for XP but I once installed Win2k on the 
same computer about 50 times and never saw the slightest difference. (I 
was perfecting a slipstreamed install disc.)

 > I'm a network admin and just finished formatting and
> installing xp on 5 computers every install was diffrent, but try the install
> first you might find that the os isn't at fault it is occasionally hardware
> bugs. Mayton82

Things that make you go "Hmmmmm..."

I have had good luck with Raxco Perfect disk.  Used it on 2000 and XP for
some time now with no problems.

Chris wrote:
> I have had good luck with Raxco Perfect disk.  Used it on 2000 and XP
> for some time now with no problems.

A word of caution:  don't ever uninstall it and then try to re-install.
I did, and now it will not install again.  The Raxco Support has been
no help, and I'm no longer able to use the product I paid for.  Beware . . .
..

-- 
___
Ted