Rick Carlson wrote: > James G. Sack (jim) wrote: >.. > I went to that site. They are selling a registry cleaner. The hook is > 'Computer Slowing Down? What to Do About It' > > What they do not tell you is that under M$ Windows your computer slowing > down can be because of adware, spybots, virii, and or a registry which > is bloated or full of entries which are no longer relevant. > > To deal with adware and spybots there are two free programs for private > users that should be run regularly (I recommend at least once a week). > > Adware can be identified and removed by Ad-Aware 2007 Free from Lavasoft > at: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php > > Spybots can be identified and removed by Spybot Search & Destroy from > Safer Networking Ltd. at: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html > > These two together pretty much handle all the adware and spybots that > most people have trouble with. Spybot Search & Destroy removes cookies > that some people may wish to keep if they store personal information on > certain websites that they shop at regularly so they should always run > Ad-Aware first and then Spybot Search & Destroy. Personally, I always > recommend that users never store their personal financial information > i.e. credit card numbers, bank account numbers, etc. at any website. > Yes, it is a hassle to have to enter it in each time you want to buy > something on-line but it sure beats dealing with the horrors of identity > theft. > > Another program which is pretty good about catching spyware is > Spysweeper by Webroot at: > http://www.webroot.com/En_US/consumer-products-spysweeper.html > > However, this is a commercial program which must be purchased and > renewed each year. Yes, it is a subscription service much like Norton > Antivirus, etc. If you really want to go whole hog you can buy it > bundled with Webroot's Spy Sweeper, Anti-virus, and Firewall at > http://www.webroot.com/En_US/consumer-products-antivirus.html > > I use Spy Sweeper by itself at home. My wife likes Microsoft because she > uses it at work. The firewall and anti-virus programs on her computer > are by different companies. > > I won't go into firewalls here but for anti-virus software I recommend > AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition from http:\\www.grisoft.com/ > > Two other programs which can be run in the background are SpywareBlaster > and SpywareGuard from JavaCool Software at > http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html and > http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareguard.html > > Again, they are free programs for personal use. > > Now we come to registry cleaners. This can be done by becoming > intimately familiar with the internal machinations of each version of M$ > Windows i.e Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Vista. > > OR you can purchase a registry cleaner which will automate the process > for you and save your sanity. Whatever route you decide to take be sure > to back up your registry before doing any work on it. Otherwise you can > trash your registry and turn your expensive Windows Machine into a > decorative door stop. > > Back when I was looking for a good registry cleaner I ran across Abexo > Windows System Utilities at http://www.abexo.com/ > > I bought their bundle which included a Registry Cleaner, Disk > Defragmenter, and Memory Defragmenter. I believe they sell this bundle > these days for $59.85 which is pretty inexpensive if you have ever > bought a few textbooks to teach yourself how to do all this stuff by > hand coding it. > > There may be better programs or cheaper programs out there that do this > stuff so it may be worth it to shop around. At the time I needed it it > was considered 'good stuff' so I bought them (the Abexo programs) and > haven't regretted it. > > Well, I hope I have answered your question and maybe helped you get some > ideas on how to set up friends and family M$ Windows computers so they > don't get bogged down with adware, spyware, virii and a corrupt or > bloated registry.
Thanks for the especially detailed and very thoughtful response! Regards, ..jim -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
