other than firewall, antivirus and not downloading a ton of porn...does any other preventive software exist that is a must have for a brand new pc?
i know a ton of stuff exists for older computers that claim to speed them up and get them running like new again. but is there anything that exists to keep a new computer running as efficiently as possible as long as possible?

5/19/2012 12:33:09 PM

[Edited on May 19, 2012 at 1:17 PM. Reason : weird double-post]

5/19/2012 1:16:23 PM

fragmentation slows down a computer quite a bit...fixing the size of your page file (same min and max) can help (or at least that used to be the common thought)

it was fairly common advice to put the page file on its own partition, but i don't that it's as useful these days (post-XP)

5/19/2012 1:17:06 PM

i just ordered a new laptop. ivybridge i7. 1tb hdd and a 32gb mssd. windows 7 of course
just want to make sure that i do everything to keep it in tip top shape as i spent a pretty penny on it

5/19/2012 2:13:04 PM

Remove the bloatware and any trialware you don't intend to purchase (like Microsoft Office 2010); also, the bestest antivirus in terms of system impact and false-positive rate is def. Microsoft Security Essentials.

You may also wish, after running through all available Microsoft Updates (even the optional ones...okay except that infernal Bing Desktop and possibly Windows Live Essentials), to use CCleaner with my special additional .ini file to clean up a shit-ton of temp files and broken Registry entries (most of which will have been left behind by uninstalling the bloatware): http://jansal.net/etc/winapp2.ini

Additionally, use this Startup Control Panel (run as administrator plz) to keep certain programs from starting up that normally do start up automatically: http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml
You may also wish to look through the Services control-panel applet, using this as a guide: http://www.blackviper.com/service-configurations/black-vipers-windows-7-service-pack-1-service-configurations/

Finally, keep in mind Brian Krebs's 3 Basic Rules for Online Safety: http://krebsonsecurity.com/2011/05/krebss-3-basic-rules-for-online-safety/
1. If you didn’t go looking for it, don’t install it!
2. If you installed it, update it.
3. If you no longer need it, remove it.
Especially consider removing Java unless and until you really need to run some Java-based app or use a Web service that uses a Java applet; that's a massive vector for security vulnerabilities.
Fortunately, for most important applications, Rule 2 is easy: Even Firefox now comes with a background updating service.

P.S.: Consider using Adblock Plus with the Malware Domains subscription, and supplementing that with a special ad- and malware-blocking HOSTS file, to mostly free yourself from the scourge of malvertising, another common vector of infection: https://code.google.com/p/jansal/wiki/HostsFile
P.P.S.: Use means like Chrome's "click-to-play" or Firefox's NoScript extension to keep plugins from auto-launching; this definitely speeds up your browsing: https://code.google.com/p/jansal/wiki/NoScript

5/19/2012 4:48:50 PM

If you are running Windows 7 64bit, you should reformat the OS every 6months to a year.

It's literally the only way to clean up you SxS folder, which will increase in size as you install new applications/game/anything over time. There's no way to clean it up, reduce it or otherwise prune the thing.

If you're the type of person that rarely installs new applications though (after initial setup), then just following regular Windows Updates, Microsoft Security Essentials updates, and checking for hardware driver updates every 3-4 months will be all you really need to do.

Disk fragmentation isn't really an issue anymore, especially with the hybrid drive you have.

5/19/2012 5:40:54 PM

Quote :

"If you are running Windows 7 64bit, you should reformat the OS every 6months to a year."

I've been running W7 on my current rig for about 1.5yrs, so I suppose I'm due for this. What's the best way to restore my data - I have a weekly backup to an external HDD, consisting of a copy of important documents in addition to a full system image, both via the Windows Backup Utility. Would just restoring from the image take care of the cleanup of my HDD, or should I really do a bare install of W7, grab any important documents, and then reinstall my programs?

I'm not a software person, so I don't have the background to determine whether or not the image would carry the sluggish clutter with it, and what I could do about that. Is there a preferred method to an OS restore?

5/19/2012 7:26:32 PM

i've been running W7 ultimate for well over a year (probably closer to 2) on my HTPC and it's fine...i was not planning on reformatting

5/19/2012 9:11:03 PM

^^Yeah you will have to do a fresh install to get rid of all the clutter. Honestly though unless you notice it being slow I woudlnt even worry with it.

5/19/2012 9:20:50 PM

I always recommend making a clean image backup from acronis or ghost right after you get the machine to where you want it to be (all programs installed, all settings configured etc...). With services like google drive and drop box, most documents can be stored/backed up in the cloud. Media can be stored externally. So if you start to see slow downs, or weird behavior, don't even worry about cleaning. Just wipe the drive and go back to the clean version. And you can do incremental backups along the way.

5/19/2012 10:09:04 PM

^^^^^Does a bloated WinSxS folder slow down your computer even when not all of the applications that once made use of the various copies of system files are installed anymore?

5/19/2012 11:55:43 PM

Lease it.

5/20/2012 12:48:32 AM

Get a Mac, LOL!

5/20/2012 4:29:16 AM

what should i have prepared to do before i ever connect it to the intranet?

5/20/2012 7:56:02 AM

^ any browser but IE...with adblock plus installed

5/20/2012 9:45:49 AM

http://www.thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=197114 lol

5/20/2012 10:34:50 AM

having to format your OS every 6 months is a serious usability problem.

[Edited on May 20, 2012 at 11:11 AM. Reason : .]

5/20/2012 11:11:04 AM

^^way to quote your thread that is over 7 yrs old lol
not that some of the tips arent useful...but damn!

5/20/2012 12:17:46 PM

To be clear: the WinSxS folder has no appreciable impact on PERFORMANCE, just on disk space.

I have a 128gb SSD in my laptop and I try out a lot of software, so it gets bloated fairly quickly.
But there's no effect on boot time or any other perf metric.

5/20/2012 12:27:39 PM

ugh, i've got a 240GB SSD and I still find myself frequently having to find stuff to delete

5/20/2012 12:46:10 PM

^^ Then why are you recommending to people who don't know shit about computers to reformat every 6-12 months if it won't help with what they're concerned with (Seriously, is disk space even much of a concern these days? I guess if you put Windows on a tiny SSD with a bunch of other programs, it may be, but seriously...).

If you don't put crap all on your computer that starts in the background or has some background service always running, or get viruses/malware or install every fucking thing that asks to be installed on the Internet, you shouldn't have a problem. Opening up task manager after a restart and seeing what's running after start up always helps you to keep an eye on what's actually going on. Googling processes you're suspicious of and removing what you don't need should keep computer performance in tip-top shape.

Before getting my new desktop, my old desktop (6 years old now) had a Windows 7 installation from when Windows 7 was first released, and Windows 7 worked great on it, no slow downs or anything. Not even by the time it was ready to be replaced.

[Edited on May 20, 2012 at 12:46 PM. Reason : .]

5/20/2012 12:46:31 PM

also....if computer has a normal hdd and a ssd which programs are must haves on the ssd and which arent worth using up the smaller space?

5/20/2012 12:50:44 PM

^^OP asked how to keep his pc running as efficiently as possible as long as possible.
I replied to that question. I also qualified my answer in the same post.

You can do almost nothing to Win7 other than antivirus and avoiding porn sites, and it will retain 95+% of its original performance for the life of the computer. Chasing that last 5% can be really time consuming and not worth the invested time, but it is possible.

5/20/2012 1:10:16 PM

I typically only have between 10-20% free on my primary OS SSD and haven't formatted in over a year. Most of my games/programs are on a secondary raid 0 but I haven't noticed any decrease in size.

5/20/2012 1:23:49 PM

^^BTW now it's actually sketchier to search Google for breaking news topics, because the bad guys use plenty of malvertising and blackhat SEO campaigns; it's a cat-and-mouse game out there.

Quote :

"^ any browser but IE...with adblock plus installed"

This isn't so vital anymore; IE9 is leaps and bounds ahead of previous versions in security, and (especially if you fortify it with a huge list of killbits, a good HOSTS file, and a couple ad- and malware-blocking TPLs, IE's closest equivalent to Adblock Plus subscriptions) you won't even need to use an alternative browser just to stay safe, and this will get even better when IE10 is released.
On the Windows 7 computers I maintain in my organization, I've actually stopped installing Google Chrome the way I had been for the XP and Vista computers (I would have also stopped for the Vista computers, but thankfully we don't have any new ones coming in).

With that said, it's still best to use an alternative browser, and the most easily maintainable and probably most secure one is Google Chrome, although Firefox has recently become about as easily maintainable (since version 12, there's now a background updating service that does all the steps for you, but most extensions still require a restart to be updated).
It (and similar Webkit browsers like Safari, which also exists for Windows but has no compelling use-case, and the Android Browser) is also increasingly targeted by lazy Web designers who want to use the latest vendor-prefixed CSS features without using all the vendor prefixes, kinda like how IE was usually targeted during the browser wars of the late '90s, but less damagingly for the less-favored browsers; it's bad for the Web as a whole, but for you it signals a benefit to using Chrome.
BTW, there are two major extensions for Chrome with "Adblock" in their name, but you should use Adblock Plus because it better leverages the WebRequest API that has existed since version 17: https://adblockplus.org/en/
(I regularly post on the ABP forums and may be able to help you best use this extension.)

5/20/2012 2:29:14 PM

5/20/2012 6:34:35 PM

Quote :

"If you are running Windows 7 64bit [and have an extremely small hard drive and install lots of programs], you should reformat the OS every 6months to a year."

Honestly I think that advice only applies under specific, rare conditions.

nm, just noticed the guy ordered his laptop with a 32GB SSD. Damn that's small. I've got a couple laptops running 60GB SSDs and those are ok but I couldn't make due with 32GB, especially if I was using it as a primary computer.

5/20/2012 7:04:49 PM

win7 takes ~20gb to install fully

5/20/2012 7:54:42 PM

Quote :

"1tb hdd and a 32gb mssd"

5/20/2012 7:58:30 PM

^? Windows would be installed on the SSD. Most apps could be installed to the data drive but still...that drive is small.

5/20/2012 8:12:10 PM

IMO it is still better to use the SSD for the OS install (like the WINDOWS directory), so that the disk-reads will take less time; it's difficult to set Program Files and Users to use a different drive from the OS but it can be done IIRC.

5/20/2012 11:25:34 PM

Agreed. I'd prefer to have not only the OS but also my most used programs installed on the SSD.

5/20/2012 11:37:16 PM

^I certainly hope that those most-used programs don't exhibit weird behavior by being placed outside the Program Files directory (I don't think individual directories can be split up across partitions, instead you'd have, say, %PROGRAMFILES% mapped to "D:\Program Files" and %USERPROFILE% set to D:\Users\<username> where C: is the OS partition and D: is that big extra partition)

5/21/2012 1:05:37 AM

I've mapped Windows folders like i386 etc onto data drives before (out of desperation) and didn't see any issues. I can't imagine Program Files would be any different. Though I'll never buy an SSD if I can't fit my OS + Programs on it. So for me that means ~60GB is the starting point for most of my systems.

5/21/2012 9:13:33 AM

The issue is with mapping only some subdirectories of Program Files to the data drive, which you would need to do in order to make just the "most-used" programs install to the SSD; otherwise, you may need to just map the whole Program Files directory to the data drive and install those other programs outside the Program Files directory, which I was also worried may cause problems.

5/21/2012 11:22:35 AM

what about battery life and longevity?
i have never owned a laptop before. always used desktops.
what should be done as far as power settings and plugging it in to keep the battery from doing....what every phone/ipod i have ever owned has ended up doing...lasting 1/10th of the time on a full charge as it did when it was new

5/29/2012 12:36:07 AM

make sure you change your battery oil after every 500 hours of use.

5/29/2012 11:04:15 AM

Yeah and don't use the cheap shit get quality battery oil.

5/29/2012 11:09:53 AM

Anything that bares the vendors name remove in Add/Remove Programs, unless you are a computer dumbass

5/30/2012 12:05:09 PM

The little lights require just the tiniest drops of headlight fluid about once a year; don't neglect this maintenance step, but also don't put too much in or it will drip and short out the motherboard.

5/30/2012 2:38:43 PM

Also, unlike desktops with self-lubricating DVD drives, you need to lubricate your laptop's optical drive at least once a month. It's just too small for them to build it in. Get a cheap, old, AOL CD or some music CD by ABBA, then spread a quick spray of WD-40 around the center hole and pop it in your drive then let it spin up for a minute.

You'll be amazed at the results.

5/30/2012 3:34:33 PM

Install Ubuntu and only use the the windows boot for games.

6/5/2012 9:26:34 AM

While I like the idea of trying to run Ubuntu I think it takes more maintenance than windows and I end up running 90% of all my programs in a windows VM anyway (games, office, etc).

[Edited on June 5, 2012 at 9:45 AM. Reason : s]

6/5/2012 9:45:26 AM

but but but

nearly every program on a modern Linux distro integrates into the package manager for updates, even ones that don't come with the distro, hell even ones that aren't open-source!

can't say that about Windows, and not even TechTracker, FileHippo Update Checker, or Secunia PSI provides a good substitute

6/5/2012 5:47:17 PM

Yeah but when 90% of what I do (excluding browsing) is in either Office or playing a game it's stupid to run a Linux distro.

6/5/2012 11:03:15 PM

Have you by chance ever tried LibreOffice?

It is compatible with even the newer Office file formats.

6/6/2012 12:17:25 AM

I rely on enterprise exchange support integrated with office 2010 for work and personal life is mostly media consumption and gaming. It's just more a pain then it's worth.

6/6/2012 8:57:05 AM

oh ok

the exchange support is the clincher IMO

6/6/2012 10:00:44 AM

am I the only one that absolutely hates the ubuntu window manager? fluxbox has been my goto window manager for years but i wouldn't mind trying something new. I'm interested in the most function for the least intrusion. more and more managers seems to be adding more crap that doesn't improve my efficiency but actually hinder it

6/6/2012 2:48:18 PM

^

No I can't stand it. I switched to a Mac, but still have a laptop with that damned unity interface. I preferred the pre-11.04 Ubuntu.

https://twitter.com/hipsterhacker/status/61171848397848576

If you use Windows and don't have "Marketing" in your title, you are a net negative human resource.

6/6/2012 7:43:19 PM