XP/Windows Setup, System Optimizing and Drivers

[NickN]

[quote]Nick,
I see that the tweaks you suggest are for WinXP SP2.

[NickN]

Hi Nick!

I got a small problem...

I've used the trial O&O DeFrag over the last month, and it's run out now.

I can't really afford the paid version, so what would you suggest?

Vista 32 bit BTW.

I suggest you buy it becasue I have nothing else that will do this jobright

[macca22au]

A salutary lesson.


I have had increasing problems with FSX,  no matter what I tried the stutters continued unchanged.  Even with a flat earth - no scenery complexity and no autogen.

I use Acronis to take period images from my active drives and store them on a partitioned fourth drive.  My OS is on the C drive, and FSX is on the E drive.

I rolled back the C drive to a much earlier date and the problem disappeared.  Why?

I believe it was because I foolishly used the registry cleaner on CC cleaner.  This utility does a great job on the usual stuff - getting rid of temp files, emptying the Trash, etc etc.  

But as Nick has warned there is no known safe Registry cleaner for Vista, and I believe I caused irreparable damage - that without the imaging software would have required an OS reinstall.

Live and never learn, that seems to be me!

[NickN]

Reg cleaners are a thing of the past... they are no longer needed

With the changes they made to XP Sp2 and the improvements (cough) they made with Vista reg cleaners are more dangerous than they are helpful.

[Anxyous]

I can't really afford the paid version,

I suggest you buy it becasue I have nothing else that will do this jobright

[NickN]

I can't really afford the paid version,

I suggest you buy it becasue I have nothing else that will do this jobright

I saw you cant afford the paid version however my list specifcially uses the O&O boot optimize system and it defrags the MFT catalog as it defrags the files. If there was another alternative I would have posted them and how to use them... there isnt

[Anxyous]

I was referring to O&O 10 or 11 trial...

[NickN]

I was referring to O&O 10 or 11 trial...

I posted how to use 10 in this thread.. same proceedure except you can not use the space defrag after it has been run the first time and if you already ran 8.6 then just skip the space defrags

As for 11.. again , answered in this thread... I dont know because I have never tried it

[Orion66]

Thanks for taking all this time to make this post and keeping people informed.  I went through everything, boot up is much faster.  I gained about 6-8 fps in FSX.  I'm sure I'll see gains in other areas.
A couple of questions if you could answer them.
What great benefit exactly is it to use O&O defrag over the stock Windows defrag.  What does O&O do, that standard defrag doesn't to improve the system?  I'm just wondering if I should pay up the extra cash for O&O.

In msconfig, I stopped a few programs from loading on startup.  Each time I boot, I get the warning that I changed startup and should go back to normal startup, then it runs msconfig.  What is the best way to stop that.  Should I check the box in the message to not show me that anymore.  Or is there a way to make my current start up the normal startup?
And lastly, will Windows/Prefetch repopulate itself over time, as programs are used, or installed?  I've just read in other places that deleting the files in Prefetch can slow programs loading, etc.

Again, many thanks for your continued efforts here.

[CDreier]

Nick,
I did your complete Computer Tweak, and all is well.    But, a question about 2 programs I have.  They are MemTurbo and O&O's Clever Cache.  Previously, I have run MemTurbo prior to starting FS9 and have kept Clever Cache running in the background.  Of course, MemTurbo is supposed to free memory and Clever Cache monitor memory use.  What do you think of these 2 programs, and are they of any true help?  Thanks....

[NickN]

author=Orion66 link=1208959973/135#143 date=1224188393]Thanks for taking all this time to make this post and keeping people informed. I went through everything, boot up is much faster. I gained about 6-8 fps in FSX. I'm sure I'll see gains in other areas.
A couple of questions if you could answer them.
What great benefit exactly is it to use O&O defrag over the stock Windows defrag. What does O&O do, that standard defrag doesn't to improve the system? I'm just wondering if I should pay up the extra cash for O&O.

In msconfig, I stopped a few programs from loading on startup. Each time I boot, I get the warning that I changed startup and should go back to normal startup, then it runs msconfig. What is the best way to stop that. Should I check the box in the message to not show me that anymore. Or is there a way to make my current start up the normal startup?
And lastly, will Windows/Prefetch repopulate itself over time, as programs are used, or installed? I've just read in other places that deleting the files in Prefetch can slow programs loading, etc.

Again, many thanks for your continued efforts here.

I dont have time to explain how everything works however in a nutshell O&O removes CPU/memory cycles which were being eaten up by Windows and the system at boot. The defrag itself fixes part of that and the prefetch change does the rest. The experts on that subject are only 1/2 correct... and with the use of O&O they are flat out WRONG

what you have done is remove the memory footprint Windows places on the system at boot and replaced it with the O&O system of defrag for the boot files. In other words you still have prefetch, you just do not prefetch CRAP and only the files truly needed at boot

Do you need to prefetch MS Paint? Why use that crap system then. All you need to prefetch is what the system needs to boot and what you have done is set O&O up to use a system Windows does not enable by default and only call boot files, and NO your prefecth folder will NEVER have anything in it other than the 2 files I listed... the file LAYOUT.ini has ALL the boot file locations and will rewrite itself with hew information as the computer is used, or, you manually run the command line I posted. In that, you completely replaced the crap windows prefetch system with the one I posed in this thread.


As for startup... is there not a checkbox that allows you to tell the system to not show that message at startup? Its been a long time so I do not remember

2 Ways to clean that list...

OPTION1
if you are sure you do not need the item, open the program associated with the line and see if there are any options in its properties to RUN WITH WINDOWS.. if so UNCHECK them... that should clear the item

Some software does not have that option, in that case..

OPTION 2

You can manually remove the items from the registry:

START – RUN, type REGEDIT and browse to the following keys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run


For safety, right click each RUN folder and select EXPORT... name them RUN1.reg and RUN2.reg
If you screw up you can simply double click the reg files and restore the startup items in the registry.

Open the RUN keys and find the item in right pane, right click and delete it. On reboot the item will be gone from MSCONFIG


Also... shortcuts in the START folder in the START - ALL PROGRAMS - STARTUP list will appear in MSCONFIG... check the shortcuts in that folder from the All Programs menu and delete the ones you do not need... you can also back those up for restore as well if you remove something you should not have.

[NickN]

author=CDreier link=1208959973/135#144 date=1224203714]Nick,
I did your complete Computer Tweak, and all is well. But, a question about 2 programs I have. They are MemTurbo and O&O's Clever Cache. Previously, I have run MemTurbo prior to starting FS9 and have kept Clever Cache running in the background. Of course, MemTurbo is supposed to free memory and Clever Cache monitor memory use. What do you think of these 2 programs, and are they of any true help? Thanks....

NO

Waste of time and money

Cache optimizers are for Windows98 and very old Xp systems that have low memory

Do NOT use them

[larshall]

First thanks for your continuing coaching of us all - powerusers and OC'ers well as the rest of us

[NickN]

Your system was hosed because of this

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941715/en

its a Microsoft issue and the only fix is to have a full WndowsXP SP2 install disk.. you can NOT install SP2 from the web. It must be incorporated on the CD.

You can make a Sliptream SP2 disk and completely reinstall Windows clean with it.. you CAN NOT do a repair install, only a complete wipe and install with a WinXP SP2 CD.

Once that is done it is safe to use O&O or any 3PD application which uses the command and by the way, the offline defrag is not the only time O&O may use that operation... you can get hosed by using the NAME defrag as well.

Many different 3PD applications can cause the same problem, partition magic is just one of many

The only fix is to clean install the OS with a SP2 disk so the HAL and ntfs.sys are properly upgraded at the same time and a repair install or upgrade will not allow the HAL to be overwritten which is why the problem occurs for those using the SP2 web update


There were some older SP2 disks produced between Aug of 2004 and May of 2005 that have the error on them too. MS updated the SP2 file in April of 2005 to incorporate that fix and a few others they quietly added to SP2

The fix is to make a new Slipstream SP2 CD using the SP2 file postedat MS

should fix you right up  

[WilliamH]

I have a fresh install of XP with all service packs and updates. At the moment I have a trial copy of Eset AV and Windows firewall. Before I have always had the bells and whistles of the full AVG paid system but wonder whether with what I have now (with Eset being purchased) will be sufficient. I get the impression from what I read that the more protection one has the more the system has to cope with. My system is purely for FS9 and FSX on separate partitions of a second HD. Storage of downloads is on an external Maxtor. Internet access is through a home hub.

Is what I have enough protection ?

Thanks