Computer Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread II

[Samson]

Did I say that it was the same? Did I say fixing the registry worked?

CCleaner and Defraggler aren't going to make the computer implode, right? So why not try it? I've used it, and it's helped very much. If it doesn't work, so what? You tried.

Er, it sounds that way to me.

 

[Mise]

I checked, and it's default is set to defragment at 1 A.M. in the morning. Do you really expect people to leave their computers on in the middle of the night?

The point is MS have a disk defragger already, built in to windows, for which you don't need any other software. You could easily recommend that Quackers simply leave his computer on past 1 AM, it would have the same effect. Except he wouldn't need to install any software, or even do anything at all. When what you're suggesting is functionally equivalent to doing absolutely nothing then you're really no better than "wear a tinfoil hat".

 

[NickyJ]

Er, it sounds that way to me.

Defraggler doesn't do anything to the registry. And CCleaner cleans out old caches. Again, where did I say the fixing the registry makes the computer run faster?

The point is MS have a disk defragger already, built in to windows, for which you don't need any other software. You could easily recommend that Quackers simply leave his computer on past 1 AM, it would have the same effect. Except he wouldn't need to install any software, or even do anything at all. When what you're suggesting is functionally equivalent to doing absolutely nothing then you're really no better than "wear a tinfoil hat".

Considering Microsoft agrees with me that defragmenting makes the computer run faster, I seriously doubt that it's "functionally equivalent to doing absolutely nothing".

 

[Mise]

Err, downloading and running a 3rd party defragger is functionally equivalent to not shutting your computer down, because by not shutting it down, Windows will run the defragger at 1 AM... You could just recommend to leave your computer on past 1 AM and achieve the same effect as what you're suggesting.

 

[NickyJ]

Err, downloading and running a 3rd party defragger is functionally equivalent to not shutting your computer down, because by not shutting it down, Windows will run the defragger at 1 AM... You could just recommend to leave your computer on past 1 AM and achieve the same effect as what you're suggesting.

But if he doesn't want to leave the computer running at night, which is the case for me, he can run Defraggler, which runs faster than the Windows one. Also, there is the option to do a "Quick Defragg", which, while it isn't as thorough, can still be helpful if you want a defrag done in a hurry.

 

[salty mud]

Why don't you just use the Windows defragger at a time that suits you?

 

[NickyJ]

Because most of the time when I'm suited by it, I'm using the computer for something. And those somethings run slower if the computer is defragmenting.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Ok, let me clear this up. On my oldest system, the IBM Aptiva with Windows 98, defragging did have a noticable effect, a very very noticeable effect and dont tell me I was imagining that.

However it doesnt really do all that much for newer systems, because the hard drives are so spinny-fast that defragging has hardly any effect. But it wont hurt. Unless you try to defrag an SSD which is a bad idea.

You can also defrag your swap file (might require some messing around with UAC on newer operating systems; least on my Vista).

 

[bhsup]

If y'all would quit using stuff that had random access storage you wouldn't have this problem. Sequential tape drive is clearly superior for modern OS performance.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Is that a joke? I dont think anyone uses sequential tape drives anymore except hobbyists.

 

[dutchfire]

1) Yes, it is a joke.
2) Sequential tapes are still used by some professionals for large scale data storage/back up things. I believe Fermilab uses/used them to store the Tevatron data

 

[Mise]

Because most of the time when I'm suited by it, I'm using the computer for something. And those somethings run slower if the computer is defragmenting.

The Windows defrag tool can be run in the lowest priority and only when idle... IIRC this is what it defaults to.

For the record, I've never changed my defrag settings, I turn off my computer every night, and I've never manually defragged, and it turns out the last time my disks were defragged was at 20:28 on the 23rd August -- i.e. last week. All of my hard drives are 0% fragmented. I have literally never touched any schedule or defrag settings, and I've had Windows 7 on this computer for nearly 3 years. I don't know how or why, but apparently, Microsoft isn't stupid...

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

1) Yes, it is a joke.
2) Sequential tapes are still used by some professionals for large scale data storage/back up things. I believe Fermilab uses/used them to store the Tevatron data

Thats interesting to know. One of my old Windows 9x tutorial books has instructions on how to use a tape drive for backup, but I didnt know anyone still used 'em unless they were using old computers or something.

 

[Zelig]

I checked, and it's default is set to defragment at 1 A.M. in the morning. Do you really expect people to leave their computers on in the middle of the night?

If your computer isn't on at 1am, it runs at the next available time, and at low priority so it doesn't affect anything else you're doing on the computer.

Ok, let me clear this up. On my oldest system, the IBM Aptiva with Windows 98, defragging did have a noticable effect, a very very noticeable effect and dont tell me I was imagining that.

However it doesnt really do all that much for newer systems, because the hard drives are so spinny-fast that defragging has hardly any effect. But it wont hurt. Unless you try to defrag an SSD which is a bad idea.

The difference In Win98 isn't really because of faster drives, it's partly because NTFS is less susceptible to fragmentation than FAT, but mostly because Windows automatically defragments now.

If y'all would quit using stuff that had random access storage you wouldn't have this problem. Sequential tape drive is clearly superior for modern OS performance.

It's not a problem with SSDs, which have equally fast response times anywhere on the drive.

2) Sequential tapes are still used by some professionals for large scale data storage/back up things. I believe Fermilab uses/used them to store the Tevatron data

At my last jobs we ran daily tape backups onto 3TB cartridges.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Yeah I forgot to take the FAT/NTFS filesystems into account (though the faster drives probably dont hurt either). Why does FAT have a limit of 4GB files anyways?

 

[Quackers]

So my lagg has improved very marginally. It still exists. I recently went onto SWTOR which I hadn't played since early January 2012 and it recommended I LOWER my graphics settings. A friend of mine recommended GW2 so I installed that and my FPS is unplayable.

Now I've installed malwarebytes + ccleaner and used them both to their fullest - what is left to do? I want my computer to return to it's glorious best!

 

[Cutlass]

Anyone know a program that that puts a little sunrise/sunset time icon on the desktop?

 

[timtofly]

So my lagg has improved very marginally. It still exists. I recently went onto SWTOR which I hadn't played since early January 2012 and it recommended I LOWER my graphics settings. A friend of mine recommended GW2 so I installed that and my FPS is unplayable.

Now I've installed malwarebytes + ccleaner and used them both to their fullest - what is left to do? I want my computer to return to it's glorious best!

Purchase a new hard drive and start from scratch. You can put your old one in an enclosure and hook it up via USB to get your needed files off.

 

[Souron]

So my lagg has improved very marginally. It still exists. I recently went onto SWTOR which I hadn't played since early January 2012 and it recommended I LOWER my graphics settings. A friend of mine recommended GW2 so I installed that and my FPS is unplayable.

Now I've installed malwarebytes + ccleaner and used them both to their fullest - what is left to do? I want my computer to return to it's glorious best!

To return the computer to the state you bought it (sans bloatware) you need a Windows disc. If you don't have one, you may be able to get Microsoft Support to send you one. Then just do a clean install.

Of course, you'll need to reinstall any software.

With the data, it is possible to save your personal data when you install windows, effectively doing a repair/upgrade. I don't know if this could retain malware, so manually backing up the data yourself, and doing a clean install is safer.

I disagree with timtofly that a new harddrive is necessary. If you're thinking of upgrading a few things, then this would be the time to do it though. Consider getting a solid state drive for your main drive, and if you have a lot of data keep your old harddrive for it.

 

[Mise]

Yeah clean install. You've probably installed a bunch of things that are supposed to make your computer faster but end up running in the background, contradicting each other, and slowing things down