http://www.bootdisk.com/ 0035 September 2008
HouseCall
Welcome to the 35th Edition of HouseCall
INDEX
1) Icons Populate, Then Win Hangs For A Bit
2) What Spare Parts At Hand
3) Registry Cleaners
4) Anti-Virus Update Hangs
5) Need To Free Up Space On C:
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1) Icons Populate, then Win Hangs For A Bit
WhvZg wrote - On my home PC when I startup XP, right before the desktop loads and the icons populate my computer just sits there for over a minute on a blank desktop background. There is little to no HD activity while it's sitting there. I've found that if I press ESC while it's sitting there, it continues immediately and loads windows normally.
***
Disconnect any usb device you are not using, and/or once it boots, uninstall any usb device you no longer use. As win may be looking for it, eg, even an old printer you no longer have. Be sure to uninstall the software also for any USB device you no longer use.
Also tune-up your system and remove/uninstall any other software you no longer want.
Gary T. replied:
Try a Clean Boot diagnostic startup.
Start | Run | MSCONFIG
Choose Selective Startup. Uncheck Load Startup Items, then click on services tab, put a check mark in the box at lower left that "Hides Microsoft Services", then click the Disable all button, click OK and restart when prompted. While it restarts, physically disconnect the system from the network you're on or otherwise make certain you have no internet connection.
*** This is just a step you can take regarding the little info I have. Just from my experience, once the icons load and your PC just sits there, it's generally due to a USB device. And,,,if you have NO USB devices disable usb in device manager to keep windows from looking for them.
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2) What Spare Parts At Hand
Michael telephoned - I like to be prepared for future problems as I depend on my PC for my work and income. What spare hardware should I have on hand?
*** Spare mice, both USB and/or PS/2 depending on what ports you have. A spare NIC and keyboards, depending on what PCs you need to support at home and what they use. Spare case fans and a spare cpu fan/sink is also good to have. Also, a spare monitor, even if you just keep an old CRT on hand. eg may help solving a "video" card issue. If you have a nonproprietary computer than a spare power supply is also a good idea. If you have a proprietary PC the PS rarely goes bad, and, a spare PS for a proprietary PC can be rather expensive to find and hold.
Interestingly at the time of writing my PS/2 el cheapo ball mouse started acting up. I'm glad I had a spare optical mouse to continue to work on this issue :) Remember to shut the PC off when removing or adding PS/2 devices for safety. Yes, people do fry their mobos by NOT turning off their PC when playing with PS/2 ports. Pull the plug for best results, as modern PCs are ALWAYS on, even if the front power switch is OFF.
Of course I'm just saying here what I personally do to stay operating 24/7, it's not universal advice. Yes I know some of my readers do not have PS/2 ports, only USB. Many do tho, thus the advice.
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3) Registry Cleaners
Jim Brown wrote - I am running Windows XP Home. What is the best most reliable registry cleaner for this system?
Bruce C. replied: The best registry cleaner is *NO* registry cleaner.
A registry cleaner - even a safe one, should such ever be developed someday - is, at best, an exercise in futility. There is no need for registry cleaners, other than to provide a profit to their manufacturers. On rare occasions, registry cleaners can be, in the hands of a skilled technician, useful, timesaving diagnostic tools. Otherwise, they're nothing but snake oil.
Why do you even think you'd ever need to clean your registry? What specific *problems* are you actually experiencing (not some program's bogus listing of imaginary problems) that you think can be fixed by using a registry cleaner?
If you do have a problem that is rooted in the registry, it would be far better to simply edit (after backing up, of course) only the specific key(s) and/or value(s) that are causing the problem. After all, why use a chain saw when a scalpel will do the job? Additionally, the manually changing of one or two registry entries is far less likely to have the dire consequences of allowing an automated product to make multiple changes simultaneously. The only thing needed to safely clean your registry is knowledge and Regedit.exe.
The registry contains all of the operating system's "knowledge" of the computer's hardware devices, installed software, the location of the device drivers, and the computer's configuration. A misstep in the registry can have severe consequences. One should not even turning loose a poorly understood automated "cleaner," unless he is fully confident that he knows *exactly* what is going to happen as a result of each and every change.
Having repeatedly seen the results of inexperienced people using automated registry "cleaners," I can only advise all but the most experienced computer technicians (and/or hobbyists) to avoid them all. Experience has shown me that such tools simply are not safe in the hands of the inexperienced user. If you lack the knowledge and experience to maintain your registry by yourself, then you also lack the knowledge and experience to safely configure and use any automated registry cleaner, no matter how safe they claim to be.
More importantly, no one has ever demonstrated that the use of an automated registry cleaner, particularly by an untrained, inexperienced computer user, does any real good, whatsoever. There's certainly been no empirical evidence offered to demonstrate that the use of such products to "clean" WinXP's registry improves a computer's performance or stability. Given the potential for harm, it's just not worth the risk.
Granted, most registry "cleaners" wont cause problems each and every time they're used, but the potential for harm is always there. And, since no registry "cleaner" has ever been demonstrated to do any good (think of them like treating the flu with chicken soup - there's no real medicinal value, but it sometimes provides a warming placebo effect), I always tell people that the risks far outweigh the nonexistent benefits.
I will concede that a good registry *scanning* tool, in the hands of an experienced and knowledgeable technician or hobbyist can be a useful timesaving diagnostic tool, as long as it's not allowed to make any changes automatically. But I really don't think that there are any registry cleaners that are truly safe for the general public to use. Experience has proven just the opposite: such tools simply are not safe in the hands of the inexperienced user.
***
While I cant argue with anything Bruce C. said above, I still, personally like registry cleaners. I use them myself on my own computers, and use them, when required, on customers computers. In any case, I will NOT use a registry cleaner on a customers computer unless I've exhausted "most" every other way to fix it. Never pay for a registry cleaner, as in all the instances I've read about and even tested, any registry cleaner you pay for gives false results [in order to make you feel you didn't waste your money].
That above being said by me, [notice any comment by me is preceded by a *** in any newsletter], often a PC is so messed up by viruses/Trojans that a registry cleaner is something to try. Many of you have been reading my newsletters since I started back in 1995 so [so you know what I mean]. Again, if you are a novice computer user, do not use a registry cleaner unless you understand fully what they do.
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4) Anti-Virus Update Hangs
Kenny asked - I'm having problems updating my anti-virus program. Any help?
*** Some firewalls ask you for permission before connecting to a new website URL for an update, some do not and your update simply hangs. Sometimes, one has to disable your firewall to get the updates that you need. Be sure to re-enable it once you get the update.
And sometimes more than often, when an anti-virus vendor comes out with a new release, sometimes the updates wont work at first due to ten zillion people clicking on updates at the same time :)
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5) Need To Free Up Space On C:
M Ridzon wrote - I noticed that I only have about 1.5GB left in C drive and would like to free up some space if possible.
*** You want at least 10 gig free at all times. One can use crap cleaner to free up space:
http://www.bootdisk.com/utility.htm
REGISTRY AND SYSTEM MAINTENANCE
Junk File Cleaners
Also visit Add/Remove
But the real issue may be the size of your HDD. Perhaps you need a new, larger one, or need to put your larger files, eg mp3s, videos, on CDs or a new, second, physical hard drive. You may have 25 gig of temporary internet files and windows temp/tmp files, nobody deletes these regularly. Perhaps you should.
Pegasus said:
You might also move the paging file to a different drive in order to free up
disk space, and maybe restrict the amount of space used by System Restore.
*** If you have one physical hard drive then the page/swap file should be on the same drive letter as your windows folder. If you have two physical hard drives, then putting the swap/page file on a different physical drive "may" benefit. If you tell Windows to use a second physical hard dive for swap/page file note that Windows will still make a smaller swap/page file on your primary drive.
Also note that System Restore is not really system restore. Yes it may come in handy at times, but it's basically a registry backup/restore application. It WONT restore your PC to an earlier date if you have major software damage due to a virus or bad/failing HDD.
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