Product comparison

[Gloria E]

I'm torn between using SysInternal's Autoruns and Whatsinstartup. I would like your opionion about which does the best job and gives the most information clearly.

Please don't say that it's a matter of personal preference, I need your honest assesment.

Gloria E

[JoeP]

WhatInStartUp is simpler and more suited to the less experienced user. Autoruns shows much more information about everything that gets started and is more suited to the more technical user.

Joe

[DaveA]

But, if the user of any of these programs do not know what is being started and why, then they are not much use. As a matter of fact, I have seen when meddlers start tweaking and not knowing what is going on an WHY, then the machines get messed up just like a "Registry" cleaner will do.

[Gloria E]

But, if the user of any of these programs do not know what is being started and why, then they are not much use. As a matter of fact, I have seen when meddlers start tweaking and not knowing what is going on an WHY, then the machines get messed up just like a "Registry" cleaner will do.

Dave, you didn't express your opinion, but that's ok, I will take Joe's vote and use What's in Startup. Techinacally smart I am not, the simpler the better. I do know about the programs on my computer and for the ones I don't know, I come here to find out.

Thanks Joe for expressing your opinion.

Gloria E

[Bigaldoc]

... I will take Joe's vote and use What's in Startup...

I know I'm late but I agree with Joe. WhatInStartup is a clear, concise program and doesn't overload me with (as Dave implied) drivers, DLLs and other things that I don't understand. It reports only "applications" that are easy to decide if you want them running or not.

BUT, even in WhatInStartup you might find some things that get loaded by your sound card, video card, etc. that you're not sure about. So be careful and I suggest making changes one at a time, write down what you did so that you can reverse it later if you need to.

[DaveA]

making changes one at a time, write down what you did so that you can reverse it later if you need to.

Very well put, and REMEMBER where you put that paper with what you did, so you can find it, to undo things if needed.

[Gloria E]

... I will take Joe's vote and use What's in Startup...

I know I'm late but I agree with Joe. WhatInStartup is a clear, concise program and doesn't overload me with (as Dave implied) drivers, DLLs and other things that I don't understand. It reports only "applications" that are easy to decide if you want them running or not.

BUT, even in WhatInStartup you might find some things that get loaded by your sound card, video card, etc. that you're not sure about. So be careful and I suggest making changes one at a time, write down what you did so that you can reverse it later if you need to.

I know that you're aware that I keep a log of everything I do and every place I visit. I wouldn't fail to keep a record of what I remove or disable in startup. I've learned that the hard way and you're aware of that too.

Thanks for making me aware that I will find things that I don't recognize or understand what put them there or what they do. You have taught me that if I see things I don't understand that the best thing is to leave them alone.

Gloria E

[Gloria E]

making changes one at a time, write down what you did so that you can reverse it later if you need to.

Very well put, and REMEMBER where you put that paper with what you did, so you can find it, to undo things if needed.

Are you suggesting that I have a touch of Alzheimers?

[PaulB]

Are you suggesting that I have a touch of Alzheimers?

Don't we all?

[StuartR]

Don't we all?

Don't we all what Paul? I have forgotten the question.

[PaulB]

Don't we all?

Don't we all what Paul? I have forgotten the question.

...

[wasbit]

I would recommend CCleaner instead.

The 'Tools' include a startup section where each item in the start up folder can be enabled, disabled or deleted (from the start menu, not from the PC). 'Disable' is a handy feature to see if any changes made have the desired effect & are easily reversible if neccessary, which is much easier than using Start/Run/msconfig IMHO. Also listed are the programme names & file paths.

FYI my startup folder has only 2 files : Microsoft Security Essentials which is the current antivirus & anti-malware programme of choice & Networx to tell me how much I have downloaded so that I don't exceed my limit.

CCleaner also gives you the standard cleaner with an option to securely delete files, a registry cleaner, an uninstaller & System Restore manager.

All this in one programmme & it's all very easy to use, that's why I install it on the PCs of even complete beginners.

Regards wasbit

[JoeP]

I know Ccleaner is a darling in the system maintenance world and has been for quite some time. But in a different forum I've seen several posts recently about problems that happened immediately after running Ccleaner. I do not believe it is an appropriate tool for inexperienced users. I think it has become a tool that is doing too much for most users. Many users just run it because more experienced users vouch for it. You could say they should not just accept that it is a good tool. That may be but when they visit a site like this one and are presented with opinions from some very experienced folk who speak with great authority the users do not their homework.

Joe

[wasbit]

I know Ccleaner is a darling in the system maintenance world and has been for quite some time. But in a different forum I've seen several posts recently about problems that happened immediately after running Ccleaner. I do not believe it is an appropriate tool for inexperienced users. I think it has become a tool that is doing too much for most users. Many users just run it because more experienced users vouch for it. You could say they should not just accept that it is a good tool. That may be but when they visit a site like this one and are presented with opinions from some very experienced folk who speak with great authority the users do not their homework.

Joe

Joe, I'm not quite sure what your point is other than someone on another forum reportedly has had some problems, but I certainly wouldn't recommend CCleaner if I had the faintest suspicion that it might cause any harm.

All programmes have a learning curve.

How else should anyone learn if not from the recommendations of others? The hard part is picking the good information from the bad & that either comes from people who's opinions you trust or from experience.

I find that in the UK most home PC users are much like car drivers in that all they want to do is use their equipment without carrying out any checks or maintenance, as long as it goes that is all they want to know & when it breaks they take it to a repairer.

All I can say is that over the years I have installed CCleaner on every PC, laptop & netbook that has passed through my hands, including the five that I currently own, all without a single complaint or even a hint of a problem. I run the cleaner (& the registry cleaner - out of habit rather than neccessity) immediately before the PC is shut down every night.

[stuck]

in a different forum I've seen several posts recently about problems that happened immediately after running Ccleaner

I saw that thread too. I take you point about inexperienced users and powerful tools (one reason why I've never tried a chainsaw ) but given my long use of CC with no problems ever I can't help feeling there's more to the issue being discussed elsewhere than CC.

My initial use of CC was several years ago. I used it 'as is', with the default settings, on a long in the tooth Win 98FE system that definitely had it's own problems and quirks. CC never caused any additional problems. Even as I became more adventurous with CC and began to use it to fix the registry on my old 98 box it never once harmed my PC.

Ken

[JoeP]

OTOH, I had Ccleaner installed on one PC for maybe 6 months. Ran it a couple of times and decided that I did not need it. I uninstalled it and have never had a hint of a problem either.

It is terrific that you both have never had a problem. I'm just saying that I've observed what others have posted about problems after running Ccleaner. And I do admit that Ccleaner may not be the real issue. It could be something else but when someone says that I ran program X and then had problem Y I tend to look at program X first.

The point I was clumsily trying to make is that Ccleaner & other powerful system maintenance tools have the potential to do great harm to a system if used unwisely and IMO are not tools for the less experienced among us. That potential has much more of a chance of becoming reality when the program is used by an inexperienced user. In my experience users today do not take the time to learn about programs especially inexperienced users.

Joe

[stuck]

I don't think you made your point is a clumsy way, I understand CC is pretty powerful and if misused could do serious harm to a PC. What I was trying to get across was that I was once an inexperienced user but even then, when I used CC safely / as is / out the box / no messing with the defaults, it did no harm to my PC. Only as I grew in experience did I start tweaking the numerous settings in CC. As yet I've still not broken anything.

...but there is always a first time

Ken

[HansV]

For what it's worth, I'll chime in with a vote of confidence for CCleaner.

I think its registry cleaner part is not very powerful, but harmless because of that. I don't believe in the usefulness of registry cleaners anyway.

But I think its main utility, the Windows and applications cleaner, is both useful and, with the default settings, safe.
While I've never seen a measurable increase in performance after running a registry cleaner, I have seen dramatic improvements on sluggish PCs by deleting the clutter that builds up over time. And many a time, persistent problems with applications or websites that wouldn't go away with a reboot, vanished after removing temporary files etc. Of course, it is possible to clear the Temp folder, the browser cache etc. manually, but because there are so many places where temporary files are stored, this is a hassle. CCleaner takes care of this with two or three clicks.

There are a few settings in CCleaner that might remove more than desirable, but those are turned off by default, and if you try to turn them on, the program displays a clear warning:

warnings.png

Of course, there will be users who willfully ignore such warnings, but there's no stopping those from harming their computer anyway, so

[DaveA]

I do NOT use any of these cleaning "Tools" (I do use malware type of cleaners), because I have seen and had to help fix machines that have had a REGISTRY cleaner run on it.
With these tools, one MUST know what is going to be done and why.

I have tried out some of them, but when I do not know what is being done , I get rid of it.

By the way, I have a HP laptop sitting across the room, waiting for the system (Vista) Cd's, so I can rebuild it. Well a cleaner did such a great job, and the told the user the "Recover" partition was not needed and was deleted.

[stuck]

Didn't some one say something along the lines of, "Misuse does not call for no use, it calls for correct use."

Or was it, "Good judgement comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgement."

Ken