Free Computer Consultant ………. Daily Insights

I have chosen over the years to not let Windows do Automatic Updates on its own. The reasons are simple. Typically, I am working in a corporate environment with anywhere up to 100 computers. Some of these reasons do not apply with your home PC or a smaller environment.

• Some updates, like service packs, are huge. I will update those once either manually or preferably through Windows Software Update Services - a server application that controls updates for a network. If you let automatic updates handle it on an individual PC basis, your internet bandwidth will suffer as each of these workstations downloads the same huge files. I download once to a shared location and install from there.
• Microsoft, especially of late, has a habit of releasing updates that break things. I don’t want a call at 8am one Wednesday (after a Microsoft Patch Tuesday) from each of my clients telling me all of their workstations are broken in some way or another. I let other experts test the updates and when they say it’s all clear, then I release the update from WSUS on the controlling server. Recently a SQL Server update crashed the main line of business software for one of my clients - not good. And that was after I waited. The other day I had to fix a home PC where an automatic update screwed the machine up royally because Trend Micro Security Suite was installed. Not Trend’s fault. Just 2 weeks ago a Microsoft update cause people with ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite to be locked out of the internet. Hard to lookup or download a fix that way, isn’t it?
• I don’t trust Microsoft, nor hardly any other vendor for that matter. I don’t want them phoning home for anything without my knowledge and permission. I don’t want them hogging my CPU power without me knowing and approving it and I bought broadband so I could access the internet, not them.
• And I certainly don’t want mass updates going out to my clients any time I am not going to be around to fix a problem should it arise. Automatic updates from anyone, anytime just make it hard to answer the question “what changed”. That’s the first question I ask someone when they tell me their PC stopped working properly.
• Add up the companies that want to hog CPU and bandwidth from you, then tell me you have no idea why your PC seems so slow. Microsoft (windows updates, office updates, installer updates), Sun (Java), Apple (Quicktime, iTunes), HP (whatever printer you have that will never have any updates available for it anyway but they want to check for some reason regardless), RealPlayer - who have I forgotten? You don’t really wonder where all of your performance, system resources and bandwidth have gone, do you?

I still like scheduled visits to secunia.com which checks a whole bunch of things in one shot, with links to any needed updates. It’s free (they will offer you another service, but you don’t have to do that); and works like a charm.

Sometimes when your computer is acting sluggish or a program like Adobe Acrobat Reader appears to hang or freeze, the problem could be excessive Windows temporary files gumming up the works.

I have seen instances where Microsoft Word will lock up or otherwise misbehave and the solution is as simple as cleaning out excessive Windows temp files.

Microsoft doesn’t exactly make that easy to do.

By default, Windows buries the temporary folder in a hidden portion of the User Profile directory. Further, the tool Disk Cleanup is buried in the Start Menu under All Programs | Accessories | System Tools and by default does not delete temp files.

After several instances at client locations where the fix to a problem software program was to clean out the Windows temp folder, I thought I should do a short screencast video explaining the problem and the solution:

How and Why To Clean Out Windows Temporary Files

Please remember that it is ALWAYS wise to have a good backup of your computer before performing any system maintenance or deleting any files.

When it’s all done, you may find your computer or some particular software program runs faster or more reliably than before.

It frustrates me enough that software companies don’t bother to optimize their code and instead load up our hard drives with unnecessary files strewn over several directories (known as software bloat). A perfect uninstall is almost impossible. And that new Dell or whoever computer coming loaded with Google desktop, half a dozen instant messaging programs and who knows what else. It takes me a half hour just to sort through and uninstall all of that garbage. Use the restore feature of you computer and you’ll get it all back.

But now more & more software is coming with add ons that will install unless you tell it not to.

Cases in point.

Adobe Reader was also installing, unless you unchecked the box, some photoalbum starter edition (increases download time) that not only loaded junk on your hard drive (slows PC down, takes more to back it up - if you back up) but also started some downloader program that slows the boot up of your PC, slows the operation of your PC, and fills your system tray with yet another icon you don’t need. Now today I looked and saw that they are downloading & installing Adobe Media Player - as if you really need another media player.

Just one media player that worked all of the time would be fine with me. (VLC media player is one of the most reliable.)

Now Sun is getting into the act also by downloading and installing (unless you uncheck the box) OpenOffice installer when you go to get Java.

I’m all for OpenSource software and OpenOffice in particular. But the “you’ll get it unless you notice and go to the trouble to uncheck” mentality is plain wrong. What’s the connection between OpenOffice and Java? None. You’re getting Java because some website told you you needed it. You get OpenOffice when you want to ditch Microsoft Office.

<Update, forgot when originally writing post> Quicktime & iTunes are installing Safari web browser unless you are paying close enough attention to turn it off. Safari is a highly regarded web browser, but if you are using Firefox and quite happy with it then adding Safari is just cluttering up your PC.

Beware the add ons. Don’t ask me later how to clean up and speed up your PC, it’s so much easier to keep it clean to begin with.

I wish I weren’t such a nice guy. A gal that works for one of my clients asked where she could take her laptop to for cleaning.

There wasn’t anyone I really felt comfortable recommending and I figured “how bad can it be?”

“Bring it to me”, I foolishly said.

It’s an IBM Thinkpad, which is good, with a Celeron processor, that’s bad.

Even though it has a Windows XP Pro license sticker on the bottom, XP Home is installed - Strike two.

And this thing is so polluted you can barely move the mouse pointer. There was no working antivirus software, although I finally found some program shortcuts for Norton 2003. No sign of the software though.

Internet Explorer is absolutely useless, well, more than usual. Unless you like infinite exploding popup windows. So after cleaning out the registry and everything else that was easy to find, I loaded BOClean antitrojan, antimalware and Firefox. BOClean has found only 1 item so far (and killed it).

Firefox runs, go to Google and do a search, no problem. Try to navigate to http://housecall.trendmicro.com and the program closes.

Using a USB flash drive I copied adaware 2007 (free version) and ran it twice. Found quite a bit and cleaned it. Now it refuses to run.

Using a USB flash drive I copied SysClean from another PC where I downloaded it. It gave me fits too, but finally I was able to make it run.

Also from a USB flash drive I copied the free antivirus from Comodo. It found nothing, although much had already been cleaned.

Searching for RootKits I used F-Secure’s Free (expires Oct 1st) BlackLight. It found nothing.

The persistent file I find, loading from the registry is PRX.exe in C:\Windows\System32. Googling it brought up nothing of any use.

I keep threatening to blast the whole thing, format the drive and reinstall Windows XP Pro from scratch but:

• I’m stubborn and see this as a challenge
• The owner says there is nothing she wants on the machine, but I’ve heard that before
• I can save C:\Windows\inf off to USB before I blast it, but I still fear the potential hassle of finding all of the drivers I will need for a laptop this old

Folks, surf wisely. Check out my User Behavior page on my website. Use SiteAdvisor. Run a competent antivirus program and BOClean for malware. Don’t open suspicious emails.

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Update

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• McAfee’s rootkit tool found nothing
• Trend Micro PC-Cillin would not install.. reported corrupt installation file. Installs fine on other, known clean, PC’s
• Navigating to Avast.com or AVG in Firefox caused the browser to immediately close
• Even if left unattended, at some point IE windows would open at a furious rate trying to go to www.llehs.com

Final resolution: Wipe Drive and Reinstall Windows XP.

If you own Dell stock and are less than pleased with the performance, I’m afraid that it’s partly my fault.

You see, it’s almost daily that someone asks me whether the remedy to their slow pc is to buy a new one.

“How old is it?”, I ask. If the answer is 4 years or less, then I can presume that:

• They probably have a Pentium 4
• They probably don’t have Windows ME
• They probably can add RAM real cheap (Rambus excepted)

Case in point over the weekend.  Pentium 4 1.7, 512MB RAM, decent 7200rpm hard drive. Windows 2000 Pro was installed, along with all kinds of picture and photo printer garbage. Ran like a hog with no legs.

I backed up all of the data, twice, and did a clean install of Windows XP Pro. Be innovative and you can pick up a copy of XP cheap, if not free. Possibly even legally

Ok, just kidding. I don’t recommend pirating software, but between extra open license copies, cheap OEM licenses, legitimate educational copies - you get the idea.

At 512 RAM, this machine didn’t even need any money spent on it.

After the clean install of Windows XP Pro and just the needed software, no extra garbage, and this PC came to life.

Unless you are running the latest and greatest high intensity software, chances are that a clean install (after 2 backups!) will give you back that new PC performance you haven’t had in years.