Hard disk Checkup

It’s a hard fact to face, but it’s true—the Windows tuning utilities are not so effective. That means, they won’t be able to speed up the performance of your PC, if your hard disk is creeping along at a snail’s pace. This doesn’t mean that regularly scanning the system for infections, deleting temporary files, and defragmenting the hard drive is useless, but the impact on the system’s performance is greatly reduced if the underlying hardware has some serious flaw or faults.

If you’ve had your PC or laptop for more than a couple of years, then it’s high time you performed a thorough scan of your hard drive and bring the partition up to the mark. There are a quite a few shareware applications in the market that do this, which you'll find on this month’s CHIP DVD. Additionally, there are plenty of tools available for monitoring, optimizing and recovering your hard disk.

The first step in optimizing your hard drive is to clean up the Windows partition thoroughly and get rid of any existing physical read errors in order to achieve maximum speed. Once the hard drive is all spruced up, create a backup image of it in its most optimal state, so that you can always revert back to it if anything goes wrong in the succeeding steps. After creating a backup, separate the Windows system files and folders from your personal data, and remove information that isn’t essential including junk files. The last step describes how to automate this entire process, since creating a backup can be quite a nerve wracking task, but once set-up and initiated, your PC will automatically save the system partition information and will make sure that the hard disk is always in its most optimal condition.

Cutting the brakes

Sure, Windows is a system resources hog, but it’s not the only reason why your computer slows down. Junk files and folders, as well as read errors contribute to this, but this is fixable. Simply get rid of the unnecessary data, and within no time your hard drive will be back in full swing.

Cleaning Hard Disks:

First, install the HDCleaner, available on this month’s CHIP DVD or download it from the CHIP website (download.chip.eu/en/). The tool will help us to create a restore point after booting the system. Open the program and select the system partition that needs to be backed up and click on the ‘Start’ link under the category ‘Clean Hard Drive’ from the left navigational panel. This will open up the ‘Start Scanning’ screen, where the Scan Options show ‘List found files after scan’, check mark this, before you press ‘Scan now’ to start the process.

Once the scan is complete, a window titled ‘Following files were found’ appears. Go through the list to ensure that no important files are listed, and check the option ‘No Backup’ before you click on the ‘Delete and wipe files’ button. Note that this action permanently deletes the files from the computer and there is no option of restoring this data at a later time. This action ensures that files are permanently deleted and not simply sent to the Recycle Bin or saved as a compressed ZIP archive. Once the deletion process is complete, go back to the main application window to perform the system scan once more to confirm that there are no more files hidden on the disk. HDCleaner also has a couple of more useful functions like ‘Clean Folders’ and ‘Clean Center’.

‘Clean Folders’ helps to clean all the free space on a hard disk, a file shredder with a drag and drop interface, a duplicate files scanner, and a shared DLLs list. ‘Clean Center’ contains all the tools that a clean-conscious user will need. This includes an Internet Explorer cookie wiper, a Registry cleaner, a Super cleaner to delete temporary files and MRUs, the AutoRuns module, and uninstaller, a list of all the software registry keys, a file splitter, and an AntiSpy module to disable sending private information to Microsoft.

Repairing Hard Disks:

It's possible to track down physical errors in individual sectors using the 'Check Disk' Windows utility. Right click on the icon of a particular system partition in ‘My Computer’ and select ‘Properties’, switch to ‘Tools’ and click on ‘Check Now’ under the Error-Checking category to start it. Activate, ‘Automatically fix file system errors’ and ‘Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors’ options. Since the disk check utility requires exclusive access to some Windows files, the PC needs be restarted. So, save all your work and leave the PC alone while the checkup is in progress.

Creating backups

There’s a slight risk involved in working with partitions. Therefore, it’s prudent to create a backup image of the system partition in order to be able to recover the original status of the system in case of an emergency. There are various methods to do this, and it all depends on the size of the Windows partition in question.

Up to 5 GB:

For system with partitions sized less than 5 GB, use the SkyDrive service provided by Microsoft that comes with 5 GB online storage space, which can also be password protected. Open up the Web browser and navigate to the site http://skydrive.live.com. If you don’t have an account, you'll need to register for a Windows Live ID, which includes your Hotmail account ID. Click on ‘Get Started’, and sign into your account. Create a new ‘Personal Folder’ by clicking on ‘Create a folder just for you’ link and limit access to this folder to ‘Just me’, or make it public to share with the world.

The main drawback to SkyDrive is that the file size is limited to 50 MB, which means that you can’t directly upload the image of your hard disk, it has to be split. To split up the backup image file into individual 50 MB files, use any file splitter including HDCleaner. Fortunately, Paragon Software’s Drive Backup comes with a module that creates a backup and splits it into smaller ones all at the same time. So, install Drive Backup from this month’s DVD or download the installation file from their website (www.drive-backup.com). Open the program and select ‘Tools | Settings | Backup image options’. Check the option ‘Enable image splitting’ and set the maximum split size as ‘50 MB’ and press 'OK'. In the main application window, click on ‘BackUp’, this opens up the BackUp Wizard. Select the desired drive to backup and follow the steps in the wizard. Once the backup process is complete, it’s time to save the Windows partition on the Internet drive. Open up your personal folder in SkyDrive and start uploading the 50 MB sized files to the online storage space. Note that the upload time and speed depends on the Internet connection available, and it’s a good idea to let the uploading process happen throughout the whole night.

Up to 100 GB:

A removable external hard drive is best suited as the storage medium for partitions sized larger than 10 GB. Now, reinstall Paragon Drive Backup and in the main application window open up the BackUp Wizard. Before you move on remember to uncheck the ‘Enable image splitting’ option, if the external storage device can hold the entire backup image.

Terabyte Giants:

The only thing to remember while creating a backup of a drive sized at 1 TB and above is to have an equally large sized external storage device handy to hold the backup image file. Otherwise, the steps to follow while creating the backup image file are similar to that for medium sized hard disks.

Installing partitions

A lighter sized XP or Vista will start and load faster than a heavy one. So the next step in the hard disk check-up process is to install three partitions and separate the Windows system files from personal data and junk files. How you do this depends on the condition of your hard disk. If there is still enough disk space, then you may remove the existing infrastructure. But if you don’t have an organized file system structure and have lost track of things, then it’s better to reset the system completely. Don’t worry, though resetting the system may sound complex, it’s not.

Installing a Hard Disk:

Install and start Paragon Partition Manager and select ‘Advanced partitioning and hard disk management’ on the welcome screen. This will bring up the division of your hard disk. Most of the users are likely to have a main disk drive ‘C:’ in which the operating system is stored, which has been sub-divided into ‘Expanded partition’. It is possible to accommodate up to 24 logical partitions in the main physical drive, each associated with its own drive letter.

Now install the hard disk as follows, allocate 50 GB for Windows XP and applications and 10 GB for junk data. The remaining space can be used for documents, videos, music and other files. In the case of a dual boot system, install an additional partition for the second Window, around 80 GB for Vista plus programs. Linux is a special case, as it stores its Swap file in its own main partition and thus requires more space.

In order to expand an existing Windows partition, click it and select ‘Redistribute free disk space’. A wizard guides you through the next steps. To create a new partition, click ‘Advanced partitioning’ and select ‘Create partition’. Select a drive letter and specify the size in the dialog that follows. The partition manager automatically takes over the correct setting for ‘Logical disk drive’.

Streamlining Windows:

Once you have installed your partitions, first remove your personal data. Open up the folder that contains all your personal files, which might just be the ‘My Documents’ folder. Right click on ‘My Documents’ on your desktop and select ‘Properties’ from the context menu. Press the ‘Move’ button in the ‘Target’ tab and specify the destination folder as the partition and press ‘OK’ to start the transfer process.

Similarly, delete the Swap file and the bloated temporary and junk data. Create a new ‘Temp’ folder on the junk partition drive. Then right click ‘My Computer’ and select ‘Properties’. Click ‘Environment variables’ in the ‘Advanced’ tab. Change the file path for both the user variables ‘TEMP’ and ‘TMP’ as well as for the system variables ‘TEMP’ and ‘TMP’ such that it refers to the folder created a while back. After confirming with ‘OK’, click ‘Settings’ under ‘Advanced | Performance’ in the ‘System properties’ window, to get rid of the Swap file. Click on ‘Change’ in the ‘Advanced’ tab, select the junk partition and enter ‘1024 MB’ in both the minimum and maximum fields as ‘Custom size’. If you need a larger swap file size, then input a bigger number. By formatting the junk partition, you can henceforth remove all unnecessary files in one go.

Special Case—Dual Boot System:

If you use both the Windows operating systems XP and Vista together on one hard disk, it's possible that XP might delete the recovery points captured by Vista during the boot-up process. This is because both systems ‘see’ the main partitions and thus access each other through a bug in the Vista boot manager, using which you select the operating system that is to be started. Paragon has integrated its own Boot Manager in the Partition Manager program that should solve this problem. Unfortunately, this program works too well. Once activated, one of the two systems is hidden such that it can no longer be found by its own Boot Manager. This causes a situation where you can always start only the operating system on the currently active partition. We didn’t like the idea of installing Partition Manager on both the operating systems, especially since disk space is, after all, precious.

Automatic switch-on

After following the instructions laid out in the previous two steps, you now have a Windows system that runs perfectly well, thanks to sound hard disk partitioning and junk data removal. But there’s still one problem—creating backups remains a nerve-wracking and boring process. Here, we tell you how to automate this entire process using Drive Backup, so you can be spared from this torture in the future. Installing a checkup utility is also practical, since it continuously monitors the hard disk and sounds an alarm as soon as there is a threat of a system crash.

Automatic Backup:

Start Drive Backup and select ‘Schedule Backup’ under the ‘Backup/Restore Tasks’ on the left panel. In the wizard’s first step, select the ‘Master Boot Record’ of the ‘Base hard disk 0’ and the Windows partition drive and check the option ‘Change backup settings’ before pressing ‘Next’. Specify the data partition drive as the target location. If it is located on the same disk as that of the Windows operating system, then select a different partition as the target partition, maybe even an external hard drive. Otherwise, not only will you lose the operating system but also the backup file in the event of a disk crash. Next, specify how and when you would want the backup process to run, for instance on the fifth day of every month. If you don’t want to be disturbed when working, specify a time around bedtime. This will, however, give rise to power costs as the PC has to run all night long.

If you want to take a back-up during the day, make sure that the ‘Hot Processing’ option is activated. This facilitates taking a backup in the background while you work on the PC. If ‘Hot Processing’ is not activated, you may access the advanced backup settings from the main application window before taking a backup for the first time, accessible via ‘Tools | Settings | Hot Processing options | Enable Hot Processing | Always Use Hot Processing’.

Note:

If you want to use another tool instead of Drive Backup, you can use the backup utility Z-Cron Scheduler, available on this month’s CHIP DVD, or the official website (www.z-cron.com). While the installation process is in the German language, the program’s user interface is in English. It is to be used in conjunction with Z-Cron Data Backup, but can also be used to start and stop other programs installed on your PC. To schedule a run, either input the desired program’s name in the ‘Parameters’ field on the ‘Z-Cron Task’ tab by pressing ‘Tools’ or enter the batchfile name.

Monitoring Hard Disks:

Now we will set up a continuous security system for the PC. Install HDDHealth from this month’s CHIP DVD or download the installation file from the official website (www.panterasoft.com). On opening the program, the status of the hard disk is displayed immediately under the bar graph ‘Health’. If the percentage value is a hundred percent, your system is perfectly healthy. The present operating temperature of the hard disk is also visible. Most PC manufacturers suggest 40 to 50 degrees Celsius as the optimal temperature value. If the temperature is higher, check the ventilation of the PC. Other values monitored by the tool can be viewed by going to ‘Drive | SMART Attributes’. The details displayed here depend on the manufacturer of the hard disk. In the best case scenario, all the values displayed will be lower than the ‘Threshold’ value. If the value is larger than this ‘Threshold’ then your PC is at risk, and HDDHealth will sound an alarm. The values under ‘Worst’ indicate the maximum possible load of the hard disk. It must be noted that the service life of the disk decreases rapidly if this value is frequently exceeded.

To deactivate the automatic mechanism go to ‘File | Options’ in the main application window and uncheck the option ‘Open HDD Health window at startup’ in the dialog box. Select ‘Show popup message’ under ‘Notification methods’. It is a good idea to switch off the sound since we do not want to be distracted as this feature can be highly annoying. With this, the alarm system for the hard disk is now activated. If hardware break down is in store, back-up your data immediately, get yourself a new data carrier and partition it as described

Boost your XP SP3

It is a sad time for Microsoft. Vista hasn't been the success it was supposed to be, and with the lifecycle of XP coming to an end, there is an urgency at Redmond to produce something bigger and better, to keep Open Source operating systems like Ubuntu at bay.

Ever since Service Pack 3 for the XP operating system came out, there have been plenty of reported problems associated with it. Moreover, important features like the DirectX 10 graphics interface are exclusive to Vista. Despite these signs pushing you towards the newer OS, don’t think that it is absolutely necessary to discard XP with SP3 and switch over to Vista. If you do not wish to, use our tools and tweaks to extend Vista functions in XP and rectify the existing errors.

Updating with ease

Service Pack 3 comes with a proverbial flashing red button which, if touched, invites danger. Every Windows Update will now sneak in some software on PCs and ensure that users will suffer from headaches. Approximately 38 percent of the participants of an online survey have reported massive problems. They range from ‘XP no longer starts’ (16.86 percent) to ‘Error messages for license problems’ (6.13 percent).

If sporadic errors occur on your computer, visit the following blog for information: http://msinfluentials.com/blogs/jesper/. Ironically, it is a blog by an ex-Microsoft employee who defected to Amazon a few years ago. Jesper Johannson offers solutions for the most important problems in SP3.

OEMs and AMD Compatibility

Many PC manufacturers, amongst them HP, install their Windows OEM based OS on the perception that this has been manufactured using the Microsoft System Preparation Tool. At the same time, drivers for AMD and Intel systems are copied on the target computer. The IntelPPM driver is automatically activated and crashes AMD PCs. First try to boot the PC in the safe mode. After that start the script ‘removeIntelPPMonAMD.vbs’ from the CHIP DVD with next month’s issue. It's also available on Jesper's blog. It checks whether an AMD CPU exists and then disables the Intel driver. If you cannot boot your computer in the safe mode, boot it using the Windows Setup DVD and call the restore console with [R].

Enter the following command:

disable intelppm

However, if you do not have access to the restore console, which is the case with some OEM versions, then there is only one way to proceed and that is reinstallation.

Log file shows errors

If XP has been damaged to a large extent, take a look at the Update log file. Use Notepad to open the following file in the Windows folder ‘WindowsUpdate.log’.

You can identify these entries by date and time. Open the new text in Notepad or Word and sift through it using the ‘Edit | Find’ command to find the words ‘Fatal’ and ‘Warning’. Enter the error description like ‘Failed to synchronize, error = 0x8024000b’ in the search line on www.microsoft.com. You will get some support or a patch. For more info and helpful tips for reading the Windows Update.log file, visit http://support.microsoft.com/kb/902093.

Old BIOS

Owners of Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboards were flabbergasted after installing SP3. Their computers restarted without any reason or displayed errors with messages like ‘STOP: 0x000000A5’. This error is caused due to an obsolete BIOS version. Their Advanced Configuration and Power interface (ACPI) is not compatible with SP3 and causes problems with drive management. Connecting another drive will solve this problem. Simply insert a USB stick and use it as a replaceable drive. If XP runs stable once again, update your BIOS from the motherboard manufacturer's website.

Is SP3 a malware?

Many worms delete Registry entries or write absurd information there. And SP3 does the same. The result is that the device manager no longer shows any devices, network connections fail, and thousands of new keys starting with ‘$%&‘()*+,-‘ are dumped in the Registry. It's no wonder that security programs classify SP3 as hazardous malware. In fact Norton Internet Security 2008 immediately tries to remove SP3. In the CHIP forum, we have also found instructions regarding products by Kaspersky and Trend Micro. A remedy is provided by the patch that you can find on the Microsoft website using the search string ‘KB953979’. Symantec also offers a patch to its customers. Ask the manufacturer for the file ‘SymRegFix.exe’ if you face similar problems.

WGA tests

According to Alex Kochis, Senior Product Manager at Microsoft, erroneous test codes were copied on to the Windows activation server that checks the authenticity of XP Professional online. The server could then no longer differentiate between legal and pirated copies of Windows. Even genuine customers can see only a black desktop and the prompt to buy a licensed Windows copy at the earliest.

In the meantime, the defective codes were removed. Users with a black Windows desktop should visit the website www.microsoft.com/genuine and click on ‘Validate Windows’. The authenticity check will then be re-conducted and Windows will be unlocked. If this does not help even if you have procured a licensed Windows copy, visit www.microsoft.com/genuine/selfhelp/support.aspx. Here you can see tips for troubleshooting and get technical support for the Windows Genuine Advantage program. We recommend not using dubious WGA deletion tools available on the Internet, since, without the authenticity check, you cannot download many updates like Windows Media Player 11 for XP from the Microsoft site.

The Vista bluff

Lack of support, crashes and false positives in the authenticity check are making the lives of XP users difficult. But still, few users see Vista as an upgrade to XP. After mulling over this for some time, Microsoft came up with a plan that will certainly go down in history: the Mojave bluff.

The strategy started with a survey. Microsoft searched for customers who use Windows XP and have never worked with or have strong reservations against Vista. Eligible customers, approximately 70 in number, were then invited to San Francisco, where they were supposed to evaluate a strictly confidential and new Windows version. This operating system, codenamed ‘Mojave’, supposedly considered all wishes of XP users and, at the same time, had none of the disadvantages that are observed in Vista. Test customers thought that the new Mojave was amazing, until Microsoft told them the truth: the super Windows was a boringly normal Vista from which all revealing logos were removed.

Freeware XP

Windows XP's retail sales officially stopped least year, and even support will not be provided through updates after 2014. Of course, Microsoft still needs to sell Vista now, and not after a few years. Plus, under the Microsoft Piracy agreement, at www.microsoft.com/norge/piracy/activation_faq.mspx, the company has made it public that they might issue an update that will remove the need to contact an activation server at the same time. Users can then use XP without activation. So does this mean that XP will be freeware? Yes! From April 8, 2014, you might actually be able to use XP without activation. But the sad part about this is that users will not necessarily benefit from this, since the best features will be available exclusively in Vista and not in XP. A prime example of this is DirectX 10.

DirectX 10

The DX10 graphics framework is indeed available only in Vista. Microsoft has persistently refused to offer this feature in XP. If you want to play modern 3D games such as ‘Crysis’ with all the graphical effects enabled, you must buy Vista—or procure a pirated Russian version.

If you Google ‘dx10_xp.exe’, you can access an unofficial version of DirectX that you can download from Win Future (www.winfuture.de). It is a RAR archive that can be unzipped on your PC. It contains an installation file that executes all the steps automatically. DLL files that are normally included in a Vista installation are copied into the Windows directory. The DxDiag diagnosis tool has actually authenticated an existing DirectX 10 installation.

We procured the demo version of the Crysis first-person shooter for testing. Only DirectX 10 can be used to select the setting ‘Options | System Settings | Advanced | Change all Settings to | Very High’. However, this was possible only with a new graphics card that supports DirectX 10, such as ATI’s Radeon HD2000 onwards or Nvidia's GeForce 8000 series onwards.

Keep in mind that the manipulated version of DirectX that originally stems from Russia is however not yet fully developed. In Windows XP, games therefore run considerably slower than on an equivalent Vista computer.

Warning: Try these at your own risk!

Turn XP into Vista

You can easily and quickly emulate other Vista features in XP. Transformation packs and feature updates can be downloaded from the Internet. The advantage is that you can add some of Vista's neat effects without affecting your underlying XP installation.

For conversion, you will need the following tools from the web: ViOrb for Vista Start button, TrueTransparency for the Aero Glass window effect (www.crystalxp.net), ViStart for the Vista Start menu, Visual Tooltip for a small preview window in the taskbar, WinFlip for the 3D window effect, Aurora XP for the desktop background (http://falsecut740.deviantart.com/art/Aurora-XP-63775559), and Desktop Sidebar for the sidebar and widgets. You can adjust the Aero effect through ‘Sidebar| Options | Display | Download more skins’. Enter ‘Aero’ on the manufacturer’s site, download, double-click it and that’s it.

Other applications to convert XP into Vista include XPScene, which adds the Vista Ultimate Extra Dreamscene. You can then use high-resolution animated films that are available on www.dreamscene.org as your desktop background.

TrueCrypt allows another Ultimate Extra Edition to operate in XP: the hard disk encryption BitLocker. AveDesk allocates pictograms to specific functions. This is actually an Apple OS X feature, but impressively shows that not only can XP simulate Vista, but also surpass it by miles.

If you want to transform XP completely into Vista, first ensure that SP2, IE 7 and Media Player 11 are installed. You can download these from the Microsoft website (www.microsoft.com). If possible, also download Windows Defender, Windows Mail and Windows Live photo gallery.

If everything is ready, install all the Vista transformation programs mentioned in this article. Once the installation processes are completed and you restart your PC, you will need to do some fine-tuning. In ‘Welcome Center’, click on ‘Configure User Account | Apply Current Configuration’. Now you can select the ‘Windows Aero’ style in the ‘Display Properties’ window. After restarting the PC, close ‘Welcome Center’ and install AuroraXP. Use ‘Start | Run’ to open the ‘msconfig’ utility and enable the ‘NOGUIBOOT’ option in the ‘Boot.ini’ tab. Now install Visual Tooltip and, if required, change the size of the preview window. You can replace the ‘Windows Sidebar’ with the ‘Desktop Sidebar’ if you like.

If you want and still have enough computing power, then, install other enhancements like WinFlip for the 3D effect or Windows Search for XP that provides the considerably quicker and more efficient search function of Vista in Windows XP.

contain from www.chip.in

Total wipeout

Total wipeout

CHIP shows you ways to erase temporary digital garbage and other useless files. There are automatic tools and those that let you do it all manually—you can choose what suits you best.

Unwanted files have become harder to track down over the years, and techniques to hide them have become stronger too. Today, there is need for special software to securely delete data that you want to get rid off for good. In this story we talk about how data on a computer is stored in various ways and places, and about some tools and procedures for getting rid of it for good.

Every computer has data which is created and stored by a user during the course of his work, such as documents, photos and videos. This data is plainly visible, and used relatively often. Another type of data is that which is stored by programs, applications, the Internet and of course the operating system itself, without the user necessarily knowing how, when or where it has been generated. Such files keep piling up in various folders on the hard drive without the users knowing the true extent of it all.

For instance, when installing a program, you may notice its folder residing in the ‘Program Files’ folder, and its icon on your desktop. But tons of other files get stored on the hard drive along with it: DLL files being a good example of that. Even surfing the Internet, typing a simple letter, copying and pasting information and other simple tasks constantly bombard the hard drive. Most of this information is used to boost speed and efficiency or is sent via the Internet in order to track user activity. For instance, temporary internet files and cookies are stored in places that aren’t usually explored by a general user. Cookies generally reveal your online identity and activity.

Here are five utilities that help you delete such superfluous data. Some of them can also permanently delete files that you don't want others to stumble upon. The features across these utilities are more or less the same, with some more powerful than others. We suggest that you take a look at each one briefly and then use whichever suits you best.

CCleaner

This powerful and comprehensive piece of software does some good sweeping. To begin with, it wipes out junk which is stored by Windows applications. Cached data from Internet Explorer such as temporary files, cookies, history, etc, is deleted. Even your list of recent documents, temporary files folder, clipboard, auto-complete entries and much more is erased. That’s just the Windows part. Even garbage dumped onto the hard drive by third party applications is expelled.

CCleaner also scans and fixes registry issues. Unused file extensions, fonts, application paths, obsolete software and many other types of detritus can be cleaned with the ‘Registry Integrity’ utility. Finally with this program, you can also uninstall third party software and get rid of auto-startup items.

Regseeker

Its name may suggest that Regseeker only finds items and entries in the Registry and gets rid of unwanted garbage. Of course it offers the option, but there’s more to it than just that. RegSeeker allows you to erase unwanted registry entries such as startup items, Internet Explorer URL entries and so on. For further cleaning, there are two options: the first one is automatic cleaning and the second one lets you add specific entries to the exclusion list before cleaning. Overall, it’s a useful tool for registry management.

HDCleaner

While boasting a pleasant and intuitive user interface—similar to CCleaner—the HD cleaner too has much to offer in terms of features and performance. And it is free of charge. Its features include almost everything that’s needed to clean and stabilize a computer, such as cleaning temporary files and offline content. This software offers something called ‘Wipe Free Space’. This tool basically deletes data in a way that it becomes completely unrecoverable (also see: ‘Manual Extermination’). To further prevent recovery, it allows shredding of files too.

Other options include a cleaning center which gets rid of cookies, unwanted registry items and software. There’s a drive information panel which does exactly what its name suggests. HDCleaner also allows automatic or scheduled scanning and cleaning of a computer.

TuneUp Utilities 2009

We tested the demo version of TuneUp Utilities 2009, and must say the interface is quite eye-catching. First, the 1-click Maintenance utility is quite interesting. On execution, it automatically scans and analyzes the system for registry problems and invalid shortcuts. It also frees up disk space by deleting unwanted data and temporary files. Finally, it defragments the drive, but this step can be skipped at will by the user since it takes a lot of time.

The main console looks impressive. Interestingly, each utility in the line up is named after the brand ‘TuneUp’, such as TuneUp Drive Defrag and TuneUp Memory Optimizer. There are other tools such as Registry defrag, Speed optimizer, Startup manager, Registry cleaner, Uninstall manager and more. There’s also a Windows customization tool called TuneUp Styler. This one lets you give Windows a compete facelift with new boot and login screens, icon packages, the overall visual style of windows and other such cosmetic changes. All in all, we say this one has beauty and brains!

Vista Cleanman 2.5

Vista Cleanman is capable of cleaning temporary files and other files with extensions such as .old, .bak and picture thumbnail files. Although its feature set is rather scanty, it apes the more popular options, for instance there are options for cleaning the IE temporary files, Windows error reports and such. Even the caches created by third party applications are cleared off. There are a few more options, but overall, this demo package doesn’t impress us very much.

Simple file shredder 3.2

Simple File Shredder is another good utility which is easy to use. It has a number of options and features which assist in deleting data permanently.

The program options include settings for automatic shredding of files, enabling password protection to avoid misuse, and updating the program. The ‘Color Guide’ option helps identify whether a certain file is in use, or whether it is a system file, a read-only file or a hidden file. If you’re looking for a specific file or folder, the search option allows various combinations for narrowing down your search for files intended for shredding. And if you’ve accidentally chosen a file for permanent deletion, choose the ‘Remove selected’ option in the file’s context menu or simply push the [Delete] key.

If you’re looking only to flush the cache, then the ‘Basic Configuration’

mode should suffice. It gets rid of items such as IE's cookies, history and so on. It also deletes Windows’ list of recent documents, the Recycle Bin, and temp files folder. Although the program features 'Advanced Configuration' in the 'System Shredder' panel, the demo version won't have it. One of the options also allows scrubbing the free space on your hard drive so that previously deleted data cannot be recovered from there. It is quite contrarily named ‘Restoration’. However, to use this utility, the program needs to download the ‘Restoration’ setup file from the Internet.

Some troubling signs

Here are some of the symptoms that signal when you need to clean your PC immediately:

The computer becomes ridiculously slow and unresponsive. The ‘Performance’ tab in the Task Manager shows very high or almost 100 percent CPU usage. The RAM usage has also climbed to dizzying levels.

More than 50 percent of processes listed as running in the Task Manager are completely incomprehensible and untraceable too. The reason for the sluggishness may be all these processes running in the background, consuming your computer's resources. If you got your ‘fully loaded’ computer as a gift, it probably came with a lot of unnecessary software preinstalled. Remember, the more the programs you have, the more CPU power and RAM are needed. Uninstall all programs that you use less than once a month. The solution? Uninstall and clean up the traces of all software you don't really require.

Fringe benefits

Along with websites that merely want to give you a better experience, those with malicious intent could be automatically downloading harmful files to your PC. Keep an eye out for suspicious files and use the cleanup utilities regularly.

know more

The cache, also known as the Temporary Internet Files folder for Internet Explorer, make surfing speedy. But it also preserves cookies, which by nature are good at compromising online privacy. Cookies are basically footprints, and websites offload them onto your machine. When you revisit a website, it pulls up its cookie to see your previous activity. This helps it to offer you customized information. Unfortunately, a lot of personal information can leak out via these files. Although browsers allow blocking cookies, this makes surfing irritating at times. Therefore a periodic clean-up of offline content is a must. For a good combination of comprehensiveness and efficacy, opt for CCleaner or HDcleaner.

Manual Extermination

Offline content

So much for automatic secure deletion, now, how about applying some basic manual techniques? The best part is manual techniques do not require special software. CHIP introduces our in-house batch file which performs a basic yet useful clean-up. This file is intended for those using Windows Vista with Internet Explorer. On execution, it automatically runs sequential commands. First, it cleans up the browser cache, temporary Internet files folder and such. Then it runs the Windows Disk Cleanup utility and finally, it clears the ‘Recent’ folder. And if you’re comfortable with experimenting, you can even add other commands and programs into the batch file to run them automatically and in sequence. Type the following in a text file and save it with the extension .BAT. You can name it ‘CLEANUP.BAT’. (On the third line, replace ‘Username’ with the actual user name such as ‘CHIP’ on a CHIP computer).

@echo off

Rundll32.exe InetCpl.cpl, ClearMyTracks By Process 255

C:Windowssystem32cleanmgr /sagerun:1

Del /f/s/q c:UsersUsernameAppDataRoamingMicrosoftWindowsRecent

Tip: In Windows XP, the path for recent documents is C:Documents and Settings UsernameMy Recent Documents

User-saved data

At times, it doesn’t matter how powerful the software for permanent deletion is because data is still recoverable from the hard drive til the emptied sectors are filled with new data. Check out the ‘Wipe Free Space’ tool in HDCleaner.

To wipe the drive manually, fill the emptied space with random data. Dump data which is large enough to fill that space. Defrag the drive while the newly planted data exists. Run a low level format. Repeat the process in various combinations. If you were creative enough and did all the right things then a successful recovery is unlikely. But remember, these methods don’t ensure that data will never be recovered. With special tools and methods, there may still be chances of a recovery. The only foolproof way would be to physically damage the hard drive, which obviously defeats the purpose.

VERDICT

Shredding means overwriting the drive’s sectors with new data so that the deleted data becomes unrecoverable. Basic deletion of files and folders only erases the pointers to the data which still resides on the hard drive or other media after deletion. This data is therefore recoverable. On the other hand, shredding dumps junk data in random patterns onto each sector of a hard drive. Shredding can be done in multiple passes, meaning data is re-written a number of times in various patters.

Be it automatic or manual, keeping your computer clean from unnecessary digital detritus is a must. And if you want good performance from of your computer, you may have to pay special attention in maintaining a regular cleaning schedule.

A computer that hasn’t been cleaned in over a month and also has loads of programs installed will not only make be slower than it should be, but also wastes valuable space. In worse cases, it stresses the CPU and RAM so much that they overheat unnecessarily. Yes, this can happen due to constant and unneeded work. Therefore, keep your PC clean from the dust outside and digital garbage inside. Happy cleaning!