Best Utility to Clean Clutter From Harddrive?

Looking for software to clean up my harddrive. Is it Window Washer 4.8, RegVac, system mechanic? Would like to get a good one so please tell me why you feel the one you suggests is best. I know there are many others than the ones I listed. Thanks much

State OS to be used with.

Noticed some issues with Window Washer in multi-user configurations...

Personal preference,
Manual cleanup via the registry.

MY O/S is Win 98SE.
Thanks

I like this utility best out of all that I've tried, freeware too:

JV16 Power Tools

IMO,,there really isn't any "one does it all" tool. To do a good job of removing clutter,several tools may need to be used. For what it's worth, this is my cleanup regimen:

In regards to your questions, i think it would be well to give you my schedule for a complete clean-up. I do this at least once a month, and more often if i've done several install/uninstalls or have surfed a lot and piled-up junk in the Temp Internet folder and the cookie folder. I should mention i use IE.6 and this works fine on both Win98FE&SE.

1.Shut down any screensaver that may be running by right clicking desktop,choose "properties" then screensaver tab. Click the settings button on that tab and see that all choices are "always on" and "never". Also,shut down any anti virus program you may have running.

2.Ctrl-Alt-Del to bring up close program window. Highlight running programs one at a time and choose "end task".All,that is except explorer and systray. Or,,use a small program called "End It All". This program is available from PC Magazine,but now you have to subscribe(pay)to get their dn/loads.Don't remember if it puts an icon on the desktop by default or not(been quite awhile since installing it),but you can go to it's folder in Program Files and right click the icon there and choose send shortcut to desktop if it doesn't. If you want to keep a program running for some reason when using it you can double click the program on the list and it will show a padlock meaning "that" program won't be shut down.

3.Next,run Ad Aware from www.lavasoftusa.com to get rid of any bad guys such as doubleclick, among others.edit:Because Ad Aware was forsaken by it's owners for about 6 months, i now prefer SpyBot Search & Destroy.A very nice program to rid your PC of spyware and many other functions as well.

4.Run Reg Cleaner http://www.jv16.org/ with all the stops out(do them all) and when you set it up,go into options and set the Ole cleaner to "extra powerful". the individual choices are for those who,for whatever reason,only want it to clean a specific area of the registry or specific kind of entries. I then select all to remove(including any with n/a i.e.not applicable extensions. If problems arise, it keeps a back-up by default in the Reg Cleaner folder. You can simply go to the folder in Program Files and select the most recent dated back-up,right click and choose "merge" to put everything back as it was. But,i've never had to do this in over a years use.

5.Next,i run a very good lil' program called HD Valet from PC Mag,but as above,it's no longer free. I've used it for two years with excellent results to remove the Temp Internet files and other junk temp files. You can configure it as you want,but i just let it do it's default cleaning which is adequate. It will ask you if you want to view the log after and i say "yes" to see what it has removed.It deletes the TIF(Temp Internet Files)straight away and puts anything that may cause a problem in the recycle bin in case you need to put it back. I've never had to, and just go to the edit menu on the notepad(or wordpad if it's that large) and choose select all and delete. It will ask for confirmation when you close the page,,just say "yes" and exit the program. If you feel you don't want to pay for this program,i would suggest Toni Art's Easy Cleaner from: http://www.toniarts.com/ecleane.htm It has a temp/uneeded file cleaner also. I would suggest to use only the unnecessary file cleaner and the Registry cleaner unless your well versed in the registry and know for sure what you're doing. Even so, be sure to check what it wants to remove from the reg before you choose delete. A backup is also kept by this program in it's Program File folder...

6.Now,you want to go to C:\Windows>Applog folder(be sure you have "show all folders" enabled from the view tab in "folder options"). If there is anything in there,go to the edit menu and choose "select all",then on the "file" menu choose "delete". It will ask "are you sure?", say yes and close the folder when these unneeded files are gone.This file is used if Task Mgr. is set to run,and the entries are "supposed" to help defrag select where to write items to your disk in proper order. Personally,i do not use Task Mgr. and leaving entries in the Applog folder in that case,causes more problems with defrag than it solves.

7.Before you leave the windows folder,open the cookie folder there. Here is where another good program comes in to use. Called "Cookie Muncher" http://www.webattack.com/get/cookiemunch.shtml Once again,put the icon on your desktop as mentioned before. But,for convenience,i open a slot on the task bar(bottom left on desktop) by putting cursor on lil' vertical bar 'til you get the double horizontal arrow and drag it a notch to the right. Then left click,hold down and drag the "cookie" icon(looks like a brown cookie with a bite taken out) to the space you created and let go.Then you can delete the icon up above on the desktop. OK, back to the "cookie folder" in windows. Go to the view menu and select "list" to see who the cookies are from. If there is a cookie from a trusted site(i.e. your ISP),do this: right click the cookie and choose "properties".From the properties menu put a check in "read only",then "apply" and "ok" it. Do this for any other cookies you want to keep. Now,go to the cookie muncher icon on the task bar and single click it. The ones you have "not" set as read only will be removed.Right click the cookie "active" icon on the right of the task bar and click exit to shut it down. Close the cookie folder and windows folder and then...

8.Go to Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disc Cleanup. Put a check in Temp Internet File,,Recycle Bin and any other folder offered if you want to empty it. Click "ok" and confirm "yes"to dump the junk.:-)

9.Run a thorough ScanDisk from the same menu. If you have more than one partition, at least do the one with Windows on it. Others are optional depending on what you've done on them lately and/or how much time you have. Cause this will take some time. Scandisk can also be run from DOS(true dos,not a windows command box). If you want/need to do this,reboot choosing DOS prompt from the shutdown menu. At the prompt, C:\> type: scandisk /surface <enter>.This will do the c: drive. To do other partitions,change the prompt to the drive you want by typing it's letter i.e. E: <enter>then type as above to scan it. If you want to scan all drives, at the C:\> type: scandisk /surface /all<enter>.You will be prompted after each drive scan to press <enter> for the next one.

10.When ScanDisk is through,run this program:Spider,, http://www.fsm.nl/ward Download the version 1.16 in zip format for the latest an' greatest. Now,this was written for Win9x, so, not sure if it will work with Win2000 or NT. Maybe not? What it does,is clean the zillion url's out of the "index.dat"file in Temp. Internet/cookies folder.This can be done by deleting the folder in DOS and Windoze will re-build it on boot. But, i don't have the command for that right now. You can go to Virtual DR Win98 forum and ask for help with this,or use the "search" feature to find posts about it. If you "can" use it,after it's installed,once again,put it's icon(looks like a sattelite dish in it's folder) on the desktop as a shortcut. Double click it and click on the button up top with the "spyglass" on it to scan for urls. Scroll the list down if you want. I think you'll be amazed at how much it finds.:-) Then,click the button with the ambulance on it and there will be a check in the "remove url" box by default. If you have cookies selected as before to keep,do "not" put a check in "remove cookies" box or it will remove them all. Spider will ask if you want to re-start to remove urls.Click "yes" and it will re-start your 'puter.

11.When your computer restarts,hold down the "control" key after the "post" window. At the startup menu, choose(5)command prompt only and press<enter>. At the C:\> prompt type scanreg /fix(with the space between g and /.Hit "enter" and it will take off...When it tells you(hopefully:-) )that "windows has fixed your registry",hit "enter".At the prompt,type "win"(no quotes) and hit enter to return to windows. Running this scanreg program compacts the registry after Reg Cleaner may have removed junk and left empty space as well as possibly doing some repairs...

12.When your back in windows,do as before and close all running programs.Once again,go to Start>programs>Accessories>System Tools and run Defrag.

13.After Defrag finishes,on the system tools menu,choose "System Information". Click the "tools" menu up top.Run System File Checker first. If it finds a missing/corrupt file have your Windows CD handy or if you have already done this and had to replace a file. Hopefully you told it to place a copy of the file in C:\Windows\Help\Helpdesk\sfc if it's the same file as before. You can choose "browse" to point it to the location there. If not,put the disc in when asked, to replace the file.You can also copy the "cab" files from the CD to your hard drive and not have to use the disc each time. Next,,from the same menu,run the "registry checker". If it says "no errors found" answer "yes" to "do you want to back up the registry again". Next,from the same menu,run Dirct X Diagnostics tool. When it boots up,at the bottom click "next page". On each page look at the bottom window for "no problems found"(hopefully:-) ) ignore the last page(more help),it will want you to go online for M$N tech support(nope,,don't think so,unless you really need to)...Next(and"almost"last:-), on the same menu click "repair Internet Explorer".Put a tick in the "repair" box and "ok" and "yes" 'til it says you must restart to complete repair.Once again,boot to a command prompt and do the "scanreg /fix"(just in case the I.E repair tool made some changes).When it says"Windows has fixed your Registry",hit enter,type "win" at the prompt,press "enter"to return to Windows.

I know this sounds like a lot of work and the first couple of times you do it,it "does" take awhile. But the more you do it,the easier it is. I've used this clean-up regimen for about two years now and have had very few problems with my system...Hope it works for you too.

Kell~~~~ 8-)

Kianje, I agree with Ridgerunner that there is no "one does it all tool". I do my cleanup nearly the same way he does. Although PC Mag is now charging for thier d/l's, I have found other sites that have some of thier d/l's. Including HDValet & EndIt All. I use both of these and like them a lot. Do a search for them and you will find them. I don't want to put the url here, as PC Mag might see it and stop them from having them.

Ridgerunr

Chapter and Verse.
I'm not as structured as you, but I used to on Win98FE use Spider, HDValet, BCWipe, Spybot S&D, Scandisk, Defrag and Adaware.

Now that I've moved to Win XP, I'll have to develop a new schedule but the above kept my Win98 system pretty clean.

Thanks for the info. :cool:

Slightly updated and just stick it in once in awhile to maybe give folks with no clue on how to dump the junk a push in the right direction with Win9x.

Thanks...:)

More Space or Uniquefiler (do a google search for either)...

Use with caution: both are powerful, both can be dangerous if you don't know what you are doing...

If what you are trying to do is remove incriminating evidence, then Evidence Eliminator (again, google) will do what you want...

Thanks for the replies guys. Keep em coming. Ridgerunr, I appreciate (as I am sure many others do) you posting in detail your regiment. I have a few questions.

SuperSparks (SS) mentions JV16 power tools. Ridgerunr mentions RegCleaner and the link provided in your post has the cleaner and the power tool. In the link provide by SS, it has a "test" in it and power tools appears to do a thorough job on cleaning the registry, in fact better than regcleaner. Ridgerunr, are you suggesting the cleaner or jv power tool?

I already had HDvalet so I can use that. I also have AdAware. I have only ran it one time. When you run it, do you just delete everything it finds or do I need to read thru what it finds and only delete things I do not recognize as being needed? Also is this a program that needs to run in the background all the time or just manually ran when doing this cleaning regiment? Also is spybot better or should I just keep adaware?

I also have GoBack. Am I correct in that it should be disabled before I start any cleaning?

Thanks

Reg Cleaner was the first offering from Juoni and he upgraded it several times. Then he moved on to the Power tools program. Reg Cleaner is incorporated in Power tools. Reg cleaner imo,is safer than Power tools for those who just want a basic cleaner for the registry. Power tools,as with any type of "power" cleaner "can" be dangerous if not used intelligently. Your choice...;)

With Ad Aware,you can check what it finds before deleting and if your not sure you can quarantine things you aren't sure of. The only thing i'd worry about in Spybot, is some of the things it finds in system internals(if you have that selected)could cause problems if deleted. If it finds something and brands it as spyware/malware etc.,i've had no problem letting it delete.

Keep in mind these programs "do" keep backups if you "screwup"...:rolleyes:

Personally,i don't let "any" cleaner program run in the background. I want to physically "see" what it does and make the choice to delete or not. Already been down that road with Norton and McAfee and because of what "they decided", had to wipe and re-install the OS. Never again will most of these products(except Ghost)be on any of my machines again! :(

Tried GoBack many moons ago and even though it's intentions are honorable and it "is" an easy way to recover from a program install screwup and other "user defined" messes. It uses mucho' resources/disk space and can cause problems when trying to scandisk and defrag if not shut down first. And,,if you shut it down,the restore points are lost. For a newbie who doesn't pay attention or know what their doing, it can be a good save-your-butt program. But when you gain more insight into computing and the proper way to install/remove programs and which ones to stay away from and as this thread addresses,find the right tools to keep your system clean. Well,,my copy has been gathering dust for quite awhile...:p

adaware has moved to version 6

i recommend this guy
system mechanic

back up first!!

Thanks ROW. I have that version of ad aware.

By coincidence I just tried out Ashampoo suite and jv16 powertools for the first time today. I ran Ashampoo's register cleaner first and it seemed to do a thorough job, then, out of curiosity, I ran regcleaner in power tools and it found an additional 150 items to remove from the register. Possibly the same would have happened if I had run them in the reverse order, that they might complement each other like Adaware and Spybot.
What did make me a bit nervous was that power tools ditched some icons from the Start menu for programs that were still in use which makes me wonder what else it took upon itself to throw away. I would'nt dare to empty the recycle bin before checking everthing twice !

madev, thanks for the info. Ridgerunr had mentioned to use caution when using power tools.