Grant said:
Anyone have suggestions for the best Windows XP system maintenance utilities?
As in, is there any one set of utility software that is the most effective at
keeping XP running in good shape?
Examples are Symantec's Norton Systemworks (I heard mixed reviews about it),
Fixit Utilities, Tuneup Utilities, etc.
Any recommendations/experiences would be appreciated!
First my answer, and then some questions you should think about. Also,
these same comments apply to Internet security suites, although you are
asking about system utility suites.
First my answer: avoid them like the plague. Use the tools already built-in
to Windows XP. Regularly check your disk for errors using chkdsk (I do it
weekly), regularly run the disk cleanup program (I set it to run
automatically overnite), regularly defrag your drives using Disk
Defragmenter (I do it weekly, or more frequently if I manually install or
uninstall programs or files), and check Event Viewer for errors and fix any
errors you find using its Help and Support feature (I do this daily), and you
will have a fast, reliable, error-free system. Last but certainly not least,
update to SP2 if you haven't already done so, and keep your system fully up
to date. Do the same for the other software you use regularly.
[Note: I do sometimes use Diskeeper or PerfectDisk as my disk defragmenter,
but I am unaware of any testable evidence that they result in any transparent
performance improvements over Disk Defragmenter. The reason to use one of
these two products is to be able to automate defragmentation, which most
people don't like to do manually. Which one you use is primarily a function
of what your needs are.]
Now the questions. What do you think that the third party utilities will do
that Windows XP cannot or won't do? What problem do you think you are
solving by using a third party utility? Or is it merely a pseudo-problem
that some vendor is trying to convince you is a real problem that only his
product will fix, or fix better than the programs of competing vendors? The
vast majority of so-called computer "problems" fall into this category. Do
you ever wonder why -- with rare exceptions (e.g. Diskeeper) -- these third
party utilities almost never offer you a method for actually measuring the
increases in performance and stability? Think about it.
Even more fundamentally, do you understand how or why a computer performs as
well or as poorly as it does -- and that the reasons have virtually nothing
to do with the "problems" that third party utiltities supposedly fix? Your
CPU and RAM (including especially effective use of the system cache) probably
account for 95-97% of your computer's performance. Your hard drive accounts
for the other 3-5%. The maintenance program I outlined above affects mainly
hard drive performance.
When you load code from your hard drive into RAM, it stays there as long as
you have room (that's what the system cache does). The benefit to you is
that code already in RAM is executed much faster than code that the computer
must retrieve off the hard drive. To test this for yourself, reboot your
computer and then load a program you use regularly such as Outlook Express.
Once it fully loads, close it. Then open it again a second time. Did you
notice the speed difference? That's your RAM at work. No third party
utility can do that; only your hardware can. As long as Outlook Express
remains in RAM, you will get the speed improvement each time you load it.
This also works with files, such as picture files, documents, even music
files if your RAM system cache is big enough to handle it. XP is designed to
use as much of the system cache as it can -- which, incidentally, is why the
very worst utiltiy programs of all are memory managers that purport to "free
up memory" by flushing the system cache, meaning that the next time you load
the flushed code you must do it from the much slower hard drive.
If you want a really good performance tip, here is one that won't cost you a
dime and give you a much bigger improvement than the very best third party
utility suite you can name: don't reboot your computer unless you need to as
part of a system or software update. Instead, when you are done working,
just lock the computer or log out (you will need a password protected user
account to do this, but you should have one anyway for security reasons).
Learn that RAM is your friend, especially the system cache.
Ken
