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System maintenance applications recommendations for Vista
subedii
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I recently got hold of a copy of Windows Vista. Things work fine so far and I'd like to keep it this way. Up to now, I've never used Vista before, so a lot is still fairly new to me. What I'd like are some recommendations for system applications that are useful to keep my PC ticking over OK:
- Firewall: At the moment, I'm using the Vista built in Firwall, seems to be doing OK. I don't know whether it's meant to be good or not (previously I was using ZoneAlarm). Is it OK to stick with this or should I get something better?
- Registry Cleaner: There seem to be dozens of these on the net, some paid, some freeware. I just want something to clean up the inevitable junk and preferably just generally inspect it in an understandable manner. I've been using CCleaner every now and again just to clear out misclaneous junk (I'm constantly surprised by how much stuff accumulates), but as far as I'm aware it doesn't really do much for the registry.
- Anti-Virus: Currently making use of AVG. I've heard Avast! is better, but I've never tried it myself. Thoughts?
Aside from this stuff, are there any other apps recommended for keeping a healthy system going?
- Firewall: At the moment, I'm using the Vista built in Firwall, seems to be doing OK. I don't know whether it's meant to be good or not (previously I was using ZoneAlarm). Is it OK to stick with this or should I get something better?
- Registry Cleaner: There seem to be dozens of these on the net, some paid, some freeware. I just want something to clean up the inevitable junk and preferably just generally inspect it in an understandable manner. I've been using CCleaner every now and again just to clear out misclaneous junk (I'm constantly surprised by how much stuff accumulates), but as far as I'm aware it doesn't really do much for the registry.
- Anti-Virus: Currently making use of AVG. I've heard Avast! is better, but I've never tried it myself. Thoughts?
Aside from this stuff, are there any other apps recommended for keeping a healthy system going?
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If you're behind a home router that does Network Address Translation (NAT), you're probably fine, if it also includes Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI), that's even better. Nearly all home routers include both nowadays. You're at no more risk, firewall-wise, going from XP to Vista, and the built-in Vista firewall's an improvement over the XP one.
No matter how many testimonials, reviews, or personal recommendations, registry cleaners are a waste of your money. There's no reason to mess with the registry, and all those claims of unused entries "sapping performance" and "causing instability" are pretty much pure BS. If you actually have a legitimate registry problems, 99.9999% of the time, no automated tool is going to help you. You're going to be in there with Regedit, doing it by hand. These have more than a little potential to do far more harm than good, and there are tons of these being hawked that are crap.
Avoid.
Both AVG and Avast! are good, free products. You also want to install spyware protection, Spybot Search & Destroy should be #1 on your list.
Other than AV & Spyware protection, pretty much everything else is snake lubricant. If you really want to live on the bleeding-edge of performance, invest in a copy of Diskeeper and set it up to do defragmentation in the background.
I forgot about Spybot and ad-aware. I'll have to get those.
And I am on a fairly recent router, and it appears to be covering me quite well.