Best PC optimiser?

sydh · Nov 26, 2022

I have been using Iobit Advanced System Care for several years. It has never caused me problems and it does seem to be a quick and easy method of cleaning up several areas. However I am now fed up with the Iobit policy of constant prompting to buy and install other products.
I realise this is a very subjective question but what is the best alternative? I know many of you will manage your machines manually but all-in software is quick and easy for me. Even Ccleaner was a bit of a pain requiring the user to select multiple options every time. Same with Bleachbit. ASC just seemed to have a suitable overall selection of what to analyse and action. Maybe I'm getting lazy but nowadays but I just want something that will analyse and clean up my machine with minimal input.
ALSO - the same question applies about driver checkers. I know many of these will be scorned by the technical members on here, but once again, it would be nice to find something that can run a full system check and is reliable. Again, Driver Booster seemed to work perfectly but it is Iobit again.

TairikuOkami · Nov 26, 2022

Wise Care, TCP Optimizer and Driver Easy - free version identifies the driver version, then it can be downloaded anywhere.

jimbo45 · Nov 26, 2022

Hi folks

Human Brain. Windows itself and the fastest Disk / I/O subsystem beat anything thing else unless you are a real Guru and have serious knowledge of windows internals, Virtual memory, paging systems. how a task dispatcher works etc etc.

I'm not decrying some of these optimiser things but for around 98.99999% of Windows users they bring minimal advantages to the table -- my focus would be on getting bog standard Windows users to TAKE BACKUPS and recognize and avoid scams.

Cheers
jimbo

Berton · Nov 26, 2022

I will use CCleaner Portable when clients start complaining about their Internet having issues, never install it on their computer.

sydh · Nov 26, 2022

Thanks for your input folks. Driver Easy looks good. I hope it is reliable with no false reports.
From other reviews, Glary Utilities seems to come out well over Wise Care and many others, so I will give it a try.

mecanicogolf · Nov 26, 2022

Do not use any of these! They are absolutely NOT necessary. You gain nothing and can loose all. Windows registry is OK as-is. If there are any invalid or entries not being used, they will not hurt anything. If things get erased because they are not being used, how do you know if you may need the in the future? THE REGISTRY DOES NOT HAVE TO BE TOUCHED!

WAI · Nov 26, 2022

I use program 3Dp for drivers and I rarely use CCleaner but use the WIN10/11 storage cleaner

mecanicogolf · Nov 26, 2022

Snappy Driver is real good for checking driver status on your PC.

sydh · Nov 26, 2022

mecanicogolf said:
Do not use any of these! They are absolutely NOT necessary. You gain nothing and can loose all. Windows registry is OK as-is. If there are any invalid or entries not being used, they will not hurt anything. If things get erased because they are not being used, how do you know if you may need the in the future? THE REGISTRY DOES NOT HAVE TO BE TOUCHED!

I probably agree with you regarding the registry but what about all the other things these apps can do? Yes, everything can be done manually but it is very time consuming checking and repairing every item.

sydh · Nov 26, 2022

Just tested Driver Easy and disappointed. It listed all my AMD chipset drivers as out of date. I went to AMD website and ran their driver checker and yes it agreed the drivers needed updating which it proceeded with. After a reboot, I ran Driver Easy again but it still said those same drivers needed updating, yet when I checked the driver details within Driver Easy, it was showing current driver and available driver as being identical. A false positive. Maybe Driver Easy is only good for flagging up what is out of date.

mecanicogolf · Nov 26, 2022

Yeah! Everything else is fine. Use the junk cleaners, Internet optimizers, etc. and the whole works. Just don't use anything BUT the reg. cleaner.

mecanicogolf · Nov 26, 2022

sydh said:
Just tested Driver Easy and disappointed. It listed all my AMD chipset drivers as out of date. I went to AMD website and ran their driver checker and yes it agreed the drivers needed updating which it proceeded with. After a reboot, I ran Driver Easy again but it still said those same drivers needed updating, yet when I checked the driver details within Driver Easy, it was showing current driver and available driver as being identical. A false positive. Maybe Driver Easy is only good for flagging up what is out of date.

Go to www.Majorgeeks.com and look for Snappy Driver and run it. There is a tutorial on the download page that'll help you if you need it. And it;s FREE!

WAI · Nov 26, 2022

I mean I would say try Driver Booster but only for drivers you are unable to find. You can click which one you want to update. Just ignore the graphics please...

NavyLCDR · Nov 26, 2022

dism /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup /resetbase
sfc /scannow
cmd.exe /c Cleanmgr /sageset:65535 & Cleanmgr /sagerun:65535

My computers have been running problem free since day one of Windows 10 insider. All the other stuff I consider to be snake oil.

cereberus · Nov 26, 2022

mecanicogolf said:
Yeah! Everything else is fine. Use the junk cleaners, Internet optimizers, etc. and the whole works. Just don't use anything BUT the reg. cleaner.

1000% no - reg cleaners often cause more damage than they solve. Complete waste of time.

TairikuOkami · Nov 27, 2022

sydh said:
what about all the other things these apps can do?

To put it simply, if Windows were working, people would not be seeking those apps.
I got a new laptop, Windows nor Intel driver utility did not find any drivers for sound.
MS itself fixes things by doing, what those apps are doing, cleaning caches and so on.
It is like bringing your car to a service regularly instead of waiting till it breaks down.

sydh said:
Just tested Driver Easy and disappointed. It listed all my AMD chipset drivers as out of date.

The same version, but the different date, based on the last time it was signed, the date matters to secure boot and such.
You can download updated versions directly from MS, if you do not trust 3rd party updaters: Microsoft Update Catalog

jimbo45 · Nov 27, 2022

All Snake Oil.

Some sites are even worse --"Sneakerware" or "Suckerware". They advertise as being able to find updated software for your machine - and then you find they sucker you in and want you to PAY for access to that part of the site.

Windows if left alone usually works far better than most Humans can do it. As an Engineer I still believe that "If it ain't broke --- then don't fix it".

If you want to get vendor id etc for particular hardware - simply go into hardware properties for the device and then click on the events. You'll invaribly find something like &VEN_ and a load more info from which you can use as a google search to get the manufacturers hardware and usually then get the correct driver if needed.

E.g For an HD audio device (I'm on a VM currently but you should get the idea).

Cheers
jimbo

sydh · Nov 27, 2022

jimbo45 said:
All Snake Oil.

Some sites are even worse --"Sneakerware" or "Suckerware". They advertise as being able to find updated software for your machine - and then you find they sucker you in and want you to PAY for access to that part of the site.

Windows if left alone usually works far better than most Humans can do it. As an Engineer I still believe that "If it ain't broke --- then don't fix it".

If you want to get vendor id etc for particular hardware - simply go into hardware properties for the device and then click on the events. You'll invaribly find something like &VEN_ and a load more info from which you can use as a google search to get the manufacturers hardware and usually then get the correct driver if needed.

E.g For an HD audio device (I'm on a VM currently but you should get the idea).

View attachment 46316

Cheers
jimbo

That's very time consuming considering the amount if hardware on a PC. That's why I believe a driver checker is more streamlined in finding out of date drivers.

sydh · Nov 27, 2022

TairikuOkami said:
To put it simply, if Windows were working, people would not be seeking those apps.
I got a new laptop, Windows nor Intel driver utility did not find any drivers for sound.
MS itself fixes things by doing, what those apps are doing, cleaning caches and so on.
It is like bringing your car to a service regularly instead of waiting till it breaks down.

The same version, but the different date, based on the last time it was signed, the date matters to secure boot and such.
You can download updated versions directly from MS, if you do not trust 3rd party updaters: Microsoft Update Catalog

MS did not have the drivers for AMD. With that in mind, I wonder what other drivers they are missing. Besides, the MS Catalog is just that. It is not a driver checker so once again I would have to manually trawl through all the hardware checking version numbers.

A Guy · Nov 27, 2022

Why has none of this ever been discussed before?

A Guy

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