Cleaning out a friend's desktop.

My friend wants me to clean up her Compaq presario CQ3502F desktop.
I want to make sure I'm doing this the "proper" way. So I can be "trusted" to do it for other people, word of mouth is really how I get my work out there.

What I would do would usually be:

• 
  Scan with the installed AV.
  Run Ccleaner to remove the temp files.

What else should I be doing?
I also don't turn anything off in the Start-up section of Ccleaner, due to not knowing what is really needed or not.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Spock96

 

Hi my friend , you can follow this

http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/maintenance/speed.aspx#fbid=MNvUgz5fu4E

even you can follow this

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&product=12455&docname=bph07555

because the code is faulty :wave

 

You should run ccleaner before the virus scans, that way resulting scans will go faster, I would add malware bytes scan in there and then if you find infections with it, then follow the standard malware removal procedure we have here.

 

Thanks Coleman,
I doubt there would be any infections, but you never know.
What should I about say start-up programs?

 

Screenshot and post for review, or google each item and decide that way if you think its safe to disable.

 

CCleaner | Startup: instead of a screenshot you can also save the result as a text file, then attach that in your forum post.

P.S. before running CCleaner, ask your friend what cookies she wants to keep (Options | Cookies).

 

What OS is your friend running ?

If its Vista type in start %temp% and clear out all files there,

If its XP press windows key + r in the run box type the same and clear out all the files, you can also type in %prefetch% and clear out all those files too !

Click on start>all programs>accessories>system tools>Disk cleanup, select drive usually C/: >
Click ok then wait a minute or so then, Click ok again !


Start >> Run >> type cmd opening your command prompt

Type> ipconfig /flushdns

Then type> net stop dnscache

Then type > net start dnscache

Type in start/run > msconfig click on services then put a tick in the box " Hide All Microsoft Services " then you can see any services that run on startup along with your microsoft ones stop any that your friend dosen't want or hasn't installed lately !

" Be Careful When Doing This " as you don't want to stop any services you need !

Run ccleaner making sure you know what cookies your friend wants to keep, " If Any " Before running Ccleaner !

Then run any AV your friend may have !

Don't forget to reboot the computer after all this.
There may be a few things i missed but i think i covered most things !

Hope these few things help !

 

Defrag the HD as well...

 

Yeah ! Forgot that one well done cipher !:clap:clap:clap

 

This is a good one

http://www.majorgeeks.com/O&O_Defrag_Free_Edition_d4545.html

even to ensure that your computer is cleaning up about virus , you can create this useful cd ( from a clean computer ) be careful

http://forum.avira.com/wbb/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=82163

burning it with

http://www.majorgeeks.com/ImgBurn_d4870.html

inspecting your machine :wave

 

If she's running Win 7, would I follow what you suggested to do in Vista?

The stuff in Command Prompt, can be run regardless of the installed OS?

 

"Start >> Run >> type cmd opening your command prompt

Type> ipconfig /flushdns

Then type> net stop dnscache

Then type > net start dnscache

Type in start/run > msconfig click on services then put a tick in the box " Hide All Microsoft Services " then you can see any services that run on startup along with your microsoft ones stop any that your friend dosen't want or hasn't installed lately !"

There is no benefit from flushing your dns or starting and stopping those servers in a clean up situation. Dont do it! Also opening %temp% and deleting is unnecessary if you run crap cleaner. Msconfig is not a solution for controling starts ups. Use the delete/disable startup option inside of crap cleaner for that. Windows maintains dns to an accceptable degree and flushing it when not needed may actually cause slighty more lag as stuff has to be recached, now if this computer was known to be infected with malware thats something you might consider, but it sounds like thats not the case, or you would be in that forum.

 

Thanks Colemanguy.

Got the machine and will start on it tomorrow.
Just to make things clear in my head (and for next time when I have to do this for someone):

Run Ccleaner.
Scan with AV, malware bytes.
Then look at start up programs? How can I tell what to keep, and or get rid of?

Is that basically the extent of what I need to do?

Want to get a set if basics that I can use as a starting point for clean ups in the future.

 

Pretty much, if malware bytes and antivirus come back clean you might look through add remove programs and uninstall anything they dont need/use, and run crap cleaner, if it has infections visit the malware forum and follow those instructions. Once you get to crap cleaner in the tools - startup options, then post an image of the programs set to start and we can work through that.

 

I would add:

Make sure all updates/patches are applied.
Defrag

 

Okay, thanks.

 

Okay,
Ran Ccleaner, Avast found nothing, Malwarebytes found nothing.
Startup file attached.
What do I turn off?
There is also a program installed called RegClean Pro. I'm not sure what that is, it scans every time the machine starts.
She said she had someone else look at it awhile ago, so that might be from when it was last looked at. I'm not sure though.

 

The ones i would delete are the messengers, as this will just make it so the person has to manually open them instead of auto starting.
nortononlinebackupreminder can go if shes not using that,
swg
apnupdater could go
hpadvisdor
I would start with disabling this, and seeing if anything critical doesn't function. Probably a few more that could be disabled but thats a pretty safe list of things i would remove.

 

Does she need/want the Google toolbar? Google Update?

PC-Doctor for Windows has caused me problems with high CPU usage, is this something she needs?

 

Additionaly..

Ask her to keep away from reg cleaning apps.
The one startup reg app listed is, " Advanced Registry Optimizer."

It's junk, uninstall it from Add/Remove programs.

Uninstall:

Not required.

Uninsall:

Shut down your browsers before uninstalling Ask. Once done check for any addons in the browsers and disable/uninstall.

If you delete any startup's from Ccleaner, you will not be able to retrieve the startup, if you disable, then Ccleaner will invoke msconfig.

I use WinPatrol to disable startups.

Cheers..

Ooops, sorry dr.m..

 

Interesting, i didn't realize that using ccleaner to disable was the same as msconfig, although id say in the case here, its fine to disable and see if things break before removing a start up completely.

 

Although not really part of 'cleanup', when helping friends I always enquire what backup arrangements they have for their personal files. This is frequently met with a blank look

So before I leave I do try to ensure they have something in place and know how to use it.

 

Some folks don't know that there are only two types of computer users:

1. The ones who lose data and have backup/s
2. The ones who lose data and don't have backup/s

 

Gonna defrag and take care of those files to be deleted today and send it back to her Monday.

 

confused:confused Didn't i say more or less the same thing ( confused you soon will be !! ) confused:confused

As for questions asked by spock96, yes and yes command prompt will do its job regardless of OS, no offence, but, you can never be too sure how knowledgeable a person is, so i find it's always better to try and explain to the best of my ability, and fully !

 

Rusty, read what i posted, below your comment. Thats what Major Attitude was agreeing with.

 

Okay,
Did everything that was suggested and now its seems to hang installing 2 windows updates, been installing 1 update for maybe the past hour.

 

Sorry, Colemanguy, i must have read it differently, coz i thought you where havin a go, sorry again mate !