PC Prescriptions: 21 Free Apps to Keep Your PC Healthy
PC Prescriptions: 21 Free Apps to Keep Your PC Healthy
Posted 11/03/2011 at 12:43pm
| by David Murphy
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An ounce of prevention is worth, what, a working version of your operating system? A few hours of a Windows reinstallation? All of your system’s data? When it comes to dealing with issues with your desktop or laptop PC, apps that help you prevent problems before they occur are worth their file size in gold.
A clean, efficient, and smoothly running PC only makes your life that much easier as a user: Your data is organized and accessible; your operating system is free of errors and other third-party problems; your system, well, works – and it works nearly as well as it did the first day you installed the OS.
In short, apps that help protect your system from yourself, from the outside world, and from its persistent push toward chaos are critical parts of the PC user experience, period. As it just so happens, we’ve come up with a list of the 21 best programs that can help prevent (or mitigate) PC performance problems before they make your life miserable.
“But wait,” you ask. “Do I really need all 21?” No. Treat this article like a spice rack: Depending on how strong of a mix you think you need for your individual computing setup, you might benefit from all, some, or a scant few of the apps we’ll be suggesting.
The Reinstallation Blues
Let’s start from the beginning. Something’s gone cataclysmically wrong with your Windows operating system and your only choice is to either restore it back to its original settings – potentially wiping your data, your record of program installations, or just generally making your hard drive’s contents chaotic – or wiping your drive and reinstalling Windows from scratch. Use Clonezilla to clone your primary hard drive’s contents to a separate drive before you undertake this process, and you’ll then be able to copy your critical files back once your reinstallation is complete.
System Information for Windows
If your current Windows issues aren't catastrophic, but you still want to start the time-consuming process of reinstalling the operating system from scratch, be sure to make ample use of the freeware app System Information for Windows.
The beauty of this app lies in its ability to tell you exactly which programs are installed on your system (which can be copy and pasted to make a printable list), as well as which keys you've used for various apps.
Laptop users, take note: If you’re worried that a Windows reinstallation might somehow leave you hanging without critical drivers that your laptop needs to function (perhaps your laptop is super-old!), then get some peace-of-mind via Semper Driver Backup. This app does just what its name implies: It copies all of your system’s drivers to a single folder for safekeeping, which you can then use to restore your system hardware to a workable state post-Windows reinstallation!
Let’s face it: CDs and DVDs are going the way of the dodo. They’re extremely prone to annoying scratches that can render them unusable, they’re slow to use, they have a good tendency to be misplaced and squashed around the general messiness of your desk – the list goes on. WinToFlash saves the day by transferring the contents of your Windows installation disc to a flash drive, which the program then makes bootable. Provided your motherboard supports flash-based booting, hello speedier Windows installations!
While we’re big fans of Ninite – the tool that allows you to customize and automate an installation package for a ton of must-have software apps on a brand-new PC – there’s always something to be said for new blood.
So that’s why we’re also including Allmyapps as a Web tool that you should definitely keep your eye on. These two programs let you quickly and easily mass-install all sorts of apps onto your system, saving you countless hours (and mouse-clicks) in the process!
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korwulf
December 04, 2011 at 9:31am
I must be doing something wrong with Revo, not only does it not recognize all the programs on my pc, but in Hunter mode it lists every program as the last program installed, and then tells me there is no uninstal package for that program, go find it yoursef. Which I did, it was in the game's folder, exactly where it should have been.
dtitzer
November 07, 2011 at 6:45am
Great list, Dave. I knew of a few, and learned about some new ones.
FWIW, I'm a fan of Cobian Backup, and use it to backup just personal documents and the like. I prefer it (for now) because it's backups are not stored off in a proprietary format; great for restoring files to a new system because Cobian doesn't need to be there first!
Soluto is something I must definitely try out.
As for VirtualBox, I'm still a VMWare fan. The player will allow you to create simple VMs, no hacking required.
Brian Dowding
November 05, 2011 at 2:10pm
AllMyApps should not be in this list.
Ninite is great! All the apps install with default settings what they ought to have been and all the apps are truely free. Good job.
AllMyApps advertises 14 day trial versions of apps as available free apps, and it is a bloated, misrepresenting POS. For example, picking the first one I can think of alphabetically, AV Voice Changer is NOT a free app, but AllMyApps reports that it is and installs a demo that will expire in 14 days if you don't pay for it by then. How did anyone decent on a PC come to like that so much as to recommend it on a national publication?
I thought the slogan was "Maximum PC - No BS". Well there is a mountain of it on that recommendation that someone neglected to screen out.
alabasterdragon
November 05, 2011 at 12:35am
Maybe you should just stick with AOL. I think programs like this maybe well above your skill level. You know, not everyone should use these kinds of programs. I've seen the results of people who can not run disk clean up or defrag (the ones built into windows) with out messing things up. If you are one of those people, just igknowledge your limitations, and hire professionals to cleanup and optimize your PC. Trust me it's a lot cheaper in the long run to just have someone who knows what they are doing. Just because you replaced a motherboard once, or even build one PC from scratch, that does NOT make you a professional. For that matter, neither does going to a technical school or a university.
FYI I've run Revo on at least 100 different computers and removed at least that many programs with it, and have never once had it cause any problems whatsoever. I've had better success rate with Revo that with the windows "add/remove prgrams" such as removing program reminates that windows didn't even know were still there, but were causing error messages at every boot up. Usually that problem is cause by someone who doesn't know what they are doing trying to pretend to be a tech.
Mysts
November 04, 2011 at 7:07pm
You should ad pc-decrapifier to this list as well as Hirens Boot Disc (constantly being updated) This way people would not have to "clutter" up their computer with software only to clean other software out.
Thank you MaximumPc
alabasterdragon
November 05, 2011 at 12:41am
This is where portable versions of these programs are really handy. You can load them up on a flash drive and just use them when you need.
joeking
November 04, 2011 at 6:32pm
Great list indeed. CCleaner and Driver Sweeper are two programs I use often, I recommend them to everyone I talk to.
Wingzero_x
November 04, 2011 at 4:59am
I use Double Driver for my driver backup needs. Now if you can give us a good guide to slip stream those drivers into our Windows install media.
grexxman
November 04, 2011 at 4:11am
Never used Clonezilla before but I'm a superfan of Macrium Reflect Free.
Once you make an image of your drive, you can then choose to mount it and copy whatever you need from it. The nice thing is that you can use Macrium to restore an image onto another hard drive if necessary as well.
I've actually used it to make a virtual machine of what used to be a physical machine. Fun stuff! :)
rsaotome
November 03, 2011 at 8:10pm
Very nice list, some in here I've never heard of.
Will recommend to friends & family!
*bookmarked*
nbrowser
November 03, 2011 at 3:23pm
What about PCDecrapifier, works incredibly well from several uses I've done with it.
TsunamiZ
November 03, 2011 at 2:43pm
why does maximum pc keep recommending revo uninstaller? i've tried it and it's crap. it messes up your pc and programs. same goes for all these types of uninstaller programs. if you really need to clean stuff up that bad, you're better off doing a reformat.
US_Ranger
November 03, 2011 at 6:06pm
You might be alone on Revo screwing your computer up. I've been using it for awhile and it works great for me as well as everyone else I've talked to.
TsunamiZ
November 03, 2011 at 6:21pm
well, it definately screws up programs. example, i uninstall 1 adobe program and it messes up other adobe programs. it's not smart enough to tell them apart and removes the wrong things.
Slurpy
November 06, 2011 at 2:36pm
Adobe in particular is really bad about sharing files in their software suite without earmarking them for all the relevant programs. Outside of integrated suites like Autodesk, Adobe CS, etc., you shouldn't be having problems with Revo.
Wingzero_x
November 04, 2011 at 4:53am
What could be happening is it's uninstalling shared files. When it scans the files to uninstall it shows you a list of not only the files its going to scrub from your programs folder, but any registry bits its going to get trash as well. If you don't read take note of these items then it is your fault.
DogPatch1149
November 03, 2011 at 4:00pm
I have to disagree. Maybe I've just been lucky, but Revo has always worked quite well for me.
I think the one thing to remember when using it (or any uninstaller) is to not just blindly accept what it recommends be removed, especially in the advanced mode. All uninstallers have their issues with either not doing enough or doing way too much - for me, Revo has worked best out of them all.
TsunamiZ
November 07, 2011 at 12:35pm
the point of using these programs is to automate the uninstall cleanup process for you as a convenience. if you have to spend time to manually correct all the errors of its long scan list, then it is a hassle and a risk--not worth it.
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