In need of a clean up utility

[LA_MERC_YellowDog]

Well like the thread says, whats a good catch all clean up utility.
I have a computer that's used by an 83 year old grandmother who plays web games ect, ect. As much as i would love to format it and start over, she doesn't understand why she has to loose everything and start over with all the freaking links that's on her desktop. Anyway, I've run spybot, defraged, updated, ran virus scan, and so on. I'm looking for ideas to clean this thing up and get it running faster without a clean sweep of the O/S. Its running dog slow right now, freezes up with dam near every applications.

[LA_MERC_Tugboats]

Malwarebytes is always a good choice, it seems to catch most spyware/grayware. MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) is my preference, it is the Bill Gates Version of MBAM :) Here is a link to both:

http://www.malwarebytes.org/
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/security-essentials-download

Also, click start, run, type msconfig, click the startup tab, and uncheck evrything, that will make a huge difference. All the apps you uncheck will still work, but they will not start until she tells them too, opposed to running all the time at startup (requires reboot). I would guess the freezing is most likely due to lack of available RAM, unchecking all those apps so they aren't running all the time should make it better. Let me know how much and what kind of RAM she uses, I have lots of older RAM lying around, I can send you a stick or two to sruce it up a bit :)

Hope this helps :)

[LA_MERC_DocSparky]

Shouldn't a repair of the OS be another option (if the spyware/grayware software doesn't do it) before a full reinstall? I will leave most of the apps alone, but reset a lot of the system stuff. Just a thought.

[LA_MERC_YellowDog]

Well, a repair of the OS would be an option, however I don't have a copy of Vista home premium 64bit to work with.
I know Vista is half the problem IMO, but that's what I'm stuck working with.

Tugs, it has 4 GB of DDR2 667/800 MHz ram ( maxes out @ 4 gigs)

Amd Phenom 8400 tripple core 2.10

heres a link to the box specs. http://support.acer.com/acerpanam/desktop/2010/acer/Aspire/AspireX3200/AspireX3200sp5.shtml

[LA_MERC_Tugboats]

[QUOTE=LA_MERC_YellowDog;238277]Tugs, it has 4 GB of DDR2 667/800 MHz ram ( maxes out @ 4 gigs)

4 gig should be more than enough to do most anything as far as internet games. I highly recommend running the msconfig cmd and unchecking everything under startup. Also, you should go to your mobo site and see if there is an updated bios. You can also kill any un-needed running services. One big thing to check is to make sure your AV software is not scanning every file as it is being opened.

[LA_MERC_FragFood]

1 - Uninstall the crap via Add/Remove Programs. those that are obvious, at least.
2 - Check System Tray apps for configurable settings that'll tell things to NOT start every time the OS starts up
3 - Check the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Currentversion\Run key for stuff that doesn't necessarily show up in the first two methods (Java JRE, etc.)

^^ Basic stuff ^^

re: AV scanning everything - I have mine scan every single file that touched at ALL, ever, and no probs. I exclude ONLY my Games directory, but manually scan that on a regular basis.

Deeper dive:
MBAM - Update completely, full scan - Run in Safe Mode
HijackThis - Run and take a close look, it should be pretty obvious what needs to go / be killed... Careful - it can hose things if used improperly. Read instructions, caveat emptor, etc.
Browser plugins - IE - Tools/Internet Options/Programs/Manage Add-ons. If she insists on using IE, get her to the latest version


Even Deeper:
1 - Back up her stuff, reload OS, put her stuff back, give her a USER account and turn on UAC in Vista. Tell her to READ THE WARNINGS when they pop up. My mom and mother in law have separate user and admin accounts, they're fine that way, and know to ask me if anything fishy pops up. Both running MSE, but they go to dens of treachery like church websites.
2 - Get her a better AV and set it up to auto update and auto scan periodically. Use this (http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/docs/avc_prot_2012b_en.pdf) as a starting point. Avira or Avast look like decent places to start.

Good luck