software cleanup

Every year I perform a ritual of hardware and software maintenance that restores older Windows laptops to the kind of snappy, reliable performance you expect from a new machine — not with magical upgrades, but with disciplined cleaning, targeted software housekeeping, and a few careful repairs...

Microsoft’s willingness to listen to user feedback has been uneven in the past, but with the arrival of Windows 11 25H2, the company is taking a small yet significant step towards giving users more control over their operating system. For years, Windows users—especially those outside the “power...

Windows 11, Microsoft’s latest operating system, rolled out with promises of greater performance, a sleeker interface, and enhanced security. Yet, for countless users, the experience of starting up a brand-new Windows device is often marred by an age-old frustration: bloatware. This...

Below is an in-depth, no-nonsense guide to clearing out old FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) software clutter from your Windows 11 system. This article explains why a tidy development environment is vital, the potential pitfalls of underneath chaos, and walks you through a detailed, step-by-step...

This morning out of the blue I have many errors on my trusty Win 7 Pro 64bit machine. I have fixed all errors but I still get an audit failure in the event viewer under Windows Logs, Security. This particular partition is the C: vol 3 which is identified as FAT32 EFI System Partition. Is...

I've been cleaning up files and finding duplicates etc on the PC today. And I was wondering why I still have IE 11, Windows Fax and Scan, and XPS Services/Viewer. I use Firefox (primary) and Chrome. I open up Edge now and then to check out any updates (and eagerly waiting for third party...

I have two PCs: (1) An old Compaq tower running a dual-core AMD processor at ~2.2GHz. 1GB RAM (I had to remove a 1GB stick that went bad) Running Windows Vista (2) A Gateway laptop with an Intel i3 at 2.4GHz 4GB RAM Running Windows 7 They both have crappy graphics cards and have a ton of...

I have Audacity & Magix whilst they are both pretty good they don't offer all the functionality I require. The main use will be cleaning/mastering & removal of audience noise from live recordings Can people recommend some others worth looking at? Thanks.

My Windows 7 Pro 64-bit, on occasion will slow to a crawl. Apps take minutes to come up and then can't be stopped as they aren't responding. In this state the machine won't close down properly either. This happens intermittently - it can run for days without a problem. According to Malwarebytes...

I have a computer with Windows XP Professional SP3 installed. It is not connected to the internet, and it is strictly used for my hobby recording studio. I have about 20 years of recording projects on this computer. ANYWAYS... I ran ATF-Cleaner (with ALL Boxes Checked) the other day and it...

I have two seemingly leftovers from previous programs that stop new installation of say Tuneup which crashed I removed it with Revo using advanced, and Microsoft essentials which crashed also on an update I used microsoft help and the calcs method for permission etc. I have used just about all...

This morning, while attempting to move some files around my Windows 7 64bit laptop began telling me that I didn't have permission to do so, as I needed permission from the "TrustedInstaller". I googled this issue and resolved it by configuring permissions. Feeling a little suspicious I decided...