So I'm not going to re-invent this post. A recent article on How-to-Geek has explained this concept far better than I could.
Here's the article:
http://www.howtogeek.com/162683/pc-cleaning-apps-are-a-scam-heres-why-and-how-to-speed-up-your-pc/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=080513
So there ya go. Those paid apps are next to worthless, if not outright malicious, and do next to nothing for your computer. I've used CCleaner for years in my PCs, my clients' PCs, and have had no issues. And CCleaner's registry cleaner includes a backup option (which is on, by default), so you can undo any registry deletions you may perform, just in case the system becomes unstable.
Showing posts with label Maintenance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maintenance. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Friday, December 7, 2012
10 things your IT guy wants you to know…
Original is posted here. Re-posted with permission from the author.
A great list of some things we all wished our users knew.
1. Don’t argue with me.
If you come to me to ask technical questions, please don’t argue when you don’t like my answer. If you think you know more about what you’re asking than I do, then why even ask? On that same note, if I am arguing with you, it’s because I’m certain that I am correct; otherwise I’d just tell you “I don’t know” or perhaps point you somewhere that you could look it up. We don’t argue just for the sake of arguing.
2. If you say you’re an idiot for doing something, I’ll likely agree.
When you start a conversation by insulting yourself (e.g. “I’m such an idiot”), you will not make me laugh or feel sorry for you; all you will succeed in doing is reminding me that yes, you are, indeed, an idiot, and that I’m going to hate having to talk to you. Trust me, you don’t want to start out this way.
3. Don’t lie about what you did, we’ll find out anyway.
We’re okay with you making mistakes; fixing them is part of our job. We are NOT, however, okay with you lying to us about a mistake that you made. It just makes it that much harder to resolve and thus makes our job more difficult. Be honest and we’ll get the problem fixed and both of us can continue on with our business. Lying to us and, therefore, costing us twice as much of our time will not win you any brownie points with IT.
4. IT might be awesome and powerful, but even we have limitations.
There is no magic “Fix it” button. Everything takes some amount of work to fix, and not everything is worth fixing or — gasp! — even possible to fix. If I tell you that you’re going to have to re-do a document that you accidentally deleted two months ago, please don’t get mad at ME. I’m not ignoring your problem and it’s not that I don’t like you, we just can’t always fix everything.
5. Don’t cry wolf.
Not everything you ask us to do is “urgent”. In fact, by marking things as “urgent” every time, you’ll almost certainly ensure that we treat none of it as a priority.
6. It’s pretty likely you don’t have the most important job.
You are not the only one who needs help, and you usually don’t have the most urgent issue. Give us some time to get to your problem; it will get fixed.
7. Like an elevator button, we won’t come to you faster if you keep pushing ours.
E-mailing us several times about the same issue is not only unnecessary, it’s highly annoying as well. We record issues in a database so that we don’t lose track of them (remember how we ask that you create a ticket? That’s why.) We will typically respond as soon as we have a useful update to make. If your problem is urgent, please do let us know (but see number five).
8. Email me, we’ve got 5 devices that tell us when we get a new email. However, many of us still only have one that tells us when you left a voicemail.
Yes, we prefer e-mail over phone calls. It has nothing to do with being friendly or anti-social, it’s about efficiency. It is much faster and easier for us to list out a set of questions that we need answers to than it is for us to call and ask you them one by one. You can find the answers at your leisure and, while we’re waiting, we can work on other problems.
9. Don’t cry.
We may, at times, seem blunt and rude. It’s not that we mean to, we just don’t have the time to sugar coat things for you. We assume that we are both adults and can handle the reality of a problem. If you did something wrong, don’t be surprised when we tell you. We don’t care that it was a mistake because, honestly, it makes no difference to us. Please don’t take it personal, we just don’t want it to happen again.
10. We can do most, if not more than the things you think we can do, but we don’t because we don’t really care.
Finally, yes, I can read your e-mail, yes, I can see what web pages you look at while you’re at work, yes, I can access every file on your work computer, and yes, I can tell if you are chatting with people on instant messenger (and can read what you’re typing, as well). But no, we don’t do it. It’s highly unethical and, perhaps more importantly, you really aren’t that interesting. Unless I am instructed to specifically monitor or investigate your actions, I don’t do it. There really are much more interesting things on the Internet than you.
JR’s Commentary:
This was a good read, and is still relevant to today’s IT world. Yes, the above post is pompous and arrogant. But it’s also the product of YEARS of mistreatment by end users. Too many times we’re treated as servants or “lesser positions”. We are co-workers in most cases, and deserve to be treated thusly.
Now, if you’re a customer who’s paying money to have somebody fix your personal computer – then, by all means, stand your ground. But don’t be rude about it, and be sure they CAN fix it, and that it’s not your fault. It’s not just a joke that most computer issues are brought on by what we as users do to them, not because “it just stopped working right”.
I want to bring special light to #3. It is a VERY well known (and, unfortunately, deserved) case that “users always lie”. No, none of us are so naïve to believe that every single user will lie every single time. The problem is that users will frequently leave out important information (“The PC won’t work because I left my power cable at home three weeks ago”), or that they will lie outright to try to avoid looking stupid (“No, of course I didn’t do anything to it whatsoever. You guys in IT are the last ones that touched it six months ago”). The first issue is annoying, because it takes a LOT longer to find out what the real issue is. The second makes us mad, and makes everything else you tell us suspect – do you really expect us to believe that you didn’t work on your computer AT ALL for the last six weeks/months? No, you did something to your PC. Don’t try to tell us you did nothing.
If you tell the truth on how you screwed up, we actually won’t be mad at all! In fact, we’d feel refreshed at the change of pace, fix the issue, and move on to the next ticket; end of story. If you try to hold on to the lie, you wind up becoming somebody we despise, and you’re suddenly a story we tell on sites like Faildesk.net, Reddit, Clients From Hell, etc. Don’t be that guy/gal.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
11 Reasons Your IT Guy Might Just Despise You
Originally posted here. Re-posted with permission from author.
Don’t get me wrong. I like to help folks out – but its the users that don’t really think before they call us that get me. Somewhat on the heels of “10 things your IT guy wants you to know,” I present to you some pet peeves I’ve experienced personally.
11. You get pissed off and hang up on IT because they asked you to “open a ticket” because they were already busy with something and didn’t want to forget what it was you called about.
10. You keep asking IT “when is the server going to be up,” but instead only delaying the server repair by doing this every 5 minutes because you have a report to get out. You’re acting like a pop-up ad. Stop it.
9. You ask IT to train everyone on how to use the calendaring system, but you don’t show up to training because you don’t know how to use the calendaring system; making you by far the worst offender.
8. You can’t find your battery for your laptop and blame IT because they “never gave you one.”
7. You keep submitting tickets to IT asking for “more coffee” or alerting them that “a customer threw up in the lobby.”
6. You submit tickets with information like “Computer not working” or “Internet is broken” with no additional details. Thanks.
5. You complain about how your “monitor doesn’t look right” and how “IT always messes up your computer” after they came in and completely restored your system because you infected your computer with a virus…this occurring AFTER being explicitly told “NOT to open that attachment” in yesterday’s email.
4. You keep figuring out ways of removing administrative privileges from your computer because you “don’t trust anyone.”
3. You complain your “laptop NEVER works right” as you drop it on IT’s desk from a height of 2 feet, when in fact the wireless switch was turned off. By you.
2. You call IT to “do you a favor” and figure out how to work your way around the web filter so you can shop for Victoria’s Secret merchandise during work hours.
1. You call IT for an emergency on Christmas because you can’t get your son’s iPod connected to your wireless network.
My commentary:
The above was written by somebody on Faildesk.net by an IT technician. While it is written quite angrily, and not very friendly to end users. However, end users need to take away a few things from this: you should work WITH your IT support, instead of trying to get them to work FOR you. We’re not servants, we’re co-workers. And just like most of you, we’re experts; just not experts in the same fields you are. With that in mind: I’m going to make a slightly-less-angry commentary on each of the above points.
#11 – We ask you to open a ticket for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, so we don’t forget what we’re working on. The idea that “we work on one thing until it’s done” is simply not possible in our field. Computer move fast, and break just as fast. The only way to tackle one problem at a time is to have one technician FOR EACH MACHINE – period. That means if there are 2,500 computers in your company, you would need an IT staff of 2,500 technicians. That’s just not going to happen. Also, by having a ticketing system, we have an area we can document steps taken so far (to avoid duplicating steps we’d already tried). It also allows us to use your issue, and its resolutions, to solve future issues of the same type.
#10 – Trust me, we KNOW you need your problem solved. You don’t need to keep asking when it will be resolved. If you are asking the helpdesk or technician several times when it will be back up, they have to stop working and answer your call/visit/email, and respond. Sure, that might be two minutes, but if it’s a major system outage, you can be sure you’re not the only one asking. Take a few hundred of these calls, and that can effectively paralyze the resolution. The other alternative? Ignore the requests for updates, and that means there’s a few hundred users out there who complain that “IT is ignoring them”. Don’t be a part of the problem; Report the issue and let us do our job so you can eventually do yours.
#9 – This one’s a little far fetched, but does happen. It’s one of the main reasons I posted Monday’s post about researching your own answers. If we just give people the answers, they rarely learn the answer; they instead learn to rely on asking IT for how to use the computer.
#8 – For some strange reason, IT is blamed for all problems with electronics. I don’t get it. But trust me, we are very unappreciative when users blame us for losing items that were checked out to somebody else. All too often, a laptop will be checked out to a user, who claims they never received a batter/charger/case/mouse when we gave it to them. If that were true, the appropriate time to bring it up is RIGHT AWAY. Before you even walk away from picking it up. Not months later.
#7 – This is a particular annoyance to IT. We are not “The Help Desk”. We are “The IT Helpdesk”. Too many people think we “help” on all issues – period. We’re IT. We’re not electricians, remodelers, suppliers, accountants, HR reps, janitors, or anything else. We are IT professionals – we help with Information Technology concerns – PCs and related equipment. If you’re annoyed that you have to dial yet another phone number to get your issue resolved, you need to remember that it was your fault – YOU called the wrong number, not us. Generally, we’ll try to be helpful and let you know where you need to call, but don’t expect us to do it for you.
#6 – This was addressed with a huge amount of detail on last Monday’s post. In short, when you submit a ticket (either through a web portal, or through email), you need to keep subject concise, relevant, and helpful. They should provide a modicum of information actually relevant to your question, but not so detailed that you can’t get it all in the subject line (details are put in the message body). Also, please be sure that it gives us an idea of what the actual problem is. Subjects of “PC not working” (why isn’t it working? How isn’t it working?) will often get ignored, deleted, or deferred. A subject line of “PC will not power on – power is plugged in” is succinct, helpful, and starts with the fact that you did at least the most rudimentary troubleshooting (if you did more, put it in the message body). See last Monday’s post for way more helpful detail and suggestions.
#5 – This is actually a couple of points. Keep in mind that the idea of “IT always messes up your computer” is more likely the case that we didn’t restore it to exactly the same situation in which we received it. Keep in mind that if we did that, that means we restored it in exactly the same problem-ridden situation in which you gave it to us. We have to return it to a fairly generic state, without all your customizations and pretty desktop and desktop icons arranged in the specific way. We’ll keep what we can, but that’s not always possible.
#5a – The other issue here is when users do what we quite specifically told them NOT to do. I’ve had MANY times where I told a user to stop trying to log in (because her account was continuously being locked out), while I was doing something on the server. If we ask you to not do something, we really do mean it. If you do that action, then you either don’t respect our expertise enough to listen (why are you calling us, then?), or weren’t listening to what we were saying (why are you calling us, then?). If you don’t think what we said is right (we can get it wrong, too!), then either research the issue yourself (see last Monday’s post), or seek out another IT pro to help (like seeking a 2nd opinion from a doctor’s office).
#4 – If you are the type that can’t trust your internal IT support, then don’t try to lock them out. Simply don’t put your private information on your PC. If that means you are so distrustful that you can’t work on your computer at all – then quit your job. Really. That’s company computer hardware, not yours. This is one of the reasons IT departments don’t like giving local admin rights to users.
#3 – This is a case where people blame IT for everything (see #5, above), but people won’t take responsibility for their own actions. They throw their computers around (HUGE NO-NO!!), don’t check for solutions to resolve their own issues, and jump immediately to blaming IT. You must be ready to take responsibility for your own work, your own actions, and the equipment assigned to you.
#2 – Asking for IT to work around policies and safeguards is problematic, at best. You know how that notice says your have no right to privacy? Well, we in IT have even LESS privacy than you. So when we pull back that part of the firewall to let you visit a non-work related site, our bosses know who’s done it. And we risk our jobs to let you risk yours. So don’t ask us to do it. If you’re not sure if it’s against policy, then ask! We’re happy to let you know we can’t fulfill it (though, we won’t like telling you, for the same reason you won’t like to hear the answer). If you feel that the policy should be changed, yelling at IT isn’t the answer. Put a request in through management; it usually takes a very senior-level manager (Think, “C-level”) to change IT policies.
#1 – This is the fastest way to get on an IT pro’s bad side. Think to yourself, would you work for free? Would you come into work on your day off, for no pay, with no warning, and be happy about it? If you would do so, then you are a SUPER RARE PERSON that has an unrealistic view on life. Most doctors don’t like to be called on their home phone by patients asking about this sudden cough they have. Few mechanics will work on your car for free in their own garage. Accountants aren’t likely to work on your taxes at your house at 11:45pm on April 15th, for free.
#1, cont. – For some reason, IT is looked at like we should help everybody with their PC issues. Our society doesn’t look at other professions like this – why do we treat IT like it? We have bills to pay; we have rent to make; we have groceries to buy. We’re not able to pay that in favors. If we do all IT work for free, we have to find another income source, which takes time away from us to work on your issue anyway, and makes it less likely for us to keep up with the latest software/technology.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Monday – Backups and You
Okay, so today’s topic is backups, and how they apply to you.
What is a backup?
First off, let’s discuss what a backup is NOT. A backup is NOT another copy of the file on the same disk. This throws a lot of people off. Sure, a tech might make a 2nd copy of a file they are working with to ensure they have a quick restoration option, but it’s not a true backup, regardless of what it seems.
A backup is a copy of a folder, file, database, or system that exists entirely on a separate physical device. That last part is KEY. In order for a backup to be a backup, it cannot be on the same piece of hardware. I can’t re-iterate this enough. It must exist on another drive, such as another hard drive (internal or external), a flash drive, a CD/DVD, a server file share, or even in a cloud backup like Google Drive or Microsoft’s Skydrive.
“Why, JR? If it’s a second copy, why isn’t it a backup if it’s on the same drive?” – Good question, Reader. And the answer lies in disaster recovery.
Disaster Recovery
Disaster Recovery is, as the name implies, recovery from a disaster. But in the scope of our conversation today, we’re referring to disasters to computer components and peripherals. Disaster Recovery can be quite expensive and time consuming, or quick, easy and cheap. Which method you need or take advantage of is up to you.
Disasters come in all forms in relation to computer equipment: fire, dropping, electrical shock (including static discharge), water, and yes…user stupidity. Don’t deny it – every single person who’s used a computer has been guilty of it at some point. The trick is admitting it to themselves, and learning from the experience, instead of lying about it just to save face.
Backup Option #1: A Separate Hard Drive
There are two types of hard drives, internal and external. An internal hard drive is analogous to the C: drive we’re all starting to be familiar with. But it is a physically separate hard drive – just installed inside your computer’s tower. This is frequently (but not always) given the designation of F: drive, though the letters mean pretty much nothing at this stage.
An external hard drive is basically the same thing, but outside your tower. Probably connected by a USB cable, network cable, eSATA cable, or Firewire (more on the specifics of these connection technologies later). It’s a separate physical device, and is thus a prime candidate for use as a backup media.
Some external hard drives come with software to perform backups, but Windows 7 has its own backup option in the Control Panel:
You can backup either specific folders (such as your My Documents and My Music folders, for example), or you can backup your entire system. Just remember that you can only restore what you backup. So if you only backup a couple of folders, you can only restore those same couple of folders.
Backup Option #2: Backup to a server
This is usually only an option in companies that employ file servers (which most mid- and large-size companies do), or in the cases of home users that set up a home server. Most home users do not, as it’s usually more economical to use an external hard drive.
In these cases, a section of the server is set aside for each user, or group of users, for them to save files to. These server-hosted files are backed up (if the sysadmin has any sense) periodically, with frequency determined by use and criticality of the files on the server. Setting up the backup frequency, location and duration (and the recovery thereof) is determined and managed by the sysadmin(s). So in setting this up, if you’re using company equipment and servers, is usually already done for you. If using a home-based file server, talk to whoever controls the server.
Backup Option #3: Cloud-Based Backup
In the past couple of years, a number of cloud-based file backup options have emerged:
Why you should care about all this
Your IT can only do so much, so you need to keep in mind what your role is in all this. If you do not take the necessary steps to protect your own data, then it can (and eventually will) be lost forever. It is YOUR responsibility to protect your data, not your IT support. But they can give you the tools to protect yourself.
If you keep all your files on your own PC (frequently referred to as the “C: Drive”), then you need to create a 2nd copy on another drive. Remember above where I said that a backup must be at least two separate copies on two separate devices? Well, your C: Drive is one device. You need to put the 2nd copy on another drive.
Your IT support may give you a “home” drive or a network drive assigned to you. These are on a server, and are not on your PC. That meets the 2nd device rule if you save a copy on there. And most companies will back that server drive on yet another media, making a THIRD (or even more) copy.
There are other network folders, often referred to as “shared folders”, which are in essence identical to the home drive described above, except that they are accessible by more people.
So YOUR job in this role is to make sure you save a copy of any important/critical files in this fashion. IT cannot make you (well, they can, but that causes other problems in most companies). If you are a laptop user at work (or even home), this is ESPECIALLY important, and even has less possibility to have IT automate any backup of files.
JR, you harped on our role in backups. Why?
Because I still take calls and tickets from users who did no backups, and then accidentally delete one or make changes and saved them without thinking. And invariably, they ask if I can restore a backup of a file. I would ask where the file was originally saved, and they might say “the ‘My Documents’” folder (a folder on the aforementioned C: Drive). I ask if they made a backup, because we don’t/can’t backup files on everybody’s C: Drive.
They would say no, they expected us to do the backup. Wrong. We provide the tools, but if the USER doesn’t use them, then the end result is nothing gets done.
You see, IT is a toolbag. A bag of tools. We don’t do your job. We make your job possible, easier, more efficient, more accurate. We do not do it for you. If we did your job for you, we wouldn’t need you, now would we?
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Thursday’s Advanced Stuff–Device Doctor
Okay, so this isn’t really “advanced” as I’d like. But this is focused a tad more on the advanced users – support technicians and those who do regular maintenance on their computers.
You see, when updating drivers, we can all go down to the hardware manufacturer’s website, or use Windows Update to do the process for us. And that’s fine. But we want a way to check ALL of our hardware, don’t we? Of course we do. Stop arguing with me.
So enter Device Doctor. It’s one of many solutions to this particular quandary, and one of many I’ll be sure to cover as time goes by.
One thing to note: When downloading Disk Doctor, it asks for your name and email address. On a hunch, I unchecked the box asking if I want to receive their newsletter, and it let me proceed to the next step without entering in my personal information. This is good for some privacy buffs (which should be the vast majority of us).
To note, I signed up my browser with the Web of Trust (WOT), and the site shows full green as of 9/3/2012.
Installation
So after double-clicking on the install file (downloaded as an .exe file), and going through all the UAC prompts, I’m greeted with a familiar, but odious, acquaintance: the screen asking if I want to install a toolbar. I hate these. As you can see, I’ve already click on “Skip this component”, which was NOT checked by default.
The rest of the installation appeared pretty standard. Do you want a desktop icon? Which folder do you want to install in? Click Finish. You know…the usual.
Scanning
Whoa. Device Doctor started a scan as soon as I clicked Finish. Not bad, especially since it took longer to type this sentence than the scan took to complete:
I guess I got some updating to do, huh? But we need to do two things before we update ANYTHING: First, we create a system restore point. Be back in a minute, after I do that…Done.
Second, we need to verify that the drivers we’d receive are correct for my system (I’m running Windows 7 Home Premium x64). Unfortunately, you’ll have to check each one of these separately.
Updating Driver(s)
Okay, I’ve decided to upgrade my Wireless-N adapter. That’s strange – it only allows me to pick one of the 38 needed updates. A little research tells me that this appears to be a limitation of the free version. How annoying.
So I click “Download Driver”, and I’m not given the new driver – I’m brought back to Device Doctor’s website, albeit directly to the driver I need:
Yup. They spent more space on an attempt to get you to buy their Device Doctor Pro and/or donate via Paypal than the driver you need. And it’s still a separated download. But after that, it’s simple to install, right?
Well, yes…and no. It brings you to another page that will eventually start your download, but again asks you to buy the Pro version. BUT, they do present some good advice for device drivers.
It’s getting a little thick, here.
Wait…There’s More?
Out of curiosity, I clicked the “download Device Doctor Pro” link in the above screen. Whaddya know? It let me download it without any further screens, prompts, or payment information! This can’t be right, can it?
It appears it is!
Notice how I can now use checkboxes instead of radio buttons! Let’s see about updating some drivers. I decided to Uncheck all and only update my keyboard, mouse, and sound card.
Ah, crap! I knew it had to be too good to be true.
Clicking “No” closes this message and brings you back to the program. Clicking “Yes” brings you to a window to enter your license key. I don’t have a key, so I click to get one (to see how much it costs):
Maybe you guys can see it. I can’t. How much does this thing cost? I’m being asked to enter my name, email and personal postal code…but still don’t know if it’s within my price range!
So that means a trip to mywot.com (Web of Trust) – what do I find? Quite a few people who have similar issues with this problem. Also, problems with accessing their download directly – one must go through the hoops and ads to download even their free product.
Conclusion
Okay, I have NO PROBLEM with vendors trying to advertise their free product. But this one was over the top. Just to get to a download point of the Pro version, I was hit with no less than four ads, all on the same site, to download the Pro version. And when I get there, they still haven’t said what cost it is.
Thanks, but I’ll pass. And since the Free version is a one-at-a-time download, its only benefit is the scanner, which isn’t worth keeping on my hard drive, to me.
On the WOT site, 10 users had left comments. All but two rated it in the grey or red categories, making this an UNCOOL site.
Final Recommendation: Find another solution.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Wednesday’s Windows Tips–CCleaner
We’ll start the Wednesday cycle with one of my favorite tools ever: CCleaner.
You see, I’m a maintenance junkie. I try to keep my system as clean as possible, to avoid unwanted slowdowns and junk files. So last year I was on a hunt that would do the job effectively, mostly quiet, and hopefully free. I found CCleaner based off a recommendation of a colleague of mine, and haven’t looked back.
In short, it will clear your computer of junk files that may be slowing it down, erase most tracks of your activity on the computer, and even rid your registry of unused entries (more on registry repair tools in another post).
When you head over to Piriform’s site, you will soon find there are several versions of CCleaner available: Free, Pro, Business, Network and Network Professional. Dig deep enough, and you’ll also find Technician version. Since this blog is focused on end users, not enterprise administrators or techs who visit users’ homes, let’s talk about the first two.
The free version will suffice for almost every person out there. It’s the one I use on my PCs, and I’ve helped a few clients to install it, as well. However, it comes with no support from Piriform (i.e., you’re on your own), does not update automatically (you have to download and manually install the updates yourself, though it does tell you if a new version is available).
The Pro version will do automatic updates and comes with a support account, so you can get help from Piriform, if needed. While it’s not free, it only costs a one-time fee of about $25, which is not bad at all.
And yes! They have a Mac version as well!
After you’ve downloaded, installed and ran it, you’ll notice a clean but somewhat complex interface:
1. Cleaner – this clears off unwanted file from your Windows systems and applications. You can uncheck any item(s) you like, thus leaving that part of your system alone. For example, I unchecked recent documents, because that’s how I get to projects I’m working on. If I left that checked, I’d have to open the documents by navigating to the folder in which they’re stored.
1a. You’ll notice that in the Cleaner section, there are two tabs: Windows and Applications. Be sure to check both out.
2. Registry – here’s where you want to be careful. Not because of anything the program might do, but because you should ALWAYS back up your registry when many any changes to it. Good News: CCleaner gives you a way to do just that with part of this process.
By default, everything is checked, and this is the way I keep it. Now, there will ALWAYS be something that CCleaner finds to clean off. No Windows system will ever remain free of registry “errors”. The trick is to not let them build up for too long.
A few items are nothing to worry about. For example, I just now did this scan, and found nine items. My last scan and clean was yesterday:
I click on “Fix Selected Issues”, and I’m presented with the aforementioned option to backup my registry:
Again I’ll re-iterate: The answer should ALWAYS BE “YES”! It will ask you to save a file somewhere (I put it in “My Documents”), and then it will begin the cleaning.
If something goes wrong and your system suddenly stops working after the registry cleaning, simply double-click the file you saved, answer yes to any prompts, and your registry will be fully restored!
For the record: I’ve never had to restore my registry as a result of CCleaner’s actions.
For those, like me, who do work on other computers, there’s a portable version on Piriform’s Build Page. You can run the program from a USB stick, and it has full functionality of the regular program, and doesn’t need to be fully “installed” on the host computer.
But try it out and poke around. I’ve barely scratched the surface of what it can do, and that’s just with the FREE version!!
Questions? Comments? Feedback? Leave a comment in the section below, or email me at jackrockblc+blog@gmail.com.
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