What do you recommend as a routine for keeping a desktop in proper order?
I have a folder devoted to shortcuts for cleaning my system. I find that working through the list is a good way of not forgetting something important. It's also handy to have the shortcuts in one place. I keep a separate list for each system. This is my Windows 7 list. . .
Reliability Monitor to see if any trouble had gone unnoticed
Windows Update
CleanAfter, a program to remove all traces of user activity
Windows Defender to scan system
CCleaner
Disk Cleaner (Run as Administrator)
Disk Cleaner to run from my User account
Device Manager to look for Device or Driver problems
Bins, a program to empty Recycle Bin for all drives and all Users
Temp, a program to delete temporary files
Event, a program to clear all Windows Event logs
BagsCR, a Registry file to remove the Bags key and sub-keys under CLASSES_ROOT
BagsCU, a Registry file to remove the Bags key and sub-keys under CURRENT_USER
Clear-IE, to clear data saved by Internet Explorer
ClrFlash, to clear data saved by Flash
ClrReliability, to clear the data saved for Reliability Monitor
ClrUpdate to remove redundant update data
FileScan, to run Windows System File Checker
FlushDNS, flushes the saved Domain Name Server data
Games to backup my Windows games scores
JumpList to clear the contents of the Jump List
KillRDT to remove Remote Desktop Data
PreFetch to remove PreFetch Data
GhostBuster to remove Device Ghosts
NoteTray to remove redundant Tray Notifications
PrivaZer, a program to remove all traces of user activity
Reveal, a program to display all hidden files on all drives
ZeroLogs, a program to remove data from log files (instead of deleting the file)
I don't defrag my disks.
The most important thing I do is keep an image of my system.
Besides the list I have for cleaning, I keep a few extra (Non Cleaning) shortcuts in the same folder for my own convenience.
Control Panel
Disk Manager
Elevated Command Prompt
Fix Icons
Re-Start
Shutdown
A link to Microsoft Security Scanner
SystemProperties
A few of the programs I've mentioned were written by me. For the most part, these simply exploit Windows' built-in features by manipulating the shortcuts' Target string, or in more challenging cases, they point to a Command Prompt batch file. Those programs that are available to the public can be found on my Download list.
siliconinvestor.com
Note: This message deals with my System Cleaning work. It does NOT touch on my Imaging or Backup routines. As well, I doubt many people will work this hard to obtain a clean system. Even I don't. I do this work to prepare the "Perfect System" before creating a Disk Image, then I use this image to fix any messes. That way, all this cleaning work fixes my system multiple times, not just once.
Cheers, PW. |
