Laptop Deep-Cleaning

[silenthunder]

My laptop is quickly running out of storage space and starting to slow down and I want to deep clean it. What I plan to do is back up all of my most important files on an external HD, write down a list of important programs I will need to re-install, wipe the computer and re-install Win7. Does Evilzone have any tips/suggestions for me before I begin? Or even a better idea of how to go about this?

[Polyphony]

there is a little voice inside of me saying, "Install Fedora!!!", but i don't think that's the answer wanting

sounds like a good plan so far, you can take it totally apart and put it back together and it should be alot cleaner after that lol reinstall of Windows would help too.

[Daemon]

My laptop is quickly running out of storage space and starting to slow down and I want to deep clean it. What I plan to do is back up all of my most important files on an external HD, write down a list of important programs I will need to re-install, wipe the computer and re-install Win7. Does Evilzone have any tips/suggestions for me before I begin? Or even a better idea of how to go about this?

I mean that's the best way to get as much as possible out of it. But if your looking for easy...
Then id take all my music/video and store it on the externaal, not a backup but store the only copy there, so it'd clear up my hdd and id have a portable "media center" if you will. Just plug it in to anything that can read it (xbox 360 for big screen movies?) And hit play

[silenthunder]

there is a little voice inside of me saying, "Install Fedora!!!", but i don't think that's the answer wanting

sounds like a good plan so far, you can take it totally apart and put it back together and it should be alot cleaner after that lol reinstall of Windows would help too.

i love fedora and wish i had a computer with fedora, but this is my main computer and im wanting to keep it basically as it should be..i'll build another for fedora sometime

I mean that's the best way to get as much as possible out of it. But if your looking for easy...
Then id take all my music/video and store it on the externaal, not a backup but store the only copy there, so it'd clear up my hdd and id have a portable "media center" if you will. Just plug it in to anything that can read it (xbox 360 for big screen movies?) And hit play

thats a really good idea. i would like easy but im going to go all-out regardless.. but after i re-install OS and all my programs, i think i'll take your advice on keeping audio and video on the external HD (especially considering i have 56,000 songs....)

[PublicEnemy]

Throw it in the washing mashine, or in the dishwasher.

[TRAiN3R]

I reload my computer all of the time, as its always best practice. Since I reload my computer about every 6 months or so I set up my computer the way I like it and then I create an image of it so for the next year or so I just have to run the program to reset everything. Then I run updates on everything I have installed. I have one of those WD Live Drives so most of my media is chilling there with direct access on all of my consoles and computers, even my cell phone.

As far as componets get a can of compressed air and take apart your laptop and blow it. In the end you have a fresh computer free of bloatware.

BEST TIP
Grab all of the driver files before hand, go to your laptop manufacturers website and then go to the support section for driver downloads. Put that on a USB/Disk. Why do this? Imagine having your computer nice and fresh, but all the sudden you're not able to connect to any wireless network because it doesn't have the proper wireless drivers which may make it difficult to download any other drivers or applications you may want.

Also many people overlook flash player and java rde which you're going to want on your computer, you can download these before and have it installed on your computer as well.

Lastly be sure to format your hard drive. I always recommend a full format, but a quick format will work. It depends what kind of data you have on your hard drive, but every time I reload I make sure to do at least a 7 pass format to ensure a hard time anyone recovering that data. @Active Boot Disk can help you there

Hope that helps and guides you in the right direction

-TRAiN3R

[wabi]

Throw it in the washing mashine, or in the dishwasher.

Check the care label first. It might be dry clean only.

[HeRo]

Throw it in the washing mashine, or in the dishwasher.

That seems to be for favorite cleaning method mate. HAHAHA!

[EmilKXZ]

If you have enough RAM and processor. After reinstalling the OS, get VMware or similar and use virtual machines. So the host computer doesn't get dirty, (keep it updated and use it the least possible), when the VM gets dirty, you just grab a pre-made image you made or roll back to snapshot and you won't be losing 2 days everytime you want to clean stuff.

Of course you'll have to format the host OS eventually. But it will last longer than anything else.

[silenthunder]

I reload my computer all of the time, as its always best practice. Since I reload my computer about every 6 months or so I set up my computer the way I like it and then I create an image of it so for the next year or so I just have to run the program to reset everything. Then I run updates on everything I have installed. I have one of those WD Live Drives so most of my media is chilling there with direct access on all of my consoles and computers, even my cell phone.

As far as componets get a can of compressed air and take apart your laptop and blow it. In the end you have a fresh computer free of bloatware.

BEST TIP
Grab all of the driver files before hand, go to your laptop manufacturers website and then go to the support section for driver downloads. Put that on a USB/Disk. Why do this? Imagine having your computer nice and fresh, but all the sudden you're not able to connect to any wireless network because it doesn't have the proper wireless drivers which may make it difficult to download any other drivers or applications you may want.

Also many people overlook flash player and java rde which you're going to want on your computer, you can download these before and have it installed on your computer as well.

Lastly be sure to format your hard drive. I always recommend a full format, but a quick format will work. It depends what kind of data you have on your hard drive, but every time I reload I make sure to do at least a 7 pass format to ensure a hard time anyone recovering that data. @Active Boot Disk can help you there

Hope that helps and guides you in the right direction

-TRAiN3R

i have most of that already planned out, but THANK YOU for reminding me about the drivers, it was hell getting those when I redid my friend's laptop, and that's the first thing I would have forgot to do.. Yeah I'll probably go for the full format that takes forever to do, I want an absolutely brand new computer when I'm  done.

If you have enough RAM and processor. After reinstalling the OS, get VMware or similar and use virtual machines. So the host computer doesn't get dirty, (keep it updated and use it the least possible), when the VM gets dirty, you just grab a pre-made image you made or roll back to snapshot and you won't be losing 2 days everytime you want to clean stuff.

Of course you'll have to format the host OS eventually. But it will last longer than anything else.

I've never heard of doing that honestly, it sounds like a good idea but I'm not going to do that just yet. I did a bit of googling on it and I'm going to try it on my test computer first.

[namespace7]

Just wanted to suggest one thing. If you want to keep reinstalling the windows (or any other os for that matter) it will take you too much time every time. You will need to install all the software and drivers you use and set it all up like you want it. The problem is, if you do this often (to keep it clean, virus free, fast, etc etc only applicable to windows I guess) then it might be easier to set a fresh install up, install everything you use, all the drivers etc, then use some hdd cloning utility to clone the entire hdd into an external hd. So next tiime you want to reinstall windows, you can just restore the cloned image and in about 20 mins all your os with settings and software will be ready, instead of wasting hours to install everything and set it up.

[TRAiN3R]

Just wanted to suggest one thing. If you want to keep reinstalling the windows (or any other os for that matter) it will take you too much time every time. You will need to install all the software and drivers you use and set it all up like you want it. The problem is, if you do this often (to keep it clean, virus free, fast, etc etc only applicable to windows I guess) then it might be easier to set a fresh install up, install everything you use, all the drivers etc, then use some hdd cloning utility to clone the entire hdd into an external hd. So next tiime you want to reinstall windows, you can just restore the cloned image and in about 20 mins all your os with settings and software will be ready, instead of wasting hours to install everything and set it up.

I mentioned that already
 

Since I reload my computer about every 6 months or so I set up my computer the way I like it and then I create an image of it so for the next year or so I just have to run the program to reset everything

The only issue with that, especially with Windows is the hotfixes and patches, seems like every month there is about 100 or so fixes so you want to keep your image updated as well.

[Kulverstukas]

I don't understand why re-installation so quickly.
@OP: did you try to remove the crap? try to defrag your drive, clean up the registry too.
Those are the fundamental things to do if your computer is getting slow. If nothing helps then reinstall windows.
Though if you really want to start over, then boot up "Boot and nuke" live CD and wipe everything

[silenthunder]

I don't understand why re-installation so quickly.
@OP: did you try to remove the crap? try to defrag your drive, clean up the registry too.
Those are the fundamental things to do if your computer is getting slow. If nothing helps then reinstall windows.
Though if you really want to start over, then boot up "Boot and nuke" live CD and wipe everything

Yeah I run those once a week, and the computer is still runny very quickly and smoothly, its just that it's 3 years old and could probably use some dusting off. This is probably the only time I'll ever do it on this computer as I don't expect I'll be using it as much as I do by next year. My next computer I'll be sure to keep up on backups and everything.