Computer tune up site?

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Is there a good free site for a "computer tune up"? Mines gotten slow. I have antivirus, and I run that and scan as well, and I use the tools that came with windows, but is there a good site to go to and try?

Not really a site that will magically fix your computer, but running an MSCONFIG, and clicking on the 'Startup' tab will give you a list of things that your computer loads into memory when you boot it.

Clicking this link and entering each item EXACTLY, including case sensitivity in the search box will give you information on what each startup item is, and whether you should turn it off or not, by unchecking the check next to each item. After you complete the list, click the 'OK button, and reboot your computer. After rebooting, you will get a message box telling you that you have used the comfiguration manager, and one of the options given will be to close the dialog box. --Choose this option, then if you need to, also download a copy of Spybot Search&Destroy, look for Spybot S&D definition updates, and install if there are any, then run Spybot S&D.

Also, I have no idea of what browser you use to surf the internet, but I would suggest downloading and using either Opera or Firefox over Internet Explorer, if you are not doing so already.

There's a program called CCleaner (crap cleaner), it does what the name suggests, including an option to disable programs running at start up that you don't really need (similar to msconfig described by Fogman)

Cleaners and tuners and registry optimizers and such don't work.

I'll repeat that again.

THEY DON'T WORK.

At all.

They never have. It's a part scam part ignorance. I don't want to go into too many details. Google if you want to know more. It's all out there on tech forums.

Here's what to do.

Backup your files.
Format the disk.
Install Windows yourself from a Windows 7 disk. (Not a recovery disk that came with the computer!)
Install drivers for your devices. JUST DRIVERS. Not software suites.
Make your user account a user, not administrator. Have a separate administrator account for the UAC prompts or RunAs when you need to install software or make changes.
Restore your files and reinstall your apps.
Make sure the firewall is running. It is running by default.
Install automatic updates whenever they ask you to.
Install MS Security Essentials.
BE VERY CAREFUL! Install apps from major vendors only. DO NOT download and run strange crap from the Internet.
After you install an app first thing go to msconfig and uncheck its startup items. The app will still work just fine.
Be very careful with browser addons, especially Adobe Flash and SUN Java. Keep them up to date, or better yet don't install them at all.

I know it's hard to accept, but the computers slowing down over time or having more errors over time is just a MYTH. The user behind the keyboard is responsible for the entropy.

My 2¢ on Dilbert's rant:
Some cleaners don't help much. YMMV... Don't work all? Nonsense.
They remove invalid entries in the registry, which slows Windows down eventually... And after you install and remove enough s**t you get a lot of that crap.
I've used iolo System Mechanic for some time now, and find it useful enough to continue to pay for it. Try a demo and see for yourself!
This app does that and much more. Sure, a clean install of Windows is *always best!* But it's a big f****n pain in the ass.
f**k MS security bs tho, Avast Antivirus is free too and better anyway. Norton Internet Security is better than either, but its not free. (just renewed mine for $35)

How? Applications know exactly which registry entries they should reference and orphan entries are referenced by... nothing.

A lot of 'registry cleaners' are rubbish or even trojans. Avoid the ones that are very prominent on download sites etc. The better cleaners will basically automate cleaning up your startup items so you don't need to. It is worth running Spybot as well. This is quite a good guide to speeding up your computer.

If you want to make a big difference, upgrade your computer's memory. Use 4GB for 32 bit versions of Windows or at least 8gb for 64 bit versions. Watch the red hard drive light on your computer while you are working, especially if the computer feels slow. If that light is on a lot of the time, the computer is more than likely short of memory. When this happens it starts storing some stuff on the hard drive. Compared to the memory, hard drives are VERY slow.

Imagine your computer's memory is like a desk and the hard drive is like a filing cabinet. If you run out of room on your desk for your work you have to get up, walk to the filing cabinet then find the correct file to store any stuff you don't need immediately. When you next need that information you need to clear some room for it by putting some other stuff in the filing cabinet cabinet before you can retrieve the information you need. If your desk is bigger you can have everything on hand.

Later versions of Windows are fairly intelligent. they monitor what applications and files you use regularly and preload them into memory so they are immediately available if you want them. Of course this only happens if there is spare memory available that isn't allocated to anything else.

Upgrading memory isn't that difficult and shouldn't be particularly expensive.

Have you defragged your hard drive ?
http://windows.about.com/od/maintainand ... agWin7.htm
This can help and the advice about more ram might help as well.
Not running alot of programs at the same time helps. Antivirus/malware programs do active tracking of programs running in windows and that can slow the computer down. But it's still a good idea to have it running.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/wind ... essentials this one works well
and is made by microsoft cost only a download. Only run 1 antivirus/malware program at the same time.

Exactly. These registry "cleaning" programs can do more harm than good. I'm a professional software developer and over the years I've had a number of requests for help from people who have wrecked their registry settings for my software by running such registry "cleaning" products. Sometimes the worst offenders are high-street computer shops who also offer computer repair and do a half-assed "repair" leaving software installed but the associated registry settings missing or vice-versa. However, the worst offenders are those who have a little knowledge about the registry and tinker with the settings via Regedit.

On a slight tangent I had a request for help from someone who had difficulty loading one of his data files into my software. I asked him to email me a copy of the file and on examination the binary data had been corrupted and formatted into neat 80 column rows with a CrLf after each segment of data. I can only assume the idiot had forced another application such as Microsoft Word to load the binary data file and re-save it over the original - Word being "helpful" by trying to format the data as text and completely corrupting the data file in the process. He didn't even have a backup of the file, so lost several months of work.

The things that some people attempt to do with their computers still continues to amaze me. They plunge in wreaking havoc everywhere then wonder why they lose data, software ceases to work, or worse still the computer won't even boot up any more.