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[Mr Skrunts]

Windows 10 Pro

Been installed a while now 03/‎04/‎2021

Slowing down, remnants of uninstalled programs still lurking in the system.

Getting ready to Format and start again but wanted to have a play and see what could be cleaned up 1st to see how much crap it can remove.

Any recomendations on what to use. 

Am sure older versions of windows had spmething built in

[Terbs]

 Loads of stuff out there. Everybody will have different ideas. Personally, I once tried CC Cleaner, and it done its own thing and screwed half my stuff. Others will say its fine, and so with all others.
I am using a programme called Glary Utilities. Some one on here years ago gave us details of a lifetime licence (all legit)...not sure if I am on that still or not. The programme cleans my registry, gets out all the crap stored on the drives, etc, etc. There is a free download, but like everything, they will ask you to upgrade. Mines working fine, and never had a problem with it.
That's all I can help with, others will have other ideas 

[LC0112G]

One of the issues is that there is a fair bit of stuff 'hidden' in the registry, and registry editors can't access it. Typically stuff where you have 30 days free trial, or perhaps 30 uses - the counters for this are hidden so that you cannot change them with any of the usual tools.

Personally I would buy a brand new hard disk (or SSD if you're so inclined). Remove the old hard disk and do a brand new clean install on the new disk. If there is room in you PC chassis you can then put the old disk in (you may have to set some jumpers) so that it becomes drive D: (or E: or F: or whatever). If you discover you're missing something then you can either get it from the old disk, or worst case put the old disk back to the default jumper settings and use it again.

One thing to be wary of is the version of windows you have. If it's an OEM version it may be machine locked and you may have trouble activating it on a new hard disk if M$ play hard ball.

[Mr Skrunts]

New hard drive not required. 

The one thats in is one of those Samsung Evo M2 things thats fits in a slot   I also have a new WD M2 gen 4 ready towards my next build if I ever get round to it.

Then a couple of hard drives to save work on. Master/+backup.

As I said to start, I just wanted to see what can be achieved.  I have used CC Cleaner in past but with my memory I had totally forgoton about it.

Will go have a nosy on the net see what there is

[Mr Skrunts]

One thing to be wary of is the version of windows you have. If it's an OEM version it may be machine locked and you may have trouble activating it on a new hard disk if M$ play hard ball.

My PC is self built, I bought the Windows disk/licence and this is now on the 2nd PC since I bought it, so cant see any particular issues there.  But thanks for the info   (Not something I would have thought of)

[LC0112G]

One thing to be wary of is the version of windows you have. If it's an OEM version it may be machine locked and you may have trouble activating it on a new hard disk if M$ play hard ball.

My PC is self built, I bought the Windows disk/licence and this is now on the 2nd PC since I bought it, so cant see any particular issues there.  But thanks for the info   (Not something I would have thought of)

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-determine-if-license-oem-retail-volume-windows-10

[TheBoy]

Right, lets put this one to bed once and for all. You can't put a shine on a turd. End of.

Registry cleaners don't really work for a variety of reasons.  At best, they do little, at worse they cause corruption style issues.  Most registry corruption I see is as the result of magic bullet cleaners.  And that's pretty much every Windows machine I see where somebody has tried automated cleaners.

If you uninstallers are not uninstalling stuff fully, then you need to moan at those developers.  If you're dicking around with those stupid, moronic codec packs for video, accept you're screwed, as none of the codec pack maintainers do a decent uninstaller, because the VfW interface is old, and the way codecs are chained makes it hard...   ...plus codec pack maintainers are clearly stupid.


The solution is to rebuild Windows. Simples.  End of thread.

[TheBoy]

If your licence is OEM or a "digital Licence" it cannot be transferred to a new PC. "New PC" in this case being one that has significant changes from the old one.  A system board change is enough, usually, to make it class as a new PC.  You might be able to phone MS if you swap a system board and get them to reset it, which they usually do.  Note, they have enough info to tell if you are trying to pull a fast one.

If your licence is Retail, you are allowed to transfer it.  MS limit the number of transfers in a set timeframe.  If you breach this, they *may* reset it over the phone, but I find they are generally less willing.

If you are a volume licence user, then I'd say you are being naughty, as no home user should be a volume user.  Business users with volume licence issues should initially contact their system administrator, who can sort out the KMS with the help of MS, but that aint valid for any of us in our home environment


Note, if you have upgraded an old licence from a previous major version of Windows, say Win7 to Win 10, or W10 to W11, you will likely be using a Digital Licence...