Optimizing and tweaking programs

[rovingcowboy]

okay here is a simple question.



well maybe not so simple to ask but the answer should be i think?

1. why are all the free and or trial software programs that tweak or optimize your computer able to find errors that your other repair or cleaning programs never found. ?



i mean that they all seem to find thousands of errors that your other free or paid for programs never found. and each of the programs seems to find different errors?


your computer still works with all these errors just like it always has right out of the box, so how and or why did all these errors show up?



i've got dozens of these free and trial programs to optimize my systems and i install them just after i have ran my cleaning programs and defraged my system.

then when i run the optimizer's they always report thousands of errors just after i cleaned the system? each one does that and each one has reported different errors in the same sections like file's or registry or security,... so on.





these so called errors are also not able to be cleaned or fixed unless you buy the trial or free program.
excuse me? it says free that means free not purchess only. so in some cases they are out right lier's

but back to the question why are so many errors found?



answer is i guess just this simple one.




the programs put the errors in your system to make you think you are in need
of a massive computer repair and or cleaning so you will spend the money
to buy their program which is not anything anymore then your true totaly freeware cleaning programs are.

in other words they are con artist created programs.











Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:5390, old post ID:39880

[Triple6_wild]

Find reliable programs dedicated to one function and stick with them. Most swiss army knife type programs suck, There are a few good ones but rare. Other wise anything you download from a popup will make problems and probably repeatedly remind you that they can fix it if you "buy now".

If it's not a sketchy program that creates problems. Any type of massive advertising campaign usually means A.) It can't sell itself for a reason. Or B.) Its a massive company everyone already knows so you can actually walk into wal-mart and buy it.

Some good free/trial's that don't have an end date will give you enough information on the errors so you can still fix them but they ask you to buy for the "Auto fix" function. These are great because you can still do a manual fix of the problem and it's usually a reliable program that takes these roads. I avoid any program that just does things without letting me know what it's doing. Error is not alot to go on... Thing better give me a choice on everything it does. I like to decide if it's a problem and if it's going to be fixed so I know it won't screw up things that are working and if it really was something broken I want to have an idea how it got there in the first place.
Ive got a game on my pc that comes up as a virus every scan I know it's a trust worthy program but everything wants to scrap it. Never has caused problems nor has it tried to connect anywhere. Just bad choice of code on the creators part of ethere the game or the scanner.

"Show me where to look" type programs are better then "Magic button, Fixed"

A good swiss example would be pcpitstop.com. Great for getting surface stuff that comes with deep garbage. I always start on that website first thing. If that sites online scan comes up with very little problems then a manual fix of the very few it found is more then enough. Running a full antivirus, ad-ware, Registry, Etc, Scans Is a waste of time at that point, Won't find many problems if they find any at all.

If that sites online scan finds some bigger problems, I fix them first then run all my dedicated scans and expect alot more to be dug up. If the surface is clean and stays that way then that always means nothing is below but if the surface is a mess it will just be a mess again soon because of whats below.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:5390, old post ID:39881

[rovingcowboy]

well theres one thing i can say is found in every new optimizing program.

it locks up the registry for changing your power options from what the program wants.

pcpitstop was the first i found that did that. so its out of all my computers.

next was

advanced system care 3. or its new name? and i took that out of the systems i have.

then there was the small but new Mz ultimate xp optimizer program which
did the same lock up of the same power settings.

so its out of the system now.

the only one that i can see that does not lock that setting is the old xteq pro 6.06 the last free version of that program.

so its the only one i have in the systems now.

lock my settings and make my monitor go off in middle of movie will they.
i fixed them by taking out their programs.



Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:5390, old post ID:39882

[Triple6_wild]

Yes but that is a feature of an optimizer program. Check options and don't use any power saver stuff.... Or better yet.

If you really want to optimize your computer get rid of all those programs as some run in the background and I'm sure some add toolbars and other useless crap that goes completely against what the program is supposed to do. Hit google up and do some reading on how to optimize your own computer.

Disabling useless programs is one way of doing it. Find out what the programs magic button "does for you" and get rid of the program and do it yourself.

Also as for pcpitstop I did say Online scan Not download

I assume your computer gets slow sometimes hence the need for all this garbage?
If your using the programs out of laziness then I can't help you but if your willing to work for a little performance boost software side and maintain it then I can help you keep it from getting slow in the first place. It's not that hard really.... Just needs a slight change in browsing habits. All optimizers do is change settings that you already had access to and you are more capable then a program to dig into other things the program doesn't know how to. Like remove useless programs. Organize a little

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:5390, old post ID:39884

[rovingcowboy]

just trying to squeeze more juice out of a dried up lemon, thats all i was doing with those programs.

got it too but having to pay the piper by loss of my ablity to change the power scheme? not going to be worth it to me anymore.

i did get that juice too remember my post last year some time about the 921.50kbps connection speed you could not figure out how i got.
well that was how use of all those optimizers each did a little different tweaking

but while i had that fast speed on a wireless modem. the system seemed slow so slow i had put most the stuff in real time or high priority.

but after a few updates from ms. it started slowing down with that. so i undid
the priority settings and got bill2's process manager program and let it adjust the needed settings automaticly now i get the web pages loaded faster with out the need of the fast kbps connection setting.
and normal prioritys. so that bill did something there that i could not and still can not figure out which settings he changed or what settings he removed?

but hey i'm not crying over them i'm going faster now with a 115.75kbps connection speed then i was with the supper fast one.

still getting that dadblasted ati2dvag.dll error from time to time and i just can't find
anything that will fix it not even going in to the registry my self and looking around.
it just seems to be a power / voltage type of error connected to the mouse.
and the web browser as it locks most the time when the page is loading and i move the mouse.

so if you can help with that ati2dvag.dll error that would be great.
i've tried most the stuff online in forums about it. theres a huge post of mine over at http://help.lockergnome.com/general/ forum in the problem solvers room, if you want to have fun reading about the pain this has caused me over the last several months.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:5390, old post ID:39888

[Triple6_wild]

So it's a graphics driver issue. This is what ive found on it so far. Seems to be more of a hardware problem then it is software. Can be overheating or if you added the card or anything else to the computer it may not be getting enough power.

Clean the computer out to start, Try this. Then if the error started after a hardware upgrade try temporarily removing what you added. Additional ram, Hard Drives, Sound card etc etc, Just to see if the graphics card just might not be getting the same power it used to.

Anyways read this and see if anything helps.

"DEVICE DRIVER is STUCK IN INFINITE LOOP" or VPU Recover errors in Windows XP

This issue affects the following system configurations:
Windows XP
Any ATI display card
Based on our experience, the error "The drivers for the display adapter got stuck in an INFINITE LOOP" is a result of a system communication mishap. On some systems, the error "Unable to complete a drawing operation", or an ATI VPU recover error may also occur.

This error does not occur on all system configurations.

This issue can occur using any motherboard or graphics chipset along with the Windows XP Operating system. It appears that in most cases this problem is due to a BIOS setting, specifically options affecting the way the RAM, CPU and graphics card communicate with XP and DirectX. Improper timing settings can result in system lock ups or random system reboots.

This issue also affects different makes and models of video cards from various manufacturers.

In attempt to gather more information on why this error occurs, ATI developed a component to catch when the INFINITE LOOP occurs. This component is called VPU Recover. If the display driver detects that the graphics processor has hung, VPU Recover will attempt to reset the graphics processor, eliminating the need for a system reboot.

VPU errors can occur mostly while using 3D applications and games. This error has also been known to occur in 2D applications as well.

This error message may occur in the virtual video adapter driver that is used by Symantec PCAnywhere. If PCAnywhere is installed on a computer where this error message occurs, visit the Symantec Web site to determine if there are any available fixes for your version of PCAnywhere.

At the present time ATI is still gathering information on the Infinite Loop condition.

The following suggestions may help to correct this issue:

Verify that the system has updated software
Adjust basic settings within the system BIOS
Adjust advanced settings with the system BIOS
Test with different hardware configurations
1. Verifying that the system has updated software

a) Update the display drivers.
Ensure that you have installed the latest ATI CATALYST software for your ATI product. Drivers for your video card can be found on the ATI website.

Ensure that all three DirectX Features are enabled.
Run the available tests to ensure that each of the three components pass.

c) Update your motherboard chipset driver software.
Updating your AGP chipset drivers can add stability to the PC and may help to prevent the Infinite Loop error from occurring.

d) Use the ATI SMARTGART utility to adjust AGP Reads/Writes.
In newer revisions of the Catalyst Drivers, a feature called SMARTGART was introduced. With the latest ATI CATALYST software installed, you can use the ATI SMARTGART settings to adjust the Fast Writes and AGP BUS speed.

Select the "Start" menu -> click on "RUN" -> type "SMARTGART" -> click OK.

Ensure that both the AGP Read and Write settings are On. If these are set to OFF, then enable them and restart Windows as prompted. As a test you should try disabling the AGP Write setting. NOTE- AGP Writes may not be enabled on all chipsets.

e) Update the motherboard BIOS. Any updates can be found on the motherboard manufacturer's website.

f) Make sure you have an adequate power supply.


2. Basic BIOS options.

NOTE: These options may vary depending on the type/version of your system. You may or may not have all these options present.

Video BIOS Shadow - DISABLED
Init Primary Display - AGP (Toggle this setting if your video card is PCI)
AGP MASTER 1W/S READ/WRITE - ENABLED/DISABLED (Toggle this option)
AGP Aperture size - 128 MB
AGP Driving Control - AUTO
Disable AGP 8x/4x mode in the BIOS.
Disable AGP Fast Writes in the BIOS.
AGP Driving Control - AUTO
AGP Performance Control - ENABLED/DISABLED (Toggle this option)
Assign IRQ for VGA - ENABLED
System Bios Cacheable - DISABLED
Video BIOS Cacheable - DISABLED
VIDEO RAM Cacheable - DISABLED
Read Around Write - ENABLED/DISABLED (toggle this setting)
PnP OS installed - YES

3. BIOS Settings for ADVANCED USERS:

NOTE: These options may vary depending on the type/version of your system. You may or may not have all these options.

Load optimized defaults in your BIOS
Set your memory settings to default values (I.e.. DRAM Timing = SPD)
Lower the memory frequency to 133/166mhz (effectively DDR266/333mhz)
If available increase AGP Voltage to 1.6 - 1.8 in the BIOS
SDRAM Cycle length - 2.5
Bank Interleave - ENABLE/DISABLE (toggle this setting - It will only make a difference if you have more than one memory module.)
DRAM Burst length - 4

4. Recommended Hardware changes:

Test system with a single memory module if multiples are being used
Test with different memory modules.
Test with a different Power supply
Disable/Remove ALL non-essential hardware i.e. sound card, network card, additional HDD etc.
Test the video card in a different PC
Additional Information on the Infinite Loop:

Microsoft Knowledge Base - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...b;EN-US;q293078

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:5390, old post ID:39889

[rovingcowboy]

its all on the motherboard. vid audio and all the other stuff. its all new its not able to be put in another system cause its on the mother board which means i can't remove it to test it?

i've been removing things i think might be the main cause of it and last thing i took out was the old program called Tclock, that seemed to slow or stop the error now just got to wait for a few days to see what happens.

almost too chicken to try the new ati feb 2011 drivers i just got the old jan. drivers working fairly good.

thanks for that info but i already let the bios load fail safe settings and i did not turn up any of the speed settings in there.

i flashed the mb bios already,

the overheating might have been one part of it cause i had pchealth program issues it was saying the fan was not working on the cpu, but
taking the case off it was spinning away full speed? so it might have been cutting out if there was power drops. i turned off the auto fan speed setting and now its just running full speed on the cpu so the heat thing seems to have stopped and that might also have helped with the lockup issues.

thanks for that long help its one i did not see before,

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:5390, old post ID:39891

[Triple6_wild]

Did you try disabling the power play in catalyst control center?

Also ya even though it's onboard graphics that doesn't change anything. Just means the graphics card was there first so had to work at one point.

Prebuilt computers come with a very small power supply so if you added anything at all to the computer like hard drives, disc drives, USB x-mas lights it may send you over what your power supply can handle and be effecting things. If you added anything at all just before it started, Unplug and see if it goes back to normal. This can rule out power if nothing has been added.

If heat is the problem well squirrel will have to help you fix that department. I'm not really good with hardware Bigger fan, Heatsink, Thermal paste might help.

If the fan was cutting out due to power then it may be combination of the 2

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:5390, old post ID:39892

[rovingcowboy]

prebuilt that hurt.

its not that its the old lenovo i had to completely remove its guts
and add all new to it only thing about it thats lenovo is the case.
and the hd i kept that since it was in good working order.

the fan was not cutting out it might have been getting slightly lower
then it needed voltage with that smart fan option on in the bios.

but i took what you pasted in that post and ran with the idea of power.

so i have done the following.

1 turned off all tweaking to anything that was made to run faster.
2 reset all the prioritys that were set above the normal setting back to the normal setting.
3 defraged and cleaned and defraged and cleaned until i'm sick of it.
4 updated to the ati feb 2011 display drivers.

my system is so slow now its back to speed of right out of the box and its boring me to tears as i've seen the page 3 times with in 4 seconds after it loaded.
slow but not slow enough to get something to eat.

i think i might need a bigger ps unit.

but it has been running for 2 days now with out the issue showing up. hope it keeps going this way.

just too bad the computer is slow.?



Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:5390, old post ID:39893

[Triple6_wild]

  prebuilt      that hurt.     

Did you just dis my computer

Anyways tally up the power your pc should be using and see how much space your power supply has left over just to be sure. You might have space to overclock a little bit without upsetting it.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:5390, old post ID:39894

[rovingcowboy]

no prebuilts are alright

there is a dell pre built here. a desktop and laptop.

then my little sister has 3 prebuilts. 2 desktops and a laptop.

my mom has a prebuilt.

so they are good as they get the most software with them when
you buy them from qvc tv channel. why this lenovo we got was prebuilt
till it fried, and i rebuilt it.
the systematic was pre built til it fried and i rebuilt it.
the pionix was pre built til it fried and i rebuilt it.

the dell desktop is pre built but it toasted and i have not rebuilt it yet?
well it did not toast, it just lost its usb controlers and the drives for the
floppy drive, i have to get all the stuff off it we want and then reformat and install
again, i've been too lazy to get that done.

oh the vector2 computer was prebuilt until it toasted and i mean blew the mother board and i tossed it out.

catch my meaning of the prebuilts i just love them to death in other words?


BACK On Topic.

the power supply is a 450 but it might have worn down some by me over driving the pc and upping all the power to all the software i had done it too.

might go back to the brick and morter store i got it at and have him check it to see if it is toasted a little. if so i'll more likely get a 500 watt one.



Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:5390, old post ID:39895

[Triple6_wild]

450 Should be more then enough if everything is onboard. Honestly graphics cards are usually what throw your over 250. Think maybe you were just overclocking past what the components could handle? If the current power supply can handle a separate video card it would be a smarter performance upgrade as even a cheap card that matches the specs of your onboard graphics will out perform onboard alone and free up some system resources like ram on top, More ram and less load on the processor is always good so the computer will perform better overall.

And you "Might" be able to overclock back to where it was again without getting the error back.

Just upgrading the PS may not solve the issue if it was just being feed to much power in exchange for performance anyways. Graphics card would cost about the same as a PS anyways.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:5390, old post ID:39896

[rovingcowboy]

got the mother board's manufactures tune up program in and got the bios updated.

now it over clocks to what it can handle and no more.

got rid of bsod lockup.

now it just seems to be back to a lock up of its own with out the bsod.

does the same thing as the other lockup. needs a hard power off and on
when it locks.

but i think i've got that fixed too. along with some other issues i've been having.

not sure yet as i only did this some time in the last 20 hours i can't remember when?

now don't ask that again have'nt you been where you can't remember s.. in the last day or so.

but i've got the cleanmem program on this computer and it was upgraded but
some of the programs needed to be ignored by it were not in its ignore list
so i added them in.

i'm hopeful that has stopped the lockups



Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:5390, old post ID:39907

[Triple6_wild]

so if you can help with that ati2dvag.dll error that would be great.
i've tried most the stuff online in forums about it. theres a huge post of mine over at http://help.lockergnome.com/general/ forum in the problem solvers room, if you want to have fun reading about the pain this has caused me over the last several months.

Glad I could help but you may want to transfer the solution to them if no one there could figure it out with you over the months.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:5390, old post ID:39908

[rovingcowboy]

i did tell them the part of the ati2..... error.

but the extra lock up stuff of the cleanmem ignor list i did not.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:5390, old post ID:39909