Table of Contents
Best 10 Tools
From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXXgbGwEnYw
In this video, I go over the best windows 10 tools I use on every windows installation I do!
- O&O Shutup - Privacy Blocker - https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
- Ninite - https://ninite.com/ - download all your apps you use quickly — Chrome - 7-Zip - VLC - Notepad++
- Bleachbit - https://www.bleachbit.org/
- Debloat Windows 10 - https://www.christitus.com/2018/09/09…
- WinSCP - FTP + Others
Clean Up Computer
ccCleaner
run clearer portion
Malwarebytes
Malwarebytes AntiRootkit
AdwCleane
Avast Boot Scan
Clean out start up items
Clean out Services
Personalize desktop to windows Classic
Visual Effects - Adjust for best performance
Exclusions from Antivirus monitor
Clean out search engines and home pages
speed guide network optimizer
defraggler selective defrag picked files
Bellarc
Speccy - Computer information
From: http://www.piriform.com/speccy
Speccy is an advanced System Information tool for your PC. Need to find out what's inside your computer? No problem! Speccy will give you all the information you need.
Removing Software
I like revo better than pcdecrapifier. only removes one at a time but does scan to remove left behind registry links.
revo uninstaller
from: http://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html
Revo Uninstaller Pro helps you to uninstall software and remove unwanted programs installed on your computer easily! Even if you have problems uninstalling and cannot uninstall them from “Windows Add or Remove Programs” control panel applet.
pcdecrapifier
From: http://pcdecrapifier.com/download
Removes multiple at once But NO Registry scan afterwards.
It's a free tool for you to use that helps remove programs, unnecessary startup items and icons that can slow down your PC.
slimcomputer
From: http://www.slimcomputer.com/features.php
Community-powered feedback is the key to SlimComputer's state-of-the-art cleaning. In real time,
unchecky
From: http://unchecky.com/
Tired of unchecking unrelated offers while installing software?
ShouldIRemoveit
From: http://www.shouldiremoveit.com/install-thankyou.aspx
Should I Remove It? is a very simple but extremely powerful Windows application that helps users, both technical and non technical, decide what programs they should remove from their PC. This typically includes finding and removing all sorts of crapware and bloatware such as adware, spyware, toolbars, bundled unwanted applications as well as many forms of malware. The program is very lightweight and extremely fast. Should I Remove It? simply scans your computer for all its' installed programs and then ranks what should be removed by leveraging the wisdom of the crowd (and of course our technical experts) to determine what should not be installed.
Initial Setup Instructions
From: http://www.groovypost.com/howto/beginners-guide-setting-up-new-computer/
You’ve had that old rusty computer forever, but you just opened up a brand new box with a shiny new Dell, HP, Gateway, etc, inside. You probably want to start using it right away, for work, games, social networking, reading groovyPost etc.. Below is a quick reference Step-by-step for getting your new system optimized and loaded up with groovy software fast and easy.
- Google Chrome – Best browser for me…
- Google Talk – Needed for free voice calls on GMAIL.
- Pidgin – Do you chat with friends, co-workers or customers across several chat client? Pidgin is for you!
- VLC – Ultimate Multi-Media Client.
- Paint.net - Easy to use photo / image editor.
- Picasa – Great App from Google which helps you manage and and sharing you home photos.
- SumatraPDF – Adobe has a really really bad reputation when it comes to security exploits in their software. Because of this I refuse to install Adobe Reader. SumatraPDF is a nice alternative.
- Microsoft Security Essentials – Of course… save a step above buy just using Ninite to package MSE with the other free software your installing.
- Flash – I know…. it’s adobe software but unfortunately it’s needed until everyone moves to HTML5.
- Dropbox - Yeah I know… Dropbox is a MUST install on all new systems.
- Evernote – Keep track of your life with this great free app.
- ImgBurn – My favoriate DVD / CD Burning App.
- CCLeaner - The perfect tool for keeping your browser cache, cookies and internet history clean.
- 7-Zip – Need to compress or decompress something? 7-Zip is a must have for all PC’s out there!
- Notepad++ - For the geeks out there, Notepad++ is a great file editor no matter the software language.
Change IE Settings
- IE
- Always open pop-up in new Tab
- Change Intranet to On: Internet options… Security… Intranet… Sites… Uncheck “Automatically Detect Intranet Network”; then check three options below
- Connections .. LAN settings … Uncheck “Automatically detect settings”
- IE 11 May need - use software rendering instead of GPU rendering IE: Options .. Advanced ... Check - Use software .....
Installation Helper
From: http://ninite.com/
The Easiest, Fastest Way to Update or Install Software
From: https://www.slant.co/versus/6470/6472/~chocolatey_vs_ninite
When comparing Chocolatey vs Ninite, the Slant community recommends Chocolatey for most people. In the question“What are the best Windows package managers?” Chocolatey is ranked 1st while Ninite is ranked 2nd.The most important reason people chose Chocolatey is: Chocolatey has a massive repository of installs (more than 1700 packages), and its open nature allows everyone to contribute more as needed.
Utilities
From: http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/ or http://www.piriform.com/promo/ccleaner-160512?gclid=CKuvhsqEqbICFQQ4nAodynIAoA
CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner. But the best part is that it's fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware! :) See: http://www.groovypost.com/howto/clean-windows-right-click-context-menu/
From:http://tweaks.com/windows-7/
Logon screen changer
FileSpace Drive Space
From: http://www.steffengerlach.de/freeware/index.html
Scanner - This tool uses a sunburst chart to display the usage of your hard disk or other media. The chart shows all major files and folders from all directory levels at once.
SpaceSniffer
http://www.uderzo.it/main_products/space_sniffer/download.html
SpaceSniffer is a freeWare (donations are welcome) and portable tool application that lets you understand how folders and files are structured on your disks. By using a Treemap visualization layout, you have immediate perception of where big folders and files are placed on your devices. Treemap concept was invented by Prof. Ben Shneiderman, who kindly permitted the use of his concept into this tool.
RidNacs
From: http://www.splashsoft.de/Freeware/ridnacs-disk-space-usage-analyzer.html
RidNacs RidNacs is a very fast disk space usage analyzer for Microsoft Windows. It scans your local drives, network drives or single directories and produces a tree view with a percentage bar chart column. This gives the user a quick and easy way to identify the largest directories and it's very useful for cleaning up the disk.
Best Free Disk Space Analyzer
From: http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-disk-space-analyzer.htm#JDiskReport
Best Free Disk Space Analyzer
Regscanner
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/regscanner.html
RegScanner is a small utility that allows you to scan the Registry, find the desired Registry values that match to the specified search criteria, and display them in one list. After finding the Registry values, you can easily jump to the right value in RegEdit, simply by double-clicking the desired Registry item. You can also export the found Registry values into a .reg file that can be used in RegEdit.
Windows Live Essentials
They are different programs. Microsoft Security Essentials is an antimalware program and is not part of Windows Live Essentials. mssefullinstall-amd64fre-en-us-vista-win7.exe is the installer package for Microsoft Security Essentials antimalware. Windows Live Essentials is a package of programs including Windows Live Mail, Messenger, Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Writer, Movie Maker, Family Safety, and Toolbar. It can be downloaded here -http://download.live.com/
From: http://lifehacker.com/5865356/the-best-antivirus-app-for-windows
Microsoft Security Essentials solves every problem you've ever had with antivirus.
From: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=91694.0
As for MSE, I have it on all my users systems. The reason: It's install and forget. You get no ads,no up-sell or pop-ups and you don't have to remember to re-register every year.(Which comes in handy when you have 12-15 users to take care of) It's VERY stable ( I have yet to see MSE crash) also I've seen Zero false-positives. And the main reason, I get fewer calls because if MSE finds something it deals with it.
The only two free AVs recommended in Dell Security “ Virus & Spyware ” Forum are Avast! and MSE. Both are good. Avast for the more oriented user who like to tweak his security programs and MSE is for the user who does not want to be bother with it.
ultradefrag
From: http://ultradefrag.sourceforge.net/en/index.html?links
UltraDefrag is a powerful Open Source Defragmentation tool for the Windows Platform. It can defragment any system files including registry hives and paging file. Also one of the main goals of UltraDefrag is doing the job as fast and reliable as possible
Services
Black Viper’s Windows XP x86 (32-bit) Service Pack 3 Service Configurations
Tweaks
Take control of your boot loader and TweakUI
From: http://neosmart.net/
TweakUI 64-Bit Edition 2.2
bcdedit
From: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2676-bcdedit-how-use.html
bcdedit /set {current} description "My edited Windows Boot Entry"
From: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc709667%28v=ws.10%29.aspx
BCDEdit Command-Line Options
Bootsect Command-Line Options
DiskPart Command-Line Options
Drvload Command-Line Options
Expand Command-Line Options
Intlcfg Command-Line Options
Lpksetup Command-Line Options
Oscdimg Command-Line Options
PEImg Command-Line Options
Powercfg Command-Line Options
Winpeshl.ini Files
Wpeinit Command-Line Options
Wpeutil Command-Line Options
PostReflect Command-Line Options
VSP1CLN Command-Line Options
Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable
I would install the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable dll that is needed for projects built with Visual Studio 2010.
Download the files below depending on your operating system version. I would install all versions as they may be needed for different programs.