What does this program do, again? And this one? And this one...?
I’ve had my current computer for about 6 years. Amazing, right? I’m an early adopter when I can afford it, and I totally lucked out on a decent mobo and CPU. During this time, I’ve gotten a program here and a program there and now I have 149 of them. Some I use more than others and some I’ve forgotten what they’re for! I’d like to streamline the whole shebang in as efficient a way as possible until I can have a new system built. That might be a while yet. :\
Is there a tool or widget available that will help me suss out what the programs do (and if there’s an update, should I want to keep it) without my having to run each app? If there isn’t, what would the tech-savvy Jellies suggest I do to make this task less of a slog? I run XP SP3.
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If you google the executable name (e.g. dooflotchy.exe) there are sites that tell you what the executable does. Mostly those sites help identify malware, but I find them useful when I see a process in my task manager that I don’t recognize or have forgotten.
I have have seen literally hundreds of machines that have been bogged down by too many installed programs. And although you can find plenty of programs that promise to clean up your PC you will never be able to roll back all the changes that have been made, and the best bet is to do a reinstall.
A longer term solution is to install programs in a virtual PC, which is basically just running a Windows machine in a window (on your Windows machine :-)
The advantages are that you can easily roll back any changes, you run no risk of getting malware, and you won’t clutter up your normal PC.
MS Virutal PC: http://tinyurl.com/6j9zvv
Another great thing to try is to search for ‘portable apps’. These are basically just applications that do not need to be installed, and more and more companies are offering them. A Google search for convenience:
http://www.google.com/search?q=portable+apps&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
There are numerous advantages (and some disadvantages), but for seldom used programs this is an excellent solution. And you can carry them around on a USB stick.
You know, the old girl’s actually running at a pretty good clip for her age. I’ve used CC to keep programs and processes I’m not using from running in the background and cleaning out old registry keys and whatnot. I just wanted to reclaim some drive space by making sure I didn’t have a whole bunch of programs that in essence do the same jobs. But this is all good, especially the virtual PC suggestion. And I like that kimkomando page. w00t!
Thanks, you guys! :D
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