A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch
I was looking back at the first two Whatchamacallit articles that I wrote back in February and April of 2009. The subjects were: 1) Setting Up My New Computer; and 2) My Bi‑Weekly Maintenance Routine.
I haven’t purchased any new machines lately; however, I still do my upkeep routines. I was mildly surprised to find out how much has changed in slightly over ten years. At least it gave me an idea for an article this month. Most of the changes are in the software.
1) Pc Decrapifier was a program that removed manufacture installed bloatware from new computers. It has been discontinued.
2) Zone Alarm was my firewall of choice. I no longer use it. The built in Windows firewall has been improved and is adequate for my needs.
3) Revo Uninstaller is a great program. I am still using it and have often thought of purchasing a license. I never have because the free version suits my needs.
4) Secunia Personal Software Inspector (PSI) was another great program that was discontinued after being purchased by another company. It scanned you computer and recommended updates that needed to be installed. I haven’t found an adequate replacement.
5) Avast Anti‑Virus was my program of choice for many years. I didn’t like many of the business strategies they started using and no longer recommend the company.
6) Wise Registry Cleaner is still around. I haven’t used any programs of this type for several years.
7) Malwarebytes is still around and doing an excellent job of scanning all of my machines. Thankfully, my computing practices don’t give it much chance to remove anything.
8) CCleaner is a program that is still in production. For years it was my goto software for removing unwanted junk from my all my machines. The company was purchased by Avast. It wasn’t long before things changed. I no longer recommend this software.
About the only thing that hasn’t changed is the first program I install. KeePass Password Manager is the one program I absolutely need on every one of my devices.
Thanks for reading.