Mistake 8: Not knowing what Linux is or ever using it

3:16 reminded me of the fact that the creator of the McAfee antivirus suite said he didn't use McAfee because it was way too annoying lol. rip John McAfee Edit: yooo thnx for the likes bois.I dont know what you liked about my comment lol but i appreciate it

Mistake 8: Downgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11.

When it comes to multiple anti-virus apps, an analogy that I always used was "Having two anti-virus apps is like taking a steak and two starving dogs and throwing them in a closet. Instead of going for the steak, the dogs will go after each other. Two anti-virus apps are the the same as they will fight each other for the right to protect your computer rather than actual protect your system".

"I would rather your system have viruses than multiple antivirus" Chris - 2022

Man, the other day on a service call, my client's laptop was just chugging badly. Things were very slow to open. She couldn't do anything. After trying so hard to get around and cleaning temp files and stuff, it was getting better, but not that good. So I look into her programs list and I found both Norton and McAfee. I was like "THERE IS YOUR ISSUE" 😂 Removed both and the laptop was brand new all over again. Fun times working on windows.

One thing that has always bothered me is people calling CCleaner CCCleaner

Personally I'd love to see the 100 list 😆. I'm too old school and was doing some of the things you listed. Been building computers since windows 3.1 and I bet I have some old habits I need to break

It's fun to know people still pronounce CCleaner with two C instead of one. Majority of Windows users remember the product as CCCleaner not CCleaner

Good tips, I have one small important note about 7-zip is that while it is an amazing compression utility, it does have issues supporting chinese/japanese characters file names when running on a PC not on either locale and will decompress into a lot of gibberish. Sometimes I had to spin up a small VM with LocaleEmulator to switch to Japanese/Chinese to get it decompress correctly.

FWIW, it's not CC Cleaner, it's C Cleaner. Everyone says it with two C's for some reason. Great video as usual!

I loved CCleaner when it was originally called Crap Cleaner, dumped it quite awhile ago. I purchased a tool called UVK (Ultra Virus Killer) which consolidates lots of native Windows functions into a single UI.

For the restart tips you can just disable fast boot I think it's called and you will have the same effect when using shutdown as restarting.

I still use CCleaner when I need to uninstall/drivers. The registry clean-up feature helps tremendously when graphics drivers (cough cough NVidia) don't want to corporate.

I've had several tech support customers who cannot install software without installing whatever toolbar or "free bonus program" comes with it. One had so many toolbars on his desktop that he only had about a three-inch horizontal band of free screen space.

In my experience, 7zip is only better compared to WinZip while WinRAR is superior to both albeit not by much. WinRAR can be used totally free without restrictions except for the "support us" trial box that appears once you open the UI. RAR compression is stronger compared to 7Zip under similar compression settings but it can take longer (usually in more seconds) to complete. Also, I noticed that a RAR compression job is also safer with virtually no corruptions as the software has great file check, recovery, and restore options while 7Zip can render corrupt archives (through rarely). The biggest downside to RARs is that it is a proprietary software so other programs can't analyze and do stuff except decompress them. Fixing bugs and flaws, and adding new/better features will depend on one developer team so it's up to you if you want to trust this arrangement. Edit: I was talking about the compression software not the .extension file you get. For the files, Zip is the widely accessible format with windows and macs having built-in tools to compress and decompress files. Zips are faster and offer lower error chance vs 7Zips, but are weaker than the other formats. RARs are great if more users adhered to the format and have software to at least decompress it in the first place. WinRAR and 7Zip users will never get away with a 100% RAR/7zip-only use as sending a Zip to someone is statistically more likely to have no further issues (you don't need to tell them to install anything, lower error/corruption chance, etc).

Yeah, I remember when some of these old programs got hobbled.."Crap Cleaner" as you say was great, then added heaps of dubious functionality...I kept using it with all of them disabled, like 'monitoring' and the constant running in the background. I'd just open and use it once every weeks maybe. Then I went to having it on a USB. Loving the Linux setup I have now, and the joy of not having to think at all about those many aspects of maintaining a Windows system, one that you try and tame. That ended up as too much focusing on the negative; my new Linux experience is about interacting with a constant teacher. I keep discovering new ways of doing things and the real power of a PC. But with the apps, It still gets down to studying the program itself; good practice to check and occasionally double-check the settings of any app, especially when things change.

I always turn off fast boot on windows because it's basically useless. in fact it's probably worse than useless since it never unmounts your NTFS partition causing potential heartaches on Linux. except for that I just turn my system off and unplug it (I use a laptop at a desk) when I'm going to sleep. if you use a laptop as a desktop, please unplug the power when it's turned off or in sleep, if you leave it plugged in like that it'll kill the battery, trust me, I know. plus leaving your laptop plugged in is keeping it alive in a higher state than unplugged, even when off, at least for some laptops.

Thank for all your work, best in town, by the way Mistake all user do: never clean for all files, mails and so on, using the HD to almost 100% and even more dont have a backup. In my 35 years in business this is my personal time consuming support issue..... Keep your work is the best.... Thanks

Most underrate Guru on KZfaq. Good-stuff man, love your work and a lot of wisdom and knowledge on windows and Linux!

What is your view on using Everything versus default indexing? I HATE windows indexing, so I have switched to Everything and WOX, but I am wondering what you thing the advantages and disadvantages are...

Hey Chris - your Videos are such an enrichment, I've learnt so much thru your work! Thx a lot!

You can also go into the Power plan in control panel, and disable fast startup & shutdown. It's basically the same thing as restarting but it shuts down your computer. And there might be another option to save the ram and reopen the programs on startup, disable that as well.

CCleaner has a Portable Build. No installer or background processes. Just run, clean, done. In my experience it cleans out more than Disk Cleanup.

As a non commercial user you can use winrar completely free. I configured it to only show me the unzip here or zip here options in my context menu and I only use it through there. Thus I never get any pupups

Hey man I really appreciate you. Addresses most pc users so this will definitely benefit a ton of people years down the line so thank ya

Mine was 30% fragmented, and it took a toll... so in case you see decreased performance, you have enough free space, and the smart is okay, then it worth taking a look at defrag.

Im using the spectre edition of windows ( custom iso ), ive never seen any issue and all of me mates use this iso. I mean if u know what you are doing, then you wont get any virus. And spectre is a really reputated iso builder among gamers. Just RAW windows, nothing else.

The biggest is trusting KZfaqrs that tweak the hell out of Nvidia Control Panel, DON'T DO IT!! The other thing is tweaking settings in ANY control panel. I have a wireless network adapter and would look up what the best settings were. They were tweaking it up the wazoo and mine got worse when I did what they did, then, a girl piped up and said "I leave mine at default, and it's fine.". I did what she did and haven't had a wifi issue ever since!

Thanks for remembering me of 7zip! WinRar is very annoying with all those ADs!

I prefer WinRar over 7zip because 7zip on default settings uses system ssd for caching when unpacking archives even if archive located on other hdd.

Speaking of WinRar, I zipped (password protected) all of my pictures with winrar and I forgot the pass, is there anyway to crack the password? I lost 31 years of memories.

Something I see a lot of is people not knowing that the default shutdown settings save the computer state and don't start you back fresh. so at the end of the day they select shutdown. Restart is a much more reliable option than shutdown for computer performance.

I can't disagree, that CCleaner is bad. Once it even broke some network-related stuff and I had to restore from a recovery point. Since then I stopped using it.

With nvme SSD's and how windows can restore app sessions now, there is no reason for you to sleep your PC instead of shutting it down imo. I usually just shutdown my laptop when im not working on it. With even old ssd's and super fast boot times, it takes less than a minute to sign in again

On Restart, you said that flushes your memory, and that it is nowhere near long enough to do that task properly, and while a good option, can leave errors in memory. As around 90% of all "Bugs", are transient errors in memory, especially in games, and modded ones most of all, just clearing memory fully, is my go to first step in fixing all gaming errors. Clearing memory fully, needs at least a 30 seconds switched off to drain memory capacitors fully, I've lost count of times where "Restart" did nothing, but a long switch off "Just Works". I've seen others say rapid pressing of power button drains caps faster, but I want 100% reliable methods, so I stick to "Switch off, 30+ Seconds Delay, Switch On", it works every time.

Mistake 8: Animated desktop background. The ones I've seen so far increase idle CPU usage by 5%-10% on a powerful machine.

Oh it's a lot. Overusing Windows desktop (GUI) as storage instead of using shortcuts. Installing multiple RGB third party applications. Framework not updated. Rare with Windows clean install. Not closing down web browser tabs. Saying yes to all toolbar stuff. Never cleaning up appdata temp and msconfig. Never uninstalling unused programs. Using OneDrive the wrong way, storage limit. Using computer as the only place for backup Smartphone. Deleting files and don't know how to recover files. Using old Windows (XP etc) connected to Internet.

Browser hijacks. Especially search services. Then there's all those damn monitors running in the task bar. Printer monitors that belong to printers the user no longer has. And they wonder why the machine hangs before the login screen appears. It's waiting to initialise a printer you threw in the trash a long time ago. Thanks for all your help Chris. You could have made this video several hours long. 🙂

What drives me crazy is customers install - software to help find hardware drivers online. And programs like this runs in the background the entire time.

Feels good that I already don't do most of these stuff. Including Mistake 8.

Apparently you can check disk management's progress through the defragmenter, so if it seems stuck you can take a look there

Im confused with the winrar part. Ive been using it since 2017, Ive never paid or had any trouble.

Any suggestion for the registry file maintenance ? Does it worth to keep it small ?

Why does everyone call it "C-C" Cleaner? It's clearly "C" Cleaner!

Some people use to store files on the desktop. Some times there's a few files, sometimes you can't see the background... and then Windows slows down or even prevents logon because it runs out of memory. Solution: make a folder and throw all those files inside. Keep the desktop as clean as possible

I am glad you mentioned CCleaner. once upon a time it used to be a good product... DUMP ANY SUBSCRIPTION SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE. (that includes games) I have a forever license with WinRAR. it is still a good product. but Agree 7-zip is perfectly fine and free. My 8th would be.. remove all Adobe products from your computer

A lot of users are unable to comprehend the need for computer restarting. Memory, CPU usage etc - it is all Greek to them. However, they have seen certain things in movies and it looks cool thus they will not shutdown their PCs because it is waste of time to boot it up in their opinion. It is hard to explain to these individuals what is the issue. As for the multiple antiviruses - there is a pile of ignorance and confusion on that one. Some have told me that they installed it because it was written recommended. Others because their licence expired for one so they install another but never realizing that even though licence is expired it runs in background as a free version of itself. Stopping services is one thing. But there are super smart people who delve into registry and do stuff. Coincidentally, there is no way someone can reasonably talk to these people.

I use full versions of Bitdefender & Malwarebytes together for years without any problems, having said that, make sure that you install Bitdefender 1st then Malwarebytes otherwise you will get an error message of some sort... Hope this helps someone...

My question is: Is defrag a bad thing on very used, fragmented devices? Because: - The disk has programs that windows is running - It has plenty of important files - Were the power company fail to provide power to your pc while you are defrag, you could potentially loose a ton of data.

Not backing up "anything" as A: it'll never happen to them to need it B: Isn't everything backed up already? I have "insert something like Onedrive or Box".....then.....where are the files on my Desktop, My Docs?

I would look forward to seeing a video on using NTLite to make a custom ISO. I tried multiple times using MS toolkit and for some reason no matter how I did configured it I couldn't get it to install on a drive.

I wouldn't mind paying WinRAR if I had some money to spare, somebody made it you know. I use it alot, I don't think that is a waste instead it's support. This FOSS community is really getting entitled

Hi Cris, I would agree with all points, but not on restart when you quit your work for the day... On desktop I would say to disable fast boot and do regular shutdown at the end of the day. On laptop, I would recommend sleep mode. Even Windows should be able to work some 15-30 days without reboot. XP was able to do so, so why not W10/11? And it will still force you to restart because of updates...

That is one of the problems with being an OG (old guy). We get into the habit of doing what use to be good things. Times change and good becomes bad without our realizing it. I would be guilty of a few of these IF I still used Windows.

WinRAR's recovery record feature seems useful for avoiding data corruption/bit rot. It looks like 7-Zip doesn't have an equivalent.

What about apps to completely uninstall software, like "Revo Uninstaller" or "BCUninstaller" or "BleachBit"?

I just have a custom registry applied to give me back the “classic” Windows 10 Taskbar with the ability to tweak the notification icons in Control Panel.

CCleaner is actually good as a registry cleaner.

the ccleaner is actually good, you can uninstall edge with it

Hi Chris, awesome videos and data. I have one question, is there any built-in way in windows to scan/fix issues in regestry? I also dont like ccleaner monitor and pop ups, would like to get rid of it, but I use it to scan issues on regestry. If there is no alternative built-in in in windows, do you know any good free alternative? Thanks for the content!!

Been using Ghost Spectre and never had any problem, Number 01 you need to pick carefully.

liked this video. i was noticing that some of the icons on your task bar i don't recognize, was wondering what some of them are. for instance the third through seventh icons from the left of screen of course i do also know that what you use is probably not my business, but i am always looking for stuff to help me use my pc

Speaking of Ccleaner. What about Glary Utilities 5? Does the same apply for that program? I’ve been using it for a year orso now. But now that you mentioned Ccleaner I’m kind of sceptic towards Glary Utilities 5.

Mistake 8: Using Brave or any Chromium based browser, just use Firefox.

I've been telling people for DECADES to never mess with CCleaner. Just last month had a client nuke UMBus Enumerator on a Win7 laptop using a CCleaner variant - RESTORO. Can't tell you how many systems I've had to rebuild the windows native zip functionality cause winzip messed with it in the context menus and pulled the associations away from the system. Mcafee is on my nuke list. If people use free antivirus, ill kill it on windows 10. Remember Spybot Search and Destroy? Uggggggh I HATE HP printer drivers... I could go on and on, carry on. 😂

This is a great list. I've seen all of these in the wild. Another thing I do when setting up any PC is disable startup apps. I ask the users which apps they want to launch at start-up and disable everything else. I explain how it slows the the startup process so if you don't need Teams open immediately, maybe disable that. I want apps to lauch when I tell them. Also, close apps and browser tabs when you're done. Think of your PC like a desk. There's only so much space for you to open files and apps. Imagine how cluttered your desk can get. So to avoid that clutter you work on one thing at a time and file it away when you're complete. Same thing applies with your PC. Close apps to free up resources for what you're focused on.

Number 1 cringe thing: attaching an USB harddrive to do a very large copy/backup, and not adjust the volume policy to disable fast removal . The transfer rate will sink at the first hitch, and never recover, having to wait aeons to finalize the copy. Another cringe thing: literally believing the antivirus false positives. I see this even within developer communities. Sigh.

But Windows does not support password protected compressed archive files, that's why i install winrar.

I have a WinRAR license, and 7zip was giving me some errors when multitasking.

Mistake #0: Using Windows in the first place.

I always turn my PC off at the end of the day but I wonder is it also relevant on server machines? Do servers automatically restart once a day or something like that?

As someone that's been learning about Windows and PC's for the past 20ish years I completely agree with most of what you say but Ccleaner. I swear by this programme, yes turn off start-up and the monitor to only start it when you need it. The cleaner part is good every now and then I use it about once a month or so but the registry cleaner that's a different story. This is something that only really needs to be used when uninstalling or moving a programme as Windows does not clean up properly and no it wont harm your system if you don't clean it but the longer you leave it the slower your system will get and more crashes are likely. (I want to add be careful as there are boxes to tick/untick that will give you a better clean, just make sure you know what you are doing or look it up).

People tends to install third party software in order to copy faster than the built-in copy an paste from Windows.

Greetings from Germany! There are so many people that do not trust in open source or don´t even know about. Another thing I have often noticed is that poeple do not use the Windows search. They spend hours a year with looking up ther programs in this mess of a startmenu. The opposite extreme are people who have 100 links on their desktop because they hate the startmenu. But to be honest, the largest mistake is to use Windows...

Most people don`t understand that any OS is a very complex structure. You can not just turn of few services or edit few registries and calling the day. Because 99% of the people doing this don`t have an idea what core processes can be affected from this and what the consequences can be. Windows is a self maintaining system and messing around with it`s core structure will lead only to problems. I made a lot of custom ISO`s by my self and to be honest it works better as it is for 99% of people. Why so many people are obsessed with the Windows telemetry but not with the telemetry in their phones? Mobile devices are collecting way more data for you , because they are with you all the time than the pc sitting at home. You are not making calls , sending messages , making photos with your pc , right?

I’ve never done any of these things, but I will try out that setting Services to manual! I wasn’t aware of such a thing and I may look into it more

good video :) , any tips on what to use :D instead example cc leaner?

and the first party solutions like disk clean up are going to do better always because it's a program to that has full access of the Operating system and 3rd party software cant do a dent.

Spot on bud. 👍 I will also add; If you don't understand what you're looking at, how can you trust it?...applies to life in general too.

As always, "You're the BEST, SUPER HONEST, AND LET's not FORGET TRUSTWORTHY". THANKS

Multiple Antivus = having 2 bodyguards who have no knowledge of each other... imagine that!

Mistake 9: having multiple win installations on the same drive...

Most annoying? 20GB in trash, 60GB in downloads all copied to folders on desktop, Chrome, crusty keyboards with hair, Wi-Fi routers on the floor. The worst is "the Wi-Fi is broken!"

Is it safe to turn all services to manual instead of disabling them? Will that make your computer faster?

Install crack and pirated software is the most thing Windows user do, especially IDM and WinRar. IDK why most normies install this garbage stuff that end up slowing down their PC/laptop.

I'd love a series of these things!

To be fair restarting the system adds to the on off cycle. I'd rather lose a little performance for longevity

> explaining common windows user's mistakes > talking about process count > unironically USING CHROME 💀

Does 7-Zip offer a similar archive repair as WinRAR, in case of corruption? Like adding recovery records?

What about defrag (or retrim) schedule for SSD.... still every hour or somethinng like that? Builtin disk cleanup? Not for multiuser computer, there goes ccleaner for all user accounts at once ...

I don't mind these sorts of videos for the fact I forget a lot of stuff and probably should do things more regularly (like clean up junk files and the like, uninstall programs I don't use or need). Generally, I'm more concerned I have a proper backup for when the shit hits the fan! I've used Avira antivirus for years, but I have heard many channels saying antivirus isn't needed anymore with Windoz Defender being more capable now. Back in the day it sucked giant balls.

these are exactly what annoys me about my friends too, they do all of those things and i just face palm when i see their stystems

Great video. Thank you, Chris👍

CCleaner is okay when trying to uninstall apps that don't show up in the normal uninstall program, it is also useful when you want to clean up your Registry for unused strings, left behind by uninstalled software.

Hilarious. Right after watching this KZfaq shows me my first ever ad for CCleaner "Download CCleaner Today!" 😆🤣

Malewarebytes works really well with Defender and is very inobtrusive. It's a great combination with also installing MVPS host file blocker. 30 plus year virus free.

Misake 7+n : Not having some form of ad/cookie banner/tracker blocker on your browser

Mistake #1: using Windows in the first place Mistake #2: trying to fix it when it breaks Mistake #3: believing them when they say they know what they're doing Mistake #4: not realising that any Win version that is still supported is really just slick packaged beta-ware and your PC is the test bed (it's in their development cycle documentation) And the final Mistake is not dumping Windows and installing any other operating system: Linux, BDS, Solaris, UNIX, even write your own...anything but Windows IMHO

Don't think i've seen anyone do any of the things you listed anymore on any of the systems i've fixed/restored in recent times, apart from CCleaner since i still use it to this day 😅mostly for convenience. What i've seen is people installing multiple browsers then get mad when their bookmarks or website sessions are not there anymore, or constantly skipping Windows updates, then once in a while Windows pushes a mandatory security update and their PC completely breaks down going into a bootloop, i've probably fixed 4-5 laptops just recently with that problem.