When you surf the internet from a Windows PC, you can discover articles and advertisements about programs, system tools and optimization utilities that promise to make your computer go faster and make it come back again. In blogs like Navigaweb only free and verified programs are reported but often in other sites or in advertisements users are invited to install paid software, considered by many to be indispensable to make a computer running Windows work well.
Although the writer can define himself as a real geek who likes to try all kinds of system tools, the purpose of this article is to report 11 types of programs that really are not needed for a normal user.
These are types of tools which, in many cases, are pure rubbish that only waste time without giving the desired results or rather, in certain cases, also worsening the situation.
In some cases there may be exceptions, in others there may be disagreements, but in general, everything listed here is always superfluous, if not useless and harmful .
READ ALSO: Which programs never install on the Windows PC
1) The Registry Cleaners
On this there is no doubt, the programs that clean the registry keys do not speed up the PC and, at best, are a waste of time.
Windows does not need to clean the registry.
There are, theoretically, some scenarios in which cleaning the registry could solve a problem but these are isolated and by no means frequent cases.
Running a registry cleaner program frequently will probably cause problems for your computer.
As written in the article on registry cleaner problems, the registry is huge and the deletion of even a few thousand entries is really irrelevant.
If you really want to use a registry cleaner, the only recommended program is CCleaner which, even if superfluous, acts with caution and never causes problems.
2) PC Cleaners
PC cleaners are another category of software you shouldn't use.
Like registry cleaners, they are advertised as essential, indispensable tools that can never be missing and that should be used once a week.
Paid programs of this type, which delete obsolete and temporary files, backups, system logs and browser caches, are superfluous.
Ccleaner, free and clean, is sufficient for cleaning temporary computer files.
READ ALSO: Guide on how to use Ccleaner and become an expert
3) Memory optimizers
This category of programs is really and useless.
Windows today needs no help in optimizing RAM memory.
This is the type of program that used to work when Windows 98 was slow to free up memory and when computers were weak.
A memory optimizer that runs in the background, on the contrary, slows down the performance of the computer as it uses resources to clear the data in the RAM cache.
The only way to free up memory on your computer is to close some programs.
4) Update Driver
Some "geeks" use automatic programs to update drivers to a new version.
These tools were useful until recently, before Windows 7.
Today, especially with Windows 8, drivers update automatically via Windows Update and there is no need to look for new versions around if everything works well.
The only driver that requires frequent updates, if you are a player, is that of the video card.
5) Game Booster
Game Booster is a program that improves the performance of PC games.
On a normal computer, where background programs are handled, the system does not need to be "optimized" for games by a program such as Game Booster.
Of course, if instead you let numerous programs load at startup, download Torrent by handcuff or use Emaule, you don't need Game Booster to tell us that before running a 3D game, it would be better to close them.
6) Defragmentation programs
In another updated article the best programs to defragment the disk that work well are reported.
However, these are useless programs because Windows already has its integrated defragmentation tool which is more than excellent.
Furthermore, you don't even need to use it because in Windows 7 and Windows 8 the hard disk is automatically and silently defragmented so you will never have a fragmented disk.
7) SSD optimizers
In the past I had reported programs to optimize the SSD disk.
The idea is that solid state drives require a program to optimize their use by Windows so that they can run at higher speeds and without ruining themselves, but there is no real proof of this.
However, this type of program is useless because Windows 8 and Windows 7 are capable of handling SSDs well.
The important thing is to keep in mind the things you should never do on a computer with an SSD drive
8) Uninstallers of programs
This is the type of software that many people like, the uninstaller that removes programs completely, without leaving any trace.
The process of uninstalling Windows programs is not perfect, and it is true that unnecessary files often remain around after they are removed.
To avoid this, some people use uninstallers like Revo uninstaller to delete all the files that a program could leave behind.
Although uninstallers can have a useful purpose, they are not worth the hassle of having to use them for most people.
The few remaining files of the removed programs are generally not a problem, take up little space, are hidden and do not slow down your computer's performance.
Unless we are real geeks who install and uninstall numerous software every day, this category of tools can be considered superfluous.
9) Automatic updating of programs
Again we are faced with something that today is superluo d useless but that in the past made sense.
Until some time ago, computer programs didn't update automatically, so a tool that checked for important updates was needed.
Today any application that needs frequent updating has its own integrated function to download and install updates and patches, the important thing is not to disable or reject them.
10) Outgoing firewall
To begin with, Windows has its own integrated firewall that blocks unauthorized programs from communicating with the internet and blocks incoming connections.
What's useless is checking outgoing traffic, which Windows doesn't do by default.
To give products with more functionality than the firewall integrated in Windows, the desktop firewall industry controls outgoing traffic, that is, checks the authorizations of programs to connect to the Internet.
This feature is not very useful today, because programs that connect to the internet or do it to download information and data (such as the browser) or to check for updates.
Let's face it, if you are running a program on your computer that you don't trust, instead of blocking its traffic, better remove it from the system.
11) The antivirus suites
Let's not misunderstand, antivirus is useful, security suites are another thing.
They are a collection of different programs that include phishing filters, heavy firewalls with a lot of knobs and controls, cleaning programs that consider all browser cookies a threat and much more.
In another article, there is the best combination of programs to protect your computer as with a free do-it-yourself suite .
Of course, this article cannot be taken in the absolute sense and there are cases where many of these programs could actually be useful.
For example, an uninstaller can be a salvation if software refuses to uninstall.
But these are always borderline cases, which do not concern most of us, which we must not be fooled by advertisements and pseudo-technical articles written just to make a little audience.
READ ALSO: Tools already included in Windows 8 and 7 not to be installed anymore and alternative programs
