PC Healthcheck

[Katiebee]

When companies like PC World offer a PC Healthcheck, what do they actually do? My PC has become really slow lately, and does some strange things, and I just think it needs a good looking at, so I was wondering whether to have it checked over or not. Would they be able to read all the personal stuff you keep on a PC, is what I'm worried about! Thanks for any help you can give.

[LeMarchand]

I think Gary Glitter will tell you that they can read your "personal stuff".

[Phantaxus]

They use a diagnostics cdrom to test your machine and scan for spyware and viruses. I have one - a friend gave it to me after it was left in his pc when it came back from PC World - trouble is it is password protected so if there are any disgruntled ex-PCWorld engineers out there I would be very interested in knowing the password. :)

[Dave Potts]

You might want to visit PC Pitstop, a site I chanced upon whilst Trojan-busting recently. It offers an online PC healthcheck and has several 'quickfix' tools which might be able to improve your PCs performance and rectify any problems you may be having. You can find them here - http://www.pcpitstop.com/

[Katiebee]

Thanks for the answers so far. Dave, have you tried PCPitstop yourself, or has anyone else out there, so I've an idea if they're any good!

[headlesspets]

speaking as one who doesn't know her usb's from her elbow i found PCpitstop to be fabulous, ya just sit back, eat biscuits (of course being careful not to get crumbs in yer keyboard) and let it do its thing. I DO think however, that they should issue an explicit warning as when the programme is carrying out tests on your hard drive (or whatever it is) there are los of flashing images - potentially a problem for people with epilepsy - whaddya think DP?

[Dave Potts]

Yup! The flashy images, albeit brief, might well have you convulsing on the floor and foaming at the mouth - an ever-sensible note of caution there hp. I've certainly used the site myself Katiebee, and have found it to be excellent (I would not recommend it otherwise) and II think other Abers I've pointed in that direction have also found it to be useful. It makes NO changes to your system unless you authorise it do so (if, for example, it identifies a problem which you opt to fix using one of its 'Quickfix' tools). It's also worth noting if you have a firewall such as Norton Internet Security or ZoneAlarm, you might have to disable it for PC Pitstop to complete its tests. Good luck!

[Cetti]

Thanks Dave, I've just used it and had a couple of very helpful tips. The flashing lights are very brief but a warning beforehand might be a good idea for those likely to be affected - it also gives a lot of info about the ghastly Gator - a really good site!

[Katiebee]

Apologies for the delayed response, people. I hope you come back to this Q! Anyway, I gave the site a go, and like Cetti, got some useful tips - like I needed a defrag desperately! Thanks for your help. Things are a lot better now!