Some of the information below is outdated. I will update it when I finalize the build. Please check out version 4.00 RC in the meanwhile and give me your comments.
NEW: 3 scanning profiles, beautiful GUI with dynamic animations, user prompting for different operations (answers can be saved), ability to delete files in use, many more locations scanned, windows 7 compatibility, etc.
Most importantly, it does every location CCleaner does (except the registry). Please leave your comments here.
Please note: Logging is not enabled in the release candidate like in the last version. Will be included in the final build.
DiskMax is a hard-disk performance tool. Generally to obtain better performance from a Windows installation, you need to do three things:
1. Remove temporary/unnecessary files (at least from the Windows partition). DiskMax removes temporary files like the ones that accumulate from Internet browsing, installing/uninstalling programs, etc. Its good to do this regularly but can be a tedious process if you want to be thorough. DiskMax automates that.
2. Remove unnecessary programs, remove unnecessary startup items, clean the registry, etc. - DiskMax cannot do that for you; but its important to do it at least once in 2 months.
3. Clean out event logs (massive speed boost in Vista especially) - Open event viewer to view your logs. They can be cleaned up from the interface, but then again its a tedious process to clean out every one of the 150 odd logs (some which can accumulate over 10,000 entries in a few days!)
4. Defragment your HDD to rearrange files in such a way as to boost performance.
Download from: Koshy John \ Software \ DiskMax
Size: 549KB
Downloads to date: 21,000
Quick Facts
- DiskMax is a standalone - it can be run from anywhere - doesn't require installing or uninstalling.
- The program can be stopped by clicking on 'Exit' at any point of time.
- Maintains a log of every execution cycle in your 'My Documents' folder. Check it to see what tasks were performed (every run will overwrite the previous run's log).
- Perfomance boost? You will not be disappointed even if you are one to manually tune your system - there's only so many times you can do it without getting tired of it.
- With the exclusion of defragmenting, the whole thing would take around 2 minutes. Defragmenting (if you choose to do so) can add anywhere from a minute to an hour to the time taken depending on how long back defragmentation was last done - but the increase in performance? Worth it without any doubt!
What does DiskMax do (in detail)?
1.Deletes (*.xml,*.txt,*.sqm) from the root of every volume.
2.Automates emptying your recycle bin (if specified), cleaning up of installation remnants, and debugging information.
3.Cleans up every user's History, Temp, Temporary Internet Files, Cookies (if specified), Recently opened documents list, explorer thumbnail cache and windows error reporting logs.
4.Clears out Windows cache, debugging info, internet logs, help center caches, repair information, DLL caches, Logs, temporary files and windows update roll-back files.
5.Removes registry entries for multiple Most Recently Used lists.
6.Clears out Windows Vista event logs (no other application out there does this).
7.Deep scans your hard-disk to remove all files of type log, old, prv, chk, swp, bak, gid, wbk, tmp and dmp. This can be cancelled if you are an advanced user who needs these types of files for immediate troubleshooting.
8.Defragments your HDD(s) - basically rearranges files around so that they can be accessed faster.
9.Displays a log of all the activites performed along with associated time stamps.
Is it safe?
If you've read what it will do carefully, yes, its safe. It will not deviate from the above described behavior. The program's core funcationality is over 5 years old now. But just to sure, here's a safety net for you - just in case you want to recover any of the files deleted: http://undelete-plus.com/download.html (Undelete Plus).
For best results, install Undelete plus in advance and run it as soon as you come to the conclusion that you might have needed any of the deleted files. Minimize HDD activity like installing/uninstalling or running other programs till your files are recovered. The Undelete help manual will give you a number of other tips. Its a useful program to have irrespective of whether you use DiskMax or not (it'll save you from accidental 'Shift+Delete's).
Your comments and suggestions will be gratefully accepted.
Edited by Koshy John, 27 February 2009 - 10:55 AM.
