Test-driving 'free scan' tune-up suites.
Thread Starter
More bang for your buck
Joined: Nov 2005
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From: land of the clanger
Test-driving 'free scan' tune-up suites.
Here's an interesting article about 'free scan' tune-up suites
Series: Test-driving ‘free scan’ tune-up suites « Windows Secrets
Series: Test-driving ‘free scan’ tune-up suites « Windows Secrets
Joined: Aug 2007
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GG
Some interesting Stories on that site.
More generally: A lot of the registry clean out S/W has a reputation for not doing very much. i once paid £10.00 for an application that claimed to be able to actively search out the most recent drivers for my system - I suppose we all get taken in once?
CAT III
More generally: A lot of the registry clean out S/W has a reputation for not doing very much. i once paid £10.00 for an application that claimed to be able to actively search out the most recent drivers for my system - I suppose we all get taken in once?
CAT III
Joined: Jan 2012
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From: .
"A lot of the registry clean out S/W has a reputation for not doing very much."
Most of those come close to being scamware. The only one I'll use is CCleaner - which is a freebie anyway. The others have too much ability to do damage - and to be truthful, simply don't work. Besides which, on a modern machine, knocking a few lines out of the registry achieves very little in speed gains
"an application that claimed to be able to actively search out the most recent drivers for my system"
But why bother? If a computer system is working, leave well alone. Only update drivers to solve a problem - unless you're a kiddy playing high-end games who needs to screw every last quantum of performance out of the machine
Otherwise, if the machine is working and stable, leave the drivers alone
Most of those come close to being scamware. The only one I'll use is CCleaner - which is a freebie anyway. The others have too much ability to do damage - and to be truthful, simply don't work. Besides which, on a modern machine, knocking a few lines out of the registry achieves very little in speed gains
"an application that claimed to be able to actively search out the most recent drivers for my system"
But why bother? If a computer system is working, leave well alone. Only update drivers to solve a problem - unless you're a kiddy playing high-end games who needs to screw every last quantum of performance out of the machine
Otherwise, if the machine is working and stable, leave the drivers alone
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 335
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From: Oxford, England
Avoid like the plague in general. They are carriers of viruses, spyware and all sorts of bad stuff. If your machine is running ok, it doesn't need it either. If it isn't, pay for an hours worth of a good support tech More than worth it..
The rule is not to download or install anything that isn't from a mainstream software vendor. Anything else is like playing russian roulette...
Regards,
Chris
The rule is not to download or install anything that isn't from a mainstream software vendor. Anything else is like playing russian roulette...
Regards,
Chris
Hippopotomonstrosesquipidelian title
Joined: Oct 2006
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From: is everything
I think it lost its "reputable" status when it started re-wrapping sofware in its own installer which includes such delights as the Babylon toolbar, sets Babyon as the default search engine, and the default start page in your browser.
Joined: Apr 2008
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From: Passed away on Sept 6th
...without telling you what it is doing - or indeed (unless the print was even smaller than usual) giving you a check box to refuse this 'gift'! Gave me quite a few minutes of 'what the hell's it doing now?' before I realised. Never even heard of Babylon up to that point.
Official PPRuNe Chaplain
Joined: Apr 2001
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From: Witnesham, Suffolk
I've tinkered with a few of these over the years. Most of them want to remove "stuff" that I use all the time, so they get heaved out PDQ. The first time I used one, it zapped some number of files, then asked for money to complete the job.
I don't bother any more. From my experience, dross in the registry doesn't seem to make a noticeable difference to the speed of the machine.
What is useful is Regedit, for removing nasties or stuff that won't remove in a more civilised way. Great caution is required (and a backup before you start, so you can "undo" if it all goes pear shaped).
I don't bother any more. From my experience, dross in the registry doesn't seem to make a noticeable difference to the speed of the machine.
What is useful is Regedit, for removing nasties or stuff that won't remove in a more civilised way. Great caution is required (and a backup before you start, so you can "undo" if it all goes pear shaped).
Joined: Oct 2008
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From: united states
Over a year
of using it along with Malware Bytes and no problems. I use a Toshiba laptop with Windows 7 and my performance and deletion of unwanted cookies and quick uninstalling/performance boosting has been great. I have also worked with on Windows XP and Vista with no issues.
Last edited by jcbmack; 24th August 2012 at 21:13.
Joined: Dec 2011
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From: in the bath
then you've been lucky
Its another of these programs that install tool bars, broser redirects and other junk.
Its also very poor at what it does to the registry - its far too aggressive and often kills the .NET software
Its another of these programs that install tool bars, broser redirects and other junk.
Its also very poor at what it does to the registry - its far too aggressive and often kills the .NET software
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 116
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From: united states
I disagree with the lucky
I received the reviews on IObit from several reputable sources and have used it on many different computers. I must respectfully disagree with being lucky. I have never experienced anything negative with IObit at all ever. Neither have most IObit users who rate it online and in PC Mag, and in fact it was the PC magazines that offered the reviews and free downloads via discs.
I am not sure what others do here, but I teach programming and get to speak with experts on security software in my work, and they have said great things about IObit and MalwareBytes and Cookie cleaner which I use and found for free downloads on both CNET and discs from computer magazines.
I never have seen a browser bar installed if I did not want it.
I am not sure what others do here, but I teach programming and get to speak with experts on security software in my work, and they have said great things about IObit and MalwareBytes and Cookie cleaner which I use and found for free downloads on both CNET and discs from computer magazines.
I never have seen a browser bar installed if I did not want it.
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From: .
Well, I fix them for a living - and I can assure you that you don't want any of that IOBit software anywhere near your machine, unless you like paying people like me to clean it off when the machine crashes on you.
Their "Advanced Systemcare with Antivirus" has the unique ability in that it can't even detect viruses, and the "Systemcare" bit does nothing useful at all.
Of course the magazine reviews will hype it up - they have to, otherwise the companies stop advertising
Malwarebytes is a different animal
Comes from a different company, and it works. But its a malware scanner, not an optimisation program and so not comparable.
As for "cookie cleaner" - do you mean CCleaner? The C in that stands for CrapCleaner, not cookie....and yes its a good program in the correct hands. Nothing to do with IObit though - it comes from Piriform
Their "Advanced Systemcare with Antivirus" has the unique ability in that it can't even detect viruses, and the "Systemcare" bit does nothing useful at all.
Of course the magazine reviews will hype it up - they have to, otherwise the companies stop advertising
Malwarebytes is a different animal
Comes from a different company, and it works. But its a malware scanner, not an optimisation program and so not comparable.
As for "cookie cleaner" - do you mean CCleaner? The C in that stands for CrapCleaner, not cookie....and yes its a good program in the correct hands. Nothing to do with IObit though - it comes from Piriform
Joined: Oct 2008
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From: united states
I too fix them for a living
I have many years experience fixing computers, programming them and experimenting with optimization suites and anti virus software. I also work with digital kiosks, point of sale systems/self checkout scanners, and object oriented programming.
I can tell you that IObit works great and will not damage most computers based upon the 7 brand names I tested. In fact I have never seen IObit damage a single computer.
My Avanced Systemcare with Antivirus detects viruses that my old Trend Micro and Norton missed.
What advertising do you refer and in what magazines? The magazines I use do not even advertise these software.
I never stated that MalwareBytes was not a scanner or that it was the same thing as IObit optimization program, but rather that it works great with IObit and in addition, I downloaded it from CNET.
Very minor semantic issue. It does clean up crap, but I often generically refer to it as cookie cleaner, but in the future I will just state CCleaner.
Yes CCleaner comes from piniform, but I am unsure of your point--I use MalwareBytes, IObit and CCleaner together and have done so on many different computers for over a year with great success.
I can tell you that IObit works great and will not damage most computers based upon the 7 brand names I tested. In fact I have never seen IObit damage a single computer.
Their "Advanced Systemcare with Antivirus" has the unique ability in that it can't even detect viruses, and the "Systemcare" bit does nothing useful at all.
Of course the magazine reviews will hype it up - they have to, otherwise the companies stop advertising
Of course the magazine reviews will hype it up - they have to, otherwise the companies stop advertising
What advertising do you refer and in what magazines? The magazines I use do not even advertise these software.
alwarebytes is a different animal
Comes from a different company, and it works. But its a malware scanner, not an optimisation program and so not comparable.
Comes from a different company, and it works. But its a malware scanner, not an optimisation program and so not comparable.
As for "cookie cleaner" - do you mean CCleaner? The C in that stands for CrapCleaner, not cookie....and yes its a good program in the correct hands. Nothing to do with IObit though - it comes from Piriform
Yes CCleaner comes from piniform, but I am unsure of your point--I use MalwareBytes, IObit and CCleaner together and have done so on many different computers for over a year with great success.
Last edited by jcbmack; 25th August 2012 at 19:50.
Joined: Jan 2012
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From: .
I'd rather hoped that with the mods sanitising this thread and deleting your earlier posts that you'd taken the hint and gone away. However as you've come back for a second spit I'll riposte in kind. Just once. I won't reply to you on this thread again - I've better things to do
But in the meantime, to take your points.....
"I can tell you that IObit works great and will not damage most computers based upon the 7 brand names I tested. In fact I have never seen IObit damage a single computer"
Of the many thousands I've been involved in fixing, either directly or through supervision, I can assure you that the products are crapware that reduce performance, damage registries and can stop machines booting. Thats not found from a sample of seven machines, its based on many thousands of machines actually failing while in use in the real world
"detects viruses that my old Trend Micro and Norton missed."
If you use Norton and Trend Micro as any kind of yardstick for viral detection performance then you lose any kind of credibility you ever had. Both are close to useless in real world environments. Not hard to make ANYTHING look better than those.
Regarding Malwarebytes, you were the one who initially mentioned it in the same breath as the IObit software, naturally leading to the conclusion that you were comparing the products. As to "finding it on CNET" - I would suggest you would do better to obtain it directly from their website. There are too many issues with downloads from CNET, with some versions of the site redirecting you to assisted downloads. The same comment applies to Piriform's CCleaner as well
As to the correct name origin for CCleaner, its not a semantic point, its a point of accuracy as there are numerous examples of crapware which can be found by a Google search for cookie cleaner
Finally your comment "I use MalwareBytes, IObit and CCleaner together and have done so on many different computers for over a year with great success. "
Whoopie doopie dooo! A whole year and you're an expert! I've been fixing these things full time since the late 1990's and I still regard myself as a beginner. Remember - you may be an expert programmer but that means zilch when you're faced with fixing a machine that doesn't work. I've lost count of the numbers of MCSEs or similar I've sacked for being useless at practical stuff
But in the meantime, to take your points.....
"I can tell you that IObit works great and will not damage most computers based upon the 7 brand names I tested. In fact I have never seen IObit damage a single computer"
Of the many thousands I've been involved in fixing, either directly or through supervision, I can assure you that the products are crapware that reduce performance, damage registries and can stop machines booting. Thats not found from a sample of seven machines, its based on many thousands of machines actually failing while in use in the real world
"detects viruses that my old Trend Micro and Norton missed."
If you use Norton and Trend Micro as any kind of yardstick for viral detection performance then you lose any kind of credibility you ever had. Both are close to useless in real world environments. Not hard to make ANYTHING look better than those.
Regarding Malwarebytes, you were the one who initially mentioned it in the same breath as the IObit software, naturally leading to the conclusion that you were comparing the products. As to "finding it on CNET" - I would suggest you would do better to obtain it directly from their website. There are too many issues with downloads from CNET, with some versions of the site redirecting you to assisted downloads. The same comment applies to Piriform's CCleaner as well
As to the correct name origin for CCleaner, its not a semantic point, its a point of accuracy as there are numerous examples of crapware which can be found by a Google search for cookie cleaner
Finally your comment "I use MalwareBytes, IObit and CCleaner together and have done so on many different computers for over a year with great success. "
Whoopie doopie dooo! A whole year and you're an expert! I've been fixing these things full time since the late 1990's and I still regard myself as a beginner. Remember - you may be an expert programmer but that means zilch when you're faced with fixing a machine that doesn't work. I've lost count of the numbers of MCSEs or similar I've sacked for being useless at practical stuff