10 replies to this topic

[spelbynder]

Specifically, there's an article in the December issue of PC Authority entitled The Crapware Con - crapware being all the software that comes pre-installed on a computer bought from Acer, HP et al. There are three programs to clean up this crapware mentioned: TuneUp Utilities, Autoruns and CCleaner, and CCleaner gets the big thumbs up over the over two. I couldn't find an online link to that story, maybe someone smarter than me will come up trumps with that

Pages 16-19, if anyone's interested

[hazelnut]

Do you mean the PCPro review?

http://www.pcpro.co....apware-cleaners

[Aethec]

"CCleaner’s Registry tool found 24 defects on our test PC; TuneUp Utilities told us nothing was wrong. CCleaner therefore remains our recommended PC cleaner"

That's nonsense. Cleaning more keys doesn't mean it will improve performance.

[marmite]

Oh for goodness sake, since when has Autoruns been a 'crap cleaner' anyway ... and since when is it supposed to be a tool for holding anyone's hand? It's one of the finest tools if it's type but it has nothing to do with the supposed subject of that article.

Out of those three ccleaner is the only one specifically aimed at 'crap cleaning' anyway. No disrespect to the OP ... but the article is a load of tosh.

[Andavari]

They completely missed posting about PC Decrapifier for those PC manufacturer pre-installed crapwares they write about, and of course Revo Uninstaller.

It takes more than one tool to "decrapify" a PC, and even then some registry leftovers can still remain. That alone is reason enough to have an actual Windows install disc versus relying upon some restore disc/partition or at the least "decrapify" the PC once then completely image the hard disk for restorations without the junk ever getting restored.

[ident]

I would not really read much into an article with people listing autoruns as a crap cleaner.

"CCleaner’s Registry tool found 24 defects on our test PC; TuneUp Utilities told us nothing was wrong."

I wonder if they even restored the regirsty on the same test machine

I also dont think they should be telling people to disable what ever they 'think' they dont want to run in the services tab

[Andavari]

ident, on Nov 12 2009, 12:45 PM, said:

I also dont think they should be telling people to disable what ever they 'think' they dont want to run in the services tab

There's many so called tips found online which are completely useless and have no system performance gains whatsoever, and some do more harm than any good. As for setting some unneeded services to manual or disabled those do offer a boost in available resources.

[marmite]

Andavari, on Nov 12 2009, 06:58 PM, said:

There's many so called tips found online which are completely useless and have no system performance gains whatsoever, and some do more harm than any good.

Absolutely, but it's also the reliance upon the lack of knowledge and experience of so many users that half of vendors that peddle 'tuning software' rely on.

Andavari, on Nov 12 2009, 06:58 PM, said:

As for setting some unneeded services to manual or disabled those do offer a boost in available resources.

The trouble is, as ident says, the average PC user doesn't appreciate what a service is, never mind which ones are appropriate to disable. For me there isn't that much of a performance gain in disabling services ... there are bigger advantages to be had from a security point of view.

Mentioned on these forums many times, Black Viper is one site that offers reasonable advice on services ... http://www.blackvipe.../servicecfg.htm ... but you still reasonably need able to interpret what you're reading.

[Andavari]

marmite, on Nov 12 2009, 01:16 PM, said:

Mentioned on these forums many times, Black Viper is one site that offers reasonable advice on services ... http://www.blackvipe.../servicecfg.htm ... but you still reasonably need able to interpret what you're reading.

Indeed! Interpretation and of course testing because some services that are listed as "alright to disable" on many sites I'd actually never disable. Like you've state disabling some of them is more in the realm of a security standpoint than anything else.

[spelbynder]

hazelnut, on Nov 12 2009, 09:07 PM, said:

Do you mean the PCPro review?

http://www.pcpro.co....apware-cleaners

NO, I said Australian PC Authority and I MEANT Australian PC Authority, if I'd read PCPro I would've SAID PC Pro!

And yeah guys, thanks for supporting the bit about CCleaner being a GREAT APPLICATION, NOT!

[marmite]

spelbynder, on Nov 14 2009, 12:46 PM, said:

NO, I said Australian PC Authority and I MEANT Australian PC Authority, if I'd read PCPro I would've SAID PC Pro!

And yeah guys, thanks for supporting the bit about CCleaner being a GREAT APPLICATION

It's all the same bunch ... and I'm guessing the same or similar review? Or does it just happen to be the same three mis-categorised pieces of software? http://www.pcauthority.com.au has separate download pages that describe ccleaner and TuneUp and Autoruns as 'Impressive and free antivirus and antispyware' ... hmmmm.

We all agree with you that ccleaner is a great app !!! But any article comparing those three tools as like-for-like is seriously misguided!