PC cleaning tool

[Toni]

joey,
I saw somewhere on this forum that you once recommended the CCleaner for cleaning up various nasties on your PC. And that it's used where you work.
Do you still recommend this product?

And do you know of a reliable, honest to goodness, free virus detection & removal tool.?
If only for temporary purposes.

[Joey]

Hi Toni,

CCleaner is an excellent tool for cleaning up a PC. http://www.cleartechinfo.com/Learn-How-To-CCleaner-Clean-Optimize-Free-Up-Hard-Drive-Space-Windows

To thoroughly clean up Malware (a type of virus that is very common) I recommend using the free version of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
AND
The free version of SUPERAntiSpyware. (sorry, I don't have a tutorial up yet for this one)

They both seem to do the same thing but I have been testing them side-by-side for a few weeks now and what one doesn't detect the other one does (Malware and SpyWare-wise).

The best FREE Anti-Virus program is a toss up between 3, AVG, Avira and Avast.
Out of the 3 I would say go with Avira AntiVir Personal.

Also to be safer on the Web I highly recommend that you always browse with the Mozilla Firefox browser.

 

[Toni]

Hi Toni,

CCleaner is an excellent tool for cleaning up a PC. http://www.cleartechinfo.com/Learn-How-To-CCleaner-Clean-Optimize-Free-Up-Hard-Drive-Space-Windows

To thoroughly clean up Malware (a type of virus that is very common) I recommend using the free version of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
AND
The free version of SUPERAntiSpyware. (sorry, I don't have a tutorial up yet for this one)

They both seem to do the same thing but I have been testing them side-by-side for a few weeks now and what one doesn't detect the other one does (Malware and SpyWare-wise).

The best FREE Anti-Virus program is a toss up between 3, AVG, Avira and Avast.
Out of the 3 I would say go with Avira AntiVir Personal.

Also to be safer on the Web I highly recommend that you always browse with the Mozilla Firefox browser.

 

Thanks joey, (once again)

I've only had this PC for a few months now and to be absolutely honest about it, I don't really know what kind of browser I have. It was new when I received it.

I've heard of the Mozilla Firefox browser before and I've seen a few free Firefox browser downloads offered and the info involved....and wondered if I should do that or not.
But I haven't had any problems with mine so far. No problems that I might have noticed anyway.

If I changed now, would it make any different in my browser experience?

Or is it just a better/safer browser all the way around? As in better pop-up protection etc?

 

[Joey]

np. Get the browser for free, here: www.mozilla.com/firefox/
As with a lot of subjects I have a help article on that too, hehe. http://www.cleartechinfo.com/Learn-How-To-Download-Install-Firefox3

At the bottom of the Firefox download and install tutorial I have linked an additional 11 tutorials and a blog post about Firefox. There are a ton of free customizations for it.

I have used IE, Firefox, Opera, and Google Chrome browser. Overall, in my opinion Firefox is overall the best, with Google Chrome a close 2nd.

There is a really good popup blocker add-on for Firefox named, "AdBlock Plus". It is 100% free.
Firefox is also very fast and safe. I have it on any PC that I use at home or work.

[Toni]

How ironic, my PC just updated automatically to an Explorer 8 browser. And so far I can't really tell any difference except in my posting here (it's now become a bit jumpy/unstable while I am writing this...weird huh) and it changed my tool bar a little with some new extras.
However I am still going to take your advice probably, but I will give this new browser a work out first. At least for a little while.

As per your advice on Virus protection, , I went ahead and tried the Avira AntiVir Personal system and at first it seemd ok.
But while doing a full scan..(on my third try).... about half way through it, I got tired of waiting for it to finish, and walked away, I left it running and after a few moments my PC monitor suddenly went black and came back very briefly giving a message that said  "Locking the Computer" and something else, but it went off before I could read it all.

I had never seen that message before and it rattled me a bit.

I quickly grabbed the mouse and began trying to get the screen to come back up, it remained black for a minute or two, and I thought, ok this is bad. lol
Finally it came back up and I stopped the scan and decided to uninstall it.

Ok this page is begining to really jump around now so I will come back later and finish this if I can.
Is the new browser causing this to happen now?
Talk about weird....

[Joey]

I just recently updated to IE8 and this site as well as others look weird and unstable using it. Even in the new IE8 feature "compatibility mode" it does not look right. Dunno what the problem is, hehe. As I have the past couple of years I am sticking with FF3. 

Sorry to hear about Avira. I tested it out a week or 2 ago at work and it seemed to work smoothly. Try AVAST. See how that works.
http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

And about the browser, yes definitely use Firefox 3. There is a ton of free add-ons that enhance or offer new features for it. The free support for it is outstanding.

[bikram]

those recomended programes are good but i have been using WEBROOT CLEANER. it only does what it is meant to do so its the  best. for antivirus i used to use norton antivirus now i use AVG internet security it takes less memory. Go for it mate.