MyPCBackup and PCMatic: Virus carriers?

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:confused:
Recently I bought a printer at Office Max, but I couldn’t get it to install (Windows 7). Took it and my laptop back to the store. Two days later, they pronounced my laptop as healed and the printer hooked up. They uninstalled several programs:

[INDENT] Remove unwanted programs
Your computer was reviewed for the presence of unwanted programs, folders, files and icons. All the unwanted items were removed.
Removed Programs

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware version 1.75.0.1300
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware version 2.0.2.1012
Microsoft Security Essentials
MyPC Backup
PC Matic 1.1.0.49
PC Pitstop Info Center 1.0.0.15[/INDENT]

All of these programs were either endorsed or advertised in Windows Secrets. I do not know what to think about this. Anyone with wisdom out there? Thanks.

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It was probably PC Matic that was causing the problem from some of the Googled posts that I’ve read.

I think the only good reviews came from PC Pitstop.com

I once came across where someone hadn’t uninstalled MBAM v1.75 fully before installing v2.0 and that caused problems, so don’t know if having both versions installed would cause similar, but reinstall MBAM v2 and MSE.

I would go back and ask them how they had determined MBAM and MSE were unwanted programs and why they had left your computer vulnerable by removing your AV program.

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I forgot to mention they installed McAfee security software and gave me a year’s worth of Carbonite backup. Is there a safe replacement for PC Matic? I’ve used it for a long time. Thanks for the help!

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That was decent of them although McAfee wouldn’t be my choice, but one of my sons is quite happy with it.

I think I would tend to leave the likes of PC Matic alone – what did you mainly use it for ?

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It had (has) a decent defragging feature, checks system items like video, does “performance tweaks” and other utilities. The main thing is that it did a whole bunch of things at once, rather than the user trying to remember them all.

What kills me is, PC Matic, and every other Typhoid Mary program I have I got from an ad on column on Windows Secrets.

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What kills me is, PC Matic, and every other Typhoid Mary program I have I got from an ad on column on Windows Secrets.

An ad is an ad, not an endorsement in any form. Any type of program that purports to improve performance through tweaks and similar stuff is really screaming for you to run away from it as fast as you can. Defragmentation is relevant, even though probably from Windows 7 on, the native defragging utility is good enough. Anything else is basically a way to part you from your money and will have no bearing on the performance of your computer other than a usually small lasting placebo effect.

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Well, as a pharmacist, I am familiar with the placebo effect.

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It had (has) a decent defragging feature, checks system items like video, does “performance tweaks” and other utilities. The main thing is that it did a whole bunch of things at once, rather than the user trying to remember them all.

What kills me is, PC Matic, and every other Typhoid Mary program I have I got from an ad on column on Windows Secrets.

Bad Tweaks: TweakHound – Tweaking Windows 7
Dump the tweak and or optimizer programs.
Convenience is not all that it’s cracked up to be and will often get you into more trouble than they are worth.

Create a desktop toolkit folder with all of your safe maintenance programs and commands located inside for ease of access.

It’s unlikely MBAM and or MSE has any bearing whatsoever on your failed printer installation.
It looks like the (subjective) opinion/preference of those techs working on your computer.

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Bad Tweaks: TweakHound – Tweaking Windows 7

Actually, I found TweakHound’s “Bad Tweaks” at http://www.tweakhound.com/2011/09/20/bad-tweaks/

The link in your post returns a page that has this notice at the top: “This is the old section of the site and is no longer being maintained – Please stop by the new home page to see new and updated content”.

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The good thing is “they pronounced my laptop as healed and the printer hooked up”
I’m not in favor of multiple paid protection/maintenance programs to run in competition with each other and I believe the rule of thumb is to run only one real time Internet security or at least an anti-virus but you are looking at the right thing to do: in your case have a program “that doe’s it all”
— That said, some people like McAfee, some don’t, same with Norton etc.
— Many times I have recommended to use an ISP’s internet security package especially when someone doesn’t know what’s going on with what they are using and they don’t want to remember to do those items on their own
— Then there’s the unpaid programs: well those are programs in which the user typically has to remember what to do on their own
— If that company didn’t tell you so, I suspect that’s why they uninstalled what they did and gave you one internet security package; that being McAfee
— I would think they should have called you and asked you which one do you want to keep
— Not knowing which version of McAfee they installed for you, I hope it includes protection and maintenance
— Back to an unpaid program: I recommend at least one second opinion program even though you have to remember when to run it
— The weekend before Patch Tuesday at some random time that suits you would be a good idea
It sounds like you definitely like PC-Matic
— Did you ask them their opinion about PC-Matic?
— I have seen ads for PC-Matic, but when I researched them on the Internet, other than their own web site, I didn’t see any recommendations for them
Now onto the printer
— Did they tell you what was wrong and how they got it to install?

HP EliteBook 8540w laptop Windows 10 Pro (x64)

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“Create a desktop toolkit folder with all of your safe maintenance programs and commands located inside for ease of access”
Clint, that’s an excellent recommendation
— That’s what I do for easy access just like you said

HP EliteBook 8540w laptop Windows 10 Pro (x64)

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Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.

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This thread made for excellent reading (for me). Thank you all for your good question and the good discussion/suggestions and answers.

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Just a footnote about technicians at most repair places. Especially the Big box Retailers and Office Stores.

These guys (and gals) see every “sick PC” as a Sales Opportunity. They removed the security and backup programs for one reason only: MONEY. They can make money (commissions and salaries) by removing free or previously bought (or OEM) programs and substituting their in-house brands, for which you are paying them and their vendors. To accomplish this, they have to convince you that your installed programs were at fault for the PC issues you present them with.

PC Tuneup types of programs are not endorsed here at Windows Secrets, either in free or paid content articles, nor by most folks here in The Lounge. These automatic fixit programs are more often the source of PC errors than a fix for them. They all make money by presenting scary-looking reports of thousands of “errors” in the OS or the Registry, which they will gladly “repair” for a “small fee”. Pure hogwash! Avoid these programs like the plague. The same goes for “Advanced Registry Cleaners”. Just another class of potentially harmful scareware.

But in this case, for security, you can keep what the techs gave (sold) you, and Carbonite is OK for data backup if you like Cloud Backup solutions. You can get as much protection for free, but I won’t argue with your choices or theirs. All looks good as it is and can be left as-is with no issues other than annual subscription prices.

Most likely, the only place you went wrong was with PCMatic and PC Pitstop. For an all in one PC maintenance program, I use the free Glary Utilities and use the One Click Maintenance, unchecking Wipe Free Space, which takes too much time and accomplishes little of any value.

Defragmenting a modern hard drive is totally a waste of time, as it does nothing to enhance system performance or avoid crashes. Excessive disk cleaning can cause early failure of a hard drive.

Cleaning temporary items with CCleaner might look pretty, but it really does not save a hard disk from filling up, and does not generally enhance system performance. The one place where CCleaner and its Registry cleanup button might help, is if you remove or replace a big program which has put a lot of Folders and Registry entries into Windows. Again, system performance will usually not be affected.

Slow PCs should have their Startups looked into, as this can affect system performance by having too many things running in the background when they are not needed.

-- rc primak

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…These automatic fixit programs are more often the source of PC errors than a fix for them. They all make money by presenting scary-looking reports of thousands of “errors” in the OS or the Registry, which they will gladly “repair” for a “small fee”. Pure hogwash! Avoid these programs like the plague. The same goes for “Advanced Registry Cleaners”. Just another class of potentially harmful scareware…

Agreed. In my experience there is *nothing* to be gained by running these so-called “fixit” programs, in fact most of the time when I have worked on customers’ computers that had such programs installed they have done far more harm than good (and too-often are simply a means to sneak malware onto users’ PCs).

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Using CCleaner to clear the temp files doesn’t remove all from %temp% and a build up in there can slow the computer up.

The updated version of SuperAntiSpyware (although is subject to current updating) has the option to clean %temp% files during it’s scan, whereas if you did that manually, don’t forget to empty the Recycle Bin.

I was given to understand that a Defragged HDD can help performance as it aids VM and while I’ve previously read that too frequent defragging can stress the HDD – MS has a schedule that you can set for regular defrags – I have that setting switched off and only check the HDD’s state each month prior to creating my monthly system image.

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Using CCleaner to clear the temp files doesn’t remove all from %temp% and a build up in there can slow the computer up.

The updated version of SuperAntiSpyware (although is subject to current updating) has the option to clean %temp% files during it’s scan, whereas if you did that manually, don’t forget to empty the Recycle Bin.

I was given to understand that a Defragged HDD can help performance as it aids VM and while I’ve previously read that too frequent defragging can stress the HDD – MS has a schedule that you can set for regular defrags – I have that setting switched off and only check the HDD’s state each month prior to creating my monthly system image.

It’s a long-running debate about the value of defragmentation. Especially where a VM is concerned. I doubt that a complete concensus will be reached anytime soon. I was posting what most (but not all) Windows Secrets contributors have been writing lately.

-- rc primak

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