Utilities question

I just downloaded a free copy of Glary Utilities Pro, an offer from CNET. How
reliable and safe are these utility programs that supposedly clean up your
Windows system? I just ran one thing, which searched for empty folders on my
system, and it found 4,400 of them. I manually checked a number and sure enough,
they were empty folders. So, I deleted them (but they're still in my recycle bin
for now.) So are programs like this safe to use? I donwloaded this one because
it was a CNET offer and I always took them to be reliable. Thanks.

wrote:
I just downloaded a free copy of Glary Utilities Pro, an offer from CNET. How
reliable and safe are these utility programs that supposedly clean up your
Windows system? I just ran one thing, which searched for empty folders on my
system, and it found 4,400 of them. I manually checked a number and sure enough,
they were empty folders. So, I deleted them (but they're still in my recycle bin
for now.) So are programs like this safe to use? I donwloaded this one because
it was a CNET offer and I always took them to be reliable. Thanks.


What you've just done is very stupid. Many folders (empty or not) are
required by programs to run. Without them they'll crash.
If I were you I'd either restore the lot or hold them in the Recycle Bin
until every single program that you've installed has been test run.

Because naive people do things like this, we who know better condemn the
providers of such utilities as irresponsible idiots.

Ed

I wouldn't trust CNet for anything. Any software
you want should be downloaded from the author's
website. If they don't have a website that's a bad
sign.

I don't know anything about Glary Utilities. Aside
from cleaning TEMP files, browser cache and
emptying the rubbish, I can't think of anything that
really needs to be cleaned. Empty folders do no
harm except when you've created them yourself
and they're part of disorganization. Then again,
4,400 is a lot. I can't imagine how you could have
got so many.

wrote:
I just downloaded a free copy of Glary Utilities Pro, an offer from CNET. How
reliable and safe are these utility programs that supposedly clean up your
Windows system? I just ran one thing, which searched for empty folders on my
system, and it found 4,400 of them. I manually checked a number and sure enough,
they were empty folders. So, I deleted them (but they're still in my recycle bin
for now.) So are programs like this safe to use? I donwloaded this one because
it was a CNET offer and I always took them to be reliable. Thanks.

If it came from CNET, your next job will
be finding the adware and toolbars.

Always be careful with downloads from there.

Only a few downloads are completely clean.
Developers who pay CNET for a certain level of
service (Macrium being an example), there's no
adware.

*******

Programs which needed the empty folders, and find
the folder missing, can put the folder back.

But not every software developer "expects the floor
to open underneath them", and then their program
will fail when not finding some installed folder.

I would not remove empty folders here, except
when I find them in a casual visit in my Downloads
area. Not elsewhere.

Windows comes with Disk Cleanup, and that would
be an example of some trivial cleanup. If you need
a little file space, that's an easy way to get some.

But cleaning up empty folders, that would be pretty
far down my list.

That issue has about the same status as Registry Cleaning.
I've never had any indication my registry files are unhealthy,
so I just leave them alone.

The registry is actually pretty fast, if you look at
what the OS is doing to it. As you're sitting there
right now, the OS may have consulted (read) a registry
entry 200 times a second. Even when the machine is "quiet",
the registry is very busy. And yet it's fast, even
when the file behind it is huge.

The only time I might consider a cleaning product,
is if I had "punished" the registry by running a
special test program that fills the registry with
crap. Ordinarily, there's no reason to bother with it.

Paul

Per :
I donwloaded this one because
it was a CNET offer and I always took them to be reliable. Thanks.

Two Unrelated Comments:

1) I have never heard anything good about PC cleanup utilities.

2) From hard experience, I have learned to not download applications
from anywhere except the developer's web site. And that goes
triple if the site requires use of a download manager.
--
Pete Cresswell

Paul wrote:
wrote:
I just downloaded a free copy of Glary Utilities Pro, an offer from
CNET. How
reliable and safe are these utility programs that supposedly clean up
your
Windows system? I just ran one thing, which searched for empty folders
on my
system, and it found 4,400 of them. I manually checked a number and
sure enough,
they were empty folders. So, I deleted them (but they're still in my
recycle bin
for now.) So are programs like this safe to use? I donwloaded this one
because
it was a CNET offer and I always took them to be reliable. Thanks.

If it came from CNET, your next job will
be finding the adware and toolbars.

Always be careful with downloads from there.

Only a few downloads are completely clean.
Developers who pay CNET for a certain level of
service (Macrium being an example), there's no
adware.

*******

Programs which needed the empty folders, and find
the folder missing, can put the folder back.

But not every software developer "expects the floor
to open underneath them", and then their program
will fail when not finding some installed folder.

I would not remove empty folders here, except
when I find them in a casual visit in my Downloads
area. Not elsewhere.

Windows comes with Disk Cleanup, and that would
be an example of some trivial cleanup. If you need
a little file space, that's an easy way to get some.

But cleaning up empty folders, that would be pretty
far down my list.

That issue has about the same status as Registry Cleaning.
I've never had any indication my registry files are unhealthy,
so I just leave them alone.

The registry is actually pretty fast, if you look at
what the OS is doing to it. As you're sitting there
right now, the OS may have consulted (read) a registry
entry 200 times a second. Even when the machine is "quiet",
the registry is very busy. And yet it's fast, even
when the file behind it is huge.

The only time I might consider a cleaning product,
is if I had "punished" the registry by running a
special test program that fills the registry with
crap. Ordinarily, there's no reason to bother with it.

Paul

I just scanned my C: drive with this;
http://www.jonasjohn.de/red.htm
(Open source; safe enough for just the analyse run)

It found 1,662 empty folders out of a total of 29,543.

The display is very good. You can scan through it to see where the
majority are situated.

Ed

wrote:
I just downloaded a free copy of Glary Utilities Pro, an offer from CNET. How
reliable and safe are these utility programs that supposedly clean up your
Windows system? I just ran one thing, which searched for empty folders on my
system, and it found 4,400 of them. I manually checked a number and sure enough,
they were empty folders. So, I deleted them (but they're still in my recycle bin
for now.) So are programs like this safe to use? I donwloaded this one because
it was a CNET offer and I always took them to be reliable. Thanks.

I tried Glary Util free version several years ago on this XP machine.
It was ok but did not contain anything I did not already have so I
deleted it within a few min. of install. I got it directly from Glary.
I would never d/l anything from C/NET unless there was no other
way and the program was absolutely essential (unlikely).

wrote:
I just downloaded a free copy of Glary Utilities Pro, an offer from CNET. How
reliable and safe are these utility programs that supposedly clean up your
Windows system? I just ran one thing, which searched for empty folders on my
system, and it found 4,400 of them. I manually checked a number and sure enough,
they were empty folders. So, I deleted them (but they're still in my recycle bin
for now.) So are programs like this safe to use? I donwloaded this one because
it was a CNET offer and I always took them to be reliable. Thanks.


Snake Oil has a better chance of being useful.

--
....winston
msft mvp consumer apps

On Fri, 20 Mar 2015 18:43:56 -0400, Paul wrote:

wrote:
I just downloaded a free copy of Glary Utilities Pro, an offer from CNET. How
reliable and safe are these utility programs that supposedly clean up your
Windows system? I just ran one thing, which searched for empty folders on my
system, and it found 4,400 of them. I manually checked a number and sure enough,
they were empty folders. So, I deleted them (but they're still in my recycle bin
for now.) So are programs like this safe to use? I donwloaded this one because
it was a CNET offer and I always took them to be reliable. Thanks.

If it came from CNET, your next job will
be finding the adware and toolbars.

Always be careful with downloads from there.

Only a few downloads are completely clean.
Developers who pay CNET for a certain level of
service (Macrium being an example), there's no
adware.

*******

Programs which needed the empty folders, and find
the folder missing, can put the folder back.

But not every software developer "expects the floor
to open underneath them", and then their program
will fail when not finding some installed folder.

I would not remove empty folders here, except
when I find them in a casual visit in my Downloads
area. Not elsewhere.

Windows comes with Disk Cleanup, and that would
be an example of some trivial cleanup. If you need
a little file space, that's an easy way to get some.

But cleaning up empty folders, that would be pretty
far down my list.

That issue has about the same status as Registry Cleaning.
I've never had any indication my registry files are unhealthy,
so I just leave them alone.

The registry is actually pretty fast, if you look at
what the OS is doing to it. As you're sitting there
right now, the OS may have consulted (read) a registry
entry 200 times a second. Even when the machine is "quiet",
the registry is very busy. And yet it's fast, even
when the file behind it is huge.

The only time I might consider a cleaning product,
is if I had "punished" the registry by running a
special test program that fills the registry with
crap. Ordinarily, there's no reason to bother with it.

Paul
SInce a couple of replies said to stay away from downloading from CNET, I just
wanted to say that I went directly to the software providers website for the
download. I didn't download from CNET. But I hear you all. Doesn;'t sound like
these types of programs are of any use. So I'll restore the deleted folders and
uninstall the program. Thanks for the feedback.

wrote:
On Fri, 20 Mar 2015 18:43:56 -0400, Paul wrote:

wrote:
I just downloaded a free copy of Glary Utilities Pro, an offer from CNET. How
reliable and safe are these utility programs that supposedly clean up your
Windows system? I just ran one thing, which searched for empty folders on my
system, and it found 4,400 of them. I manually checked a number and sure enough,
they were empty folders. So, I deleted them (but they're still in my recycle bin
for now.) So are programs like this safe to use? I donwloaded this one because
it was a CNET offer and I always took them to be reliable. Thanks.
If it came from CNET, your next job will
be finding the adware and toolbars.

Always be careful with downloads from there.

Only a few downloads are completely clean.
Developers who pay CNET for a certain level of
service (Macrium being an example), there's no
adware.

*******

Programs which needed the empty folders, and find
the folder missing, can put the folder back.

But not every software developer "expects the floor
to open underneath them", and then their program
will fail when not finding some installed folder.

I would not remove empty folders here, except
when I find them in a casual visit in my Downloads
area. Not elsewhere.

Windows comes with Disk Cleanup, and that would
be an example of some trivial cleanup. If you need
a little file space, that's an easy way to get some.

But cleaning up empty folders, that would be pretty
far down my list.

That issue has about the same status as Registry Cleaning.
I've never had any indication my registry files are unhealthy,
so I just leave them alone.

The registry is actually pretty fast, if you look at
what the OS is doing to it. As you're sitting there
right now, the OS may have consulted (read) a registry
entry 200 times a second. Even when the machine is "quiet",
the registry is very busy. And yet it's fast, even
when the file behind it is huge.

The only time I might consider a cleaning product,
is if I had "punished" the registry by running a
special test program that fills the registry with
crap. Ordinarily, there's no reason to bother with it.

Paul
SInce a couple of replies said to stay away from downloading from CNET, I just
wanted to say that I went directly to the software providers website for the
download. I didn't download from CNET. But I hear you all. Doesn;'t sound like
these types of programs are of any use. So I'll restore the deleted folders and
uninstall the program. Thanks for the feedback.

Truly empty folders don't take up any hdd space but I still don't
like them and delete them when found.
Never had a problem doing that since most progs will recreate
the folders as needed... so far.

On 03/20/2015 03:04 PM, wrote:
I just downloaded a free copy of Glary Utilities Pro, an offer from CNET. How
reliable and safe are these utility programs that supposedly clean up your
Windows system? I just ran one thing, which searched for empty folders on my
system, and it found 4,400 of them. I manually checked a number and sure enough,
they were empty folders. So, I deleted them (but they're still in my recycle bin
for now.) So are programs like this safe to use? I donwloaded this one because
it was a CNET offer and I always took them to be reliable. Thanks.


Hi rfdjr1,

If you are suffering from junkware due to this, drop me
a line under a new thread (Ping Todd) and I will
walk you through how to remove it/them

-T

On 21/03/2015 06:48, T wrote:
On 03/20/2015 03:04 PM, wrote:
I just downloaded a free copy of Glary Utilities Pro, an offer from
CNET. How
reliable and safe are these utility programs that supposedly clean up
your
Windows system? I just ran one thing, which searched for empty folders
on my
system, and it found 4,400 of them. I manually checked a number and
sure enough,
they were empty folders. So, I deleted them (but they're still in my
recycle bin
for now.) So are programs like this safe to use? I donwloaded this one
because
it was a CNET offer and I always took them to be reliable. Thanks.


Hi rfdjr1,

If you are suffering from junkware due to this, drop me
a line under a new thread (Ping Todd) and I will
walk you through how to remove it/them

-T

That is a very kind gesture. Good for you! :-)

Do you have a view on the effectiveness of CCleaner from Piriform?

https://www.piriform.com

In message , Paul in Houston TX
writes:
[]
Truly empty folders don't take up any hdd space but I still don't
like them and delete them when found.
Never had a problem doing that since most progs will recreate
the folders as needed... so far.

Me neither (XP) - and I agree with the endorsement of Jonas John's RED.
At least it lets you scan without deleting, so you can see where they
are.

Whatever may be the verdict on the system drive, I can't think of any
reason deleting empty directories on your data drive/partition(s) should
cause any problem - though they're less likely to appear there in the
first place, of course.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Veni, Vidi, Video (I came, I saw, I'll watch it again later) - Mik from S+AS
Limited ), 1998

wrote in message
...
I just downloaded a free copy of Glary Utilities Pro, an offer from CNET.
How
reliable and safe are these utility programs that supposedly clean up your
Windows system? I just ran one thing, which searched for empty folders on
my
system, and it found 4,400 of them. I manually checked a number and sure
enough,
they were empty folders. So, I deleted them (but they're still in my
recycle bin
for now.) So are programs like this safe to use? I donwloaded this one
because
it was a CNET offer and I always took them to be reliable. Thanks.

Glary's one of those all-in-one rock 'em sock 'em cleaners. The one you
downloaded doesn't include free updates, so I don't know if you'll be able
to update the malware component. Beware the registry cleaner!!!! And I'm
always wary of tools who claim to do everything. It's a good way to end up
doing too much and hosing your system, in spite of what they claim.

IMO, if you just want to do some good, basic crap cleaning, I'd recommend
CCleaner. I've used the portable version forever. Again, I'd recommend you
stay clear of the registry cleaner component.

https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download/portable

Just extract it to a directory of your choice.

On Fri, 20 Mar 2015 18:04:23 -0400, wrote:

I just downloaded a free copy of Glary Utilities Pro, an offer from CNET. How
reliable and safe are these utility programs that supposedly clean up your
Windows system?


I *strongly* recommend that you avoid this and all such programs like
the plague. They are much more likely to cause problems than to solve
them.