PC scanners.

Recently there has been a number of adds on TV offering software which
will scan your PC for viruses, trojan horses, malware in general and
registry errors. I scanned my Vista PC with one of these and it found
579 problems, most of which were registry problems. I was invited to
fix these problems but at a cost. I did not do the fix.

Are these apps free of danger when they fix the problems found by the
scan? Do they work for XP/3 PCs?

Many thanks,

Peter.

"PVR" wrote in message
...
Recently there has been a number of adds on TV offering software which
will scan your PC for viruses, trojan horses, malware in general and
registry errors. I scanned my Vista PC with one of these and it found 579
problems, most of which were registry problems. I was invited to fix these
problems but at a cost. I did not do the fix.

Are these apps free of danger when they fix the problems found by the
scan? Do they work for XP/3 PCs?

Many thanks,

Peter.





The Only ones I Would Recommend are

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
Free edition

http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html
Free edition

A lot of the others are like "snake oil" which has been mentioned here
before

Always Read independent reviews before trying anything that may alter system
files
and the registry

chas2209

"PVR" wrote in message
...
Recently there has been a number of adds on TV offering software which
will scan your PC for viruses, trojan horses, malware in general and
registry errors. I scanned my Vista PC with one of these and it found 579
problems, most of which were registry problems. I was invited to fix these
problems but at a cost. I did not do the fix.

Are these apps free of danger when they fix the problems found by the
scan? Do they work for XP/3 PCs?

Many thanks,

Peter.





The Only ones I Would Recommend are

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
Free edition

http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html
Free edition

A lot of the others are like "snake oil" which has been mentioned here
before

Always Read independent reviews before trying anything that may alter system
files
and the registry

chas2209

"PVR" wrote in message
...
Recently there has been a number of adds on TV offering software which
will scan your PC for viruses, trojan horses, malware in general and
registry errors. I scanned my Vista PC with one of these and it found 579
problems, most of which were registry problems. I was invited to fix these
problems but at a cost. I did not do the fix.

Are these apps free of danger when they fix the problems found by the
scan? Do they work for XP/3 PCs?

Many thanks,

Peter.



I agree with chas2209 re the two programs he mentioned. Cleaning a registry
is not needed 99% of the time and it seldom produces any change in speed. I
would do a reinstall before I used a registry cleaner. Might have to
afterwards anyway.

Read this before running a registry cleaner and then take your chances if
you still think you want to.
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=28099
--

Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP [Mail]
Imperial Beach, CA

"PVR" wrote in message
...
Recently there has been a number of adds on TV offering software which
will scan your PC for viruses, trojan horses, malware in general and
registry errors. I scanned my Vista PC with one of these and it found 579
problems, most of which were registry problems. I was invited to fix these
problems but at a cost. I did not do the fix.

Are these apps free of danger when they fix the problems found by the
scan? Do they work for XP/3 PCs?

Many thanks,

Peter.



I agree with chas2209 re the two programs he mentioned. Cleaning a registry
is not needed 99% of the time and it seldom produces any change in speed. I
would do a reinstall before I used a registry cleaner. Might have to
afterwards anyway.

Read this before running a registry cleaner and then take your chances if
you still think you want to.
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=28099
--

Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP [Mail]
Imperial Beach, CA

On 12/5/2009 6:35 AM, PVR wrote:
Recently there has been a number of adds on TV offering software which
will scan your PC for viruses, trojan horses, malware in general and
registry errors. I scanned my Vista PC with one of these and it found
579 problems, most of which were registry problems. I was invited to
fix these problems but at a cost. I did not do the fix.

Are these apps free of danger when they fix the problems found by the
scan? Do they work for XP/3 PCs?

Most likely the majority of the errors reported were either bogus or a
non-issue meaning that it wouldn't matter if the registry entry was
there or not. Some software vendors use this scare tactic to get you to
buy their software. If your PC is running fine, then I wouldn't worry
about it.

--

Roy Smith
Windows XP Pro SP3

On 12/5/2009 6:35 AM, PVR wrote:
Recently there has been a number of adds on TV offering software which
will scan your PC for viruses, trojan horses, malware in general and
registry errors. I scanned my Vista PC with one of these and it found
579 problems, most of which were registry problems. I was invited to
fix these problems but at a cost. I did not do the fix.

Are these apps free of danger when they fix the problems found by the
scan? Do they work for XP/3 PCs?

Most likely the majority of the errors reported were either bogus or a
non-issue meaning that it wouldn't matter if the registry entry was
there or not. Some software vendors use this scare tactic to get you to
buy their software. If your PC is running fine, then I wouldn't worry
about it.

--

Roy Smith
Windows XP Pro SP3