~BD~ <~BD~@nomail.afraid.com> wrote in
news:T8Cdnds2Ip5B0BvQnZ2dnUVZ8q6dnZ2d@bt.com:

> Do you have the expertise to run the facility on a known
> 'good' machine to test if PCMightyMax is actually telling
> the truth or whether it will find problems where none
> actually exist?

I would say I do, to a point, but there are some things I just
don't understand, or have little experience with - like XP ;-)

One of the main reasons I still use 98seLite is that I can do
/anything/ I want, and I understand what is going on with the
machine. I can edit the registry manually, when necessary, I
have done it dozens if not hundreds of times, and I understand
the Windows OS. The XP system was designed, among other things,
to be completely incomprehensible, at least to me.

Also, I am not aware of any way you can buy me the 7 day license
to try it. It only runs on XP and up and I use XP SO little, and
never on the internet, that it would be VERY difficult to find
anything. Still, who knows. Someone else probably would do a
much better job than I, and a system with a LOT of programs
installed and deleted, and used on the net a /lot/ should be the
kind of machine examined. You must have a local friend who could
help you?

>> But for $30 /forever/ instead of $120 every year, the
>> Regclean Pro from:
>>
>> http://www.systweak.com/
>>
>> is a MUCH better deal. I have used an old version of this
>> one for /years/, and it is excellent.
>
> Thank you for the tip!

YW. It has a restore function, like all such programs should. I
have NEVER needed to use it - the program has never messed
anything up.

>> I /will/ add that about half of the "problems" these
>> programs fix are not really /problems/. OTOH, the other
>> half CAN be, sometimes very serious.
>
> I'm no guru, that's for sure, but my conception is that if
> malware becomes resident on a Windows machine it will
> *always* add and/or change Registry entries. If they are
> not 'put right' surely such malware could remain active?

It depends on the malware. There are many kinds, starting with
something that will disable your mouse for 3 seconds every once
in a while or so just to drive you crazy, to something that will
take over your system without your knowledge and use it to seed
torrents of the latest not yet released Hollywood productions,
which could be VERY unhealthy for the machine's innocent owner.

You try not to allow anything like that to "move in"
permanently. A good AV scanner examines EVERY file on your
system whenever it is downloaded, opened, closed, copied,
written, etc.

Many registry entries are completely useless and exist only
because of MS's dementia and desire to totally take over ALL
desktop/laptop computing. If you install 3 different image
editing programs, each one will do a number on the registry. One
will write 10 lines (all having to do ONLY with uninstalling it)
while another one will write 600 lines and change ALL file
associations and make your system behave so that you might
actually think something is wrong or you have a virus. And those
are the programs that usually do NOT remove those registry
entries, let alone restore them to the original state!

Speaking of "uninstalling" programs, IME, of the (maybe) 500
times I have done it, about half the time stuff is left
cluttering up the registry. Sometimes it causes minor problems,
sometimes it causes annoyances, but no real harm, but it
certainly does not NEED to be there. One could argue "it doesn't
matter", but WHY do people's Windows directories - AND the
registry - bloat continuously, and end up twice the original
size in a year? Mine doesn't.

I don't have enough experience with malware to talk about this
further, since in about 20 years I have seen 3 viruses. It's
very easy to get paranoid. AV has become a very big "scare and
get rich" branch of the computing world.

> That's why I'm a little sceptical of the advice recommended
> by folk in the Aumha thread!
> http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=28099

Sorry, I don't have to patience to read it. I have read - and
been involved in - WAY too many discussions on registry
cleaners. When people have their mind made up without even
having tried a product, arguing with them can get very
frustrating.

t.