Windows Help & Advice – May 2019

58 |^ |^ May 2019

W

Clean up the junk

Take a virtual vacuum to your PC, sucking up unnecessary

and unwanted trash to free up system resources

hy take a feather duster
to clean out your PC
when our supercharged
vacuum cleaning toolkit
can do a much better
job? Let’s start by
making sure your PC is malware-free.
Open your existing security tool and
make sure it’s updated, then run a full
system scan. If malware is found, let the
tool clean it, then reboot and scan
again. If the malware’s proving tricky to
budge, try rebooting your PC in Safe
mode and then running your anti-
malware tool from there.
Never rely on a single security tool

• we recommend that you install
  Malwarebytes (www.malwarebytes.
  com) alongside your existing security
  package. It’ll often find threats ignored
  by traditional tools. For an in-depth
  guide to checking and removing
  malware from your PC, check out our
  April 2019 issue.

Remove junk
The April 2019 issue also covers ways in
which you can remove potentially
unwanted programs (PUPs) from your
PC. Malwarebytes can remove some, but
also try the aptly-named PC Decrapifier
tool (www.pcdecrapifier.com), which
will help identify programs you should
consider removing.
While PC Decrapifier can remove
these unwanted tools for you, relying on
a program’s own uninstall tool to clean

up after itself is – charitably speaking –

hit and miss. A more thorough way to

get rid of programs is by downloading

and installing IOBit Uninstaller Free

(www.iobit.com – look under Utilities).

Once installed, launch the program.

By default, it’ll display a list of installed

desktop programs. You can click the

trash icon next to any one to remove it,

or go through the list ticking all those

applications you no longer want before

clicking Uninstall toremovethemin

sequence. You’ll beaskedif youwantto

automatically removeresidualfiles(and

Registry entries) – untickthisif you’dlike

to review what’s removed first. Setting

a System Restore point is not usually

necessary, unless you are removing

lots of programs at once.

Avoid Registry cleaning

You’ll notice we recommend
de-selecting PrivaZer’s Registry
cleaning component – and for
good reason. Cleaning Registry
entries has zero effect on your
computer’s performance, but
one false misstep and you can
cause major problems that
could ultimately bring your
PC’s installation crashing down.
Don’t believe us? Support
Squad is littered with emails
from people who’ve relied on
Registry cleaning tools only to
ÀQGWKDWWKHLUV\VWHPVKDYH
been crippled as a result.
The only exception to this
rule is when you use IOBit
Uninstaller to remove
programs from your PC. It’s

VSHFLÀFDOO\ORRNLQJIRUHQWULHV

related to the program you’re

uninstalling, which means you

can make a measured

judgement about whether

they’re safe to remove or not.

If you’re not convinced, then

at least take a System Restore

point before you clean out the

Registry. Also make sure ‘Save

registry’ is ticked on PrivaZer’s

scanning window before

clicking Clean. If you run into

problems, click the Restore

button on the main screen and

select Registry. Restore the

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WKHSUREOHPLIQRWWU\XVLQJ

earlier backups until the critical

entry is hopefully restored.

Don’t trust your anti-virus tool to detect all malware?

Install Malwarebytes for a second opinion.

IObit Uninstaller does a better job of cleaning

up behind apps than their own uninstallers.

If you’re adamant that Registry cleaners are safe to use, please make

sure you take backups for the day when you discover they’re not.