About cleaners and malware programs

Why is one of the very first things an anti-malware program or a cleaner like CCleaner does is scrap your XP Start\Run pick list? Is the pick list dangerous? Does it take up huge amounts of resources?

If not, is there any way to protect it? Short memory folks like me use it a lot.

 

CCleaner with it's default settings is commonly run before scanning for malware - I've seen it remove many GB's of crap - this allows any scans to run faster (and CCleaner can remove some bad stuff as a side-effect).

 

Well, one of the things I ran from READ & RUN did. ComboFix? Perhaps I have used the word "malware" badly. Perhaps ComboFix isn't an anti-malware app. I thought all of those things were anti-malware apps.

And I think it was ComboFix that changed my default browser from Firefox to IE - twice - as well as changing my image viewer from PMView to something I never saw the name of.

(Removing IE from my desktop repeatedly is "hard on my religion.")

I just remembered yet another operating irritant/problem. Recently while keyboarding posts or email or chat, the keyboard cursor will suddenly jump to the position of the mouse cursor - even if I put it off onto the desktop.

 

I'm saying nothing against the value of general cleaning. Except that there are a number of apps that, for whatever strange/odd/creepy reason, store permanent data in temp folders. (One cleaner completely wiped out every stitch of Firefox configuration I had. It ended up with an unrecognizable GUI. Registry Mechanic called that cleanup when I clicked on Scan Files - without asking. It reported over 2000 kills. I haven't used it since.)

But to my point I just can't understand why every cleaner I've tried wipes out the XP Start/Run pick list. I don't see either danger or resource hogging there. I may be missing something huge.

 

I thought about that immediately. It didn't feel like I had done that, but using the Track Point can probably contribute to bad habits.

WAIT!

I was thinking keyboard. Perhaps you mean the thing you slide your finger around on to move the cursor.

That brings up yet another "problem." I have right now (I checked) and always have had that pad thing turned off as long as I've had the ThinkPad. But I HAVE discovered that it comes alive intermittently. You're onto something. But what?

I did once briefly. Just checked, it is not on now.

I'm coming to the conclusion that factory refurbs are trash. I bought it direct from Lenovo less than a year ago.

Confucious say: All big business - crooked like snake.

 

We're really not discussing general cleaning but cleaning of malware - if the early use of CCleaner can reduce the time of subsequent scans by 10-30-% - do it.

Re general use of 'registry cleaners' - DON'T DO IT - unless you know and understand each and every change that that software is going to do.

Probably 30% of all threads I respond to - all outside of the Malware forum - have been previously influenced by the use of some random snake oil registry 'cleaner' that's been found via a search engine - do you have any idea how much time the snake oil sellers put into fixing search results by creating websites and spamming forums? Those guys cost me - and 'normal' Windows users a ton of time!

 

Thanks. A question: Do you have any bad experience with "Tuneup Utilities," which a local guru recommended highly and I got. Is it malware?

 

I have no direct experiences of that software - what I will say is that software of that type should never be followed blindly - if you don't understand the implications - hit CANCEL and seek knowledgeable advice.