My Faster PC.com Software: Buy or Beware Software Review

[DainBramaged]

“Slow Computer? Let My Faster PC speed up your computer”, “Want to SPEED You PC?”, “...bring back that speedy new computer feel”, “Fewer errors and crashes” and “End annoying slowness and freezes”. These are the catch phrases used by the myFasterPC.com website to entice viewers to buy their software. They’ve got TV commercials and a ‘5 cow’ rating from Tucows, but is the software something of value, or is it just another registry cleaner claiming to be a cure-all?

My Faster PC: What is It?
Owned by ConsumerSoft, myFasterPC.com offers software purportedly designed to clean all of the clutter from the computer, repair file issues, defrag the hard drive, check for system updates and clean up start-up items.

In a nutshell, it is computer optimizer software. The site claims the software includes 7 optimization features, but the seventh is listed as their guarantee that the software contains no adware, malware or spyware. The website sports a ‘5 cow rating’ by Tucows, a “Patent Pending Technology” image, as well as an odd “5 Star User Reviews on the Top Download Site” claim with no supporting link.

The test computer was thoroughly cleaned with AVG, Avira, System Mechanic, CCleaner, Malwares Antibytes, MyDefrag and Norton Registry Cleaner prior to testing and again between tests. The myFasterPC.com software was tested 4 times (uninstalled, downloaded, then reinstalled each time)
using its "Scan & Repair All" option with the following results
Test #1 – 246 Error issues reported.
Test #2 – 196 Error issues reported.
Test #3 – 226 Error issues reported.
Test #4 – 241 Error issues reported.

Realistically, the expected results from the myFasterPC.com software should have shown continuity in the number of error issues reported. Despite the fact that 3 other registry cleaners (noted above) did not locate any errors on the test computer, the myFasterPC.com software should have at least reported the same number of errors each time.

http://www.suite101.com/content/my-faster-pc-software-buy-or-beware-software-review-a253212

Personally I don't trust software vendors that hide their domain's
registration (hence hide themselves) behind private registration. IANA
requires registrars to truthfully identify the registrant - so the
registrar sidesteps this requirement by assuming that responsibility
(you'll see the registrar is listed as the registrant). Vendors don't
hide who they are for good reasons. They hide for bad reasons. And
please don't whine that spammers hit domain registrants when their
registration is about to expire because anyone can allocate a dedicate
e-mail account that blocks all e-mails except those that originate from
their registrar.

Private registrations cost extra money beyond the cost for the domain
registration itself. Registrars found they could generate more revenue
by letting their registrants hide. Not only are these registrants
hiding but they're paying extra for it.


ConsumerSoft has their My Faster PC sham (http://www. myfasterpc. com/;
$30 but they "suggest" more stuff to buy on their order form). They are
yet another purveyor of this shamware. I've seen several of this type
of software sold to boobs hoping it would fix problems but they do
nothing - unless you pay for them which really is to get their tech
support included. They operate the My Phone Support "service"
(http://www. myphonesupport. com/) to bill you for fixing your PC.
Being that this is supposedly a real company selling commercialware then
they shouldn't be hiding behind private registration.


Note: They don't sign their software. You'll see the Windows' prompt
"Publisher: Unknown publisher" when you run their installer.




http://groups.google.com/group/alt.comp.freeware/browse_thread/thread/f81e13f8a1166006/e80b5cf74f7511ac?lnk=raot


IT IS JUST MORE CRAP YOU DON'T NEED, laugh at their commercials and the 3,000,000 people who have been fooled by this (and many many other fix my PC scamwares).

[Ohio Joe]

1. Did you run the original apps again after running it?

Just to see if it did anything... Like install adware, spyware or malware.

[DainBramaged]

3. I ued it ONCE on a brand new installation here which is why I searched out this review

I love testing this junk when I build a new system, and when it said I had 243 errors on a clean install, I laughed my ass off. No trojans on this one like DoubleMySpeed leaves, it's just junk.

[hobbit709]

2. It's the new finallyfast.com

They scam people until they are exposed, then they change their name and reappear.

[DainBramaged]

4. Different company name, Consumersoft, hidden registration

[virgogal]

5. What does "Microsofr Certified Partner" mean? I'm severely

tech challenged so don't understand most of the article but the Microsoft reference confuses me.

[DainBramaged]

8. A lie on their part, I re-posted the gif from their web page to highlight the BS

[virgogal]

10. Thanks. Unbelievable----I see their ads all the time. Hucksters.

[Sonicwall]

9. If their software aren't on downloads.cnet.com - chances they're malware

and they seriously fuck your computer up.

[virgogal]

12. Thanks. I got messed up with a "virus" 2 years ago. Awful experience

and I'm so tech illiterate I just dumped the laptop and bought a new one. (After paying $95.00 to Symantec to fix the problem}.

I was grasping at straws and just gave up.

[Drew Richards]

11. Answer to your question

A Microsoft Certified Partner (Licensing Signature) is a Company that pays a licensing agreement with Microsoft.

The Licensee is Paying Microsoft to test and certify that their product or software is compatible
with a Microsoft operating system or systems and will not damage the Microsoft Operating system or contain malware applications.

This was started by Microsoft in the 90's to combat rogue applications claims of being compatible with Microsoft and then destroying the systems Hive stability (core operating system)and installing malware, popups and just plain worthless applications...

Hope I explained it clearly for you :)

Drew.

[Drew Richards]

13. Not always perfect

That doesn't mean that some companies can start with a valid application and then sneak in garbage to do bad things...

Sometimes nasty applications sneak through until Microsoft is Informed of massive customer dissatisfaction then they strip the Licensing Signature.

That is why you sometimes see when installing an application. that there is no valid licensing signature...it means they either didn't pay for the license, it hasn't been tested and certified by Microsoft yet, or it has been subsequently revoked by Microsoft.

Drew

[virgogal]

14. Thanks. I had to read it three times I'm so dense but your

explanation clarified things for me.

[DainBramaged]

16. These guys may have paid a long time ago

but if you read the entire articls at the links, I am positive they are just carrying over the old agreement as "proof" and using the 'new' image.

Now if only they were a gold certified partner :sarcasm:

[meegbear]

6. When they show a Mac "blue screening", you know it's bullshit.

[joshcryer]

7. windows has built in optimizer, even xp has it

used to be app called bootvis but now defunct, just delete ie and use chrome/firefox, don't install crap

[Rabblevox]

15. I've only found one PC "optimizer" that works as advertised...

It's called Game Booster by IObit ( a well-known and respected software company).

http://www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html

Don't let the name fool you, even though it's called Game Booster, it provide a pretty decent boost for all applications. It works by shutting down unneeded background processes and defragging your ram.

Also, defragging your hard drive regularly (like once a week), and keeping the computer as cool as possible are a huge help.

A good source for tested and reviewed rightous freeware is Gizmo's Tech Support Alert.

http://www.techsupportalert.com/

[mwooldri]

20. Another vote for iobit...

I haven't used Gamebooster actually but another product:

Advanced SystemCare Free. It also says what it does on the box. I like Crap Cleaner too and use that periodically. Glary's Utilities works well for me too.

But if I were to say for one thing: Advanced SystemCare is it IMO. That and Comodo for antivirus and firewall for XP ... but if the computer is older and "barely" runs XP SP 3 then Microsoft's Security Essentials and a custom version of XP is what I would put on it.

[housewolf]

17. Being someone whose computer has seriously degraded over the lasat month

Are there any software products that you recommend that do make a difference in computer performance?

You said "The test computer was thoroughly cleaned with AVG, Avira, System Mechanic, CCleaner, Malwares Antibytes, MyDefrag and Norton Registry Cleaner prior to testing and again between tests." - do any/all of these help?

Confused by all the hype but hoping/looking for a solution

[DainBramaged]

21. CCleaner for files and registry errors, IObit defrag, Microsoft Security Essentials for virus

IObit 360 for malware. those are what I use on 60 computers at my work. ALL free by the way.

[housewolf]

27. Thank you so much!

I've used CCleaner on a different computer a few years ago, and I'll check out the others that you mentioned.

Greatly appreciate your suggestions

You're an angel O8)

[Recursion]

18. There's an awesome PC optimizer called "Linux" (nt)

[DainBramaged]

22. Had to get that shit in.......

go gloat somewhere else 5%er.

[Recursion]

25. As my t-shirt says

"Go away or I will replace you with a shell script"

[Posteritatis]

29. A few of my friends actually did that once

Got fed up with a gun-nut in an IRC channel we frequented who was basically single-issue enough that he couldn't pass a Turing test, so we, well, ran with the implications of that.

(The great part is he finally noticed how he sounded and smartened up considerably.)

[struggle4progress]

24. +

[superduperfarleft]

28. "When did dipshit get here?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-L-0s-7-Z0

[NeedleCast]

19. I'd be curious to see if it produced more on an older, poorly maintained system

than on a clean install.

[Drew Richards]

23. I hesitate to mention it but here goes...

This is not an easy option and is not for novice computer users but let me try to explain the major problem with Windows and the Solution Unix uses without going into the DOS/Windows limited DMA's IRQ's and IO address's compared to Unix Dynamic IO allocation...(this issue is even more in-depth than what I'm about to tell you :)

Yes a major problem with Windows are all the TSR's (Terminate and stay resident or what is called background applications)that pop-up or activate on boot up...

But there is another major problem that actually can be fixed...the constant slowing down of your system as you have used it over days months years...

This problem is the Resident Dynamic Swap File and your own Users and other regularly accessed Directories...

You see in Windows by default your Dynamic Swap File and your Users Directories are crammed together on your C drive between your operating system.

As you can imagine as you add and delete stuff from your Operating system, Home directory and use Dynamic Swap to load programs for fast memory access; these directories expand and contract but fragment slowing the system down.

This is even more deadly with the Dynamic Swap File since it really should have a virtually clean section of drive space dedicated to Swap operations...

What I do on my windows systems is the same as Unix does automatically if installed correctly...

Prior to Windows Install or a ReInstall If you either partition the hard drive to make C and D or C, D, E, or have two to three hard drives you can add what is called a symbolic or perminant Link to the users files from the C drive location to the D or E drive.

This change allows the C drive operating system not to fragment as much since all of your Home Directory changes are on a separate drive that can be defragmented much easier while not affecting the Operating system.

The same applies to the Swap file...But a clean swap location is even more critical for speedy operations.

The Same applies to a games Directory or photos or music directories...

Now you can, In windows, once a month follow procedures to defragment your hard drive AND separately strip your Swap File and Rebuild it...This greatly speeds up application loading times but again you must know what you are doing and have some disk space to do this.

Note: there is also the Pagefile.sys that can be commanded to be cleaned on shutdown say once a month that helps clean things up...

Drew.

[Recursion]

26. Funny thing about the swap file

There was a time on XP that it would make them too big for certain brain-dead DMA setups and so on an attempt to read the pagefile would... wait for it... be entirely loaded to main memory.