Winferno Registry Power Cleaner?


  #1  
Old 09-23-12, 08:37 PM
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Winferno Registry Power Cleaner?

When I switched my monitor back on earlier, I discovered that my tower had done a reboot while I was away and now wanted my OK to run something called "Winferno Registry Power Cleaner. "

What is that anyway? I'm not sure I want to run anything that is intended to clean the system's registry. If I did, it sure as He!! wouldn't be a program I don't know from Adam's off ox.

A bit of Googling has only increased my wariness. It has also made me suspicious that I may have received this thing as a gift from McAfee.

If that's the case, and if the consensus here is that Winferno Registry Power Cleaner is Not A Good Thing, I'll be open to suggestions on what to get to replace McAfee. I've been less satisfied with its performance, relative to price, in recent years that I was earlier, anyway.
 
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Old 09-23-12, 10:12 PM
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I saw some of the same things Nashkat1 that you saw and I don't know if you are running Windows 7 or not but I looked on the Windows 7 forum and it said you should never run a registry cleaner(which is what Winferno is) in Windows 7 as it could cause your system to crash. As for this being from McAfee I don't know I can't say for sure the results I received in my quick search were not conclusive. If you find it in programs though I would definitely delete it and then check your computer with a program like Super Anti Spyware that program is safe and it can find and kind of junk on your system.
As to McAfee itself it can be a good program and it has some good features but it has also caused me to have problems with my computer in the past. In fairness to McAfee I haven't used it in years as there are so many good free programs out there. Of course some free programs can cause problems too AVG free did with my Windows 7 desktop a couple of years ago right after a fresh install of Windows after building my computer. AVG caused my mouse and keyboard to freeze and when I took it off it was fine.
The number one anti-virus though I definitely encourage you to get is Microsoft Security Essentials. MSE has been on my computer for two years now and I haven't had a day of trouble. I still though would use Super Anti Spyware though as a back up just in case. Best of all too those two programs are available for free. In my own opinion I think those are the only anti virus programs you will ever need.
 
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Old 09-23-12, 10:39 PM
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It could be legit from McAfee, or it could be rogue antispyware disguised as a real program. Either way dont run it. You need to thoroughly scan your computer. Use SuperAntiSpyware (run from Windows in Safe Mode) and Windows Defender Offline (creates a bootable CD) for starters.

Then you uninstall McAfee. After that, run their scrubber tool to completely get rid of it. Then install Microsoft Security Essentials and let it do its initial scan. Then (if needed) just change the weekly scan to a time when the computer will be on. It defaults to 2am Sunday. If you leave it on 24/7 then there's no need to change it.
 
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Old 09-24-12, 06:14 AM
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I'm not a fan of McAfee or Norton, I won't run either one.

I use Avast and MS Security Essentials.
 
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Old 09-24-12, 08:01 AM
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I don't know if you are running Windows 7 or not
I forgot to say. This tower is running Windows XP from 2001(?) I'm planning to take it offline this week, replacing it with the tower I recently rebuilt after a hard drive crash (Install new OS on replaced HD or re-install original first?). That tower has a new install of Windows 7 Pro and a new download of basic McAfee. The redo and reinstall of McAfee at that time is where I think I may have picked this up.

Then this tower can retire again. I'll see if I can finish the rebuild on a Gateway that my DW started awhile ago and dropped. After that I'll decide which of those towers I want to bring online either here or up in my office.

Thanks, hedge, Matt and Mitch. The consensus I think I'm hearing is, in this order:
  • Reboot in safe mode
  • Run SuperAntiSpyware
  • Install Microsoft Security Essentials
  • Uninstall McAfee
  • Run the McAfee scrubber tool
  • Run Windows Defender Offline and create a recovery disk
Does that sound right?

Oh, and do the same for the Win7 tower as I bring it up to xfer data.

I'm kinda looking forward to being McAfee-free.
 
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Old 09-24-12, 02:20 PM
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Your welcome glad I could help in some little way and kudos to Matt he is definitely right make sure you run that in safe mode as then any virus or whatever can't call home for help. Also remember my warning about Windows 7 registry don't use any registry cleaning programs with Windows 7. If you ever need your registry repaired you should take it to a professional either that or take courses on the newer registry before attempting your own repair. I think you will be happy without McAfee and certainly save money too!
 
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Old 09-24-12, 02:38 PM
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And the really ironic thing is a Registry is not needed for an operating system to work but Microsoft hast chosen to make their OS dependent on a registry since Win 95 (or was it Win 3.1).
 
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Old 09-24-12, 03:17 PM
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10-4 on saving some money. I'll be dumping a 3-system license And 10-4 re no registry work in Win 7. Thanks for the reminder.
 
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Old 09-24-12, 07:03 PM
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I've had years of very good luck cleaning the registry using CCleaner and have never had to use the backup it can create before a cleaning.
 
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Old 09-24-12, 07:28 PM
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Originally Posted by Nashkat1
I forgot to say. This tower is running Windows XP from 2001(?) I'm planning to take it offline this week, replacing it with the tower I recently rebuilt after a hard drive crash (Install new OS on replaced HD or re-install original first?). That tower has a new install of Windows 7 Pro and a new download of basic McAfee. The redo and reinstall of McAfee at that time is where I think I may have picked this up.

Then this tower can retire again. I'll see if I can finish the rebuild on a Gateway that my DW started awhile ago and dropped. After that I'll decide which of those towers I want to bring online either here or up in my office.

Thanks, hedge, Matt and Mitch. The consensus I think I'm hearing is, in this order:
  • Reboot in safe mode
  • Run SuperAntiSpyware
  • Install Microsoft Security Essentials
  • Uninstall McAfee
  • Run the McAfee scrubber tool
  • Run Windows Defender Offline and create a recovery disk
Does that sound right?

Oh, and do the same for the Win7 tower as I bring it up to xfer data.

I'm kinda looking forward to being McAfee-free.
Do the Windows Defender Offline first. Basically when you run the program, it creates a bootable CD with the latest virus definitions that you boot the victim computer with. Some infections can run in safe mode, so what WDO does is it boots Windows as a 'Live CD' so that nothing in the infected registry can run. Then it scans the target drive as 'non system', so that it prevents any infected files from being executed.

After that scan is complete, THEN boot into safe mode and run SAS.
 
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Old 09-24-12, 09:25 PM
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I was just doing some investigations of Windows Defender Offline as I hadn't heard it being referred that way before. One thing Microsoft recommends is downloading the program on another computer and then putting it on disk on that computer just to be sure the disk isn't compromised by anything on the suspect computer.
 
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Old 09-24-12, 09:27 PM
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I could've sworn I mentioned to create the WDO disc on another computer.. Must've thought it (note the mention of the 'victim computer') but never typed it..

Also note, WDO comes in three flavors.. You download the one you need for the victim computer, NOT the one you are downloading on. So if the victim computer is XP, you use the XP version, even if you download and run it on a Windows 7 computer.
 
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Old 09-25-12, 04:21 AM
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I won't debate the point, but I echo what Stan Damann said. I've been doing periodic cleanings with CCleaner as well and have been running Win 7 for quite a while. Have never had so much as a hiccup. First I've heard of that warning.
 
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Old 09-25-12, 06:51 AM
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I've been doing periodic cleanings with CCleaner as well and have been running Win 7 for quite a while.
That's a second echo, 'cause DW said pretty much the exact same thing.

First I've heard of that warning.
Me too. In fact, for both of us. Interesting.
 
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Old 09-26-12, 03:25 AM
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I didn't find the same forum as before about registry cleaners but this forum from Microsoft itself will tell you why you don't need a registry cleaner in Windows 7. CC Cleaner included although someone there said you can use it but don't use the registry cleaner portion here is the link Are "registry cleaners" safe to use? - Microsoft Answers. If you absolutely feel you must use a registry cleaner you really should be a trained computer repair person especially with Windows 7 at least from all of the reading I have done on the subject.
 
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Old 09-30-12, 03:57 PM
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This is the first I have heard that we should not use a registry cleaner with Windows 7. I have been using jv power tools 2012 and didn't think I had a problem. However, within the last week my HP printer stopped working. I ended up getting on-line help from HP and resolved the problem. To solve the problem I had to uninstall the printer drivers and reinstall. So many files were affected that it took a long time. It could be that cleaning the registry may have moved things around that my program could not find them. Could that be?
 
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Old 09-30-12, 04:10 PM
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I've read a little since this was first posted and the consensus is cleaning the registry does nothing unless you're actually searching it, which typically doesn't happen. However, frequent cleaning causes it to be fragmented, which can slow things down. Of course, there's always the possibility you remove something you needed.

I used to clean my registry periodically, I will no longer be doing so.
 
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Old 09-30-12, 07:51 PM
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It very well could be that you accidentally caused a problem with your HP printer 57zug62zag. I too used to go into my registry when I was using just Windows XP and still occasionally do so with Windows XP but after reading what I have I wouldn't think about it with Windows 7. I think the safest thing to do is just ignore the registry and only delete those programs we don't need anymore and those files we don't need and then we will be safe. Welcome to the forum 57zug62zag!
 
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Old 10-21-12, 04:31 PM
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Security Software

On my fast computer, I'm using AVG Internet Security Suite 2012, Business Edition, 64-bit...I love it. I've used McAfee, CA, Norton, Kaspersky, Trend Micro and a few others, but I like AVG...this year. They're not neccessarily the same from one year to the next.

For my registry maintenance I use AVG PC Tuneup 2012, very useful and powerful.

On my older, slower computer I'm just using the Microsoft Security Essentials.
 
 

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