AVG (free) did a "PC Analyzer" report on my system: how reliable is this kind of report?

[rgbrgb]

Here's the report: although I could not copy and paste it:
----------
Registry errors: 291 errors found (high severity). I cannot copy and paste these, but are
application paths, auto starts, file types, firewall, help files, history, shared files, installed software,uninstall.

Junk files: 2264 errors found (high severity). Files in temp folders, recycle bin, IE cache files, log files, error reports, windows update files (the majority).

Fragmentation: Not fragmented.

Broken shortcuts: Errors not found.

-----------

AVG offers to "Fix now". What should I do?

 

[Ralston18]

Pretty much ignore that. Mostly marketing to foster FUD among the unknowing.

Windows logs are full of errors. Scammers ("Windows Services") call and trick people into looking into the logs and making the victim think those errors are going to destroy the computer, the internet, and shoot the neighbor's cat.

But for some fee the problem will be fixed especially if you let the calling "technician" take over your PC. You pay with a credit card or give them a gift card number, or even Western Union money to them.

Download a free utility like CCleaner (there are others).

Back up everything and then let run CCleaner to analyze your system. CCleaner will flag and fix many general errors such as are being shown by PC Analyzer. You have the option to pick the fixes to execute.

CCleaner also has a tab for registry cleaning. That is also very good but you must be sure to back up the registry as recommended.

I use CCleaner as do many others. But, in all fairness there are similar free products.

Take a look at CCleaner and other such products. See what people say and recommend.

You will end up with a healthier system and save money.

 

[rgbrgb]

Pretty much ignore that. Mostly marketing to foster FUD among the unknowing.

Windows logs are full of errors. Scammers ("Windows Services") call and trick people into looking into the logs and making the victim think those errors are going to destroy the computer, the internet, and shoot the neighbor's cat.

But for some fee the problem will be fixed especially if you let the calling "technician" take over your PC. You pay with a credit card or give them a gift card number, or even Western Union money to them.

Download a free utility like CCleaner (there are others).

Back up everything and then let run CCleaner to analyze your system. CCleaner will flag and fix many general errors such as are being shown by PC Analyzer. You have the option to pick the fixes to execute.

CCleaner also has a tab for registry cleaning. That is also very good but you must be sure to back up the registry as recommended.

I use CCleaner as do many others. But, in all fairness there are similar free products.

Take a look at CCleaner and other such products. See what people say and recommend.

You will end up with a healthier system and save money.

Thanks for your reply.

In fact I use CCleaner at the end of every day, to clean the day's junk.
But I have not used it as a registry cleaner or to analyze my system.
I'll try the analyzer.

I also use Disk Cleanup at the end of the day.

Have to be careful with these two with the settings, like not to check windows old.
And because I'm no expert, I can't really know what I'm deleting.

 

[zer0c00l587]

I only use registry cleaning if i uninstalled a program to find remnants of it and remove it, otherwise i would not mess around with registry entries. The pc analyzer is garbage, using disk cleanup is the best method.

 

[rgbrgb]

I only use registry cleaning if i uninstalled a program to find remnants of it and remove it, otherwise i would not mess around with registry entries. The pc analyzer is garbage, using disk cleanup is the best method.

OK I didn't use the AVG fix. But still, how come if I use CCleaner and Disk Cleanup every day there are still 291 registry errors and 2264 junk files, at least according to AVG's report?

Ralston, above, said that
"CCleaner will flag and fix many general errors such as are being shown by PC Analyzer. You have the option to pick the fixes to execute."
But when I ran it I only got the pie chart and a very long list of all the files etc. on the machine. How would I know what to do with the list?

 

[zer0c00l587]

I only use registry cleaning if i uninstalled a program to find remnants of it and remove it, otherwise i would not mess around with registry entries. The pc analyzer is garbage, using disk cleanup is the best method.

OK I didn't use the AVG fix. But still, how come if I use CCleaner and Disk Cleanup every day there are still 291 registry errors and 2264 junk files, at least according to AVG's report?

Ralston, above, said that
"CCleaner will flag and fix many general errors such as are being shown by PC Analyzer. You have the option to pick the fixes to execute."
But when I ran it I only got the pie chart and a very long list of all the files etc. on the machine. How would I know what to do with the list?

One thing good about Ccleaner registry scanning is, if you had used but still get a set of constant errors that keep coming back could point to badly made applications, other times it can be a windows issue that can be solved by ensuring your installation is fully updated. There is one important area that registry scanning can highlight, which is the presence of a malware or trojan etc, this is based on my own experience, after installing malwarebytes which found some infections and after removing it, 2 nagging registry entries suddenly disappeared after scanning registry with ccleaner. So if you keep a close on eye registry entries flagged by ccleaner it can point to some virus infections. I may scan windows registry with ccleaner but i dont always remove these entries, i make a note of those that i understand and those i dont, any entries left by uninstalled applications i delete and any folders left by said application which are not shared by other apps. Registry entries dealing with shared DLLs, objects and controls, classes and IDs, acitveX i usually avoid until I'm sure.

 

[Ralston18]

I do not run CCleaner every day - usually every two or three weeks or so. And I may or may not execute the "clean".

After the analysis you can right click on a given entry and chose to clean that specific item. Google Earth, for example, quickly builds up files to delete.

As has been posted I also use CCleaner to go back and clean files and the registry after uninstalling some application. However, I may wait a few days to do the cleaning unless there is some specific problem that can be traced to the registry. May try a direct edit just to retain, hopefully, some option to reverse my changes.

And using the analysis to look for viruses, malware, etc. is a good idea.

Per zeroc..... CCleaner and the like are tools that can be and should be used to monitor system activity.

However, as I have already suggested, a lot of the "tools" out there are primarily for the purpose of getting your money. Especially for things you can already do for free within Windows for the most part.

And some of those programs are just "brute force" and may do some serious damage especially if not fully tested and updated to repair bugs or adjust to changes/updates in the OS being "repaired".

Event Viewer, Task Manager, Device Manger, and Performance Monitor may be a bit cumbersome at first but overall serve well.

Although there have been problems with CCleaner from time to time it is a good product and lots of folks use it. But as in any situation, have some other good tools handy......