Why wait for CCleaner/ATF?

[scorcher]

I have been reading the technician's different methods to cleaning up systems from junk/virus's.

Is there a reason why most people are waiting to run CCleaner or ATF/temp cleaners AFTER they have run some or all of their virus scans?

I find that if I run the virus scans after getting rid of the junk, the scan times don't take as long. If this is not a good procedure than someone fill me in why not. Thanks.

 

[purple_minion]

I agree, and have noticed that even Spybot now pops up and says it found so many temp files and if you would like to delete them to speed up the scan. Some people never clear anything, and I think there was a thread on here about the biggest load of crap cleaned up in one go and it was in the gigabytes! Though I think on my system 50mb isn't going to slow it down too much, but those other people it most certainly would!

 

[TimeCode]

Is there a reason why most people are waiting to run CCleaner or ATF/temp cleaners AFTER they have run some or all of their virus scans?

Because it has a Registry Cleaner. There is no sense in cleaning the registry BEFORE the virus and spyware files are removed.

 

[scorcher]

Because it has a Registry Cleaner. There is no sense in cleaning the registry BEFORE the virus and spyware files are removed.

Thats true but I always use the portable CCleaner to clean up files first. Last week a client had 3.5 GB of data that was cleared up before my virus scans. Even though I don't trust most registry cleaner, CCleaner is the only one I use towards the end of any cleanup.

 

[seedubya]

Yeah, but registry cleaning's pointless anyway, so why wait. Save yourself the time when scanning.

 

[Majestic]

I have been reading the technician's different methods to cleaning up systems from junk/virus's.

Is there a reason why most people are waiting to run CCleaner or ATF/temp cleaners AFTER they have run some or all of their virus scans?

I find that if I run the virus scans after getting rid of the junk, the scan times don't take as long. If this is not a good procedure than someone fill me in why not. Thanks.

I always run ccleaner, then do the malware removal following that. That said, it has crossed my mind that some technicians out there without integrity who want to waste the clients time to make more money could easily do the antivirus scan first (which would take FOREVER going through the Content.IE5 temp internet files dir) THEN do the ccleaner following that.

I've heard of technicians installing earlier Service packs first then making the client wait as they install each update. Real low crap..

Majestic

 

[Heriberto t.]

although i do have ccleaner downloaded, i use advanced systemcare. i found it at giveawayoftheday.com its not a featured program, but its in a box that says, something like, these programs dont have spyware...or something like that...and then it says advanced systemcare.

 

[MSgherzi]

I have an idea, run them before and after that way this debate ends.

 

[smr1619]

I run them before and after as well.

 

[TimeCode]

I run them before and after as well.

And honestly, after reading this, I think you have the right idea. I am going to start doing this from now on.

 

[robrich22]

Yeah I am actually going to start running my cleaners first from now on. Normally I'd run my anti-virus/spyware first but it makes more sense to cleanup all the garbage files first, so they don't have to be scanned.

 

[atlanticjim]

I do it in this order:

1. Remove the extraneous files with ATF cleaner because it will reach into all of the user's profiles (CCleaner will not). I leave the cookies intact for the sake of their banking etc. I clean out the comp first because I don't want to run the virus scan on unneccessary files.
2. Reboot to safe mode and run Malwarebytes AV.
3. Run HijackThis and analyze and repair. At this time I will make changes to the startups.
4. Run any other programs to solve problems.
5. Reboot and update windows.
6. Clean the registry with CCleaner (can anyone recommend a better regcleaner?)
7. Run ATF again to eliminate any tracks that I may have made.
8. Defrag with JKDefrag.
9. Call the client
10. Collect the cash.

 

[Omnicef]

I do it in this order:

1. Remove the extraneous files with ATF cleaner because it will reach into all of the user's profiles (CCleaner will not). I leave the cookies intact for the sake of their banking etc. I clean out the comp first because I don't want to run the virus scan on unneccessary files.
2. Reboot to safe mode and run Malwarebytes AV.
3. Run HijackThis and analyze and repair. At this time I will make changes to the startups.
4. Run any other programs to solve problems.
5. Reboot and update windows.
6. Clean the registry with CCleaner (can anyone recommend a better regcleaner?)
7. Run ATF again to eliminate any tracks that I may have made.
8. Defrag with JKDefrag.
9. Call the client
10. Collect the cash.

# 10 is the most important step!

 

[Paul Cooper]

I do it in this order:

1. Remove the extraneous files with ATF cleaner because it will reach into all of the user's profiles (CCleaner will not). I leave the cookies intact for the sake of their banking etc. I clean out the comp first because I don't want to run the virus scan on unneccessary files.
2. Reboot to safe mode and run Malwarebytes AV.

Hi atlanticjim - Just curious as to why you go straight for safe mode running of Malwarebytes. I thought that safe mode should only be used if the normal mode scan failed, as the (working from memory, so probably wrong ) catchme driver doesn't work in safe mode.

Cheers,

Paul

 

[geekhelp4u]

Hi atlanticjim - Just curious as to why you go straight for safe mode running of Malwarebytes. I thought that safe mode should only be used if the normal mode scan failed, as the (working from memory, so probably wrong ) catchme driver doesn't work in safe mode.

Cheers,

Paul

very True... MBAM MUST be run in normal mode for it to be the most effective! Running in safe mode may leave behind many infected files! This is why it is so hard to have MBAM portable... even the portable versions you see are not advised! MBAM should be installed, updated and run in NORMAL mode to work correctly.

If MBAM fails in normal mode, it should be run in safe mode. Upon completion, you must must boot into normal mode and start again!