REVIEW: Advanced System Care Pro 8 - Comments Page 1

I have been told by a Best Buy Geek Squad tech
that ASC does not REALLY check all the things
that it says it checks.Further an ex Microsoft
guru that I know also challenges the veracity
of ASC.

I've used ASC and ASC Pro for years, and I completely agree with the review. The newest version works well and fast, and I have it set to be automated to run in the background. The upselling of extra programs is mostly a nuisance. I'm glad to pay for the Pro version of the main ASC program. I also use and recommend Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium, as well as WinPatrol PLUS. I've never had a PC problem with malware, viruses or anything else, and for that matter, never had other issues with Win XP and Win 7 running these programs.

As a long time ASC user (and Bob Rankin subscriber), I concur with everything you said regarding ASC. However, I recently 'took the bait' for Driver Booster 2 and after using the free version on 3 different Dell PC's (1 desktop, two laptops) I've had 0 issues (and it creates a restore point prior to installing any drivers).

Keep the informative and helpful articles coming Bob!

I use Privazer which, in my opinion, is the best of these types of programs and doesn't constantly try to trick you into upgrading to pro. With my SSD its not recommended to use a Defragger.

Well, Glenn. Who shall I believe? Bob or the Geeks? Tough call. I think I shall have to fall back on the time-tested aphorism of "Beware of Geeks bearing gifts." I gotta' go with Bob. He hasn't steered me wrong. Yet. Nevertheless, thank you for your skepticism. Just because we find it on line, doesn't mean it's true. I already use a lot of the programs that the has discussed. For years. And have had no problems.

I went for the paid version because I wanted to do just as you mentioned. Not super impressed with the value of such a decision though. I have run it and then Glary utilities and vice versa and they both seem to have slightly different may I say standards for registry defrag/repair and other aspects. I have used the free version for years, and just last year went pro.

Iobit makes ASC. Iobit has a long history of being a lower tier freeware organisation, meaning, not totally commendable. For example, several years ago, there were accusations of having stolen signatures from MBAM. In my personal experience, Iobit makes it a practice to foist products on the innocent client when one or another product, by Iobit, is downloaded. An example is, foisting the Iobit uninstaller when ASC is installed. This has happened several times with me. I am underwhelmed by their ethics.
Having said that, I acknowledge that Ian "Gizmo" Richards, in Tech Support Alerts (a very vibrant freeware site) has for many years recommended ASC. I admit I use it. However, after I install it, I have to go through my system with CCleaner, to see what is foisted on me. The Iobit uninstaller is very good, but it is foistware sometimes.
Please consider these points with gravity: (1) ASC has a freeware rendition; it has many sterling qualities; you need to watch very carefully for continued foisting actions from Iobit. Caveat Emptor. In conclusion, I use it, provisionally. Your choice!!

RAM cleaner? Seriously? When I catch something like that or "memory optimizer", "memory cleaner", RAM booster" I usually note the name of the program and never pay any attention to that product and also look closely to other products of that company (or just avoid it completely).

There is a perfect program that doesn't claim any tuning or optimizing - xp-antispy from xp-antispy.org, but does exactly that trick. Unfortunately, there is no version for Win 8...

Also I've never do any defragmentation on my drives for decades and have never see any problem. Today file systems, especially, in UNIX world don't need any defragmentation due the algorithms they have and file system organization. So don't waste your time unless you want to make impossible to recover deleted files. Also keep in mind that all tricks to reallocate together all sectors belonging to one file in one area of hard drive is a illusion, since the physical characteristics of modern hard drives have nothing in common with what we see according to the operating system or BIOS. Just try to imagine a hard drive of regular size with 256 heads, for example, like it was stated in BIOS info about hard drive. If you don't believe me, open one of dead drives and you'll see one disk with magnetic surface and one head for each side of that disk. And after go figure what exactly do any defragmentation with your drive according to 256-heads architecture of the drive.

I remember time, when you can speed you disk up by changing interleave. When a head reads the hard drive, it spins, so after the information from a sector is processed and controller is ready to read the next one, it moves out of head and can be read after a full spin of the drive. So interleave is a parameter that defines how to place sequential sectors on the drive surface to tie together processing time and time to reach the next closest sector. So sequential sectors really were not near by each other, but between them were several other sectors from other sequence. Of course, it depends on where from the center of the disk is the head, but you can find the optimal value for that. But now there is a proxy here - a kind of computer that controls the hard drive itself and we work with it instead of real physical device. And after that you try to optimize something according to the complete fiction about the real device.

C'mon, Bob, I can't believe you forgot those old good times and get caught by those con artists!

It's about time to reinstall Windows, so don't guess it will hurt to download for testing purposes.

ASC - I tried a previous version and had a lot of issues with ASC trying to take control of various settings. Eventually I used another program to delete all ASC and related programs and almost lived 'happily ever after'!

I have use ASC for years I think since it first started. I recently updated to v.8 works great I also have smart defrag, latest version, also It does keep me runing well, I also use Avast antivirus and Malwarebytes Anti Malware all with excellent results.

Liked the review Bob. However, trying to download from the IObot website results in a redirect to CNET. Unless there is another way of obtaining the application, I'll pass for now. CNET's reputation is the repelling issue.

IObit Software, a Chinese company, has several times downloaded unsolicited programs (no small print default checked boxes) on my PC along with an intentional download, which several AV scanners have flagged as malware. MBAM has found that they stole software from them.
https://forums.malwarebytes.org/index.php?/topic/29681-iobit-steals-malwarebytes-intellectual-property/

Glen's account above of the Geek Squad saying ASC does not do what it claims is totally consistent with their unintegrous behavior.

@GlennSharp >> One should never start a comment with "...been told by a Best Buy Geek Squad tech..." especially (or even inadvertently) putting Mr. Rankin's credibility at doubt! I'd personally venture even further by stating that BestBuy is a rip-off and their GeekSquad are for those who are clooless about computers. I don't think neither types of consumers would be the kind that visit this great site. I don't mean to trawl or flame; but...

I had this once,and it did pretty darn good. BUT i started having trouble. IObit was popping up in regisrty giving me fits! So i completely got rid of it. I`m using CCleaner Has option`s i like,and does a marvelous job.

I use ASC Ultimate 7, seems to do good but I can do the 'Registry Fix' and it will 'fix' a lot of Registry Errors yet if I do it again right away it will state it has 'fixed' another quantity of Registry Errors so it makes me think it ain't absolutely great. I also use Bit Defender Total Security and when I Optimize the Registry Cleanup then use ASC Ultimate 7 it 'fixes' more 'Registry Errors'...

Thanks! Good Info! I wonder if you would consider doing a similar review or look into YAC (Yet Another Cleaner) http://www.yac.mx/

Kind regards
T

IObit is the same company that allegedly stole the "Intellectual Property" of Malwarebytes several years back!

EDITOR'S NOTE: I've read the IOBit/MBAM story, which dates back to 2009. According to the MBAM wikipedia page, IOBit was using the MBAM virus database in their product without permission. IOBit denies their claim, and the the issue was resolved in IOBit's ASC v1.3 product. They're now at V7, and there have been no reports since 2009 of any more database issues. Yes, IOBit is a Chinese company, and China has different views on copyrights and intellectual property. But as far as I can tell, they've mended their ways and are "playing nice" for the past 5 years.

Hi Bob,

I'm not sure if I'm the Only one, but every time I updated to ASC 8, my computer slowed down, and then certain programs started crashing...as soon as I uninstalled it...problem solved.

Wow! What a timely piece. My Windows 7 machine was acting rather sluggish of late, and I've been searching for some kind of system care software. Advanced System Care did the trick. Now, my machine is running like new again, and I only downloaded the free version. I can't thank you enough Bob!