# Review: IOBIT software.



## OVERLORDCHAOS (Apr 8, 2011)

well, i have watched terrible opinions on all the iobit software in here. granted a few years back was horrible. but now-adays works ok and it has become my daily usage tool for giving my computer maintenance.
will do short-resume of what i think on my 2 year experience with this software.
anyone its welcome to download the free version of advanced system care, and do your own tests on old computers you dont use for serious purposes or in virtual computers.
alright here my short review:
Advanced System Care: a clean user interface that holds all the sub-programs inside.
it performs a customizable system scan on different dependencies. (all are optional)
- Spyware, it scans your pc for spyware and adware. both files and/or registry keys to be exaustive on the scan.
- Registry, scans the whole registry for errors left behind by bad installations or unistallations, spyware/adware/virus registry damage. even optimizes it removing empty keys that are left behind by changes on the computer.
-Privacy Sweep, deletes (if you configure to do so) to delete all history, cache and temp files from all your browsers.
-Cleaning of Garbage data deletes all temporary files and old cache you choose, from windows to some programs, like 7zip, photoshop old temp files, MS office temp/cache files. from windows it can delete old update cache, old prefetch data, etc.
-speed up internet, you choose your internet speed, then it analizes your pc settings, and browser setings and gives you the option to optimize according the settings it offers, or leave all as it is.
-Repair Shortcuts, will detele old non existant shortcuts (from old stuff its not there anymore)
-Defragment registry, analizes the registry and after a reboot, before the os boots up, rebuilds entirely the registry in a way its compressed, taking away old data, irrelevant data or damaged data. as if you reinstall windows and the registry its rebuild. without loosing any of your settings, programs, etc.
-Enhace defenses, will scan all the known threats on the os and programs that connects to the internet and fixes it.
there are other options that i never use cause i use other software for it. like the defragmentation for the disks. witch i dont like cause i cannot choose any setting, the defragmentation will be done in way only and i prefer do more customization not just the simple way around.
so give me your thoughts after you do some testing on your own. will post more IOBIT reviews here if its ok.


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

It's your choice to use registry/file "cleaner/optimizer/booster/tuneup" type utilities, but don't come here and encourage people to use them.

Many of us have been a part of these forums for years and have read the horror stories from people using them, and we will continue to discourage them from using them.

Enough said.

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## OVERLORDCHAOS (Apr 8, 2011)

that`s fine,specially if you dont know what are you doing. its a tool. if i give you a hammer and you smash your computer to small pieces, its the problem of the hammer? the hammer sucks? or it is you smashing your own computer?
besides as i said, a few years ago it was too buggy and yeah kinda it damaged the os.
now for the extended review:
IOBIT Driver Booster:
just use it a few hours ago. it scans your drivers, and if there are new versions, will download the new versions, will do a system restore point, then will unistall and install the new drivers. there is the option to keep the compressed installers you can. (useful if you chhose to do a new install of your os later along the way to install those new drivers instead of the ones you have, if you have any at all)
to be quite honest, the only time i had problems with this software, was while the custom drivers from sony ( i have a vaio laptop) was giving me issues almost to the point of messing all the os. so unistall them, installed generic drivers and voila the problems where solved. even the computer works better than in the begening. apparently sony likes to break drivers when they customize them. asides from that, no never a driver issue with this software.


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## DaveA (Nov 16, 1999)

I have had to FIX way to many systems that have been "improved" with these so called tools.
I have gotten to the point I will fix a system one time is the owner has used such a tool, but they are on there own from there out if they continue to use them.

You have stated that on your two system things seem to improve, but that 2 out of how many millions of machines that have failed. 

As for driver updates, if it ain't broke don't fix it.


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## DaveBurnett (Nov 11, 2002)

Any automatic tool that professes to fix your system will fix it up.

There are tools out there that will scan your system and find out of date programs and drivers, and some of them are pretty good at identifying out of date stuff, BUT you should NEVER allow them to update stuff for you.

Firstly their own database is likely to be out of date as well.

Next, many will have copies of the software they are proposing to update that has been modified to include advertising and who knows what else.

Then, you should only install software from the original source if possible, or at least, a recommended source (and those DO change)

Automatic installs will almost always include any added nasties like toolbars and PUPs automatically.


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## renegade600 (Jun 22, 2006)

You ask for opinions and the following is mine.

IObit has a bad rep. they have been sued in the past for stealing from another anti-malware company. But that is not the real reason why a lot of techs are against using them.

1. update drivers - utilities that says they will keep your drivers updated usually look in the wrong database. a lot of oem manufacturers computer uses special drivers because of minor differences in their oem (especially with laptops and aio's) and their retail same model counterpart. Using the wrong driver can create problems.

2. it cleans the registry - people tend to look for registry cleaners when they already are having problems. They see the promises that it will fix things so they give it a try. In a lot of cases it will make things worse besides what is a few stray lines in the registry among hundreds if not thousand. How will removing them speed up your computer? It is like saying removing a grain of salt from the salt shaker will help the salt shake out faster.

You said in your last post that only the experience should run it.



> specially if you dont know what are you doing. its a tool.


Most users do not know what they are doing so they get it. Most who know what they are doing will avoid any type of registry cleanup tool.

3. improve performance - most registry cleaners will only improve the computers performance the first time it is used but it is only because it will delete temporary files from the computer. Those temporary files takes up space in their storage forlders and by getting rid of them, the computer will be a bit faster. Windows Cleanup will do that and it comes with the operating system. after the first use, the majority of users will never see a performance boost again after running their registry cleaner.

4. checks for malware - the first time most registy or malware utility is run, they want to scare the user. They claim there are hundreds if not thousands of files infecting their computer. Most of the time it is just temporary files and has absolutely nothing to do with malware.


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## OVERLORDCHAOS (Apr 8, 2011)

renegade600 said:


> You ask for opinions and the following is mine.
> 
> IObit has a bad rep. they have been sued in the past for stealing from another anti-malware company. But that is not the real reason why a lot of techs are against using them.
> 
> ...


as i said, the softare was insanely improved.
i respect your opinion, but in my personal experience:
1 - it only installs drivers, and they are OEM with WHQL certification. and iobit does not modify them in any way cause i have intalled them, and never had any kind of issue. besides the drivers are not all the time updated. there are many drivers my pc has and have years without a new release. plus it only update drivers once they are released by the manuacturer on their site (or a fe days earlier, probably some bussiness deal with the companies) and the only programs you are given to update, are adobe flash player, java and directx. and those you get upates ONLY if they release an update to the public. and you can check the update date on the company (for example adobe) when the update its coming.

2 - the registry clean its real, the registry gets damaged every time you install/unistall programs and/or system updates.
every time i format my computer, i reinstall all my programs, my settings, and drivers. once i finish, i run this program and it gives me (for just the one time) between 400 to 800 registry errors. then if you run it again, without intalling/unistalling anything, there are no or almost no error to fix. so its not a software that will tell you "yeah there are tons of errors on the computer FIX IT or you will lose your data" this is not the case. only a friendly reminders from time to time on special iobit offers, and generally its one by month as a tooltip on the taskbar.

3- it improves the performance becuase in just 1 click (1 click for scan and 1 click for optimize) you do all the maintenance tasks on the computer. delete all temp/cache files from programs/windows. delete cache and other windows explorer history/cache. delete all the browsers history, cache and cookies. so its the result of all the tools togheter. not just "registry cleaning" besides i use it once per week at most. i am not runing the software every hour.

4- it scans for spyware at a basic level. it never lies cause sometimes i scan the computer and turns out there are 0 spyware detected. besides for best security enhacement, there is IOBIT Malware Fighter itch its a real time spyware-adware scanner for your pc. witch i dont use cause i never allow any installation of any spyware-adware-toolbar stuff there is out there.


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## renegade600 (Jun 22, 2006)

though I may only have a few hundred posts in this forum, I have around 40k posts in other help forums and have seen over the years the damage that can be done by utilities such as IObit. In fact in another forum right now there is a person who will most likely have to reinstall because he used IObit. That person had other problems and thought IObit could help. Big mistake. 

I have checked out several different registry utilities, including IObit over the years in order to help someone in a forum and had to use system restore a few times myself because of the problems they caused. Because of my experiences, I would never recommend using any utilities such as IObit.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Secunia PSI that has the auto update get things wrong and wants to update in the wrong place and who knows what damage that would do. 

Good reason to not let other programs to deal with things like this.


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## OVERLORDCHAOS (Apr 8, 2011)

agan, this is a tool. sure i am not sayng that iobit software its the best in the world. i am just saying that oibit its a good tool, used under supervision.
and NO i dont allow the software to do random stuff or update drivers without my consent. plus the driver booster gives you the brand, specific hardware name and number. for example i have an intel graphics HD 4400. iobit recognized the device, looked up a driver revision not even intel driver update utility 2.0 has (the official updatng tool from intel) and since the info checks out the driver was newer, and was specifically for that hardware i give a ok to update.
as i said, i would love to anyone of you, for example on a virtual pc you test out this software.
i think the company has change their ways cause the software works better (again in the past was ba i agree) and there are no more false claims about anything, as i said, ths is a tool. not a program to trust blindly.
it will be the same to give the disk management tool to use for anyone, and for people that does not know what it is dong, if they delete their hard disk with all their data, e should blame mcrosoft because there is no automated magical response to prevent this, or blame the user that did not know what it was doing and deleted his hard drive?
and, again, i did not come here to do a insane debate or to force you to change your mind. its just i have tried some of the softare out there similar to this one, and this was the best one i find, and i think you are harsh with the software cause 1 year or mor ago was rally bad. i think iobit changed staff or something cause they are not making stuff up. (i think, there is not much advertisement on the main site, rather than it boosts the pc over 300%, etc)


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## blues_harp28 (Jan 9, 2005)

I think that your posts highlight that while we may use all manner of software on our own pc, because we have had some success with it and we know what it can and cannot do.

However, what software we recommend on an open pc help forum has to be almost 100% safe or we may be causing more problems for those we are trying to help, than they first started with.

But as you say, the best way to test any software is on a virtual pc. :up:


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## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

The following is one of the best write-ups I've seen for the NON-use of registry cleaners, and also a very good description of the 'why you shouldn't use them', courtesy of fellow moderator Elvandil.



Elvandil said:


> Registry cleaners do nothing to help a machine. The damage they cause may not even show up right away. Then you buy a new piece of hardware and discover that it won't install because some "cleaner" removed all the entries. And because of the way the registry works, removing things from it does not improve access speed one iota.
> 
> Cleaning "junk" files is another thing that should be done with caution. Many files that programs like Ccleaner remove are very useful at times. For example, most backups, including that of the BCD registry, use the bak file ending. If there is a problem booting, it's easy to replace it unless it has been deleted. Contrary to popular belief, the number of files on the hard drive has nothing at all to do with how well or fast the system runs.
> 
> ...


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## Cookiegal (Aug 27, 2003)

Let me point out that we are not singling out IOBit but we are referring to any registry cleaner/optimizer type of software.

As has been previously stated by others, it's fine for you to use what you like on YOUR computer but we are helping users here who, for the most part, don't understand how these programs work and/or the consequences of using them and letting them delete everything they find. 

So we will allow your review to stand because it's just that, your own personal review from your experiences with this particular software. However, please refrain from recommending the use of ANY registry cleaner or optimizer type of programs here in the forums to the users seeking assistance. A well-maintained and infection free computer does not need help from third party software to run smoothly. 

And on that note, I'm closing this thread as there is no need to add new information and this is not a debate forum. There are many other threads where the dangers of these types of programs have been discussed.


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