PC Tune-ups at Best Buy, Microcenters, etc

[muskrat]

I have a five year old laptop with Windows 7. I am thinking of bringing it to one of these stores(Best Buy, Microcenters) to make my computer "run like I just bought it" for a tune-up.
Are these stores doing anything that I can't do at home? Are they worth it?
I use AVG Virus (free edition)
CCleaner
Malwarebytes

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
I'm sure that depends on staff at the locations
Some are okay but for the most part low wage *******'s

The best tune up is a clean install on a new ssd

 

[cyclops]

Best Buy and MicroCenter won't save you, they don't value your data and will wipe and reinstall. You can restore to factory using the recovery partition if it has one. Back up all the data you value and have the disks for programs you installed yourself and get going without shelling out a dime.
Keep in mind, those big box stores are paying the techs nearly minimum wage, you get what you pay for. I know a few of them and I refuse to work there or pay them for minimum capabilities.

 

[cyclops]

Muskrat, I quit AVG and moved to Avast. AVG was just too much of a resource hog. Just saying.

 

[Mellon Head]

There is nothing that they can do for you that you can't do at home, more cheaply, and more effectively.

 

[paul1149]

There's a lot you can do right off the bat, and there's more you can do with further effort. A fresh install is the most straightforward way to go. AVG is too heavy on resources, and now there are privacy concerns. I find Panda to be both light and effective. How much do the box stores charge for this service?

 

[AddRAM]

They don`t do anything you can`t do yourself, don`t waste your money.

By the way, get rid of AVG, it`s garbage

 

[UsernameIssues]

paul1149,
I'm not defending AVG, but where is Panda's privacy policy for their free antivirus app? How do you know that Panda is not doing worse things with you data than AVG admitted doing?

 

[paul1149]

Hi Usernameissues,

I don't know, and have never investigated it. They may be as bad or worse for all I know. I just go by what breaks in the headlines, and I assume that since nothing has broken about Panda, it's ok. But I know that can be wrong. I can't keep up with everything, so in many areas I depend on others to find out for me. Not the best, I know. And I really should do better considering that I deploy Panda to so many units.

 

[UsernameIssues]

paul1149,
I have installed Panda for my users that cannot seem to stay free of PUPs. I'm not too concerned about the privacy issues. My guess is, they all do what AVG admitted doing. I wonder how many people stopped using AVG because AVG decided to be honest about selling data that they collect. After your post, I did go looking for Panda's privacy statement, but never found one. Thanks for making me think to go look for it

muskrat,
I agree with those saying that you will be better off with something other than AVG. AVG lost me and my users many years ago when they starting putting the list of things to look for (the signatures) into the OS System process. This slowed many XP systems to a crawl.

MSE is probably the lightest on resources and it seems to get along with other programs. Perhaps because it does so little (no browser add-ons and no website screening). If Malwarebyte scans come up clean, then MSE is fine for those type of users.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
I personally would not recommend MSE unless a user has mbam premium = not the free version.

 

[paul1149]

Hi @Usernameissues,

You got me wondering. I found the privacy policy here. I think it's saying they will use data for their own purposes - to fulfill their obligations to the user and for internal marketing. I didn't see mention of selling or sharing data to or with third parties. And there's an opt-out mechanism even for that.

I use the free version, and there is no need to give an email address. One only has to skip that step each time the program's interface is accessed - a small price to pay for a great prog, IME. BTW, the popups, which come far too often, can be totally stopped by turning off "Panda News" in the Settings. (If they would moderate the popups and make them more informative, I would leave them on, and I've told them so. They need to eat, I understand. I suspect they're not strong on the marketing end.)

Panda is located in Spain, and that may curtail their privacy-related exploits more than being US-based would. But I could be wrong on that. I think AVG is in Europe too, for that matter.

And of course, privacy policy can change at any time, and since I have Panda News turned off that puts me back to relying on hearing about it through the grapevine, as I previously described. But I'm fairly comfortable with that arrangement. Ultimately it's up to my end users to research and decide which programs they want to use. I just do the best I can.

As for MSE, I gave up on it about a year ago when it began to commandeer high CPU levels. Many of my machines are netbooks or value-level laptops, and MSE was killing them. I was delighted to find Panda, and have remained very happy with it. There was one big update problem Panda had, with major fallout, but anyone can make a mistake. I suspect that most of the people here who still recommend MSE are on more powerful machines. And it consistently scores low on effectiveness.

BW,
Paul

 

[UsernameIssues]

I had found that privacy policy - but I thought it only applied to their website and the data that you provide to buy products. I could have be wrong about that. Maybe it covered everything.

 

[paul1149]

I think it covers everything:

Access to the website by the User and the acquisition of products and services and the use of tools or content via the website implies the processing of personal data.​

I intend on an install today and this time I'll actually check the privacy agreement.

 

[paul1149]

Ok, here's what I believe is the pertinent part of the license agreement at time of install:

5.- DATA COLLECTION TECHNOLOGY.-

PANDA informs the licensee that in certain programs or products it may use data collection technology to collect technical information (including suspicious files) to improve the programs or products, to provide associated services, to adapt them to user preferences and to prevent the unlicensed or illegal use of the program or product. The licensee accepts that PANDA may use such information as part of the services provided in relation to the program or product. The licensee acknowledges and accepts that PANDA may provide updates or additions to the program or product which are automatically downloaded onto his/her computer.

Similarly, for the purpose of contracting and using the program, the licensee may have to give PANDA certain personal data. The licensee is hereby informed and gives consent to the processing of his/her personal data, which is facilitated to PANDA as a consequence of the contracting and use of the program, in order to access information or services provided by PANDA or to maintain the contractual relationship or to send marketing information by any means including electronically. PANDA informs the licensee that it will treat such personal data in accordance with current applicable legislation and as established in its Privacy Policy. The licensee can access the Privacy Policy at: Aviso Legal - Panda Security

As part of the service, the product provides the IP address and name of the licensee’s computer in order to allow monitoring of licenses and in order to check and detect possible incidents related with the product and its use. The licensee acknowledges and authorizes processing of this IP address by PANDA.​

It refers back to the web privacy statement, but it's in Spanish. I believe it's the same as the English one we've seen at Legal notice- Panda Security

I don't see anything untoward here, but then who knows?

 

[UsernameIssues]

Yes, I found that too. You were correct

There is a separate section further down in the license agreement shown at time of install about the data that the toolbar collects. Unfortunately, all of this info is pretty generic - just like what AVG published until they decided to get specific.

Let's see what the OP opts to do.

 

[paul1149]

He he, I don't know if I'm right or not. The legalese is horrendous. BTW I always uninstall the toolbar after installation (the toolbar has to be installed to get url filtering.. Hmmm, now that I think of it, url filtering could be a major eavesdropping point. This stuff never ends, does it?)

Still wonder what the box stores charge for a tune up. I would imagine $70 or so?

 

[ThrashZone]

If I remember correctly you can uncheck any additional software during the Panda install,
I didn't end up with any toolbars...
I also did not make a email address account either and still have not.

 

[muskrat]

Thanks all of you for the help

 

[Stevekir]

There's a lot you can do right off the bat, and there's more you can do with further effort. A fresh install is the most straightforward way to go. AVG is too heavy on resources, and now there are privacy concerns. I find Panda to be both light and effective. How much do the box stores charge for this service?

I have AVG. What are these AVG privacy concerns please?