New
#51
LOL John....we've seen this show before eh..
People found that they could pretty much sell most users ANYTHING that sounded techie and promised improved performance back in the olden days, and it has never changed since
.
We actually came across a "Registry Optimizer" app back in 02 (when I still did security work) that was found to be written by a known spyware group, so we tested it both for spyware and monitored all it's activities. The thing looked like it was buzzing thru 1000's of reg keys and cleaning up, defragging, and generally "optimizing" a users registry. All that was actually taking place was a neat little show of random key names whizzing past too fast to read, and a colorful progress bar wrapped in a cool GUI...and that was all!!
Absolutely NOTHING was done, and in fact it didn't even install a nasty either, but they were asking $19.95 to unlock the app and apply the changes (we had unlocked it by another method.. ).
They even had a user forum where people were "astounded" at how well their systems ran after using the app, when nothing was done by it except to lighten their wallets of $20. They lasted exactly 6 months and disappeared with a pile of cash.
Talk about the "Placebo Effect" eh
LOL!!
Now I'm sure most of these things actually DO something, but it sure as heck ain't making systems any faster, just a waste of money & time IMO.