PC optimizers are not a new concept, and they have been around for quite a while. Nowadays, many consider them unnecessary, but having an official program made by Microsoft that is capable of (allegedly) speeding up your PC may sound quite appealing.

However, Microsoft’s PC Manager has already raised quite a few eyebrows when customers caught it recommending some questionable optimizing techniques, injecting affiliate links, and shamelessly claiming your PC needs repair if Bing is not set as the default search engine. Yikes.

  • henfredemars@infosec.pub
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    44
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    5 months ago

    Cool idea MS. If only you had access to the OS itself to prevent it from gradually slowing down and littering the system with junk. Since we can’t fix Windows (Only the maker of Windows can do that!), let’s make a dedicated band-aid app to fix Windows.

    Maybe whoever is working on Windows will get the message and fix those problems that your tool was built to fix.

    Funny thing that my Android phone and Linux desktop don’t need antivirus, don’t accumulate junk in registries or system folders, and don’t require dedicated optimization tools.

    • mynachmadarch@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      18
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      5 months ago

      Although I agree in general, the antivirus complaint isn’t really fair. Windows was by and large the largest install base, especially in the corporate sector. It only makes sense it became the most targeted. Scam apps and that’s do exist on Android and Linux, they’re just mitigated other ways. For now.

      • henfredemars@infosec.pub
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        I see it more as a distribution problem. It’s unrealistic to expect users to download software and verify that the sources are trustworthy. Having some kind of store with developer accountability goes a long way to preventing malware. That, and sandboxing.

        It’s always possible to write malware for any platform. It’s not entirely a fair comparison.

        • shastaxc@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          5 months ago

          Windows has a store. Most people just choose not to use it.

          • henfredemars@infosec.pub
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            5 months ago

            Microsoft tries to offer one, but there’s not a lot of incentive for developers to use it.