Our friends over at FreewareBB have again alerted us to two free programs which should be treated with caution. The software in question, System Boost Elite and Registry Cleaner Free, involve several anomalies which cast serious doubts over intent and credibility.
Devious?
Both products are portrayed as separate entities available for download from two distinctly separate sites, and there is no reference on each site to the other product. YET both sites are patently from the same people – they are identical in almost every respect. Why would the owners wish to present their products as seemingly unassociated? One can’t help assuming some sort of ulterior motivation. Furthermore, both sites are rated RED (as in dangerous/unsafe) by the WOT site advisory service.
False Claims?
Each product page includes identical claims of awards emanating from a variety of download sites, yet there is no mention of any such awards on any of the sites named. In fact, at least one of the sites doesn’t even list the software at all.
Malware?
Scanning the downloaded executables through Virus Total elicits one hit for System Boost Elite:
- NOD32 – a variant of Win32/Adware.RealRegistryCleaner
And 3 hits for Registry Cleaner Free:
- Comodo – UnclassifiedMalware
- Emsisoft – Adware.Win32.RealRegistryCleaner.AMN!A2
- NOD32 – a variant of Win32/Adware.RealRegistryCleaner
Now, under normal circumstances and minus any additional concerns, I would tend to write these off as false positives – after all, 1 flag and 3 flags out of a possible 41 hardly constitutes proof positive. However, given the other dubious factors involved, I see this as just one more reason to avoid this software.
I might add that CNET actually lists System Boost Elite among its downloads – just one more reason why everyone should be using FreewareBB.
The almighty CNET takes another hit, eh Jim? I too used to believe that if CNET said it was good, or had it listed, chances were high it was good. Even their reviews often said things that were just too good to believe (or be true). Thanks for the words of caution, since too few out there know about how misleading statements made by CNET are. That’s not to say everything is like that, since there is also truth to things they say. Bottom line (wonder who started this saying?), never take for granted (have too much faith) in what you see and read (I’ll include myself, as I’m just stating my opinion), as actual fact, but allow your common sense to help guide you, Mindblower!
Good advice MB! I could compile a list of all the bogus and iffy freeware listed on CNET, but I would run out of room – it would be a very looong list indeed!