PC Matic – The Hocus-Pocus Never Stops
All Windows Users

PC Matic is running its multi-million dollar TV ad campaign again. And whenever PC Matic goes on an ad buying spree, we always get questions from our readers about PC Matic.

First, we think it’s a shame that PC Pitstop – once a very respectable company and web site – sank to the level of offering hocus-pocus software like PC Matic.

PC Matic advertising is so full of lies and half-truths, we don’t know where to begin.

Not only didn’t it win any awards from Virus Bulletin, it doesn’t even have an antivirus component. It works by using a whitelist of “approved programs” and won’t allow anything else to run. So if your favorite legitimate program isn’t on their list, too bad, it won’t run. Whitelisting is not a security protocol – it’s a rudimentary black/white list policy that has been around for over 2 decades. Not only does the whitelist not provide you with security, it a very high unacceptable rate of false positives.

The price they advertise for as little as $10 per PC is a stretch. You have to buy a 5-PC license for $50. So if you have only one or two PCs, it’s not cheap to by. If you’re looking for mediocre protection and clean-up programs there are free programs that work better than PC Matic.

According to what we could learn, PC Matic is run by a former Vipre Security “expert”.  You’d think a security expert would know better than to base PC security on outdated whitelisting.

The web is full of complaints about PC Matic. Some refer to it as snake oil, others refer to it as a scam, and many are calling for the FTC to file charges against PC Matic for false advertising.

It is a shame that companies like PC Matic are able to make tens of millions of dollars selling snake oil and using the profits to buy more TV advertising and suckering many more people into buying their snake oil. From what we’ve read, PC Matic commercials are very much like the “eat all you want and lose weight” diet pills commercials. Even though everyone knows it’s too good to be true, people want to believe it anyway.

Here’s the PC Matic Snake Oil:

“PC Matic is all you’ll ever need.”

PC Matic provides superior security protection over all security products, free or otherwise, on the market. On top of that, PC Matic keeps your computers running at peak performance even after years of use. PC Matic pricing options include…” (Rob Cheng. CEO and Founder PC Pitstop LLC)

Read more about the PC Matic scam from the link below.

http://goo.gl/5StLaL

PC Matic boast they won the top security award from Virus Bulletin – an independent antivirus & security software testing lab. But the truth is far from what PC Matic claims. See for yourself, here’s how well PC Matic did on the most recent tests conducted by Virus Bulletin. It failed.

You can see these test results for yourself on the Virus Bulletin web site.

Save your money…it’s not inexpensive, it’s expensive. And even if it were cheap, it would not be worth the money. In our opinion, even if it were FREE, it would not be worth the money. It’s hocus-pocus, snake oil software, designed to fool those who don’t know much about PCs. PC Matic puts on a dandy show, but does very little. It does not protect your PC, it does not repair your PC, it does no more to optimize your PC than you could do yourself,  and it does not increase your Internet speed.

Don’t waste your money on PC Matic.

Keep reading to see what we found…

Above: PC Matic has the familiar look of other hocus-pocus one-click-fix software.

Above: PC Matic claims to boost Internet speed and goes through several machinations. You can see it starts by cleaning junk files. Junk files have nothing to do with Internet speed.

Above: PC Matic wants you to believe that if your disk is fragmented it somehow affects your Internet speed. It does not. It claimed my drive needed to be defragmented. However, it does not, as you can see from the Windows scan below. And even if it were badly fragmented, it would not affect the Internet speed.

I’m paying my ISP for 15 Mbps speed. They offer faster speeds, but they also charge a lot for more, so I am stuck with 15 Mbps. And no matter how much I would like to believe that somehow some hocus-pocus snake oil program can “boost” my Internet speed, I’m going to get the speed I’m paying for.

As you can see I’m getting 15 Mbps speed from my provider – exactly what I’m paying for. And if I weren’t getting this speed, PC Matic wouldn’t help. Calling my ISP and complaining that I’m not getting the speed I  am paying for would help. Checking my modem and router would help, but deleting junk files on my computer would not. No matter how much PC Matic wants me to believe.

Above: The behind the scenes hocus-pocus starts messing with registry entries and “running tests”. As you can see it falsely claims that running tests can provide significant performance improvement. That’s pure fantasy. And the registry change it makes? You can make them yourself – and if you’re very very lucky you may see an .001 Mbps increase in your Internet speed.  This hardly significant and you would not notice a 0.001 Mbps increase (or decrease) in your Internet speed.

Above: More hocus-pocus. There are dozens of free driver update programs out there, and we can tell you this: We have worked on thousands of PCs in our time with Cloudeight Direct Computer Care services and we can tell you this for a fact: Driver updater programs are one of the biggest causes of PC problems. Updating drivers that don’t need updating can lead to big problems.

Above: Got one PC? It’s $50. You can’t pay less than $50. If you have 1 PC you pay $50. If you have 2 PCs you pay $50. If you have 3 PCs you pay $50. No matter how many PCs you have, if you pay anything for PC Matic, you pay too much.

PC Matic is just another in a long line of hocus-pocus, snake oil sham ware that rears its ugly head every so often during TV advertising blitzes. Guess how they get the millions of dollars to pay for these ads? You’re right. The get it from PC users who fall for the PC Matic hocus pocus.

Please don’t be one of them! 

"Ed Bott is an award-winning technology writer with more than two decades' experience writing for mainstream media outlets and online publications. He has served as editor of the U.S. edition of PC Computing and managing editor of PC World; both publications had monthly paid circulation in excess of 1 million during his tenure. He is the author of more than 25 books on Microsoft Windows and Office, including Windows 7 Inside Out (2009) and Office 2013 Inside Out (2013)."

"...As of July 30, 2016, the upgrade notifications stopped and the GWX app began disappearing. In theory, that means the only way to get a Windows 10 upgrade is to pay for it.

The funny thing is, no one told the folks who run Microsoft's activation servers. Which means today, months after the free upgrade offer supposedly ended, you can still upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 and claim a free digital entitlement, without being forced to jump through any hoops...."

"Over the holidays, I did some end-of-year cleanup, including recycling an Intel small-form-factor PC that had previously been working full-time in the living room, running Windows Media Center on Windows 7 Ultimate. When I finally pulled the plug on Media Center last year, I had put this little device on a shelf.

The GWX utility had never been installed on this PC and it had never been offered a Windows 10 upgrade via Windows Update.

As part of my digital clean-up, I decided to run the Windows 10 upgrade from Windows 7. I fully expected that after the upgrade was complete, the system would fail activation and I'd be asked for a product key.

Imagine my surprise when, instead, I was greeted with this screen.

We have helped thousands of people with their PC problems - and we can help YOU. You'll never find a better deal on honest friendly computer care and repair. Let us help you with your computer problems. Cloudeight Direct Computer Care is always a great deal. Learn more here.
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Thank You So Much

Last Monday we began our semi-annual donation drive. Twice each year we run a donation drive campaign to help us through times when things are normally slower. Your response is more than we could have hoped for - you came through for us again. Without your support things would be much more difficult - it's an amazing feeling to know we have friends like you.

We started our small business almost 2 decades ago. Next year, good Lord willing, we'll celebrate our 20th anniversary. It's hard to believe that we've been on the Web such a long time.

When we started, we were one of many small "mom & pop" sites that popped up all over the Web; in fact, in those days, the Web was compromised of mostly mom & pops sites like Cloudeight. Over the years, we have watched as one after another of those mom & pop sites died unceremonious deaths. The people behind them, once full of hope, abandoned their dreams and walked away. The trail of tears left behind circles the globe many times.

We know this because we watched it happen.

We watched as big money and big corporation gobbled up everything on the Web, until today, big money and big business control over 90% of the Web. Small, mom & pops sites like Cloudeight are an endangered species.

But we will not go gently into that good night.

We have fought the good fight and we tell you the truth as we see it. We've butted heads with multi-million-dollar sites that made their fortunes by tricking unsuspecting users into buying their worthless products.

We have exposed a half-dozen TV scams or more...

Read the rest of this essay here.

Reg Organizer - A Swiss Army Knife of Windows Utilities and Tools

Reg Organizer works on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. The newest version of Reg Organizer has newly added special tweaks for Windows 10 - including a Windows 10 Start menu fix.

Get more information and or order Reg Organizer today and SAVE!

Duolingo

The above would have been a little more dramatic had we been able to type all those languages in this newsletter rather than take a picture of all we had typed. But ISPs have really strange ways of determining what s/pam is, so we had to stick a screen shot in there to avoid upsetting ISP s/pam filters. Anyway, all of those lines of foreign text say -- more or less -- the same thing:

We know that you all want to learn a new language, if only to complement your old one. Darcy speaks 3 languages, plus English: mean, meaner, and meanest. I heard them all. Believe me!

Today's InfoAve Premium is philologists delight. In that screen above, you'll find Icelandic, French, Spanish, Irish, Chinese, and a rough attempt at English - all there to prove a point. You can translate languages in the blink of an eye, but learning a language is much more difficult.

There are programs you can buy to learn a new language that can bust your wallet for more then $500. But, why spend money when you don't have to.  Our site of the week this week is Duolingo, and while you can't learn Icelandic or Chinese (yet), you can learn French, Spanish, Irish, and 24 other languages, including Klingon. If you don't know what Klingon is, may you live long and prosper.

Until today, I thought people in Ireland and Wales spoke English, but lo and behold, there are courses on Duolingo for Irish and Welch. Here in the USA, Welch equals grape jam or grape juice.

Here's some Welch for you: Gwae fi! Nid oeddwn yn gwybod y gallwn i siarad Welch. Rwy'n porffor! That means: Woe is me! I did not know that I could speak Welch. I'm purple!

Enough of this nonsense. If you're interested in learning any of 27 languages (28 including English, which I'm sure more than a few of you are thinking that is a course I should take) and  you don't want to pay a dime to learn, then keep on reading my friends.

Here's some stuff from the developers of Duolingo, kindly presented in English:

Everyone learns in different ways. For the first time in history, we can analyze how millions of people learn at once to create the most effective educational system possible and tailor it to each student.

About Duolingo:

Our ultimate goal is to give everyone access to a private tutor experience through technology.

Making learning fun.

It's hard to stay motivated when learning online, so we made Duolingo so fun that people would prefer picking up new skills over playing a game.

Universally accessible.

There are over 1.2 billion people learning a language and the majority are doing so to gain access to better opportunities. Unfortunately, learning a language is expensive and inaccessible to most.

We created Duolingo so that everyone could have a chance. Free language education – no hidden fees, no premium content, just free.

Duolingo is used by the richest man in the world and many Hollywood stars, and at the same time by public schools students in developing countries. We believe true equality is when spending more can't buy you a better education.

I guess that sums it up pretty well. You cannot buy better language learning courses than those offered by Duolingo. So, why not use your spare time wisely and learn a new language. Just think. When you should up for Easter dinner and start pontificating in Swedish, your entire family will fall away in awe.

If you're ready to exercise your brain and learn a new language, you won't find a better place to do it than our Cloudeight site pick: Duolingo. Go forth and learn my friends. Duolingo is waiting for you.

Michelle, ma belle, Sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble. Très bien ensemble

And I will say the only words I know that you'll understand, my Michelle.

Donations help us continue our mission to keep you informed, separate the truth from the hyperbole, and help you stay safer online. We provide support to thousands of people. Every week we help dozens of people via email at no charge. Thanks to donations, we do a lot more than provide this free newsletter. We help you recognize online threats, fight for your online privacy, and provide you with the knowledge you need to navigate the Web safely, and help you get more out of your PC. Help us keep up the good fight with a small donation.

It's the beginning of a new year, and we really need your support.  We hope you'll take a few minutes today and help us with a small donation. 

After you donate, you will receive info on how you can become a Cloudeight Booster.

Help us keep up the good fight with a small donation. 

We would really appreciate it.

Why Does almost every Web site use forms?

Many of you wish you could just write to web sites directly, without the hassle of filling out Web forms. In a perfect world this would be ideal. But the world and the Web are far from perfect, because humanity seem to be running both.

Web sites use forms for support instead of allowing you to email them directly because forms allow for the inclusion of certain information that helps the support team help you with whatever problem you're having - or to answer questions you may have.

Knowing the operating system and other information about the user's computer is critical in correctly diagnosing the problem and providing the customer with a knowledgeable answer. Additionally, and just as importantly, support forms keep company email addresses off the Web where they are subject to harvesting by sp/am bots. Most companies, including ours, get a ton of sp/am already. Posting an email address on a Web site is sure to increase sp/am and decrease customer response time.

And there's another reason we use forms too. We have certain subject lines in our forms that allow us to sort mail into the appropriate support folders in our email programs. This allows us to quickly identify support requests and answer them more promptly. When customers write directly they sometimes don't use a subject at all or put in a subject line that isn't related to the product they're having problems with.

Also, many companies use mail filters or "sp/am filters". If you write directly to the company there's a chance no one will ever read it. By putting phrases like "my order" or "my download" in the subject line, there's a good chance these kinds of phrases will get your mail deleted as sp/am and it will never be read. "my order" and terms like these are common in sp/am emails and may get your email deleted quicker than you can say "EB".

Forms make sense if you're in business and need to provide good customer service and keep your support mail organized. So, when a support form is provided, please use it. You'll get better service, the company will get your email, and everyone will be happier!