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Windows Defender to delete misleading "cleanup" programs
On Windows, there’s an ever-growing number of utilities designed for cleaning up your directories and thereby maximizing hard drive space. Some even intend on optimizing memory and processing speeds along the way...
While being advertised as enhancements to your PC’s performance, the reality is that some of these programs are more likely to eat away at your computer speeds...
More specifically, it’s widely known that some of these programs detect a Windows system file variant, prefetch (.pf) files, as malware...
New Microsoft Policy: if the programs meddle with your system files, absent a necessary explanation for doing so, Defender will strike back with an equally terminal blow.
http://news.yahoo.com/microsoft-goes-war-windows-tune-220632983.html
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/mmpc/2016/02/24/cleaners-ought-to-be-clean-and-clear/
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How Microsoft antimalware products identify malware: unwanted software and malicious software
https://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/mmpc/shared/objectivecriteria.aspx
joe53
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February 26th, 2016 12:00
We have seen a lot of dodgy "cleaning" programs mentioned in this forum, especially those that promise to clean up the registry - generally a bad idea. So I think MS has a good thing here.
I have to wonder if CCleaner would be targeted by Windows Defender, particularly if its Registry Cleaning module was enabled. I was able to install and run CCleaner on my Win 10 system without problems, but since I had previously installed Panda Free AV, presumably WD was inactivated (or does it still lurk in the background, doing some monitoring?) And I don't activate CCleaners registry cleaning module.
ky331
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February 26th, 2016 13:00
presumably WD was inactivated (or does it still lurk in the background, doing some monitoring?)
My understanding is that on Win8.x/10, when you activate a [known] 3rd-party anti-virus (like Panda), WD automatically disables itself, and will no longer be monitoring your system for viruses/malware... HOWEVER, it will continue to monitor to make sure your 3rd-party a-v remains enabled and up-to-date... if you [or a running program or malware] disable your 3rd-party a-v, then WD should automatically re-enable itself for your protection.
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How CCleaner will be viewed by WD is an interesting question... in addition to its Registry Cleaner Tool, CCleaner offers an Advanced cleaning option to remove "Old" Prefetch Data [which is DISabled by default].