I'm 88 and as I have said before not very good with PCs and I use windows 10.
I get notices from McAfee, offering to clean out excess junk from my Pc that they say is useless and would help make my PC more efficient.
I worry, that by accepting this offer, I might lose something I need/want...or might have trouble finding it again.
Is this a reasonable concern or am I worrying over nothing?
That's called: Adware or unofficially, really annoying ads.
Your computer probably came with a McAfee trail, which is refusing to die, as it should.
https://www.mcafee.com/support/?arti...l=article-view
Go straight to:...and do Option #2How to remove McAfee software from your Windows PC
THEN... get this and run it to clean out the leftover bits...
https://www.malwarebytes.com/adwcleaner
No I use McAfee for virus protection and pay them for it.
remember I'm old my mind works slowly when and if it works at all.
I wonder if I were to agree and let Mc Afee do this, does this mean I could lose files I my not want to lose?
Hard to tell.
McAfee has gotten... strange since John McAfee passed away.
It started to use some less than savory, methods.
So... you're probably right to worry.
Keep in mind that all AV companies advertise their own products a bit.
A good rule of thumb for any PC, is never let any company... "clean out all the junk" in your PC.
They have their best interests at heart, no yours.
There are 3rd party programs (free) that can clean the junk out of your PC.
One such is Wise Disk Cleaner. So far, it's be fairly benign...
Wise Disk Cleaner - Free Disk Cleanup and Defrag Tool
Windows 10, and 11 for that matter... are pretty good at keeping themselves... cleaned.
That's at least one of the things Microsoft did right.
Unless you're having a specific problem with your PC... just let Windows... do it's thing.
I realize this sounds like an avoidance answer, but it's pretty much true.
I've been running Windows since the 3.1 days, and up until Windows 10 and 11, we really did have to "clean" our PCs occasionally. Now though... Windows pretty much takes care of itself.
Thank you, because I am so poor at working my Pc and to be honest I dont seem to retain much when I try to learn, I am concerned about trying to make something better while in fact I am causing myself problems, problems I can't fix.
I often find something that sounds interesting that I'd like to download, but I wont dare touch it for fear of introducing a virus or problem into my system..
There's a website called Virustotal than will scan anything you want, with 60+ antivirus programs.
VirusTotal
Just downloading a program is pretty safe. Once you actually start to interact with the program... then things can get weird.
This is why a site like Virustotal is so helpful.
I have my browser(s) set to download anything... to the Desktop.
Then I just go to Virustotal, and drag and drop the download... on their page.
If Virustotal gives it a clean bill of health, you're probably OK.
The real trick is to use backup software. There are many free versions. They just make a backup of your Windows installation, and store that backup where ever you tell it to.
One of the easier ones is AOMEI Backupper.
Free Backup Software for Windows | AOMEI Backupper Standard
Once you have a backup and have made the bootable rescue media... you're pretty safe.
Anytime something breaks or gets infected... just restore from a backup.
And... with the bootable rescue media... you can access your backups, even if Windows won't boot.
I made a little pic, to help folks understand backup software...
Backup software is like System Restore.... the only difference being... backup software actually works. ^^
The only downside to backup software is that you need the space to store your backups.
If you have say... 60GB on your C: drive... your backup will be about 30GB.
Most computers these days, have a Windows drive and a storage drive.
If yours is like that... then you shouldn't have any problems.
And here, I thought I was the oldest one on this forum. I'm not quite 88 yet, but I'm working on it!
And, as a retired computer tech, of 40+ years, let me tell you sir, that it's possible that the worse junk that you've got on your PC is that McAfee program. That would be my first piece of junk to remove if you hired me to clean up your PC.
For the past month, I've been working on my own program to clean the complete JUNK out of one's PC.
It never touches any programs or registry entries, for 100% complete safety.
The fastest growing junk files on your PC is the Temporary Internet Files that your Browsers create, daily.
I've run several Retail programs on my PC that are supposed to clean out junk, and they do remove some stuff, but never touch those temp files, that I just mentioned. And only one, "Super Anti Spyware" will find and remove "Tracking Cookies" that can build up on your PC to thousands and even tens of thousands.
Many will talk about Junk Cleaning, but very few are actually serious about it, when it comes to their own PC's.
I'm sorry, but I can be very vocal about keeping one's PC clean and operating at peak performance. It's what I've done for a living for the past four decades.
If you lived a little closer to Central FL, I'd just say bring that PC on down here and I'd show you how to clean it up, and then keep it clean.
Y'all have a good day now, Y'hear?
My thought is simple.
If the so called Junk is not impacting your storage in a major way, I would just leave it.
You can't be sure as to what McAfee would clean exactly and I would like you to pleasantly celebrate your 89th birthday!
After all, Mark Twain famously said:
"Many people are denied the privilege of getting older."
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