Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/116963
THE BLEEDING EDGE By Dave McClure Reviewing PC-Matic Y ou���ve seen the ads. Te inefective husband trying to clean viruses off of his machine. The college student who wants a new laptop because hers is running ���too slowly.��� Te fower shop girl whose PC is so slow she can���t complete a transaction. Yes, the ads are like fngers on the chalkboard of PC utilities. But the real question is���does PC Matic actually work? Te answer is yes���sort of. But that does not make it worth the $49.95 asking price, nor does it make the sofware worth installing. In fact, this is sofware I would never recommend to an accountant for use at home or at the ofce. First, here���s what it is: a collection of five products from a company called PC Pitstop, a ten-year-old private company incorporated as an LLC. Rob Cheng, founder and CEO, is the only investor in the frm. Te fve products are Optimize, Driver Alert, Disk MD, Exterminate and Overdrive. Optimize is a PC optimization Mr. McClure is a consultant and widely published writer on technology issues. He can be contacted at dave. mcclure@cpapracticeadvisor.com 16 program that deletes temporary fles, cleans the system registry, gets rid of unneeded Outlook fles, and tweaks the system in terms of other setings. Driver Alert is designed to check existing hardware drivers and identify drivers that are obsolete. Disk MD is a disk defragmentation utility. Exterminate is an anti-malware program that boasts daily signature updates for the latest in malware identification and removal. And Overdrive creates an extensive report of your PC���s performance, security, sofware, drivers, etc. To be fair, if you are a novice who has not learned how to make use of free utilities that do the same things beter (see the accompanying piece in ���Reality Check���), PC Matic may actually make your PC run faster. But this is an uneven proposition, and the problems it may create could actually make your PC run more slowly���a disaster for a professional accounting ofce. PC Pitstop has spent an inordinate amount of money in television advertising for a simple utility aimed a novice computer users, and has followed this up by cramming virtually every reviewing source with phony reviews. Te company itself maintains a variety of websites that purport to be independent but in fact give only glowing reports for the April 2013 ��� www.CPAPracticeA www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com product. In addition, the company early in its history established a marketing relationship with PC World Magazine. Truly independent sites and even those in which you disregard the five-star ratings, though, tell a diferent story. Te major complaints are that the software does not work, actually inhibit the use of some software products, or fails to speed up the operations of a computer. To understand why this may be the case, a user has to understand the reasons why a computer may run more slowly over time. In spite of the claims of companies that make and market ���Registry Cleaner��� products, that is seldom a major problem (with the exception noted below). Te greatest reasons are that the computer has insufcient RM memory or that it is infected with malware. Nearly all computers are sold with less RM memory than they need, in order to keep the cost low. Tis is a problem with desktop PCs in general, but especially with proprietary PCs that are unable to take more than a limited amount of memory ��� and virtually all laptop computers, which are chronically under-RMmed. If your PC is running slowly, the frst step is to buy and install more RM memory. Te second major reason for slow operations is a virus, Trojan or other ���computer virus��� infection. It is usually easy to spot these, as they generate pop-up ads or phony ���virus infection alert��� messages. For these, which may cluter the system registry, the best bet is a good malware identifcation and removal tool, and for this the PC Matic suite has problems. Like the free Lavasof Ad-Aware product, our tests of PC Matic generated a number of ���false positives,��� which might lead an unwary consumer to delete fles necessary to the operation of missioncritical sofware. Te fles identifed are not malware, but their deletion will cause the programs not to load or work. If you decide to take the plunge and buy the sofware anyway, don���t pay the full sticker price. Hold out a few days, and you will likely get an email that drops the price to $14.95 ��� that is, IMHO, still too much to pay. Between the TV hype ads, the phony online ���reviews��� and the high number of actual negative reviews, PC Matic is a product to avoid for a professional���s ofce or home. But that doesn���t mean the company���s without merit. Sign up for the PC Pitstop Newsleter at news.pcpitstopmail.com, and you will find fascinating articles from third-party bloggers that are chock full of useful information ��� one you get through the PC Pitstop ads. REALITY CHECK ��� 6 ESSENTIAL PC UTILITIES We���ll suspend the normal rants of ���Reality Check��� for this month in favor of my favorite list of PC utilities. Sorry, Mac guys ��� the Apple line of computers is designed for minimal tinkering by the end user, and you are far beter of to use Apple-approved utilities for your machines. As for my list for the Windows PC, feel free to email me with your disagreements or additions to the list at dave.mcclure@ cpapracticeadvisor.com.