MyFasterPC Review (Why It’s Not Worth the Money).
Posted: January 26th, 2011 | Author: Joe | Filed under: Reviews, spending | Tags: Faster PC, My Faster PC, Review, Save money on software, Software, Tips | 10 Comments »I don’t usually do software reviews, but software development is my day job and I know a lot of people are looking to save time and money by keeping their old PCs (or even newer PCs!) in top running condition. I’ve been seeing a lot of commercials for MyFasterPC.com and I was wondering if it was really worth the money, or even possibly an outright scam. So I tried it out, and here’s what I found…
The pitch.
The commercial is not the usual late-night infomercial types. In fact, you can watch one of their commercials here.. There are quite a number of fly-by-night operations just looking to sell you useless software, often for a subscription fee. This doesn’t appear to be one of those services. However, it also probably isn’t worth the money either. More on that later.
The claim of MyFasterPC is to remove unwanted spyware, malware and viruses and also de-clutter your PC by removing files that are no longer needed. They also offer some general maintenance and optimization features.
The program.
When you visit the website, you are prompted to “download now” to “get your free trial”. This sent a few yellow flags, if not red flags, up in my mind. “Free trial” usually means you’re going to get roped into some sort of subscription or at the very least a purchase after the trial expires.
After you download and install the trial application, you are greeted with this welcome message:
“Clean, optimize and speed up” my PC? Sounds great! Let’s go!
After clicking continue however, I was greeted with this seemingly friendly message to “help us find unwanted items”, but when I read further I saw it was a confirmation to send anonymous information to the website.
This is OK.
Many sites and products collect this kind of information, and as long as it truly is anonymous there is nothing wrong with it.
So what kind of information are they collecting?
According to the website, it’s the following:
- Installed applications
- Hard drive size
- Processor type
- Windows version
- Memory capacity
- Programs set to run at startup
- Browser add-ons
- Services
Having over a decade in the computer software industry working with the Windows operating system, I can tell you that every item in the list above is not only relevant but in some cases essential to optimizing and de-cluttering a Windows PC. However, it’s not essential that the information be collected – unless they are trying to improve future versions and they want to get an idea of what the majority of their customers have.
The result.
After selecting to Continue, the application ran for a few minutes then displayed this results window:
I should tell you that I ran this on a plain-Jane Windows XP test machine, with minimal programs installed. So why did it find so many issues if it was a clean installation?
Disk space.
Well, the short answer is that simply browsing an hour or so on the Internet can create enough temporary Internet files to account for the 182.48MB to clean entry, as would the download and install of the MyFasterPC.com application itself, since that was downloaded and run from the browser.
Optimizations.
Windows usually ships with the least common denominator of settings, meaning that certain settings are enabled or disabled simply because most PCs fit that configuration. This inevitably leads to a number of settings that could be turned on or off for any given Windows installation based on hardware and other factors that would result in better performance. Frankly, I’m surprised it only found 3 that could be optimized.
Registry issues.
Registry “issues” is a broad term. Many optimization programs count items that appear in a program’s “Recently Used” menu as unnecessary and hence are added to the “registry issues” bag. Other times it can be references to programs that no longer exist.
Disk defrag.
Lastly, disk defragmentation is almost always recommended by these kinds of programs, since most hard drive go without being defragged for ever. The problem with this is that Windows already has defrag software built into it.
This list of issues seemed reasonable, so I clicked “Repair Issues.” That’s when my suspicions were confirmed.
The upsell.
While the MyFasterPC trial software was able to repair a number of the issues, there were many more that required the upgrade.
This is pretty much what I expected when I set out on this test. I figured that it was either loosely disguised spyware masquerading as a repair and optimization program, or it would eventually lead to a heavy-handed upsell to the “full version.”
Just out of curiosity, I clicked the upgrade button and the program brought up the purchase page of their website. They seem to offer 3 options and the full version runs $29.95 (regularly $39.95).
Conclusion.
Cleaning and optimizing your PC is absolutely worth doing for most older machines, or machines that have had programs installed and uninstalled recently, but in my opinion MyFasterPC is not the answer. I don’t think there’s anything under-handed going on here, and MyFasterPC.com does not appear to be a scam. I’m just not sure it’s worth the money either. It seems to be a little light on delivering the goods for the price.
You can get similar programs for free (see below) or name-brand software that does more for about the same price – for example, Norton 360
Still, for some users who may not be computer savvy or want to be MyFasterPC may not be all that bad.
A cheaper alternative.
Being a father of 3 with a wife who is a stay at home mom, I’m always looking to cut costs where I can – and free is my kind of price point. 
Here are 3 Free alternatives to MyFasterPC.com that don’t take a degree in computer science to use:
CCleaner . This handy tool essentially does what MyFasterPC does in terms of de-cluttering and optimizing, but also provides greater control. It too removes Windows temp files, temporary Internet files, browser cookies, and much much more. It also finds and repairs registry errors.
Avast! antivirus . Avast is an excellent -and free! – antivirus program that will keep your PC free of spyware, malware and viruses, which sill lead to less need to repair your PC.
Comodo Firewall. A firewall program is as essential as an antivirus these days. Comodo is an excellent alternative to the premium applications offered by the big name vendors.
Great information and analysis of “My Faster PC” software. Thanks,
Steve
I downloaded it yesterday and it has completely screwed up my registry where the start menu does not work, the wireless adapter doesn’t work, internet explorer and chrome no longer work, short cuts don’t work and you can even start a program from the windows program list. It is so bad I will probably have to have the hard drive reformatted. They finally agreed to refund the money but it won’t come close to making up for the trouble and expense of having to set up a new hard drive. Don’t download!
I have been farting around with their tech support for about a month now. The program works fine, then when I wanto scan it says “regristration not found”, or something to that affect. Then I have to contact tech support, then they “reset” everything, then I scan then I am fine…until I scan again, then it says it can’t find my registration number. Last time someone from their tech support dialed into my PC and made some changes and the person said “this is happening to others and we don’t know why”. So, my suggestion is DON’T order My Faster PC as you might end up with the headaches I am having. I am giving them one more chnace to rectify the problem permanently before requesting a refund.
I fell victim to Faster Pc over week end. I called a number that I received from Hewlett Packard 6 months ago when I purchased a 70.00 program to help me with “anything that I needed”. The calls all went to India or Pakistan. This time, I called to learn why my key code was not being accepted into my Office program. (It was working perfectly, but????) I was told I had a larger problem than that as my”
Computer had been hacked. micro soft not working,would probably not re-boot if shut down,I could have a Trojan, worm, on and on, and needed to get computer fixed and in a hurry” Take it to staples and I was quoted nearly 400.00 price, or Geeks, or Best Buy, corner repair shop not equipped to take care of Micro soft problem.
I was shocked….not thinking….I said yes to having MICRO SOFT TECHS fix the many problems. Cost…$359.00. The Scan began to run, I could see Faster PC, realized I made a huge mistane and was taken big time. That is all they did….run the scan, Then he wanted me to buy 200.00 of protection for our 3nd PC. (539.00) He was so insistant, I hung up. THEN I put it all together, realized I was scammed into purchaing FasterPC. I sent e-mail asking to cance. Today I heard that they will charge me 49.00 for work “Technicians did”. Truth is, they did not do any work!!!!!
I use McAfee for security, my fault for not checking, but this guy caught me so off guard. And Hewlett Packard…..I got the number from them….when I bough computer, I also purchased a care pkg for 70.00 that would take care of any problems for a year.
Some joke that is. I am sending letter to charge card co, HP, McAfee. This is truly a scam….And I will pull the senior citizen card as I am a 78 yr old lady.
I purchsed My Faster PC last week. About 5 minutes into the first scan it just froze and stopped scanning right in the middle. After an hour of nothing happening, I called Tech support. The guy told me that I needed to give him access to my computer so that he could see what was going on, so I agreed, not knowing what else to do. It took him forever to do whatever it was he was doing and he was clicking on files that didn’t seem to have any relevance to the situation (my pictures, for example). I began feeling very nervous, thinking that this was a scam and I just unknowingly gave some hacker access to my computer. Finally, he said that my computer was running very slow and I had several viruses which is why the software (my faster PC) couldn’t run properly. I told him that this was the reason I purchased My Faster PC to begin with! He said there was nothing he could do until I had the viruses fixed and then he got very insistent about sending me to an expert who could do this for “only $199″! I told him that wasn’t an option and I wanted him to figure out a way to make the software I had just purchsed do its job. He finally said that the only other thing he could try would be to uninstall and reinstall the software for me. I probably could have done this myself, but I told him to go ahead since there was no way I was going to spend another $199 at this point. Again, this took him a really long time. Finally, it was complete and it scanned everything it was supposed to and supposedly “resolved” several issues. Since then, I think my computer is running a little faster than it was, but not so much so that it’s making a huge difference. However, the one thing that is very noticible is that ever since I installed this, my computer is very loud- the fan is loud- as though it’s working really hard or something. Plus, my computer seems to be getting very hot very quickly. This was not an issue before I installed My Faster PC. As for my computer’s performance, I’m still trying to figure out if it’s really running any better than before and if this was worth the money I spent.
Ms. marian sutherland….i had the same problem as you with the myfasterpc…and i recieved the same answers and replies as you did..same exact thing, then he tried to tell me something was wrong with my computer :-/..I think we’ve been had..I removed it from my computer and sent them a request to cancel my subscription after one week of purchasing it…Oh and by the way, Geek Squad only charges you $1.00 to tell you whats wrong with your pc…DO NOT BUY MYFASTERPC, ITS A RIP OFF!
I took your advice and downloaded the Avast, but it only cleaned 100 registry problems before wanting me to upgrade. After all you said about myfasterpc.com, this Avast is just the same. Unfortunetly I have way more problems then that will fix. Do I need to cancel something for this trial, I don’t need them charging me after a period of time. Should I remove this from my computer? I would appreciate you response.
Thanks
@A Youngers:
The free version of Avast is only a virus scanner, so it will keep your pc clean. It sounds like you have some pre-existing problems that need to be cleaned up first. You might want to try Spybot Search & Destroy. It’s free and effective. It will take a few hours to do the full scan, but I’ve found it to be one of the best malware/spyware/trojan cleaner.
Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for the comment. Best of luck!
Looks like I goy sucked-in to the same problem. When I tried to register, the screen locked up and a phone no. was available to call for help – which took me to India to Sunrandeep Singh who took over my computer and tried to sell me a $200 program to fix my computer. I refused and he offered a one time fix for $99 at which point I told him to terminate the whole thing and forced the computer to shut down. I don’t know what new problems the computer may have. I am writing this on my laptop. Does anyone know the phone no. for “my faster pc” or are they part of this scam? If not , they need to clean up what is going on. Thanks
I encountered the very same situation and costs as Audry did. Not being computer savvy, I was reluctant but agreed to pay their one time fee of
$109.00 for a supposed urgent problem that I was having with my computer.
I was told that if I chose to ignore the problem that my computer would crash in the very near future. My computer was only 2 months old. When I stated that I would take it back to the purchase place….I was told by this Technician that the store would not take it back as this was a technical problem. Feeling like I had no recourse I agreed to their (one time fix fee) Their service took 2 1/2 hours. I had to be on the phone with them as they made these so called changes because they could not access all functions they needed remotely. The service tech had a very strong accent and probably was from India. It made his verbal prompts difficult to understand . Since the service, my computer is running very loud with the fan starting very often. I guess they must have done a wonderful job! I am being sarcastic of course. It is now 4 days after their service and my computer is having the same problem as before. The screen gets totally black and computer gets frozen.