New Update Microsoft PC Manager beta

[Jonny Quest]

Check Aryeh Goretsky comments.

Nice heads-up on that one, thank you, Digmor.
His comment below, just to save some webpage scrolling

Hello,
I had written about why this program exists earlier on Neowin, so I do not want to repeat that. But since the program is now in the Microsoft Store, though, I thought I would take a look at that version. I just did that, and I found a couple of curious things about it:
1. Under Storage → Deep cleanup → System cleanup, there is an option to delete the items in the Windows Prefetch directory. Microsoft has long warned users and developers of cleaner/performance/tweaking tools to not remove the files in this directory as they are managed by the Windows operating system's prefetcher and the operating system should be allowed to manage it. This application not only has the option to delete the files in this directory, it even says "These files do not need to be kept." in the description. This represents a complete turnaround on Microsoft's guidance of leaving the system prefetcher alone, which has been their advice since the Windows XP days.
2. Despite ostensibly being a Microsoft application, under Toolbox → Custom links this program recommends/links to two Chinese websites, https[:]//www[.]officeplus[.]cn/ppt-assistant/?source=OPCNPCMPromotion and https[:]//www[.]kingpdf[.]cn/?tid1=268&tid2=2 (URLs obfuscated to prevent accidental click-thru). The former offers some kind of PowerPoint assistant for making slide decks, and appears to be operated by a company named Microsoft Mobile Lianxin Internet Services Co., Ltd., which sounds like a Chinese joint-venture of Microsoft's. The latter appears to be operated by a company named Hainan Chuangye Star Technology Co., Ltd. and offers a PDF editor that appears to copy Microsoft Word's user interface and PDF editing functionality. Looking at these URLs, they both appear to contain some kind of referral code links, which could mean that Microsoft, or at least the author(s) of this application, are collecting some revenue from visits to or purchases made through those web pages.
Based on these two observations, I would be very cautious about installing this application, even though it is published directly from Microsoft.

Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky

 

[Ink]

I liked it about the same as AVG cleanup it makes the job easier.

Can you justify the $30 RRP for AVG Cleanup?

 

[nickstar1]

Can you justify the $30 RRP for AVG Cleanup?

or you can pay $20 for avg ultimate 2 year license on serial cart and get everything including avg cleanup, antivirus, and VPN it's a good deal in my opinion. The vpn is also unlimited and its not bad at all. If you want avg at a good price, go to serial cart and get everything plus cleanup very cheap. In my opinion all that for $20 for 2 years is very justifiable. AVG Ultimate with 80% Discount Offer

 

[Jonny Quest]

or you can pay $20 for avg ultimate 2 year license on serial cart and get everything including avg cleanup, antivirus, and VPN it's a good deal in my opinion. The vpn is also unlimited and its not bad at all. If you want avg at a good price, go to serial cart and get everything plus cleanup very cheap. In my opinion all that for $20 for 2 years is very justifiable. AVG Ultimate with 80% Discount Offer

Absolutely, at that price and for 2 years, why not with it also including the cleanup utility

 

[Ink]

or you can pay $20 for avg ultimate 2 year license on serial cart and get everything including avg cleanup, antivirus, and VPN [...]

You're missing the point. No one cares about the VPN. Even if it was $5, is AVG Cleanup worth being a paid product compared to the Free software from Microsoft?

 

[LennyFox]

Depends on the perceived benefits of AVG and the wealth of the buyer. Is ESET worth paying for while Microsoft Defender is free?

I agree on the point you are making (I would not buy either), but the millions of money going into these products proof there are many, who think it is worth.

 

[simmerskool]

Check Aryeh Goretsky comments.

similar comment at majorgeeks re chinese links -- which they (tried to) explain away...

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Strange I have no Chinese links with the latest beta:

Only had msn.com but deleted that one.
Maybe a regional or beta thing?

 

[Jonny Quest]

Strange I have no Chinese links with the latest beta:

View attachment 281450

Only had msn.com but deleted that one.
Maybe a regional or beta thing?

I thought the same thing and even checked on my end as well, and as with you, only the msn.com link. I didn't know if from Aryeh's post, it was something that would be picked up and shown by Glasswire regarding a background connection that was being sent to a Chinese, Microsoft affiliate site?

 

[nickstar1]

Question how does this application Auto update when it has no "check for updates" in the UI itself?

 

[Jonny Quest]

Question how does this application Auto update when it has no "check for updates" in the UI itself?

Check to see if you have the Auto Update options in the Settings? You may need to scroll down to get to it. But if I disable Auto Update, I can't manually update it.

 

[Jonny Quest]

They got rid of the ability to make the UI dark Themed my eyes are burning every time i open the GUI lol.

It also looks like they enabled Dark mode in an update. Try going into Settings, scrolling down to Appearance -> System and selecting one of the 3 options, including Dark.

 

[nickstar1]

It also looks like they enabled Dark mode in an update. Try going into Settings, scrolling down to Appearance -> System and selecting one of the 3 options, including Dark.
View attachment 281454

Could you link me to the latest beta download? the regular version doesn't have these options yet.

 

[Jonny Quest]

Could you link me to the latest beta download? the regular version doesn't have these options yet.

Try downloading the .exe file, which was validated by @simmerskool When I started the setup to check it out, it looked good. It's the same version I'm running.

New Update - Microsoft PC Manager beta

Using Chrome I must add. ;) ok, I just used chrome and see that the page opened ok. I am not familiar with this app, so reading... :geek:

malwaretips.com

 

[roger_m]

You're missing the point. No one cares about the VPN. Even if it was $5, is AVG Cleanup worth being a paid product compared to the Free software from Microsoft?

Microsoft PC Manager does a good job of cleaning junk from Windows and Microsoft apps. AVG TuneUp is good at cleaning junk created by third party apps. Having tried PC Manager again yesterday, I am unimpressed. It's not something I would use in its current form, other than to test it. However as of right now, I wouldn't recommend using either. AVG TuneUp has the ability to put apps that run in the background and use resources to sleep, which can potentially improve performance. However while sleeping apps are supposed to wake when you run them, I've found that some apps such as Microsoft Office and Steam, won't work unless you manually wake them, which is annoying. I only just found out that AVG TuneUp, was the reason why I kept getting errors when opening Office.

 

[Jonny Quest]

Could you link me to the latest beta download? the regular version doesn't have these options yet.

@nickstar1 just an update, one of my PCs I had the previous version which did not have the dark mode option or the auto-update option. I closed out of the app from my system tray, downloaded the newer version from the link I previously provided, and ran the installer, and now I have all the additional settings. I figured I didn't need to uninstall the previous version, as Windows is doing the same thing with its auto updates.

 

[nickstar1]

Why are you no longer able to download PC manager it says "coming soon"? Antivirus, Cleanup PC, protection for your computer | Microsoft PC Manager

 

[mlnevese]

Why are you no longer able to download PC manager it says "coming soon"? Antivirus, Cleanup PC, protection for your computer | Microsoft PC Manager

It's on Microsoft Store.

 

[nickstar1]

It's on Microsoft Store.

Wonder why they took it from the main page?