FreeFixer is a free software program for Microsoft Windows that will scan the computer system for potentially dangerous software. The process has been streamlined to be as unobtrusive as possible. A click on Start Scan will initiate the system scan after starting the software program.
Several important locations will be scanned in the process including running programs, browser plugins, winlogon notifications, browser helper objects, Internet Explorer toolbars or Windows Services. FreeFixer does not rate the findings which means that it is up to the user to perform further research to find out if they are dangerous or not. The software makes however use of a whitelist to remove system processes, services and other official files from the list of results to narrow down the result list to potentially dangerous ones.
Each item will be listed with its name and location, other relvant values depending on the type of item and options to lookup information about it on the Internet and to delete it.
Results can be saved in a log file for further processing. Selected items can be fixed (that means deleted) by clicking on the Fix button in the software. It is usually a good idea to perform a search on the Internet before deleting any files from the list. Some can be excluded just by looking at their names while some do not give the slightest hint at what they are.
Freefixer makes use of a database that is located on the developers website which contains additional information about each item. One interesting aspect of the database is that it will display user actions by displaying a pie chart detailing how many users kept and removed the item from their computer system.
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Quoted statements from FreeFixer’s website:
“FreeFixer does not know which the bad files and settings are, so the scan result will contain items you want to keep and perhaps some that you want to remove. It’s up to you to decide. Please be careful! If you delete a legitimate file you may damage your computer.”
This program has the potential to do more harm than good!
“To assist you when determining if anything should be removed you can find more information at FreeFixer’s web site for each item in the scan result. You can for example see what other users chose to do in the same situation. You can also save log file of your scan result and consult the volunteers in one of the FreeFixer helper forums.”
Volunteers in the helper forums? That’s most likely like the blind leading the blind.
Lorissa there are two types of software that I prefer in the security sector: The first is able to identify 100% that a file, process or setting is malicious and removes it automatically while the second does not remove anything but only hints at files, processes or settings that could be malicious. Everything else will just result in false positives eventually.
Since FreeFixer is of the latter kind it is not well suited for inexperienced computer users who let the software do the analysis and determination. It is in this regard much like the highly popular HiJack This which is also only reporting but not acting on its own.
I’ll stand by my original comments regarding FreeFixer. :)
But, thanks for the enlightenment Martin. LOL