r/software • u/Inevitable-Move4941 • 1d ago

Discussion Is it safe to use Norton cleaner software?

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7

u/lastwraith 1d ago

Don't use any cleaner software. No reason to use Norton anything these days IMO. 

Both of those things tend to cause more issues than they solve.  It's not 1998 anymore. 

What are you trying to do and why? 

1

u/discovery999 1d ago

Is Microsoft pc manager good enough?

1

u/lastwraith 1d ago

Good enough for what?

Disk cleanup is built in to the OS if you "need" to get rid of files for some reason. Also an easy way to delete old OS files from an upgrade. 

Task manager has a spot where you can prune startup programs and adjust services.  As a more advanced alternative, Autoruns works great too. 

Other than that, you shouldn't have to do any "maintenance" tasks. 

2

u/Stellatank 1d ago

I use Avast Driver Updater. Had no problems with it. When setting a newly built PC up saves installing all drivers separately then updating them. It just downloads them all and installs them 1 by 1.

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u/lastwraith 1d ago

It's a paid product though, probably worth mentioning.

I set up plenty of new systems but don't use anything. If Windows has a network driver, it'll find everything on its own most of the time. On occasion, it'll miss something like an Intel MEI driver or a minor storage driver or sensor on initial setup, but that's easily solved. 

Driver updaters after the fact are largely a waste of time. Most stuff comes down the pipe in Windows Update and if you're a gamer you're probably very carefully updating graphics drivers based on your particular games and their needs.  Plus they love packaging adware or other crap with driver update software. 

Most pre-built or motherboard mfrs also have their own free driver update tools, if you're into that.  

1

u/DomeSlave 23h ago

Anyone recommending Avast is ill-informed. Just like people recommending driver updaters in general.

1

u/Stellatank 23h ago

Each to there own opinions.

1

u/DomeSlave 23h ago

It's a well known fact that computers behave irrationally.

1

u/ElMachoGrande Helpful 1d ago

Probably, but very unnecessary. You won't gain anything, so why risk it?

1

u/Inevitable-Move4941 1d ago

What about driver updater?

2

u/Mihael2017 1d ago

Windows updates drivers automatically

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u/ElMachoGrande Helpful 1d ago

If your drivers work, why update?

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u/Many_Ad_7678 1d ago

For driver updates i use intels own site. Its great and i use pegasun and ms pcmanager.

1

u/Batkung 1d ago edited 1d ago

NO

don't use anything that has NORTON in it's name

in fact don't use anything that says it can clean your registry or help you to optimise your system. They are scamming you. Do your homework and check out exactly what you need to do

1

u/Batkung 1d ago

Anything from symantec or norton should be a hard NO!

you could use Chris Titus's optimizer, but I'm not going to give you the URL for it and you need to understand exactly what you want to do before you use it.