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Okay, I’ll chime in on the free anti-virus/malware debate as well (I’m a pretty new member) – I use Windows Defender with Threatfire free version (behavioural heuristics scanner) as a backup (it can run alongside any traditional AV or security suite in real-time) and also run a monthly on-demand scan (more often if I’ve been doing anything potentially dubious) with Malwarebytes (also free) and I haven’t had one single problem in the 12 months I’ve been using Windows 7. As I’m not the most careful user when it comes to surfing (I only take serious care when it comes to shopping or banking) I’d say this is a testament to the efficacy of my setup. I really do subscribe to the school of thought that it is possible to get all the software I need for free (legitimately, I equate illegal downloading with shoplifting personally, no difference at all), there are some truly excellent programs out there that cost nothing, although I do try to donate a few dollars via Paypal for software I find particularly useful.

Just a word on Norton, I’ve detested them for years because of the way their software proliferates and spreads into every area of the PC, its a pain and a half to remove and needs either a high level of technical knowledge or a lot of help from the internet to do so, so many manufacturers install the trial of this piece of rubbish on new PCs (I’m not saying it doesn’t work by the way) – I told my manufacturer that installing ANY software other than Windows was a deal-breaker and I got a nice clean PC delivered just as I specificed (Cyberpower, can’t recommend them highly enough), might be worth bearing in mind for anyone thinking of buying a new machine ;o)

Also @ garylevery:

As with CCleaner, Glary utilities does a lot more than clean the Registry. While Registry Cleaning is a waste of time, other areas cleaned by Glary JUtilities do accumulate a lot of Windows “gunk” and should be cleaned up occasionally. This is an important difference between Registry Cleaners and System Cleaners. System Cleaners like CCleaner and Glary Utilities do more than clean the Registry.

Garylevery posted about frequent uninstalls and “gunking up” the Windows Registry. This is also not necessarily strictly a Registry issue. CCleaner cleans up after uninstalls and updates in the same way I illustrated above. It cleans out a lot more than the Registry. The Windows Installer itself can also be cleaned up, and for frequent program switchers, this is a useful thing to do once in awhile.

Glary Utilities really messed up my PC when I was still running XP, had to reformat and reinstall Windows, wouldn’t touch it with a ten-foot barge pole, reviews I’ve read bear that out as well.

Okay, for me the jury is out on whether registry cleaners really are of any use with Windows 7, although I found them useful enough in XP – and soon found that some of them can cause major problems (cue complete reformat and reinstall of Windows, sigh, registry backup the program made didn’t work properly, nor did system restore). However, if you do want to use a registry cleaner and stay safe, I can’t recommend CCleaner highly enough (its free as well), its recommended by all my PC magazines and computing forums as being suitable for anyone (although in my opinion novices shouldn’t be going anywhere near this type of software) and its never let me down once. The default settings only remove “safe” obsolete entries and there are other options that can be selected for those of us who are a little more tech-savvy, and naturally its best to have a look through the entries it finds before pressing the Clean button.

All I can say on the wider registry cleaning debate is that surely some obsolete entries removed is better than none? I install and delete a LOT of games and other software which leaves behind rubbish sometimes (even using Revo Uninstaller on its highest setting, some of that software is major sneaky), its not always possible or practical to use the uninstaller either 🙂

I cannot recall the name of the virus but I have heard more than once on other computing forums that there was a fake security software malware scam similar to this that actually activated by clicking on the red X to close the dialogue box, people did get infected in this way. Now, whether that is down to insufficient security on their PC or whether the virus could bypass that I have no idea, I’m no expert, but I thought the warning was worth giving – better to close the whole browser instead, to be absolutely sure I would kill it using Process Lasso or Anvir Task Manager myself ;o)