Chrome adds reset prompt in Windows to combat hijacking

Browser hijacking is an annoying sort of malicious activity that often spawns from downloading toolbars or freeware of some sort, the end result being a messed up browser and trouble regaining control. Late last year, Chromescored a "Reset browser settings" button, something Google has decided to take up a notch for Windows users.

In a blog post last week, Chrome announced that Windows users with the latestbrowser version will now get a prompt whenever the browser settings have been changed, giving them the option to click a "reset" button to revert the changes or a "no thanks" button to keep them. Those unaware of the reset option in Settings will now have it brought directly to their attention.

Of course, resetting comes with its own hassles, though nothing as bothersome as dealing with malicious software. Performing a reset will nuke any themes, extensions, and apps you have installed on the browser, which will need to be manually reactivated in the Extensions menu.

Google warns that some malicious hijacking programs are designed so that a second hijacking will take place after the first is reversed. If that takes place, users are encouraged to head into Google's Chrome help forums, and to also utilize the reset button under Settings if something seems amiss but the prompt doesn't appear.

Best Free Browser Scrubber

Introduction When you browse the web you accumulate a huge amount of stored data. The sheer quantity is surprising; often gigabytes. Just what is and what isn't junk is a personal decision. For example, I regard the information stored in my browser's history as a valuable resource, but I know that many see it as clutter. That's why the flexibility to choose exactly what you want to keep or delete is a key requirement. Discussion CCleanerIf you exclusively use either Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera or Safari, then CCleaner is my top pick. It took the lead in version 2.0 with a complete rewrite including the ability to exclude specific files, folders and registry keys from the cleaning process. There are many other applications that provide the ability to clean up browsers and your system, but when you take into account CCleaner's customizability, speed, ease of use, it's near-forensic thoroughness, portability and the number of applications it can keep clean, then you have a clear winner. In addition to keeping your browser clean, it does a great job cleaning up your entire computer including: Windows temporary files and Windows registry, with an improved Add/Remove program interface, portability to run from a flash drive and the ability to completely erase your tracks by providing delete options to overwrite deleted files. It is updated frequently adding more and more support for new applications. See the related review Best Free File Cleaner for additional information on CCleaner. Caution: One drawback of CCleaner is that it lacks the integrated ability to undo, create a checkpoint, or even backup prior to removing files or making changes. This is not a problem if you regularly backup or image your system but it can be easily overcome by using one of the many applications that exist for this purpose. For most users the easiest way to do this is to create a system restore point. Comodo System CleanerAnother great pick for power users is Comodo System Utilities. People who want to have control of every aspect of their browser are going to love this as there are options to clean things which other cleaners don't, like favorites and bookmarks. This may be useful if you are using a shared or public computer and want to clear all your tracks. Users must however, be very careful and watch what they delete to prevent removing something they later need like browser history. Nonetheless, never fear as there is a back up feature, something that CCleaner does not include. One drawback is that the system must be restarted after cleaning which can be a pain. However, the settings can be changed so that a restart is not needed, but this may be something you would not like to do as it turns off one of the three backup features—registry protection. The other two backup features are to create a restore point before cleaning and back up files before cleaning. These backup features included in Comodo System Utilities restored all my files and settings except for my saved website passwords so it is by no means perfect.Comodo System Utilities only supports Internet Explorer at the moment unless users are willing to update the application manually which requires users to delete a certain ini file and then update the application list manual. This will put some people off. There is much more to this product than just a browser cleaner, there is also a registry cleaner, disk cleaner, secure file wiper, system tweaker and system information. The system tweaker and information tools are a nice addition allowing users to tweak certain system settings and to view advanced system information. The disc cleaner and registry cleaner like the privacy cleaner should be used with caution. I would not recommend the registry cleaner as it found way too many entries for my liking and you would need a considerable level of system knowledge to interpret these correctly. As always with registry cleaners make a backup before hand. If you have a problem with Comodo System Utilities there is a forum dedicated to it over at Comodo Forum. The staff over there are very helpful and quick to answer any query that you may have.

Best Free PC Cleaner

Introduction Over time unnecessary files accumulate, which can be removed with a disk cleaner. Discussion My first choice here is CCleaner, a product that started off as pretty basic but has continued to improve to the point where it is now very close to the best in its class regardless of price. It's very effective in freeing up disk space by removing unused and temporary files, cookies, Recycle bin entries, Windows hot-fix files, history and cache files in many applications such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari and hundreds of others. Note you can configure preferences for browser cookies that you want to keep during a clean (in case you don't want to delete them all), which is a convenient feature for many users. You can define custom rules to include or exclude files, folders or registry keys from cleaning (Temp folders are a good candidate to include), You can wipe free (unused) space from the disk (including MFT data), and CCleaner supports secure deletion of data (1, 3, 7 to Guttman 35 passes). There are options to extend CCleaner adding new programs for software that doesn't come with the base install. Some of these options are explained in the Documentation You can also remove options (programs) that you do not want to be cleaned from the list of available programs that can be cleaned. The options can include adding to or removed from the built in detections that come with the base CCleaner install. This flexibility I have not yet seen in any comparable file cleaning tool. CCleaner has been around for many years, and over that time it has been more actively developed than any other file cleaner software. (It's not unusual to see a new release every 4 weeks). Piriform release new versions to support new software when it comes out (like new versions of the major browsers) and with features to support changes to the operating system - eg. When Windows 7 was released support for cleaning "Taskbar Jump Lists", and even using "Jump Lists" and Windows 7 style progress bars in their CCleaner. The CCleaner Version History lists the new features and fixes introduced with each release Many other file cleaner products were developed for Win2000 or WinXP and haven't seen an update since. If you are running the latest OS, Browser or Office Suite etc - it is best to use software that was developed and tested with the latest software that you are using. I would like to see a tutorial or wizard for first time users when they run CCleaner. Too often the complaints that CCleaner deleted something it shouldn't, turn out to be the user isn't too familiar with what the options mean or what the impact of cleaning temp files and settings from their system. Even selecting every possibly option should still not damage windows in any way - as CCleaner is very conservative in what it will remove, but for some first time users, running CCleaner can seem to be a scary step to take. However, if simply freeing up disk space is your objective then CCleaner is hard to beat. A good companion to CCleaner is Empty Temp Folders. It's not as complete a product as CCleaner and it's been a while since it was last updated, but I find that it always manages to clean more temporary files than CCleaner. That's why I suggest you use both. Another cleaner with a solid following is Steven Gould's CleanUP!. It's compact, well designed and very well maintained and is a real alternative to CCleaner. In use I've had a couple instances which caused problems on my test PC, but this may have been specific to my setup. Certainly the feedback I get from users has been uniformly excellent. In a related category is PC Decrapifier. Its job is to remove unwanted trial versions of programs and services that come preinstalled on new PCs. You can remove all this stuff manually, but PC Decrapifier does this automatically. It can't remove every bit of junk from every computer, but the list of products it will remove is quite impressive.

Best Free Tune-up Program For Computer

Introduction PC tune-up utilities are a great way to get a performance bump for personal computers without upgrading hardware. They can repair issues that lead to instability, and help make a computer more secure by removing traces of personal information. PC tune-up utilities should be part of your overall PC maintenance strategy, which should also include a firewall, anti-malware, anti-virus and a defragmenter. This category will focus on tune-up utility suites. These utility suites are a collection of modules which address most common problem areas and or potential trouble spots found on PCs. While some suites focus on data cleanup, some provide continual monitoring and real-time system statistics like monitoring CPU temperature and RAM usage. The common thread with all these suites are their abilities to clean temp files, remove incorrect registry entries, ensure privacy by deleting traces of information left by Internet sessions and more. For the purpose of these reviews, the focus will be on the ease of use, and how effective a utility is using a one-click feature. All the software reviewed here was tested while installed at the same time. I didn’t detect any incompatibilities between them or other programs. We at Gizmo’s like to keep in mind not all users are created equal. Therefore the major consideration in the ranking is how simple a program is to use yet remain effective. The advanced features are secondary. The user can determine their own expertise and whether or not to delve into the advanced functions. If you have never tuned up your PC, then you should see a real improvement in speed and responsiveness the first time you run these programs. However, on subsequent runs the improvement may be less noticeable, if at all, but it is still a good idea to run them regularly. Caution: These programs make changes to system files. Before you start with any tune-up programs there are important steps you should always take to help prevent problems and provide a way to recover if anything should happen. Prevention can be your most valuable tool. Create a Windows system restore point. Have a recent back up of your critical data. Read about the utility, review the documentation, become familiar with the automatic vs. manual modes before running. Discussion Prelude All the programs tested offer similar features. My first objective was to test them against each other to determine which programs removed the most data using the one-click option. While CCleaner performed admirably (comparable to Glary), it lacked the one-click feature and the additional suite options so it wasn't included in my list. All of the programs reviewed are suitable for the novice user. 360Amigo and ToolWiz removed the most data in my tests. Glary is the best on-demand program performing the fastest one-click clean with good results. Discussion 360Amigo is an impressive program for being in it's first version. When the home screen appears, simply select start scan. A nice default feature is the smart defragmenter to help keep the hard drive defragmented with each scan. The fastest way to launch a scan and repair is from the tray icon. Right click the icon then click "one click cleanup" and 360Amigo will open, scan and clean in one simple step. Since this program is a limited version of the paid version, there are features that are disabled. On the home screen these are listed as Exclusive features. I do like the System Information window though it's not really relevant to the scan. This feature does minimize as a small toolbar on the Windows Desktop by right clicking the tray icon and selecting "show toolbar in the desktop". 360Amigo does offer custom settings on the System Cleaner, System Optimizer and Tools tabs or simply selecting settings by each of the categories on the Home tab under Cleanup. For the novice user I recommend the default settings. As with all of these suites, I recommend reviewing the settings menu to turn off any undesirable features like reminders, updates, launch on startup, etc. ToolWiz Care in appearance is somewhat similar to 360Amigo. The main tab called Checkup offers the one-click feature, system resource information, and some optional features. Since there is no paid version to upgrade too, all the features are functional, unlike 360Amigo. On the downside the program is missing any help to learn all the fancy bells and whistles. The GUI interface is clean and colorful. The program loads quickly and performs smoothly. The tray icon provides many options from a right click popup menu including the floating toolbar. Hover your mouse over the toolbar to see system resource information. The toolbar says "Time Freeze is Off". Time freeze works like a sandbox. If you're not sure what a sandbox is, read this article. On the right edge of the tool bar is an icon called screen capture. It's like the Window's 7 Snipping Tool. Screen Capture will let you capture parts of your screen to save as a picture image, or edit in the ToolWiz Picture Editor. This program has a lot of useful features, some not particularly related to system cleaning so I won't review them, but they could be worth checking out. As a one-click cleaning tool ToolWiz is very good. While I appreciate the fact ToolWiz is free and the developer doesn't solicite donations, the lack of help and support can leave the novice user floundering with all the gadgets. Glary will launch by default upon installation. When the main screen appears it starts on the overview tab. Select the 1-Click Maintenance tab, select the Tracks Eraser then scan for issues. I feel Glary is the best on-demand cleaner. Once you've performed the 1-click scan and repair Glary will remember this setting and alway start here. For future scans open the program, click scan, click repair and its done. The fastest of the suites by far. Glary will clean as good as CCleaner with greater simplicity. Click the "Show Details" links next to the "Problems Found" to easily see what was scanned and removed. This program also adds a lot to the startup process, so I recommend adjusting the options in the settings menu. The Advanced Tools tab is for the more experienced user, offering additional features and custom settings. This can be a dangerous area for the novice, so use caution. There are also additional advanced settings by selecting the icons at the bottom of the window. Again I urge caution for the novice. Glary doesn't provide a floating status of the system resource use like the other programs in the category.