Avast pop-ups keep telling me I need to get rid of junk files and unnecessary applications and free up to 1GB would be great but how do I know that what avast says is junk files and unnecessary applications is really junk and unnecessary? Maybe it takes some programs that I have not used for a long while (but nonetheless I still intend to use in future) as unnecessary and junks. Could Avast delete important system files just because they seem dormant? Clicking and checking the detail still leaves with no clues as to whether I can trust Avast! assessment.

Any Ideas ? m thanks

[attachment=29858:Trust avast.png]

I don't trust these gimmicks as far as I can spit.

Basically the advanced user (that's you) doesn't need a program to tell them what they do and don't need on their pc.

If you really need to reclaim a gigabyte of space then use something like piriform ccleaner instead.

Never ever let an av gimmick uninstall legitimate programs for you...

Can you see the list of files/applications it wants to delete? Its pretty easy to check that list - post it here, and we can take a look and see if its affecting anything it shouldn't.

If you really need to reclaim a gigabyte of space then use something like piriform ccleaner instead.

Thanks, I do use ccleaner sparingly , ... still have issues. Can't vouch that I know all system files though. Which is why I have the dilemma with Avast

Can you see the list of files/applications it wants to delete? Its pretty easy to check that list - post it here, and we can take a look and see if its affecting anything it shouldn't.

here they are,

[attachment=29860:avst details.jpg]

[attachment=29861:avst details2.jpg]

[attachment=29863:avst details4.jpg]

For the junk files:

* Temp files are probably okay and good to clean out your system's various temporary folders occasionally. You've got 1 GB, so probably fine to dump. You can do this manually, no fancy tools needed.

* System logs. Do you use yours? That's 24 MB, keep or dump based on your system

I wouldn't worry about the other items in the first panel, they are shortcuts and most-recently-used lists.

You only list the first two "unnecessary programs" you only show the first two. Browser helper objects will probably get re-downloaded and installed again, review them to make sure you don't actually use them then kill if you want. As for programs at startup, Windows 8 and Windows 10 both take steps to disable, delay, or otherwise prevent slow-starting programs from killing startup performance.

The scroll bar says that list is much longer, so no idea what those details are. I'd go through each item one line at a time and ensure you really don't need or want the program.

The tweaks it is suggesting may or may not be appropriate for you. TrkWks is used to help maintain integrity of networked file information. Is your computer on a network? IPhlpsvc is a service to help programs work nicely on mixed IPv4 and IPv6 networks. You can modify this service easily enough if you want and you really know you don't need it. Most power users go through their active service processes periodically and disable whatever they aren't using, so I'd recommend that instead of blindly disabling them.

Changing the CPU priority is up to you. If you frequently switch tasks and leave running tasks in the background I would not change it. If you really need to bump a task's priority that is easy to do in the task manager.

Finally, disabling fast user switching is useful if you have more than one user, or if you don't like hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del to log in. Disable it and you get the default corporate behavior back. You can switch it back on with a registry setting, but that is a personal preference.

You only list the first two "unnecessary programs" you only show the first two. Browser helper objects will probably get re-downloaded and installed again, review them to make sure you don't actually use them then kill if you want. As for programs at startup, Windows 8 and Windows 10 both take steps to disable, delay, or otherwise prevent slow-starting programs from killing startup performance.

The scroll bar says that list is much longer, so no idea what those details are. I'd go through each item one line at a time and ensure you really don't need or want the program.


The tweaks it is suggesting may or may not be appropriate for you. TrkWks is used to help maintain integrity of networked file information. Is your computer on a network? IPhlpsvc is a service to help programs work nicely on mixed IPv4 and IPv6 networks. You can modify this service easily enough if you want and you really know you don't need it. Most power users go through their active service processes periodically and disable whatever they aren't using, so I'd recommend that instead of blindly disabling them.

Changing the CPU priority is up to you. If you frequently switch tasks and leave running tasks in the background I would not change it. If you really need to bump a task's priority that is easy to do in the task manager.

Finally, disabling fast user switching is useful if you have more than one user, or if you don't like hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del to log in. Disable it and you get the default corporate behavior back. You can switch it back on with a registry setting, but that is a personal preference.

Many thanks frob. I think I get the gist.

Yes it wasn't very practical to capture all the scroll-down at once. though I did attempt to get them bits at a time and patch them up, but I soon got seriously pissed off.

here's the other bits I managed to patch up, though I might just forget it since only 28mb. thanks

(I now feel really really stupid )

[attachment=29864:avst details0.jpg]

Just ignore it all, and if you really have 1 GB of temp files, free those.

To do that, go to:

Win10 start menu -> Settings -> System -> Storage -> (select your drive) -> Temporary Files

• -> Delete Temporary Files
• -> Recycle Bin
• -> Previous version of Windows (if available, and if you're sure you don't want to downgrade)

Then use the Win10 search box you have on the taskbar and type in "remove a program", and click "Change or remove a program". Go through the list and uninstall things you don't use (as long as you recognize what it is). For me, I'd include 'Avast' in the things to uninstall, and use the free Spybot Search and Destroy coupled with the pre-installed Windows Defender (the old bad Windows Defender has been removed, and instead the excellent Microsoft Security Essentials has been renamed Windows Defender and added in). Make sure you enable Windows Defender if you remove Avast, because Avast most likely disabled it.

Just ignore it all, and if you really have 1 GB of temp files, free those.

To do that, go to:
Win10 start menu -> Settings -> System -> Storage -> (select your drive) -> Temporary Files
-> Delete Temporary Files
-> Recycle Bin
-> Previous version of Windows (if available, and if you're sure you don't want to downgrade)

Then use the Win10 search box you have on the taskbar and type in "remove a program", and click "Change or remove a program". Go through the list and uninstall things you don't use (as long as you recognize what it is). For me, I'd include 'Avast' in the things to uninstall, and use the free Spybot Search and Destroy coupled with the pre-installed Windows Defender (the old bad Windows Defender has been removed, and instead the excellent Microsoft Security Essentials has been renamed Windows Defender and added in). Make sure you enable Windows Defender if you remove Avast, because Avast most likely disabled it.

Thanks! Great advice!. This answers some issues I've been pondering on in my mind and more. many Thanks

( shud have known this... even feeling yet more stupid now, how bad can it get for me?)

( shud have known this... even feeling yet more stupid now, how bad can it get for me?)

Don't feel too bad - I had to look up how to do it before posting, because apparently they've changed it yet again for Win10. I spent ten minutes or more looking in all the wrong places.

Microsoft Windows: Providing multiple ways to do things, but none of them the ways you expect.

You don't really need to worry since anything you do is pointless. The screen that you see is Adware, nothing else. I actually bought a 3-year (or was it 5 year?) license for Avast some years ago but it has since then undergone a very unfavourable transformation into adware that harms the computer. The "optimize my computer" shit is adware which will allege a lot of problems, and when you click on "fix it", comes up with a request to pay for another tool of theirs which presumably fixes the issues. Same goes for "SecureLine VPN". Presently, I have to disable http protection, since Avast will interfere (MITM) with TSL certificates in a way so no single web site that uses TSL will load (every site certificate is "invalid"). That's the case even when I uncheck the "monitor SSL traffic" checkbox. Really great. That's what you pay money for, so you have a security product that doesn't work. Sandboxing (one of the main reasons to pay for the professional version) is utterly broken, too, as I found out two days ago. It works fine for files stored on a local harddisk. However, sandboxing an executable that is on a SMB share will just silently do nothing. Where "nothing" means as much as "will run the program non-sandboxed without a warning of kinds". Awesome.