Dangerous - Visual Studio 2013 Install Killed

Hi,

sorry you should have stayed with making good AV - to me, the new optimize features (Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2015) raise a lot of suspicion.

I ran file optimization on both my tower PC and laptop - where it generously reclaimed about 4-5 GiB space; no other tool would regain so much space. I often use CCleaner under manual scrutiny as well as Windows' Cleanup Manager, and rarely have there been such high deletion rates.

Then I figured out that C:\ProgramData\Package Cache was empty - a vital cache of installation files, especially to Visual Studio; now Visual Studio 2013 Pro could not be "changed", because it seemed not to be installed any longer. And it couldn't be removed either. Running setup again from DVD didn't really help.

Only thing helped to get the package cache in order again was to restore it from a backup a few weeks ago. Also take a look at: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/heaths/archive/201...for-source.aspx

And when I look at the thousands of registry keys that were to be deleted (before I aborted the op) - these claims are not sensible.

This is certainly one of the optimizer tools that (silently) wreaks havoc on user machines instead of improving resulting in OS reinstalls or the like. I'm 14 years in the industry and certified Server 2008 Enterprise MCITP - I've quite a good gut feeling for those things and the package cache deletion is already one indicator to prove my point.

To sum it up,

- the module deletes too many things (to impress users or poor detection logic?)

- without letting the user know what is going to be deleted (beforehand)

- and also no way to figure out what WAS deleted afterwards, only that an optimize operation had been run

- I can't see any backup/restore function of deleted stuff either

Take a look at CCleaner, it shows how it is done. I always manually check what it suggests and it seems to be the most sensible tool I have seen so far. Still, to normal users the best recommendation would be to not touch optimizer tools or service guides at all - you usually do more damage with that stuff than help your computer. Modern operating systems are already very optimising themselves and have good assistants.

Regards

Windows 8.1 Pro, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2015 18.11.0.872