Get Off My Lawn, Dell Backup and Recovery Manager!

[rjbinney]

My Latitude E6430 loads 'Dell Backup and Recovery Manager' and 'Dell Smart Settings' with every startup.

And I right-click the Backup and Recovery Manager every time to Exit; Dell Smart Settings, I also de-select 'Run at Startup'

There is not a 'Dell Backup and Recovery Manager' program in my Control Panel.

I don't see it in MSCONFIG - Services, although I have 'Dell Feature Enhancement Pack'  unchecked; In MSCONFIG - Startup, I deselect 'DBRM_Toaster', and it only comes back, REchecked, the next boot. 'Dell Feature Enhancement Pack' is unchecked in MSCONFIG - Startup.

The only Dell-looking item in services.msc is 'Dell Feature Enhancement Pack Services', which set to 'Disabled'.

I have used Soluto's 'Chop Boot' to remove DBRM_Toaster from the boot, as well.

And it still keeps coming back.

I want it gone. It can have its Frisbee back, it just needs to go away.

Suggestions?

[Geek-9pm]

There are free programs that let you see which programs really start up with stat up time. Some are  hidden and may be malware.
One is called Win Patrol.  It is free. Google it.

[rjbinney]

Will do. Thanks... I thought Soluto was supposed to be a champ with that, as well.

I've simultaneously just gone through the Office Live365 2013 install from *censored*, and my corp IT is about to dial in and delete ccleaner and 'other apps'. (They're convinced ccleaner corrupted my registry). So before I run other software, I will have to let that heat cool down a bit.

[Geek-9pm]

Free advice. Don't us cleaner.
Note: A Google on 'CCleaner crashed my PC' got over 15,000 hit. Now the way I see it, even if 14,000 of those responses are wrong, that still leaves too many.

One of too many:

..suggested CCleaner as the best FREE downloadable Registry cleaning software. So I downloaded it and did a regular cleaning and a registry cleaning. It all appeared to go smoothly, and claimed to remove 8, 177 MB of errors/files etc. But instantly afterwards, my computer was still running slow and freezing just from watching a YouTube..

From Yahoo answers.

[rjbinney]

Interesting. I thought I'd heard only good things about ccleaner. Particularly on here!

(But a quick - very quick - search of the forums shows that many of the people recommending it were 'Guest's.)

Are there good programs for keeping my system 'tidy' - that is, unused links/installs, deleting all the temp bloats, etc.? In other words, maximise what is supposed to be the benefits of CCleaner, while avoiding (or minimising, at the least) what sucks about it?

And, I sure hope that they're wrong in their diagnosis.... What was supposed to be a 90 minute remote install took several five-hour rounds alone, several eight-to-ten hour rounds with remote assistance from my internal help desk, a few more with our third party, and two more with MSFT... And ate up about 60 percent of my allotted monthly bandwidth in the process. (There was also a renegade piece of something that looked like malware that slipped in between my fortnightly sweeps - Malwarebytes caught it, Spybot did not).

OK, enough off-topic...

[rjbinney]

Just to defend myself in the face of absurdity, soybean's signature is a tacit endorsement of CCleaner (although I see on CHope's 'Top Ten Pages', it's not recommended there, either...)

[Calum]

Are there good programs for keeping my system 'tidy' - that is, unused links/installs, deleting all the temp bloats, etc.? In other words, maximise what is supposed to be the benefits of CCleaner, while avoiding (or minimising, at the least) what sucks about it?

CCleaner does its job of cleaning temporary files, broken links, etc, just fine.  Stay away from the registry cleaning section because it's really not necessary to "clean" the registry so at best, it does nothing useful, while at worst, it could delete something necessary and cause issues.  Stick to its main feature, file cleanup, and you should be fine.  I've been using it on several PCs since about 2005 and not had a single problem, I would suggest that those having problems with CCleaner are doing it wrong - mainly down to not reading what it's doing before clicking away.

Several of the other features, like the startup control, drive wiper and uninstallers, are also quite handy, and again as long as you know what you're doing won't give you any grief.

[rjbinney]

Thanks. I thought a clean registry was a good registry. I guess I was wrong.

My corporate IT is also telling me they insist on removing Spybot S&D and MalwareBytes.

(We run Trend Micro as a policy).

I know I've been told by reputable sources these are good to have. (I don't think I've ever added any utility not recommended here).

Someone give me some ammo to fight this? I have about three hours...

rjb

[Calum]

Long and short of it is, if it's a company PC, you really shouldn't have anything installed that they didn't install for you.
We don't allow users to install software, and we remove anything they have installed, because it's one less thing to factor in if something goes wrong.  Classic example is Google Chrome, which people install because "IE is slow", then the complaint is "none of these websites work".  Well, they're coded for IE, so no, they don't work too well in Chrome.  I know this is a little different, but it's still best to stick to policy.
Spybot and Malwarebytes are good programs, never had a problem with them myself, but they don't have any place on a business machine really as they're not even licensed for business usage (assuming you're using the standard, free, home versions).

[rjbinney]

I get that... 'But'... It's a work-issued laptop, and I am in the office - literally - three days a year. I have not even been home since mid April. So whilst it is indeed a 'work computer', usability (in my mind) trumps decisions made by an outsourced IT service, whose main objectives are the minimising of service cost and complexity. And I am trying to be, you know, mature and rational about my approach. I'm not trying to play Sonic the Angry Doomville.

So though I am sensitive to your argument, a) we don't have specific policies about user-installed software (unless they are vicious, illegal, or interfering), and 2) I simply don't trust the third party's prophylactic abilities to keep my machine 'safe'. (To wit, one of the first indications my most recent installs were fouling was that it perceived 'another installer' running. My third-party IT support didn't uncover that, I did; but, chiefly, i caught it by running Malware Bytes... So the corp-issued Trend Micro let that one go to the keeper.... Whether that was root cause, partial cause, or a coincidence doesn't matter, to me... Having good, solid anti- software is key.

(I've worked in environments where nothing was allowed to be loaded... But that would prevent iTunes, Quicken, print server controls, etc...)

If you don't want to help me make my case because you feel a moral obligation to the Mountain Dew drinking brain trust that handles my tickets, I am 110 (well probably 107, tbh) percent fonzarelli with that...

I'd just like to hear compelling evidence one way or the other for running this software.

Thanks, team!

(Wow this has gotten off-topic; ironic that it started with a 'help me get rid of software that's preloaded and gets in my way' issue and has morphed into 'help me keep software that I like!')

[Calum]

I completely understand your point of view - I was just stating the policy we run where I work and the reasons why.
If software is allowed to be installed by users, then fair enough.
As I said, I've never had an issue with either program mentioned.  I would possibly mention the recent incident you touched upon, that Malwarebytes caught something Trend didn't, and that it should help keep your machine safer.

[Geek-9pm]

Getting rid of all malware and spyware is not easy. Even if you work at it two hours a week.

[rjbinney]

Words of wisdom, man... Words of wisdom.


(Where did the 'two hours per week' calculus come from?)

[Geek-9pm]

Just a hunch. If your people hired an outside firm, they were probably told they would get about 16 hours of service per week and two to that would be for AV work.  It was considered to be relatively easy, as compared to three hours to put ink in the printer and an hour to fix the coffee pot.
Not sure, but this may have been documented in the comic strip Dilbert, which still runs in many Sunday newspapers.

[patio]

You may want to check out Startup CPL from Mike Lin to get your startup apps under control...