BE WARNED:
Files deleted by this program are not REALLY DELETED and are recovered with programs as simple as "I care data recovery"

The deletion is not secure!

To Barry #3: There are a LOT of legitimate small companies out there which use rental mailboxes as their official business address, especially those in rural areas, home-based businesses, etc. If you're a one-person shop, and work out of a home office, it is better on several fronts to have a separate business address. And there are also office suite buildings that you can rent an office in where the administrative support, office equipment, conference rooms, etc., are shared among the companies renting business offices. So just because a company shares the same address with other companies does not mean its illegitimate. Quite the contrary. So I would not jumpt to assume the worst.

@69 Father Richard, the German company is genuine and the data that you want is also in the mail that in German. If you require, I can send you the places (in the mail - I have received a similar mail), which are useful to you (like the product licence etc.)

you may possibly get a few emails offers for software, but you can always get yourself off the list.

Wow! Worked great! I feel my computer is running faster after installing it. At first, I hesitated. But glad I installed. Two thumbs up for me!

@13, Giovanni, thanks for the wealth of information...There is an ASC Ver. 6 Beta version available with an offer for a software licence to the top contributors with feedback. Have you seen that??

@35, "Because the grammar in their ‘about us’ bothers me, too; it’s indicative of English as a second language, or of just being sloppy" - with no disrespect, aren't you being a bit snooty here? As someone, quite familiar with "English" English, I do find even "American" English below par, not just 'sloppy'!!

@44, absolutely on the dot re 'automatic updates'; except for the purchased software and software from the company's website, all other updates are potential bombs; this is certainly true of GOTD, because of the 'time-bound' offer and 'no technical support or update' condition.

In general, in all such 'cleaning' products, I do find 2 puzzling issues: 1) Run any of these applications successively and immediately, it still comes up with problems that it fixes! 2) Run all these applications one after the other and each comes up with its own set of errors that it fixes. Hence if you want to use your system after getting rid of ALL the errors and you want to run multiple claners, you are unlikely to use your system for anything other than just cleaning!!!!

Some of you seem to be questioning the source of all the "free" promotional software being offered at GAOTD. For me, I look at the software itself and try to see if it does it's intended job well or not, instead of worrying about it's publisher.

WinUtilities Pro is the product of a software company based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, PRC. It has proven to be an excellent software that does it's job well and that is all that matters to me. The company may have marketing and sales offices in the U.S.A. and other countries, which is normal for software publishers.

Let's put all these doubting Thomases to rest and concentrate on evaluating the software itself and it's performance.

This is an excellent software as far as I have been using it for about 3 years now. They have regular updates that the software will prompt you to download for free. The new versions install over the current versoin and will not invalidate your existing license. I use the PRO version which was also given away here about a year ago.

Realistically speaking, none of the windows utilities software out there can do a 100% job in cleaning up your PC. If you use WinUtilities Pro and then right after that use another software like Ashampoo WinOptimizer 9 or TuneUp Utilities 2012 or Wise Care 365 (given away here sometime ago) or AVG PC TuneUp to scan your PC, they will always come up with other files to clean and get rid of.

They are all great software in their own way, so I have installed all of these great software in all of my desktop and notebook PCs at home and at work, and I use them alternately every day to keep my machines squeeky ckean and well-oiled at all times.

Cheers!

Good all-around tool, but stay far away from the Registry cleaner! Fortunately I backed up my Win7 64 Home Premium system using image copy and took a System Restore checkpoint before trying the Registry cleaner's "fixes". CCleaner didn't find anything but WinUtils found 385 problems - overly aggressive IMHO. Thinking myself safe I ran the fixes, rebooted and immediately got a BSOD. Apparently buried in the "fixes" was the removal of a legacy driver needed during boot. Safe mode reboot and System Restore fixed me back up.

This Review seems to be more objective. Check it out.

http://pc-system-utilities-software-review.toptenreviews.com/winutilities-review.html

@ 48

No edu, Microsoft does NOT own Digital River

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_River

Thank you for this software.When I get to the store I'm going to buy the program.Incase I have to reinstall. Excellent software. Thanks.

Windows 7 Pro 64-bit

Downloaded and installed fine, no problems
Registered fine and fast
Ran all the programs, works as listed.
Good point of this software is it allows you to create a restore point Before deleting items. (found 847 invalid registry problems)
Bad point of the software, connects to the internet during every process you do! (hate that)

Thanks for giving this away again, GAOTD and YL Computing
Hi everyone, been some time since I reviewed anything.

@29:
"DoktorThomas" asked; "Where is Ashraf?"
Check out , Ashraf has a domain!
sl0j0n

frank from post #50 can you tell us what internet pocket analyzer you have installed, & which ones we should use?

@1, very good question. don't know why you were marked down so for asking.

http://winutilities.ylcomputing.com/versionhistory.htm

Win. Ut. Pro. has a proven track record as a computer system optimizer/cleaner. Thanks to all for this nice gift.

Installed, registered and worked fine for me.

Funny all the people getting huge negative votes for saying it hardly matters if a company shares a building with another company, (I guess they've never heard of office buildings), especially one as well known and reputable as Digital River.

If it didn't make me sound as paranoid as they do, I'd say it was some kind of a plot

Remember to deselect the "check for updates" feature on the GOTD version.

Click on the small down-arrow in top right of window, select settings.

It's ashame that many folks are focusing on the location of the company rather than the functionality of the software.

I ran the registry cleaner from both WinUtilities and Glary Utilities and found that both identified, for the most part, the same errors. Since WinUtilities found a few more than Glary, I would rate this offer as a must have.

Having more than one tool is always a good thing as they often find different problems.

A good program , many thanks .

Downloaded, installed & runs fine on Vista Home.

I like its gui, and like especially the checklist ability to turn features on and off. "Startup Cleaner" is especially nice, showing (in an easy to read & understand format) what's starting & what is starting it.

I used the down-arrow on the right of the main page tabs "Settings" to de-select "Automatically check for updates".

I used the "Check for Updates" link in the lower left. It took me to http://winutilities.ylcomputing.com/download.htm where I was able to download their version of the installer. I tried it - it installed fine, using the same install screens as the GaOTD installer. When I ran the program this time, it was the same and remembered my settings, plus there was a new, fourth tab: "Status" on the main page.

This "Status" tab shows "Program Status", "License Status", and lists the modules installed; nice to have available.

For me, this is a keeper! Many thanks to GiveawayoftheDay and YL Computing.

I wrote the below & posted it.
In addition to #3
Sorry for getting side tracked BUT… this is CRITICALLY IMPORTANT!

Digital River are crooks for I bought some software that after downloading 6 times, it NEVER did work on my computer so I asked for a refund. All the contact info on the sales pages were WRONG & after calling the credit card co, they told me they were Digital River & they gave me a totally different contact info. After contanting them I was directed to email again a totally different address & in the mean time I get this CD with the software on it that also never worked. I was told to send the CD back to London, which nothing ever specified London. OK I did this & after months & Digital River denying my refund I finally got it back because I went through all the correct steps with the CC co. Six months after purchase I get the CD back from London as “address unknown.”

In summery for me if I ever see Digital River on anything I want to buy I DON”T & I also tell people what a Crook they are.

If you get a product & have ne problems with it everyone is happy. The problem comes in when someone gets a bad product or obne that does not work then all hell breaks loose because you will never get your money back from them.

Digital River also sells under many different names because people are getting wise to them. This is why there are MANY different companies names at the same address. Good luck to you if you ever get involved with them because you will probably get screwed before all is over & done with unless you feel that your luck is that good!

I've just read all the comments so far and find it that some have the exact same thoughts as me.

Far many "companies" hide behind a virtual address and try to be something they are actually not.

Also, I've recently seen a lot of clones of cleanup packages offered, with only the name and interface skin changed.

For example, Kingsoft PC Doctor is exactly the same as Toolwiz System Care (PC Doctor current version may be slightly difference because it's a newer version - when I compared them both were exactly the same). I've also found another software that is also exactly the same as PC Doctor, only with a different name.

Why they do this, I have no idea.

But what also bothers me is, developing this kind of software is not cheap, takes a lot of time and resources and we see it offered for free. Now, what's the drive behind this company(ies)? How do they make money to justify offering the software for free? Just some food for thought.

Great program. Have been using earlier version for some time. You might need another similar program though also, at least for registry cleaning as this one cleans down to 3 to 8 "problems"; claims to clean them; and then finds the same ones again (over and over). I have had similar results from other programs, but it is normally different problems, thus the need for more than one. I know that messing with the registry is risky business, but this program has never caused me or anyone I know any problems, ever.
@Giovanni #13, I tried to get the free program license you mentioned in your post, "Advance System Care Pro" and got a series of email hoops to jump through. The third email with the info on download and special register information is in German. I have clicked around and finally given up after giving my email address to a foreign company and then verifying it. Not too pleased with that, but a sincere thanks for all the great information you provide.
Thanks GOTD

#58, I totally agree with you. Just think, with all that construction, we'll need lots of unions so the best workers get paid what the worst ones do (after all, it's not fair if they work harder or better) and then when we're done with all the construction here, we'll have to completely bulldoze the Rain Forest so we can grow some corn for all our cars! Utopia is great!

#50: What pocket utility do you use to track these back-door issues? Seriously, I'd like to test this because GAOTD has a reputation for safety and if this program does this, I'm sure we'd all like to know.

I know I'm asking for it, but considering that comment #3 has gotten so many (254) helpful thumbs up, I decided to take a look at his helpful facts. I might be wasting my time as the mods may decide to delete this, but he has unfairly made some serious accusation against this company that users are apparently taking seriously.

"This giveaway seems really suspicious to me, but I should be cautious about this since it is an opinion."
- One wonders why this very common, well-known software is suspicious, but thanks for giving us a heads-up that your opinion is probably skewed.

"YL Computing, Inc...:
9625 West 76th Street
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
United States of America"

- Maybe it's suspicious because it's an American company. Chinese I can understand, they aren't exactly buddy-buddy with the Free World, but American? We've got our problems, but they aren't that bad.

"I did a Yahoo! search for this address and came up with a bunch of folks who seem to share the same address, not least of which was http://www.pc-spy-keylogger.com/about.htm which offers EXACTLY the same text in their information about who they are."

- A-hem: "We are one of the original manufacturers and vendors of our software and related products." Just sayin', related products having their very own site is not uncommon nor a sign of fraud. As for the address being shared by a "bunch of folks" allow me to elucidate: it's a business complex, of course there are multiple businesses sharing the same address.

Take a look at one of them: http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=21754551.
You can even rent out an office in the same complex and become part of the conspiracy: http://csmcorp.net/office/lease-property-detail.asp?ID=117

There was also this complaint about an unauthorized charge for the same address, this time listed as Digital River.

- Finding a single, unfounded complaint for a company which may or may not be the same corporation on a single web site is akin to a guy who lives in your apartment complex being accused of a crime by his ex on a web site, and you both are considered guilty. A quick search reveals this company is one that processes credit card transactions - it does not make software. Trend Micro, Norton, EA Games, and Logitech are some of the companies that use Digital River to process their transactions. Also, a complaint site is going to have a disproportionate amount of complaints. Fraud is rampant in the credit card world - it's going to happen even if the company processing the transactions is fantastically pure.

So I then did a Google Maps search and looked at the building, which is labeled for both Digital River and another company called Hysitron, which makes composite materials.

- This is why I hate Google Maps - other people, and I'll leave it at that. This does prove nicely that there are two other completely unrelated companies in the same business complex.

So I looked up Digital River, which is indeed located in Minnesota and could possibly have an office in this place.
But then I went to CNET and they reviewed this in 2010 and it has had 1.7 million+ downloads...

- Nice twist: Digital River does have an office in this building and they do NOT make software, nor are they listed on C-Net (but WinUtilities is, which I assume is what you looked up and I hope you thought was clear).

a) That I am unlikely to download and install software from companies of dubious reputation who potentially lie (or fib a little) about who they are and where they are.

- They don't have a dubious reputation nor did they lie or even fib a little.

GAOTD folks frequently note that non-users should not generally comment and I would agree if we were talking functionality. But whether or not I can trust the offerer is a big part of that first barrier to entry.

- I thoroughly agree with this, but the comment should not include so many unfounded and easily debunked misinformation - that smacks of purposeful fraud and misdirection.

VERDICT: The OP is either:
1) an agent of the competition hoping to deter others from trying this software
2) someone who hates capitalism and America and just likes to bash companies
3) a foolish person with little experience on how, why, or where businesses work
4) all 3 of above.

To the mods who are starting to remove users' commenting on this bash-fest of the WinUtilites companies: if you are going to allow anyone to "thumbs down" software to death simply because they don't want it and you are going to allow anyone to post unfounded and fatuous comments & innuendo, you owe it to both the companies and we users to allow those who wish to disagree to do so. Disagreeing with a comment IS a review - it's an attempt to set the record straight. I've seen the mods often do the same thing when defending the good reputation of GAOTD - you should allow us the courtesy should we chose to defend another.

Full Disclosure: I've heard of this utility before, it's probably been given away on this site. I've never tried it before today - see my review above. I'm still trying it out, but so far it seems like a good program to have and that is all I can say about it. Please do not take these comments to mean this is a trustworthy or fabulous company/program. I don't have enough experience to make that statement, but I couldn't let that comment stand without a proper rebuttal.

A long-standing, useful, competent product. One should not hesitate downloading it, if you need another Swiss Army-like utility tool.

@Barry (#3): Not meaning to pick on you, but the information you found about the developer actually is ENCOURAGING, not discouraging. It is common for tech. companies to have a common street address, each having its own suite of offices at the address--ever been to Silicon Valley? And if you only found a single complaint about some issue, that's pretty good for a company in these Internet days.

(Parenthetically, an interesting phenomena here: almost any person who questions what Barry found and who makes corrections to his conclusions receives negative "usefulness" ratings in return ...)

Downloaded onto a W-7 laptop with no problem. Tried on a desktop W-7 and each time received message that file corrupted. Went to homepage and downloaded 30day trial version with no problem. What gives?

I have used this product for years and have tried many others like Glary Utilities and Advanced System Cleaner. I tend to shy away from the previous two since I tended to have more problems afterward or found them to be a little complicated to follow, others may have different results.

It's very hard for me to choose between the two best products I have ever used through the years. Winutilities (from YLComputing) and Winoptimizer (from Ashampoo).

Both have been tried and true, never caused any problems with the computer (from windows xp to windows 7)and I never shy away from trying the ones given at Giveaway of the Day. Only one thing I miss in Winutilities to make it perfect would be a "Live tuner" like Winoptimizer, but the fact that it does have a 1 Click optimizer means that it doesn't have to run in the background constantly using resources,and just needs a simple click to start an optimization, a matter of preference.

Fantastic product, Thank You YLComputing and GiveawayoftheDay.

Barry's comment at #3 is valid, though it's a pity Digital River was dragged into it. The issue he refers to is one I've posted on before, most recently about a "world's best audio software" from a publisher no-one had ever heard of but whose webpage looked uncannily like another publisher's which, surprise, surprise, turned out to be exactly like yet another's.

All three were touted as separate software developers / publishers. All three featured photographs of their "headquarters buildings". All three had different addresses in different states of the USA.

Of course. . . none of them were actually at those addresses because (a) the addresses didn't exist and (b) none of these companies were American. None of them were "independent" developers, either, just badge-engineered entities dreamt up by one or other of the six or so Chinese majors who, as a matter of course, develop one product and then create anything up to a dozen "independent" companies to channel it out to market.

The irony is that the Chinese really don't have to do this, yet they've gotten it into their collective head that Americans only want American software and Europeans want only European software. Utter nonsense, but it explains why one of the biggest Internet Google searches is by Chinese developers seeking Images / Modern Office Buildings to substantiate all those claims of snazzy American and European corporate HQs in the 'About Us' sections of their less than truthful websites.

Inevitably, this kind of commercial sleight-of-hand is counter-productive, raising as it does the justifiable suspicion that if a developer is going to be deceitful about one thing, then it's as like as not going to be deceitful about a lot of others: technical support, for example, or "awards"-- or even, the claimed benefits of the software itself (sadly, this latter turns out to be true too frequently for comfort.)

I see from this thread that the usual band of smug sophisticates has landed to advise Barry to "get out more". My advice to him is to stay exactly where he is, for if he did happen to go out with the world-weary wannbes posting on this thread, he'd be as likely to get knocked down as they most deservedly are.

This installed beautifully on Win 7. It politely asked if I wanted to get newsletters with a button to click if I did (now I wish I had); there was no way to accidentally sign up while installing because the "Next" button just took me to the next step in the set-up. I was expecting to go through some kind of hassle as is usual for the registration. Instead, when I started the program, it was already registered properly.
The interface is beautiful and currently I'm running the duplicate file finder to see how it handles. There seem to be many options for the different tasks this program handles. It seems to me to be a GREAT program. If I ever have a crash, I think this might be one of the few for which I will gladly pay.

This comment section is provided for 'User' opinions, and/or alternatives in comparison.
Topic: Software. --- Please comment on software only, not a user's opinion.

If your machine is so messed up you need this product, it's time to reinstall. This will boost performance better than any fix-it tool

I've used this free edition before and remembered it as a good program. I installed this GOTD version today on my new Acer predator every thing went smoothly cleand up the comp great. Works great! The only thing I didn't like was it didn't give me the option for the pro 64bit.

Hey #40, about petitioning Congress, you just may be on to something! That oughtta give the economy a boost, with all that new construction going on, not to mention the environmental protests that that will trigger, with all the logistics thereof which will, of course, involve the movement of additional monies - millions of protesters travelling to DC, all that buying and selling of foodstuffs, etc etc. And then there will be the counterdemonstrations, in support of all those new jobs being created, [more etc's]. So, win, win, win, win, win, and down with office towers and let's help stamp out colocation, it's bad for jobs. And of course we'll need hordes of foreign workers, which will of course trigger even more demonstrations and counterdemonstrations, occasioning the flow of even more monies. All that construction and its resulting urban sprawl would require the building of billions of square miles of new pavement, roads, streets, etc: more jobs, more environmental impact, more demonstrations, more logistics, more spending... Heck, we could recover the economy of the entire world just by passing this one law :>.

This is one of the better giveaway packages I've seen here for a while. I owned a prior version of this for Win 98 (or, maybe XP) that worked like a charm until I got a new machine and the version I had was incompatible.

So, I actually welcome seeing this offered for free. I also recommend it to anyone who needs a comprehensive utility package.

#3, the others are right. Digital River is one of the biggest distributors for electronically packaged software, anywhere in the world. They handle the money collection and fulfillment details for both large and small companies, so the developers can spend their time designing new and improved products; not just waste a lot of time re-inventing billing and distribution that has already proven itself to be usable.

I don't think #3 is of the tinfoil hat crowd, but I do think he doesn't know a lot about how the software market and distribution works these days, so it's right for him to have some questions. I think the group here has answered them.

@ 45; antivirus and cleaners, are made by different companies, you have to accept that. They are kind or like your family when installed; take when you weregrowing up mom dad brother and sis sis would bring over a boyfriend and dad would not like him mom would say he is o'k you would bring over a friend and it would be just the opposite; it is the same with antivirus and cleaners all you can do is make a backup and then try the software for yourself. hope this helps.

@ #3

whois for ylcomputing.com

Registrant:
Administrator Lunarpages
Free Domain for Life!!!!
100 E. La Habra Blvd.
La Habra, CA 90631
US

Domain name: YLCOMPUTING.COM

Administrative Contact:
http://www.lunarpages.com, Customer of Lunarpages
Free Domain for Life!!!!
100 E. La Habra Blvd.
La Habra, CA 90631
US
+1.7145218150
Technical Contact:
Administrator, System
100 E. La Habra
La Habra, California 90631
US
+1.7145218150

Registrar of Record: TUCOWS, INC.
Record last updated on 07-Nov-2011.
Record expires on 22-Nov-2012.
Record created on 22-Nov-2006.

Registrar Domain Name Help Center:
http://tucowsdomains.com

Domain servers in listed order:
NS2.YLCOMPUTING.COM 216.227.221.224
NS1.YLCOMPUTING.COM 216.227.221.223

Domain status: ok

http://whois.domaintools.com/ylcomputing.com

.

Hi, After a while on GAOTD we become perhaps more street-wise as to whom (Companies) or what (Software) to trust..

Generally - Software that damages your PC for what ever reasons (resulting in BSODs, meltdowns etc) can be regarded as "dangerous", if it comes with "strings attached" and installs unwanted/unwelcome Extras(!) it becomes a nuisance and can blight your life, if it hijacks your mail address can flood you with Offers.. If you feel something within (or behind) Software "spies" on your PC - you will normally notice odd behavior and just to be on the safe side - get rid of suspicious culprit..

NOW! I would not go as far as Barry in #3 (whom I gave thumb up for sheer bother and research:) to judge my trust in Software and Company behind it, as we are aware there is just too many marketing "ploys" to make one's Software attractive (including "credible" location of a Company, often false list of Accolades a.s.o..), and yes, it has to be noted that various Chinese Developers/Publishers tend to (that's a polite way of putting it:) be more "canny" than others.., BUT - I would rather merit any Software on SUPPORT "it" gives to their Customers in case something goes wrong and you're become dependent on that Support!

So to sum it up - if Support (and often good will!) is NOWHERE to be found - that would bother me more than "Address of Company NOWHERE to be be found"?? And on GAOTD we naturally seek Support and expertize from one another in Comments, or occasionally from Developer on the day of Offer, as Giveaways come only with basic help. That is understood. The risk/need to download anything depends on individual choices, today's Giveaway included. I happen to have something of that nature (mentioned here Glary Utilities), but keep an open mind about this one as Comments roll in.

Barry, wow please do this type of research for all giveaways your interested in. Your info was very informative and gave me an immediate yes or no if I would even consider installing this. Do this for future offers please.

I'm not big on registry cleaners as most are snake oil. Having said that, I am a fan of both Ccleaner and Glary Pro. Just as a comparison to Glary, considering all the other post of the same, I downloaded it. It is very similar with one notable exception. Unlike Glary, the One Click scan option automatically deletes anything found. I don't like that. I like to be able to see what has been detected before it is deleted. No registry cleaner is perfect requiring the need to posses the ability to set exceptions.

Used and unjoyed this Pro version last time, but found that when the automatic update kicked in, it updated to the 'free' version and I lost the Pro version. Becareful when choosing the to do the update and what version is being offered.

This is a super good program! I have been using the earlier versions for a long time. Brings all the utilities together in one nice easy to use package. Clean, repair, delete junk files, everything! Thanks GAOTD!

Be very careful when dealing with a Chinese company like Yl computing, they send updates and download data in the background without your knowledge.
I have a very sophisticated internet pocket analyzer installed on my computer and traced such activity connected with Yi computing in the past. Their WinUtilities software contains back door access to your system.

@3 and @22

Barry, et. al.

FYI, Digital River is a software hosting service used by hundreds of internationally known software manufacturers to provide single source online distribution of commercial software.

Companies like Symantec use them to actually host and send out the electronic versions of their software. The billing/purchasing process is done thru DR as well, thus the single address for many companies.

If you are going to check things our you might want to dig a bit deeper...

# 39 sheik yerbuti,
.....including Microsoft, depend on them to ....

Microsoft doesn't depend on Digital River. In fact Microsoft owns Digital River.

a no-go for me
as the other user above said: if the address is questionable, they can't be trusted
AS SIMPLE AS THAT

Installed and activated, but Symantec quarantined due to a Bloodhound.Sonar.9 trojan in a temp file that was created.

A modified version of the comment I made a few giveaways ago: as friend Giovanni describes, there are numerous all-in-one utility programs out there. My question comes down to 'Which one(s) do I trust?'.

I used Win Utilities Free version for several years until switching to Glary a short while ago based on the reviews posted here about yet another all-in-one tune-up utility program. I have since taken advantage of Advanced System Care's free for 6 months subscription to their Pro version. I also have System Cleaner 6 and Wise Care 365 Pro on my machine.

And it doesn't matter which order I run the programs in, each one finds things to fix that previously run programs didn't find. Leaving me in the same predicament that I was in when Wise Care Pro was offered: "Are there any programs that are based on technically correct criteria for cleaning / optimizing Windows? And if there are, which one(s)?