Ascentive in preying on unsuspecting customers again here in Hawaii with their FastAtLast radio and TV commercials. They move around from town to town and go by different names, the last of which was FinallyFast.com. Their snake-oil of choice is their product called “PC Speedscan Pro”. They actually have quite a few products, which I admit I haven’t checked-out individually, but I know enough to honestly say that this company is a borderline scam.
When faux-scanning with the FREE PC Speedscan Pro software, it will need to download various combinations of other Ascentive products in attempt to repair the issues it detects.
Anyway, their software is not completely ineffective, but I’m sure you heard of the broken clock that was right twice a day. Anyway, I can assure you that their software will get flagged as a rogue infection by a highly well-known and reputable antimalware product called called Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. You can see some screenshot proof of this below:
(click for larger image)
As I mentioned before, these guys move around and peddle their snake-oil through different websites such as www.FinallyFast.com and www.FastAtLast.com.
Some Free “reputable” Subsitutes to Ascentive Products
If you need to diagnose your computer for problems on your own to keep expenses down, I highly recommend the products listed below. I actually use them myself. Each link will take you to another page on one of our websites that contains video tutorials to get you started with the basics to run these programs. As for the videos about speeding up Windows, these tools are actually built into Windows already.
ESET Nod32 Free 30 Day Trial (Antivirus)
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (anti-malware or anti-spyware, whatever you want to call it)
CCleaner (temp file and registry cleaner)
Speeding Up Vista (a few quick Windows tweaks)
Speeding Up XP (a few quick Windows tweaks)
Anyway, I am not offering any detailed advice on how to handle the problems you may have been looking for FastAtLast for. You are on your own, and there may be consequences if you don’t really know what you are doing. I will say that when it comes to troubleshooting and repairing computer problems, that I won’t ever blindly start installing programs without first checking some vital signs, such as in your Windows Event Viewer logs, Antivirus history, Msconfig, Services, and Minidumps, as well as manually perusing through the Registry and a variety of other files and folders. I know what I am looking for and can usually tell what does not belong because of years of experience. Then I will choose what programs I will run first, if any.
Sorry, I can’t help you much with the technical details, unless you want to be my intern for a couple years.
Caution When Installing AntiVirus Software
I see this one over and over, and it goes like this: If one antivirus program is good, 2 must be better. That is bad reasoning and you SHOULD NEVER install another Antivirus program without FIRST removing the old one. You can end up having a problem that is just as bad or worse than being infected. This goes for Firewalls and “Active” Antispyware programs as well. If you don’t know what I mean by “active”, it means it is always running, it starts automatically when you start Windows. Active antispyware programs are rarely free, so if you paid for it, it is probably active. As for firewalls, they are inherently active, so don’t install more than one firewall, period.
So, I hope I helped someone avert getting scammed by Ascentive’s FinallyFast.com and FastAtLast.com, please pass the word. As for why the local TV and Radio stations air these scams, one radio station general manager told me that most of these types of commercials are national feeds, and they have no control over the content of the national feeds, just the local ones.
