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[ILikeBigTiddys]

I dont understand why the guys on bleepingcomputer do NOT want you to run combofix. Whats the big deal?

[Fish]

Originally Posted by ILikeBigTiddys

I dont understand why the guys on bleepingcomputer do NOT want you to run combofix. Whats the big deal?

I've been trying to tell people here for years now.... Combofix is not a good general fix for computer issues, and never has been. Especially if you're not familiar with advanced troubleshooting and registry editing and the like. It has the ability to really screw up your system instead of fixing it. It's very limited in scope compared to other programs like Malwarebytes. It was designed to remove a limited handful of specific infections, and the creators themselves warn against using it for anything else. It doesn't have any type of update server to easily update the engine or definitions. And it haphazardly uses quite a few Windows processes, like Windows Recovery Console, in an unsupported manner. It routinely breaks the internet connection of machines it is "fixing", which requires a manual fix. It is even reported as a virus by some other security apps, due to it being a rootkit itself. There is even a type of malicious rootkit out there, that when it's detected by Combofix, it causes Combofix to automatically delete all the files on the drive. Seriously.

Combofix has it's purpose. But seeing it recommended by inexperienced people for all different types of infections just makes me cringe. This is a bad idea, unless a well trained tech who actually knows what he's doing instructs you to run it. There are much better and much safer utilities for the average user that will fix a helluva lot more than Combofix will.