Bill Mullins’ Weblog – Tech Thoughts

Finally Fast.com – Fast Scam! Free Alternative Software

October 27, 2008 · 147 Comments

When it came to titling this article I was stuck between, what’s up on top of this article and this, “Finally Fast.com – Computing for Dummies with Money!”

Anyone who has even a basic knowledge of computing would have to laugh outright watching the commercial for Finally Fast.com and the Windows PC services they offer.

(Click pic for larger)

While it was not the first clue that something was wrong with this commercial, I had to LMAO when I saw the MacBook, in the commercial, showing a “blue screen of death”. An outrageous faux pas in my view – after all this is supposedly a Windows based PC service.

It’s not the first commercial I’ve seen selling Windows based Pc services, (they seem to be popping up all over), but I must admit; it’s the first one I’ve seen where the actors are using iMacs and iBooks in place of a proper Windows based PC.

I suppose I would have just passed on this commercial and not bothered writing an article on Finally Fast.com, except for the fact that the commercial made a major point of referring to coverage of the company, and products, in Newsweek, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal. Based on this, I decided to check out their website.

The first thing that occurred on arriving on the Finally Fast.com site was my Internet Browser protector WOT (Web of Trust), warning curtain was activated warning me that this was a dangerous site. Incidentally, if you’re not yet protected by WOT check out “Safer Surfing with WOT – Find out How!”, on this Blog.

The second thing, I did, was to query the Newsweek, Forbes and Wall Street Journal websites, for any references to Finally Fast, or its parent company, Ascentive Software. Not surprisingly, I found no references to either despite the claim. It also struck me that no links are provided from the company’s site to this supposed coverage.

You would think that coverage by such esteemed publications like Newsweek, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal would prompt a linkback.

Finally, I ran a check on each software application touted by the company, and found that in most cases, the software was either rated as malware, no independent reviews existed, or the software had been roundly criticized by users.

My conclusion: While I won’t go so far as to call this company and its software applications useless, or suggest that the company is run by scam artists at best, or thieves at the worst, I will say this – don’t waste your time, or your money.

The following is a rundown of the products offered by this company. In addition you’ll find listed, free, well tested, and well known, alternative software application that will do the job with vastly improved functionality.

(You can click on any pic to get a larger view)

Their Product: ActiveSpeed (thumbs down by CNET user reviewers)

Free Alternative: Ashampoo Internet Accelerator 2 – Ashampoo Internet Accelerator is a great little application that makes it easy to perform this simply task. Ashampoo Internet Accelerator 2 is an excellent free Internet connection optimizer.

Their Product: SpeedScan Pro (described as malware/deceptive)

Free Alternative: Regseeker – The longer you use Windows, the more cluttered your registry can become, especially if you regularly install and uninstall software. Many applications, on being uninstalled, leave behind “orphan” registry entries. They don’t remove all traces of themselves; causing problems such as sluggish performance, system lockups, or a bloated registry that takes longer to load on startup. With the click of a button, Regseeker will scan your registry for these fragmented files, and safely remove them.

Their Product: PC Scan&Sweep (no independent reviews)

Free Alternative: CCleaner – CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system – allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner. But the best part is that it’s fast; normally taking less than a second to run.

Their Product: Spyware Striker Pro (described as malware)

Free Alternative: Spyware Terminator – Having tested virtually all of the major anti-spyware applications over the past year or more, I’ve settled, for now, on Spyware Terminator primarily due to its strong real-time protection against spyware, adware, Trojans, key-loggers, home page hijackers and other malware threats. Spyware Terminator excels in strong active protection against know and unknown threats.

For additional information on SpeedScan Pro, including actual test results, read  TechPaul’s article FinallyFast Exposed (aka FastAtLast).

Categories: Anti-Malware Tools · Browser add-ons · Diagnostic Software · Disk Cleaners · Firefox Add-ons · Free Security Programs · Freeware · Registry Cleaners · Rogue Software · Slow Computer · Software · Spyware - Adware Protection · System Utilities · Utilities · Windows Tips and Tools · internet scams
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147 responses so far ↓

  • techpaul // October 27, 2008 at 5:52 pm

    You certainly have an eye for details– iMacs, too funny!

    Sadly, this type of phraud is becoming all too common, and it will continue until people stop falling for it.

    This article will go a long way to a wiser computer-using populace, and I thank you for it.

  • "Have Your PC Running Like New" — Not! « Tech–for Everyone // October 27, 2008 at 5:58 pm

    [...] [note: some of these products are airing television commercials, and falsely claiming affiliation with trusted names, like The Wall Street Journal. for more on this, read Finally Fast.com - Fast Scam! Free Alternative Software.] [...]

  • g // October 27, 2008 at 8:38 pm

    i use and highly recommend ccleaner and spyware terminator. both work excellent!

    • Bill Mullins // October 27, 2008 at 9:04 pm

      Hey Glenn,

      You’re right CCleaner and Spyware Terminator, are both first class
      applications. I use both of them on my own machines.

      Bill

  • Bill Mullins // October 27, 2008 at 9:09 pm

    Hey TechPaul,

    The devil is in the details, right? LOL!!

    Thanks for the comment.

    Bill

  • Mark Schneider // October 30, 2008 at 9:52 am

    Hi Bill,
    When I first saw these ad’s I thought they had snake oil written all over them. Thanks for checking them out.
    Mark

    • billmullins // October 30, 2008 at 11:27 am

      Hey Mark,

      Good to hear from you.

      Taking advantage of uninformed, and undereducated computer users’, seem to
      be a growing trend. These companies seem to rely on that old truism,
      “there’s a sucker born every minute”.

      Bill

  • Mrs. Grobe // November 1, 2008 at 3:26 pm

    I noticed the MacBook first and then when I rewound I saw that the guy’s white computer is an iMac. Hello? Duh! Thanks for doing the research.

  • james r six // November 4, 2008 at 1:33 am

    Finally found a web site I can trust
    Thanks Bill

    ROB

  • Kenny // November 4, 2008 at 2:15 am

    Nice work.
    I did similar awhile back
    When seeing a mac being used for a pc commercial lol.

    I go here for everything.
    Gizmo’s site is A-1 for any of your needs from security to word processing.
    All reviewed & updated.
    Almost exclusively freeware & open source

    http://www.techsupportalert.com/

  • JasmineSkunk // November 7, 2008 at 3:42 pm

    Thank you for taking the time to investigate this and report on it. Direction to the useful utilities is an added bonus. 12 thumbs up !

  • Alon // November 12, 2008 at 6:08 am

    Do not Dare Download Finally Fast Until You See This Shocking Review.

  • cassandra // November 15, 2008 at 8:11 pm

    yeah, that commercial was overwhelmingly tacky. i felt like it was aimed at those in the “PEBCAK” category. thanks a ton for the alternatives.

    • billmullins // November 15, 2008 at 8:29 pm

      Hey Cassandra,

      PEBCAK huh? I think you’re right.

      For those of you who are unfamiliar with the acronym “PEBCAK”, it’s
      generally agreed that it stands for, “Problem Exists Between (the) Chair And
      (the) Keyboard”.

      Good comment. Thanks.

      Bill

  • paxtonland - Finally Crap Dot Com! // November 23, 2008 at 10:53 pm

    [...] seems they charge for free software you can easily download and run yourself. So if you were thinking about running their “Free Scan,” remember real scams cost you [...]

  • Lyn Klein // November 27, 2008 at 11:08 pm

    Thank you all for helping an old skeptic confirm her suspicions!

  • Steve Darby // November 30, 2008 at 10:44 am

    Thanks for the info. I’m a paleolithic programmer- 1401’s in ‘65. Worked with a fellow named Bill Mullins for CBS Toys in ‘72 on H200 equipment. Any possible relation?

    Later,

    • billmullins // November 30, 2008 at 11:25 am

      Hi Steve,

      Love the stone age reference – thanks for the early morning chuckle!

      I’m not however, related to your friend from CBS Toys.

      Thanks for visiting

      Bill

  • Kathy // December 6, 2008 at 12:20 am

    2 thumbs way up!
    I almost hit the button to download the finally fast but I thought I would check a little further. I put the page on hold, opened the google search again and saw your “finally fast scam” statement and checked into it. I am glad I did. I was on the page to enter my billing information so I went back and closed that page and proceede to dowload the free software you recomended. I am a novice so I greatly appreciate some looking out for the ones that don’t know better.I added CCleaner and Ashampoo. I haven’t figured out if they helped yet.

  • Scam Alert: "Finally Fast" : melsjumpsite.com // December 8, 2008 at 1:40 pm

    [...] Finally Fast.com – Fast Scam! Free Alternative Software [...]

  • ty // December 8, 2008 at 10:30 pm

    im gonna trust u tekkies and dld spy term and cc cleaner. im on broadband doin like 1mbs

  • Sandy // December 10, 2008 at 11:36 pm

    I left my dial up connection two years ago and went to Wild Blue… no cable in my area. The first few months I was astounded by the speed, but it’s gotten so much slower that I can’t even watch YouTube videos or news casts or anything like that, so I saw the finally fast commercial and thought it would help, but since I don’t know much about computers I wanted to do some research first. So glad I found this site.

    Can anyone tell me… I use Norton Anti-virus. I’m very happy with it. I also have Ad Aware. Is that program OK?

    Can anyone tell me what else I should download to keep my computer running efficiently, and also speed it up?

    Thanks!

    • billmullins // December 11, 2008 at 12:02 am

      Hey Sandy,

      Checkout Speedup That Slow Computer – 6 Free
      Solutionson
      my site. You’ll find these programs helpful.

      You mentioned that you are running Norton Anti-virus, and you should know,
      that until the most recent version, this program has been notorious for
      causing system slowdown.

      Read Need Free Security Programs? 10 Of The
      Best!on
      my site, to determine whether you are adequately protected.

      Bill

  • HONDO // December 11, 2008 at 9:57 am

    THANKS BILL, ITS GREAT TO SEE SOME PEOPLE LOOKING OUT FOR THOSE OF US THAT ARE NOT COMPUTER SAVVY.

  • Frank Barolet // December 14, 2008 at 11:16 am

    Bill,

    Really appreciate your reviews, especially that on Finally Fast. I just started seeing the TV ad for it on British SKY TV. I also noticed immediately the MAC notebooks in the ad and had to scratch my head.

    I will, in the future, check your site regularly. Really appreciate folks like you who take the time to put out the real “skinny” on products we see advertised.

    All thumbs up buddy!!!

  • New and Improved Computer - Page 2 - Legends Forums // December 22, 2008 at 11:20 am

    [...] to its peak performance. Saw it advertising on television and thought I need that….lol. Finally Fast.com – Fast Scam! Free Alternative Software Bill Mullins’ Weblog – Tech Thoughts Ahem. Read that article, drow __________________ Gypsy <3 Growing old is mandatory; growing [...]

  • Lauren // December 24, 2008 at 2:59 pm

    Thank you so much for this awesome article. I had a similar–though slightly different–reaction when I saw the commercial this morning.

    I thought, “Oh heck, I love those Mac keyboards, I didn’t know you could get that body for a PC laptop, must be someone doing knockoffs overseas!” Haha, I didn’t think they would be stupid enough to superimpose a blue screen of death on to an actual Mac. Idiots.

    Anyway, I googled “finallyfast.com scam” and found this entry. I’ll be sure to follow your blog in the future, I couldn’t have asked for a better summary and analysis of such a scam, and to boot, you provided so many free solutions.

    Amazing. Thank you. Happy Holidays.

  • StopSign and FinallyFast and P.T. Barnum « Tech–for Everyone // December 27, 2008 at 2:08 pm

    [...] ¹ You’ve seen Ascentive before in scam alerts, “Have Your PC Running Like New” — Not! And Internet Security blogger Bill Mullins’ excellent Finally Fast.com – Fast Scam! Free Alternative Software [...]

  • T-R-A // December 27, 2008 at 10:43 pm

    Hadn’t seen the commercial until tonight (during a bowl game on ESPN via DirecTV). Your description of “Computing for Dummies with Money” is spot-on. Incredible how many folks watch these things, and are all too eager to throw good money away on nothing more than crap…

  • Scott // December 28, 2008 at 12:50 am

    Just like Lauren, I googled the website after watching that ridiculous ad on T.V. and found your very informative blog. Thanks for looking into this matter and giving everyone a heads up on this company.

    I already figured the product would be a huge waste of money seeing as there so many well recognized free alternatives that can do the same thing. I just had to check online anyways to make sure I wasn’t wrong.

    Looks like you have more interesting articles I could read up on. Two thumbs up for your informative blog.

  • Another heads up - Finally Fast software - // December 28, 2008 at 1:45 pm

    [...] commercial was first screened in the States before finally coming over here. Sceptical? See: – Finally Fast scam Finall Fast scam ripoff report And a hilarious vid of a caller phoning their support with [...]

  • Jessica // December 29, 2008 at 2:47 am

    I went to a few of the freeware sites and they run a scan for free, but they want to charge to completely error-free the computer. Am I doing everything right? Or am i missing something?

  • Jessica // December 29, 2008 at 4:50 am

    I looked into these “free” sites but they only offer a “free” trial scan, not a complete scan…. unless you pay for it. Am i doing this right or… do you have to pay?

  • Marie // December 29, 2008 at 8:47 am

    Hi,

    I am among the dummies who have watched the advert and went on finally fast.com and dowloaded a malicious virus which I thought was something that was going to make my PC run faster. Right now my PC won’t work at all.
    I went on the website because I thought the british broadcasting would not let any scam bag to adviser on TV. After readin your article I am furious with myself but I still think for the money we are payment broadcaster should protect some of us who are not computer savvy or just savvy.
    I have to take my computer for repairs but thanks for doing the reseach. this should have been my first stop before using finally fast.

  • halloweencrow // December 30, 2008 at 1:45 am

    i firstly want to say that i am not computer savvy but i removed my anti virus programs first and then tried finallyfast reinstalled them and it vastly improved its bootup and web page responses but let me add this i am running windows ME edition so that may be my advantage… go figure it worked for me and i had so many programsinstalled and uninstalled on my PC maybe im one in a million billion who knows.

  • kymberli // December 30, 2008 at 9:47 pm

    This is a great website & I’m glad I found you before I downloaded anything. My question is where can I go to find a program to make videos stop pausing when I watch them….thanks in advance and happy new year to all!

  • ThunderHawk // December 31, 2008 at 12:32 pm

    Glary Utilities is a great, free, all-in-one suite. It has a one-button check-up that fixes registry errors, spyware, temp files, etc.

    Get it and use it regularly.

    http://www.glaryutilities.com/

  • scott // January 2, 2009 at 6:56 am

    i believe that apple based systems are now using windows operating systems for apple my friend has a apple laptop and it has windows on it here is a letter i wrote to ascentive.com

    saw your commercial finallyfast.com and tried the free scan if i remember correctly it said i had 68 errors when i knew my pc was clean 3 weeks later i scanned my pc again and it said i still hadl 68 errors i installed software on 2 other pcs and they also had 68 errors.this is a phony free scan to make people think they have errors they don’t really have to convince them to buy your software.there is no way that multiple pcs will have they same exact errors and weeks later have the same errors.i went online and there isn’t one positive thing said about finallyfast.com.there must be about 200 give or take bad reviews about your company.Mcafee virus and spyware compant has sitemaster.com and they are steering everyone away saying you are very bad. They are a very well respected corporation.I called your customer service and they hung up on me.i’m going to do everything in my power to stop thing through a advocate bureaus unless you get back to me by phone.i will also contact all affiliates of your company with this letter so it would be in your best interest to call me

  • Ralph Fontanez // January 2, 2009 at 7:08 pm

    hey bill

    i have a pretty old computer its a windows 2000 and by accident i deleted some software from my computer wich i did’nt need and now everytime i go to play any one of my media players they all play fast,music,people talking fast ect.and i just would like to know if u may know a way that i may be able to give me a few tips if posible of this matter if not that for the try anyway…

  • JRnorris // January 2, 2009 at 10:41 pm

    uhm… i dont know if this information is true… there is way to much false info so IDK but TYTYTYTYTYTYVM for this i will not take risk of downloading finnalyfast, i was in middle of download when i read this and i stoped ASAP

  • tim // January 6, 2009 at 3:25 pm

    Bill,

    When Finallyfast.com says that they were featured on Forbes, Newsweek, or WSJ, what they are really saying is that they placed a small advertisement or a full page ad in one of the pages, thus proclaiming that they are in fact featured. They would not make such a bold statement as stating they were actually written about in the magazine without the threat of being sued.

  • Steve // January 6, 2009 at 7:02 pm

    Bill,
    I’ve seen the FinallyFast ad to the point where I want to shoot my tv and welcome the arrival of Vince and the Shamwow commercial…lol
    I thought it looked deceptive and the horrible acting did nothing to make me want to trust it….wanna know where all those graduates from Lincoln Tech and other schools that advertise on tv are… they’re making and starring in the finallyfast ad.
    Anyway, I decided to take a look at their site….and when I saw they had links to any of the publications or shows they claimed they were featured in, I got suspicious. When I noticed the raves came from people like Cathy P and not from trusted cites like C-Net, Consumer Reports or other companies of that caliber my suspicion increased, so I googled them, came upon a lot of sites that called it a sham in their subject, and when I clicked on your site and read your analysis of it all was glad to see that I wasn’t the only one wary of them.
    I’m glad to see that there are people out there looking out for the masses.
    BTW, I wasn’t looking to do anything for my computer as it’s new……but after the millionth time of seeing the ad, I had to investigate it.
    I have a public access show, would you mind if I refer people to your site and your article on them?

  • mark griggs // January 7, 2009 at 6:01 pm

    Ha I’m so glad I found this posting. I laughed so hard the first time I saw the commercials because I saw the same thing. IDIOTS. Furthermore, their website claims that they are a Microsoft Certified Partner. Well there is a microsoft website where you can search through ALL Microsoft Certified Partners and neither Ascentive nor Finally Fast bring up any pertinent results.

    I have alerted microsoft and hopefully they will be able to contact this company and help expose its fraudulent activity.

  • James F. Dillworth // January 9, 2009 at 1:31 pm

    Since the ads forfinally fast claimed they were partenered with Micorsoft, I bought finally fast. It seemed to help only a little.
    However, for an additional charge they have another program that is alleged to make i.e. work better. I did not buy it. Guess what? I now have several problems with internet explorer. I suspect sabotage done so they can sell me more software! Outrageous.
    Dilly

  • Wendy // January 14, 2009 at 2:40 pm

    THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS INFORMATION. My laptop has been running really slow here recently and I was thinking about ordering this product but was not going to do so w/o checking reviews first. I have ccleaner and it is great. When I get home tonight I am going to check into your other websites listed above. Again thank you

  • Rob Clarke // January 15, 2009 at 10:25 am

    Mr mullins, you are the (computers) amatures champion.I love you(platonic) i read your page bi-weekly and have taken your advice on board BUT.i run acompaq64 and had problems with SP3 installing sussed that but while it not install i had to restore my machine every time.This ment renaming files (out of my control) it still appiers that some of my system files still carry (25) at the end or middle can i now safly delete (1-25)to stop my system reading them every time on startup/etc

  • Rob Clarke // January 15, 2009 at 1:25 pm

    hello my(friend i hope) thanks for getting back so quick.(sorry about tippos). as far as i can gather in windows system32 with some other protocals . irun on your recomendation spyware terminator(fine) it when runs a scan (dailey) it takes a long time to read these files ican only give you one example
    C:\windows\explorer(2)-(20).exe
    2-20inclusive

    • billmullins // January 19, 2009 at 2:10 pm

      Hi Rob,

      My apologies for taking so long in getting back to you.

      I’d recommend that you download and install *Easy Duplicate File
      Finder*- a free application which
      will help you find, and remove, those duplicate
      files you described.

      Good luck,

      Bill

  • Rob Clarke // January 16, 2009 at 7:42 am

    Bill,
    this will not help you i’m sorry
    I can only give you an example file name.
    The problem is after restoring my machine on what felt like a daily basis (25+) idid not take a lot of notice of renamed files.
    C:\WINDOWS\explorer(2).exe
    C:\WINDOWS\explorer(3).exe and so on till (20)

  • Rob Clarke // January 25, 2009 at 11:43 am

    Hello Bill,
    Thanks for your advice as ever
    I’m sorry but this will be long winded purely becuse peaple read this site and I need to pass on my mistakes

    As recomended by bill I tried (edff) being the bunny that I am ran it thought this seems good maybe cures a few problems
    Like the idiot Iam I tried to run before I could walk
    needless to say I Killed my machine(would not even swich off)

    I always thought of myself as a Technophile (WRONG)

    Please listen to this man has to say.

    THanks for listening.

    Bill comment on your work at tech-thoughts

    thanks agian from this site 8)

  • Fast At Last.com or Finally Fast.com - With this Software You’re Neither! « Bill Mullins’ Weblog - Tech Thoughts // January 26, 2009 at 9:52 pm

    [...] I said in my review “Finally Fast.com – Fast Scam! Free Alternative Software” – while I won’t go so far as to call this company and its software applications useless, or [...]

  • thatguy // January 30, 2009 at 11:05 am

    Be seeing the finally fast commercials a lot lately. Every time I watch it I bust out laughing because of the horrible acting skills such as the lady that says “Its not loading”. I guess I am laughing because it preying on the innocent.

    The one thing that really gets me is the guy at the end that says “finally fast, finally fast.com” and I’m thinking this guy must know what he’s talking about he looks like one of those smart kids that know everything about computers.

    I’m still looking for the commercial that promotes “finally gone” go into C-prompt and enter C:\.. then Del boot.ini

    Love the WebBlog

  • WILLIAM // January 30, 2009 at 11:50 pm

    I wish I had read your report earlier, I just paid for the pc sppeed scan, I just hope it does not crash my pc, I am going to call my credit card company and see if I can stop the payment. Do you think by uninstall finally fast pc program is going to hel or it is too late?

    p.s. Great Report

  • MysteryFCM // February 3, 2009 at 5:06 am

    Just a note folks, these adverts are currently running on the Hallmark channel on Sky TV (only know cause my mothers got Sky, lol).

    I’ve had these scammers listed in hpHosts for some time, and there they will stay :o )

  • Krigo // February 3, 2009 at 10:04 am

    Spotted it on Nat Geo Wild as well, terrible voice acting. It looks dubbed as well. =P

  • G.W.B. // February 3, 2009 at 12:37 pm

    Also spotted it on Nat Geo Wild. Nearly took the bait.Found your site instead.many thanks.

  • Alyson // February 4, 2009 at 6:41 am

    I know precisely squat about computers. I was at my wit’s end when I googled this “Finally Fast” thing and by the grace of God found this link. I was literally minutes from jumping in the car to buy a new computer (that I really can’t afford) because my Dell laptop was being so slow. Long story short – Thank you Mr. Mullins. Your software suggestions cured whatever bug my computer had, and now it’s acting like it did when I first bought it.

  • Max // February 5, 2009 at 10:07 am

    Bill Thank you. I searched for Finallyfast.com and was going to download (Bieng the trusting guy that I am) Right below their listing was yours. Glad I used yours firs. I just downloaded Explorer 8, on my Vista machine. Now I get pop up pages refrencing last pages I looked at, That is all we need with this damnd Vista. Should have stayed with XP
    Keep up the good work
    Max

  • MysteryFCM // February 5, 2009 at 6:04 pm

    @Max,
    The “feature” you describe is Internet Explorer 8’s new “Suggested Sites” “feature”.

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/02/ie8_suggested_sites/

    You can disable this using the instructions at;

    http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/privacy.aspx

    … which in short says;

    To turn off Suggested Sites:

    1. In Internet Explorer, click the Tools button.

    2. Click Suggested Sites to clear the check mark and turn Suggested Sites off.

  • A Software Technology Test - Can you get a passing score? « What’s On My PC // February 6, 2009 at 12:33 am

    [...] Please review this article: Finally Fast.com – Fast Scam! Free Alternative Software [...]

  • Rafael Agundis // February 9, 2009 at 10:48 pm

    DO NOT DOWNLOAD THIS SOFTWARE!

    It has a trojan inside:

    WIN32.BHO.LRR

    Detected on the installation moment by karspesky

  • biniam // February 12, 2009 at 1:07 am

    i t is the best software finally i get ny computer fixed

  • lois mays // February 12, 2009 at 2:18 pm

    this lois mays i cant get my windows fun fast

  • lisa terry // February 26, 2009 at 10:22 am

    OK – I downloaded Ashampoo, and it asked me what type of connection do I have. I have wireless internet, and my choices were: analog modem, ISDN, DSL (via LAN cable), DSL [(on wireless LAN) (WLAN], other LAN connection (no DSL), and Kabelmodem.
    Which am I? It says choosing the wrong one will slow everything down. Thanks for any help!
    Lisa

  • Maxwell Rebo // February 26, 2009 at 11:15 pm

    Mr. Mullins,

    Thanks for this page! It helped me recover my poor laptop so I can still use it for med school. Thank you thank you thank you!!!

    PS. I’m so fucking tired of scams. They’re as abundant as hydrogen these days.

  • simon brown // February 27, 2009 at 6:49 pm

    Could all you people please go to Skynews.com.au and leave your comments on the Your say page. This bogus crowd is being featured on this channel regularly and many people are getting ripped off. I know of one unlucky person who paid them a lot of money and when she tried to get backup service there was no reply. The more people who contact skynews the better

  • AeSix // February 28, 2009 at 6:40 am

    Well, you’ve saved me the time of having to visit the site to figure out what things are. I do have a system I’m about to toss the hard drive out, so I might go there anyways. If I do, I’ll write some descent tech reviews. I’ll be sure to post them back on here. It all depends if the drive survives the data backup.

    Thanks again!

    I prefer to do these things by hand anyways. Way too often do these programs (even the legit ones) when used improperly can cause severe damage to Windows.

  • kon vou // March 11, 2009 at 8:51 am

    they finally fast adds are now appearing in australia ,thankyou for all the info . you are a great person to show people the real truth .

  • Shannon // March 12, 2009 at 8:32 pm

    I wish we had seen this before my son got scammed ! He signed up and paid with a bank card , to get their cd . And for some reason after he clicked something and it took him somewhere else totally different . And he never got the cd !!! But he has been getting bank charges ever since Nov.2008 and while they charge him $49 here , $1 there , $21.99 here and so on – The bank covers it (because his acct is protected) and the bank acct is always under $5 in his acct , because we take it all out on the 3rd of every month . The saddest part is that we are both on disability and we do not get very much to live on .

    Well I called the place and finally got thru and they said if I gave the billing service the last 8 digits of his old (shut off) bank card , then they can give his money ($481) back into his acct within 7 days . And it was not a scam – they really did it !!! The # I called for “billing services” was 1-888-205-2664 , First I spoke to Eduado , then Alex .

    I wish I had good advice to give you all on how to prevent this from happening – but there isn’t really , except to never use your card online ,,,, or use it but keep track constantly with your bank after you do it (do not let time go by !) and write down or keep records of what your activities are with connection between your creditcard/bankcard and email address . That is what the guy Alex told us to be aware of because somehow it clicked to other places and took his info and started charging him . And they all were from the same place , and all had different web addresses and phone #’s attached to the billing info , on my sons acct summery ! So be careful .

  • Michael // March 15, 2009 at 5:09 am

    Hey Bill,
    Love the idea of having this site. Any thoughts on Uniblue and their PowerSuite. I use them every time they come out with new software and I have to say they have never done wrong by me. Also, isnt AVG Free good for anti-viral, spyware, root-kit, etc?
    Thanks

    • Bill Mullins // March 15, 2009 at 10:54 am

      Hey Michael,

      AVG Free has limited functionality and so does not offer rootkit protection.

      Uniblue offers some great products and in fact I have review a number of
      them in the past. I particularly like Uniblue, since it offers some valuable
      free services to the Internet community.

  • Doc Winters // March 16, 2009 at 8:05 pm

    Its good to see that others are getting the word out as to just how bad this company is.

    I covered this same company about three months ago, and its good to see that others are doing the same

  • Kasey Kadinger // March 17, 2009 at 7:42 am

    Hey Bill
    are you a scam also? every site that I went to that you suggested is a pay site so I agree that finally fast is a scam but are you a scam also?

  • finallyfast.co.uk - scam or useful service? at Strangeparty // March 18, 2009 at 4:21 pm

    [...] Bill Mullins’ Weblog | Finally Fast.com – Fast Scam! Free Alternative Software [...]

  • Scott Mcgregor // March 23, 2009 at 4:19 pm

    I am so glad I read your article. They have only started showing this companys’ ad for this service here in the UK and it seems very tempting and genuine on the surface, mainly because it is the only company that is advertising this service on British television.

    They have the monopoly right now and with links to well known US companies, I think a lot of people who aren’t computer savvy will be suckered by the well presented advertisement.

  • lomein // March 24, 2009 at 11:48 pm

    Sup i think i might fall into that PEBCAK category ive been foolin around with comps for a long time but i think i do more damage then good can you tell me about this ghostwall and ghost sec. suite
    and also about eset smart sec. any info would be great on if there good or if theres something better.

  • Ashley // March 28, 2009 at 5:57 pm

    I am so happy to have found this site. Right before founding it I ran the free scan from Finally Fast and was about to purchase the software. My computer has been running so slow and I am not wanting to pay hundreds of dollars to fix it. Hope everything you suggest works!

    Thanks

  • James Rigby // March 29, 2009 at 11:13 am

    I’m sure that Finally Fast pretty much does what it says on the tin, but I have several serious issues with it.

    There is free software which does the same job, and sometimes better.

    The software installs so that it launches at every start up. Presumably this is so it can keep nagging until you buy it.

    It does not install a menu option to uninstall it. You have to use control panel to get rid of it. Ordinary user who need this type of software wouldn’t know how to get rid of it.

    The Terms and Conditions are very long and do not make clear to the user that it will be installed at startup.

  • Jeff // March 29, 2009 at 3:05 pm

    I have to say thank you. My computer is a joke. I never ever researched or read anything as slowly and as clearly easily, and never thought I would appreciate and really know what the correct choice would have been for my situation, until I read this. Thanks very much for such researched information. You made my life easy. F the Finally Fast website.

    • Bill Mullins // March 29, 2009 at 4:25 pm

      Hey Jeff,

      Thank you. I’m glad you found that article useful. As you say “F the Finally
      Fast website” – cool!

      Bill

  • boxfullofheads // April 9, 2009 at 5:31 pm

    FinallyFast WebSite Domain Owner..
    Just incase anyone was woundering

    Schran, Adam
    Ascentive LLC
    201 Spring Garden St
    Suite 400
    Philadelphia, PA 19123, US
    Phone: 215-320-6000
    Fax: 215-320-6001
    Email: adamco@ascentive.com

  • boxfullofheads // April 9, 2009 at 9:25 pm

    Adam Schran, Chief Executive Officer Adam is a lifelong entrepreneur, adventurer, and tech aficionado. He is the Founder and CEO of Ascentive, and has been dedicated to growing the company’s products and markets for 8 years. Additionally he was a principal shareholder and the Executive Vice President of Profusion LLC, a search engine technology company acquired by Intelliseek, now a part of Nielsen Netratings. Adam graduated from Haverford College in 1998 with an honors degree in computer science with mentorship from one of the Internet’s forefathers. He is an avid traveler and aviation enthusiast, and has lived in Germany and Switzerland.

  • boxfullofheads // April 9, 2009 at 9:55 pm

    Ok, this is all the time i will spend looking into the owner of
    FinallyFast.com just do some research on a business before
    you buy there software, tools, cars, or body bags…

  • boxfullofheads // April 10, 2009 at 1:04 pm

    In my opinion on the iMacs used in the commercials they hired
    a advertisment firm and that firm did no research about computers and the product they were selling and looked
    over the fact the product was NOT for iMacs…. But the owner
    of FinallyFast.com did not proof watch commercial to see how
    his product was being marketed. I think they just did not pay
    attention to detail and they think the public would NOT know
    the difference, but this is just my opinion and what do i know?

  • eddy2525 // April 11, 2009 at 12:42 am

    I downloaded FinallyFast for a test run, then the rest of their “suite”
    of tools. One came up as spyware under PCtools I believe it was
    so deleted them all. Advanced Windows Care has a free version
    which does all they do in a single program. Works great use it
    on an almost daily basis. Though I use Linux mostly since less
    likely to be infected and can run without any hard drive installed
    at all since the livecd runs directly off a cd drive and in memory… :)

  • camel // April 13, 2009 at 4:50 pm

    thankyou for posting what this site was about i was about to go to it when i saw all the comments on it. you saved me a bunch of trouble and its appriciated.

  • John McDonald // April 18, 2009 at 11:07 pm

    i would like to thank you the quercky commercial alone had me doubting and a few of my tech friends didnt trust it either but you steered me in the right direction already ive noticed a difference from the web accelerator and i’m about to start my registry scans now bill your a life saver and that comes from a trucker and people know we dont offten give complaments mostly the finger lol

    • Bill Mullins // April 19, 2009 at 8:29 am

      Very cool to hear from a Trucker with a sense of humour John- “we don’t
      often give complements mostly the finger”.

      Thanks for the Sunday morning laugh.

      Bill

  • Jasmine // April 24, 2009 at 5:30 am

    i accidenally downloaded it and now i wont stop bothering my internet like download this download that can u plz tell me how to rid it out of my internet i got id of the rest…plz tell me and the spyware search and destroy help rid of finally fast buts in my internet…plz help me! thxs

    • Bill Mullins // April 24, 2009 at 9:03 am

      Checkout Revo Uninstaller – Revo
      Uninstaller is a superior program to uninstall programs from your computer.
      This free program with its advanced and fast algorithm scans before, and
      after you uninstall an application. After the programs regular uninstaller
      runs, you can remove additional unnecessary files, folders and registry keys
      that are usually left over on your computer.

      Bill

  • Jasmine // April 24, 2009 at 5:33 am

    how can i delete this?

  • Scott // April 29, 2009 at 9:59 am

    About 6 months ago I purchased “RegCure”, a clean-up program. I run it regularly and it seems to speed up my computer for a short period of time and then slips back into a very slow mode. Do you have any suggestions on how to permanently speed up my PC?

    • Bill Mullins // April 29, 2009 at 5:36 pm

      Please read “Slow Computer? – 6 Free Solutions” on my site. You should find
      this helpful.

      Bill

  • Linda // May 1, 2009 at 9:26 am

    I downloaded Finallyfast.com on my computer.
    I want it OFF NOW. How do I get a hold of them?
    Thanks

  • Linda // May 1, 2009 at 12:16 pm

    I uninstalled Finally Fast with you uninstaller and the sign on screen still comes on in the wrong place and is WAY too small.
    Can you help?

    • Bill Mullins // May 1, 2009 at 12:38 pm

      Hi Linda,

      It could be a number of things, but it is unlikely to have anything to do
      with uninstalling Finally Fast.

      Check that your resolution has not been changed from its previous setting.

      Make sure that your monitors buttons/dials have not been incorrectly
      adjusted, or accidentally adjusted.

      If all fails, try a system restore.

      Bill

  • Linda // May 1, 2009 at 1:14 pm

    Thanks

  • feeling stupid // May 2, 2009 at 6:22 pm

    unfortunately i am 1 of the uneducated saps that fell for the commercial. i downloaded finalyfast and was prompted to pay 29.99, i put in my info then was prompted to another page in which i had to pick each tool i wanted for another fee of 29.99 or more for each. after i selected the tools i wanted at the bottom it says click here to view your total. unfortunately i clicked it and instead of viewing what my total was up to. it instead automaticaly charged my card 120.80 i didnt think to much of it, so i ran all the tests and “fixed” all the bugs. and yet my pc is the same as it was before i wish i would have seen this bog before i had my card charged and wasted 120 bucks! thanks for your research bill!!

  • feeling stupid // May 2, 2009 at 6:32 pm

    im sorry to bother you with this, but as i said b4 im not very educated in the pc world. i went to finalyfast site to cancel my membership and i cant find anything! they have a 24 hr customer service online to chat with, so i clicked on that and it said they are currently offline. haha lmao! imagine that! now not only do i feel stupid for trying the service, im gonna be dead if they keep charging my card! any1 have any advice for me??

    • Bill Mullins // May 2, 2009 at 7:14 pm

      Hey Cgbaby,

      I’ll answer both your comments in one.

      First – making a decision based on a commercial does not make you stupid, or
      as you put it “a sap”. We all make choices like this every day; usually with
      favorable results. It would be better of course, if all of us did some
      research prior to making a purchase based on a TV advertisement.

      To be fair, I have heard from others, that they have been able to obtain a
      refund from this company, but I have no personal knowledge that this is the
      case.

      However, I suggest that you notify your Bank that you are disputing the
      charges on your card. I know in many jurisdictions and countries (sorry, I
      don’t know which country you live in), Banks are required to assist you in
      the circumstances you describe.

      Good luck with this,

      Bill

  • Steven Burn // May 2, 2009 at 7:25 pm

    Just an FYI;

    http://hphosts.blogspot.com/2009/04/stopbadware-delists-ascentive-yknow.html

    • Bill Mullins // May 2, 2009 at 8:02 pm

      Hey Steve,

      Thanks for the info on this – very much appreciated.

      “Wonder who they’ll delist next? Zango? Zlkon? or all of the loverly botnets
      perhaps?” It certainly makes one curious, does it not?

      Bill

  • boxfullofheads // May 7, 2009 at 2:35 pm

    I saw people asking how to get rid of finallyfast
    take a look at a program installwatch it will keep
    track of which files are created and modified
    during a installation of saftware and it is free.
    it will make a text file with all changes to your
    computer then make sure all is changed back
    by compairing the list to your computer.

  • Steven Burn // May 8, 2009 at 2:20 am

    IW was about as useful as a chocolate fireguard when I last tested it;

    http://temerc.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1724

  • JOHN McMahon // May 23, 2009 at 4:13 pm

    There is a HUGE advert. blitz for FF.COM in Ca. on History Channel and a monitor looks suspiciously like a white MAC monitor. The same ad is shown up 2 – 3 times per advert. break. It has been running for at least 2 to 3 weeks now. I am really sick of it. CCLEANER, Spyware Terminator, and RegSeeker all work extremely well. Didn’t hear any mention of publications. Just some 25 “kid” whining about his game not running fast.
    I have seen scams but public is still stupid about computers these many years later. But someone said “A sucker is born every minute” (PT Barnum?).

    • Bill Mullins // May 23, 2009 at 6:15 pm

      Hi John,

      “A sucker is born every minute” – Barnum certainly gets the credit, but I remember reading, at one time, that it was his competitor who actually said it. Whoever said it, was an astute observer of human nature.

      It’s interesting that this company chooses to advertise on relatively intellectual channels. Perhaps “non mainstream” would be a better description. Probably based on the old theory – go where the money is. I suspect the demographics of History Channel viewers suggests – money.

      You’re description of typical computer users fits in with my own experience, and it saddens me to see little or no improvement in skills over the years.

      Thank you for your comments, and for stopping by.

      Bill

  • antiscam // May 30, 2009 at 12:17 am

    Look at this company’s BBB rating its…… an F (Surprise Surprise)!

    http://www.dc.bbb.org/report.html?national=y&compid=80016291#Ratings

  • marc // June 1, 2009 at 4:48 pm

    for the person who was wondering how to actually speed up their pc – you can buy more ram that always helps. free things u can do regularly run cc cleaner and clean up the reg, defrag at least once a week i like defraggler, i use avg for viruses and spybot for spyware and never have any problems, and i surf to websites that aren’t all disney.com either lol. oh and never use ie explorer use firefox with the no script add on and u should be safe all the time, also consider sandboxie it sandboxes your web browser in a virtual environment, its free and it only makes you look at a nag screen for 5 seconds after the 30 day trial is up, good stuff

  • Meg // June 2, 2009 at 9:32 am

    I was going to go to finally fast.Com, but I don’t trust of this ad you showed about another pc. Instend, I went to the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and got a free downlod:
    http://www.download.com/Malwarebytes-Ant...
    It can install, update and select Full Scan.
    Remove all infections that it finds after scan. You have to know to not to trust every commercials on television because you don’t know it is reliable or not.

  • Meg // June 2, 2009 at 9:37 am

    Sorry, I Did not complete the link of a free downlod of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware link, the link I posted are broken.

    Here’s a correct link:
    http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html?hhTest=1.

  • sue-ellen grant // June 16, 2009 at 9:28 am

    thyanks this is the best

  • JWM // June 23, 2009 at 12:32 pm

    I am one of the idiots who bought this #$@&. Of course doing research after downloading is equally boneheaded. Immediately after download from finallyfast and the required ‘restart’ my mouse froze (appearantly common). I demanded a refund from Ascentive (two calls for full refund). I then spent 3 1/2hrs with a Dell tech on the phone ($130 for service agreement) and the mouse is still on ice. The tech recommended backing up info to a hard drive and reset computor to factory settings, reload info back to computer (add another $120 for an external 1TB hard drive) but I would still lose many applications. The Dell tech is looking into alternate solutions before we do this backup/reset/reload. Anyone have any solutions for this moron? Lesson learned.
    Thanks John

  • JWM // June 23, 2009 at 12:38 pm

    finallyfast/Ascentive toll free # 1-888-449-7746

  • Roert W. Sonnier // June 24, 2009 at 7:07 am

    I realy would like 4 my labtop 2b a lot fastter then what it is.Iget realy tiered waiting 4 it please

  • MDH // July 3, 2009 at 10:00 am

    WOT warns that “Spyware Terminator” is unreliable? I therefore did not download? Why Warning when you indicate is ok?

    • Bill Mullins // July 3, 2009 at 10:34 am

      MDH,

      “WOT warns that “Spyware Terminator” is unreliable”.

      You are mistaken – the sceanario you describe is impossible.

      In the first place, Spyware Terminator is recognized by industry experts as one of the premier malware applications available. In the second place, the download link provided is Download.com, which is recognized worldwide as the number one download site on the Internet, without exception. Third, WOT does not review or make recommendations with respect to software – it is a web site rating service ONLY. So again, your statement “WOT warns that “Spyware Terminator” is unreliable”, is impossible.

      WOT has an excellent support site – I suggest you visit this site and refresh your knowledge of this application.

      Bill

  • MDH // July 3, 2009 at 2:10 pm

    Thanks for response. I inadvertantly hit sidebar download for cyberdefender thinking it was “Spyware Defender”. WOT gave warning ortherwise may not have recognized my mistake. Thanks for help as I am not very computer literate being an old guy who grew up using pencil and erasers along with typewriters and white out.

    • Bill Mullins // July 3, 2009 at 3:55 pm

      MDH,

      Thanks for the explanation. That sort of thing is easy to so. Good that you were able to work it out. Well done.

      Bill

  • jayne // July 15, 2009 at 5:36 am

    hi , my comp has been running really slowwwwwwww , was going 2 have a look at finallyfast , but have read wat yu have written and now dont know where 2 go or wat 2 do , hope maybe yu could send me 2 a website that can help thanx jayne

  • MDH // July 15, 2009 at 9:46 am

    getting pop-up ads on side of my hotmail email. Hotmail pop up enabled at high setting but still have pop ups. Pop up obscures half of text when print emails. Used spyware terminator(thanks for info) but no spyware detected. Also, blocked normal ad sites that are known to send ad spam. Where could this be and any suggestions on how to get rid of this? Thanks

  • Saved By The Bill // August 7, 2009 at 12:22 pm

    I’m embarassed to admit that I almost fell for the Finally Fast schtick. Fortunately, I tend to automatically “google” for additional info on anything like that. I found your site thankfully.

    I downloaded CCleaner onto my clunky desktop and voila!–it’s running much better now, thank you very much. I especially like the NSA level erase function and the cookie protection feature.

    • Bill Mullins // August 7, 2009 at 2:56 pm

      Hey Algboy,

      No need to be embarrassed – its pretty slick advertising.

      Glad to hear Ccleaner helped.

      Bill

  • Craig // September 7, 2009 at 11:33 am

    Hey Bill gotta say great info for the uninformed. Personally ive seent he commercial before but always tune it out. I am a computer tech and own my own company doing such but today I watched it and say that 99% of the computers used are macs all down to the white keyboar with the usb connection on the back and laughed and decided to google it. It amazes me that people actually fall for this garbage. I think the problem is the commercial rely’s on people who have no experience with computers and feel overwhelmed by what they are sitting at ie. there cpu.

    My personal preferences are NOD32 for antivirus (not free I know) but norton is horrid IMO. Have used ccleaner in the past and it is a good program however for malware removal I must agree malwarebytes seems to do a better job.

    Back to my point I think it is great of you to provide information like this for the uninitiated and unknowing KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!

    • Bill Mullins // September 7, 2009 at 12:50 pm

      Hey Craig,

      Thanks for visiting.

      Interestingly, almost every tech I know relies on NOD32 – that’s a pretty good recommendation, I would say.

      I agree with your assessment of who this type of commercial is primarily aimed at – the inexperienced. And I’ll go one further; 90 % of users I meet, I would classify as being “inexperienced”.

      Glad to see you agree on Malwarebyte’s effectiveness. For a free app, it’s outstanding.

      Bill

  • dayatra // September 11, 2009 at 10:40 pm

    cheak everthing

  • Max // September 12, 2009 at 7:31 pm

    Hi Bill, I enjoy reading your messages, tips and warnings. I run ccleaner as well as Norton. Also my isp provider has a spyware scanner at their Hub.
    I enjoyed Steve’s comments 1401 auto coder goes a long way back.
    We had 8 Univac 1108 mainframes, and used ibm 1130’s as I/O device.
    My Laptop has more power than those 1108’s
    Have a good week end

    • Bill Mullins // September 13, 2009 at 8:02 am

      Hi Max,

      Like you, I use Ccleaner regularly. Norton on the other hand, I find to be just too expensive. Currently, I’m running Microsoft Security Essentials Beta, and I must admit I’m impressed. It appears MS has finally gotten it right in PC security.

      Being able to look back at the early days of computing, and then drawing comparisons in terms of the raw power available in todays PC’s, never fails to amaze me.

      Thanks for stopping by.

      Bill

  • robertyoung // September 28, 2009 at 10:20 am

    Thanksfortheheadsups

  • Tim // October 3, 2009 at 10:23 am

    Hello Bill

    I too was searching up the finallyfast website. I do alot of social networking on Facebook. As a result I have one file in particular that I always have to search and delete. zynga_poker.sol
    Since then I have been doing the searches based on the different things Ive downloaded, only to find more of the junk files. My laptop is fast after everything loads, but then after few mins it gets slow, freezes, or looses connection.

    I saw your google search so I decided to check it out first.
    Without this site, I would have paid for the service and prob went on being happy or disappointed that my pc is still acting up.
    Now Im going to try some of the free stuff mentioned above, then go buy a nice t-bone with the money you saved me.

    Thanks

    • Bill Mullins // October 3, 2009 at 8:26 pm

      Hey Tim,

      If your browser is Firefox, install the BetterPrivacy addon, it will delete all .sol files – since these are Flash cookies it’s a good idea to remove these.

      If you are interested in why Flash cookies, like zynga_poker.sol are not too cool, read LSO (Flash Cookies) A Serious Attack on Your Privacy, on my site. Thanks for dropping by.

      Bill

  • Jasmine // October 21, 2009 at 7:46 pm

    Excuse me but what about the Windows Enterpriser thing? Is that a scam? Because I cleaned my laptop with Spyware Terminator and Search and Destroy but the Windows Enterpriser thing said theres like 473 malwares and stuff. Is this a scam program Please answer back this is really important. By the way, I didn’t download the Windows thing, how did it appear? Or how could it have appeared?

  • Jasmine // October 21, 2009 at 7:57 pm

    Hi Bill

    By the way, don’t you think they should protest again Finally Fast so they can get their money back? Also don’t you think they should sue them too for such a scam? I think so! Please write (type) Back

    Thanks :) Jasmine

    • Bill Mullins // October 21, 2009 at 10:07 pm

      Jasmine,

      Consumers need to take personal responsibility, and ensure the products that they purchase meet their needs. That means thoroughly investigating products before purchasing.

      Bill

  • Like gas stations in rural Texas after 10 pm, comments are closed.