Expert: Ramon Zammit - 4/1/2011

Question
Under my Downloads folder, I have about 6 ccsetup.exe files.  I googled it to see if it'd be ok to remove the older ones and I keep seeing links that say it's a dangerous file to have on your system, but it's the file for CCleaner that I run frequently to clear out unneeded files.  Is it true that it's viewed as spyware and if not, is it okay to delete older versions without it affecting anything?

I'm really trying to speed up my computer because it's so slow. I'm clearing things out (carefully) and am in the process of moving things like itunes over to an external hard drive to free up space and hopefully make my computer faster. I've always kept temp files, cookies, etc clear but it doesn't seem to do any good.  I have protection in the form of an antivirus program, Spybot, and Malwarebytes so I really don't think a virus is the problem. I was recently "hijacked" though according to Spybot and I found that Bing had been made into my default search engine in Firefox and IE.  I removed the offending program (a dvd ripper), the actual spyware, and corrected my defaults.  Could it have done further damage, btw? I ran spybot twice after removing it & then ran a deep scan. But anyway, I'm deleting anything that can help me feel like I ACTUALLY have a high speed internet and I just ran across the ccsetup.exe files.

Thanks for any help you're able to give!

Answer
hi sandy

unfortunately legit looking files are sometimes the bad ones so i think this exe file is indeed a virus. make sure you have an updated av software and a good antispyware and scan your computer. if its a trojan or malware they should take care of it.

just make sure you have ONE antivirus and ONE antispyware running at the same time as otherwise your system will become crippled.


hope i was of help - pls rate my answer thanks