My initial reaction to this program was one of cynicism and suspicion. I might start with my suspicions. Most people know about computer viruses. Not to be confused with viruses (though sometimes themselves containing viruses) are Trojan horses. Named after the original Trojan horse of Greek legend used to conquer the ancient city of Troy, the computer version works similarly. Trojan horses are apparently useful programs that people are invited to download. One example is the "AOL for FREE" Trojan horse which wipes the hard drive as soon as it is executed. Trojan horses are also used by hackers to hack into computer systems or to spread viruses.
Therefore, avoid downloading programs whose origins are unknown. Trojan Horses will not be detected by virus scanners. Download software from reputable download sites (eg http://www.tucows.com) or directly from the software company's home page.
CPU Booster is written by an alias, does not provide a support e-mail address, and does not really explain what it will do to your computer. Maybe there are computer geniuses out there writing wonderful software and distributing it anonymously, but then again . . .
To test CPU Booster I dragged my old 386 out of retirement (not wanting to risk my beloved Pentium). This is where I really began to get cynical. When I installed CPU Booster it said that it was loading changes into my system BIOS. Funny that -- I thought programmable BIOSes weren't introduced until later model 486s! Anyway, it told me my processor would now run 78 per cent faster. I uninstalled it and reinstalled; now my system was only 75 per cent faster. A third reinstall made my processor 91 per cent faster. I debated whether to keep trying till it told me it was 100% faster . . .
Testing with Norton's Utilities 8 revealed that my computer was not running any faster. A check for viruses also came up negative and I could find no obvious changes to my computer or the system files. Conclusion: CPU Booster did nothing good for my 386, but nothing obviously bad either. Yet!
- Roy Chambers
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