Tron - A Windows debloating/optimizing/Malicious code removal tool

https://www.reddit.com/r/TronScript...v911_20160607_aq_fix_crash_on_mexican_locale/ Stumbled upon this super useful tool. Suspect corruption due to Overclocking or memory issues/malware etc? Follow directions,run the script, use ddu then install the latest drivers! :banana:

 

Yeah, I'm way too paranoid about my system and what gets run on it.

I just recently started using DDU.
That said, I rarely updated my GPU drivers and only recently started using the latest & greatest.

Feeling adventurous!

 

The man is doing some work in Antarctica and has all the code open to the public on Github. I trust it, nothing bothering me. :] https://github.com/bmrf/tron/ Still testing and haven't come across the Stub received bad data bug yet, if it's a Win 10 issue this is a good test. That and it gets rid of all the telemetry and other nonsense.

 

Karma dependent websites should always be taken with a grain of salt.

 

Does have Light Cycle if not NO deal,Anyway I dont trust things from reddit from random people.

 

It's user configurable with command prompt flags read the readme it's really simple.

 

why I dont trust things from reddit so i wont use it

 

I was having Stub error issues on the new nvidia branch, this might have fixed it for me, I will report back if I have the Stub error again.

 

Interesting...

I have the same annoying issue and I thought I'd fixed it yesterday by disabling some unnecessary NVIDIA SHILED and Stardock services but it came back later on in the evening... unfortunately.

May try this tool after doing a Windows backup and restore point but I still believe the issue lies with the driver and not Windows itself as going back to the v365.19 completely fixes the issue (as well as the other two issues I have with the Windows Store's Check for Updates option and Task Scheduler, which stops running after a while causing a "cannot connect to remote server" error).

 

Have all you people become so paranoid because you have been burned before?

I've never had any problems personally but it just seems very unlikely to me that this is an attempt to dupe people into installing malware.

 

Looks like the dev has gone to a lot of pretty detailed work, if it's just a malicious tool

Even still, testing in VMware first

EDIT - Wow, between 3-10 hours to run, some users reported 30+ hours?

Code:

Depending how badly the system is infected, it could take anywhere from 3 to 10 hours to run. I've personally observed times between 4-8 hours, and one user reported a run time of 30 hours. Basically set it and forget it.

To remove malware from a machine?

lol wut? Could do it manually in 10 mins

 

im sorry but no scan should take 30hours

 

After those 30 hours they know everything of you

 

As I'm doing daily backups of my system anyway I just went ahead and tried it.

What it basically does is:

- Offering various tools to scan your pc (Sophos, Malwarebytes, Kaspersky etc.)
- Removes OEM Bloatware (removed QuickTime for me for example)
- Remove OEM Metro-Apps
- Patches 7-Zip, Java Runtime, Adobe Flash Player and Adobe Reader (not sure why)
- Resets Pagefile settings
- Remove Windows "telemetry" related Updates
- Installs Windows Updates
- Fix registry permissions
- Tries to fix Windows-Folder-Permissions
- DISM Cleanup
- Defrags your drive unless it's an SSD
- Runs SFC
- Runs DiskCleaner to remove Temp files and such

and maybe some other stuff I forgot about.

Took me about 20-30 minutes (skipped the Malwarebytes scan)
It also reset the Windows Powersettings so it went back to Balanced instead f high performance.

Can't really tell any difference. And the stuttering that is gone in Overwatch could be a patch I missed today or something else.

 

Thanks, yea I ran in on the latest Insiders preview in VMware and it only took about half an hour too

I suppose the 3-10 hour estimate depends how much you've got installed, etc

But the problem was, it is not set and forget as it says in the description

I was prompted to manually install .NET 3.5, and manually press scan on Malwarebytes

Wouldn't mind giving it a run on a real machine, that was infected to the hills, but I wouldn't want a machine like that connected to my network

 

Yeah, I'm running Server 2016 TP4 atm. Couldn't run it without using -dev.

So far it looks like no firewall-rules were added and havn't seen anything tried sending out on Windows Firewall Control Connection Log.

If I see something I'll report back.

But it looks like a solid compilation of various scripts and tools which were basically automated. I'd say you can check 80% of the files because they're either batch/powershell-files or just calling the programs which are included anyway. Also everything's up on github to check anyway. I'd guess if there'd be something fishy going on people would know.

 

Agreed, I don't think there is anything malicious in it at all, I think it does what it says on the tin, and no doubt reddit would have torn it and the dev to bits by now if there was anything dodgy about it

I often get infected machines in to fix, usually with the instructions that there is nothing to keep, and just to wipe and reinstall, so one of those would be perfect to try it out on

 

So I just got done testing this.

My opinions about it are mixed..something like this is GREAT for optimizing something like "family PC's" it really vacuums all the trash from your PC including viruses. My PC is pretty clean so there are no toolbars or viruses for this to remove, but watching it do all that while being nearly full automated was pretty cool.

With all that said, it's not perfect. It completely ****ed my default app list, Win10 will now refuse to automatically use Photo Viewer as the default or Chrome as default browser. My system literally has no default for such things, so for example if a game or app wants to open a page, it will either result in an error or nothing will happen.

Also, not every program was uninstalled after Tron was done, I had to uninstall stuff like Malwarebyes and some other things manually. Maybe this is done by design (as in making sure the system has some protection) but apparently it disregards the fact that the system might already have other anti-malware/virus programs. I had to reinstall windows because of such annoyances.

Overall, this is great if you are constantly having to deal with infected PC's, but other than that, If you are a power user, using this in your own system might do more harm than good.

 

That's funny my default apps work normal, they just have to be pointed in the right direction again because they were reset. I'm Convinced there is some permissions or registry thing with Win 10 that the new Nvidia branch conflicts with that was fixed using the script. Stub error is gone, and win 10 telemetry/bloat got nuked so I'm happy :] I skipped the malware and virus scan and a couple other things using flags in the readme which I HIGHLY recommend because the defaults are extremely comprehensive.

 

I remember somebody on the tron subreddit had the same issue with Chrome not working as defaultbrowser anymore.

Have you used the UI to set the default application? That's what I did and it worked. And IIRC the guy tried the same and it worked.

I'll try to find it.

Edit: If you use Windows 10, that is.

I actually can't remember if 7/8/8.1 had a seperate UI for this aswell.


EDIT 2:

It looks like it is fairly easy to skip this.

I guess you can just open the "stage_4_repair.bat" and REM out the "call stage_4_repair\repair_file_extensions\repair_file_extensions.bat"

Or the whole if-loop around that.