Fast! - How to remove

Fast! (Veryfast.io) promises to make your computer “2X faster” by limiting the resources used by background applications. It could be helpful for some – though I doubt that the developers of Fast! know better how to manage PC resources than Microsoft developers do.

Unfortunately, Fast! is detected by anti-malware tools as Unwanted and Adware. And there are good reasons for this: although Fast! doesn’t look dangerous, it may get installed without asking, show ads on your PC, and potentially slow down your machine. Thus, it’s not recommended to use.

About Fast!:

Type of threat	Adware, potentially unwanted program.
Problems with Fast!	It may show ads on the user’s computer, it may be installed without asking the user, ads for Fast! may be confusing.
Anti-malware detection names	Unwanted, Optional, PUP/PUA, Malicious, Adware, Veryfast.
How to remove Fast!	Uninstall it and remove other malicious files from your computer manually or with an anti-malware program, such as Spyhunter, Malwarebytes, etc.

Is Fast! safe?

PC optimizer

Fast! is a PC optimizer – a type of program that’s supposed to make your computer run faster.

In general, optimizers are viewed with suspicion. Too many of them are just scams and scareware meant to trick people into paying for useless service.

The problem with many optimizers is that they interfere with the functioning of a computer in a potentially unhelpful way. For example, they promise to make the computer run faster by deleting unnecessary files and freeing up space. They do this by… deleting items that are required for programs to work faster (cache). This is not productive.

According to Fast!’s website, Veryfast.io, it achieves its promised “2X faster” speed by toning down your computer’s ability to multitask and forcing it to focus on one application at a time. I can see how this would help users who only use one program at one time while also running many programs in the background. However, this use case doesn’t apply to everyone. How helpful Fast! is would depend on your PC habits.

Antivirus issues

Fast! has existed since 2017 and has been butting heads with anti-malware vendors the whole time. Fast!’s developers insist that their program is safe and that they do not use any malicious tactics in the distribution or monetization of their program.

Nevertheless, the Fast! installer is detected as Malicious, Unwanted, and Adware by a few antivirus scanners: Virustotal.com.

Monetization and distribution issues

The company Malwarebytes is known to be very strict on potentially unwanted programs. It blocked the Veryfast.io website to protect its users from Fast!. The developers of Fast!, in their appeals for Malwarebytes to stop blocking Veryfast.io, promised that they don’t use deceptive ads, affiliate, or bundling practices. But I’m not so sure about that.

Bundling

Bundling is when a free program’s installer/setup has an advertisement inside it for another program. These are optional offers, but you have to opt out of them to avoid having them installed. This is problematic because it can cause accidental installations.

If you’ve ever had unknown programs appear unexpectedly on your computer, they may have arrived in a bundler and snuck in unnoticed by you.

I don’t know if Fast! is distributed using bundling, but there’s a PDF on the Veryfast.io site that describes the payouts (between $0.01 and $0.40) and best practices for affiliates. Bundling isn’t necessarily bad, but possibly, this could mean that people can have Fast! installed on their computer accidentally.

Strange advertisements

There’s one strange page on Veryfast.io that attempts to appear very similar to Microsoft.com: to spoof Support.microsoft.com (or what it looked like back in 2017). It really has an extremely similar layout, color scheme, and even fake nested menus. In addition, it displays unverifiable ratings and unverifiable click-to-verify security seals from Norton and McAfee.

I’ve seen Tweakbit Driver Updater and Outbyte PC Repair do something very similar. It’s a tactic where the user sees a familiar-looking webpage and instinctively trusts it.

And here’s something else strange – I checked out the reviews of Fast! on Trustpilot and was very puzzled. They were talking about McAfee pop-ups and Microsoft Office license renewal emails. What does any of this have to do with Fast!? Well, I later found that Fast! does have webpages dedicated to reselling Microsoft Office licenses bundled with McAfee. Maybe this was a side hustle?

Free trial

Fast! is a paid program that costs around $50 for one PC annually. Its subscription renews automatically.

There’s a free trial version that, according to Fast!’s Terms of Service, may use “distributed computing monetization”. I have no idea what this could mean (other than crypto mining, which would slow down the computer severely).

The only other site I’ve found that used this language is Fixit-soft.net, a site whose product FixIt seems to have tripped a few alarms – Virustotal.com. It’s no longer active.

In addition, the Terms of Service mention that Fast! may show ads on its products.

How to remove Fast!

Overall, Fast! is no more trustworthy than any other PC optimizer. It’s not necessarily harmful, but it’s somewhat suspicious, especially concerning the potentially deceptive ads, as well as ads within the Fast! products.

You can remove Fast! by uninstalling it from your Control Panel. But I also recommend scanning your computer with an anti-malware tool, such as Spyhunter or Malwarebytes. Optimizers and other shady programs sometimes don’t get uninstalled completely – they leave behind files, such as those that periodically show a pop-up ad in the corner. Thus, it’s helpful to let an anti-malware tool check your folders for anything suspicious.

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to remove Fast! using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like Fast! install some of their components as regular Windows programs as well as additional software. This part of malware can be uninstalled from the Control Panel. To access it, do the following.

• Start→Control Panel (older Windows) or press Windows Key→Search and enter Control Panel and then press Enter (Windows 8, Windows 10).
• Choose Uninstall Program (if you don't see it, click in the upper right next to "View by" and select Category).
• Go through the list of programs and select entries related to Fast! . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make Fast! easier to find.
• Click the Uninstall button. If you're asked if you really want to remove the program, click Yes.
• In many cases anti-malware programs are better at detecting related parasites, thus I recommend installing Spyhunter to identify other programs that might be a part of this infection.