Addressing concerns regarding our reputation: we are safe and legit

Many of our readers keep wondering whether our website, WindowsReport, is a reliable source for their needs. I can’t explain to you how painful it is to know that people associate our name with questions us like these below:

• Can Windows Report be trusted?
• How reliable is Windows Report?
• windowsreport.com fake site

Let me try and give you a full explainer of what’s going on and what exactly are you downloading and installing on your computers.

First, some history on who we are and how we started.

How did WindowsReport get started

The current name of the site is live since December 2015, when I’ve decided that the previous one, Wind8Apps.com, was no longer a good fit for the content we were making. Wind8Apps got started in November 2013, and I’ve worked for 3 years on it before making the big leap to Windows Report.

Initially, we were aiming to review Windows 8 apps and present it to our audience. However, Windows 10 came in and took everything by storm, so we immediately started covering more and more content around it. Read more about us here.

Who am I? Who is Radu Tyrsina?

I’m a just a regular guy, but one that’s sometimes obsessed about content and what are people searching for. Born in the tiny Republic of Moldova, I came to Romania at the age of 15 to study.

I was deeply passionate about games and the internet. Thus, when I got my first PC, a Pentium III, a new world emerged in front of my eyes. The internet was an amazing place for me, precisely because it allowed me to quickly find the answers I was looking for. And it is precisely the passion for answers that prompted me to build WindowsReport and to help others find exactly what they’re looking.

=> Check out my author page.

Also, I invite you to send me your emails [radu at windowsreport dot com] addressing all the concerns you might have around our practices. And I will truly and honestly reply to each and every one of them.

What’s up with these “fake” recommendations you have?

To give you the short answer -> there’s nothing fake about them, or fake, scam, etc. We live off traffic, and to do something that would compromise us would be like shooting ourselves in the legs.

Is WindowsReport Legit & Reliable?

Depends on where you look and whom you trust.

But first of all, let’s put things into perspective: since our site went live, here’s the approximate amount of traffic we have received (at the time of writing this) -> 500 Million people.

This is the whole population of the United States + Spain.

Now, let’s take a look at how many people left reviews that are bad -> 42 people.

So this means 0.000011% of visitors thought badly of the site and left a bad review.

0.000011%

I’m intentionally exaggerating things, so that you can understand how ridiculous it all is. It’s also extremely important to take a look at where these reviews have been posted.

So, at roughly every 10M visitors, there is somebody that is angry and pissed of at us and immediately goes on a review portal and writes something bad. But let’s actually have a look at these review sites and see where the truth lies in.

TrustPilot

Here, we have an average review score of 4.2 out of 42 reviews.

MyWot

Here, we have an extremely bad review score of 2.1 out of … 845 reviews. But when you actually do the math, you’ll see that it doesn’t really add up.

So, as it turns out, on this particular site, not every review has the some power. So, if you’re a grumpy old user of this service, and you happen to dislike a site, then your vote weighs in and carries more impact that anybody out there.

=> Read this dedicated article on why MyWot isn’t exactly what it claims to be and you shouldn’t trust it
=> And this one=> And here’s what TrustPilot users say=> Plus WikiPedia itself considers it shady

You would have to be aware, though, that MyWot isn’t exactly the safest place to be, as they’ve sold users’ data and have been involved in a privacy scandal.

The PC Repair Tool we promote – is it safe? Do I need it?

And, of course, most of the time, the questions have to do with the PC Repair Tool that we recommend. People associate it with malware, when it actually is a PUA, which means it’s a program you might not need. And that’s precisely why it’s an ad and is marked as such.

Now, of course PC Repair software is a kind of product that’s always been debated, and that’s why we haven’t chosen one that does all the things you can do, but one with some actual features. Here’s a list of similar PC Software tools and their features:

1. Iobit
2. Iolo
3. Norton Utilities

=> Read this dedicated article that explains how Restoro works.

Considering you’ve read the above article, we consider it to be a better product than the others and one with an actual feature – the replacing of missing files. We’ve actually tested that and it worked for us.

Of course, it might not work for everybody, and not everybody has an issue that can be solved like that. And that’s precisely why there’s a full refund in place. We never forced anybody to download anything, and we checked the program in advance, as we do with all the software we recommend.

=> Read more about our software review process here

How reliable is WindowsReport?

Here’s a couple of reputable sites/communities that link to us:

• BBC
• NY Times
• TechCrunch
• Thousands of replies from Microsoft Answers
• Reddit
• Docs.microsoft.com
• etc

How we work & how we make money

At WindowsReport we work hard on getting our readers the very best information we can. We aim for repeated visits, as we’re looking for our readers to form a community on our site.

As many others out there, we makes our money off affiliate commissions and display advertising. As you probably saw, we limited the amount of ads, so they would be displayed on the sidebar alone. This allows the reader to be focused on the content that he is interested. And whenever we feel that a product we recommend could also benefit us financially, we of course make the connection with the developer.

Ideally, we would love for there to be a subscription program, and our readers to actually pay for it. But we live in a world where that realistically isn’t going to happen. But the price you’re paying for the program is by no means inflated. To be honest, quite often, we try and negotiate exclusive deals for our audience (that’s exactly what we say on our newsletter).

Of course, this is a system that isn’t perfect and could be a way for tech companies to bribe publishers such as ourselves. Let me assure you that our team is committed to the highest standards of journalism we stand by these rules:

-> we don’t omit critical information
-> we don’t make false claims
-> we don’t inflate or deflate rankings

Of course, there are moments when we make mistakes, as we aren’t perfect either. But we always try to improve and make sure that we truly and deeply care for our audiences.

I will always remain dedicated, just as in the very first day when I wrote. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and please, feel free to ask me any questions at radu[at]windowsreport.com.