Best Free PC Tune-up Utility
Tune-up utilities are needed to keep your computer running fast and error-free. There are a variety of tasks tune-up programs can do, such as disk cleaning, disk defragging, registry cleaning or registry defragging. It is especially useful for people who use resource intensive programs, such as modern computer games. All-in-one tune-up utilities are more convenient than using several individual products, but the downsides are that it is more dangerous, there is a lack of control and I find that individual products are usually more effective.
My top pick is System Mechanic, free for six months from Vnunet. It has a wide range of tools, and one-click cleaning and automatic maintenance for many of the common tasks. The disk cleaning functions were very good, and I like the Incinerator feature, where a shortcut to the Incinerator is placed on your desktop and you can overwrite (up to ten passes) all the files placed there. However, it does require registration to activate the six-month license. The program feels very slow when doing some operations, and occasionally freezes (though only temporarily). Also, I found the lack of control in this product particularly annoying. For example, after I analysed my computer, I wanted to see what files it was going to delete but there was no obvious way to do this. Pressing "Next" automaticallly deleted the files from Windows, not just moving it to the Recycle Bin. The spyware scanner, like previous versions, are plagued with false positives, and I advise you not to use it. System Mechanic offers:
- fixing of vulnerabilities, spyware scanning and a System Guard
- a disk and privacy cleaner
- removal of broken shortcuts and duplicate files
- a disk defragmenter and a boot time defragmenter
- a file shredder
- registry cleaning, compacting, defrag and backup
- memory optimizer
- startup, process and uninstall manager
- system and hard drive information
- tweaking over 100 Windows settings
- optimizing internet settings and measuring internet download speed
- a sytem snapshot feature which tracks changes to your computer
- a bootable rescue disk CD
My second choice is Ashampoo WinOptimizer 4, from Computeractive. WinOptimizer has one-click cleaning for common tasks. The tweaking tool is the best I've seen out of these products. The disk defagmenter is also very fast. However, it requires registration as well. Also, no further updates are provided except for a bug fix update, and they are already at version 5. It offers:
- disk space analysis
- a disk, privacy and registry cleaner
- a disk defragmenter
- splitting, joining, encryption and shredding of files
- a startup, process and uninstall manager
- system information and benchmark
- over 450 system tweaks
- an internet optimizer
- Visual Styler - changes various system icons
- deactivation of the Windows messenger service
- access to some Windows tools
Another excellent product is Glary Utilities. The installation installs the Ask toolbar and sets Ask as the default search engine by default, so remember to untick this option unless you want it! It has one-click cleaning for some common tasks. The context menu is a nifty tool I did not find in the other products. Also, the disk space analysis feature was very good. However, I find the disk cleaner in particular to be rather basic. Some people have reported problems with using Microsoft Flight Simulator after running the registry cleaner of Glary Utilities. Glary Utlities free offers:
- disk space analysis
- a disk and privacy cleaner
- removal of broken shortcuts, duplicate files and empty folders
- erasing, recovery, encryption/decryption and splitting/joining of files
- registry cleaning and defrag
- a memory optimizer
- a process, startup, uninstall and context menu manager
- management of Internet Explorer add-ons
- access to some Windows tools
The shareware version adds scheduling, support and consent for commercial use.
Advanced WindowsCare Personal from IObit is also a great product. It is very simple to use, with one-click cleaning for most of its tasks. I personally find the "Iobit News Centre" that loads every time I open Advanced WindowsCare rather annoying. I recommend this if you want a solution with little user interaction. The Personal version offers:
- spyware cleaning and immunization
- a disk and privacy cleaner
- registry cleaning
- a process, startup and uninstall manager
- system and security tweaks
- system information
The Professional version adds some advanced tuning tweaks, scheduling, support and consent for commercial use.
Glary Utilities lack in one major area: hard-drive defragmentation. I recommend you to read Gizmo's Best Free Disk De-fragmenter and run one of those defragmenters regularly. IObit's SmartDefrag or JkDefrag are particularly good if you want an automatic solution. If you use one of these disk defragmenters in conjunction with Glary, you'll have a remarkably complete tune-up package.
Also worth mentioning is VCOM Fix-It Utilities 7 Express, free from Vnunet. However, I did not really like it as I did not find the many tools it had to be of much use.
Remember that cleaning your PC always involves a small element of risk, so backup your data and create a System Restore Point before you start.
I recommend that you run the tune-up programs monthly. After each monthly Windows update is an excellent time to run a clean up. If you install and uninstall a lot of products, you may want to increase this frequency to weekly or even daily.
If you have never tuned up your PC, then you should see a real improvement in speed and responsiveness the first time you run these programs. However, on subsequent runs the improvement may be much less noticeable.
Related Topics
- Best Free File Cleaner
- Best Free Browser Scrubber
- Best Free Duplicate File Finder
- Best Free Disk Space Analyzer
- Best Free Disk De-fragmenter
- Best Free Disk Health Monitoring Utility
- Best Free Registry Cleaner
- Best Free Registry Editor
- Best Free Startup Manager
- Best Free Process Viewer
- Best Free Program Un-installer
- Best Free System Information Utility
- Best Free Memory Optimizer
- JonathanT's Cleanup Kit
Product Details
System Mechanic 8
Website: www.iolo.com/system-mechanic/standard/
Download link: www.vnunet.com/vnunet/downloads/2224043/system-mechanic
Version: 8
Date: July 8, 2008
Download file size: 42.3MB
Author: iolo Technologies
License: Free for half a year
Operating systems supported: 2000/XP/Vista
64-Bit version available: No, this program will not run in a 64 bit environment
Portable version available: No
Other languages supported: Unknown
Additional software required: None
Ashampoo WinOptimizer 4
Website: www2.ashampoo.com/webcache/html/1/product_2_1606__.htm
Download link: www.computeractive.co.uk/vnunet/downloads/2219165/ashampoo-winoptimizer
Version: 4.51
Date: May 20, 2008
Download file size: 8.8MB
Author: Ashampoo
License: Free but no updates
Operating systems supported: 2000/XP/Vista
64-Bit version available: This is a native 64 bit application
Portable version available: No
Other languages supported: Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, Danish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Polish, Spanish, Russian, Slovak
Additional software required: None
Glary Utilities
Website: http://glaryutilities.com/gu.html
Download link: www.download.com/Glary-Utilities/3000-2094_4-10508531.html
Author: Glarysoft
Version: 2.8.0.366
Date: November 2, 2008
Download file size: 5.57MB
License: Free for personal use
Operating systems supported: 98/ME/NT/2000/2003/XP/Vista
64 bit version available: This is a native 64 bit application
Portable version available: No
Other languages supported: Albanian, Brazilian Portuguese, Catalan, Chinese Simplified and Traditional, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Ukrainian
Additional software required: None
Advanced WindowsCare Personal
Website: http://www.iobit.com/AdvancedWindowsCarePersonal/index.html
Download link: www.majorgeeks.com/download5927.html
Author: IObit
Version: 3.0.0
Date: November 15, 2008
Download file size: 7.46MB
License: Free for personal use
Operating systems supported: 2000/XP/Vista
64 Bit version available: This is a native 64 bit application
Portable version available: No
Other languages supported: Arabic, Bosnian, Chinese Simplified and Traditionall, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Srpski, Turkish, Valencian
Additional software required: None
This category is maintained by volunteer editor JonathanT. Registered site visitors can contact JonathanT by clicking here.
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Advanced System Care 3
The Best so far...
maGGot_SOUP
Hi
Advanced system care 3 final is released.....
Enjoy..
Thanks for the update!
Hi I've been using Advanced Windowscare Personal from the beginning,and found it very good.
But I was tempted to install the new Advanced Systemcare, then I had one of those silly moments,you know the ones I mean, I went for my card and subscribed to the Pro version,and not only that,Its still in beta.
Good news its fantastic,the speed of my pc is superb well worth a try.
Regards
Trevor
Some credit where due. Been using Advanced Windows Care (free personal version) for years now.
Sometimes the frequent requests to update made me frustrated.
Recently received their recent offer to switch to the 'PRO' version,
so I installed and found it excellent.
So my advice go for it while it lasts.
rgds
aheneghana
Aheneghana
Hi there.
IMHO the utilities you posted are mostly disk and registry cleaners not optimizers or tweakers.
I've used several tweaking utilities and found Auto MZ Ultimate tweaker to be far away of the rest, I use this program in several machines and indeed optimize your computer.
This software optimizes your pc based on the following parameters:
- Operating system, choose between windows XP and Vista
- CPU type (there are a list of AMD and Intel CPUs, also you could choose auto detect)
- Modem Type, which basically is your internet connection (modem 56kb, ADSL and DSL modems, Broadband and cable modems, T1 and T3 modems, local area network)
- Computer usage (PC with internet connection, pc with NO internet connection, Top performance), the top performance is focused on gaming pc and this setting defines which windows services should be disabled
Also you could select between safe and powerful optimization (I advice to use safe as does the author, powerful optimization tries to squeeze a bit more but could cause some issues)
You should give it a try:
http://mztweak.bravehost.com/AutoMz.html
The author also has other tune up utilities worth trying:
I've tried Auto MZ Ultimate tweaker before, but I didn't notice any difference. And the program doesn't give much information about what it optimizes. I'll take another look at it anyway. Thanks for the suggestion!
Hi Jonathan.
I started using it since version 3.x and the latest version 4.2 is vastly improved.
In the past I used PCMedik, obtained a licenced from trialpay and according to pgware my licences was for lifetime, but then this changed and my license expired and so I started to browse and try several tweaker and found Auto MZ to be the right one.
If possible you should give a try.
According to the author, in a future version a more detailed information of what is being optimized will be available.
Btw, the author is very kind in answering your emails and taking suggestions.
Cheers
Hector
I Down loaded the Upgrade of IObts AWC of the 25th of October 25. I Lost all the functions that the Beta offered and had. What a Pile of free Junk Now ! The Beta was better. After all the feedback I gave them Made me real mad. Reminds me of the Softland's Virus XP, trickery. I used to like IObit but they are quickly going dwn hill, AWC RC 2 Beta was way better ! Click Upgrade and loose a lot of the Fuctions. The Upgrade should be be Called downgrade, IObits is now the Pits... And if you use it on a network Watch out ! You have been warned.
Advanced SystemCare has gone greedy! It has now taken away automated care and many other options in the free version. Do not upgrade to the newest Beta, if you want to keep its automation features for a while.
Followed the instructions to the letter but version still expired after 30 days ;-(
I think winASO Registry Optimizer should be added to the list.It has quite a number of tools which,I think,qualifies it as a PC Tune up tool.Also,while technically not 'free',you can use all of its tools in the trial version.The only restriction is that the trial version can only remove 10 registry errors per scan :)
Except trial versions are not really 'free' are they? But still... better than a kick in the teeth... www.SanFranciscoTechSupport.com
I personally consider System Mechanic to be of high enough quality that it deserves the Top Pick, even if you can only use it for half a year. If you want a free product with no registration required, you could use Glary Utilities or Advanced WindowsCare Personal.
The System Mechanic is only offering a 30 day trial and not 6 months. I went to the link given. Did I make a mistake?
Did you go here? www.iolo.com/casm8
It's still working for me.
To JonathanT I'm using the Personal version of Advanced System Care which is the free version. Still it shouldn't affect the running of Windows like that. Maybe others have had the same problem but don't realize that Advanced System Care caused it.
SystemCare is still in beta, which is why it could be causing problems. Though of course it's not supposed to happen. You could use WindowsCare 2.9 if you like, which is a stable release.
I have a concern using Iobit System care. Several times after using it I have opened Windows Explorer and I can't remember the name of the toolbar that has the "File,Edit,View,Favorites,Tools,Help" but it will lock up my computer for about 5 seconds and then the dialog box will finally open. I restored the changes and the problem goes away. I doubt that I will continue to use it as this problem has occurred after a complete reload of Windows XP that had this same problem before I figured out that the Iobit Advanced Windows Care was the cause of the problem. This wasn't the only reason I reloaded Windows but was part of the problem
Are you using Advanced WindowsCare Personal or Advanced SystemCare? SystemCare is still in beta, which is why it could be causing the problems. If you are, you could use the stable version, which is WindowsCare.
Why is there no product comparison? Which feature is one product better than others?
Are you talking about for each specific feature?
Well I found System Mechanic's disk cleaning and Ashampoo's tweaking tool very good.
I've had problems with Fix It where the registration code expires even for the Free version.. I liked it but dumped it.
How do these "Free Versions" of paid products stack up against your top picks?
Andrew Seward
Bets46 Category Editor
Thanks very much for asking the question of comparing these products against Glary and Advanced WindowsCare. To be honest, I'd almost forgotten about comparing them! I've updated my review now.
Thanks again
computer active are giving away a free copy of Ashampoo Winoptimizer 2009 for every reader!!
http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ashampoo/index
Enjoy!
Hi
I've moved most of the comments to the Debating Chamber here: http://www.techsupportalert.com/forums/debating-chamber/pc-tune-utilitie...
Advanced WindowsCare Beta is now updated and renamed to Advanced SystemCare 3 Beta 3.0.0. I'll write back if I notice any interesting improvements.
Hardly any, but it's pretty good. They do fix some issues like changing settings, but they always seem to have the default Care to do a routine, I hate losing my cookies, when I forget to turn it off.
Downloaded Fix-it Utilities 7 Express and it seems to work great. I have always liked having tune up utilities on my computer, but there have been a few that I have had troubles with. Usually it is a registry problem, meaning I get errors with certain programs after I use them or in some cases they don't help speed up my comp, but in a few cases they actually slow them down. So far I really like Fix-it 7. It seems to be very comprehensive, plus before you do anything it gives a warning of what could possibly happen and encourages you to back up your system before you do it. I dropped Advanced Windows Care beta 3 for this and I am glad that I did, as I have noticed that my internet surfing is much faster, which is odd cause I don't think either have internet speedups but I suppose it's a cache thing.
your programs are not downloading to my computer. Why is this happening?
Bobby Rivers
Hendersonville, TN
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