Every PC user would like their system to run a little faster, but
making that happen yourself usually requires time, effort, and an
in-depth knowledge of how Windows really works.
Does that sound too much like hard work? Then maybe you should just install a copy of
TuneUp Utilities 2012,
which the authors say can restore "over 50 percent of speed and free
space" on cluttered PCs, while improving "battery life by up to 30
percent".
Of course there are plenty of PC maintenance suites promising much
the same thing, some of which are even available for free. But this
isn’t just another identikit optimization package. It has real depth,
offers genuinely useful advice, and includes tools you won’t find
elsewhere.
Is there enough power here to really speed up your PC, though? We decided to put TuneUp’s latest release to the test.
User Interface
After a straightforward installation, the
TuneUp Utilities 2012 immediately
launched its 1-Click Maintenance tool, which quickly checked for the
performance basics: Registry problems, broken shortcuts, surplus
temporary files, startup and shutdown problems, and so on. The report
appears within a couple of minutes, and you can then fix any issues with
a click. This won’t have much effect, as 1-Click Maintenance is very
limited (its hard drive cleaning only empties your temporary folders,
for instance -- it doesn’t even touch the Recycle Bin), but it’s fine as
a quick start.
And with that out of the way, we got our first look at the program’s
new interface, which divides its functionality into five sections:
- "Status & recommendations" details any issues with your PC and provides some quick fixes
- "Optimize system" includes links to various speedup tools
- "Gain disk space" helps you to delete redundant files
- "Fix problems" contains some general PC maintenance options
- "Customize Windows" provides various useful PC tweaks
This is conventional enough, but a little cluttered, and not the
easiest to follow. So it’s good to see the program has an "Overview"
option, too; click this button and instead of the tabs you’ll see every
tool listed on the same page, which may be an easier way to find what
you need.
Core tools
We started our tests by checking the core tools you’d find in any PC maintenance suite.
TuneUp Utilities 2012 has plenty of hard drive cleaning options, for
instance, allowing you to remove redundant files, Windows Update
backups, old system restore points and more. This section finds a
similar amount of drive leftovers to CCleaner.
Additional one-click options can disable hibernation, Windows search
indexing and so on, saving a little more. And a Disk Analyzer reports on
your drives to show you what’s consuming the most space. We’d like a
tool to locate duplicate files, as well, but otherwise this is a
genuinely useful way to free up hard drive space.
Of course there are also a couple of options here to help control
your Windows startup programs. The program can make specific
recommendations, which generally include good advice, for example
suggesting that you run Google Update as a scheduled task, rather than
every time your system starts. Although, disappointingly, the program
won’t create a substitute task for you; if you disable this kind of
program and forget to set up a task (or never read the Task Scheduler
suggestion), then you’ll miss out on updates, perhaps compromising your
security.
And a second option displays all your startup programs, highlighting
those it believes are unnecessary, and providing a "Usefulness" rating
(courtesy of other TuneUp users) to help you decide what’s important.
Startup programs can be disabled at a click, but conveniently they
remain on the list. If you have problems, you can come back a week later
and re-enable anything you like.
Elsewhere is a capable Registry Cleaner, quickly scanning your system
to highlight problems, allowing you to view these in detail and delete
them in a click. And even if, like us, you think that Registry cleaning
does little of value, you should still appreciate the Registry Editor,
launched via the toolbar. It looks like REGEDIT, but has more features;
searching, for instance, quickly displays a list of matching Registry
keys in a "Search Results" tab. It’s a very useful way to be more
productive in your Registry work.
Program Deactivator
Install a big application like VMware Workstation or Microsoft
Office, and it might add services, startup programs and other tasks that
will slow you down. If this becomes a problem, and you use the program
rarely, then you can uninstall it -- but that’s about all.
TuneUp Utilities 2012 offers another solution, though, in its Program
Deactivator. Launch this and you’ll see a list of installed programs
which, TuneUp Utilities 2012 claims, will have some performance impact
on your PC. ITunes, say, has a "Medium" impact, apparently: if you have a
copy, and rarely use it, then you can deactivate it at a click. TuneUp
Utilities 2012 will then disable all iTunes associated services, Startup
programs and so on, freeing up resources.
But the program remains installed, so if you ever want to launch it
again, just choose iTunes from your Startup menu, and TuneUp Utilities
2012 will step in, re-enable it, and start the program for you.
We’re a little sceptical of some of the ratings provided by the
Deactivator. It claims Google Chrome has the same "medium" load on your
system as iTunes and O&O Defrag, for example.
But once you get past this, and start deactivating programs you don’t
need, it really does work. We turned off Microsoft Office and freed up
valuable resources; but when we relaunched Outlook later, it started
only maybe 3 or 4 seconds slower than usual, and worked perfectly: very
impressive.
New in this version is an "Automatic" function. Leave this turned on,
and if you launch a "deactivated" program then TuneUp Utilities 2012
will automatically disable this again once you’ve closed it down. Which
means your installed programs are always using the very minimum of RAM
and CPU time.
The impact of this will obviously vary, depending on your software
and how you use it. But if your system is packed with programs which you
use only very occasionally, the Deactivator will help reduce their
resource impact without the hassle of uninstalling them. And that could
be worth the purchase price of the TuneUp Utilities 2012 all on its own.
PC Optimization Modes
As well as the usual manual tweaks,
TuneUp Utilities 2012 also provides a few "optimization modes" that claim to offer more general benefits.
Live Optimization, for instance, sees the suite monitor your running
applications, adjusting process priorities to ensure everyone gets a
fair share of resources. This idea can be useful in some situations,
although we saw no benefit from it.
Turbo Mode is more useful. Enable this from the TuneUp Utilities
system tray icon, and by default it’ll turn off scheduled tasks, disable
Windows Aero and unnecessary Windows services, make sure you’re running
the “High Performance” power plan, and more. The speed benefits are
marginal, but it is a good way to free up resources and maximise your
system’s speed when necessary (just before you run a demanding game,
say).
And, new this time is Economy Mode, which aims to save energy by
turning off your screen and hard drive when your system is idle,
switching your CPU and wireless adapter to their maximum energy-saving
mode, disabling unwanted services, and more.
This delivers little benefit over using Windows own power plans. We
monitored a PC’s power consumption when using the Power Saver plan, and
Economy Mode, and the latter used at best 2 percent less energy. Still,
it does have a couple of advantages.
First, Economy Mode is easy to configure. There’s no technical jargon
when setting up CPU energy saving, say – just choose the level of
savings you need ("Maximum", “Medium” or "Minimum") and that’s it.
And second, power plans are a hassle to switch, but Economy Mode can
be enabled in just three clicks (and can then optionally persist as long
as you like, even surviving reboots). Get in the habit of switching and
you really could save energy and extend laptop battery life.
And There’s More…
Other TuneUp Utilities tools include a "Fix Problems" wizard,
highlights potential issues like not having an antivirus program
installed, UAC being turned off, devices with driver errors, and more.
An Uninstall Manager displays installed applications, and highlights
those which have a high system load, or aren’t rated as “useful”
(according to other TuneUp users). This may help you decide what you
should uninstall, but the Manager won’t ensure that happens in full (it
won’t in itself clean and remnants from your hard drive or Registry).
There’s also a basic, and rather slow defrag tool; simple utilities
for checking your hard drive for errors, or recovering accidentally
deleted files; and a small but surprisingly useful system information
tool.
The Customize Windows tab provides so many tweaking options that it
could qualify as a separate application, all on its own. There are
options to customise your desktop, taskbar, Start menu, mouse, security,
common applications and more. While TuneUp Styler allows you to change
your logon screen, visual style, system icons and more.
And these tweaks, as well as most of the other settings changes you
make, are recorded in the TuneUp Rescue Centre. So if you’re concerned
about giving the program so much control over your PC, don’t worry: your
original settings are always safe in the Rescue Centre, and can be
restored in a couple of clicks.
Results
TuneUp Utilities 2012 isn’t exactly short of features, then. But what can all this power achieve?
To find out, we installed the program on an average Windows 7 PC; it
was moderately optimized already, but nothing too intensive, so there
was scope for improvement.
Then we ran the 1-Click optimiser, and accepted all its
recommendations. We cleaned up the hard drive to the maximum, defragged,
sorted out all the systems problems, and used the Program Deactivator
to disable some of the most heavy-duty installed applications.
And the results weren’t bad at all.
Boot time fell by around 13 percent. Running processes on PC launch
dropped from 90 to 67; initial RAM use fell from 40 percent to 37
percent; resource use (as measured by system handles) fell by almost 30
percent.
Applications loaded notably faster. Firefox launch time dropped from
2.69 to 1.72 seconds, a fall of more than a third; Outlook launch time
dropped by 22 percent, and the whole system felt much faster and more
responsive.
That’s very acceptable, considering this PC was already reasonably
well maintained. Installing the suite on an entirely unoptimised system
would deliver even better results. And of course there are many benefits
here not based on performance, like the improved Registry editor and
Windows tweaking tool.
You could produce a similar effect by using other PC optimisation
tools, of course, many of which are available for free. But TuneUp
Utilities 2012 has more options than most of these, greater depth, and
some really excellent modules, like the Program Deactivator,– that you
won’t find elsewhere. And so if you’re interested in optimising your PC,
but would like a little help, then give
TuneUp Utilities 2012 a
try: it really does deliver. The software is available for Windows XP,
Vista and 7 -- 32-bit and 64-bit editions -- and lists for $49.95.
DOWNLOAD LINK:5
http://torrentz.eu/4a36cea704a5ba37e82c84f11e9a80d74475d9a5
