{rw_text}Software reviewed in this article:

Premium Booster by Elcor Software

Version reviewed:

v3.6.0.9600

Supported OS:

Windows 95-Vista

The developer’s website does not state Windows 7 support, but when you install the program it lists Windows 7 support so I am not sure if Windows 7 is supported or not.

Price:

$26.95 (USD) but you can get it for free for a limited time at Giveawayoftheday.com!

Software description as per the developer:

Premium Booster will take care of your Windows erasing any remaining doubts whether your system performs at its best! It will optimize and compact your registry, cleaning it from trash. Program also provides you with the means to filter out malicious records which will make your Windows more stable than ever before.

{/rw_text} –>

{rw_good}

{/rw_good} –>

{rw_bad}

{/rw_bad} –>

{rw_score}
{for=”Ease of Use” value=”9″}Fairly easy to use – point and click. Little knowledge and registries is nice to have but that comes with the territory of registry management and is not unique to this program. The only problem is that the backups are not stored in .reg format, so you need to have Premium Booster inorder to restore the registry backups.
{/for}
{for=”Performance” value=”8″}Can be a little slow in scanning when looking for shortcut related programs, but otherwise works well.
{/for}
{for=”Usefulness” value=”7″}I can see a good number of people finding this program useful.
{/for}
{for=”Price” value=”7″}$26.95 is a fair price in my opinion. However, the developer may want to consider dropping the price to $20 to attract more customers.
{/for}
{for=”Final Score” value=”7″}
{/for}
{/rw_score} –>

{rw_badb}Although this type of behavior was not found with Premium Booster directly, thanks to my prior dealings with Elcor Software I know that Elcor Software runs semi-scareware ads to try to get people to purchase Premium Booster:

Although some may call the ad a full blown scareware advertisement, I say it is “semi-scareware” instead of full blown scareware because it does give the notation that the results of the scan shown in the advertisement are of “typical” system scans and not necessarily your own. Regardless, though, if you want to call it scareware, semi-scareware, scumbagness, etc. – the developer should not have such an advertisement.

{/rw_badb} –>

{rw_verdict}[tup]
{/rw_verdict} –>

Premium Booster is often given out on GOTD; it was given out in September 2009 as v3.0 and in December 2008 as v2.5. Since I wrote a very comprehensive full review on Premium Booster back in December, I will save some space and not copy + paste the review here. If you want full detail on Premium Booster, please read the review I wrote in December. However in this post I will provide you with an official change log, the changes I noticed, free alternatives, and my final verdict. Here are the official changes made to the program since v2.5:

changes in 3.6 (build 9600)

• +/- updated Netherlands language
• – Fixed minor bugs

changes in 3.5 (build 9500)

• + added Portuguese(Brazilian) language
• +/- Improved Windows 7 compatibility
• +/- Improved Windows Vista 64-bit compatibility
• +/- Improved compatibility with third-party system tools
• – Fixed bug with shortcuts
• – Fixed problem with false virus detection
• – Fixed minor bugs

changes in 3.0 (build 9000)

• + added compatibility with Windows 7, Windows 2008, Windows 2008 R2
• + added Arabic language
• + added support of different third-party software
  (30 new popular software packages)
• + updated Nederlands languages

changes in 2.98 (build 5000)

• + added support of different third-party software
  (12 new popular software packages)
• + rewritten code for repair/scan problems algorithms
• + updated Hungarian, Dutch languages
• – fixed problem with false virus detection
• – fixed bug “Exception address: 0042D185”
• – fixed bug “External application error c00000id”

The changes I noticed are as follows:

• The most major con I had with Premium Booster back in December is it crashed on me multiple times (5 times as per my review). This crashing seems to have been fixed with new releases.
• Back in December I pointed out the “undo” function for registry repairs you make would only last for the session you ran Premium Booster (i.e. you would no longer be able to “undo” registry repairs after you closed Premium Booster unless you made a backup manually). In v3.0 it seems like the “undo” function for registry repairs never disappear. In other words, all registry repairs you ever make with Premium Booster are undo able all the time. This makes this “undo” function the equivalent of an automatic registry backup. However I would still prefer the developer to make PB do formal automatic registry backups rather then use this “undo” feature as an automatic backup tool because I find it easier to restore whole backups then select registry values. But hey that is just my personal opinion and nothing major against the program.

For the convenience of the dotTechies that just want my verdict on the software and don’t want to read the full review (*cough* *cough*), I will post free alternatives and final verdict in this article also.

This review was conducted on a laptop running Windows 7 Professional 32-bit. The specs of the laptop are as follows: 3GB of RAM, a Radeon HD 2600 512MB graphics card, and an Intel T8300 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor.

{rw_freea}

Spyware Blaster will provide similar preemptive protection that Premium Booster’s preemptive protection against ActiveX malware feature does.

{/rw_freea} –>

{rw_verdict2}Premium Booster is one of the better system utilities you will find. I like it (my favorite feature of Premium Booster is the preemptive protection against ActiveX malware) and it performs well – thumbs up. If you want to download Premium Booster and use it, by all means do so. However, before you decide to get Premium Booster consider the fact if you want to support a developer that runs (semi) scareware advertisements to try to get users to purchase Premium Booster. Personally, I do not want to support such a developer, but the choice is yours. Rather, all the free alternatives mentioned do a good job at helping you manage your registry so consider one of them instead. (My two favorites are WinUtilities Professional Edition and CCleaner, if that helps you make your decision.)
{/rw_verdict2} –>