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{rw_text}Giveaway of the day for October 30, 2008 is WinUtilities.
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- Has almost every tool in the book needed to clean/maintain your computer
- Almost no learning curve
- Automatically Creates system backups before doing any changes to registry.
- Has an option to recover deleted files and to ‘securely’ delete files.
- Has a ‘1-click’ system maintenance option.
- You can schedule times when maintenance will run automatically.
- Vista compatible.
- EXE file password protection feature.
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{rw_bad}
- No defrag tool.
- Uninstaller does not scan registry/computer for left over files.
- Duplicate File scanner does not discriminate between important files and useless files.
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{for=”Features as Described” value=”10″}WinUtilities delivers everything YL Computing claims.
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{for=”Ease of Use” value=”10″}Almost no learning curve what so ever. Most everything is in GUI format and is self explanitory
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{for=”Usefulness” value=”10″}Anyone can use this program. Little to no technical knowledge needed. This program will be useful to everyone – every computer has some sort of junk that needs to be removed.
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WinUtilities downloaded, installed and registered fine on Vista Home Premium 32 bit. The features seem to Vista compatible.
WinUtilities is an excellent program that can be used by anyone with any technical skill level. It has features that will scan and remove your registry for redundancy and entries that you do not use (I found and removed 705 registry redundancies/entries that are no longer used via WinUtilities as opposed to the 15 found by CCleaner – I ran both within 2 minutes of each other). You can also manually backup/restore your registry (automatic backup of registry is turned on by default before registry clean up), or search your registry for a specific value. It can remove all evidence of your web browsing (including support for the newest browser Chrome). It has the ability to scan your computer to remove ‘junk files’:
WinUtilities comes with a set of ‘optimizers’ that will fix broken shortcuts, delete duplicate files on your hard drive (WARNING: Spikey had most of his documents deleted by duplicate file scanner – see comment below. I would recommend avoiding this scanner until further information is out on it. The scanner discovered my ~8500 duplicate files on my computer, but many of them were the same file for different language localizations and many of them were windows files. At the very least if you must use it, be sure to check the box when it asks you to create a “system restore” before deleting your files.), and optimize windows (the optimize windows is controversial: most programs claim they do the optimization but end users usually do not see an improvement, so this may not work for you):
To make things better, you can manage your startup programs through WinUtilities; there is also an “Auto Shutdown” option where you can set your computer to automatically shutdown after X hours X mins and X secs:
With the “File Tools” that come with WinUtilities you can recover deleted files, ‘securely’ delete a file so that no one can ever recover it (I would be careful of this feature. There is no way for everyday users like me and you to verify that the file is truly deleted. Don’t put high stakes on this feature until you have tested it to make sure it works properly), split files, and password protect EXE files:
Registry editing is a tricky business – if you remove the wrong thing, your computer can crash and burn. WinUtilities has this delightful feature where it automatically creates a “system backup” for your registry before it makes any changes to the registry in case things go bad.
If you do not like running programs while working on your computer WinUtilties has an option to schedule system maintenance for another time (much like how virus scan scheduling works). If you do not want to go through each and every option and run each and every scanner there is a ‘1-click’ maintenance button where WinUtilities will do the standard cleaning/maintenance procedures – all you have to do is click:
These are the tasks ‘1-click maintenace’ does:
To add on to ‘bells and whistles’, WinUtilities has some “System Tools” which do the similar tasks as their native Windows counterparts (The WinUtilities System Information is far superior to native Windows System Information in my opinion):
‘Windows Tools Launcher’ allows you to launch the following Windows tools:
WinUtilities is a one stop shop for managing your computer. This program will help you keep your computer ‘in shape’ and running at it’s best. The best part of this is the fact that you really do not need much technical knowledge (a little knowledge would help though) to run this program and reap its benefits.
There are only two things WinUtilities is missing, as far as I can tell:
- A defrag tool – Windows has one built in so that is not a big deal. If you do not like the Windows defrag, you should try out JKDefrag, an opensource defrag tool that has been praised for its excellence, or AusLogics Disk Defrag, which works quickly, and is also an excellent tool.
- WinUtilities does not scan registry/computer for left over files after uninstalling a program. This is not a big deal because you will scan your registry/computer while running other WinUtilities maintenance tools, but it can get annoying to have to scan registry/computer separately each time after an uninstall. So get RevoUninstaller (see below).
Free alternatives:
CCleaner is an excellent piece of software. It is 100% reliable and has a reputation for not deleting core files on your computer (meaning it actually does what it claims to do). Best of all, it is always free. In terms of registry management, it does everything Premium Booster does except registry defrag. The registry backups CCleaner makes are self executable. CCleaner does not have all the features of Premium Booster, namely the Windows Tweaks, but it does have other features that are not in Premium Booster such as temporary file cleanup, junk file cleanup, cookies cleanup, etc.
Cleans the following
Internet Explorer
Temporary files, URL history, cookies, Autocomplete form history, index.dat.
Firefox
Temporary files, URL history, cookies, download history.
Opera
Temporary files, URL history, cookies.
Windows
Recycle Bin, Recent Documents, Temporary files and Log files.
Registry cleaner
Advanced features to remove unused and old entries, including File Extensions, ActiveX Controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, Uninstallers, Shared DLLs, Fonts, Help Files, Application Paths, Icons, Invalid Shortcuts and more… also comes with a comprehensive backup feature.
Third-party applications
Removes temp files and recent file lists (MRUs) from many apps including Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, MS Office, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip and many more..-CCleaner Developer
Tuneup Utilities is actually a program you would usually have to pay for. However, 2007 is now offered for free by VNUNET. Some may remember WinUtilities, which was a giveaway earlier. Tuneup Utilities is much like that. Tuneup Utilities does many things, including registry management, junk file cleanup, system optimizations, etc. Tuneup Utilties is an excellent program.
From softpedia:
With TuneUp Utilities, your system will be faster, more comfortable and more secure. All important aspects of system configuration, security, cleanup and maintenance can be accessed through a modern graphical interface.
TuneUp Utilities will optimize the performance of your PC, solve problems and help you easily customize your computer to suit your needs.
Another one of those same tools. This is always free.
From the developer:
Glary Utilities offers numerous powerful and easy-to-use system tools and utilities to fix, speed up, maintain and protect your PC.
It allows you to clean common system junk files, as well as invalid registry entries and Internet traces. You can manage and delete browser add-ons, analyze disk space usage and find duplicate files. You can also view and manage installed shell extensions, encrypt your files from unauthorized access and use, split large files into smaller manageable files and then rejoin them. Furthermore, Glary Utilities includes the options to optimize memory, find, fix, or remove broken Windows shortcuts, manage the programs that start at Windows startup and uninstall software. Other features include secure file deletion, an Empty Folder finder and more.
All Glary Utilities tools can be accessed through an eye-pleasing and totally simplistic interface.
Ashampoo is basically another tool that does all the registry cleaning, junk file cleaning, etc.
From the developer:
Ashampoo WinOptimizer is an easy-to-use suite of tools for maintaining and optimizing your Microsoft Windows® computer. It keeps your Windows® installation free of unnecessary garbage and running smoothly while other computers just get slower and slower.
Desktop Maestro is an all-in-one application that integrates registry cleaning, system monitoring and privacy cleaning. It combines the features of PC Tool’s other products, Registry Mechanic and Privacy Guardian to ensure that you have the range of tools at your fingertips to ensure optimal system performance, stability and user privacy.
-Developer
There is always a free version of Advanced SystemCare, but for a limited time you can get a 6 month license code for Professional edition for free atRaymond.cc.
From Download.com:
Slow down, freeze, crash, and security threats are over. Advanced SystemCare Free is a comprehensive PC care utility that takes a one-click approach to help protect, repair, and optimize your computer. It provides an all-in-one and super convenient solution for PC maintenance and protection. All work will be done with 1 click and 1 minute. Compared with its nearest competitor, Advanced SystemCare Free provides the more essential and practical formula for Windows: Removing Spyware and Adware, Preventing Security Threats, Privacy Protection, Fixing Registry Errors, Temporary Files Cleanup, Startup Cleanup, Repairing Windows, Speeding up System and 1-click Mechanism.
This is another reputable free software. RevoUninstaller does what the standard windows uninstaller does + more. It uninstalls whatever software you want, then it scans the registry for left over entries from that software, and then it scans your computer for files left over by that software. At each step you are prompted to delete what is found; you can always opt out if you want. RevoUninstaller has a reputation for being very safe.
Recuva will allow you to recover files that you have deleted, whether by accident or purpose. It is by the same company that made CCleaner. I have no personal experience with it, but someone on the GOTD website recommended it.
Eraser will…erase. Eraser is a program that permanently deletes your files, using Department of Defense standards. Again, no personal experience with this program, but people have recommended it to me before, so I pass on the knowledge without malice =).
PMnet Verdict: WinUtilties is an excellent program. I have been using it for a while and it has been very reliable. Not to mention the automatic backups of registry and other files gives you peace of mind if anything ever goes wrong. WinUtilities is definitely a keeper – highly recommended. With such an abundant free alternatives list, the choice really is yours which program you want to keep. However personally I use Advanced SystemCare (Pro) for the regular maintenance of my computer and then run WinUtilities and TuneUp Utilities 2007 from time to time to supplement my maintenance.
