Advanced SystemCare Free
In my opinion one of the best computer maintenance programs you could have for your computer is Advanced SystemCare Free. It offers many different ways to keep your computer in top running condition. The program is divided up into three different sections to make it easy to use for the average computer user. There is a section for maintenance, system diagnostics, and a utilities section. Here is a closer look at these different sections.
The Maintain Windows section contains four different options for keeping your computer running smoothly. It has an option to find and remove spyware, another option to fix the windows registry, a privacy sweep option to remove traces of your web history, and an option to remove unwanted junk files. All these options are a great way to keep your computer running as quickly as possible. Old registry entries and junk files are two of the biggest reasons computers start to slow down over time.
The System Diagnostics section contains another set of four options to find problems on your computer. One available option in this section is System Optimization, which helps keep the computer system settings in running order. Security Defense is a scan that will look for places on your computer where spyware is most likely to be installed and then takes prevention measures to make sure that known spyware will be unlikely to be installed in these locations. It also has a Disk Defragment tool which will defragment your hard drive if it seems necessary. The last option is the Security Analyzer which during the scan will look for hijacked windows settings and will help you correct the problem.
The largest section of the program is the Utilities section, which is divided up into three sections with various different system tools in each section. Not everyone of these tools will be suitable for all computer users. In fact I have never used all of the tools listed in this section since some of them don’t seem to have much use for me.
The first section in the Utilities section is a tab called Tuneup. Currently in the version I am using there are eight different tools. The utilities section changes on occasion when updating the software. Disk Check is a feature that allows you to run a scan to make sure your hard drive is running properly, checking for any errors it may find and then giving you suggestions on how to fix these errors. Disk Cleaner is a tool that will allow you to scan for junk and unnecessary files on your computer and in various removable media. It then gives you options on how to remove these files.
A newer tool that was recently added is called Game Booster. It’s a link that will take you to the IOBit website to download as a separate program. It’s a very simple program used to stop extra system processes that are not needed while playing games on your computer. This tool works quite well and can free up tons of RAM allowing for better game play. Of course if you don’t play games on your computer then this would be rather a pointless tool for you to use. Sorry, playing solitaire does not count as “playing games”.
One of the tools in this section that I haven’t used is the Shortcut Fixer. I do believe it runs a scan to find shortcuts on your desktop or in your start menu that are broken and tries to pair them back to the original file. I don’t normally have a problem with shortcuts so this program has never had any use for me. The Internet Booster I have used a little before and is supposed to optimize your browser settings and windows settings based on your connection type and allow you to have a faster internet connection. Smart RAM is probably the best free utility you can get with this program. It can be set to run in your system tray and can continuously keep your memory defragmented and free from clutter. This will allow you to run more programs and run them more efficiently.
The Smart Defrag tool is a separate link once again to the IOBit website. I have used the program before and is better than the windows defrag that is included. It is much faster and does a better job. I have found a better defragmenter than this one so I no longer use Smart Defrag. I will have a post on this in the future but for the meantime I will put the link on the links page. Going along with defragmenting is a tool called IOBit Registry Defrag. Just like the hard drive on your computer, the windows registry contains the files that are needed to run the programs. In other words, a set of instructions it uses. But overtime when you install and uninstall different programs and make changes using Windows Update, the registry becomes fragmented. By running a defragmenter for the registry it will put all the broken pieces of registry files back into one single file, allowing windows to run more efficiently.
The second tab located in the Utilities section is the Security tab. There is four different tools located here that will help keep your computer more secure. I haven’t really used these tools very much but they can be very useful. One of the tools is a Driver Backup to backup all of your drivers in windows. Going along with backing up your drivers is a System Backup. I have never used this tool before either so by backing up your system it could mean the operating system files only or all of the files located on the computer. Not sure since I use a manual file backup to backup the documents and other data files on my computer. There is also an Internet Explorer Security Assistant for helping you with IE security. Never have used this because I don’t use Internet Explorer. Firefox is much better and more secure. The one tool that I have used a few times but not recently is the System File Checker. If you are noticing different error messages in windows this tool might just find the problem and help you correct it.
The third and final tab in the Utilities section of the program is the Administrative Tools. There are nine different tools located in this section and once again I have not used many of them. For most people it seems many of these would be pointless. A good example for me is the Auto Shutdown tool. For my laptop this tool is rather pointless but for a desktop it could be more useful. The Cloned Files Finder allows the computer to scan for duplicate files and gives you options to remove them. The Context Menu Manager allows you to make changes to the menu that appears when you right click. I have never been able to totally understand this tool and don’t find it very useful for most users. Disk Explorer allows you to see various information about the data stored on your hard drive. It might even be able to look at other storage devices as well. The Restore Center allows you to undo the changes that were done by Advanced SystemCare, similar to the Windows System Restore feature. The Software Uninstaller does exactly what it says, it removes unwanted or no longer useful software. It does provide a little more in depth look at the programs compared to the windows uninstaller but still somewhat useless. The Startup Manager gives you options to manage the programs that start automatically with windows. This can be done using windows tools but this will work better for beginners. The System Information tool will display a very detailed report of your windows operating system. Great for power users and average users that are asked to find certain information in windows. It also conveniently organizes the information. The final tool is the Windows Manager which can give you an advanced look at some windows features. Not useful for most users and mainly used by power users.
Overall Advanced SystemCare Free is a great and powerful tool that has many uses to keep your computer running at its best. Advanced SystemCare is one of my favorite PC maintenance tools around and is available for download at the IOBit Website. Don’t let them fool you into trying to pay for the software because the free version is just as good.
