

This looks through your PC’s startup configuration files and analyses the programs that launch or pre-load during startup, checking them against a continually updated, comprehensive database that classifies how genuinely useful each item is, the impact it has on startup times and overall performance, and the potential risks of disabling or removing it. Why stop there, though, when System Mechanic has a wide range of other tools to deep-clean your PC, fix more persistent issues and optimise your PC even further? Let’s start with its Startup Optimiser, newly enhanced for System Mechanic 17. With this one step, System Mechanic should fix many of your Windows issues, cut your startup times and get your PC running at close to its original speed. In most cases it’s wise to go with the program’s expert recommendations, click Repair Selected and let it go to work, though you can uncheck checkboxes or get more detailed information if you want. It actually gets to work as soon as you’re through installation, scanning your PC for security issues, Internet and Windows junk files and problems with the Windows registry, then giving you its verdict on your PC’s current condition along with a checklist of fixes.

What’s more, it hits a great balance between advanced features and ease-of-use, with tools that can fix and optimise your system in just a few clicks, but everything you need for in-depth tweaking. iolo’s latest all-in-one PC toolkit has exactly the tools you need to restore maximum speed, power and stability. For most of us, there are only two solutions: to spend a day backing up your files, restoring Windows and hoping for the best, or to use a powerful suite of system tools to get your PC back on track.

Windows itself isn’t immune to trying itself in knots over a year or two. There are plenty of reasons why this happens, ranging from manufacturer-installed bloatware through to malware through to detritus from your Internet usage and the remnants of unwanted software. At home, it’s wasting your energy and time. If you use your PC for business, you could be losing work and money. Meanwhile, your hard drive is under siege from an ever-growing array of unused apps and Internet junk. Browsing the Web involves numerous pauses, while your Netflix or iPlayer streams keep cutting out. Your PC stutters and stalls while handling basic tasks, or if you’re really unlucky freezes completely on a regular basis. The OS that used to boot in under thirty seconds now takes twice as long.

Two to three years down the line, though, it’s a different story. You buy a new PC or install the latest Windows and everything runs like a dream.
