14 DAY TRIAL // I will keep on saying that taking care of your computer (especially if you are an avid user) will result in better performance. And I know that not all of you have the time or the knowledge to manually clean your machine. Besides the fact that it takes a lot of time, you also run the risk of doing something wrong. So why not leave this task in the "hands" of a software designed to remove the dirt inside your comp?
The software I am bringing in front of you today is easy to use and it has absolutely no confusing settings to give you long lasting migraines. Its name is Advanced WindowsCare and we are going to analyze v.2.0 Personal. This version is for home use only and it is free.
The developer's name is IObit, a young company founded in 2004. Its goal is to deliver easy to use, powerful, reliable and innovative system utilities and to become one of the top utility producers and system service providers.
But let's quit the yapping, as far more interesting business awaits us. Installing the software on your computer is no sweat and at the end, the software is careful enough as to ask you to create a system restore point for your OS, in case something goes wrong. I advise you to do that as you never know what could happen when using system utility softwares.
The interface of the software has nothing special and the first window of the application will display the Subscription Service, Program Status (shows version of the program, the date of the last scan and the database date) and the Information Center (provides a link to buying the Professional version of the software and a 30% discount).
The next window of the application (the one we are interested in) is activated by clicking the Start button in the lower part of the window. Here we can find out details about our Operating System, CPU (Central Processing Unit), our Video Device, Physical Memory, Motherboard, Hard Disk, Monitor, Network, basically every piece of hardware we have installed on our machine.
The Restore Center in the upper middle-right side of the window will give the user the opportunity to create some restoration points or to restore the computer to an earlier time. It is, in fact, a shortcut to MS Windows' System Restore utility. Next to the Restore Center, there is the Tools menu, which contains the Startup Manager, Add Ons and Memory Cleaner.
The Startup Manager allows you to select which applications should start on Windows startup. Every item in the list can be labeled with the "Trust It" mark, deleted and searched online. The user can also see the properties for that item (name, file folder and a little analysis from Sysinfo.org).
The Tools in the Add Ons section include a comprehensive Process Manager (displays the hidden processes also), System Service (shows the services available on your machine and permits starting and stopping them), TCP/UDP (network ports and their status), a Software Uninstaller (comes in handy when you have an application that won't uninstall the easy way) and a Cookie Manager.
The Memory Cleaner will first display the usage of the free physical and virtual memory, page file and the CPU usage. Then, if you want to make some cleaning and optimize your computer a little, just press the Clean Now button and you will gain some more memory.
Next you have the "areas" of your computer that need most attention in order for your machine to run right. Thus the software will scan your PC for spyware and adware (Spyware Scan) prevent spyware to get comfortable in your comp (Security Defense), remove invalid entries in the registry (Registry Scan), optimize your system configuration (System Analysis), detect the items that load at system startup (Startup Scan), get rid of the loading Internet history and delete your surfing habits (Privacy Sweep) and clean the temporaries (Temporary Files Scan).
After you select what you want the software to fix, all you have to do is click the Scan button and wait while the application does its job (not too long). For each of the scanned "sections" you will receive a message: either the green, "No Problems" one or the red one that specifies the number of problems found. The user gets to see the problems and select by him/herself the items to be fixed or cleaned.
The Settings menu under Options (right upper part of the application window) permits configuring the software to be minimized to system tray when closed, load at Windows startup and show balloon tips. This is about it in the freeware version. All the other settings in here (except for language and theme election) are for the Professional, full version of the software.
The Good
The software moves fast, very fast and covers the main areas that need to be taken care of.
The Bad
The looks of the software need a little improving.
The Truth
I was a little afraid to press the Care button after the scan was complete due to the reviews I read about the software. But I faced my fears and I decided to give a little credit to the software (after taking all the precautions, of course). And I was a little surprised to see that nothing went wrong. The software took care of my "irregularities" nice and clean.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
