Free System Optimization 3

very good
key review info
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Utilities

This part of Advanced SystemCare comprises a set of instruments that can help you with the maintenance of your computer even further. There are tools for checking disks for errors, identify data that is no longer needed, shredding files beyond recovery, improve Internet speed, monitor network traffic, defrag the registry or remove broken shortcuts. And these are only in the Tuneup section of the module.

The other two sections offer more choices such as backing up system drivers, or for handling items in Internet Explorer (find these under Security). Admin Tools brings you an application to schedule system shutdown or restart, a duplicate finder, a context menu manager, disk space explorer, startup manager and a Windows manager which is a suite in itself as it sports a process manager, software uninstaller and cookies manager (only for Internet Explorer).

Although Advanced SystemCare brings to the table almost 20 applications, its list of utilities can be extended by downloading some free programs and launch them from this interface.

The free edition of the suite does not feature the defragmentation program (Smart Defrag), which can take care of all the drives, not only the one reserved for the system. On top of this it is also free of charge and does a pretty good job.

IObit Security 360 is also listed among the apps of the suite, but you will have to download and install it separately to benefit from its protection.

Given the large amount of tools Advanced SystemCare provides we picked for a quick test only the most important ones that came with the suite.

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DiskCleaner can analyze the data on all the drives of the disk and root out the files that are simply filling up the space, with no particular purpose. It allows you to select the volumes you want to be scanned and then returns the categories of clutter and total size for each of them.

Each of the reported items can be analyzed by viewing the details of the scan. When it comes to purging them out of the system DiskCleaner puts at your disposal the possibility to backup the data and then delete it, send it all to Recycle Bin or delete files permanently.

Everything worked fine, but there was still something that we could not do: cancel the deletion of the files. The repeated push of the “Cancel” button during the process was ignored completely. The application did not manage to get rid of all the files it detected as useless and further scanning and deleting was necessary.

The file shredding utility is no complicated thing to handle. It gives you the chance to securely erase either a folder, or a bunch of files. There are three shredding methods to choose from: quick, DoD5220.22-M (7 passes) and Gutmann (35 passes). The more passes it hasm the more secure is the wipe method, so one would think that selecting the last one would make retrieving the files impossible.

We put this to the test and, to our surprise, we were able to recover most of the files wiped using Peter Gutmann's 35 overwrites algorithm using a free data recovery program. Another test was made using a different app featuring the same delete algorithm, but we were no longer able to retrieve the wiped items.

Defragmenting the registry is an activity that should be carried out depending on software install/uninstall frequency. Its effect on the system can really make a difference in performance.

Unfortunately, as fragmented as the registry of our test machine was, IObit Registry Defrag could not find gaps between the data and concluded that it had already been subjected to defragmentation procedure.

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Under Security tab of Utilities module you will find a tool for backing up your drivers. This is definitely a neat trick, especially if you want to have your hardware specific drivers installed without having to look for them on the hard drive, on support pages or you do not want to have it served through Windows updates.

What IObit brings is a simple instrument that can scan either for recommended drivers or all of them and store them. However, the utility seems to be lacking some options, such as restoring/installing the drivers or prompting the user for a save locations.

Given the circumstances, installation will be a tad more difficult as it has to be done through Device Manager. As for the location of the driver backup, Advanced SystemCare saves them in the “Backup” folder of its installation directory.

System Backup tool did not work in our case. All we got to see was a dialog that explained that it will store system settings and documents. When we agreed to starting the Backup Wizard nothing happened.

Admin Tools section shows a set of nine entries. First one is Auto Shutdown which lets you schedule either turning off the computer or restarting it. Just set the time you and action to take place and it will do it, nothing more, nothing less.

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The duplicate finder (Cloned Files Finder) is a bit more complicated, but nothing an average user, or even a beginner, can't handle; its wizard-driven interface makes working with it a breeze. In this case success was on ASC's side as Cloned Files Finder had no trouble discovering the doubles we had prepared, even if they were in different folders.

However, this will happen only if the files are exactly the same in terms of name and size. We managed to trick it with two files sharing the same name and size, but different in content.

If you have some context menu options that make for an obstacle in your work, the Context Menu Manager can help you out. It lists all the shell extensions for file, folder and drives as well as for the Send To menu on the Desktop and New, and lets you slim them down by removing whatever you do not need.

Admin Tools features Disk Explorer tool which gives you a report of the content that takes the most space on your computer. It can be used on a simple drive or more and after the analysis completes (it ran pretty fast during our test, but it depends on the amount of data it has to process) you will be shown the largest files on the disk.

For those needing a look at the files starting up with the operating system the Startup Manager comes in quite handy. It is a simple instrument that permits you to enrich the list with new items as well as shrink it to comprise only the necessary elements.

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The Good

Advanced SystemCare is too large a suite not to bring something useful to the table. It is extremely easy to use and provides utilities for bringing the system to a smoother and faster run.

Maintain Windows module and Utilities are the core modules in ASC and make available easy to use instruments and flexible manipulation so that the result is a boost in system performance.

The Bad

Not all the programs included in the suite are great, and the use of Diagnose System and some item under Utilities showed us exactly that.

Some of the programs listed in the third module need to be downloaded and installed individually in order to benefit from their potential.

We experienced incomplete backups in some cases and in others the app would start repairing the issues by creating a backup when there was no need for this (e.g. disk defragmentation) and it would never show up under Restore window.

The Truth

Advanced SystemCare is a behemoth encompassing more than 20 instruments ready to assist in your endeavors for a cleaner system and increased performance. It comes with its set of pitfalls, but advantages are not to be overlooked.

After completing all our tests the machine we used moved noticeably faster, and this is all that matters when it comes to maintenance tools However, it is recommended to tread with care when dealing with sensitive areas, such as the registry.

Diagnose System < BACK

user interface 5
features 3
ease of use 4
pricing / value 3


final rating 4
Editor's review
very good
 
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