AlacrityPC

Demanding applications, such as games require every bit of processing power your system can offer, but sometimes unneeded background processes and services take up these resources needlessly.

AlacrityPC can help you get that last bit of performance out of your system by automatically stopping unneeded processes and services.

Installing the application and understanding its use of is relatively easy. Even though it seems to be targeted at more advanced users, the interface itself is intuitive, if not as neat and elegant as that of other programs.

The software works by automatically applying user-created profiles. These profiles tell the application what processes to kill, services to stop and optimizations to perform when an user-specified program is run. You can also specify which programs should be executed before and after staring the specified application.

For example, you can configure AlacrityPC to monitor the system for the launch of game.exe and trigger the following chain of events: before launching the game, the application should stop the Windows print spooler service and kill the Internet browser process to free system resources. Then the program launches the game and, once it is running, start a screen capture or voice chat application. Once you exit the game, AlacrityPC automatically restarts stopped processes and services.

This piece of software also features several extra features that can help you further optimize your resource use. These can be found by accessing the Optimization tab and include a RAM defragmenter, the option to shutdown and restart the Windows Shell/Desktop, remove the desktop wallpaper or shutdown/restart the Windows Vista Sidebar.

In case you encounter any problems or errors while experimenting with your profiles, AlacrityPC also features a handy logger, that can help you figure out what went wrong.

This is a useful program for those who run resource-intensive applications or just like to squeeze the last bit of performance out of their system. It offers multiple features and options designed to automatically start and stop various processes and services when a program is run. Though its interface is intuitive, some options and features are not quite self-explanatory, so reading the manual before experimenting is recommended.