A PC is rather like a person. The older they get, the less reliable they become. Granted, older computers don't tend to misplace their graphics cards, forget dental appointments, and start saying what they actually mean rather than what they “should” say. But they are prone to developing a much more sluggish system, thanks in the main to the likes of fragmented hard drives, cluttered registries, and bloat which has been installed on the system throughout the years.

Enter stage left System Mechanic, a greasy-overall-clad application with a glint in its eye and an express purpose to sort out your ailing machine before it falls over under the weight of its own accumulated baggage. The principal feature of the program is the analysis scan, which comes in two forms: a quick scan that takes just a minute, or a deep scan which takes around 10 minutes plus to really put your system under the microscope.

We ran tests across two PCs; our current computer, along with a six-year-old XP beast to really give the mechanic a proper workout. The latter machine had more issues than a forty-something bloke who still lives in his mother's basement, as you'd imagine, with a 'poor' rating slapped on our computer's health. System Mechanic warned us that the registry hadn't been backed up for well over a year - yes, we've neglected it - and duly took care of a duplicate with a single click. It also spotted that our anti-virus program had crashed, a useful warning on the security side.

Aside from that, a large number of registry problems were found, over 500, which were all corrected, plus around 500MB of system clutter on the hard drive. You can let the suite automatically repair problems itself, or you can fire up the relevant wizard: for example, the PC clean up wizard deals with that system clutter.

If you choose to do things manually, you can look through and mark the clutter you want to lose from lists of both recommended and optional actions. System Mechanic 10 also optimised our net connection on this older machine. Afterwards, it seemed to run a whisker more snappily when surfing, though it's difficult to judge. The application also optimised our system memory, freeing up 15 percent, which was quite impressive.

On the newer PC, the scan revealed fewer issues as expected, although there were a few. These included some registry problems, a few unnecessary start-up items, a bit of clutter, and again it claimed our Internet connection wasn't optimised. The program also pointed out a number of security vulnerabilities, ten of them in fact, all dangerous file types such as .scr which System Mechanic recommended to set to open with Notepad. That's fine, unless you actually want to run a screensaver which you know is safe, of course. Although you can always use the program's 'safety net' feature to roll back any changes you've implemented.

These issues were uncovered by the quick scan, as one problem we encountered on the newer machine was that the deep scan mode didn't work. It froze up halfway through, insisting on sticking at the same point while scanning the registry. We tried a number of times to pass this point with no success, even when we turned all our other processes off, anti-virus and so forth. In the end, we just had to make do with the quick scan, although in fairness once all the problems that scan found were solved, our computer system was billed as in good health by the System Mechanic sidebar monitor.

The package also contains a new feature rather tastefully dubbed the CRUDD remover, which scans for and removes redundant software. Basically, it looks for programs which duplicate or overlap in their function, the cause of many serious locking up type problems. The idea is that you can then make a decision about which to keep and which to get rid of, although the utility didn't find any duplicated software on either of our machines.

Also new to version number 10 is the program accelerator. This aims to tackle file system entropy and boost program responsiveness by shifting files around the hard disk to realign those dependent on each other. This is a more intelligent process than mere disk defragmentation, and iolo claims that while standard defragmenting might make a single file contiguous, it doesn't do anything to resolve broken data relationships.

A full run of drive optimisation with this utility took a couple of hours, with System Mechanic reporting that it reduced our file system entropy from a nasty sounding level of 63 percent to just 2 percent. We ran and timed some programs before and after the process, but it didn't make any difference to the applications we compared. A couple of games loaded a touch faster, though, by a matter of a second or two, and our web browser started up a second quicker. Overall, the program accelerator seemed to make some difference, if not a massive amount.

The suite also boasts a drive accelerator defragmentation module, which utilises the program accelerator technology to get the best results. We found it impressively quick and efficient, completing a full defrag on our main hard drive in half the time the standard Windows defrag took. The end result was applications running a bit more slickly, and PC boot-up gaining a few seconds of speed. Impressive stuff.

System Mechanic 10 comes with weekly tune up definitions, an anti-virus suite style measure which means that it's always up to date with data on the latest threats that might slow your computer down. The package also has a “whole home” licence which is good for every PC in the household. Throw in a bundle of extra utilities, such as the incinerator (secure file deletion), privacy cleaner, and energy booster (which turns off unwanted background processes), and you've got quite a system maintenance product here.

Verdict
System Mechanic 10 is a very thorough maintenance suite which is easy to use and boasts plenty of options. The defragmentation system with the drive and program accelerator technology is particularly impressive, and the tweaks implemented made a noticeable difference. Overall, this is an excellent package, aside from the sole flaw we encountered on one of our test machines where the deep scan mode refused to function properly.

Company: iolo

Contact: 001 323 257 8888

Tags: defragmentation hard disk drive personal computer notepad windows xp anti-virus microsoft windows windows