COLUMNIST: Getting a faster PC

You may recall a few weeks ago I detailed how you could defragment your disk drive and rid yourself of unused files that clutter your computer. This week I’d like to take that a step further with a piece of software that will do it all for you, in addition to many other features.

System Mechanic by iolo Technologies is a custom-built program that will not only defragment your drive and delete unused files, but also minimize your boot times by intelligently disabling startup programs you don’t need, repairing registry errors that you may not even be aware of and returning leaked memory to a usable state.

Naturally, I approach these types of programs with a grain of salt. Over the past few years many computers have been infected with malware or spyware by downloading and installing software that advertised these services. When the folks at iolo contacted me with the offer to let me test System Mechanic, however, I jumped at the chance.

I used two machines to put System Mechanic through its paces. The first machine, running Windows 7, I purposefully did everything I could to mess up, including introducing registry errors manually, purposefully fragmenting the hard drive, as well as installing programs that were known to clutter Windows startup. The second machine, running Windows Vista, is a laptop that sees daily usage, primarily on the Internet, by a fairly savvy but non-technical user.

I was surprised at how easy System Mechanic was to use. After installation, you are presented with the main screen. On it, you have the option to analyze the machine. Analysis takes several minutes and upon completion presents you with options that you can select to clean up your machine.

I let all of the recommended fixes run on both computers and rebooted them as suggested upon completion. One thing I noticed right off the bat was that all of the programs that had slowed my start times had been disabled. This was not a blanket effect; my AOL Instant Messenger still started as I wanted and my Dropbox monitoring software was still there, as well. All the other junk that I had purposefully cluttered my machine with was not. Color me surprised.

The second surprise was that the registry errors I introduced were corrected or removed. Everything appeared nice and tidy, just as it should. As icing on the cake, my RAM usage at idle was 250 MB lower than before.

Another feature I loved was in the left-hand menu under ActiveCare called Automated Tasks. You can tell System Mechanic to do things such as clean up system clutter, repair registry problems, repair security vulnerabilities, defrag your drive and back up the registry automatically without your intervention. What impressed me the most was that all of these settings were disabled by default, leaving you to turn them on at your own discretion. This is usually not the case, and most software I install I have to check these settings myself and disable them. In addition, the software provides a log of everything you’ve done with it, allowing you to roll back any changes that you’ve made using it.

I must say that I noticed an improvement in my computer’s performance, the software was user-friendly and iolo took great care to take the consumer’s needs to heart. At a $39.95 price point, System Mechanic is definitely worth a look. You can find it at iolo.com under the Products menu.

— Senior Production Coordinator Matthew Broughton is taking the “ech” out of tech. E-mail him at mbroughton@florencenews.com.