Many PCs deteriorate in performance over time. That’s usually not a problem in the first year of usage, and especially noticeable on low-end systems. The reason for this? To put it frankly, the PC is filling up with stuff. Users install and uninstall applications, which sometimes are added to autostart or services that run all the time, sometimes even if the application has already been removed from the system. Standard platter driven hard drives fragment and the Registry blows up which leads to extended system loading times. All issues combined lead to a drop in performance over time which may or may not be visible depending on the hardware of the PC.
It is therefor important to optimize the PC every now and then to avoid this from happening in first place. This process will make the PC faster, free up disk space and improve Windows loading times. Experienced users know what they have to do to optimize their PC, everyone else is better of using a maintenance tool like System Mechanic for the job. Heck, even experienced users might like such a tool, because frankly they speed up the time needed to maintain the computer quite a bit.
System Mechanic 10 Review
When you first start up System Mechanic 10 you see a splash screen that guides users through some of the features of the program. This can be helpful, especially for users who want to know what’s different in version 10 of the program. The program performs an update check on start and displays update notifications to the user. It is recommended to update the program if an update is available.
First thing users should do is to run a system analysis which is offered in the main interface of the program upon startup. Available are a quick and deep analysis of the system which differ in the types of problems detected and the time taking to complete (I suggest to run a deep analysis on first run).
The checkup takes a few minutes and an assessment of the computer system’s health is displayed in the end.
Options are displayed directly to repair all issues or to view the problems first. A click on view problems lists the issues that System Mechanic has found on the system.
For the test system they were:
- Fragmented and misaligned files
- Security Vulnerabilities
- Registry problems
- System clutter (temp files)
- Startup items
- Internet connection not optimized for speed
- No Registry backup
- Registry fragmented
It is possible to repair selected items right away, repair all or hide issues in the interface. System Mechanic suggested defragmentation on a Solid State Drive, which is not necessary and should never be done as it can lead to a performance drop. The developers should add a feature to ignore fragmentation on SSDs automatically to avoid running the optimization script on them. It is possible to hide hard drive optimization prompts completely.
System Mechanic offers to repair the issues found automatically, or run a wizard that displays them to the computer user for inspection. The vulnerabilities wizard looks like the following for instance.
Vulnerabilities found are grouped together. Two groups were displayed on the test system: Internet Explorer and file associations. System Mechanic displays a threat level and additional information about the threats found. It also explains what the repair will do.
It is possible to repair each group individually or all at once. It is still important to take a closer look. The program suggests to assign .reg Registry scripts with Notepad which could lead to problems on systems where those scripts are run regularly.
All but a few ssues that have been found on the system use a similar design. They all group items to give the user an option to remove individual items, or all at once. It is recommended to inspect all suggested actions before taking them to avoid problems resulting from those repairs on the system.
Some modules offer interesting information about the computer system, like the Registry defragmentation module below.
The module lists the fragmentation percentage of the Registry as well as the sizes and fragmentation of individual Registry strains.
The overall system status changes when all problems have either been hidden or resolved. Select repairs, like the Registry defragmentation, require a restart of the system.
But System Mechanic offers more than just that. The toolbox displays tools in two subgroups. All-in-one Tools leads to some of the tools that have been used in the system assessment on the start page of System Mechanic. Here they can be run individually or completely again.
More interesting than this is the Individual Tools group which leads to dozens of system maintenance related tools, some of which have also been used in the first assessment. But there are others that have not been. Among them options to monitor the hard drive status, measure the Internet download speed, track system changes in realtime, repair broken shortcuts, run a drive medic to fix hard drive problems and a program called CRUDD Remover.
The latter requires explanation. CRUDD Remover analyses software on the system that could be redundant offering to remove them from the system. System Mechanic detected for instance CCleaner on the system, or the web browsers Opera 11 and Google Chrome. While I made the decision to keep all of the programs other users may not.
Another interesting tool is the startup manager which is very extensive. It sorts startup programs in groups and displays individual items with extensive information including “lookup” information which explain the program associations. For QTTask.exe for instance it explains that “this file is part of the Apple Quick Time media player. The process places a quick launch program icon in the system tray”.
Options are provided to disable individual startup items.
Optimizations can be undone in the history in case something went wrong.
Users can configure automated tasks that will be run on schedule to keep the system in optimized state. System Mechanic calls this ActiveCare and offers a dozen different maintenance related programs, from backing up the Registry to repairing broken Internet connections to cleaning up temporary files and repairing hard drive errors. All modules can be enabled individually.
Interested users can download a trial version of System Mechanic directly from the developer website. Just click on download free trial on the page that opens.
System Mechanic 10 Verdict
System Mechanic is an excellent PC repair, optimization and troubleshooting tool. The one-click optimization needs an update in regards to SSDs but is otherwise an easy option to optimize a system effortlessly. The real strength of System Mechanic 10 are the individual tools offered as they offer help for many maintenance related tasks.
System Mechanic 10 Giveaway
We have ten licenses to give away. For a chance to win one, let us know in the comments what you are currently doing to maintain your PC.
Buy System Mechanic
The giveaway is over. You can purchase the latest version of System Mechanic at Amazon
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Hi,
I mainly use ccleaner & diskmax to maintain my PC. Count me in please. Thanks.
I want a System Mechanic licence. I believe they are rank #1 in top-ten-review. I have never used them, but I would every day if I won a licence. Thanks for the giveaway.
WOW! I want a licence System Mechanic licence. Please count me in for one and thanks for the giveaway.
Count me in for one.
I used System mechanic many years ago and was impressed with it then, this new version looks better and does so much more, i would love to get a copy, thanks for the chance Mike.
I have been looking at System Mechanic and would love to have one for Christmas. Great giveaway and review.
well,this really a great giveaway, an excellent and complete system maintenance, use it before did’nt let me down in keeping my computer healthy ,wish i’ll win one key ,thanks alot……
Currently I’m using CCleaner for recovering disk space from program leftovers and clearing stale registry entries, Auslogics Disk Defrag for defragmenting and optimizing the file system, and lastly the now defunct (but still the best black belter tweaker) X-Setup Pro for manually tweaking and optimizing the overall system.
If there is but a single all-in-one suite I will trust for system optimization, System Mechanic will be it. Much like how I trust my Toyota with Toyota Car Centers for repairs and maintenance, so will I trust my Windows machines with System Mechanic.
/m
I currently use only Glary Utilites for maintaining my PC.
To maintain a system using multiple programs, such as: CCleaner, Glary Utilities Pro, Puran Defrag and East-Tec Eraser 2010. The System Mechanic aplication provides the tools you need to keep your PC running in peak condition. I hope one license for this good software.
Thanks
Bero
Currently, I rely only on manual maintenance, so please count me in :)
Hi. I am currently using CCleaner to take care of my system. I would love to win a licence of this.
uso el advanced windows care
Hi!
Marting, again a great tool.
Count me in for the license :)
I have Microsoft Security Essentials for the Virus checking then CCleaner and then do an occasional defrag. One thing that is annoying is a rogue AACenter process with Windows Media Center that insists on loading up which I have to schedule a Taskkill for in the startup. Perhaps if I were to get a copy of System Mechanic it would help me track down the cause and sort it?
Here is hoping :)
Thanks Martin for the System Mechanic reviews.
I am using Ace Utilities now & was impressed by System Mechanic (6 months trial) before.
Hopefully can win 1 license.
Thanks & Regards
I’d like to take part in this giveaway. Currently i’m using ccleaner and glary utilities for optimisation, but i’d like something more drastic. That’s definitely System Mechanic 10!
what i do to maintain my computer honestly i only use ccleaner and spybot search and destroy and i use common sense on not going to dangerous sites and that’s how i keep safe and clean.
Just had to factory reset Windows after connections problems. Perhaps this would not have been necessary with this comprehensive software. Count me in.
I currently use Glary Utilites and CCleaner for maintaining my PC
I use CCleaner and Defraggler to maintain my PC, but this program looks so much better. And my computer was purchased in April, but it’s already pretty slow, so I’d have much use for System Mechanic. Crossing my fingers. Thanks for the giveaway!
WOW! Please count me in for one and thanks for the giveaway.
Here is hoping :)
I have been looking at System Mechanic and would love to have one for Christmas. Great giveaway and review.
I use CCleaners and Smart Defraag and would like to win a System Mechanic licence since I heard many great things about the software.
System Mechanic is the best software out for speeding up and cleaning a PC. Count me in for one.
To maintain a system using multiple programs, such as: CCleaner, Glary Utilities Pro, Puran Defrag and East-Tec Eraser 2010. The System Mechanic aplication provides the tools you need to keep your PC running in peak condition. I hope one license for this good software.
Thanks
Salmoxis
Mostly using manual deletion for the Firefox Cache and Google Chrome. I’m not worried that much about the leftovers of both of the program because already configured Google Chrome to Incognito Mode and Firefox to clear history on exit. I’ve also regularly delete the flash and IE8 cookies, Temp folder in the directory and Windows directory. This includes the the files that were quarantined in Avast Virus Chest.
I’m not a big fan of Disk Defragmentation due to time consumption and unnoticeable improvement of the so called defragmentation. For Registry cleaning and optimization from my opinion or maybe I’m definitely wrong, just two words…… ‘Snake Oil’. Anyway thanks again Ghacks and hope I’m one of the lucky winner.
Hi,
Thanks for the Giveaway :)
please count me in as System mechanic is very easy to use system utility app.
Thank you & Good luck all.
To maintain my PC now, I use CCleaner & Tuneup Utilities. I know that System Mechanic is a Great Partner for Windows to fix My Windows from junk. I hope I can win This Great Software..
THX, LJBU!
Actually i use many freebies to repair my pc,many of them are good but incomplete,from registry cleaners to free defragmenters.
When reading this post remainded me a lot of friends using this system mechanic.,well description says it all,tech support is even included.made this a real masterpiece..
Hope i can get a license for my pc.
Thanks again GHACKS