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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I use Ccleaner and do the rest manually, i don’t trust so much automatic maintenance!
Count me in for this one, please.
Best regards from Belgrade!
I use ccleaner and defraggler. Count me in.
I currently use CCleanner, Defraggler, and Bleachbit with the occasional use of Advanced System Care to keep my system running. This looks really interesting thanks!
Currently I’m using only the Disk Defragmenter (the windows default) to maintain my setup.
currently using Advanced Syste Care which I feel does a pretty good job of looking after my system but..some of the features you have mentioned in system mechanic are not available in ASC so would certainly like the chance to have SM 10..cheers, tom
I would like to try this renowned software.
Thanks for the opportunity to win a great set of tools. I currently rely on WinUtilities to help my PC healthy.
Keep up the good work.
I use several softs — Windows Chkdsk, Autoruns, X-Setup Pro, RegToy,MSConfig, Comodo Registry Cleaner, CCleaner, Puran Defrag, Paragon Hard Disk Manager, O&O Clever Cache, Process Lasso — to maintain and optimize my system, but I’d like véri motch to have System Mechanic.
CCleaner & Glary Utilities for cleaning junk & registry, Defraggler for defrag the hard drive and QuickSys RegDefrag for defrag the registry.
Hello All,
I only use windows tools/defrag and for some purposes an older version of tuneup-utilities.
Kind Greetings
Currently I am using TuneUp Utilities….. i need this.
I use CCleaner regularly, and I also use O&O Defrag to keep my D: E: G: H: drives undefragmented, (C: is a Corsair Force 120GB SSD, and F: is my DVD RW)
I use ccleaner and the free version of glary utilities. Hope to win a licence for system mechanic !
Currently, I am using CCleaner, I like to have one license of System mechanic
Thanks
Hi,
I am currently using AMIGO 360 given by you for my PC maintenance stuff…
Please count me in for this giveaway
Using Diskmax, Advanced system care, speedfox, PurRa, JV16 powertools 2010, Optima, 1 click cleaner, Little registery cleaner, Auslogics registery cleaner and ccleaner.
I do weekly antivirus scan and check disk, defrag my drives every 2-3 weeks. clean my system everyday with Ccleaner.
Thanks for the giveaway!
merry christmas!
merry merry christmas all
Never before I can get a key of this soft, it is very cool for repair errors when trying, give me a chance in random.
I just use CCleaner for a quick cleanup.
As my system takes half about an hour to start up, I often think I should do something to speed it up.
As this immense task might fill up my Christmas holydays, a license to System Mechanic is more than welcome. My family will be eternally grateful! ;-)
In order to keep my PC in a good shape I perform a manually cleanup from time to time.
I used SM from 4 up to version 8 but when i switched to avira antivirus they wouldn’t work well together and i choose free anti virus over paying for SM. i now use microsoft security essentials, don’t know if they conflick but would give it another shot
I use Glary Utilities It’s good for a free one
I use free version of CCleaner. Would love to have this.
Please count me in.
just using CCleaner, once in a while.. but nothing else.
would luv to try this one..
I currently use CCleaner and ASC (free) to perform most of these functions. I’d love a license for System Mechanic..
Count me in.
I use CCleaner and Glary Utilities.
Thanks!
Thanks for this giveaway ghacks.net. System Mechanic is really a very nice utility product .
I am currently using Winutilities free version for my system maintenance.
Hope i win one of the license for System mechanic.
“Merry Christmas” in advance.
Best regards,
niroop