Have you ever noticed choppy videos, audio or a low frame rate gaming experience under Windows? This could have been caused by other tasks and processes that ran at the same time as that main task. Say, you have decided to render a video that is taxing cpu and hard drive to the maximum. And while it would be to boring to simply stare at the rendering screen for the time it takes, you decided to play a Flash game, online game or watch a video on the computer. In a situation like this, you might experience performance issues.
The basic idea behind Ashampoo’s Core Tuner 2 is to give Windows users the tools at hand to distribute the computing power in an optimal fashion.
Ashampoo Core Tuner 2 Review
Ashampoo Core Tuner 2 uses a clean interface. It displays all program modules in the left sidebar, and the corresponding information in the main area of the program window.
When you start the program, you see a list of all processes that are currently running on your system. Each process is listed with its name and description, the cpu and memory usage, the process priority and use of cpu cores.
One of the main features of the program is to change process priorities and cpu core use. The menu icons at the top of the window or the right-click context menu display the options to change those settings. It is furthermore possible to terminate a process right from that window.
All processes that are customized this way are listed under Rules. One interesting option is the ability to import and export rules, handy if you run Ashampoo Core Tuner 2 on multiple computer systems. Rules can be modified right in the rules menu as well.
The Profiles feature is an advanced feature. Profiles basically bundle multiple actions, like stopping system services or terminating processes. A gaming profile ships with the software, which terminates web browser windows, program update tools and several system services to improve gaming performance on the system.
Profiles can then be run with a right-click on the system tray icon and the selection of the profile in the context menu. It is possible to add additional profiles, for instance for video rendering, photo editing or any other task on the PC that taxes the system.
Sometimes though you can make changes to the system that are permanent in nature. For instance by removing programs from autostart or services that are not really needed for operating the computer.
That’s why Ashampoo Core Tuner 2 comes with an auto-start and Services module. The auto-start module lists all programs that are started automatically with the system.
One interesting feature is the rating system that displays user ratings of startup programs.
The Services module makes use of ratings as well. Some services are blocked from being disabled which makes sense as they are required to run Windows at all.
Installation
Ashampoo Core Tuner 2 installation should not be problematic at all. Users should however pay attention to the installation dialog as the default installation tries to install a toolbar and make changes to the homepage and search provider of the web browser.
A ten-day trial version is provided at the Ashampoo website.
Verdict
Windows users who are experiencing lags and performance drops when they run multiple tasks on their system at the same time will benefit the most from Ashampoo Core Tuner 2, provided that they configure the process priorities, profiles and rules accordingly.
Users with high performance systems on the other hand may not see a difference at all, or only a slight difference that may not make a huge difference.
Ashampoo Core Tuner 2 Giveaway
Ashampoo were nice enough to give us 24 Ashampoo Core Tuner 2 licenses to give away. To enter the drawing for a license, tell me why you’d like the program.
I will draw the winners randomly from all users who have commented here. Winners will be announced in a week’s time here in this review.
Update: The winners are: Efthimios, MerleOne, Paul(us), Mike, Jordan Humberto de Souza, Midnight, kn0w, e1scd, SubgeniusD, Lee, jSwann0, Andrei, Michael Brazil, Jake, vhick, Mongoplus, Stefan Julian, G Rajesh, JAIME, VladM, RAGAGH, zoras, StingRay, alro
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Please count me in!
Oh, the startup process! Let’s see if this application can tame it.
I’d like this program to speed up my computer.
seems interesting maybe this can help this slow comp
my fast one cant even boot so im stuck with this one
Hi, I have a rather old and slow PC with 2 cores and the automated version of Core Tuner would be a nice addition to get all the resources from this machine.
Thanks for the Giveaway and keep up the great work !
When i do multiple tasks like burning a disk, downloading with emule morphxt or Utorrent i allways experience performance issues. Therefore i like the features of the program which i can change process priorities and cpu core use. Also the ferry nice features like removing programs from autostart or services, the rating system and the what looks like to be a ferry understandably way to handle the program are to main liking.
But you can do that with your Task Manager for free!
Just select the process you want, and then specify the affinity for cores and priority.
This software just have a fancy GUI and seems to have a few extra features that, in my opinion, doesn’t worth $20.
This looks like a very good software. It will help me immensely to organize the processes. While video editing i sometimes see a considerable slowdown and surely this software can help me boost my system. I would be very much pleased if you can put my name for the draw. Thanks
I’d like to win this program to test how good it can be as to games. =] Count me in.
Good giveaway and good program. Useful to me count me please. Thanks.
Because ghacks is a sweet site:)
Ain’t that the truth! :)
I installed and am testing the Trial version of Core Tuner 2 and find it to be an excellent program.
It runs very smoothly and performs very well. I am quite impressed with Ashampoo’s products so far, this one in particular!!
I would like to be included in the giveaway, as I could use the registered version, but unfortunately, I cannot afford it.
Please count me in, Martin and thanks for another great review.
This laptop constantly drags on audio and video I need something to HELP ME!
Sounds like a great idea, please count me in for the giveaway.
Optimizing my game.
I am using AnVir Task Manager which
overlaps the functions of this somewhat
but this appears to offer other functions.
Playing the odds on this one…
Windows doesn’t really do a very good job of optimizing use of multi-core processors. Ashampoo’s Core Tuner provides an simpler way to adjust the priority of and boost individual programs and processes. With feedback from users, it is possible to determine which Windows processes/services might not be necessary. Similarly, it is possible to turn off autostart items, speeding up the boot process. After customizing a profile for one computer, you can import the same profile to another computer. This would be particularly useful if you run a similar set of programs on each machine.
The company’s name was formed during a discussion about their first product, an uninstaller utility software, when Rolf Hilchner mentioned that “it cleans your Windows like a shampoo”.
I think this takes first prize in the goofy, nerdo-naming contest :P
Might be interesting to see how this affects performance on a pretty fast Core 2 Duo.
That’s actually pretty funny :)
Great tool that give great benefit for my system, I will be so grateful if I could get this license.
Thanks
Please count me in – I use a Phemon X6 processor with Process Lasso Pro dictating process priority – I would like to see if this software can help me utilize some of the underutilized processor cores.
I often run multiple tasks on my system at the same time and my system is not a high performance one.
My Athlon 64 X2 is burning! (Actually, I need a new PC)
But let me try this and see how can it help my good old friend! =)
Ashampoo Core Tuner 2 is exactly what I have been looking for, never knew there was such a great program, love this Ghacks site.
Please count me in! I have very slow computer and i need it to speed up it.
in a double core i have problems when the big majority of the programs start and use 1 core about 100% when the second according to anvirtask is 50%
so I think it useful to have ashampoo core tuner 2
note : i like ashampoo products there are good software
I could really use this. I’m experiencing instances of lags and extreme performance drops, and all I can do now is wait them out, because I can’t even open task manager at these times to see which process or processes are causing the problem.
This is exactly the kind of utility I desperately need. My laptop is only several months old but is already overheating, even though I have a fan underneath it. I’ve been spending a LOT of time trying to tweak the process manager, but having better tools at my disposal is, I think, exactly what I need.
Please help!
Yes, this one will help me a lot to tame all the running processes of my PC and finally enjoy some quality gaming!!!
I am currently using XP Power up Platinum on a older HP Compaq D530 and would love to have the up grade. Please count me in for this giveaway.
Well, I´d like to incorporate this into my tuning set…
So count me in too!
I need it, because my computer has too many programs, and i have to give priority to some of them – this software do it very well – i think!
Thanks