The cleaner resembles the popular program CCleaner. It dividedes the data that can be cleaned into the three tabs Windows, Applications and Browsers. These tabs are further divided into sections such as Windows History, Productivity or File Sharing.

Each section lists multiple program or data locations that can be cleaned by SlimCleaner. The Analyze button starts a scan of the system for the selected entries and displays the results in list form at the end.

slimcleaner

system cleanup

Each program or storage location that was found during the scan is displayed with the total amount of files and the combined data size on the computer. It is possible to run the cleaner right away, or click on any entry to view a detailed listing of every file, with the possibility to exclude items from the cleanup.

The optimization tool makes use of information from the cloud to rate a program in the startup tab. The rating gives the user immediate information about the startup program, which may be used to decide whether to remove it from the startup or not.

Each program entry is listed with a rating, publisher and startup command.

Additional information can be retrieved by following links to the developer’s website.

optimization

The Services tab lists all services and their current, original and supercharged state. Supercharged here is a special services configuration created by the developers of the software. It basically changes states to optimize the system.

A restore tab is available to undo changes that have been previously made.

The uninstaller uses the cloud to rate installed programs. That’s however the only difference to the standard Windows uninstaller. Still, it is interesting to see the rating, which may help users remove software with low ratings.

uninstaller

The file shredder can securely delete files in the operating system. It offers various shred levels like quick overwriting the files, or using the Guttman 35 overwrite algorithm. Files and folders can be added easily from within the program interface.

The Hijack Log creates a HiJack This log, again with ratings from the cloud whenever available. This can aid users in detecting potentially dangerous programs and objects.

Windows Tools finally leads to various Windows control panel and system tools.

windows tools

SlimCleaner shows a lot of promise. The program could use some polishing, the uninstaller for instance crashes the application on one of our test systems. All other sections worked fine though.

Specialized tools like CCleaner or Revo Uninstaller offer additional features that SlimCleaner in its current state is not offering. The cloud based rating system however is an excellent feature, even though many programs are not rated yet. This should change soon with the distribution of the software, as every user is able to rate software directly in the program.

SlimCleaner is available for download at the developer website. (via Beatmaster’s Winlite Blog)

Free Fixer will also scan various critical components of a Windows operating system including running processes, autostart entries, Browser Helper Objects or TCP/IP settings. The difference becomes obvious after the report is being displayed on the screen. Free Fixer will for example whitelist critical system files which means that they will not show up in the default report. This is done to decrease the number of entries that are displayed making it easier for the user to concentrate and analyze the remaining items. There is however no way of displaying whitelisted items in the application, something that the developer’s might want to consider integrating in their security software program.

Another important difference is the “more info” link that is displayed next to each item that was found during the scan. A click on the link will open a page (in Internet Explorer) on the developer’s website that is listing information about the specific entry. Files from trusted companies like Apple or Mozilla are highlighted in green giving the user another indication of potentially safe applications and processes.

The program displays delete or repair checkboxes next to each entry that has not been whitelisted or indicated as being trustworthy. Additional information like the system path are displayed for each item which, combined with the link to display more information on a website, can be a great asset of identifying potentially dangerous items quickly.

Free Fixer is compatible with most versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system (including Windows Xp, Windows Vista and Windows 7). A download is provided at the developer’s website.

It is no security software for beginners but excellent for advanced users and users who know someone who is able to draw the right conclusions from the security logs that have been generated. Another way to receive fast results would be to use the online script Hijack This logfile analysis. You can paste the logfile into the form field or upload the log from your computer and the script analyzes the logfile of Hijack This automatically.

It uses user input to determine whether something is a potential threat or not. This works most of the time but leads sometimes to unjustified ratings. I installed AV Antivir in a custom directory and the analyzer used this to indicate a possible problem. I think the best way to cope with this situation would be to briefly analyze the elements that could be malicious and decided if that is really the case. To use the above example: I knew that I did install it in that directory and therefor decided that the warning was not justified in this case.

If you are insecure about a certain setting ask in the well frequented support forum or search the internet for clues on the subject. Hijack This has a similar analyze this button build in which takes you to the website of the developer of Hijack This. They display information about everything that was found on your computer and how frequent it was found in other computers.

This could be an indicator for safeness but I would suggest that you perform additional searches to be on the safe side. You can download the newest version of Hijack This from TrendSecure by following the link in the first paragraph.