System tools like System Mechanic Professional can resolve most of the issues encountered semi-automatically.

When you first start System Mechanic Pro you are asked to run an analysis of the system. The program checks common problems and issues and displays its finding on the screen. The scan itself takes less than 30 seconds to complete and rates the PC’s health, security and overall status.

Options to repair all issues directly and to display the problems that have been found during scans are available in the main interface. The system tool lists problems and warnings on a summary page. Problems can be both security or health related, for instance that Windows Firewall is not running, that the computer has known security vulnerabilities or that the Internet connection is not optimized for maximum speed. Critical problems are highlighted in red and displayed at the top.

Actions to resolve the issues are directly displayed next to each listing. Problems can be resolved right away with the click of the button. It is alternatively possible to display additional information about a selected issue. It is for instance possible to display the list of security vulnerabilities on the screen.

Once you start fixing issues your overall system status may improve from its previous rating. System Mechanic Professional suggests to run a deep scan once the initial issues have been resolved or ignored by the user. A deep scan analysis takes longer to complete but finds additional problems that the quick scan may not have found.

Deep Scan among other things checks if the Registry is fragmented or if Solid State Drives have been optimized.

Toolbox

The toolbox lists all-in-one tools and individual tools. All-in-one tools are system tools that can accelerate, repair, cleanup or secure the PC with one click.

PC TotalCare runs all four scans at once.

Individual Tools

The individual tools group lists specialized tools, from optimizing the Windows startup to repairing shortcuts, recovering deleted files or monitoring the hard drive status.

Some of the tools are used by System Mechanic’s scans, while others are specialized tools that can only be started directly from here.

Increase Performance

• Memory Mechanic – Defragments the system memory
• CRUDD Remover – Detects and offers to remove redundant applications (e.g. CCleaner when System Mechanic is installed)
• EnergyBooster – Turn off background programs to free up system memory
• Startup Optimizer – Suggests start up items that may slow down system start
• NetBooster – Optimize the Internet settings to improve the Internet connections stability and performance
• Designated Drivers – Scan for outdated drivers and suggest updates
• Registry Compactor – Defragment and compact the Registry to speed up the start of the PC
• Program Accelerator – Speed up programs by re-aligning the data on the hard drive
• Drive Accelerator – Defragment hard drives
• SSD Accelerator – Improve the performance of Solid State Drives

Enhance Protection

• Security Optimizer – Scan for and fix Windows security vulnerabilities
• Registry Backup – Create a backup of the Windows Registry
• System Guard – A program that blocks malicious programs and processes from loading and interacting with the system

Clean Up System Clutter

• Clean PC Clutter – Scan for and remove temporary files on the system to free up disk space
• Junk File Finder – Find and delete obsolete and unneeded files

Repair Problems

• Registry Tuner – Repair Registry problems like obsolete data references
• Shortcut Repair – Repair broken shortcuts
• Drive Medic – Find and fix hard drive problems. Option to create a Drive Medic Emergency CD to boot from it when the operating system cannot be started
• System Troubleshooter – Disaster recovery when a drive becomes unstable

Ensure Personal Privacy

• Privacy Cleaner – Erases private data like cookies, chat transcripts or the search history
• Incinerator and Drive Scrubber – Full functionality of the Drive Scrubber program integrated in System Mechanic Professional.

Manage System Configuration

• Startup Manager – Configure Windows startup items to improve boot time
• Process Manager – Manage running processes on the system
• System Customizer – Customize Windows settings, apply tweaks
• NetTuner – Customize advanced Internet settings
• Duplicate File Inspector – Find and remove duplicate files on the system
• Advanced Uninstaller – Remove installed programs.

Recover Deleted Data

• Recover All Data on a drive or disk – Restores the entire contents of a drive, device or folder
• Recover Deleted Files – Searches a drive for deleted files with options to recover the findings
• Recover deleted pictures and movies – Specialized search for recoverable photos, images and videos
• Recover deleted songs and sounds
• Recover deleted email – Supports Outlook, Thunderbird, Netscape and other email programs

Perform Diagnostics

• DriveSense – Monitor the hard drive status
• Advanced System Information – Display system information like the installed hardware or software
• NetSpeed Analyzer – Benchmark the Internet connection
• System Change Tracker – Tracks changes that have been made to the system.

Several tasks can be automated to run regularly. This includes repairing Registry and hard drive errors, removing temporary files or backing up the Registry regularly.

Difference between System Mechanic Editions

System Mechanic Professional includes all features of System Mechanic. The software furthermore includes four iolo products that can be purchased separately. The products are Drive Scrubber, Search and Recover, System Shield and Online Backup.

Verdict

System Mechanic Professional ships with a lot of tools, of which most can be quite useful. Some tools could be improved though. The software uninstaller for instance is not checking the system for leftovers after the installation. It also feels strange that a Good system status after resolving all quick scan issues is often changed to a lower level after running a deep scan.

Especially the one-click repair options are handy for users who experience issues on their PC that they want to resolve without diving deeper into the issue.

Users who want to try the software find a trial version at the official download site.

Giveaway

We have 20 System Mechanic Professional licenses for this giveaway. Leave a comment below to take part in the drawing.

With no install needed, just run it, select a drive and watch as the table structure fills up with folders and sub-folders. You can double click on any folder to bring it into main view (cool animation here), so you can see more detail. If you’ve zoomed in on a folder you can click the name again to zoom back out, or you can use the forward and back buttons like on a browser.

There are options to show unknown space, free space, but apart from that this app is a simple hard drive space analyzer, but a really very well made one. It is beautiful, it is elegant and it gives you the information you need in a form very easily digested by the human mind. I simply love this app, if you can and you like it too, please consider donating to them.

Melanie’s Review:

How to Reduce Disk Usage in Windows 7 with SpaceSniffer

After using your PC for awhile, you might begin to notice that available space on the hard drive is persistently decreasing. For the advanced user, this is not a problem and it is an easy fix. For the beginner, this can be confusing and it raises a question: Why is my disk space disappearing and how can I get it back? The beginning user may not understand what has happened. This article is for those users who do not know why this happens or what to do about it. Fear not, dear beginners! The disk space can be easily reclaimed.

Though there are several ways to cleanup old files and old programs that have not been used for a long time, we will look at a simple, free utility called SpaceSniffer. There is no need to install it, as it is run from an .exe file in the .zip archive. This utility will assist the new user in identifying the files and programs, etc. that is occupying hard disk space and then help them to clean it up.

You will want to download the latest version, which you will find at the top of the download page at the website. Look for version 1.1.3.1 and click to download. Beginner advice: Always open the containing folder for the program file before opening a program from the internet. Right-click on the file and select “Scan with ” and if the scan comes up clean, then you may open the file.

Since this is a .zip file, you will see 5 different files listed. Double-click the Application Type file pictured at the bottom in the screenshot above. There are two PDF files in the .zip archive as well. The user manual is full of great tips to help you get the most out of the utility.

In the “Choose drives or type paths” menu, choose the drive that you want to clear space on. In most cases, this will be drive (C:) which is the main hard drive for the operating system. If the drive is partitioned, you will need to clean those partitions separately but you will find them on the menu.

Once you click on the drive icon, SpaceSnifferr will run a scan and show how the disk is populated by particular files and programs. One area that is important to clean is temporary files. Type the pathway in the Filter box and then click Filter.

You will then be able to see the temporary files and how much disk space these occupy. Many of them can be removed and this will clear a significant amount of space on your hard drive.

You may also search by time period. For example, type >1year in the Filter box and then click Filter.

Areas that have not been used in greater than one year will be highlighted blue. In the following example, the major areas that could be cleaned are pagefile.sys and hiberfil.sys. These occupy almost 6GB of drive space.

This is where the user manual comes in handy. You will have to read through a few pages, but there is a content sidebar that shows the different subjects. Use the information in the manual to help you clear unnecessarily occupied space on the hard drive. Once you get the hang of it, it is very easy to use.