PC utilities forum: Comparison of some cleaners and optimizers

Take your computer system and see how it works, what it's performance is like on Startup, Shutdown, opening applications, and so on. That is your benchmark.

Now, taking one of the examples above, (the first one);

Start time:- 12 sec
This means that using the utility decreased Startup time on the test computer by 12 seconds. It booted up from a cold start 12 seconds faster than the benchmark test on the same computer before using the utility.

Shutdown time: - 2.2 sec
This means that this utility decreased Shutdown time on the test computer by 2.2 seconds. It shutdown the computer 2.2 seconds faster than the benchmark test on the same computer before using the utility.

Speed: + 1.6%
Overall performance of the test computer slowed down by 1.6%. That is, general usage of the system, opening applications, housekeeping, and so on, became slower by 1.6% of what it was before using the utility.

Knowing what your benchmark tests are on your computer, and "all other things being equal", (but they never are), those results show what you 'may' expect if you used that utility on your computer.

Hope that helps.

Mark

The tests were carried out by the Dutch PCM, Personal Computer Magazine.

You may be right. We will have to wait for Kees to confirm or otherwise. Unless you can read Dutch, then here's their web site;
http://www.pcmweb.nl/



Mark

I got your email.

Kees' post was not intended to provide links to such utilities. There are no links to click, just underlined headers.

The post is simply a comparison of how such utilities performed on a benchmarked computer.

I hope that explains it.

Mark

Tune Up is one of the best optimizing utility but its missing in your list

So Ashampoo cuts 43.7 seconds of startup time. My computer running Windows 7 has a start up time of 35 seconds.
Do this mean that if I use Ashampoo my computer would start about 9 seconds before I even turned it on.
Is this magazine pushing this product? Did no one think to check this out in the real world?

This is my computer specifications. It is a fully functioning computer, with internet service. I assembled it in April 2010. Intel i5-750 cpu, ASUS P7H55D-M-EVO Motherboard, ASUS EN9500GT(1GB) Graphics Card, 4GB Memory(That is all it can use), 60GB OCZ SSD as my C drive and a 750GB Western Digital Black Caviar as my D drive, and a Samsung CD/DVD drive all crammed into an In Win BK623 MicroATX Mini Tower case. The 300w power supply is more than adequate for my setup. My normal configuration is Windows 7 (32-bit). Normal start up time for Windows 7 is about 35 seconds.I am currently using BitDefender Total Internet Security for virus protection. I also use Ccleaner. For several years I have used Acronis True Image for backup.I can make an image of my C drive in 3 minutes and restore the image in 5 minutes. Currently I have 10 different Images including Windows XP, Windows 7 (32-bit) and (64-bit) and Windows 8 Developer Preview stored on my D drive. I have tried most of the "Optimizing Software" that offer a free trial and I can't really determine if any of them do much to "SPEED UP MY PC." They all seem to find a lot of empty registry key, thereby claiming to find a lot of stuff. What does an empty key do to slow down a computer? I don't know, but I suspect "NOTHING." Yes, I know how to edit the registry. I am also leery of any websites that report on the top ten of any on these type programs. Is the review influenced by money. There is no way to know. So here is what I do.After I download and give these programs a try I do not try to uninstall them. I just restore the Image and that keeps my computer running smoothly.

Frankly speaking I don't like system optimizers as they may harm pc and decrease performance instead of increasing. I use them when I have no choice - reinstall whole operational system which may take whole day or try to bring back to live my system.

Here are my benchmarks on almost dead opertional system

Windows 7 Pro, 8GB RAM, pavilion dv7

Ccleaner
Start time: - ~2 sec
Shutdowntime: seems didn't change
Speed: didn't notice changes

Digeus System Optimizer:
Start time: - ~3 sec
Shutdowntime: - ~10
Overal system speed: increased - as I switched almost all not needed services, autodetection, themes, and so on

Windsty Tune Up Suite (I ran it after Digeus SO)
Start time: - ~3 sec

Shutdowntime: left the same
Overal system speed: seems didn't change

I used speedPC Pro Utility Cleaner and it says I have 4570 problems on my computer that are critical

my computer seems to run fine is this possible that there are that ma ny problems. I used CCleaner.

Mark thanks for the great insight it makes me feel a whole lot better hearing it from you since I thouight the same thing and wasn't sure

Hello Guys.

Computer users all over the world are aware of the fact that computer maintenance is the key for having a properly function computer. Frequent usage of the computer in the form of installing and removing programs, changing system settings alters the registry values.

Thanks.

Kees, you're absolutely right. I've seen too many posts in other forums from people who've run registry cleaners and then ran into problems later after installing Windows updates. These so-called cleaners delete entries from the registry which are there for FUTURE use by MS because they don't appear to be used. Then when the updates come along expecting these entries to be there, wham-o you run into problems. If you want to see a lot of opinions such as yours and mine, check out this link
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/are-registry-cleaners-legit-or-fake/51125026-c533-4771-bcf7-035ebf1d2bee

Good luck.

I am using tune up utilities 2013 and it works for me. System is in goo condition.
For defragmentation I recommend another tool - Raxco Perfect Disk.

I once downloaded a software name Registry Recycler, using it for about a month, but they never asked me for money. Its completely free and quite effective (At Least for my PC) so i do not agree with your argument " Practically none are free".. There exist cleaners that are free and effective for Pc cleanup.
Would like you to add a comparison of this software too...

its here: http://download.cnet.com/Registry-Recycler/3000-18512_4-12923082.html

No, this isn't an exhaustive list. It contains just 5 products I selected from commonly used ones to see what they did.

But feel free to do a comparable test on another one and report your findings here. All you need: a spare PC (or a PC that's big enough to accomodate a virtual machine) and a Windows install disk.

Kees