PC Health / Optimize / Cleanup / Checkup tools

[RobbieGong]

Anyone using any of the the pc health optimize / checkup / cleanup tools ? In particular the Avast one which you can activate via the Avast Free anti virus. It cost £14.99 a year.

[walpurgis]

I've tried all the well known free ones for Windows.

Glary Utilities is popular for some reason. I just find it annoying as constantly reminds you that you are using the free version and suggests you get the paid for full version.

CCleaner is much the same in most ways and also prompts you to upgrade regularly.

Slimcleaner Free is good. Better to my liking than Slimcleaner Plus. Slimcleaner Free is very comprehensive. Check the reviews.

The most fun to use is ToolWiz Care. This is completely free and does not offer paid for options. It has every function you can think of and a few that wouldn't even occur to you. It works very well and looks better than the others.

There are many other 'one click fix' utilities, but the above are the best known I think.



Each of these are available as safe free downloads at: http://download.cnet.com/windows/ Reviews are here too.

[struth]

I would be inclined to avoid these utilities personally. they can screw things up if not careful. Revo Pro uninstaller is one of the few ones that I use. there is a free version that does a decent job too but the pro one is a nice bit of kit in your arsenal

[walpurgis]

I try loads of free software Grant and you're right that misused some can cause problems. Many are very good though.

I make a point of trying out any (and many) that may be useful to me, just to see what they offer.

As you know. I do have disasters, but they're normally down to bug infections or me buggering things up by playing with areas in the PC I've not sussed out properly (yet)! I just reinstall Windows then. Not had the Bios knackered yet, fingers crossed :D

I must admit the only snag I've come across with an actual utility is with Xyvos behaviour based antivirus, which disabled autoplay. Annoying, but not a big deal as the affected programs still worked manually.