When you’re using computers all day long at work, it’s important for your devices to be running optimally. If you don’t spend a little time maintaining and optimizing them, just as you would give your car a tune-up, they will slow down, crash more often, and potentially be more exposed to hackers and other security issues. If you need to find a good product for your computer that can run performance-system maintenance, cleaning and optimization tasks today, read on.
Dr. Cleaner
When it comes to free products for Mac users, it’s hard to go past Dr. Cleaner. Created by security firm Trend Micro, this tune-up system is the only all-in-one app on the market that covers disk cleaning, memory optimization and system monitoring for Macs. It has been used by more than four million people around the globe to date, and has more than 110,000 ratings, with an average rating of an impressive 4.8.
Download Dr. Cleaner for free and the software will run a Disk Clean to get rid of junk. It will run a quick clean from the status bar menu and clear temporary files, including mail caches, logs, iTunes, and IOS items, plus empty your trash in removable storage and detect and remove any files from uninstalled apps.
With the product’s 1-click Mac Memory Clean you can speed up your computer’s performance too. The software frees up memory after closing apps, and makes it easy for you to see which files or folders use the most disk space. It can run a 1-click scan for large files (this is customizable from 10MB and upwards), be given filters of size, date, name, and type, and ensure that protected files are not deleted. Duplicate files can be found quickly too, and you can preview each duplicate to decide for yourself which should be deleted.
Dr. Cleaner also comes with an Intelligent Uninstall App that optimizes and manages all installed apps on your device. You can be notified when a new version of an installed program is found, which ensures they stay up to date, and more secure, over time.
Iolo System Mechanic
For a good free tune-up product for a PC, check out Iolo System Mechanic. It was developed by specialist computer repair, optimization, and protection firm Iolo Technologies, a leader in the system utility software market globally.
The System Mechanic optimization tool gives uses a faster, cleaner PC by removing unwanted apps and junk files, blocking bloatware and unnecessary auto-run settings, clearing RAM, browser histories, and caches, and wiping numerous logs. This frees up system resources while getting rid of browsing activity and thereby protecting user privacy.
The toolkit is known for significantly improving the speed of machines, particularly during the startup phase, and when it comes to using the internet. It also explains PC problems and the steps it will take in an easy-to-understand way, which is good for people who haven’t used this kind of software much in the past. There is a handy desktop widget too.
When you first download the product you’ll be prompted to perform an initial system scan. This will analyze your PC for potential problems, and can be done at a Quick or a Deep level. The Deep option obviously takes longer, but does discover more hidden issues that can be slowing down your computer and making it less secure.
AVG TuneUp Unlimited
If you’re looking for a comprehensive product that can be used across multiple devices, including PCs, Macs and Android gadgets, check out AVG TuneUp Unlimited. This all-in-one, new tuning suite will speed up, clean, and fix your devices, and costs USD$39.99. It can be used on unlimited devices for a 12-month period.
TuneUp Unlimited speeds up old computers, cleans up years’ worth of temporary files, fixes bugs, scans for duplicates, helps users free up disk space by finding large files, identifies and uninstalls unused programs, and extends battery life.
It includes a browser cleaner which is designed to fix problems with your browser(s), and give you back some disk space at the same time. This updated product cleans up hidden junk from the Windows Store and from Windows 8/8.1 apps too, and has a “turbo mode” which releases more power by switching off unnecessary features.
Download TuneUp Unlimited and you will also get access to its Startup Optimizer, which scans your computer for programs which are slowing the startup and shutdown process. In addition, the Startup Manager reduces startup times; the Drive Defrag speeds up access to your computer’s hard drive; and the Program Deactivator stops programs you’re not using from draining power. The product also has a Registry Cleaner which declutters and cleans registries for fewer system crashes and less freezing.
Damini Juyal