Chronus - I agree with all of your comments regarding so called tune up programs. I too used System Mechanic many, many years ago now and it made an absolute mess of my PC. Like you I had very little knowledge of computers in those days and therefore put my trust in this program because I thought it was going to make big improvements. To put it mildly, it caused problems it was supposed to put right! I have never used any of these type of programs since.

Thanks for the article.

OH! Nearly forgot - the second most common cause of a slow computer was malware or a virus. Usually as a result of kids downloading free games. "FunWebSearch" being the most noteable.

A rival mag has in its latest edition given a luke-warm review of tune-up utilities. They included SM and concluded that registry cleaning is largely futile because it didn't make any difference in performance.

I find it irritating that magazines like this include versions on their free cds often with a free trial and the option to buy. These programs are then put on computers by inexperienced people who do not understand the possible consequences.

Of course, that is the reason for a FREE trial, in the hope that at least some of the persons using it will buy it, that's business.

The problem occurs when there is no un-install program or the user tries to un-install it manually, which can cause all sorts of problems to the system.

Terry