Group test: what's the best PC optimisation software?

The best disk tools/optimisation

By | PC Advisor |

PC Advisor reviews the best disk tools/optimisation software you can install to speed up a PC.

5. Uniblue PowerSuite 2012

Uniblue PowerSuite 2012
  • Reviewed on: 10 February 12
  • RRP: £79.90 inc VAT
  • Rating: Rated 7 out of 10

The three applications combined in Uniblue's PowerSuite sit naturally together and work to improve the overall running of a Windows PC. We found a small but measurable difference to startup time, although there's also the feeling that some of the changes are similar to Sheldon Cooper arranging cereal boxes in increasing order of fibre content.

4. Avanquest SystemSuite 12 Professional

Avanquest SystemSuite 12 Professional
  • Reviewed on: 15 March 12
  • RRP: £41 inc. VAT
  • Rating: Rated 6 out of 10

Avanquest offers a 5-PC licence for £41, which seems good value. The improvements SystemSuite can make to a PC are worth having, and the start-up and program analysers can help make sensible choices about a Window PC's setup and hence improve its day-to-day speed. Some of the ratings and reports are hard to fathom and a bit more transparency on what the software is actually doing would improve things.

 

 

3. Avanquest Fix-It Utilities 12

Avanquest Fix-It Utilities 12
  • Reviewed on: 17 January 12
  • RRP: £31 inc VAT (5-PC licence)
  • Rating: Rated 7 out of 10

It would be good to say that Fix-It Utilities 12 handles all the key housekeeping tasks needed to keep your PC running clean. To a large extent, it can. The problem we had with the Temporary Files Cleaner, though, which prevented the Fix and Maintain index ever rising above 41 percent, detracts from an otherwise strong performance. It might not happen on your PC, of course and £31 for a five-PC licence is good value.

2. O&O Defrag 15 Professional

O&O Defrag 15 Professional
  • Reviewed on: 3 April 12
  • RRP: £49inc VAT for 3-PC licence, £29 for 1-PC licence
  • Rating: Rated 8 out of 10

£29 may seem expensive for a single-function utility and you can certainly get cheaper defragmenters, even freeware. However, O&O Defrag 15 Professional feels far more thorough than free and low-priced offerings, with extensive logging, feedback and scheduling. The 3-PC Family pack reduces the cost per machine to under £17.

1. DriverScanner 2012

DriverScanner 2012
  • Reviewed on: 30 November 11
  • RRP: £19 inc. VAT
  • Rating: Rated 8 out of 10

DriverScanner 2012 offers an easy and complete way to update your drivers and keep tabs on the overall health of your PC. It's easy to use and quickly updated all of my outdated drivers.

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Comments

Hoggy. said: Hi Will always be Piriforms CCleaner for me.Hoggy.

Dlb020553 said: And Also has the ability to wipe free drive space amongest other little add on's.

Dlb020553 said: CCleaner does have the ability to remove start up Items !

K-walter said: once again a magazine failed to mention the best of the best IObit advanced system care 4 it has all the tools the others have, but also much more ,and at a very good price  between £13 and "£23 also there is a very good free version it seems that sevral magazines dont like IObit saying that it does not have this tool or that tool ,one even had a picture of the interface saying it had no reg defrag when one was clearly available and it was very prominent on the interface so what is the matter with you have IObit upset you all .after all it is clearly a lot cheaper than most and has many more tools

Matt Egan said: If you're interested in speed-boost software, you may interested in this feature - we tested five optimisation utilities on several different (aged) PCs, benchmarking the resulting performance changes. Makes for interesting reading: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/buy...

Condom said: If I remember correctly Ccleaner also allows you not only to delete programs from the running schedule but lets you disable them.  Makes you wonder if the other tests are just as accurate?

Ed Benson15 said: This program (actually there are three ... all for free) is a must have if you are not using a utility program to keep the crap off your computer, update your drivers and everything else you might pay up to $80 to do.If you don't take advantage of these programs for free, I can't help but ask you why not?

Richard said: What about Perfect Disk? Allows you to customize exactly how you would like your system to store your files. Also can setup schedule for automatic drive maintenance or run with the screen saver. You can also defrag selected files only if you so wish.You can also perform boot a defrag to optomize locked system files such as mft or pagefiles.Built in duplicate finder and visual disk space check. In my opinion it's one of, if not, the fastest and most comprehensive defraggers on the market.I have 7.2Tb storage on 6 drives and all are kept at 1% or less fragmented files.Wouldn't be without it.

Derian said: What about the other well known software such as Power Suite?

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