IObit's Advanced SystemCare Free 4 offers a moderately useful set of free tuneup tools that performs tasks from cleaning your disk of unnecessary files to protecting your privacy by erasing traces of your surfing habits, defragging your hard disk, scanning your system for security holes and more. Unlike the previous free version 3.5 of the program, though, if you want other more advanced tools, such as a registry cleaner, you'll have to upgrade to the Pro version.

The main interface of Advanced SystemCare Free is clean and simple-looking, with buttons for Quick Care, Deep Care, Turbo Boost, and Toolbox. Click Quick Care or Deep Care and the program examines your system for problems, such as registry issues, malware, privacy problems, and so on. But there's a problem when you do that, because the free version won't be able to fix all the problems it uncovers--fixing your registry, for example. For that, you'll have to upgrade to the for-pay Pro version.

A better bet is the Toolbox, which has more than 20 individual tools for making your system run better, although some of these tools only work in Advanced SystemCare's Pro version. Disk cleaning, privacy-sweeping, file-shredding, a startup manager, and a disk defragger are just a few of the useful free tools you'll find here. Useful is that those modules that require an upgrade are clearly labeled with a Pro icon, so you know they won't work in the free version.

Although this new free version of Advanced SystemCare no longer includes the registry cleaner, it does have some new free tools not available in version 3, such as for fixing disk errors and Windows vulnerability.

If you're looking for a modest suite of useful tools, you'd do well to download Advanced SystemCare Free 4. Just don't expect a powerhouse.

--Preston Gralla