System Mechanic
Version: 8.0
Downloads Count: 460,922
License Type: Trial
Price: $50
Date Added: Jul 23, 2008
Operating Systems: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista
Requirements: 32-bit OS
File Size: 415 KB
Author: Iolo Technologies
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Editorial Review of System Mechanic
It seems like just yesterday that I was reviewing System Mechanic 7.5. Actually, it was just this past March. Already, there's a System Mechanic 8 which while improved, doesn't have the feel of a whole number upgrade. Improved ActiveCare (scheduled maintenance), a mildly useful DriveSense monitor to tell you the status of your hard drive, and adding defragging to the registry compacter don't seem like adequate reasons for existing users to plop down $30 for an upgrade to a program they just paid $50 for. For first-timers it's a pricey, but useful, way to maintain their PC's Windows installation.
Financial concerns aside, System Mechanic does a very good, if sometimes overzealous job of cleaning up your system. I reinstalled a rather old and rusty Windows installation and put the optimization tools to the test. Quite a few optimizations are registry tweaks and editing that a more knowledgeable user can perform--if they're willing and have the time. Others, such as compacting and defragging (new for version 8) the registry, as well as defragging hard drives (Windows has a built in disk defragger) require the dedicated tools that System Mechanic provides..
I wasn't impressed by System Mechanic's Security scan recommendations. For the most part, they either told me something I already knew (such as there being no background virus scanner running) or that a file association was dangerous. System Mechanic recommends--and defaults to--changing dangerous associations (those that malware might run) to something innocuous like a text editor. When you want to actually work with them, you must then right-click to open them with the program that you actually want to run or edit them with. Windows is hassle enough without System Mechanic making it more so.
The disk defragger did a very thorough job, though you won't likely notice any improvement in speed if you're using NTFS partitions. I can edit the registry myself, but having SM scan it and compact it is a real time saver and definitely perked up my aged test installation. ActiveCare, which schedules the various System Mechanic maintenance tasks seemed to work fine, though no better than the previous version. The DriveSense drive monitor, as I mentioned earlier, can be occasionally useful but you can get the same S.M.A.R.T information from a free program such as PassMark Software's DiskCheck.
System Mechanic will revive a Windows installation that's bogged down under a morass of dead registry entries and other garbage, and therein lies its true value. If you need a utility for this, it's as good as it gets. Most of its other features, while sometimes useful, seem designed to . . . well, pad a feature set. If you're using version 7 or better, I say forego upgrading for at least another revision.
Note: This download is the Iolo Download Manager, which you can use to install System Mechanic.
--Jon L. Jacobi
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