Product Reviews

The older a PC gets, the more sluggish it feels. This is because your version of Windows will no longer be in peak condition. Fortunately, Iolo System Mechanic 7 brings together a suite of tools designed to help even a Windows novice keep their system in tip-top condition.

The program's home screen is rather cluttered, but with a little patience itfs easy enough to figure out what everything does. Tasks are grouped under seven different categories: Increase Performance; Enhance Protection; Free Up Drive Space; Repair Problems; Ensure Personal Privacy; Manage System Configuration and Perform Diagnostics. System Mechanic does everything you'd expect it to, such as fix Registry problems,

How quickly it does this depends on the number of problems and on how fast your computer is. Before you start a task, the application estimates how long that task will take. In our tests, the estimates were right every time to within a margin of 30 seconds. Results were good and the program successfully fixed several Registry errors on our test PC, compacted the Registry, optimised the start-up process and performed several other tasks. This was accomplished in far less time and with less fiddling around than if you had done the same jobs manually.

There were, however, some things we didn't like. Some of the options seemed pointless, as if they'd been included simply because they could be. Who, for example, needs or even wants a background picture in Windows Explorer? And in at least one instance the program seemed to offer options on one screen that weren't available on the next.

On the whole, however, despite a few redundant features, this application offers a good range of features and makes keeping your computer in trim far easier than it would be otherwise.