Getting the most out of your PC without physically upgrading it is an ongoing conundrum that developers are constantly trying to tackle.

HS WinPerfect aims to boost your PC's performance by enhancing it in several important areas including internet, memory usage as well as cleaning up any old temporary or old files. The devlopers have bult the program on one of their main cleaning products - HS CleanDisk Pro but this is much more than a cleaning program as it optimises as well. It tries to detect the kind of use that your PC has been subjected to - i.e. gaming or wordprocessing etc and then tweak your system apprortiately. This includes speeding up your internet connection, freeing up your CPU and accelerating the way your RAM handles images. The problem with programs such as this that try to do everything is that usually, they are good at one thing but not good all rounders. In this case, the cleaner is excellent but the optimiser is very dodgy to say the least. It does reveal a whole list of registry entries that could be potentially harmful but even after cleaning them, it doesn't seem to make much of a difference to the speed or performance of your system.

A good cleaner but be wary of false promises about the optimisation wonders of this program.

Fresh UI is a fresh solution for configuring and optimizing Windows. Loaded with hundreds of useful hidden settings in Windows XP/2000/NT/ 98/95/Me, this software covers the customizing and optimizing techniques that you'll be glad to know, such as:

• Customizing Windows User Interface (UI)
• Optimizing system settings
• Optimizing hardware settings
• Customizing Windows application settings
• Controlling user environment with policies

Fresh UI is organized by section for easy navigation and is complete with detailed descriptions for easy reference.

If you're a serious gamer then you'll need some help to get the most out of your system and ensure your graphics card is performing to the peak of it's abilities.

Game Gain 2 is the latest version of this popular gaming assistant which attempts to take gaming to the next level. It can help you enjoy games like you never have done before by using those parts of your processor and graphics card that had formerly laid dormant. The program is remarkably easy to use requiring just the tweaking of a few throttles and switches to blast your PC into the gaming stratosphere. However, you should use this utility with caution because it does change registry settings that could unbalance your system if your registry is already damaged. It works by making direct changes to system registry and system files to enhance memory, screen drawing, animations, refresh rates, CPU threading speeds. However the developers assure that it only optimises based on the capabilities of your system and won't try and push it past anything it can't handle. If you do experience problems afterwards, the system analyzer should help remedy them.

A great tool for gamers although if you've got the latest Intel Quad processors, you'll probably have little use for it.

The all-new PcMedik 6 sets the standard for PC optimizing software. One of the first products to enhance PC performance, it increases overall speed and squeezes out every last bit of performance your computer is capable of.

PcMedik also locates and repairs problems with software and hardware incompatibilities which lead to computer performance issues. Very easy to use, fully compliant with all versions of Microsoft Windows and adjusts itself to your computer specifications. Take your existing PC and revitalize it the easy way.

Taking control of your RAM is one way to free up resources as Windows can sometimes be very inefficient at managing it quickly.

However, it's also a very risky think to carry out as a third party application is effectively deciding what is better for your RAM management than Windows itself. The problem often is that initially, the RAM manager may make a noticeable difference to your machine but after a while, it simply can't hide the fact that you need to install more RAM in your system. SuperRam 5 doesn't do a bad job of increasing computer performance by freeing wasted memory and optimizing memory utilization your computer. Once installed, it doesn't require much setup apart from defining the threshold that you want it to start cleaning RAM. After that, it takes care of the job itself, flushing RAM when it reaches a certain tipping point. When it flushes, there can be a brief lag in your system performance but afterwards you will notice an improvement in performance. However, RAM is like a bottomless pit and the more you clean it out, the fuller it seems to get, especially when opening new applications. Eventually, you may find that the lags it creates when it flushes RAM are causing more problems than letting Windows do the job.

This program may solve your immediate RAM problems but over time, it can get tiresome and it's no substitute for upgrading your RAM.

Fresh Diagnose is a utility designed to analyze and benchmark your computer system. It can analyze and benchmark many kinds of hardware, such as CPU performance, hard disk performance, video system information, mainboard / motherboard information, and a lot more besides.

System Information: Scan your system and get a complete report about your computer's hardware and software, for example: motherboard information, video system information, PCI / AGP buses information, peripheral (keyboard, mouse, printer, etc.) information, network information.

System Benchmarks: Test your system performance, such as CPU, hard disk, CD/DVD ROM, and compare it with other systems.

Vista Manager is a powerful software tool to tweak, optimize, maintain and tune up your Windows Vista, it bundles more than 20 different utilities in one. It will help your system to be stable, fast, secure and personal.

Information

Get detailed system and all hardware information on your system; show all detailed information of running processes and threads on your machine; Vista Manager offers 1-clicking and cleans your system automatically.

Optimizer

Tweak your system to improve windows startup and shutdown speed; tweak your hardware to increase system speed and performance.

Cleaner

Find out which files or folders engross your disk space and shown with chart; Find and clean junk files to increase Hard Disk space; Duplicate Files Finder can scan your computer for files with the same size, name and modification time; Registry Cleaner can easily checks your registry and repair incorrectly linked registry entries, automatically remove invalid entries; Registry Defrag rebuilds and re-indexs your registry to reduce application response time and registry access time.

Customization

Control what is started on Windows startup; edit context menus of mouse Right-Clicking; customize system desktop, menus, toolbar and notifications settings; automatically change your desktop wallpaper on background.

Security

You can improve desktop, menus, Windows logon securities, and enable numerous hidden performance options of system, disable system updates and error reports; hide and restrict to access drives, specify which applications are not allowed to be executed on your computer; encrypt/decrypt and shred files, change the location of system folders; Privacy Protector can maintain your personal privacy by eliminating the tracks that you leave behind; create lots of randomization password once.

Network

Optimize your Internet connection speed, manage all shares items; tweak your Internet Explorer easily.

DTweak is a complex tweaker for Windows Vista, and with this release it supports also Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server: With DTweak you can defragment disks and registers, clean file and registry systems, tune computer performance, monitor your hard drive's health and performance, optimize and increase the speed of your Windows Vista system without manually modifying registers or ini files.

If you need to be reassured on the health status of your Hard Disk, run CrystalDiskInfo and see what the response is like. CrystalDiskInfo is a hard-disk health monitoring utility. It displays basic HDD information, monitors S.M.A.R.T. values and disk temperature.

You don’t have to do anything apart from running the program in order to have a health status report, stating temperature level, error rate, spin-up time and lots of other information which might be useful to know, especially for tech-savvy users. Even if you are not one of those, you might still find it cheerful to see written in a glossy blue box that your hard disk status is ‘Good’.

Unfortunately, there is no interaction with the program, it’s just a window with data and you can’t do much else with those. There is a graph display, but it doesn’t seem particularly easy to understand it, if and when it works.

Although the figures given by CrystalDiskInfo can be hard to be understand for non tech-savvy users, you can still find out more about the technical characteristics of your hard disk and know easily if everything is ok with it.

WinBubble helps you customize and tweak your Windows Vista easily. It features customization, security and and optimization options for an all-in one solution.

The first thing that strikes you is the sheer number of features this program has. It's absolutely ram packed with options that will keep you tweaking and fiddling with Windows Vista until the cows come home. The program features a "My Tweaker Tool" which allows you to create your own tweaker customized exactly how you want it. You can add, edit and delete DVD and CD drive names and labels, and the program now features full support for tweaking and optimizing Firefox.

It also supports Internet Explorer with the additional bonus that you can delete specific IE URLs. The program has been further enhanced by allowing it to update automatically instead of having to visit the developer homepage. Don't be fooled by the small file size - this program has plenty of features, many of which seem unique and original to WinBubble.

The name WinBubble doesn't really fit the program but there's no taking away from the fact that this is an excellent tweaker and optimizer for Vista fans.

Process Lasso is a unique new technology intended to automatically restrain running processes that are consuming too many CPU cycles. Often times, processes that are 'out-of-control' can bring an NT system to a near halt.

Once one or more processes have become CPU resource hogs, termination of the offending process(es) is very difficult since it is nearly impossible to even open the task manager. With Process Lasso, these processes are temporarily reduced in priority so that the system is returned to a responsive level. Process Lasso can even work when multiple processes are responsible for a decrease in system responsiveness.

In addition, Process Lasso offers capabilities such as default process priorities, termination of disallowed processes, and logging of processes executed.

WinPatrol uses a heuristic approach to detecting attacks and violations of your computing environment. Traditional security programs scan your hard drive searching for previously identified threats. WinPatrol takes a snapshot of your critical system resources and alerts you to any changes that may occur without your knowledge. You'll be removing dangerous new programs while others download new reference files.

When you run WinPatrol, you should notice that Scotty the Windows Watch Dog is standing on your Windows System Tray/Taskbar in the right lower corner of your screen. Probably next to your clock or speaker icons. He loves music.

Just double click on Scotty to see the valuable information he has found out about your computer. If you hold down the right mouse button you'll see a menu pop up with additional features. Using this menu you can select to have Scotty installed so he's always watching out for you. You can always go back at any time and change your mind and uncheck the "Always Run WinPatrol" menu option. This menu also provides a way to Exit WinPatrol anytime you want.

Have you ever been in a situation where even Windows Task Manager can't close a process or program that has crashed?

Chances are you have because it's one of the curses of Windows but fortunately, there is a way to get round this problem. ProcessKO is a far more powerful alternative to Windows Task Manager because it kills those hard to close processes that simply won't go away. The program sits discreetly in the system tray and requires simply clicking on (so no keyboard use is required) to activate in times of trouble. It shows a list of processes that are operating at any one time but note that you'll need to understand the generic names Windows assigns to your programs to know exactly what you are closing.

Process KO closes instantly those programs that you select even if they've been impossible to kill in any other way. In addition, the program "learns" which processes regularly cause you problems. In this way, it allows you to instantly access those programs that frequently crash your system and close them instantly without going through a huge process list. Even better, it fits on a USB stick so it's perfect for network administrators that need to go around rescuing blocked PCs.

A much better option than Windows Task Manager although if your mouse crashes, then it's not much use at all since you can't access it.

Though Windows has a quite high degree of customization, there are certain features that are way too hidden for the average user. This is when a tool like TweakNow WinSecret comes in really handy.

With this Windows tweaker you'll be able to access even the most remotely customizable option in Windows XP or Windows Vista, changing not only visual elements that modify the system's appearance, but also its behavior and level of security. All tweaks are conveniently categorized in an easy-to-browse interface that lets you find any of them in just a couple of clicks.

On the one hand, I liked some of the options offered by the program a lot, like the security tweaks that allow you to restrict access to certain system's functions and tools. On the other hand, to be honest, I was disappointed with some categories, such the Applications one for only enabling me to tweak Internet Explorer and Outlook Express or some other tweaks that are easily accessible without using this program - even for a novice user. Nevertheless the overall impression is a very positive one, as TweakNow WinSecret can really make a difference in your daily work with Windows.

TweakNow WinSecret features many varied tweaks, some of them quite obvious, some of them not, with which you can fully customize the system's appearance and behavior.

We never get tired of Windows manager tools here in the Softonic offices, and after trying out this latest offering from Yamicsoft, we are still looking for a tool that strikes a good balance between usability and functionality. WinXP Manager may offer a fine range of options and tweaking utilities, but the delivery is haphazard with several sources of concern for the average user.

Let’s start from the beginning. The first time you open the program you are prompted to create a system restore point, just in case something should go horribly wrong. If you have system restore disabled on your computer, WinXP Manager will go ahead and load up anyway. What you are presented with is a detailed overview of your system specs. Through the tabbed navigation, you can switch the view to check out details about your operating system, computer, hardware, and processes. There isn't, however, any central tab that would display all the information in one place so that you could easily print out a complete run down on what you have in your box. Neither, for that matter, is there a print button for quickly converting anything to hard copy.

On further investigation, you find yourself digging through tabs of tabs to find what you need, or alternatively, opening pop-up windows that appear when you click buttons that lie alongside those that don’t produce pop-ups. Supposedly consistency wasn't high on the priority list. WinXP Manager runs inside a fixed width window, something that wouldn't usually merit any criticism but in this case the window is very small relative to the entire screen size and results in some scrolling.

Putting design and usability aside, there are a lot of positive things to say about WinXP Manager. As we mentioned, it does provide comprehensive information about all aspects of your hardware and software. There is a handy optimization wizard that guides inexperienced users through the process, and for every tick box you see, there is a corresponding detailed tooltip that will give you a clue whether or not you are on the verge of destroying your PC. There are an amazing amount of utilities for tweaking XP to the last, although we are concerned that the registry cleaner may be over aggressive.

Boiling it down, WinXP Manager is a fantastic utility for anyone that has a good general understanding of the many various elements making up their PC. If you have a tweak in mind and don’t want to bury yourself in the actual system files, then this program will serve you well. On the other hand, if you are after a quick all round maintenance fix and you don't quite get the registry or services, then you should look for a less hard-core solution.

SpeedFan is a freeware program that monitors voltages, fan speeds and temperatures in computers with hardware monitor chips. SpeedFan can even access S.M.A.R.T. info for those hard disks that support this feature and show hard disk temperatures. SpeedFan supports SCSI disks too. SpeedFan can even change the FSB on some hardware (but this should be considered a bonus feature).

At the lowest level, SpeedFan is a hardware monitor software that can access temperature sensors, but its main feature is that it can change fan speeds (depending on the capabilities of your sensor chip and your hardware) according to the temperatures inside your PC, thus reducing noise and power consumption.

If you're suffering from a slow PC then it's probably wither your RAM or your processor that can't handle what you are putting through it.

However, sometimes it can simply be because their are malicious or unnesscary processes hogging your system. That's where AlacrityPC steps in which is a simple solution which removes unnecessary processes system and frees-up your system resources for programs that need them. Once you've stopped the processes and finished with the program that needed the extra resources, AlacrityPC once again reallocates system resources to those that were using it previously. This is probably most useful when using video sites such as YouTube which can easily make your PC hang due to the large system resources that downlaoding and displaying video, especially in full screen mode, can require. In addition, the program comes with a small defragmentation tool which doesn't seem that efective and can ironically, slow your system down anyway so best not to use it if you've got another solution.

A useful automatic solution for those suffering from a slow PC but won't be of much use to those on higher spec machines

CPU and RAM memory are among the most important factors to determine computer's power. The first one refers to the velocity of the computer to operate data; the second one refers to the amount of memory the PC has in order to handle those data. This is one of the cases in which it's always true to say, the more the better. Unfortunately, we are not always financially able to upgrade our computer.

Another way to increase the performance of your PC is to use a program that optimizes the usage of these crucial components, CPU and RAM. Mz Ram Booster is a free application that is supposed to do so. It's fairly friendly to use and there is also a comprehensive manual at your disposal. For non-expert users I would just recommend pressing the 'recommended settings' button and applying the settings before closing the program. This will free RAM when CPU usage is lower then 30% and will auto optimize the memory every two hours.

It is also interesting that you can set the CPU's priority, choosing to give the best response time to foreground applications or to background ones, or to apply the same priority for both. You can also set your processor's L2 cache size if you know it exactly, otherwise run CPU-Z to get the exact number of Kilobytes.

Give your computer a boost improving RAM and CPU usage. It can make a difference, especially if your computer is not particularly powerful, otherwise its benefits may be limited.

Pitaschio is a free, easy application that makes it more convenient to use Microsoft Windows. This tool includes a large number of useful functions to tweak the way windows behave, disable certain keys and collect statistics about the usage of keyboard and mouse.

Take a look at what Pitaschio can do for you:

• Stick window to other windows when moving and resizing
• Restrict window position to inside of the screen
• Minimize window to system tray
• Use small icons in the desktop
• Disable Windows key, Insert key, Alt key etc.
• Lock mouse or keyboard while you are cleaning keyboard or mouse
• Take statistics about mouse and keyboard
• Calculate Moon's age

RAM optimizer tool that will keep your computer running faster. It increases the operation system performance by making more memory available for your applications.

Features:

• Defragment system memory for faster access time
• Increasing the efficiency of your CPU and Motherboard caches
• Recover memory leaks from poorly behaved applications
• Temporarily flush unused libraries out to disk and so on

Using these optimization tricks will help your favorite applications and games run faster and more efficiently - even on old computers.