Product Spotlight: UniBlue SpeedUpMyPC 2012

By Wally Bahny June 29, 2012, 1:14 AM PDT

Image
1
of 13

Product Spotlight: UniBlue SpeedUpMyPC 2012

Uniblue SpeedUpMyPC 2012: Setup

ntUniblue advertises a one-click setup for SpeedUpMyPC and, as you can see here, it’s pretty close. If you want to accept the default options and the license agreement without reading, you can just click on “Agree & Install” and you’ll be on your way.

ntImage of SpeedUpMyPC installer by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

Uniblue SpeedUpMyPC 2012: Installer Options

ntIf you chose to click on Installer Options, you get this screen which gives you the ability to choose the installation folder, where to create icons, and whether or not to automatically scan when the program is launched.

ntImage of SpeedUpMyPC installer by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

Uniblue SpeedUpMyPC 2012: Installation Progress

ntThe installation is very fast. Before I knew it the bar was this far across the screen and I had to move quickly to get a screenshot.

ntImage of SpeedUpMyPC installer by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

Uniblue SpeedUpMyPC 2012: Overview

ntWhen the installer finishes, the default choice is to launch the application, which comes up and starts its scan automatically. This is the Overview screen which is displaying some results of the initial scan on the left, an area to choose how often to schedule scans in the top center, the current version and its status on the top right, and UniBlue PowerSuite component status all across the bottom.

ntImage of SpeedUpMyPC by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

Uniblue SpeedUpMyPC 2012: Scanning

ntThe scan runs quickly through the Speed Tools, System Tweaks, and Unused Processes sections but stays a while (2-3 minutes on my system) in the Invalid Registry Entries to Clean section. This is obviously related to how large the registry is and how fast the system is.

ntImage of SpeedUpMyPC by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

Uniblue SpeedUpMyPC 2012: Results - Speed Tools

ntHere are the four Speed Tools that SpeedUpMyPC wants to install. The concepts for all of them seem good, but on a fast system I don’t really notice much of an improvement as a result of these tools.

ntImage of SpeedUpMyPC by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

Uniblue SpeedUpMyPC 2012: Results - System Tweaks

ntThe next section, System Tweaks, makes changes to Internet Explorer, networking, and the core operating system. They also make changes to the Aero interface, including smooth scrolling, dragging of windows contents, and the translucent selection rectangle which I was unhappy with and restored back to the Windows default.

ntImage of SpeedUpMyPC by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

Uniblue SpeedUpMyPC 2012: Results - Unused Processes

ntThe Unused Processes section scans through your Windows services to find items that are not needed in the normal use of Windows, such as the web server, and disables them. It also disables the update services for Java, Google, QuickTime, and other add-on applications.

ntImage of SpeedUpMyPC by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

Uniblue SpeedUpMyPC 2012: Results Invalid Registry Entries

ntOf all four sections, the Invalid Registry Entries section was by far the largest. The scan found 486 problems, or potential problems, in my registry on my production system that has been in use since Windows 7 came out. While there are obviously too many issues to list here, I did scroll through them and capture the type of issues:

nttMissing TypeLib

nttMissing file

nttMissing or invalid path

nttInvalid shortcut

nttInvalid driver path

nttIncorrect file association

nttIncorrect file extension

nttEmpty key

nttInvalid shared folder

ntImage of SpeedUpMyPC by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

Uniblue SpeedUpMyPC 2012: Fixing Issues

ntClicking the Fix Issues button starts making the changes that you have allowed SpeedUpMyPC to make for you. First, it does a Backup. This is to ensure that you can undo anything it does. Second, it actually makes the changes.

ntImage of SpeedUpMyPC by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

Uniblue SpeedUpMyPC 2012: Manage

ntOnce the changes are made, you can click on the Manage tab to scroll through the changes to review or undo them. All changes are grouped in the same way as on the System Scan tab so that they can be found easily.

ntImage of SpeedUpMyPC by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

Uniblue SpeedUpMyPC 2012: Registry Defrag

ntBuried here in the Manage tab is a Registry Defrag option which I was suprised was not part of SpeedUpMyPC’s core scan and fix process, especially because they state on the tab “To improve system performance, you should defragment the registry regularly.” I would think the biweekly scan would be a good time to do it.

ntImage of SpeedUpMyPC by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

SpeedMyPC

ntSpeedMyPC

By Wally Bahny

Account Information

Contact Wally Bahny

Your message has been sent
|
See all of Wally's content

Cybersecurity demands and the stakes of failing to properly secure systems and networks are high. While every organization’s specific security needs form a unique and complex blend of interconnected requirements, numerous security fundamentals almost always apply to each of these groups. It stands to reason that cybersecurity pros who effectively identify network and systems risks ...

In this guide from TechRepublic Premium we’re going to explore the various things you can do with a Linux server. We won’t leave out any steps, so you won’t have to refer to another tutorial to complete the process. The only step we will leave out is the installation of Linux, as we’ll assume you ...

If you want to deploy applications into a Kubernetes cluster, be warned — it’s not the easiest task. There are a lot of moving pieces that go into these scalable containers. Don’t you wish you had a complete roadmap, from start to finish, to walk you through the process of deploying the Kubernetes cluster, deploying ...