 "Ashampoo WinOptimizer 9 Review")
Every new operating system from Microsoft comes with new tweaks and features such as menu options, while the older features seem to simply disappear. This makes using a new operating system slightly painful. For example, Windows 7 has features that are vastly dif erent from Windows XP, with newer visualization options, background tasks and more. This causes the system to lag as it hogs the processor’s actual power, the RAM’s potential and imposes additional work on the hard drive. For those who need to upgrade their older PCs from Windows XP to Windows 7, it is usually an expensive option as the hardware also needs to be upgraded to match the performance. But it is not practical to opt for expensive hardware. Hence, optimizing the new operating system to run as smoothly as possible on older hardware makes more sense. This is where optimizing utilities come into play.
Features
There are many system optimizing utilities available, ranging from free ones that have limited features to expensive ones which have full-blown features integrated into one single package. While many utilities do a good enough job, there are many others that fail to perform satisfactorily. Ashampoo WinOptimizer is a utility that can match your optimization needs as it features a number of modules. The program is easy to use as well as intuitive and effi cient. WinOptimizer includes a host of features within a single package. Here is a glimpse of what it can accomplish.
Modules are categorized well and are easy to find
Tweaking the operating system minutely is not possible for new users as they cannot understand what runs in the background and what needs to be done, so an optimization utility is what is required to do the needful automatically. A tweaking tool actually does the required actions by shutting down unwanted services and programs, deleting unnecessary junk files and handling the registry according to the requirements.
This section contains three sub sections. One highlights the operating system and basic hardware information, which includes installed apps, drivers, RAM and processor load and hard drive status. The second one is the maintenance section, which searches and tweaks the important areas such as autostart entries, services, Internet traces, unwanted files and registry entries. The final section includes a live tuner, which helps automatic tuning on-the-fly and a hibernation monitor. A small load meter for live CPU and RAM usage is also featured here.
Intelligent defragmentation
This section features all the small modules that can be pulled up individually for tweaking the performance of the PC under one single umbrella. This includes one-click optimizer, drive cleaner, registry optimizer, Internet cleaner, drive and registry defrag, system analyzer, drive inspection and repairs, service and process manager, startup and Internet tuner, application uninstaller, file wiping, encryption/decryption, splitter/joiner and undelete, etc. You can choose to view this page as All Modules, Categories or as Functions. The ‘Favourites’ section includes the most important and constantly used modules in WinOptimizer. The modules can be deleted and others added according to your own preference. You may call this a shortcut menu to the most used tweaking tools that one would use on an everyday basis. The ‘Backup’ section features up to ten backups. You can view and delete the backups at your will in case something goes wrong during an optimization process (eg: if registry entries are deleted). The ‘Statistics’ section features all the actions taken by the utility, including stats of the registry values and keys which were analyzed and deleted, files and folders, database entries, and their total values.
Verdict
The software is available for $39.99 (Rs.2,000), which given the features, is a very good buy. Ashampoo WinOptimizer is a very easy to use system optimization utility for Windows. It has a very user friendly front-end interface with modules that are easy to locate and understand. It won’t matter if you are a novice in the computer world as Ashampoo WinOptimizer will make you feel at home.
 "Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty")
 "Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched")
 "Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?")
 "Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House")
 "Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty")
 "Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched")
 "Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?")
 "Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House")
