System Mechanic has been around for quite a long time and is probably one of the most feature complete packages of tools to enable you to optimize your computer with the minimum of fuss and maximum ease of use.
Normally it is pretty easy, if time consuming, to do software reviews since there are a limited number of things you can write about. Then along comes a program like System Mechanic that is basically an interface for a vast number of individual tools or wizards that help you work with your computer.
I could treat System Mechanic as any other program up for being reviewing and write a 600 to 1,000 word post with some screen captures but with the complexity of what is offered in the program I didn’t feel right do that. Instead this review will be separated into four parts over this week so that I can provide you with the right amount of information so that you can make an informed decision about the program.
The review will be broken down into the following sections:
- Part 1 – Initial look and the Overview Section of System Mechanic
- Part 2 – The Individual Tools Section
- Part 3 – The All-in-One section
- Part 4 – Miscellaneous & The Wrap-up and Thoughts
At the end of the review I will pull it together with my overall opinion of System Mechanic but any decisions about buying the package will be up to you. Now on to the review.
System Mechanic 9.5 by iolo technologies
After the install the first thing you will see is the welcome screen that let’s you access some tutorial videos, customer information and a What’s New. You can select to not have this screen show whenever you start up System Mechanic – which really is probably a pretty safe setting to enable.
After your first start-up, and if you have checked the Don’t show this again option, you will typically find yourself in the Overview section of System Mechanic.
System Mechanic – The Sections
There is no getting around it – System Mechanic is a robust program full of all kinds of tool to enable you to do all kinds of things with; and to, your computer. From cleaning up dead files to trying to performing all kinds of diagnostic System Mechanic has something under the hood for your needs.
In fact there is so much there that when you first start using System Mechanic it is easy to find oneself feeling overwhelmed. While this post, and the rest to come this week, is primarily a review it is also written to try and help you through the maze of options and tools you will find waiting for you.
To try an alleviate some of your potential confusion System Mechanic is divided into separate areas, with each area containing one or more wizards or tools to accomplish certain tasks. As you can see from the image on the right the main areas are:
- Dashboard
- Overview
- Problems
- ActiveCare
- Automated Tasks
- Internet Security
- Anti-malware
- Firewall
- Toolbox
- All-in-one Tools
- Individual Tools
- Reports
- IntelliStatus
- History
This review will primarily center around the main areas of: Overview, All-in-one Tools, and Individual Tools.
Overview section – and Analyze Now.
It is from here that you can run the initial Analyze Now, which will give you two options for analyzing your system, or you can drill down to the other options and tools available.
Seeing as how this was my first run I selected the Deep Scan (2nd options) from the drop down menu on Analyze Now. This is the progress dialog you will see as the scan progresses.
When the scan is done you will end up with your results being displayed using the meter image and to options: Repair All (automatically) or View Problems found in the scan.
Hmm .. not bad but not good either. So what kind of errors or problems did System Mechanic find? Well clicking on the View Problems button switches to a list of what was found.
Okay looking at the list my first reaction is that some of the items deserve the “red” important treatment but things like the hard drives having 9% fragmentation isn’t really that bad, and yes 6 Gig of clutter might seem like a lot but on a multi-terrabyte drive .. well not so much.
Now you do have the option here for System Mechanic to handle fixing the errors, or problems, that it has found automatically but I personally have a hard time letting programs like System Mechanic do things on their own. I realize that the people behind System Mechanic, and other programs like it, do everything they to make the procedure as safe as possible but I prefer a little more hands-on when it comes to this stuff.
All of the repair options in the list also point towards the Individual Tools within System Mechanic and will be covered in our continuing review tomorrow.
Next: Software Review: System Mechanic 9.5 Part 2
Complete Review List:
Software Review: System Mechanic 9.5 Part 1
Software Review: System Mechanic 9.5 Part 2
Software Review: System Mechanic 9.5 Part 3
Software Review: System Mechanic 9.5 Part 4
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