tweaker

One of the great things about Windows 7 is the way you can tweak its performance, appearance, and behavior through various options and settings scattered throughout your system. The problem, of course, is keeping track of where everything is, not to mention finding it again when you actually need it. SuRe Softwares' Windows 7 Tweaker is a free tool that unifies access to these far-flung settings and options in a single interface. With it, you can modify your Windows installation to extract the best performance from your hardware and programs. You can use it to customize your security settings, network … Read more

XdN Tweaker is a freeware system utility that bundles together a wide range of useful tweaks and tools for Windows. Most of its tools are built-in Windows capabilities that XdN Tweaker collects into a single interface that makes them easier to access. It's got something for nearly every Windows user, too: Vista and Windows 7 users can restore features from previous versions, such as the Windows 2000 user control panel icon, while those users who prefer time-tested versions like 2000 and XP can add some up-to-date features.

Many of XdN Tweaker's tools require Administrative privileges, so we right-clicked … Read more

You'll find this user-friendly toolbox of optimizing utilities a handy package if you're a home user with low-security issues. Nicely designed with quick performance, this bundle of goodies will be appropriate for most noncommercial system users.

Ultimate Windows Tweaker launches a simple but nicely designed interface for selecting optimization options for your system. It offers a two-paned window: the left, vertical pane lists the categories of options, and the right, larger pane displays the check boxes and drop-down menus associated with the category selected in the vertical pane. This free toolbox performed nicely in our tests. The check-box … Read more

If you're a home user with low-security issues, it's worth trying this user-friendly toolbox of optimizing utilities. Nicely designed with quick performance, Glary Utilities Pro will appeal to less experienced users.

Glary Utilities Pro launches a simply but nicely designed, tabbed interface for performing system cleanup and maintenance. Its basic scan includes a Registry cleaner, shortcuts fixer, startup manager, temporary files cleaner, tracks eraser (activity history and Internet traces), and a spyware and adware remover. Determining how to use this utility is very easy, thanks to its clear-cut design and organization.

Everything performed well in our tests. We … Read more

Thanks to this free utility's well-designed user interface, managing our Vista settings was as simple as checking and unchecking our selections.

VistaTweaker uses tabs to organize all of Vista's settings. They are broken down into System, Windows UI, Internet Explorer, Software, Network, Performance, and Miscellaneous. The contents of each tab are broken down further into subcategories. Despite all of the settings options, we were never overwhelmed. From the interface, there are also options for checking or unchecking all of the options in one fell swoop. During our tests, we randomly made selections, from disabling notifications for new programs … Read more

A well-organized and easily implemented set of tweaking tools for XP offset XTweak's somewhat unappealing interface. The simple tab menu system ensures users will quickly find tweaks when needed.

Particularly helpful is the program's reminder corner that lists Registry and System backup needs. The corner adds a quick link to implement the needed function, though testers found the Registry backup slower than usual. Some testers were forced to end the XTweak process to regain control of their systems.

That problem aside, XTweak's tools are ripe for exploration. The tabs speak to the multitude of accessible and helpful … Read more

BoostSpeed is an effective all-encompassing utility suite, combining some of Auslogics' popular freeware titles such as Disk Defrag and Registry Defrag with services that they don't offer elsewhere. There's an uninstall manager, a startup manager for boot cycle customizations, RAM and browser optimizers, file shredder, DirectX diagnostic, Windows tweak manager, and several mini apps to manage Windows settings. It also comes with a rescue center that can back up any settings before you change them. No doubt, BoostSpeed gives you your money's worth, at least in terms of services provided. Upgrading also only costs $10, for those … Read more