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System Mechanic 10: Give the Gift of a Faster Computer

Josh Smith — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 15:00:47 +0000

If a new computer isn’t on the holiday shopping list this year we have the next best thing, System Mechanic 10.

System Mechanic is a all in one system tune up tool that can give an old computer new life and relieve some of the frustrations we have with slow computers. The System Mechanic 10 software package has a collection of new features including;

CRUDD Remover - This new feature looks for redundant programs and other items that slow down your PC such as multiple virus programs and helps you cut the CRUD for better performance.
216-Point PC Inspection - diagnoses and resolves over 12,000 PC problems
Program Accelerator - jump starts sluggish programs
Whole Home Licensing – System Mechanic 10 works on all of the computers in your recipients house which makes it also a great gift for your own house if you have several older computers in need of tune ups.

The biggest reason we recommend System Mechanic for a gift is because for $30 to $40 you can give someone a noticably faster computing experience.

This is also a great last minute gift for mom and dad or grandpa and grandma who are already apt to ask for computer help at the holidays. You can purchase System Mechanic 10 right on their computer and download the files for installation while you visit.

I installed System Mechanic 10 on my father’s computer about a year ago when it had gotten to the point he was looking for a new computer and the software package was able to tune up his computer enough that he used it for another 6 or so months before getting a new Black Friday laptop last month. Even then, he could have lasted another 3-6 months on his old machine, but the deal was too good to pass up.

One thing I liked was that he was able to run the basic tasks on his own because of the straightforward nature of System Mechanic. If he was stumped, I would just use LogMeIn to connect and help him out.

System Mechanic 10: Give the Gift of a Faster Computer is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Treat Your Laptop Like a Car for Longer Life and Better Service

Josh Smith — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 15:00:14 +0000

While the majority of Americans know the basics of taking car of their cars such as changing the oil when the sticker says so, filling fluids and taking it in to a shop when a bunch of warning lights are on – not nearly as many are good at taking care of their computer.

If you take the time to take care of your computer like you take care of your car you’ll get longer life and better performance . Below you’ll find four steps to keep your computer in top shape from choosing the right service shop to preventative maintenance.

Find a Reliable “Mechanic” - Don’t go shopping for computer repair based only on price, hopping from shop to shop every time you have a problem. Just like you should get your oil changes at the same place every time, frequenting a computer repair shop means the staff will know you, your needs and your computer and be able to provide better service. Going to the wrong shop could cost you…big.
Don’t Turn off the “ABS Brakes and Airbags” – Imagine if your car came with a 30 day trial of anti lock breaks and airbags and after 30 days you could drive without these safety features or turn them on for free by visiting the manufacturer. Many computers come with free anti-virus programs that run out after 30 days. After that you may as well be speeding down a residential street at 90MPH without brakes, airbags and a seatbelt every time you check email. Instead, install Microsoft Security Essentials for free and surf with your airbags and anti-lock brakes on.
Perform Regular Maintenance – Just like you take your car in for oil changes, fill up fluids and replace the wiper blades; take a few steps to keep your PC running. You can perform some steps on your own like uninstalling unused programs, clearing out your startup or defragmenting your hard drive; or use a tool like System Mechanic 10 that will tune up your PC for you. It’s so easy my dad can use it (who is incidentally an actual mechanic).
Know where you buy gas - You’ll avoid “That” gas station because it sells “watered down gas”, but you’ll install software from anywhere? Take a minute and think before you install any software from a popup. Did you visit a website looking to download and install a program? If not then don’t install it. If you are using your computer safely, you already have an antivirus, so when you get a popup telling you your computer is infected — don’t click on that popup, instead go look at your actual antivirus program and see if you are infected.

If you take care of your new computer you won’t suffer from all of the problems that slow your computer down and waste your time.

Photo via AMagill on Flickr

Treat Your Laptop Like a Car for Longer Life and Better Service is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Notebooks.com Week in Review – Reviews, Contests and How tos October 15

Josh Smith — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 19:30:37 +0000

This week was a big week for reviews and how to posts here at Notebooks with a heavy focus on Windows 7 and Google Voice.

First off we kicked off Google Voice University, a guide for all things Google Voice covering the following topics :

Google Voice University from Notebooks.com:

We’ll keep going with more guides to using Google Voice including a roundup of cool ways to make the most of Google Voice from real users.

On the Windows 7 front, our resident Windows 7 expert Andre provided a series of posts dedicated to speeding up Windows 7 and how to create a Windows 7 Signature installation for an optimized computing experience.

As far as reviews go, Kevin Purcell shares his Apple TV review with comparisons to the many other media streaming devices on the market. Kevin finds the Apple TV has the potential to be great, but it needs more to be the ideal in home entertainment device.

We also have an Intel X25-M SSD review up which finds drive to be a speed demon and best of all you have a chance to win one by leaving a comment or tweeting about the review. Head over to the Intel X25 SSD Giveaway for all the details.

Highlights from Notebooks.com:

Reviews and Guides from Notebooks.com:

Highlights from GottaBeMobile.com:

Highlights from our Friends in Tech:

HP ENVY 17 3D Hands On- SlashGear
Ultra Keyboard for Android – Video- JKOnTheRun
ACER D255 Dual Core N550 10â€³ Netbook Review- NetbookNews

Notebooks.com Week in Review – Reviews, Contests and How tos October 15 is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

System Mechanic 10 Promises to Speed Up Your PC

Kevin Purcell — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 15:00:03 +0000

Today iolo technologies announced the release of their new System Mechanic 10. In this release are tools that promises to help users speed up their system by finding and fixing some of the primary causes of slow performance.

The suite of PC utilities includes Program Accelerator, which will optimize your data storage to speed up access to information on the system. The company says that disk defragmentation does not really speed up the system as well as their tool does.

Defragmentation is the process that puts all the various parts of a file, which can often be split up into different areas of a drive, into one spot. It’s like taking all the eggs in the various drawers of your refrigerator and putting them in one spot on the door so you can get at them quicker. It seems to make sense that you would want all the parts of a single computer file in one place to access it faster. But Program Accelerator goes a step further, according to iolo, and not only defragments the files but also optimizes an application so that the whole program and its individual files are located on one spot on the drive for faster access.

Programs used more often are put in places where they can be accessed quicker. To use the fridge analogy, they not only put all the eggs in one place but make them more easily accessible than other lesser used items in the fridge.

CRUDD Remover cleans out unneeded files and software. The acronym stands for Commonly Redundant or Unnecessary Decelerators and Destabilizers. What it does is identify multiple software programs that do the same thing and sometimes fight with one another for system resources. It then offers advice to the user on which applications to remove from their systems. So, if program A and program B are each running at the same time and fighting for access to the same parts of Windows and do the same thing, System Mechanic 10′s CRUDD Remover will give the user advice about which application might be better and which would be best to remove.

Thanks to the Whole Home Licensing Programâ€ the program can be installed on every computer in the user’s home regardless of number. Since most programs can only be installed on one computer, or up to three at the most, a home user with more computers will have to buy more than one copy of the same program or illegally find ways to install the program more than the allotted number of times. iolo is relaxing these stipulations to allow their suite to be installed on as many systems as the user would like so long as they are all in the same home.

There are a number of other additions to this version. Tune-up Definitions are regular weekly updates to the system that tell the software how to increase performance based on lessons learned in iolo’s research and development labs. Also iolo claims to have identified nine fundamental causes of computer sluggishness over time. The suite seeks to fix these areas on the user’s computer. The System Mechanic 10 Super Control Panel gives users access to a whole host of Windows configuration options in a single location. The Internet Connection Repair tool will fix a bad connection to the Internet while speeding up the access as well. There are multiple other new features and improvements in System Mechanic 10 as well.

System Mechanic 10 will be available for free to all owners of the previous versions of the software who have an active service plan. New customers or customers without the active service plan can buy the program at www.iolo.com for $39.95 or at other online retailers and off-line stores.

System Mechanic 10 Promises to Speed Up Your PC is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

How To Speed Up Your Notebook for One More School Year

Josh Smith — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:00:57 +0000

The School year is about to start and many students are looking for a good deal on back to school notebooks and laptops, but if you need to make it one more year with an older computer there are a few things you can do to breathe new life into your laptop.

The first thing you can try is to clean up your machine with a software tool like System Mechanic that contains a collection of tools to clean up the digital detritus that bogs down old computers. System Mechanic will clean, defrag and repair the registry on your laptop as well as accelerate your notebooks startup with numerous fixes.

System Mechanic pulls all of these tasks into an easy to use package and allows you to click, “Repair All” to clean up and speed up your system. I was able to use this on my father’s desktop which is Running Vista and it helped easily remove unwanted programs from startup and helped extend the life of his desktop. We had to reinstall FireFox after we ran System Mechanic to fix some browser issues but it wasn’t clear if that was related to System Mechanic.

The tool has earned the praise of others as seen in the video review of System Mechanic below.

System Mechanic is normally $49.95 and works on up to 3 computers and System Mechanic Pro is available for $69.95 and adds Antivirus and other security software to the package.

Right now though, you can get System Mechanic for $24.95 and System Mechanic Pro for $39.95 with the coupon code LEARN on iolo.com. This coupon code is good through the end of September.

Upgrading your hardware is another way to give your old notebook a boost without breaking the bank. Upgrading the RAM on your machine, often referred to as memory, will give your computer a boost in running multiple programs like a web browser, iTunes, Word and a chat application at the same time. It will also make copying large files a bit snappier.

To find out what type of RAM you need and how much your laptop can handle you should visit Crucial.com and find your model or use the Crucial System Scanner tool to see exactly what you have and what you can replace. Crucial will provide a direct link to order the new ram which can usually be installed with a screwdriver in a minute or two. If you want to save money you should look at other retailers like NewEgg and compare prices on the RAM as there are often sales on RAM.

Here’s a video showing how to replace the Ram in a laptop.

Between these two options methods you may just be able to make it through another year with your laptop. Another option, though more involved for some users, is to reformat your hard drive and reinstall Windows from scratch. This plan requires the Windows Installation CD, an External hard drive for your current data and a few hours of time. For novices you may want to try the first two methods first and leave this to a knowledgeable friend if needed.

If you need more storage space to go with your faster computer you should look into a cheap external hard drive that can provide you with double or triple the storage of your notebook for under $100. These external hard drives are great for storing pictures and videos that may not fit on the smaller hard drives of older notebooks and you don’t need to open up your computer for this upgrade, just plug it into an open USB 2.0 port.

These steps tackle some of the biggest complaints of users who have an older computer and when you’re all said and done you may be able to clean your system, upgrade your RAM and get an external hard drive for around $125-$150 with a bit of bargain hunting.

How To Speed Up Your Notebook for One More School Year is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

iolo technologies Reclaims Speed of Cluttered Computers

Truc — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:03:56 +0000

For most people, a computer that is constantly lagging, freezing, crashing, or otherwise performing poorly is due cause for drastic measures. Sometimes, computers only a few years old are simply replaced when they start acting up. Other times, said computer is brought to a specialist and the consumer is charged a hefty premium in order to address the issues at hand. For small businesses with multiple computers and multiple users per computer, it is even more frustrating and more expensive when the computers start to misbehave, often time leading to a decrease in productivity.

iolo technologies, famous for their PC-tune up software, has unveiled their latest creation, System Mechanic, for the small business owner. With System Mechanic, computers are properly tuned to optimal operating parameters quietly as a background process. The software restores all proper settings, removes unwanted and unneeded files, and defragments the hard drive so software programs can be accessed and executed faster.

Pricing is a major advantage of using System Mechanic. System Mechanic Small Business Edition will retail for: $99.95 for a 10 PC license, $199.95 for up to 25 PCs, $349.95 for up to 50 PCs, $499.95 for up to 75 PCs and $629.95 for up to 100 PCs, providing small and medium businesses with significant savings over the version geared to individual consumers.

iolo technologies estimates that any computer built after 2000 can run most business-class software with little to no problem.

Visit iolo technologies for more information.

iolo technologies Reclaims Speed of Cluttered Computers is a post by Truc from Notebooks.com.