Thursday, July 14, 2011

Winoptimizer6 - Optimising windows taken to a new level

Ashampoo's Winoptimizer is certainly one of the best software we have ever seen, packed with a huge stock of utilities that let you do a lot more with your windows. The latest sixth version saw its release this Wednesday on Download.com. Read the full review.

What's new
AntiSpy module: This tool claims to "deactivate potential spy functions." Upon closer inspection, the module really goes after apps and services that send data back to Microsoft. That's ideal for privacy nuts, but sensationalistic if that kind of app behavior doesn't bother you. Either way, you'll be able to manually or automatically configure settings, or can ignore them completely.
Favorites tab: The freshly added tab monitors your five most-used modules alongside a list of statistics tracking your use of the program.
Context Menu Manager: A negligible addition, it nevertheless gives you control over the contents of the context menu, which you see whenever you click the right mouse key.
What's different
Disk Defrag: This updated version of the disk defragmenter runs in the background while your computer idles, and also runs on boot-up to speed Windows' loading time.
Registry Optimizer and Drive Cleaner: Both have received beefier options and back-end algorithm work to speed up the scanning process.
What's coming
One-Click optimizer: The first version 6 update will add a scheduler to the one-click function, where you'll be able to trigger shutdown after the schedule cleanup.
What's wrong
Our biggest gripe is semantic: that the AntiSpy module is misleading--it is not an antispyware tool.
We also recommend reviewing the app's recommendations before accepting them. We wanted to keep several "unnecessary" items around that WinOptimizer was ready to yank.
The verdict
Even if you're not already using WinOptimizer, you'll want to test this generous trial (40 days with registration) for its efficacy and its ability to quickly get you access to deeper Windows settings.