UniBlue PowerSuite 2010 review

The issue of having to upgrade an ageing PC is rarely a welcome one, and could involve considerable expense in a business environment. Squeezing the life from a struggling machine is therefore common practice, as it can be frustrating for users when Windows and its various components take increasingly longer to respond.

An interim solution would be to ensure that a computer is running as efficiently as possible and, as the inevitable build-up of clutter can significantly slow general operation, clean-up and optimisation can be a real benefit.

There are few more comprehensive solutions on the market than UniBlue's PowerSuite 2010, which combines new versions of three of its most popular products - RegistryBooster, SpeedUpMyPC and DriverScanner - into a single suite.

These are presented in a clean and informative interface following a short installation and, after a brief system scan, current status is shown in categories that represent each component.

Innovatively, UniBlue has opted to use recognisable weather symbols to show status at a glance. A sun icon shows that everything is OK, while a rain cloud indicates a series of problems that need to be fixed.

More practically, you're also told exactly how many issues have been found, but it's necessary to open the relevant application to correct these via the link provided.

RegistryBooster is quite straightforward and allows you to view scan results in more detail, as well as populate an 'ignore list', view repair logs and restore the registry to a previous state if a system starts behaving undesirably.

SpeedUpMyPC is the most in-depth tool in this collection and includes 'speed tools' that include a CPU Manager to prevent low priority processes from eating into CPU use, a thumbnail generator to speed up folder browsing, and a software quick starter to reduce the time it takes for an application to load.

There is also a series of system tweaks which claims to improve internet access, and change system resources and visual effect use to improve response times. There's limited access to additional information on scan results here, but it is possible to view the various errors found and opt not to correct them if you so wish.

Finally, DriverScanner automatically compares driver versions of installed hardware against the latest version available from its database, and can automatically retrieve the latest version and walk you through the install process.

An initial scan of our test system, which is suitably outdated and infrequently maintained so as to reflect the state of a PC you might find in a typical office environment, revealed 301 registry errors, 223 issues with the system and one outdated driver.

Most of the 'damage levels' as reported were in the red, so we were expecting a noticeable impact on the smooth running of the system after carrying out the suggested fixes. We opted to correct all the errors found as recommended by the software, and switched on all the available speed-up tools to see what impact it had on our system.

Prior to running PowerSuite, we noted a boot time of 55 seconds from cold and an additional 35 seconds for Firefox to load and display a web page. Following optimisation this dropped to 38 seconds with an additional 24 seconds to boot the web browser.

We also noted 65 per cent memory (20 per cent paged) use, which dropped to 35 per cent (nine per cent paged). While these improvements certainly sound significant, it should be emphasised that our system was intentionally left in an unmanaged state, so those who make an effort to keep clutter and unwanted processes/applications to a minimum are unlikely to see this big an improvement.

We also noticed what felt like a far more streamlined operation when browsing folders and navigating around the operating system, although there was little or no impact in terms of applications starting or responding.

PowerSuite 2010 certainly seems capable of making an impact in the right environment then, but there are some other minor issues that make it less usable than we'd have liked.

While the interface is clean and effective at summarising system status, it's a shame not to see a one-click fix as an alternative to opening application components individually. We also noticed that PowerSuite frequently asks to repeat recent scans before fixing errors and, while this doesn't take too long (usually under a minute), it did seem like an unnecessary delay.

Improvements to the software for the 2010 version really centre around the revamped interface and PowerSuite's ability to run scans and display the status of each tool on a single screen.

These scans can also now be scheduled to run at intervals of your choosing, and a stripped down install reduces its core system footprint from 23MB to 14MB. None of these improvements is particularly notable, however, so users of previous versions may want to think carefully before considering an upgrade.

PowerSuite 2010 is compatible with Windows 7, XP and Vista with 32-bit and 64-bit support, and now runs independently from the .Net framework. UniBlue quotes official pricing only for a three-PC package, but discounts for site licences and bulk orders are available on an individual basis by contacting UniBlue customer service.

Intel Pentium 4 1GHz or equivalent processor, 512MB RAM, 750MB free hard disk space, graphics mode 1,024 x 768 true colour (highest 32-bit), Windows XP/Vista/7, Internet Explorer 7.