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.