Optimize 2.0 Review - Five Months Later Review

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Optimize 2.0 Review Number 2

Back in February, 2008, I bought a license for Optimize 2.0 and was very impressed with its cleanup and speedup changes it made on my computer.

Now, five months later, is it still a worthwhile tool?

As I ran the program on Friday night, it had been several weeks since I had used it to check the optimization and for cleanup. My trigger to do the cleanup was that I had just uninstalled McAfee SiteAdvisor. Not only did McAfee SiteAdvisor's uninstall routine require that I reboot so it could delete some of its files that were in use, I had something that still tried to start SiteAdvisor and gave an error message that it could not find the file.

The first two images below on the left and right show the initial report of Optimize 2.0 as it did its work. It scanned a lot of stuff, found 160 temporary files to delete (freeing 11MB), tested download speed on a small file (0.3 MB at 7,085 kilobits per second) and a large file (9 MB at 8,772 kilobits per second).

(click on the image for a larger version)

(click on the image for a larger version)

The image on the left below shows the junk files that it found that it could delete, of which the temporary files were only a part.

This report indicates the extreme friendliness of the PC Pitstop people. There's enough information here that you can fix the problems yourself, if you want, instead of having to buy the program. Most programs of this type don't give enough details to allow you to make the changes by yourself — you have to buy the program.

The image on the right shows the recommended changes to the Internet Settings to optimize my connection to my Internet Service Provider. Again, I could make the changes myself. Of course, since I licensed the program, it will do the fixes for me.

(click on the image for a larger version)

(click on the image for a larger version)

The next images shows that I have my startup files under control (I use WinPatrol to control them — I allow programs to install the startup programs, and then use WinPatrol to disable their auto-start).

That's followed by (in the right image) the listing of Windows Registry fixes that Optimize 2.0 has identified as necessary. Note that, in these and the earlier images, there are checkboxes for each item. If I don't want some recommended fix to be made, all I have to do is uncheck that box.

(click on the image for a larger version)

(click on the image for a larger version)

Almost finished! Optimize 2.0 didn't find any more performance tweaks (I've run the program a number of times since February, so I'd be surprised if it found any general tweaks to be made.)

I didn't display the next image — it was the one in which Optimize 2.0 gave me the Optimize button so that I could have it make the changes

The final image shows the "I'm finished" screen. Optimize 2.0 gives a summary of all the things it has just fixed.

(click on the image for a larger version)

(click on the image for a larger version)