System Mechanic

When it seems that your PC runs slowly or key/mouse response is delayed, it is often a software-related issue that can be easily solved. One way is to use Windows system maintenance tools if you have time and skills, the alternative is various optimization tools. Those do the job getting rid of obsolete apps, bad registry entries, system errors etc. System Mechanic is a set of PC system utilities, also known as PC optimization software, that helps manage and maintain devices in good shape.

Specifications:

Both versions, Standard and Pro, are available in 10 languages (including French, Dutch, German) for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. The suite was released by iolo Technologies, a US-based company with 20 years market presence. There are three editions of System Mechanic:

1. System Mechanic Trial – limited version of Standard edition. Shows all menu, but features for scheduled and auto maintenance are blocked.
2. System Mechanic Standard – cleaner, privacy protection tools, password manager. It costs $24.97 annually.
3. System Mechanic Pro – all previous features plus extended antivirus protection, data eraser and data recovery tools for $34.70 per 1 year.

For free one can only use Trial (named Free), while other versions offer 60-day money-back guarantee. So before we move on to review, a brief summary of what System Mechanic is about.

Installation & Interface

The difference between Standard and Pro edition is mainly in antivirus modules and two features: Drive Scriber and Recovery tool. So for basic cleaning and PC optimization PC the Standard edition is quite enough.

For those who like full automatic system maintenance Pro will be more functional as it repairs issues, boosts PC speed, as well as cleans, protects and secures comprehensively. Additionally, it blocks malware and bloatware, it could recover lost data.

We should mention right away that System Mechanic might not be on good terms with antivirus or anti-malware program. But this problem appears only if you use built-in antivirus and firewall. Then, the process is typical: enter an email address and get an activation key... no additional software, no other difficulties.

We’ll describe all features relevant for all versions of System Mechanic, except Ultimate Defence, which is more complex and has its own review.

When you run the optimizer for the first time, you are prompted to analyze the system. On the left, there is a menu with the following entries: System Mechanic Dashboard, Privacy Guardian, Bypass, Malware Killer, Antivirus, Search and Recover and Drive Scrubber.

Dashboard tab contains Analyze and Issues sections, and PC Status is where you can receive a PC resources usage report. The Issues tab is pretty self-explanatory. Privacy Guardian contains 5 more sub-tabs:

1. Dashboard (functions arranged via wizards),
2. Digital Fingerprinting Protection,
3. Active Care,
4. Private Search,
5. History management.

Each of them contains a set of proper tools for corresponding purposes. Active Care serves to configure automatic analysis and removal of cookies and tracking files. Private Search helps avoid tracking by search engines. Digital Fingerprinting protection randomizes user data which sites can legally get from browsers.

Overall, the interface is convenient, features are laid out logically and easy to find. We did not encounter any advertisements, pop-ups etc., unlike in many other products. In the new version of System Mechanic tool tips were redesigned. Instead of pop-ups to click, now feature descriptions can be enabled.

Features

Now let’s discuss the central point of System Mechanic: functionality, what is there to optimize PC work and how it actually works. There are several areas. Full analyze via dashboard includes optimization, repair and security tools.

These are actions to optimize PC startup, registry, configure Internet connection, system drive, detect and fix errors/broken shortcuts, etc. Security actions include detecting vulnerabilities, regular backing up of registry, disabling Windows 10 telemetry, wiping all data from a drive and permanent removal of files.

Next up, is active system monitoring features. Basically, it constantly monitors CPU use, speed, responsiveness, Internet speed, startup and running programs.

To improve performance, System Mechanic can close running apps, terminate background services, defragment files on the hard drives and registry entries. Also it can revise and check user’s Internet connection parameters to increase it’s bandwidth or time to response.

Cleaning options, a.k.a. Clutter Cleaning in System Mechanic, include taking care of junk files, securely erasing private sensitive data, repairing registry errors, removing software redundancies, finding duplicate files, etc.

Tip. SafetyNet is the service able to roll back any changes made by System Mechanic. To open the list of completed actions, click the arrow icon on the top panel.

Speed up tools are the above-mentioned NetBooster, SSD Accelerator, Startup Optimizer, Startup Manager, Registry Compactor… but also Process Manager to organize running processes, and Memory Mechanic - to utilize free memory in the most efficient way possible.

Recover and manage set of tools are various actions to fix security vulnerabilities, track system changes, recover data from a drive/disk, find and install drivers, monitor hard drive status, and more.

Exclusive features. As we said, in addition to basic optimization and PC health tools, there’s malware blocking (only in Pro) and bloatware removal - to detect startup programs that launch without permission. But System Mechanic claims to offer several more patented technologies, such as:

1. Startup Optimizer - that uses research-based classifications to identify issues;
2. LiveBoost - to find patterns and prioritize programs to clean RAM, and so on.
3. ByePass - secure password storage for Chrome and Firefox
4. Privacy Guardian - removes web surfing traces in browsers.
5. Drive Scrubber - wipes deleted data on disks. Allows up to 99 rewrite cycles.
6. Malware Killer - passive scanner against malware.
7. Search & Recover - recovery of accidentally deleted files.

Testing and how it worked for us

Deep scan detected about 5 GB of junk files related to Windows and 465 MB of Internet activity traces. It also corrected privacy vulnerabilities and accelerated Internet connection speed by about 15%. The new System Mechanic has become much more convenient to use in comparison to its previous versions. The main parameters are available in the main window and on the top panel, which speeds up access to the main functions.

Also the time needed to scan was reduced. Deep scan on our test PC was completed in about 5 minutes, and a quick scan in 2 minutes. After it was finished, we also ran Disk Analyzer and it pointed out another 193 Mb of junk files. The integrated antimalware solution has a high degree of detection and quickly blocks detected threats. In our test, 16 out of 18 test files were blocked, including PUA and compressed files.

In conclusion

In total, System Mechanic helped to free up almost 5.5 GB on the hard drive and about 1% of RAM. We didn't notice a considerable improvement in PC performance or speed of tasks, but it's individual for every system. Design, interface and UX are convenient and offer a great single tool to monitor and manage everything on a PC. Unstable performance was the main disadvantage of previous versions of System Mechanic.

The program often crashed, and some functions didn't work correctly. New engine solved these problems. In any case, for several days of tests, we haven't noticed any errors. Current bottom line: System Mechanic is perfect for removing junk files and freeing disk space. Also it has effective an anti-malware module however it isn’t ideal in boosting PC speed or performance though.