TuneUp360 6.0.2.0.9

No matter how great your computer performed when you unboxed it, time, system errors and application clutter will eventually wear it out and make it sluggish. System reinstallations will eventually fix the issues, but they are time-consuming and sometimes require a level of technicality that's above the average knowledge of the user.

Luckily for the user, there's hope. TuneUp360 is the new man in town: this one-click maintenance utility will blow new life into your computer. There's no need to know the ins and outs of the Windows Registry, nor do you have to take the extra risk of deleting essential files while manually optimizing the system.

TuneUp360 will immediately start the diagnosis process after the application has been started. The utility scans the system looking for both hardware and software issues. It is divided into four major sections, called PC Information, PC Performance, PC Stability and PC Security. We'll have a deeper look at every set of features below.

The PC Information Tab

The PC information section displays the computer's physical configuration. It lists the CPU type and chipset family, the amount of physical memory and the memory modules layout, the locally-installed storage devices (including USB thumb drives and memory cards), the motherboard model and serial number, the video configuration, as well as the local network cards and virtual adapters. The information including in the hardware report gives just a quick overview of the critical system components.

The PC Performance Tab

The PC Performance section is divided into two subsections called Hardware Analysis and Software Analysis. The Hardware Analysis section offers information about the free memory status. What's particularly interesting about TuneUp360 is that it offers benchmark between the "world average", the optimal values and the actual performance of the computer. This is one noteworthy feature that is not present in any other tune-up utility to our knowledge.

The Software Analysis section is much more comprehensive than the hardware analysis area. The former includes details about the Windows boot time, the Windows Page File size, service count, Registry & junk file status, as well as the computer's network settings. The report also includes the status of each section, rated from Dangerous to Excellent.

The PC Stability Tab

The PC Stability tab is divided in System Stability and Network Stability. System Stability displays an overview of the Registry, application and system errors, and also displays a status, rated from Dangerous to Excellent.

The PC Network Stability counts the packet loss ratio, which is actually an indicator of the efficiency of your transmission: the more lost packets, the more information will need to be re-sent to auto-correct the network data.

The PC Security Tab

The PC Security tab assesses the level of security of the local computer by checking the presence or absence of some essential features. TuneUp360 checks to see if the computer is configured to receive automatic updates for the operating system, if System Restore is enabled, if the Registry check has been performed and if USB Auto-Play is disabled.

Automatically accepting Windows updates is extremely important, as it offers fixes for a wide range of security bugs that may decrease performance or expose the user to malware.

The PC Network Security subsystem checks to see if the system has Remote Desktop Connection enabled (which may pose a security risk), if there is a Guest account enabled (which is also risky, since the guest can access the computer without an authorized password), if Windows Shared Resources are enabled (which may expose you to data leaks), if the Windows firewall is enabled and if the IE home page hasn't been hijacked by adware.

TuneUp360 also checks the personal privacy level by looking for sensitive data that can be recovered from Internet Explorer and other applications and used against their legit owner.

The last tab of the application is the Summary section, which provides the user with a graphical overview of the computer performance divided in three essential sections labeled Performance, Stability, and Security.

One-Click to fix 'em all

Right after TuneUp360 has completed assessing the status of the PC, the application displays the PC health check summary and allows the user to initiate the one-click fix process which will automatically correct all the errors found during the system scan. During the fixing process, the application displays a step-by-step list of what is happening with the system and the overall progress of the fixing process.

The reparation process is thorough, and it may take a couple of moments. Of course, the application creates a backup for the modifications, should anything go wrong. Some operations need a system reboot; if something goes wrong after the reboot, the user is instructed to use the TuneUp360 Restore Center application to undo the changes.

The good

It's really been some time since we have seen an application that easy to use. The simple and convenient user interface is extremely intuitive and displays every aspect of the report in the same list, thus minimizing the number of clicks to get through to the desired information. The interface is extremely cool, with a simple, yet modern color scheme.

The TuneUp360 utility takes less than 10 MB of hard-disk space when installed. Make no mistake about it, it's a really diminutive footprint for such a powerful application, and the producer ensured that there's no junk code or unnecessary features to bloat the application.

The bad

One thing that might be considered as a party-wrecker is the fact that TuneUp360 will detect system errors and other misconfigurations, but won't fix them as long as the application is unregistered.

Bottom line

Those of you who judge an application by the first impression won't get disappointed. Under the sleek layout, there's a powerful application that will definitely remove clutter and will warn you about the possible misconfigurations in your operating system. On top of that, there's the one-click Fix Now button that will bring your computer in top shape in no time. All these features make TuneUp360 a powerful competitor on the system tune-up utilities market. Definitely worth its money!