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Written by Mikhail Ivanenkov
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Sunday, 01 July 2007 |
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Page 1 of 3

Thanks to LIUtilities for the product sample.
Being a computer enthusiast, although not an overly zealous one like some I've come to know, it's natural to spend time picking out the best for the money and tweaking what you already have. But hardware can only go so far. What do you do after you've explored the depths of your BIOS, after trying out every combination of memory timings? The OS. As we all know, Windows XP is a resource hog and the more you have installed, the worse it gets. I recently went from 512mb to 256mb due to a corrupt module and the difference became very apparent. So today we're taking a look at Leading Interactive's SpeedUpMyPC, an all-inclusive program that, in a nutshell, speeds up your computer.

The company first introduced itself to the world with the highly reviewed WinTasks 4 Pro, essentially a beefed-up version of Windows' Task Manager. Let me start off by saying that SpeedUpMyPC is nothing remarkable and neither is it a major breakthrough in the world of tweaking. There are many cheaper and free utilities out there that can accomplish pretty much the same thing, but a few caveats exist. For one thing, it's hard to find a program that does everything. Furthermore, some users might feel intimidated by the controls and options found on freeware programs. SpeedUpMyPC attempts to bring it all together with an interface that's friendly even to Joe.

There are two versions to be purchased. Obviously I received the boxed one which retails for $50 at the time of writing. The download can be had for $30, which for every reason imaginable is the better bargain. When purchasing the physical package you get a DVD-style case with the CD inside. Also included is a manual complete with color illustrations, covering every square inch of the program. The same thing can also be found on the disk in PDF format. And finally you get a label with the CD-key needed to make the program work permanently. There's no online registration so you could potentially load it on every computer in your house.
When installing SpeedUpMyPC you're first prompted to enter a CD-key; otherwise your trial will expire in 30 days, which leads me to believe that at some point there may have been a free downloadable version. Or at least that's how every trial-based program I've used has worked. At any rate, I see no real reason why you'd want the hard copy. You'll end up paying an extra $20 for a pretty case and a CD, when all it takes is a couple minutes worth of bandwidth to get it online. The only plausible reason I see for getting the hard copy is whether you'd be able to download the it again if something were to become corrupt with the one you currently own. But I assume this has already been thought of.

System requirements to run SpeedUpMyPC are minimal: Windows 98 onward, 10mb of disk space, 32mb of RAM and a 400mhz+ CPU. When you first fire up the program the System Overview window pops up. This gives you a general look at how much memory you have and how much you're using, along with some basics like your CPU and network connections and your current bandwidth. Below that is an ever-changing list of recommended actions that free up resources to make your computer function faster/with more stability. All of these options will be discussed shortly.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 01 July 2007 )
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