15-Minute Reviews :: Clean MemXP v9.0 (Quick)

Today’s 15-Minute Review is on Clean MemXP version 9.0 by FOTIS – An application to manage your memory plus a few other perks.

Note: This is just a quick update to the review of Clean MemXP version 8.0. As since nothing significant has changed, the review will touch on a few basic changes only. Please read the original review for more information.

Software Description

As Giveaway of the Day states:

“Clean MemXP is a system utility for watching system status, defraging system memory and optimizing performance. It shows information for the current state of the system such as CPU usage, RAM and Virtual RAM availability, Disk Usage, Processes, Processes accessing Internet, Services.”

Quick Pros

• Has a lot of system information and system utilities built-in
• System tray icon brings up most common options
• Computer lock function interesting
• Does appear to page properly

Quick Cons

• Won’t let you purge memory unless you’re getting below threshold
• Annoying sound when defragmenting
• Unnecessary use of 3 system tray icons Update: Two icons can be removed
• Limited usefulness of paging

Quick Update

After testing the application again as well as reviewing the changelog available here, (Bottom of the page – This is version 9.0, not 9.2), there isn’t a significant number of changes. The memory clearing functionality is the same in general – There isn’t much that likely can be upgraded, as that since Windows NT, 2000, XP and Vista all run on a strict memory policy, it isn’t near the issues memory usage was back in the days of Windows 94, 98 and ME.

Some other notable updates from 8.0 are the fact that the application can track two cores, graphs and network analysis (Including what is using the internet on what ports – Could be handy for tracking down hidden applications). While the changelog does note that the Lock Computer function is new, if you check the previous review of 8.0, you will see that it did exist in 8.0 and is listed here for some reason.

One of the previous issues with the application before has been rectified. On the options page, there is now the capability to disable two of the three system tray icons, which is a good thing if you like an uncluttered tray or don’t want that CPU/memory overhead. There is a third check box to disable another icon in the system tray, but it doesn’t appear to do anything.

Final Verdict

While there has been a few general improvements, the application really hasn’t progressed far – Especially concidering a major revision number. That said, at least the application is moving in the right direction, even though the usefulness of a memory-purging tool is questionable. For free, if you’re looking for an all-in-one place to get some of the extras included in this application, this may be a good one to try to see if it fits your needs – At 3MB footprint, it’s not a lot of memory for a system information tool (3MB would be too much for a memory optimization tool). The pay structure appears to have changed on the application. GaotD has the application listed at $23.89 – This price includes the ‘Registration Protection’ feature of $4.99. Without the protection the application is $18.90 and it appears to be a lifetime price now as well. As for paying $18.90, the price isn’t too high, but the usefulness of the application is still questionable and makes the application difficult to recommend.

To find out more on this application, please read the previous review of this application.

Posted by BladedThoth on Tuesday, February 12, 2008