15-Minute Reviews :: Glary Utilities Pro v2.3.2.101 (Quick)
Hello all and welcome to another 15-Minute Review! Today’s application is Glary Utilities Pro version 2.3.2.101 by Glarysoft – An application to help keep your machine in tip-top shape.
This title was previously reviewed. Click here to read.
Software Description
As Giveaway of the Day states:
“Glary Utilities Pro offers numerous powerful and easy-to-use system tools and utilities to fix, speed up, maintain and protect your PC.
It allows you to clean common system junk files, as well as invalid registry entries and Internet traces. You can manage and delete browser add-ons, analyze disk space usage and find duplicate files. You can also view and manage installed shell extensions, encrypt your files from unauthorized access and use, split large files into smaller manageable files and then rejoin them.
Furthermore, Glary Utilities Pro includes the options to optimize memory, find, fix, or remove broken Windows shortcuts, manage the programs that start at Windows startup and uninstall software. Other features include secure file deletion, an Empty Folder finder and more.”
Quick Pros
- Plenty of functionality to use; Cleaners, fixers, scrubbers and more
- Backup functionality on a good deal of the application
- Very quick functionality
- Context Menu Manager is nice to see in an application
- Startup Manager handy to give ‘ratings’ and suggested actions
- Tracks Eraser very detailed
- Scheduling for allowing you to automate the maintenance of your system
- Application has added Wipe Free Space function
- A plus that there is a ‘Free’ version available now as well
Quick Cons
- Spyware Remover is only under 1-Click Maintenance
- Usefulness of a Memory Optimizer is questionable; At least doesn’t state it works wonders
Expansion
While I have reviewed this title before ( Version 2.0.0.3 – Review here ) there has been a few changes since. While I can’t seem to locate a changelog, the most notable change is the separation of the Pro version and now the inclusion of the Free version. While their website states that the Pro version provides ‘Much much more powerful utilities’ and the Free version is ‘For only private use’, spending a bit of time reviewing the information on the website, the main difference I can find without installing the Free version is that now the PRO version has a scheduler for performing the 1-Click Maintenance. 1-Click Maintenance can consist of the Registry Cleaner, Shortcuts Fixer, Startup Manager, Temporary Files Cleaner, Tracks Eraser and Spyware Remover; All of which can be enabled or disabled for the scheduling functionality. I do wonder about why the Spyware Remover is only part of the 1-Click Maintenance and not one of the Modules for manual usage as well. While I do not know if I would suggest using the Registry Cleaner in a scheduled mode, the new scheduler otherwise could be rather handy for those who don’t like spending a lot of their own time working on cleaning their system.
The developer has also added a function which I mentioned I did miss in the last version. Now, not only can you wipe files right off your hard drive, you can also wipe the free space of your hard drive, making this application capable of ensuring your safety after you’ve deleted a file regularly. Now normally I do wish for the capabilities of altering the wipe format; However, you can’t alter the settings. In the helpfile however, there is information on the wipe format used as being DoD 5220.22-M
As with last review, I must touch on the previous topic of the Memory Optimizer; Essentially pushes information out to your pagefile, and really is limited in usability. Since Windows 2000, Microsoft’s built-in memory manager does a great job of handling this for you generally, and the benefits of an application like this are really limited; In previous testing, I have actually found some hinder performance far worse than actually help.
Final Verdict
As usual, I must put out the notice that any application which alters system files really needs to be watched closely. All of my testing today again went smoothly, but you should still always be careful. Even though the application performs its own backups of some of the critical steps, I still recommend you perform your own backup before proceeding with using this application. That said, with the growth of features in this application, it is a good choice for while it is free. As for paying $39.95 for the Pro version, it really depends on how much you want the scheduling functionality and whatever else may be buried away (website really isn’t descriptive on other details); It isn’t a bad price either way for all the functionality built into this application that you may normally pay $20-$50 each separately anyways. If you do miss the Giveaway, you may still want to check out the Free version as well.
You can read the previous review here.
Posted by BladedThoth on Friday, October 12, 2007
