Hi! That was a very excellent article, and very accurate, as well.
I own the product, but I got tired of it updating, and I had some
problems with making sure I was updating the English version, as I
accidently attempted to make sure I was highliting the English, and
it then, ran in another language. I've never been able to get it back
in English, so I never updated it again..
Thanks much.
Pat Ferguson
At 04:04 AM 12/31/2009, you wrote:
Several people here on the list, have been talking about the
Advanced SystemCare software from Iobit. Some encourage the use of
it, others tell they don't find it very accessible. It is my hope,
that this mail, might help people to get a bit more out of the
software.It sure took me a good deal of time, to really get going,
but if I can save some other people that hazzle, it's well worth.
First of all, there might be some on the list who doesn't know the
software, and what it actually accomplishes. The software is a
scanner, which searches for - and removes - Spyware, bad entries in
your registry, useless 'trash' (or temporary) files that only takes
up space, and certain traces of private information that is left on
your PC. It does also hold a memory optimizer. You further have the
chance of turning on/off which software should be loaded through
your system startup procedure. Some of these features (i.e the
startup manager), you need a certain amount of knowledge before
playing around with. That is why, Advanced SystemCare (ASC) does not
do anything of these 'more advanced' tasks without you specifically
asking it to do so. If you just run a standard scan, ASC will only
do the operations that is safe to do. These are the spyware scan,
privacy sweep, registry cleaner, and removal of temporary files.
The benefits of doing a scan with software like ASC, are quite many.
First of all, none of us want spyware. Although a good seperate
spyware scanner is encouraged, ASC will take care of certain traces.
Secondly, we all want our system to run as smoothly as possible.
This requires, for the system to run as few applications as
possible, and have the least amount of files to search through. Many
times, when a system is slow, or unstabile, it is due to the fact
that it has got messed up, by loads of old temporary files, and bad,
old or incorrect entries in the registry. How could this happen?
Whenever you install a software on your computer, it makes some
entry in the registry. This is done, as a way of ensuring that this
software is allowed to run on your computer. Such entries could be
your license key for the software, certain setup parameters, and
loads of other personal settings you make in your software. Some
programs, tend to make excessive use of the registry. Others hardly
ever touches the registry. For one example, Outlook Express makes
one new entry, for each rule you make for your E-mails. If you make
100 Mail-rules, there will be at least 100 new entries in your
registry. It is not uncommon to see a registry in Windows, holding
from 5000 to 10000 entries.
During installation of software, as well as when a software needs
more space, than what you have memory, the system creates temporary
files. A good example here, is Internet Explorer. When surfing on
the net, your system will download and temporarily store, certain
information. This is done, so that you won't have to download it
over and over again, when you come back to a given webpage. Let's
say, as an example, that you are doing a search on Google. The
results will be shown in a web window, and certain info will be
stored on your computer. You want to check out the second search
result, hence click on that. Upon reading the new webpage, you
decide it didn't really hold what you were looking for, so you go
back to your search result page. Due to the fact, that your system
already have downloaded given parts of that page, it is quick and
seamless to do your reverse.
Unfortunately, not all software are well written, when comes to tide
up when they are closed, or uninstalled. I have seen software, that
makes new entries in the registry, every time you make an update of
the software, without deleting the old (absolete) entries. And,
since we already touched Internet Explorer, it leaves a ton of old
temporary stuff on your PC. If your system is a year or more,
chances are GOOD that you will have a ton of old stuff, that takes
up resources, and in due time will make your system unstable. And
this is where registry cleaning software, like Advanced SystemCare,
comes in handy.
There is a few cleaners on the market. Some are free, others fair
priced, and some rather expensive. Some only concentrate on cleaning
your registry, while others are loaded with features. Certain
software packages are rather user controled, and might need a lot of
interaction from the user, each time it is being run. Other software
will be possible to run more or less automatically. ASC is in the
latter group. It might need a bit of setup to suit your personal
taste, but first setup, it can be run with only a couple of
keystrokes. Many users will find, there is even no need for any
setup, and the software can be used, right out of the box. A few
scanners can even be set to run at given times, ensuring your system
is always optimized.
I will here, only cover the very basics of how to operate Advanced
SystemCare. First you are up and running, you might be able to do
your exploring, and playing, on your own. Only, be careful. Doing
excessive changes to software of this kind, might cause your system
to get lost, and even need a reinstallation of your whole system. I
strongly recommend, unless you are 100% sure what you are doing,
don't fool with any settings. Simply just run the scanner in the
standard mode, and it will do it's main job, safely enough.
You can download the software from the developers homepage:
iobit.com
It is a bit confusing web design, but I will leave you to find your
way around there. Another way of getting the software, is to go to pages like
download.com
and do a search for Advanced SystemCare.
First downloaded, run the installation process. It is
self-explainatory, and quite a standard installation process. After
the installlation is completed, start the software. It will ask you
to create a System Restore Point. Simply accept to do so, as this is
a good wmeasure of security.
The main window of Advanced SystemCare, is not very accessible for a
visually impaired person. And definately, not so, in the standard
setup. Some people have been able to adjust the screen settings in
ASC, and by excessive use of the mouse, been able to operate the
software from the main window. I don't recommend this aproach,
specially so, as it is unneceessary. This is why, you simply press
Alt-F4, at this point, and close the main window of ASC.
Now, press Insert-S, to go to your SysTray. Here, you can scroll
down to Advanced SystemCare. Press Enter, and use the arrow keys, to
scroll down to the item reading ACTION. Press ENTER, and choose
SCAN. Press ENTER, and your scanner will start its job, running
silently in the background. You can use your system, while the
scanner is running. Just be aware, that the scanner is taking up a
good amount of resources, while working, so your system might be
rather slow in this time. How long your scanner will take to finish,
depends on your system, and what other applications are running at
the moment. Typically, I would suggest, something like five to ten
minutes. The scanner will search for, and automatically, remove any
errors. So, you don't have to interact anything more with the
software. Whenever you want to do a scan, simply just repeat the
instructions, found in this very paragraph, starting with pressing Insert-S.
As you see, your process only took a very few keystrokes. This is
one of the big reasons, why Advanced SystemCare, is the choice of
many users on this list. The software is powerful, in that it
removes a lot of stuff, in a short time. Many cases, you will find
your system is running more smoothly, and maybe even quicker, after
a scan. It is recommended, to run a scan, regularly. And, specially,
you should always run a scan, when you have uninstalled a software
package, to ensure there is no traces left from the process. Also,
if you are encountering trouble with your system, it is a good idea,
to run a scan, and see if Advanced SystemCare, will take care of the trouble.
If there is interest for it, I will consider writing another
article, dealing more in details with how to make use of - and set
up - the different parts of this software. I have decided to not
touch these 'more advanced' ways of operating the software, as most
users will find it confusing, and should never do any fooling with
these. Such an article will take its necessarity, of being far more
technical as well. Still, it is my hope, that this article will
prove helpful, to those who just want to make use of the power in
the scanner, and enjoy a smoother computer system. Feel free, to ask
questions, and leave me feedback on your experience with this article.
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your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending
your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it.
All GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo, and can be
searched through and sorted using the search
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