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A system optimizer (PC optimizer) is a program designed to enhance computer's performance by correcting system errors, cleaning up the hard drive, fixing web-browser issues and registry errors etc. System optimizers have emerged in 2008 as new age system utilities that evolved from registry cleaners. Along with registry repair tools system optimizers have many useful features and are among the most essential software for Windows users.

System optimizer is the one and only software that will maintain your system by speeding it up, eliminating all errors and protecting your privacy. The evolution of computer world and the fact that amounts of data personal computers can process continually grow bring higher and higher risks of various system errors. These errors, some of which are invisible to a user, can cause serious computer problems – crashes, freezes, low disk space, data loss and information thefts. Any system optimizer can perform a scan to find such hidden threats and if you have more than 150 errors, your system needs to be optimized immediately.

The main goal of this article is to show you what a system optimizer can be used for and to compare the top 5 solutions our experts have picked from more than 100 applications available on the market - ZeoOptimizer (ZeoBIT), System Mechanic (Iolo), PowerUp (Ashampoo), PC Optimizer Pro (PC Optimizer Pro) and RegCure (ParetoLogic). In order to provide you with the most precise information on the effectiveness of every system optimizer we have run ultimate testing that allowed us to give numeric marks to each specific feature and function of the programs. The tests have proven that each system optimizer from 5 chosen products the quality of optimization varies significantly. Some of them don't have the features we felt were necessary for this kind of software, some are obviously overpriced etc.:
RegCure - doing a decent job in registry cleaning but lack of new essential features makes him an obsolete overpriced program.
PC Optimizer Pro- a good system optimizer that has some useful tools (startup manager, registry optimizer) but is quite weak at its main functions like junk cleanup and privacy protection. PC Optimizer Pro also has the lowest OS compatibility.

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To perform the tests we used 3 different computers - a desktop (Vostro 420: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E7400, 3GB DDR2 SDRAM, 250GB1 Serial ATA) running Windows XP, another desktop (OptiPlex 740 Desktop: AMD ATHLON 1640B, 1.0GB DDR2, 80GB1 SATA) running Windows Vista and a laptop (Sony Vaio VGN-SR490: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T6500, 4GB RAM 320GB HDD) running Windows Vista 64Bit. Now our mission was to set everything up for optimization - that is to cause as much errors in the system as we could, install and uninstall programs to leave leftover junk files on the hard drive etc. We then backed this system condition up and restored it after testing each system optimizer.
We kicked off by pointing out the main features each system optimizer had. The 10 features we felt were most necessary for a system optimizer were:
Free scan - Does the system optimizer perform a free scan for errors.
Trial fix - Is it possible to fix a number of errors for free.
Deep scan - Can the application run a deep accurate scan.
Custom scan - Can a user customize scan settings of the system optimizer.
Background scan - Does the program run a scheduled background scan.
Quick scan on launch - Does the system optimizer start a quick scan when you launch the program (or upon startup)
Registry Optimization - change registry-settings deep inside the operating system of your computer in an attempt to raise your speed.
Manual optimization - Can a user choose which of the found issues he/she wishes to optimize.
Automatic updates - Does the system optimizer run regular version updates.
Software tips - Are there useful tips in the program. Then after running our tests with each system optimizer we were able to give our 5 contestants marks (on a scale from 1 to 10) for different parameters of their performance:
System maintenance - How well the software detects and cleans system issues.
Privacy protection - How well the system optimizer takes care of privacy issues with your browsers etc.
Registry Cleaning - How efficient the program's registry cleaner and its effectiveness.
System & Application junk cleanup - How well the software can remove unnecessary application parts, leftover junk etc.
Ease of use - Is the program's interface easy to understand and use.
Scan speed - How fast does the system optimizer scan a computer for issues.
Fix quality - How accurately the program has found and fixed the errors.
Performance improvement - How significantly can the program improve general computer's performance.
Dynamic resources usage - How much of the system resources (CPU and memory) the program uses depending on how idle the computer is.
Cooperation with protection systems - How well the program co-exists and co-operates with different antiviruses, firewalls etc. We also tried not to leave out other important aspects of the programs - their operating systems compatibility, customer and product support quality, regular price and license type. Given below are the results of our system optimizer research. Hope this information comes in handy if you are choosing a system optimizer for your PC.