TuneUp Utilities 2009

TuneUp Utilities is made up of many useful modules that can all be accessed from the main program. The main program is divided into six categories to make finding individual modules easier.

The modules of the currently selected category are displayed by name on the right side of the window. You can start a module simply by clicking on its name. You can also click the links below a module name to navigate directly to the desired feature within the module. After you have finished working with a module, simply click the red X in the top right corner of the window to close the module and return to the main window.

System requirements

* Microsoft Windows Vista, XP SP2 (both 32- and 64-bit versions)
* Processor with at least 300 MHz
* Screen resolution of at least 800x600 pixels
* 256 MB RAM
* Internet Explorer 6 or higher
* 80 MB free disk space (CD version 300 MB)

Windows Vista and its predecessors are installed on most of the computers in use around the world. Windows is, after all, a great system for performing standard tasks, using applications and managing files. But if a user wants to adjust, optimize or trim down the system, it stops being quite so easy. Many desirable functions are not even possible with the on-board Windows tools.

Just about anything can be adjusted in Windows. Windows decides which applications will start automatically with your system. Windows determines which commands are visible in the Start menu. Windows also determines how icons on the desktop appear. The only question is: How can the user change these options?

Nearly everything can be changed - if you know where and how.

Ask the expert. All important settings are hidden in the Windows boot files and theregistry. The registry is the central database for Windows, in which settings for all applications and hardware modules are stored. Using the right tools, you can open this special database and change its settings. The problem is that only experienced users know how to change the right settings among the cryptic entries in the registry. Most users don't understand a word of the information contained in an open registry file. Even if you know the registry entries inside and out, a small typo in the registry can still lead to serious consequences and even complete system failure.

TuneUp Utilities 2009 - your personal Windows expert

That's where TuneUp Utilities 2009 comes in. The software helps both beginners and experts to make Windows meet their needs in a way that is better, easier and safer. All important system options are explained in an easy way and can be turned on or off at the click of your mouse.

TuneUp Utilities 2009 will then make the necessary changes in the registry or boot files automatically. We place a high value on system stability, so that Windows won't stop working reliably. And most changes that you make can be undone in TuneUp Rescue Center - easily and safely.

The program also gives you many more options. In addition to helping you make Windows "better looking", you can also clean up and optimize your system at the click of a mouse. TuneUp Utilities 2009 will clean up unnecessary data from your hard disk and remove unnecessary entries from your registry. It can defragment your hard disk and registry and optimize your system settings to make Windows run substantially faster. Much of this maintenance is performed automatically for you every week by 1-Click Maintenance.

Automatic adaptation to your operating system

When making these changes, TuneUp Utilities 2009 reaches deep into the Windows system. However, Windows has changed a great deal from version to version. Because of this, the software automatically recognizes and adapts to each supported version of Windows. This is done automatically so that you, the user, won't have to re-learn the software for each operating system version.

What's New in TuneUp Utilities 2009

TuneUp Utilities 2009 has many great new features and enhancements compared to the previous version. Once again, our goal for the update was to implement the requests of our users in a simple and easy way. The most important changes are listed below.

The new Start page

TuneUp Utilities 2009 welcomes you with a completely redesigned Start page, which tells you about the status of your computer. If problems or nonoptimal settings are found, you are only a mouse-click away from resolving them. The Start page also tells you when new tips for increasing computer performance are available and warns you if maintenance tasks are not being taken care of automatically. The Start page also shows you whether new automatic startup programs have been added to Windows since the last time you ran TuneUp Utilities. You can decide whether these programs that start up automatically are really necessary.

TuneUp Speed Optimizer

Which settings slow your computer down? Which unnecessary services or programs are running in the background? Is your Internet connection optimally configured? TuneUp Speed Optimizer knows the answers to all these questions. It examines your entire system for bottlenecks, superfluous background programs, and incorrect settings. Great: with just one click you can carry out most optimizations very quickly. In addition, TuneUp Speed Optimizer provides suggestions for speeding up your system.

TuneUp Shortcut Cleaner

Cleaning up your working environment is tedious: removing invalid shortcuts from the Start menu, the Desktop, and the Quick Launch bar is very time-consuming. TuneUp ShortCut Cleaner now does the work for you. It checks whether all shortcuts are valid and removes the orphaned ones with just a click of a button. At the same time, empty folders are removed from the Start menu. TuneUp ShortCut Cleaner also checks frequently used programs and cleans up the list of recently opened files.

Support for the Opera browser

After hard disk defragmentation, which we introduced in TuneUp Utilities 2008, the feature most requested by customers was support for the Opera browser. TuneUp Utilities 2009 now also includes full support for Opera. Via several special Opera settings, TuneUp System Control now allows you to change the number of Speed Dial entries, conveniently choose your default search engine, and reenable fast backward and forward navigation. Internet optimization lets you optimize Opera's performance for your Internet connection. Free up disk space lets you delete the Opera cache.

TuneUp Styler

Now you can also change the Vista logo animation which appears just before logon. You can download a whole series of great animations from the TuneUp website. Or, if you prefer, you can choose your own personal image to display while Vista starts up. With Vista, you can also add your own images to Vista's logon screen: With just a few mouse clicks you can create a truly personal logon experience.

TuneUp Uninstall Manager

Redesigned from the ground up, TuneUp Install Manager now runs much faster and has a new, even more intuitive interface so that it is even easier to uninstall unnecessary programs. Unnecessary programs often are forgotten because they were installed a long time ago and then not used. TuneUp Utilities 2009 shows you a list of programs not used for a long time so that you can target for uninstallation those applications that use valuable disk space and in certain circumstances even slow your system down.

TuneUp StartUp Manager

A smooth-running system results when there are no unnecessary autostart applications. The improved TuneUp Startup Manager organizes your programs into groups and provides clear explanations to make it easier for you to identify those programs that are not needed.New automatic startup programs are now highlighted so that you can disable unwanted entries more easily. System start tasks are now also listed in TuneUp StartUp Manager In Vista, in particular, scheduled tasks are used in place of autostart entries.

Free up disk space

The already rapid display of disk space to be freed up is now even faster on NTFS drives. And now it is so easy to delete even more unnecessary files, like the backup files for the first Windows Vista service pack and the Opera and Safari caches. The second "Free up disk space" module that helps you turn off Windows functions that use excessive disk space has also been enhanced. The Windows Search index can now be disabled and deleted with a single click. This makes particular sense if you are already using a different search engine. In addition, TuneUp Disk Space Explorer now runs faster and no longer requires that an entire drive be analyzed. You can now specify that only those folders be analyzed that you are really interested in.

Lots more improvements

Along with the totally new features, there are a series of improvements that are not immediately visible. There are small improvements like Tooltips in the main window, a substantial increase in the number of problems that can be found byTuneUp Registry Cleaner, and better progress feedback from TuneUp Drive Defrag. But there are also big improvements "under the hood".