System Mechanic 6 Professional

I am now on version 9.5 and started with System Mechanic Prof. v. 5.Works fast and updates threat definitions on an almost daily basis.Works faster and I feel is more user-friendly than Norton or McAffee.Have not encountered problems with any of the hundreds of programs/websites I have accessed.

Item does not work as well as expected

It did appear to be new when I received it, but it was unusable. It will only load onto the computer IF the computer has a windows 98 ,me,2000, or xp operating system. Since I couldn't use it with windows 7 I have no idea if it would have worked. IOLO couldn't help, because they have no records that go back to the period of time in which the software was originally sold.

This was a great way with rebates to get Kaspersky AV & a Kaspersky Firewall bundled.That's was the GREAT PART. The bad part... I had to go through & reset every scan / option to not do anything automatically. In one case after letting it "remove items it deemed safe to do so" i had to use system restore.This is a HUGE problem with programs like this or registry "cleaners"Also while making lofty claims of better defragmentation... it was no better than windows in Safe mode.

Latest Update-- Running with absolutely no problems, after two weeks intensive use on the three computers in my home network, and by far the most effective and flexible of any cleanup utility I've tried. The careful preparation seems to have paid off.I was somewhat leary about trying this out, because of some very negative reviews. But the people at ZoneAlarm recommend it, so I decided to give it a try. To minimize the chances of trouble, I uninstalled my prior version, System Mechanic Pro 5 and thoroughly cleaned my system (Dell Dimension 8400, 512MB memory, two 180GB hard drives in a RAID0 configuration, running Windows XP Pro SP2, ZoneAlarm, Kaspersky Personal Pro antivirus, and antispyware from ZoneAlarm and Microsoft), using VCOM System Suite 6. I performed a system and registry backup, using System Suite 6 and set a Windows checkpoint. I did a full backup onto a USB drive, using Norton Ghost 10. I then rebooted twice, disconnected from the Internet,closed every program in the System Tray that would close (firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware, etc.), inserted the System Mechanic disk, exited from the startup screen, and explored the disk for any text or manual files. I read everything I could. I then reinserted the disk and let it run.The system hung once during the installation. This was unexpected, but not unusual when installing complex programs-- I just rebooted and the installation picked up where it had left off. I checked to make sure that no firewall nor antivirus was being installed.The installation completed. I rebooted twice, re-connected to the Internet (firewall and anti-virus were again active), downloaded and installed the update (version q) and gingerly started exploring the features. The instructions for the features could be easier to follow, but I concentrated on the individual sub-programs, avoiding the Total packages till I had a feel as to how it all worked.Absolutely NO proublems and seems very stable. I wound up doing considerable cleanup on what was a reasonably clean system to begin with, and the sytem is now considerably faster than before.Key Precautions: Start with a system in reasonably good shape. Do a full backup onto an external medium or USB hard drive. Make sure you've disconnected from the Internet and close everything you can. Do not install the program's firewall or antivirus unless you have already uninstalled any others that may be on your system. Install the update.

This is the best program out there. A must have for any home computer. Fixes most any problem. Keeps your computer cleaned out and running great.Free upgrades.Highly recommended.

I had been skeptical of software which purported to cleanse the registry but this product does exactly what is claims. On the first scan I freed up over 2 gigs of harddrive space. It continues to inform me when I need to cleanup and not one scan has affected my programs adversly. I recommend this product for everyone.

I had used SM5 basic, but never really got the feeling that it was maintaining my machine. When it's tools did run as scheduled it basically sucked up my system resources and rendered my computer useless until the tasks were completed.Bought SM6 Pro not too long ago. Initially it would hang while running certain maintenance jobs. Subsequent updates fixed this problem. Overall, I like the ease of use and it feels like the program is keeping my machine tuned up. However, it does so at the expense of performance. It takes programs noticeably longer to open and the tools are not customizable.The undo function is completely inoperable and the only thing tech support could tell me about it (after contacting them twice and finally getting a reply almost three weeks later) was that they were looking into it and the problem might be fixed in future updates.Another major problem is that the security program shuts my home network down. I cannot access my main computer from any other computer in the house. The only way to fix this problem is to completely restore my hard drive from a saved image file (or else completely reload the computer from scratch).SM6 could be a great program. Many of the features and tools are valuable and run well, but the ones that don't wreak too much havoc. Overall, it slows your machine down, does not allow you to customize the way tools run, destroys your network and cannot undo changes it makes to your system.Stay away from this product until iolo fixes these major bugs.