It’s almost imperceptible, but your PC starts to creak at the seams within weeks of use, whether you’ve just bought it brand spanking new or have reinstalled Windows from scratch. As new programs are added, files created, edited and maybe deleted, your computer starts to show virtual wear and tear. You can, of course, adopt a vigorous health regimen for your computer, running all kinds of utilities and performing checks on a regular basis, but that takes time away from actually using your computer for the reasons you bought it in the first place.

MAGIX PC Check & Tuning aims – quite successfully – to take over the maintenance and optimisation of your PC. It’s basically split into two components: the check side, which performs regular health tests at hourly intervals, and the tuning side, where you can quickly optimise your PC to regain lost performance.

There’s an automatic checking tool that runs in the background, and will alert you every hour when necessary – tests include checking your security is working and up to date, your hard drive’s SMART status and processor temperature. You can also configure the check to alert you if your drive fragments and if superfluous files start to build up on your computer.

There’s also a one-click button that can be used to scan and clean your system, but you can combine all of these features with the rest of PC Check & Tuning’s feature set by opening the main program interface. Here you can scan your entire system for potential problems and performance bottlenecks, and the program covers just about all the bases – even expert users will be impressed with the areas it covers. The beauty, of course, is that you don’t need to be an expert user to use it – the results are displayed clearly and you can either opt to fix them all or simply resolve individual problems with a single click.

It doesn’t end there – there’s a simple backup tool, data shredder and comprehensive information tool; basically everything you need to keep your PC in tip-top shape.

The 2011 release promises optimised performance, plus a host of useful new features. These include the ability to optimise your startup routine with a single click, plus keep software updated and tweak your PC’s power settings to save energy.