Auslogics BoostSpeed 5.2

Auslogics BoostSpeed 5 is a comprehensive suite of tools that will improve performance in just about every area of your PCs operations.

If your system is slow to boot, for instance, then use the Startup Manager to locate and disable unnecessary Windows startup programs. It's far more detailed than most of the competition, covering regular startup programs, Explorer extensions and IE add-ons for an extremely comprehensive list. And BoostSpeed 5 can even highlight "dangerous" items, programs it believes may be spyware, for an additional security benefit.

You'll also want to optimise your Windows services, and BoostSpeed 5 has the easiest way of doing this that we've seen. There's no browsing lengthy lists of possibilities, wondering what's safe to turn off - just choose a profile that best describes your PC ("Home computer with networking", say, or "Office computer") and the program will make the appropriate choices for you.

Nothing slows down a PC quite as much as a poorly optimised hard drive, but BoostSpeed 5 makes it easy to get your system back into shape. There are tools to remove junk and leftover files, clear your web, Windows and application histories, and explore your drive to see which folders are consuming the most space. Then the excellent Auslogics Disk Defrag will rearrange your files to deliver the best possible performance.

Of course there are also tools to clean up and then defragment the Registry. As well as a module to speed up your internet connection; you can tweak these settings manually, if you know what you're doing, or let BoostSpeed 5 handle the tricky decisions.

And you get plenty of useful bonus functions that aren't strictly performance-related at all, but they're all worth having so we're not about to complain. These include modules to undelete files, discover and fix hard drive problems, view system information, securely shred data, or wipe entire hard drives to make sure any personal data they contained has gone forever.

But if browsing all these modules sounds too much like hard work, don't worry, Auslogics have thought of that, too. Launch a System Scan and BoostSpeed 5 will automatically and quickly identify Registry problems, leftover hard drive junk, file fragmentation and more. Then you can have the program fix all these issues in just one click.

Auslogics BoostSpeed 5 is a professional suite of PC optimisation tools that comes packed with highly effective tweaking technologies. PC novices will appreciate the way BoostSpeed 5 will often choose the most appropriate settings at a click. But if you're a Windows expert, then don't worry, there are plenty of options for manual control, too. There's something for everyone here - go download the trial version immediately