PowerSuite
Reviewed October, 2010
| What's It Do? A Graphical User Interface (GUI) shows the status for Registry, speed, and drivers. The GUI accesses Registry Booster, SpeedUpMyPC, and Driver Scanner. It offers reduced size, live updates, 12 languages, scan scheduler, no .NET dependency, and compatibility with 32-bit and 64-bit, Windows XP, Vista, and 7. Does It Do What It Promises? Reviewer 1 - Dana Cardwell: Yes, it does perform the actions advertised; but those actions will not result in the promised dramatic performance increase for most users. Reviewer 2 - Mark Snyder: Yes. The developer makes no inflated claims and is careful to not do so. The Web Site claims that Uniblue PowerSuite 2010 is . . . designed to take comprehensive care of your computer's performance. It further promises a clean and defragmented registry, regular driver updates, and fully optimized resource management and system settings. It did all of this to a degree of success. There is no promise of making one's computer feel like new again, or speed increases of 150%, and so on that so many similar programs tend to make. Reviewer 3 - Name Withheld By Request: Power suite 2010 promises to bring Uniblue's three major PC maintenance products under a single umbrella and unify them into a single program experience. While I was expecting a mish-mash of interfaces and overlapping functionality, such was not the case. I was delivered a cohesive experience which provided the appearance I was working with one single program instead of three. Reviewer 4 - Peter Royle: Yes, to some extent, but not consistently or reliably. I found significant weaknesses in this program. Reviewer 5 - Dana Bostick: Uniblue Power Suite 2010 claims to "remove harmful Registry entries to reduce errors and conflicts, defragment Registry data to improve data processing efficiency, update all drivers for better hardware function, provide boot system resource management to avoid computer slowdowns, remove junk files to recover hard drive space and to optimize system settings for maximum speed." During my testing, it did "find" many items it felt needed correction. Whether or not these items were causing problems is difficult to say. My computer did not exhibit any significant problems or slowdowns during everyday operation prior to running Uniblue's Power Suite 2010 and no discernible speed increases were noted after running the application. I must say that my computer use is somewhat unique in that there is always some type of program that is under test and evaluation. Many times, these are programs that are designed to keep the system clean and optimize. Given that, I might not be considered an "average user." An average user might obtain different results when using this suite of applications. Was It Easy To Install? Reviewer 1 - Dana Cardwell: Yes, the 15.1 MB downloaded exe file installed without any conflicts or problems. Reviewer 2 - Mark Snyder: Yes. Compared to other similar programs, it is a surprisingly small 18.1 MB download taking only 47 seconds to download on a reasonably fast broadband connection. It does, however, require quiet a bit more than the 32.7MB of disk space as claimed in the Install Wizard. The actual space consumed is shown below:
Reviewer 3 - Name Withheld By Request: Installation was very easy. The installer makes it seem like one is installing only one program rather than three separate ones. Reviewer 4 - Peter Royle: No. My first attempts to install the program were stymied by a corrupt file in the installation program. I tried to download it to different computers, then finally I ran it directly from the Uniblue Web site. None of these methods worked. While browsing through the site, I found a different download file which I tried out and this one did work properly. I was able to install the program in the folder of my choice, and was also able to determine where the shortcuts would be placed; however, without any warning or request for permission, a program called Launcher tried to insert itself into the Startup Process. This came from a separate folder created by the Uniblue installation program, and was not where I had directed the program to be installed. I am very particular about having control over what gets installed on my computer, and where it is to be located. I Do not like to allocate resources to programs that start up when the computer is turned on, and I particularly dislike programs that want to do so without any explanation and without my explicit permission. The EULA (End Users Licence Agreement) is quite long and full of the usual legalese, disclaimers and avoidance of responsibility so common in many similar agreements. For example: You accept that Uniblue and its suppliers do not represent or warrant that the Uniblue Software will meet your requirements or be error or defect free or that any defects in the operation or functionality of the Uniblue Software will be corrected. Later in the EULA Uniblue absolves itself of the necessity of providing support: "Uniblue may provide you with support services related to the Uniblue Software." The licence for use on three computers will expire at the end of one year from the date of purchase, then requiring removal of the program from two of the three computers. On that one machine "some features and functionality of the Uniblue Software may cease to function or the Uniblue Software may cease to function altogether." Reviewer 5 - Dana Bostick: PowerSuite installed easily with no problems on my XP SP-3 machine. Things did not go well on the Vista Home Premium attempt on my tablet. After several abortive attempts, including a complete uninstall by the program's uninstaller itself and a subsequent system scan by a third-party uninstall utility to remove any remnants and a reinstall twice, I gave up on that install. It appeared to install correctly but would present an error message on every launch stating that my "Host" file was a problem. I contacted Uniblue and they provide a batch file download to run to fix the problem, but that, too, was unsuccessful. Uniblue's EULA allows for installation of the program on up to three computers. This is a welcome, but unusual policy that I wish more developers would adopt. The "one license, one user, on one computer" model is outdated and is not realistic in today's environment. Good Points. Reviewer 1 - Dana Cardwell: PowerSuite is a set of three different programs consisting of a Registry cleaner and defragger, a tweaker and junk file cleaner, and a driver scanner. The user interface is easy to navigate and makes each of these programs accessible from a single click. I like the ability to scan from the user interface without having to open each different program or open the separate program for more details. Each of the different programs can be scheduled to perform scans at selected intervals. The main instructions on how to use PowerSuite and each of its component programs comes from a downloadable manual in pdf format. I found that the user interface was intuitive and there was little need to consult the manual. Questions not answered in the manual could be directed to PowerSuite's Web site with response in a normal business time frame. The Registry Booster performs scans quickly and can clean invalid registry entries even faster. Part of this speed is due to Registry Booster not scanning the entire Registry. This is not necessarily a bad thing as there are portions of the Registry that should be scanned and cleaned only if the user is knowledgeable about the Registry entries that will be deleted. Registry Booster is very safe to use by scanning known safer keys to delete invalid entries from the Registry and it has a restore function. My tests demonstrated that the restore function did return my Registry to the state it was before the clean. I also like the log that Registry Booster generates when it performs a clean so I can view individual Registry entries that were deleted. The concept of cleaning the Registry of invalid entries to increase performance is well documented; however, removing invalid entries is only part of the performance improvement. The other part is eliminating the gaps in the Registry by removal of these invalid entries. Registry Booster provides this other part in a defragmentation of the Registry, which is a vital component left out of other Registry cleaners. The SpeedUpMyPC tool is a combination of known tweaking of Registry settings and a junk file remover. I like the ability to select which tweaks can be undone and which speed up tools can be disabled. With PCs, one size does not always fit. I found some of the tweaks actually slowed down performance on my system. I have already tweaked my system, so I saw very little improvement from these tweaks. I had made the tweaks that do boost performance, so, unlike with my experience, the average user will see a performance boost from these known performance tweaks. I like the ability to select which junk files should be removed. Most junk file removers want to remove the temporary Internet files. My access of the same sites on a regular basis makes such a performance boost actually a performance slow down. The Driver Scanner worked quite well and very quickly. On my system only one driver was found to be out of date. Reviewer 2 - Mark Snyder: There is much to like about PowerSuite 2010 which brings together three quite capable utilities presented in a clean, attractive and informative GUI (Graphic User Interface). The GUI is logical in its layout and can be easily and immediately used by even a beginner. It is simply split in to three convenient tabs: "Overview," Scheduler," and "Settings" with the main screen indicating the status at a glance of the three main utilities Registry Booster, Driver Scanner, and SpeedUpMyPC. From here, all one needs do is push "start scan" to launch the application and begin using the selected tool. It did a good job of safely cleaning and defragmenting the Registry; was able to find and install updated drivers, and it offered some tweaks to system settings to improve performance. In addition, and more specifically: 
The Registry cleaning module was relative aggressive but I found
no instances of it identifying questionable or unsafe items for
removal. It also offers a restore function should a problem
arise after cleaning. The restore function worked well.
The Registry cleaning module offers excellent details as to the
items it finds to remove and allows the option to have it
automatically remove everything it finds or manually delete only
those the user feels are reasonable, or to white list entries so
that they will not be identified in future scans.The
driver update module offered a very fast scan time and located
and installed updated drivers without incident.
The optimization tool, SpeedUpMyPC, in addition to cleaning junk
files, offered tweaks that are relatively well known, along with
some having to do with browsing speed via DNS caching which
usually only an expert can adjust. The tweaks seemed safe in my
opinion and did seem to offer some perceptible improvement in
application launching, page load times, download times, and boot
times. Some of these optimizations are only realized by using
the running of this application in the background in "real
time."
The settings tab offers scheduling options to have the
application launch and perform its functions on a daily, weekly,
every two week, or monthly basis. Each function can be scheduled
separately. The default setting can be changed so that the
program does not automatically launch with Windows. Other
configurations can include navigation options, language
settings, and even proxy settings. All settings options are
clear and easy to change.
Support consists of an Online Knowledgebase (FAQ); Support
ticket/email system; help files, and product manuals
There is a 30-day trial before purchase is required.I found PowerSuite 2010 to be a safe, capable, and efficient program that does what it claims and without all of the bloatware that so often accompanies utility suites such as this. There is a feature set that includes a Registry editor, Registry find and replace tool, Registry search tool, Registry compactor, disc cleaner, install/uninstall tracker, and a set of Windows "tweaks" to system settings. Each of the added features performed as described. Reviewer 3 - Name Withheld By Request: I am nearly obsessive with keeping my drivers up-to-date; yet, PowerSuite 2010's DriverScanner module found no less than four separate driver updates that I had no idea were available for my hardware. Reviewer 4 - Peter Royle: When I ran the Registry Cleaner, it found over 200 Registry errors. I could choose to see both a simplified list of the errors grouped into categories, and a detailed list showing all the errors and where they were in the Registry. Once I had checked through the list, I allowed the program to do the Registry cleaning. Its first step was a full backup of the Registry before embarking on the actual cleaning, an excellent and very important feature. The cleaner also created a log of the process, with the same list of items that had been removed by the cleaning. Each time the Registry Cleaner is run, a log of all the changes is created. Although the computer had been recently cleaned up by several other programs, UniBlue Registry Cleaner was still able to find parts of the Registry that could use a bit more tidying up. The SpeedUpMyPC module found many junk files that were still scattered around in different places on the computer's main drive. UniBlue Power Suite is designed to work with some essential parts of the overall Windows Operating System: the Registry, drivers and "system configuration and resource allocation ". Users must be confident that, when problems occur, help is available, and quickly. Although the EULA does not promise such assistance to users, I was pleasantly surprised by the response I had when I needed help. I received an almost immediate (automatic) reply to my on-line request for assistance, giving me a ticket number that I could use in email correspondence. I was also informed that a member of the support team would (under normal circumstances) reply within 24 hours. In fact, I received an email in less than 12 hours. The information provided was very complete and I needed no further contact with them for that particular issue. In the area of support, then, the UniBlue people met and even surpassed my expectations. Reviewer 5 - Dana Bostick: Uniblue's Power Suite's Registry Booster was quite fast during the scanning process. It took under a minute to complete and the results of the scan were clearly presented and easy to understand. Any Registry errors found were broken down into three categories: System related errors, User related errors, and Third-party related errors. The areas to be scanned for errors are selectable via a checkbox and entries can be added to an "ignore list" to exclude those being flagged as an error. Each error is assigned a "damage level" value that is displayed with a color bar chart. An explanation of this evaluation is provided along with the location and detailed description of the error. While the detailed information is presented in a cryptic HKEY value that does not really tell the average user much, clicking on the "view results log" opens an HTML page that may be a bit more enlightening. When changes are to be made, the program backs up the Registry it may be rolled back if something goes amiss. Each of the three components can be scheduled to run at specific frequencies and times via the settings within the program itself. SpeedUpMyPC to delves deeply into the computer to make changes that Uniblue feels would be beneficial in making one's PC run faster. It monitors and throttles "runaway processes that use up all of your computer's processing power", provides a "Proactive thumbnail generator" to help with quicker navigation through the file manager and purportedly works some kind of magic so that "applications are launched more quickly when accessed from the start menu". The Driver Scanner application is fairly straightforward. It scans the driver database, looking for the date signature of the currently installed drivers and compares them to its own database of drivers and download/install a newer version is available. It examines disk drives, processors, display adapters, DVD/CD-ROM drives, IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers, monitors, network adapters, sound, video and game controllers, system devices, SCSI/raid devices, USB controllers and the catchall "other devices". The scan was very fast, completing in under one minute. . Weak Points. Reviewer 1 - Dana Cardwell: Registry Booster is very weak in its detection and cleaning abilities. My testing showed Registry Booster did not detect or clean numerous invalid entries which are known to be safe to remove. Some examples are invalid Start Menu order entries, unused file extensions, invalid files references, and other items. Registry booster found 227 invalid entries and could not remove one for security reasons while two different cleaners found 324 and 333 invalid entries. Examination of the invalid entries missed by Registry Booster did reveal these entries to be invalid and totally safe to be removed. Reviewer 2 - Mark Snyder: While there is a lot to like about Uniblue's PowerSuite 2010, there are still a few weaknesses and a bug or two to be worked out. The deal breaker for this reviewer is the EULA and the support. The EULA is the most important part of any software program as it is the legally binding agreement between the user and the software developer. As such, it should, ideally, offer both the consumer and the developer some guarantees and protection and it should be clear and easily understood. The Uniblue EULA met few if any of these requirements. To begin, it is unclear as to whether the license if for use on three computers or on one computer. There is so much legalese that it would take a lawyer to interpret it correctly. This is, however, not what became the deal breaker for me. My problem is with those stipulations that border on this program being classified as spyware: There may be technological measures, including enforcement technology, in the Uniblue Software that are designed to prevent unlicensed or illegal use. You agree that Uniblue may use these measures. This can only mean that Uniblue is accessing one's computer through its software to monitor use of its program. Furthermore: You agree that Uniblue may collect and use information transmitted from the Uniblue Software. . . . Transmitted from the software to Uniblue? And finally: Other third party software may be distributed together with the Uniblue Software. What does this mean? Are there hidden third party programs contained in the Uniblue software? If all of this does not make one uncomfortable, it should. Without an explanation of these concerns, I cannot recommend this software program to anyone. Other concerns:
Support is free for one year only. A $120.00 program that only
provides support for a single year? Additionally, there is no
guaranteed support, since the EULA states that Uniblue may
provide you with support [emphasis added].
The program repeatedly tries to place itself in the start menu
to launch with Windows even after adjusting the settings.
When launching, I get an error box stating "Set Up Resource not
Found." It then disappears and the program proceeds to launch.
Uniblue's AOL-like support suggestion was to uninstall and
reinstall which, of course, did not resolve the problem.
When attempting to initially launch the programs from the main
window, an error message regarding the Registry cleaner appears
that states: No scan progress detected. Launch application to
check status. The application was working correctly, just not
detected from the main window. Support said to uninstall and
reinstall but that did not resolve the problem.
When clicking on the log after using the Registry cleaner, IE
mysteriously launches to an unknown location online where there
is a log of errors found on an, again, unidentified text file.
There is no indication as to how to return to the overview
window (main window) of the GUI after running each individual
application. The necessity to click on the X in the upper right
corner as if closing the entire window is very unintuitive.
SpeedUpMyPc tweaks lack details as to what exactly is going to
be adjusted, especially those having to do with DNS caching.
Driver updater offered a driver update for my new LG monitor but
it was a third-party driver when there was one from the
manufacturer available.
One cannot maximize windows.
The weather icons to indicate computer health, i.e. a shining
sun for good healthy, cloudy for poor health, etc., is a little
infantile for a professional software program.
Far too much resource usage. When idle, the program is running
two process consuming 122MB of RAM (powersuite.exe @ 50MB,
sump.exe @ 72MB), and 26-33% of CPU. This would more than offset
any speed improvements gained by allowing this program to run in
background which is necessary to utilize its main three tools
(CPU monitor, Proactive thumbnail generator, Software quick
start).Overall, for a software program that costs twice that of its competitors at $120.00 there is a noticeable lack of features. One would expect to find at least a disc defragment tool, an uninstaller, and an eraser tool of some sort. Reviewer 3 - Name Withheld By Request: Sometimes PowerSuite seems to rely on the user to have blind faith in the program. For example, during my testing, the SpeedUpMyPC module wanted to stop two unneeded services to optimize my bootup speed. That sounded good, except there was no way for me to find out which two services it wanted to axe. RegistryBooster was similarly cryptic with some of its offerings. I'd rather be provided with the details on the operations these modules wish to perform so that I can make an informed decision. Reviewer 4 - Peter Royle: My greatest concern is the fact that after I close the program, it goes into the System Tray (near the clock) and continues to run. (This default can be changed in the settings.) I can right-click on the icon, and exit the program. But when I first installed the program, each time that I ran UniBlue Power Suite, I was warned by Win Patrol that it wanted to place a "Launcher" program into my Startup procedure. When I looked this up on the internet I found that many programs like to run a "launcher.exe" file. I finally decided to let launcher run, but was not happy about having to do so, with no information from the program about what it is, why it is needed, and what it does. This allowed the UniBlue Power Suite to insert itself into the computer's start-up procedure. Another application, Process Lasso, alerted me to the fact that there was high CPU usage. I investigated further, and found that a file, called "powersuite.exe" was in constant activity, using between 20 - 35% of the CPU and 37 MB of memory. Close behind was another program "sump.exe" which seems to be another part of the PowerSuite set. Sump uses between 6 - 15% of CPU resources, and another 41 MB of memory. When I opened and ran other programs, these two continued to operate; in other words, they did not release the CPU and/or memory to the programs that I needed to use. I have no idea what they are doing, but it is clear that I cannot allow such an enormous part of my computer's resources to be taken up by one program simply running in the background. Far from Speeding Up My PC, they cause serious and noticeable degradation in the ability of my computer to do what I actually want it to do. I changed my settings to uncheck "Launch PowerSuite when Windows starts." To test the Registry Backup and Restore feature in the Registry Cleaner program, after booting up the computer, and before running any other programs, I called up UniBlue Power Suite, and ran the Registry Scan through all its steps. It reported 205 errors, which I had it "fix". When it had finished its cleaning, I went to the "Restore Registry" feature, rebooted as instructed, and again ran the Registry Cleaner program. Instead of finding the 205 items which should have all been present following the backup and restore, it found only 169 errors, thus leading me to believe that the backup and restore are only partial. I was even less pleased with the "SpeedUpMyPC" module. The Scan found over 600 "Issues." Most of these were "Junk files": items in the Recycle bin, temporary files, the Internet Explorer cache, etc., and I was not too concerned about these. The proposed changes that bothered me were the 33 "System Tweaks" and 3 "Speed Tools" that the program wanted to "Fix". Both these categories listed the proposed changes to be "Critical." Although I could see the list of changes proposed in the "System Tweaks", and could unselect any of the items in the list, I could not find any more information about any of the proposed changes. For example, there were 5 "Unnecessary Services" that it proposed to disable, but it did not indicate that these services were, what programs were related to the services, nor how UniBlue Power Suite determined which services are necessary and which are unnecessary. Several other recommendations concerned increasing the DNS cache. Frequent discussions on the Web show most favor emptying the DNS cache, contrary to Uniblue Power Suite's recommendations, because it interferes with accessing some Web sites. I hoped that I would find more information in the UniBlue Power Suite manual but was disappointed. There were a few short lines telling me that these are "one-time changes" which will simply be good to do, with words such as "improving", "optimize", "speed" and "efficiency" I did "Fix" the Tweaks, but cannot say that they resulted in any improvements in speed or efficiency. I noticed the "Manage" tab at the top of the window, but this gave me a little more information about the three changes proposed in the "Speed Tools". When I checked the UniBlue Power Suite manual, I found the 3 Speed Tools are described there. These are a bit more flexible than the "System Tweaks", as I can change the settings back to their current state. But when I return to the Overview, I discovered that I would have to redo the "Speed Scan" in order to see the list of tools again. This does not seem to be efficient. Another problem with this module was that when I chose "Fix Issues" a screen appeared warning that I would best "close all other applications before fixing the issues found". Unfortunately, the screen blacked out most of my desktop, covering a shortcut to a program which lets me close all running applications quickly, instead of having to do it one-by-one. It would be much better if I could close the UniBlue Power Suite screen temporarily, and return to it when I have followed the request. When I came back to the SpeedUpMyPc module, I had to run the scan again. This time, one of the proposed System Tweaks had disappeared from the list, and now UniBlue Power Suite was proposing only 32 changes. One of the options on the Main Screen is to view the Uniblue manual. This navigated to the Uniblue Web site, where I could download the manual. I had already done so; thus it would be better if I could have an option to open the copy of the Manual on my own computer, instead of going to the Web to access it. Each application's windows exactly cover the PowerSuite Main Window. I could not find a way to get back to that window, until I finally clicked on the close button, thinking that I would be shutting down the whole program. Then the main "Dashboard" appeared. Having options such as "Return to the Dashboard" or a "Home" button would eliminate this confusion. Reviewer 5 - Dana Bostick: The actual size of the user interface window. The actual window is only 10 inches by 7 inches on my 22 inch monitor running at a 1440 x 900 resolution. That's less than half of the available screen real estate. It is not resizable by dragging the edges or corners and has no full screen option. For the basic tasks, this is okay but makes reading of scan results almost impossible. The actual scan results were displayed in a panel that was half the size of the main panel which contained several columns. The only way to view all of the information was to drag the column header around to expand or collapse a column display. Even then, the longer entries were not fully viewable. The repair option in RegistryScanner is "all or nothing". The program does not allow selectively repairing errors it has found and just does a wholesale repair of all found errors. I prefer more control over what a program is doing on my computer. I think the workaround for this might be to run the scans, copy the specific error to exclude, and then add it to the exclusion file and then rescan. While this may be workable, it is cumbersome. There is very little information about how the tools in SpeedUpMyPC work. Other Comments. Reviewer 1 - Dana Cardwell: I disagree with the makers of PowerSuite that out of date drivers can hinder performance. Often drivers are updated because of new hardware and if no new hardware has been added, the update portion of the driver will not be needed; thus, there will be no performance boost. My personal experience with updating drivers has been mixed, with more problems seen with an update than performance increase. Reviewer 2 - Mark Snyder: So how much does this program really cost? Throughout the Internet, I found prices ranging from $39.95 to $59.95. The Uniblue Web site lists the retail price at $119.95 but with what seems to be a permanent sale price of $59.95. Reviewer 3 - Name Withheld By Request: I'm a little turned off by the product's ActiveProtection, a subscription device that ensures that one always has access to free updates to the purchased program. No where on the Web site is the renewal price indicated, but after a free year of updates the ActiveProtection is automatically renewed. Reviewer 4 - Peter Royle: Although the UniBlue Power Suite provides an attractive graphic presentation of its modules and features, I do find the "System Barometers" to be alarmist. On the occasions that I had between 160 to 700 registry errors, the barometer reports the "damage level" to be "high". In doing a scan at one point, I noticed the barometer running from "low" to "moderate" when fewer than 10 errors were found, and at about 15 errors, it had already run into "high". Rather than being helpful, this is over-hype which lowers the credibility of the program. I very much like the "Company" section of the web-site. We are introduced to the people behind the program, in a light-hearted and friendly manner. After reading the story of their progress and looking at the photos, I feel a bit bad about being so critical in this review. I can only hope that the areas that cause me concern can be addressed and improvements can be made. All the above issues, and the still expensive current special price of $59.95, make it impossible for me to recommend UniBlue Power Suite in its present form. Reviewer 5 - Dana Bostick: Uniblue offers support via their Web site and an online HTML Help manual. The Web site provides a searchable database of frequently asked questions, and the option to submit a support ticket if the answer can't be found within that resource. There is also an extensive FAQ. The turnaround time for a support request via e-mail was 24 hours for the one ticket that I did submit about my Vista installation problems. Will you continue to use it? Reviewer 1 - Dana Cardwell: No. I already use a better Registry cleaner and defragger, I already have my system tweaked, and I don't see the need for updated drivers until I change my hardware and then I usually do a manual search when that need arises. Reviewer 2 - Mark Snyder: No. Reviewer 3 - Name Withheld By Request: I know software reviewers are supposed to be impartial above all else, but I have to confess that I fully expected to hate this program, but I was pleasantly surprised by my experience. I will be keeping PowerSuite 2010 until it stops being useful, but I won't be allowing it to do anything that doesn't provide enough details into what operations it is performing. Reviewer 4 - Peter Royle: No. Reviewer 5 - Dana Bostick: This latest version replaces a previous version that the NNT Panel evaluated previously. This version will replace that one in my toolkit for future use. |
OPERATING SYSTEMS USED IN THIS REVIEW
Windows 7, XP Pro, XP Home and Media Center
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