Best Free Software Synei System Utilities 4.00

www.snipca.com/22217 What you need: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8/8.1 or 10

Programs that claim to rejuvenate your PC aren’t always useful or even safe. But unlike Slimcleaner Free – whose faults we exposed in last issue’s Named & Shamed – Synei System Utilities is junk-free, lightweight and well worth a place on your hard drive.

At just 10.03MB, this flagship program from Synei (pronounced “see-nay”) is half the size of Ccleaner and a quarter the size of Glary Utilities, but it packs in dozens of tools. Version 4.00 adds a Force File Deleter for completely deleting files and folders Windows has locked; a Big File Scanner to track down space-hogs; and a powerful Task Manager that gives you control over all running processes, including system services and browser processes that don’t appear in the Windows Task Manager. Along with these tools on the Toolbox tab is a PC Temperature tool, Backup Manager, Encrypt Files tool and more. The default Health tab is built around a configurable ‘1-Click Maintenance’ tool that reveals the state of your computer and lets you fix it with one click.

Certain options, such as the registry cleaner and Turbo Mode, are limited to the paid-for edition, which costs $19 (£15.50). It’s a little annoying to click a tool and then be told you have to cough up to use it, but most options are free.

When downloading Synei’s installer, make sure you get the free version and not a trial of the paid-for version. Go to the link above and scroll down the page, then click the left-hand Download link. Save and run the installer (‘Systemutilities. exe’), which doesn’t contain any unwanted extras. If you’re running Windows XP or Vista, use the new portable version instead: click ‘Download the portable (.zip) edition’ under the Premiere button and then extract the contents of the ZIP file. Keep the portable program file on a USB stick for quickly boosting older PCS and laptops.