Is Your Computer Ready for "Back-to-School"? GIVEAWAY!!

by Lori Cunningham

Where did the Summer go?  Is it already time to get our kids ready for going back-to-school?  This Summer seemed like the fastest moving Summer yet! 

If you’re like me, you’re scurrying around buying back-to-school clothes, supplies, and backpacks, decluttering and deep cleaning your kids’ rooms and work spaces,  and checking out the best price for kids’ haircuts.  We all want to ensure that our children are well prepared for going back to school.

But what about the computer your child uses for school?  Have you run a defrag, cleared up disk space and cache memory?  Is it protected against spam, viruses, and hackers?  You know that  throughout the year, your computer is going to take a beating with homework assignments, Internet research, presentations, research papers, educational games, you name it. 

Our family computer is used extensively.  I am on it daily and often have many programs opened at once.  As a result,  depleted RAM memory is almost a daily occurrence as I typically have 25 websites open at once plus programs such as Outlook, Excel, One Note and Windows Explorer or Windows Live Photo Gallery.  OK, for those curious techies out there, I have 4 GB of RAM installed – I need it to keep all these programs running at once!

It is very important to me to ensure that our computer can work at its best despite my heavy usage.  If my daughter needs my computer, I prefer not to close everything down so she can use it.  Fortunately, I have found a fantastic tool that helps keep my computer in check and keeps it running at its best—despite me!

I know it works well because I have been using it since February when Iolo contacted me to review their best selling software, System Mechanic*.  When Iolo approached me, I must say I was leery.  I had been through “free” versions of similar software before and its use resulted in ad pop-ups and continued issues with my computer.  System Mechanic was different.  First it appeared to be so much more comprehensive than any other “computer clean-up” tool I have used before.  Second, it cost money.  Shucks.  I prefer free but I would rather do without the hassles of computer issues and remembering to regularly clean my temporary memory cache.

System Mechanic Overview

The best way to tell you about how to use System Mechanic  is to show you.  Of course, this requires airing my “dirty laundry,” as you will see from the screenshots below.

First, let’s start with my PC Health Status that I took recently.  The Health Status icon remains on your desktop to give you an ongoing evaluation of the state of your computer.  System Mechanic  can analyze your computer for its health status whenever you would like or it can work automatically, behind the scenes.  I prefer for it to work automatically, but to demonstrate System Mechanic  capabilities, I turned off the automatic analysis and correction to show you how it works.

As you can see from this screenshot, my health and security status is poor due to nearly 1 GB of system clutter, registry problems, etc.  System clutter occurs from not cleaning out your computer’s temporary cache which results from having too many websites open at once.  Registry problems occur with loading new programs and deleting old ones – over time the

Windows registry can become corrupt.

In observing these reports, I can see that my computer is about ready to “freeze up” if I don’t clean things up soon. 

I have the choice to repair everything at once or selected items at a time.  Of course I choose to repair all the items at once, as it is the easiest solution.  It took roughly 4 minutes to clean everything up for me.

A look at the Reports section gives me a recap of what was recovered or fixed and the date it was performed.  The Odometer shows that over the lifetime of using System Mechanic , it has fixed nearly 3,900 problems and salvaged 1 GB of hard drive space for me.

As I mentioned earlier, System Mechanic  allows you to automate tasks so you don’t need to remember to do them yourself.  

A Mom’s Perspective

As a heavy user of my computer, I have learned to rely on and appreciate System Mechanic  to keep my computer in check.  Before I began using System Mechanic , I was having serious problems with my computer.  I was afraid to reboot it for fear it wouldn’t start up again, which had happened in the past.  Since loading System Mechanic  on my computer, I am able to restart it without hesitation. 

Now that said, I’m not going to say that my computer hasn’t had issues since February.  Due to my extensive use of open Internet windows, I occasionally have “freezing” problems where my computer’s two processors and 4 GB RAM are all used up.  I currently have  System Mechanic to run only if the computer has not been in use for 20 minutes.  When I have long jaunts at the computer, System Mechanic  is unable to run.  However, if I remember, I can use System Mechanic ‘s All-in-One tool to clean things up right on the spot.

I have been very happy with System Mechanic  and would recommend it for your family computers.  I suggest you consider System Mechanic  to manage your computer maintenance for you.  Taking care of this worry now will hopefully alleviate unneeded stress as your family computer experiences more wear-and-tear during the school year.  In addition, I’d recommend it for your parent’s or in-law’s computer, especially if you or your husband are the one who they typically call with computer issues.

 System Mechanic  is the #1 best-selling and award-winning PC Tune-up software.  It has been around for over 12 years.  You can buy 12 months protection straight from Iolo System Mechanic  for $39.99, a $10 discount off the regular price. 

HOWEVER, I requested an even better price for  WellConnectedMom.com readers!  To help you get your computer ready for back-to-school, type in the promotional code  LEARN and you can get System Mechanic for $24.95 with the option to extend it’s usefulness an additional year for $14. 

Not sure yet whether to buy it?  Then see if you can win it first!

WIN IT!!!

Iolo has generously donated 3 copies of System Mechanic to be given away to lucky WellConnectedMom.com readers!  Two winners will be drawn from the comments below using Random.com.  Read below to see how the third lucky winner will guarantee their own copy of System Mechanic!

TO ENTER:

1.     Leave a comment about the shape your computer is in.

2.     Follow Iolo Tech on Twitter.  Leave another comment here to tell us you are following Iolo Tech.

3.     Become a fan of the WellConnectedMom.comby clicking on “Like” on the Well Connected Mom Facebook page.  Leave a comment here to tell us you’re now a fan.  If you’re already a fan, leave a comment too for an extra entry!

The more comments you leave, following the guidelines above, the better your chances of winning!

Another Way to Win!

The third lucky winner will be chosen solely on the number of tweets they tweet about this article and/or @Iolo_tech or #system mechanic on Twitter.  The person with the most tweets wins!

Contest ends on September 2nd @ 10pm PST.  Contest open to all US residents.  Good luck and thanks for spreading the word!