Smart PC Professional attempts to simplify the process of tweaking your PC by using a straightforward interface with a number of automatic tuning and cleaning tools, many of which can be customised by the user.

All the typical tools you’d expect are present, such as Registry optimisation and junk file removal, but, despite being simple to use, the software doesn’t offer nearly enough when compared to its rivals.

The professional version has a few extras over the basic alternative, which is $20 (approx £11) cheaper.

Despite a PR spin of ‘significant improvements’ we found little to justify the extra cost. There are a few extra options for fixing and cleaning your PC, along with an enigmatic Boost Your PC mode. This claims to set maximum processing speed for the system and realise the full potential of your PC.

We found no noticeable difference having this turned on, but as with many such tools that only give a 10 per cent or so speed increase, it's going to be difficult to detect the change in speed.

Using the software takes just a couple of mouse clicks, which is good for less experienced Windows users. The areas of your system that are streamlined can by easily selected from a tickbox interface before you scan.

However, the only tools that offer you any real options above those of the standard Windows tools are the Registry fixer and Boost Windows option.

Everything else can be performed using Windows’ Uninstall, MSConfig and Disk Cleanup, so it’s difficult to see how the $50 price is justified.

Some could argue that Microsoft’s provided tools don’t do as good a job as an independent developer, but the argument doesn’t hold enough weight to encourage a purchase.

Smart PC Pro is very easy to use, but that’s because there’s really not much to it, and what is there has been stretched as thinly as possible to give a false impression of a complete system configuration tool.

Optimisation rivals such as Iolo System Mechanic and Windows tweaking tools like XP Tuning Suite offer far more and easily eclipse the usefulness of Smart PC Professional.

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