Iolo System Mechanic 10.5 utility software

System Mechanic 10.5 is intended to fix common Windows problems and speed up sluggish computers. It contains some useful tools, but we found that it was sometimes confusing to use.

One welcome improvement in this version is the ‘whole house' licensing scheme, which lets users install the software on every PC in the home for the duration of the subscription. It makes the price quite attractive if you have a lot of PCs.

The main menu is little changed and was fairly easy to understand, although it was a little cluttered. Windows 7 and Vista users also get a desktop gadget that shows overall status and has shortcuts to start scans or repairs.

The computer can be analysed manually: System Mechanic has options to repair everything or just selected items. Alternatively, the Active Care mode checks and fixes problems automatically when the PC is turned on but not being used. However, all but one of the 13 tasks it can perform are disabled by default and need to be turned on individually. In one way this is good as it gives the user control, but inexperienced users might not even realise that they need to be turned on.

This confusion extends to the 35 individual and all-in-one utilities found in the Toolbox section. It's not clear whether these tools run with an analysis or whether they are extras. But regardless of how useful (or not) they are, the overblown descriptions and whizz-bang tool names didn't leave a good impression.

Given that every PC is unique, it's impossible to say whether a particular PC will benefit from System Mechanic. However, at least it is not just a glorified registry cleaner (there is a registry cleaning tool, for what it's worth), and it has some genuinely useful components, such as Designated Drivers, which checks for driver updates.

Its main value is as a housekeeping tool to prevent the gradual accumulation of minor errors and incorrect settings that can eventually cause performance or security problems. As long as you don't expect miracles, System Mechanic 10.5 should help keep your PC in a decent state of health.