Do not use registry cleaners except for crap cleaner.I have used them in the past and they totally screwed up my pc.

registered version last only a day.
now it appears as unregistered trial version.
it's a laughing stock

Piriform CCleaner does all that this promises to do, and more besides. And its free.

This program was easely installed on both Vista and XP.
It containes some very nice utilties in one place - tumbs up, thanks !

Please keep on those alternative links comming - even with very short comments. It's a additional benefit of this site which I do appreciate.

Today the link to Sysinternals was a nice headup for me
:-)

I downloaded and tested. I did not have any problems. Easy to use.

Hey, Paulette (#25)
Another good start-up program you could look into is: Startup Delayer. I've been using it for quite some time. And if you have a ton of programs that start all at once (raises up my hand. I'm guilty! But I blame GOTD! Well, partly anyway *lol*), then this puppy is one to consider.

It starts up with windows, and you can cancel it (shut it down) in the event you changed your mind and you don't want those programs to start. Pause it. So the preprogrammed programs you had set to open, can be put on hold so to speak (until you're ready for them to start, that is). Or skip over a program or programS you had originally set to open at a specific time and get to other apps that you rather have working, instead.

Very simple to use, but also very effective.

I really didn't see a need to download this program. It appears to be on par with many of the free ones. Some of the better ones that are free are crap cleaner, Advanced Windows Care Personal and the free version of Glary Utilities.

If you want to pay for one the best I have found is System Mechanic which also includes are very nice defrag utility.

@frogn (62)...
If it helps at all, I believe that Magic Utilities (as well as ccleaner stc.)reads a lot of info from Windows' Registry. Whatever un-install info is given, is what's stored in the registry by the program during install. I think the main idea with Magic Utilities was to make it friendlier than going to Control Panel & starting up the add/remove program applet.

RE: start-up programs/processes... About all Windows offers is the option of adding a program to one of 2 keys in the registry, or adding a shortcut to the Startup folder in the Start Menu. Vista offers an option for services to delay autostart. For better or worse that's 'bout it, with no real control over order of startup. I've ever heard of problems from this in a normal home environment, & Magic Utilities isn't skipping something you'd likely find elsewhere. That said, it is possible thru scripting to run more complex startup routines, but AFAIK that's done manually. Again, nothing that can't be done already using Windows' built-in tools -- just maybe easier for some than remembering or figuring out how to access those Windows tools.

FWIW at the top of this page it says: "Magic Utilities makes it easy for anyone." I don't see that it does anything I can't do already. It is however something that I intend to use for less tech users, if for no other reason that it's a lot easier than trying to teach them something they have no interest in. [if you've ever cleaned out another users internet explorer cache, & you found thousands of files, you know what I mean.]

BuBBy, with some straightup posts.. nice.
Maybe some of the ware authors should consider whether their offering is ready, before doing GOTD "releases"?
as for me... other than removing leftover bho's (Symantec!) w/ hijackthis, MS's services.msc and a little googling has done best for snipping bloat...

Hi there, I wish to give an unbiased opinion of the software as an effort to aid the software company with some good feedback. I currently use ccleaner.exe as quite a few do also. It is a very good program but I have 2 hard disks in my system and it appears that it does not scan/clean both of them.

This program does not either as far as I can tell and if it does, I know it did not include programs on my second disc in the choices of programs to uninstall menu item.

1. Make the program able to scan/clean all hard drives and allow uninstall on all harddrives.

The other HUGE problem I have with its current usage is when going through the list of programs I could unistall, there is only very limited explanation on the program selected. It will give basic info, ie: name and if it is possible to uninstall. I would find it extremely useful to know what the programs function is before I choice to install or not. Perhaps that is really a big ask .. but $40 is a big ask for most people today as well.

Because there truly are very good free products on the market that compare and exceed this product, I feel if you went the extra mile, and gave the detailed program info as described above, it would cause your product to stand above the others and thereby substantiate the asking price. I know many people that do not understand 90% of what their computers do and how or what programs do them. Most of your buyers are in this category and would swear by a product that could help them in making informed choices offered in the software package.

2. Provide more complete information on programs to aid consumer with unistalll utility.

Next was the extremely limited start up utility. My goodness we are at bare bones here!!

3. Allow start up programs to be edited for load sequence and allow addition of new programs to the current entries starting on consumer computers.

Another suggestion would be to include various degrees of secure deletion/shredding. This program does not give any.

4. Give a choice of leveled security shredding to the program.

The program is graphically nice looking and clean. However in light of the aforementioned reasons I could not recommend this product without seeing much improvement.

I hope you find this feedback useful and I would like to thank giveawayoftheday for the opportunity to download programs like these. xx

Has anyone installed this who already had the GAOTD version of Mamutu and Anvir on their machine? Did they play well together? I'm a little reluctant to install anything that hooks in to the OS in cases where it does a similar task to an existing program, just in case it breaks both. This one I could reinstall today but if the others broke it would be too late...

I rather like Mamutu, it's one of this year's keepers, and really wouldn't be happy if it broke...

(And even if it works OK, is there anything in here that's useful which is in excess of what is offered by the combination of Mamutu+Anvir+Total Privacy5?, all recent GAOTD downloads. Also Restrick and Startup Defender which seem related, although I didn't keep those ones but others might have)

thanks

G

I guess I'll pass on this one. The reason being I already, like so many others, have a nice collection of utility software, thanks mainly to giveawayoftheday. If it was larger I might consider it but at only 1.71 mb I don't need it. I remember the day when I would love to have something like this and I'll bet theres plenty of people out there that need one. thanks again giveawayoftheday!!

Nothing about this offering stands out as good. From the plain, near poor user interface to each module bundled in the product. Not one is what I'd call good, average at best. I've tried it way before today and it lasted all of 20 minutes every time. 99% of these bundled tuning, tweaking programs make me side on the air of caution because of past bad experiences.
Maybe I'm spoiled because I use the full version of Tuneup Utilities 2008. Years of trial and error with these type programs and all the system damage they left behind made Tuneup the only software in this category I trust. And that includes on all the Windows based PC's we have from Vista Ultimate to Windows XP Pro. While I'm at it, you can keep CCleaner too. It crashed an XP Home system on me a few years ago and that was once too many times for me. Never have figured out how so many visitors to give away can speak so highly of and recommend it.

I've only posted here maybe 4 times and have always praised GOTD. This is the FIRST place I go to when I turn on my computer. I posted today because I was not sure if I should try today's free program. I apologize to everyone if my post didn't seem 'on target' because it wasn't about today's giveaway.

Still, I profusely wish to thank BuBBY and Mosquera and the others who responded to my post. GOTD IS the best of the best in my opinion, and today showed me yet another reason why I come here everyday. You people are just so gracious and helpful! You have my gratitude. (Oh, I typed my name wrong this morning. I'm a SENIOR Citizen, not Senioe!)

Geez everyone...calm down.

If a freeware program works better for you, then use the freeware.

Who cares if it normally costs $40??? It's FREE today!!!

Once again, thanks to GAOTD for doing what they do.

Magic Utilities is a cute little program as advertised, and I’d guess pretty useful for someone new to PCs, or a very casual user – no question there are more powerful apps, but would you let an inexperienced user near them on a PC *you* were responsible for?

That said, the Sys Internals utilities are great, as mentioned, and you’ll find some really useful stuff at the NirSoft site. If you’re after tweaking, the free Fresh UI program has more options than most could ever use – be careful though, as it is powerful enough that you can really screw something up. Erunt is good for backing up your registry before making changes – it’s the only way AFAIK in XP – I have had problems using it in Vista however, but there the system restore is much better so you don’t need it as much. JKDefrag is cool for defragging hard drives (rated among the best in testing). Free Commander can be a decent Windows Explorer replacement, & comes in a portable version with no installation that’ll run on a USB memory stick. For plain old searching your drives (like win98 used to), a program called “pdfind.exe” used to be freely given away, and is a part of product called PowerDesk. Older versions of Powerdesk itself – a Windows Explorer replacement – used to be given away freely. Pdfind.exe runs fine in Vista or XP without installation, assuming you can find a copy to download.

#27, John
Would you PLEASE explain to me and all the others what's the intention behind your remark
"Process Killer...this program tells you what the actual process does and if its needed for
many things in the startup selector...this program seems to have a (more) useful description"?!

How many BUCKS have you sacked for this untrue courtesy?

The truth is this:
Process Killer is made up of 5 (five) columns: Applications, ID, Path, Creation Time, Memory Usage(K).

"Applications" lists the names of all the apps/EXE running like explorer.exe etc
"ID" issues a sequence of 2 or (mostly) 3 alphanumeric hex digits.
"Path" displays the storage location of the app(s) running.
"Creation Time" lists the exact time (YYYY.MM.DD hh:mm:ss) the entry in PK was created (NOT the app's installation date)

THAT'S ALL ABOUT IT! THERE IS NOTHING MORE let alone any EXPLANATION.

If that's wrong I am dead sure that I'll be consulting my ophthalmologist next monday.

I'm now going to uninstall what was downloaded based on your ********* statement.
"Thank you", John!

CNET'S Download.com gave this program a four out of five star rating as the user's gave a three and one half. Wonder why such a difference in rating here.

Perhaps all that commented did not try the program.

http://www.download.com/Magic-Utilities-2007/3000-2096_4-10191589.html

#39 I to especially appreciate the alternatives (and links) usually provided here. You not only get a review of the currently offered product, but you get other choices many of us may not always be aware of. And sometimes they are better alternatives.

Keep up the alternative choices folks. X <=Thumbs-Up goes here!

HOWEVER, I would like to see EVERYONE that posts to try the GAOTD before they post. The whole idea of this forum is to talk about the software being offered, not a place to offer other programs only.

So PLEASE at least install and try the software before you post with all the alternatives. You can always run it in a sandbox.This would make the USER Rating It at the top of the page at least a little more accurate as to the software being offered.
And as always BACKUP your files before installing ANY new software. You never know how a software program will react.

And does anybody know what happened to THOR???? I would consider his opinion of the software over anybody that posts first. Perhaps the vendors did not like it when he gave his honest opinion that did not satisfy the vendors. At least he gave an un biased opinion of the software.

#43 is right on with Unlocker. I had a few very stubborn files which wouldn't delete, but unlocker did remove them. One note, don't be impatient--for some reason it doesn't always work immediately--it seems to do a few things, then works--and perhaps not the first time, but the second. I don't understand the whole unlocking process, but this app did get rid of files nothing else seemed able to remove.

Sorry I don't know about today's offering, but I echo sentiments of those who appreciate all input--including other applications which can achieve the same thing.

Finally, I've never written before but I come to GOTD every day and thank you for your efforts which benefit us at no cost. (and I like some of the games too).

Joel

>bruce/aRenegade

"geez, can anyone review this program instead of pointing everyone to other freeware alternatives? we all know there are alternatives to almost any kind of programs. I think what we should focus on what is offered today and review this program whether its good, its bad, not discussing other software."

Fine. If you don't want to know about software that is better than this, that is free all of the time, has full support and updates, has unrestricted usage, has more features, and is easier to use, I'm fine with that. However, most of the other visitors do.

"Hear, Hear, I second #28. My interests are to hear about how today’s program compares with similar utilities. And the only way for that to have any validity, would be by installing the program, and work it side by side; Which I’m currently in that very process."

So, this isn't enough for you:

Well I’ve just put Uninstaller Plus through it’s paces uninstalling 3 programs.

I found there was nothing “Plus” about it at all. Despite the claims in the help file that “Uninstaller Plus” would detect leftover files and registry settings - a few simple tests proved this to be untrue.

Even a simple registry “scan” in CCleaner showed several settings left behind.

Suggestion - stick with Revo Uninstaller (a freeware uninstaller that actually works).

In terms of the other features:

Startup Editors, such as MLin Startup Control Panel, or Sysinternals Autoruns and “process killers” are a dime a dozen - Good Process Utilities (Sysinternals) are a little rarer.

The “File Shredder and Protector” will supposedly delete files securely and encrypt files.

My problem with these - where is more than one way to delete or erase a file. Different techniques equate to different levels of security. You get no choice or information as to which method is in use.

Likewise with “File Protector” encryption without choice of the technique used. Given the complexity and attention to detail of the rest of the program options - my hopes for “good” encryption aren’t very high.

Or this:

@14…u r right! i’d rather use Crap cleaner (formly ccleaner)……it has a much better UI than this and its..easy to deal with http://www.ccleaner.com

It’s hard to match the quality of freeware that does the same tasks as this giveaway.
Check out such progs as http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx
for an excellent collection of freeware that does all of the above and more.

By the way, you can't "second #28" when he said the exact opposite of what you said. Proof:

I think what we should focus on what is offered today and review this program whether its good, its bad, not discussing other software.

-

Hear, Hear, I second #28. My interests are to hear about how today’s program compares with similar utilities.

Basically, bruce doesn't want to see alternatives posted, and you want comparisons between them and the giveaway. Of course, you just got those comparisons...

"Saying “well this freeware is better” without a direct side-by-side comparison is meaningless. It reminds me of adolescents arguing over “Well this is better than that!”; “No it’s not! Mine is better!”, “It is not! Mine is better”“, Oh yea, well you’re wrong! Mine is way better!”, “Tiz not, mine is!” “Yea well how do you figure your is better?” “Because it is, so there!”"

There are no less than four things wrong with your statement:

1. Nobody is "arguing".
2. The fact that the alternatives do the same tasks, but have unlimited usage and support, makes them better anyway.
3. The people who post links to alternatives are doing just that - presenting alternatives. Freedom of choice is always a good thing.
4. They obviously like the programs, and have used them, so they're posting alternatives that they know work well.

Please read the comments before you criticize them. It would make a world of difference.

#25 Start Up Cop by PC Magazine. PCmag.com Around $7.00 to download single program or somewhere around $15.00 for unlimited download of their programs.
They do have some good programs.

Lame. I would not use 99% of these giveaways even if it were freeware to begin with.

Para probar la calidad de los programas (software), primero paso el CCleaner y despues el "Premium Booster" o el "Advanced WindowsCare V2 Pro". Ambos programas (bajados de GAOTD) encuentran muchos mas problemas en el registro de Windows que el CCleaner.

El CCleaner podrá ser bueno, pero los hay mejores. No puedo opinar sobre el de hoy, porque no lo he probado aún. Saludos.

Well i might be a newbie at memory optimizing and stuff but i followed the first comments tip and i got glaryutilities and its really good i recommend it to anyone and everyone just be a little careful what your deleting dont get mouse happy and click yes to everything fun but dangerous

I'm no power user like many of the folks here but I figured I'd give some feedback:

1. DiskCleaner seems to have been very thorough. I have been using CCleaner for years and been happy with it.

2. StartUp Organizer is very nice - I've never come across a utility like this, especially with the ratings.

3. Process Killer - not very good, in my humble opinion. Windows' Process Explorer is much better.

*. Haven't tried the other utilities

Thank you GAOTD!

It claims to "Delete your files in a secure way".
How many Passes?
NIS??
Gutmann???
What exactly is the secure way?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Also on the developers site... "Display details of an certain running program so you can find harmful background processes"
At what level? Is it better than Windows Task Manager? Is it as intense as HijackThis??
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This software has a lot of maturing to do in order to compete with other similar programs. I would also hope the developer considers giving a whole lot more details in the future.

I agree with 32 ... I appreciate GOATD very much, but also appreciate the reviewers, including those reviewers who offer information on other similar freeware products. As someone who can not afford to buy commercial software, the freeware and open source options referred to are gratefully valued. Its almost a friendly discussion forum....great site and my thanks to the reviewers too !

To #22

Stubborn refusal to delete can usually be resolved with Unlocker which effectively overrides many sef-preserving files, including "Cannot delete file because it is in use...".

www.filehippo.com/download_unlocker/

#7 you say "You can use AnVir Task Manager Free which is free and better"... well, HOW is it better? Did you bother to download this offering and try it so that you could compare them?

#8 claims he's ditched all-in-ones for separate pgms but then goes on to say how Revo Uninstaller includes an uninstaller, a basic start up manager, junk files cleaner, browser cleaner and even a Microsoft Office cleaner... gee, sounds similar to an all-in-one to me.

There will always be alternate pgms to choose from in every category but I especially appreciate comments that explain why one app might be better than the one offered. But no single app, free or otherwise, will please all of the people all of the time. Newbies and novices will prefer apps that are simple and have fewer options to have to choose from. Techies will want more powerful tools with a multitude of options to customize it to their needs. So a big THANKS to those of you who take the time to give us descriptions of the program to give us more info to help us decide.

I'm also currently using several alternate utilities mentioned througout this thread that accomplish what this one does and I'm quite happy with them so I will not be testing this one, but I will be back tomorrow and the day after that, and the day after that, and so on, because I really appreciate what GAOTD is doing here.

I have to agree with most of the comments that even though it is 'free' today, it has to be paid for eventually if you like it, and there are plenty of free appz available that do the same thing. I have not bought one program that is running on any of the seven computers and 3 laptops I have. They were all free. PCMag published the Hall of Fame of 156 Totally Free programs, check their site. Also check 46best.com. And the nicest thing about freeware, if you don't like it and uninstall it you aren't out a single cent. This isn't bashing GAOTD because they have offered a couple nice programs, just most commercial software is overrated, overpriced, and bloated.

32 HEAR! HEAR! Very good comment.
I like the freeware alternatives as well. It's even better when they give the addresses too.
KILGOR

I especially appreciate the alternatives (and links) usually provided here. You not only get a review of the currently offered product, but you get other choices many of us may not always be aware of. And sometimes they are better alternatives.

Keep up the alternative choices folks. X <=Thumbs-Up goes here!

I am not as big a fan of (MS) SysInternals Autoruns are are many people. It's not bad, and very well programmed to be sure, but not quite the end-all of it's type, in my opinion. It doesn't always eliminate an autorun just because we ask it to.

However Process Explorer by SysInternals is crucial software to have.

-JC

Some of the files/errors it finds actually mess with system files, I'd avoid using this as far as possible. Simply put, its crap. Not to say I dont appreciate GOTD, but this software can cause harm to critical system files and the windows registry.

Sorry, but: thumbs down.

It's not so much that today's offering isn't doing what it says it will -- though that's an issue, too -- rather that there's so little user choice in the way of control that you're never sure just what has been achieved.

Put it like this: I use an old-ish freeware app called Eraser. Not only does it work superbly well, it gives me an options choice when it comes to erasing (everything from a one-time over-write to a staggering 15 x over-write.) I can't find that option availability in today's software, so I've no idea what the developer has set in in the way of rewrite passes / security level.

One thing I do note though is the developer's use of the word 'Magic' as in 'Magic Utilities'. But it's not (magic, I mean.) Nothing has been achieved here in bundling together what in my experience of today's offering has proved to be a set of mediocre programs -- and certainly, nothing remotely justifies the retail price.

If anyone here must have a 'suite', then (again, in my experience) I've consistently found Advanced Windows Care to be better than Glary Utilities because it doesn't operate at the level of aggression that Glary Utilities can adopt if not carefully controlled by the user.

Similarly, I've found that CrapCleaner, which I supported for years, has (in my case!) also in its latter versions proved increasingly aggressive, hence my switch to the quite wonderful, and exceptionally fast, small freeware offering from Steve Gould: Cleanup!

Both Eraser and CleanUp! can be found by Googling, as can Advanced Windows Care.

Others here will have their own favourites, based on their own experiences (though where uninstallers go, it seems we're all pretty much agreed on the outstanding freeware uninstaller, Revo)-- but that only serves to highlight the less than magical problem today's offering is facing:

It's yet another case of a software publisher trying to compete in too many races, with too many different horses, and not one of 'em is capable of leading the field.

As something to keep, let alone purchase, 'Magic Utilities 2007' needs to be a darn sight more enchanting than it currently is.

No thanks. I too have used all in one solutions before. There are too many freeware products that do this and way more. CCleaner, Eraser, Truecrypt, Index.dat scanner, AuslogicDefrag, Process Explorer to name a few. Thanks for the offer though.

Hear, Hear, I second #28. My interests are to hear about how today’s program compares with similar utilities. And the only way for that to have any validity, would be by installing the program, and work it side by side; Which I'm currently in that very process. Saying “well this freeware is better” without a direct side-by-side comparison is meaningless. It reminds me of adolescents arguing over "Well this is better than that!”; "No it's not! Mine is better!", "It is not! Mine is better"“, Oh yea, well you're wrong! Mine is way better!”, “Tiz not, mine is!” “Yea well how do you figure your is better?” “Because it is, so there!"

Actually, I really appreciate the freeware suggestions, as, occasionally, the offered software does not meet my needs. Thanks, GOTD!

I believe the comparisons and suggestions that contributors make that refer to other similar software are worthwhile. It’s like saying in a very few non-technical words, for example, that “Glary Utilities” is as good or even better than this offering, especially given the disparagingly different price. These alternate suggestions also give us ‘less technical’ folks a chance to see for ourselves first hand whether we might want to plop down $40 for this program at a later date or go with something open source or freeware.
Many of us who visit GAOTD each day couldn’t write a meaningful review but do appreciate a chance to occasionally get our 2 cents worth in. If GAOTD accepted only technical reviews, this section would be very brief indeed!

BuBBy-

Thanks alot,

Paulette

#22

You could try the freeware "!KillBox" to remove stubborn files.
Bubby may well know it.

I haven't downloaded this as I already use it and have been for a number of years. It is a excellent bit of software and I use it to control my uninstalls, startup and process killing. I find that sometimes some uninstall programs do no appear in the normal windows uninstall but they do in this program. I also use it to delete startup files (and not just disable them like with msconfig).

I don't bother with the disk cleaner as I use Ccleaner or Tracks Eraser Pro instead.

geez, can anyone review this program instead of pointing everyone to other freeware alternatives? we all know there are alternatives to almost any kind of programs. I think what we should focus on what is offered today and review this program whether its good, its bad, not discussing other software.

To #25 - Paulette

To change or optimise the order your startup programs load - Check out JoeJoe's StartRight

"Uninstall and organize the start-up configuration of your computer."

It says it will Organize the start-up config. Will this app do that or does anyone know of one that will allow me to change the order that the start process goes through?

Other than Windows stuff, I'd like to set the order that my programs load.

Thanks for your help

Try the following:
1. WHAT'S RUNNING at http://www.whatsrunning.net/whatsrunning/main.aspx
2. REVO UNINSTALLER at http://www.revouninstaller.com/
3. TRUE CRYPT at http://www.truecrypt.org/
4. CCLEANER at http://www.ccleaner.com/

To #22 - Senioe Citizen -

The remaining files probably cannot be removed because they are currently open and in use by windows.

Install UNLOCKER 1.8.6

Then try to delete the files normally in Windows Explorer - Unlocker will identify which process has that file open.

You may end the process (if you know what it is) and can delete the locked files - then reboot, the new files will be created to replace those you deleted, so it's actually getting you nowhere.

Further Reading: Google

PS. To save you some time, let me say - todays giveaway won't do a thing to help you with those "stubborn" files.

Have happily been using another GOTD program, Glary. But I've got 4 things in my temp folder for 2 weeks now that even Glary can not delete. Glary can't remove them, CleanUp! can't remove them. Am almost tempted to download today's giveaway because these 4 "unremovable" temp files are driving me nuts.

This is a good app... Nice tools inside

Clean not work said can not read.the start up is ok but like most say Rating most Unknown not big help like more info PID CPU Mem usage like in HackCleaner sum up ok not bad just ok