iolo System Mechanic Review – A Noob’s Best Friend

Hey Noob Alliance!

So because it is my life’s purpose to make every computer and tech noob’s coexistence with digital phenomena uncomplicated, easy and frustrationless I have decided to create a review section where I relentlessly dig and retrieve software, online services and other techie things that I think will make your relationship with technology a 100 times better!

You’ll also for sure know about it if I reckon you should proceed with caution or should not proceed at all because I realize many of my Noob Alliance visitors-to-be will find their way here searching for advice on something that may not be A-OK.

To make things even sweeter, all these reviews are totally noob-friendly – which means there will be no frown-lines and headaches 5 seconds into reading any of them.

I will also state on each one whether I own it and have used it or whether it is a review based on research – where I painstakingly scour the endless reaches of the internet so that you don’t have to. 😉 So without further ado….

IN THE SPOTLIGHT TODAY:

An iolo System Mechanic Review – let’s dive in!

Type of review : I own and use it – First-hand experience!

>> Click To View & Download From iolo's Website

What Is This Thing?

System Mechanic is a computer tune-up and maintenance program that loves to keep your computer junk-free, error-free and running as fast as it can.

It includes a set of nifty features that are designed specifically for the purpose of breathing new life into a computer (desktops and laptops) and for keeping it snappy by scanning for a variety of different factors that impact the speed and responsiveness of your PC.

Once it has scanned for problems, it displays them to you in very easy to understand terms and then allows you to either:

• Push one button to fix it all
• Push other individual buttons to fix only certain problems and leave others (for those who prefer more control)
• Push no buttons after the first scan & fix cycle if set to auto-mode (yayyy! 🙂 )

As mentioned in the last point, System Mechanic can either be set to automatically carry out these helpful tasks in the background without disturbing you (that’s how mine is set) or if you prefer a little more under-the-hood control, then you can go in and use the tools manually (also very satisfying – one million problems found before scan, zero problems found after pushing the “Repair All” button – it feels like successfully restoring your burnt pan back to its former glory using life-hack video advice). 

Okay okay, I’ll stop being dramatic 😉

Do I Need It?

Honestly? Nope, you don’t “neeed” it – you most certainly can attempt to follow an unmentionable amount of “DIYs” scattered all over the internet (for which I am very grateful nonetheless) like this one – but who has time for that these days?

Here’s what you need to know about computers whether you have an old one or a new one – they collect junk over time which slows them down considerably. And to go in manually to correct the issue, while possible, takes a lot of time. (And if you don’t know what you’re doing it takes even more time and costs potentially spending even more time or money fixing stuff ups made during the process).

The good news is that just because your best digital buddy is suffering a bit of lag does not necessarily mean it’s time for a new one – there’s hope and you can absolutely apply some magical remedies like this one.

So if you are a busy individual (whether you’re a computer noob or geek) who uses a computer and prefers to spend your time using it for what it was intended aka work, gaming, school, studying, fun – instead of on managing it the whole time or pulling your hair out because its slow AF, then I know you will appreciate this weapon in your arsenal.

Programs like these can help you avoid pulling your hair out or venture into territory that you are unfamiliar with and frankly also probably want nothing to do with.

>> Click To View & Download From iolo's Website

Is It “Noob” Friendly?

Yes! What I really appreciate about this one is that it’s user-interface (the part you interact with) is straightforward and uncomplicated while the work it carries out behind the scenes is super advanced in contrast. 

Navigating your way around the program is a simple as clicking on one of the large buttons on the side which then displays the chosen section in the big main window like so:

Some Things To Be Aware Of

Because nothing is perfect I also take the time to go have a look at what others say about things and in this case a couple of unfortunate folks have reported these:

• A little bit of a delay in getting the license code to activate the software once purchased
• Difficulty renewing the license when the year’s up
• Annoying popup desktop notifications informing you to either update/upgrade or letting you know there are problems that need to be fixed (this one is odd to me because I’ve never seen a single popup – I do know though that there is an option to turn notifications on and off in the software preferences section if this seems to be an issue with yours)

I have not experienced any of these things so that makes me a very happy camper!

The Down Side

It’s only available on Windows operating systems – that means if you have a Mac or a Linux system then you would have to try an alternative like:

• CleanMyMacX for Mac users
• Stacer for Linux Users

Nadia’s Story-Time

I’m sure you can tell I really reaaaally like this program – and I do apologize but I can’t help it! I get very excited over things that make my life easier and that serve me well. >>blush<<

So once upon a time there was a geek girl who worked on lots and lots of computers including her own and as these things happen she was click-baited while surfing the internet one day (giving in to a link/button/message with a very enticing title that makes you itch to see what it is about – although that didn’t have a ‘name’ back then).

The message was something along the lines of “speed up your computer”. So of course, being a little bit internet-wise I didn’t download that particular program but I was introduced to the reality that such programs actually exist aka “computer tune-up” programs.

I then proceeded to try out one or two free ones and had an uncomfortable experience – when it starts deleting my desktop shortcuts that appear “broken” to it and does things like change my Windows theme settings so that everything looks like a 90s version of Windows as a “default” solution for speeding things up – I then start to become a tiny bit peeved – considering I had to manually undo everything it did because it didn’t have a roll-back feature.

But that’s not all it did friends – a common feature all these programs possess is something called a “registry cleaner” – the “registry” is a very important thing that resides in the system files of a computer and the computer uses the registry for everything!

Now it makes sense then that when errors and left-over entries happen over time as you use your PC that a bit of maintenance will do some good – the problem however is that when it touches an entry that should be left alone the WHEELS FALL OFF.

Lol – I’m not trying to scare you, it is just very important to do your research online when you choose one of these programs because you will be trusting it to fix problems that reside deep inside vital system files and functions.

So after that fiasco I naturally erred on the side of caution when choosing to install one. I kept hearing about System Mechanic but only gave in and gave it a chance a good few years after my bad experiences.

I can tell you with confidence and with my head on a block that it has not given me even a nanometer of inconvenience in the 5 or so years I’ve used it and I won’t want to own a PC without it because I live for spending my time helping other people with their tech and become annoyed having to spend it trying to maintain mine.

Okay But Like, Which Version???

Although all this info can be found on iolo’s website I will noobify it for you – There are a couple different versions that I’ll list here with brief descriptions to obliterate confusion:

1. System Mechanic

• All the features to speed up, clear junk, fix registry and also:
• Protection feature – finds and corrects security holes with the newest patches
• Privacy shield – gives you quick access to Windows settings so that you can turn off things like Personal Data Collection easily
• Incinerator – a supersonic “recycle” bin – you can use it to delete sensitive files that you don’t want anyone to recover – like ever. (Yep, if you were not aware – it is totally possible to recover deleted data – both scary and a blessing)

2. System Mechanic Pro

• All of the above
• DriveScrubber – you can use this to wipe a hard drive, flash drive or other storage media in such a way that no old files can ever be recovered (for example if you were to give away or sell your laptop/PC/Storage devices to someone else – you can rest assured that your personal info is no longer on there and cannot be retrieved)
• Search & Recover – a program that can help you recover data you deleted by accident (and by “delete” I mean the good old fashioned kind – not the kind of delete or “Scrub” mentioned in the previous point)
• System Shield – an antivirus and anti-malware program you can enable and use to protect your PC (I recommend you use Avast Free or Premium Antivirus though as it scored better lab and real-world test results as at the time of posting this article)

3. Phoenix 360

• iolo’s newest offering which includes System Mechanic Pro with all it’s features
• ByePass – a password manager that stores all your passwords safely – meaning you don’t ever have to remember them again and no one can steal them from you
• Malware Killer – can remove malware (like viruses) from infected computers and prevent future infections
• Privacy Guardian – can prevent identity theft, keep you anonymous online and protects your privacy

If you’re just looking for some speed and stability then you will do just fine with the first option.

Conclusion – Yay or Nay?

And today’s verdict is: Yay!! definitely yay!

In my opinion this tool is the best in its field. It is extremely noob-friendly – you don’t need to be a computer whiz to use it.

Great for peepz who have no time or desire to micromanage their computer needs.

Effective – It makes my PC feel snappy, like it did when I had a fresh install of Windows. It’s fast at running all the fixes too, which sits well with me.

Safe – It won’t do things that’ll confuse, annoy me or make my PC stop working like a PC should work (some of these types of programs definitely are capable of wreaking havoc – especially if you’re not a computer whiz and don’t know why it did it or what it did and how to fix it).

Good value for my moolah – I like that one single license (which is an annual fee) allows me to install and use it on all my computers (as long as I’m not using System Mechanic for business purposes it’s cool – they have another license and offering for that).

>> Click To View & Download From iolo's Website

COUPON SECTION

>>>>Coming up in another post is a How-To walk through on System Mechanic for those of you who own it or who have taken the leap!<<<<

So there you have it my dear Noob Alliance, let me know in the comments if this was helpful and let me know what kinds of things you’d like to know more about?! I live to noobify! <333