On the upside, the $49.99 purchase price for Norton Utilities gets you a perpetual license, so you don't have to re-up your subscription on an annual basis, as Iolo System Mechanic ($14.99 at iolo technologies) (Opens in a new window) forces you to do.

Unlike Ashampoo WinOptimizer, Norton Utilities lacks a demo version, so you can't try before you buy. These are all specs that most modern computers should easily exceed. The software requires that your PC have 100MB of available storage and a 1024 by 768-pixel resolution (or better) monitor. In terms of hardware requirements, Norton Utilities is not at all demanding. Read our editorial mission (Opens in a new window) & see how we test (Opens in a new window). Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. No one should be using XP, but, if you are, you'll no doubt be glad to be able to keep it in good shape.

Ashampoo WinOptimizer ($39.99 at Ashampoo UK) (Opens in a new window), for example, doesn't support the retired operating system. Notably, the utility also supports 32-bit Windows XP (with Service Pack 3), which is increasingly rare in the tune-up utility field. The updated Norton Utilities is compatible with PCs running Windows 10, 8, and 7. Norton Utilities is a solid tune-up program, but its performance improvement and feature set don't quite match that of our Editors' Choices, AVG TuneUp and Iolo System Mechanic. The Symantec Norton Utilities aims to fix the problems that plague older computers by repairing invalid Registry entries, freeing hard drive space, removing nonessential programs from the startup process, and so on. Over time, as your hard drive fragments, the Windows Registry goes awry, and junk files pile up, your PC inevitably begins to slow down.

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