System Mechanic 4 Professional

Manufacturer:	IOLO Technologies
Release date:	15 October, 2003

System Mechanic 4 Professional

Average rating: Stars

It has problems but what doesn't

I had some problems. But once I learned exactly what I was doing and to PAY attention to it, no big. The panda software went screwy, so stopped using it. Defrag was just stupid. But I love the disc scrub matter of fact it is great! My husband has contact 2 virus on his computer, normal means weren't working so i scrubbed his drive (it erases all of it) killed it both times. The memory buttons are great when you start running slow. And it finds stuff, not always stuff you want it to find! But you can go into options and tell it to avoid certain files! I love it, but it gets a 4 since it does have problems...

System Mechanic 4 Professional - IOLO Technologies

Middle of the road package. Not the best, nor the worst.

As the head of the IT support desk for a large contractor, to the government, I have to find software that will reduce downtime, fix errors and keep pc user's machine up and running.

I bought a full version of this product. [The Pro version].
To evaluate it's performance and abilities.

In my opinion;

I give it a [3-Star] "middle-of-the-road" score, as far as a "packaged" s/w utility goes.
This was neither a 5-Star, "miracle" s/w package, nor was it a 1-Star "total flop".

I could go on and give a dissertation, but let me just touch on a few select topics.

1. Anti-Spyware - I have 4 full version packages in my personal arsenal [home pc, not at work]. And STILL, if I run all 4 anti-spyware packages, each one will find something that the others don't.

My picks are:
a. Spysweeper [new V3.0 has a few new, cool upgrades over it's prior version, 2.x version]
b. Pestpatrol [also Spyware X-terminator, apparently licensed to STOMP INC but appears to use the Pestpatrol engine]
c. Mcafee Anti-spyware
d. X cleaner - I like this as an overall bundle-of-utilities better that for it's abilities as an in-depth anti-spyware, though it has been getting better.

2. Anti-virus and firewall - I have used either Norton AV alone, or as part of a Norton "bundle". This would be my first choice. Mcafee NAV probably 2nd.
I have not been very happy with Panda, as an anti-virus
w/ firewall. I don't know what it does behind the scenes, but it has a tendency in my experience to suck-the-life out of my pc. [Which is a 3 GHz with 1 gig ram.]

Bit-defender's demo worked quite well. It is an AV product only [I believe]. something to look at as a anti-virus product.

3. Utility suites - I have used Norton systemworks since 2000, along with the prior version of Norton utilities
for both PCs and MACs.
I normally use Norton Systemworks. A second choice would be V-COM's Systemsuite 5.0.
The only downside of Systemsuite 5 is that it's "disk fixer" product often just seems to throw up it's hands and tells you to manually invoke the CHKDSK utility to repair disk errors.

My suggestions:

1. look for TRIAL software from places like Norton [Symantec], PC-Cillin Trend Micro, Mcafee, Bit defender, V-COM, Iolo, Panda.

2. Always be a bit suspect of reviews [on any product here on AMAZON] that simply say general, non-commitive
terms like "It bites", "No good", "useless".
I give much more credibility to reviews that cover, WHO, WHAT, HOW, WHY, WHEN.
Why is something good or bad? What does it do that is good or bad? How is it better or worse than other products?
Why would I recommend or not recommend it? Based on what? When [under what circumstances]
Did it perform good or poor?

Just my .02 cents.

IOLO Technologies - System Mechanic 4 Professional

It really gave me a scare!

First off, it requires the removal of your existing anti-virus if you want to install the Panda anti-virus. I reluctantly removed Norton AV-2004 to try Panda. But, the real fun began when I had the utilities do a few things like defragment, which caused a complete lock-up of the system when the screen saver lighted up. Then, when doing a complete system scan using Panda, there was the same problem once again. It just wasn't worth the trouble. But the excitement began when I tried to reinstall Norton. Something wasn't right, and it took about an hour to figure out. IMHO, it just isn't worth it - too many bugs!