Date: May 1st, 2002
Article by: Nathan Glentworth (Head Editor & Hardware Reviewer)
Product was donated by: LIUtilities

PRODUCT TESTING

As said before, this program suite allows you to completely control your resource allocation to startup programs and allow you to terminate programs on actual window's startup or terminate them is they use up a certain, predefined amount of ram and/or CPU percentage. Screenshots from now on in were provided by LI-Utilities :

A good shot of the main screen of the program outlining:

1.) The menu containing all the commands and modification toolbars

2.) The main process screen outlining all the programs running, their executable, the amount of memory they use, and there CPU priority.

3.) The information window giving you a good rundown on what the name and the reason why the program exists.

Now once you click on the autostart window, you will be greeted with a list of programs in which you can check over to see if you need them, or if they can be disabled or even removed all together from the windows registry. Trimming the fat from the autostart list to contain only the needed programs will free up system resources and quicken your computer up. This is dependent on the amount of programs you disable or remove or if it is needed for another process. (Please be careful with what autostart programs you get rid of, I will not be held responsible for your computer problems if you go in an disable stuff blindly without any research) Here is a link to a website that has a complete list of startup processes and a description for each of them and whether or not they can be erased.

Windows has a In-Program Manger in which you can assign CPU priority to and give them a little boost when needed.

Wintasks also provides you with some vital statistics on your computer and will allow you to observe your memory and cpu usage within the user specified time frame which the computer user can choose.

And for the elite who would like to know exactly how YOUR computer is being used when you are not at home and think the computer is NOT being used, well Wintasks includes a handy logging utility to see just what goes on in the day at your private computer.

Now, if you are a real scripting guru, you can have Wintask's perform certain predefined tasks if certain parameters come into play. Above is an example, how about you figure out what it does and also visit HERE for some additional scripts.

CONCLUSIONS & AFTERTHOUGHTS

Now, with the seemingly never-ending barrage of programs which seem to somehow need to startup automatically on windows bootup, it's nice to see a program that allows the user to kick these programs to the curb and free up some resources that you deserve. Not only that, but it could help you fight off the new ram upgrade you thought you needed, but when the ram you had installed was perfectly adequate for your system. Also, some of the autostart rograms could be spyware installed by the new upgrades to the PTP file-sharing programs we have all grown to love. You now have the power to get rid of them and stop them from spying on you computer. Take command of your computer with this software, I know I have!!!

Pro's:

Con's:

OVERALL SCORE: 8/10 (TWEAKNEWS RECOMMENDED)