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Utilities - 2010
User Manual
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TuneUp Utilities - 2010 User Manual

TuneUp Utilities User Manual
Microsoft Windows, Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, MSN, Windows Messenger, Windows logo and Internet Explorer are products, registered trademarks or otherwise proprietary designations of Microsoft Corporation in the United States of America and/or other countries.
Table of Contents
Welcome to TuneUp Utilities 5
New Features in this Version 6
System requirements 8
Help and Support 8
The Start Center 9
The four categories 9
The message panel 9
TuneUp Turbo Mode 12
Maintain System 16
Increase performance 39
Fix problems 63
Customize Windows 76
Additional Functions 95
Checking for Updates 101
Showing System Information 102
Permanently Deleting Data 104
Editing the Registry 107
TuneUp Utilities Gadget 110
Introduction 110
Index 111

Welcome to TuneUp Utilities

Congratulations on choosing TuneUp Utilities! You have acquired a virtual PC specialist who will start taking care of your Windows computer immediately.
TuneUp Utilities automatically runs important maintenance tasks for you, makes you aware of any problems
and offers simple solutions. This ensures performance is always at its best. A slow and untidy computer is now a thing of the past for you. You can also use TuneUp Utilities to customize the appearance of your Windows system - to make working on your computer more enjoyable.
With TuneUp Utilities you will quickly make your Windows system faster and more convenient to use- and ensure that it stays like this for the long term. This makes TuneUp Utilities the perfect program for everyone: for those who would rather leave the computer maintenance to a reliable partner as well as for those who would rather do everything themselves.
We hope you enjoy TuneUp Utilities and your faster, more stable and tidy computer.
The TuneUp Team
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New Features in this Version

TuneUp Utilities stands out thanks to its intuitive ease of use. During development, major emphasis was placed
on enabling Windows users of every level of expertise to optimize their computer efficiently and, above all, thoroughly. Below is an overview of the most important new features:
The new TuneUp Turbo Mode
The TuneUp Turbo Mode gives you an immediate performance boost whenever you need it. It switches off numerous functions that run in the background even when you are not actually using them.
The new TuneUp Live Optimization
TuneUp Utilities offers you two new optimization methods that ensure smooth workflow even at high
utilization. If necessary, the computer response rate is increased or a program startup process is accelerated.
The new TuneUp Utilities Gadget
For Windows Vista and Windows 7, there is now a TuneUp Utilities gadget that always displays the computer's status on the desktop without you having to launch TuneUp Utilities.
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The new TuneUp Optimization Report
TuneUp Utilities provides a straightforward report showing you which maintenance and other optimization
tasks you have already done using TuneUp Utilities and what benefits these have brought.
The new-look Start Center
TuneUp Utilities has been completely revamped: The new Start Center is even easier to use, and provides even
faster access to each function, while still keeping track of the state of the computer.
Ready for Windows 7
TuneUp Utilities fully supports the new Windows 7 operating system. Just like Windows XP and Vista, TuneUp Utilities also runs on the 64-bit version of Windows 7.
Even more extensive Automatic Maintenance options
Automatic Maintenance and 1-Click Maintenance now carry out even more maintenance tasks for you. You
can also set up the Automatic Maintenance so that it only starts when you are not actively working at the computer and - for a portable computer - when this is connected to a power supply.
New way of defragmenting the hard disk
The new TuneUp Utilities now offers you two ways to defragment your hard disk: one is particularly thorough and the other is very fast.
Easier defragmentation of the registry
In the previous version the registry had to be defragmented right after the analysis at restart. In the new TuneUp
Utilities you can now postpone this optimization to the next time you start up your computer, meaning you no
longer need to interrupt your work for this.
Gain disk space even more safely
You can now delete unnecessary files and old backups separately from each other in order to free up disk space on your hard disk. This allows you to safely remove redundant files at any time. After every clean up, TuneUp
Utilities also shows you how much disk space has been freed up and how many image and music files this
equates to.
Easier to use
Many TuneUp Utilities functions are now even easier to use, making it much simpler for you to optimize your Windows system.
More information on your programs
TuneUp Utilities provides you with a revised description of all programs installed on your computer. If you
would like more information on one of these programs, you can click to show the results of an online search. This helps you to quickly find out what the program does so that you can decide whether you need this program to start automatically or rather remove it from your computer all together.
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System requirements

For you to be able to install and use TuneUp Utilities your computer must meet the following requirements. These requirements are not high - most computers used today have these features:
l Windows XP (Service Pack 2 or higher), Vista or Windows 7
(32- or 64-bit version)
l 256 MB RAM l Screen resolution at least 1024x600 pixels l Online version: min. 80 MB free hard disk space l CD version: min. 300 MB free hard disk space (and CD-ROM drive)
If you have bought the CD version of TuneUp Utilities but your netbook does not have a CD drive, you can go to www.tune-up.com , download our test version and activate this with the product key printed on the CD cover.
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Help and Support

TuneUp Utilities has been designed to be as user-friendly and intuitive as possible. This manual provides you
with an overview of TuneUp Utilities. Taking the structure of the Start Center as a guide, it explains what the many different functions do and how to access and use them.
Online at www.tune-up.com you can find other useful information, tips tricks, Program Help in PDF format, FAQs about TuneUp Utilities and TuneUp Support. You can reach TuneUp Support by calling +1 312 9629996 (Mon - Fri, 9 am-7 pm CST). It will help support staff greatly if you know your TuneUp Utilities version number. You can find this by going to the Help &Support menu in the Start Center and selecting About. You can also contact TuneUp Support through email (support_en@tune-up.com).

The Start Center

The TuneUp Utilities Start Center has been completely redesigned and is now even more user-friendly, providing central access to all functions.
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The four categories

The four categories in the Start Center show the key functions of TuneUp Utilities. The first shows whether your maintenance settings are optimum (more on this under Maintain System, p. 16). The second shows whether there is potential for increasing performance (more under Increase performance, p. 39). The third category alerts you to any existing problems and provides simple solutions (more on this under Fix problems, p. 63). Lastly, the fourth category offers you a whole host of options to tailor your working environment - i.e. the whole interface of your Windows system - to meet your needs (more on this under Customize Windows, p. 76). These categories are made up of several functions. Click All functions and then select the function you want from the expanded menu.

The message panel

The message panel is used to inform you of changes to your system, or to give you recommendations for small changes that can help make working with your computer easier.

The Turbo Mode Switch

In the Start Center, use the switch on the bottom left to switch on the TuneUp Turbo Mode to give your computer a sudden performance boost (more on this under TuneUp Turbo Mode, p. 12).

The menu bar

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Settings menu
Use the Settings menu to go to the most important TuneUp Utilities configuration dialogs. Here you can customize the program to suit your needs, apply maintenance settings and configure the TuneUp Live
Optimization and the TuneUp Turbo Mode.
Additional functions menu
Use the Additional functions menu to access the following TuneUp Utilities functions. The individual tools here will open in a new window.
l Displaying the TuneUp Optimization Report, p. 95 l Undoing Changes, p. 97 l Checking for Updates, p. 101 l Showing System Information, p. 102 l Permanently Deleting Data, p. 104 l Editing the Registry, p. 107
Help & Support Menu
The Help & Support menu provides you with access to the extensive program help with detailed instructions and program information. You can also click the link and go to the TuneUp website (www.tune-up.com).
The Info entry opens a window with detailed information on your version of TuneUp Utilities. This information can be useful if you need to contact technical support.
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TuneUp Turbo Mode

Introduction

TuneUp Turbo Mode provides an immediate performance boost whenever you need it. When you put your
computer into Turbo Mode, an analysis is performed to see which of those programs and functions currently running in the background are not strictly necessary. These programs are stopped or slowed down, allowing the additional processing power gained to be used exclusively by the programs you are actually running.

When should I switch on Turbo Mode?

Turbo Mode can speed up computer games, improve work with demanding programs or prevent shuddering when playing videos. Note however that when you enable Turbo Mode you also switch off some functionalities that will not be available again until you switch off Turbo Mode.
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How does Turbo Mode work?

The following graphics illustrate the internal workings of your PC with the programs that you are currently using (green) and those running in the background (blue). Here you can see how your PC is assisted as soon as you enable Turbo Mode:
The green circles represent those programs that you wish to accelerate using the Turbo Mode. The blue squares on the other hand are all those programs and functions that you do not need when Turbo Mode is enabled (see
How to Configure Your Own TuneUp Turbo Mode, p. 12). These are therefore switched off so that all of the PC's
processing power is available to the required programs.

How to Configure Your Own TuneUp Turbo Mode

To start the wizard for configuring TuneUp Turbo Mode, in the Start Center in the Turbo Mode area, click on the small wrench icon. Alternatively, in the Start Center, click in the Settings menu on the Turbo Mode entry.
Now configure, in five easy steps, your own personal Turbo Mode by selecting what tasks, programs and functionalities can be temporarily switched off to improve performance when Turbo Mode is activated. The more you allow to be switched off, the better the gain in performance will be. You can always temporarily turn off all functions and tasks suggested here. No security-related functions will be turned off.
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More about your settings options
Step 1: Postpone automatic maintenance tasks until later
Maintenance measures that start automatically in the background are important for the maintenance of your computer, but are not usually urgent. They can be carried out at a later date to free up the resources needed for your programs.
In this step, you can configure the following settings:
Postpone scheduled defragmentation: When Turbo Mode is switched on, this setting will prevent the
scheduled hard disk defragmentations of Windows and other well-known manufacturers from starting.
Postpone scheduled maintenance tasks: Automatic maintenance measures and scheduled tasks for Windows
and other manufacturers will not be carried out when Turbo Mode is enabled. This includes TuneUp Automatic
Maintenance, the program for making Windows more user-friendly and the automatic creation of backups such
as restore points.
Postpone automatic updates until later:If you select this option you will be notified that updates are available
but these will not be automatically downloaded or installed while Turbo Mode is switched on.
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Step 2: Limit connection with external devices.
Many services run in the background on every computer and their task is to identify new devices and provide you with the relevant features for using these devices. You can limit this support and have more resources available for your programs.
In this step, you can configure the following settings:
Turn off synchronization with mobile devices: This setting will prevent synchronization of addresses, e-mails,
music files, etc. with your cell phone or portable media player. In addition, the associated program will not start immediately after a device is connected.
Limit support for digital cameras and scanners: When Turbo Mode is switched on, you cannot import images
from your digital camera or scan images.
Step 3: Reduce visual effects
Visual effects provide a graphical display of Windows but take up valuable space in the memory. Particularly with a low performance graphics card you can increase the computer's performance by turning off visual effects.
Tip:This is a popular way of increasing the performance of netbooks on a sustained basis.
In this step, you can configure the following settings:
Step 4: Configure computer resources for optimal performance
Your computer's resources are in demand. A clever sharing solution for the resources will help increase your computer's performance enormously.
Tip:Since this does not limit any functions, this setting is also highly recommended for the long term.
Ensure optimum performance regardless of energy use: Select this option to have your PC switch to the "high
performance" Windows energy-saving plan, which ensures maximum performance regardless of the amount of energy used. Please note that this can result in a shorter battery life for portable computers.
Step 5: Turn off unwanted functions
The operating system performs many more tasks than most users are aware of. Many programs and services run permanently in the background, although they are not strictly necessary and use valuable resources. If you never need some of these functions, these are the best ways to increase the performance of the computer (e.g. a netbook) on a sustained basis.
Disable release of media library in local network:This option causes the release of the media library on the
network to be switched off. Other devices can no longer access your library, e.g. via Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center. Note that this setting does not affect the release of folders on the network.
Turn off the Windows search indexing function:Turns off the deployment and continuous updating of an
index of your files and e-mails. Turning off this function frees up more power. However, this also has the effect of slowing down or limiting the search function in the Start Menu, Explorer, Office Outlook, Windows Mail and Windows Live Mail.
Turn off error reporting:There will be no communication with Microsoft about crashed programs or other
errors. No data will be collected for error reporting.
Turn off support for virtual machines:(This option is only available if your computer has software for virtual
machines installed on it.) Turns off background functions that enable the use of virtual machines (e.g. VMware or Virtual PC). If you use virtual machines on your PC, these functions are always active, even if at a given time no virtual machines are required.
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How long should Turbo Mode stay switched on?
The Turbo Mode can either be switched off automatically when the computer is shut down, or stay on until you switch it off manually. If you leave the Turbo Mode on permanently, this can also speed up the start process.
However, please note that for the system performance increase, the features that you selected in the configuration wizard must be switched off. If, while Turbo Mode is enabled, you are missing a function, switch Turbo Mode off again and change your settings so that when you restart Turbo Mode, this function is available.
Click Finish to close this wizard.

Maintain System

The status field

TuneUp Utilities provides you with two options for comprehensive maintenance: The Automatic Maintenance runs automatically in the background at regular intervals; the1­Click Maintenance is carried out by you - with just one click!
The status in the Maintain System category shows whether the Automatic Maintenance with all maintenance tasks is being performed regularly. If it is, you can be sure thatyour computer is always "clean". If the Automatic Maintenance is switched off, this field displays a warning message. You can however still run the 1-Click Maintenance at any time.
To do so, in the Start Center in the status field of the Maintain System category, click on
the Start 1-Click Maintenance link.
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Click Change settings to configure both Automatic Maintenance and 1-Click Maintenance . Beside the maintenance tasks to be carried out, you can specify here whether the Automatic Maintenance is to be done regularly at a certain time or only if the computer is idle. If you have a notebook, you can also specify that the maintenance is not to run on battery power.

All functions menu

When you click All functions in the Maintain Windows category, a menu opens with the following TuneUp Utilities maintenance functions, which you can run individually:
l Optimizing System Startup and Shutdown, p. 21 l Defragment Hard Disks, p. 23 l Removing Broken Shortcuts, p. 27 l Defragmenting the Registry, p. 29 l Cleaning the Registry, p. 32

1-Click Maintenance and Automatic Maintenance

The chapters that follow explain why it is important to do so and how to use 1-Click Maintenance or
Automatic Maintenance to ensure that your system performance is optimized and your computer is clean.
Each function is a program name: so that Windows is always faster and more stable, as the name suggests,
Automatic Maintenance regularly and automatically performs the most important maintenance work on your
system. 1-Click Maintenance does the same - except that just one click is necessary: The link for starting 1-Click Maintenance can be found on the start interface in the status field of the Maintain system category.
Automatic Maintenance is particularly useful for all users who are too busy doing other things to worry about
the maintenance of their computer.
1-Click Maintenance is particularly suited to those users who would rather set the time for maintenance
themselves and wish to monitor its progress. While 1-Click Maintenance runs through the individual maintenance tasks, it also displays other useful information.
All modifications to your system will be monitored by TuneUp Rescue Center and can be undone if necessary.
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Maintenance Tasks
1-Click Maintenance and Automatic Maintenance ensure that your computer is always clean, so that it runs
smoothly and reliably. 1-Click Maintenance performs the following tasks for you as standard.
1-Click Maintenance ...
... cleans your registry
Over time, the central Windows registry becomes filled with hundreds of superfluous entries. These include references to non-existent files, backlogs of programs deleted long ago and faulty entries. Your registry is cleaned, making your Windows system fast and problem-free. For more information on this, see: Cleaning the
Registry, p. 32.
... defragments your registry
Even after the registry has been cleaned as described above, it is not automatically smaller because the disk space that is freed up is not released. This feature compresses the registry by deleting these gaps. For more information on this, see: Defragmenting the Registry, p. 29.
... deletes broken shortcuts
A check is made as to whether your Desktop, Start Menu or Quick Launch bar contain broken shortcuts, in which case these are removed automatically. At the same time, a search is also made for faulty entries in the history lists of different programs like Windows Media Player or Microsoft Office. For more information on this, see Removing Broken Shortcuts, p. 27.
... frees up disk space by deleting unnecessary files
So-called "temporary" files are something of a nuisance. Windows and programs create temporary files on the hard disk, in order to store certain settings or data. If the program in question is closed, these files should really be deleted from the program. Unfortunately, this usually does not happen. The program in question often "forgets" to clean up after itself so that over time your hard disk can be filled with a lot of unnecessary data. Here, all temporary files and folders are safely deleted from your hard disk. For more information, see under
Removing Broken Shortcuts, p. 27.
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... optimizes system startup and shutdown
Some programs that are run each time you start your system slow down the startup process to an unnecessary extent. Such known programs that are definitely not required are turned off here. For more information, see under Optimizing System Startup and Shutdown, p. 21.
... defragments your hard disk
In the background, TuneUp Utilities changes the order of files and folders so that they can be read more
quickly. Regular defragmentation is paramount - especially if the data structure of your hard disk changes frequently, for example because you move or delete files or install new programs. Defragmentation is, however, only carried out when necessary. And you can even choose whether - if it was determined that defragmentation was necessary - a thorough or a quick defragmentation should take place, or whether this should depend on the result of the analysis. For more information, see under Defragment Hard Disks, p. 23.
The Automatic Maintenance function is also configured so that it performs all these maintenance tasks. However, it is run in the background and only the notifications tell you when it was carried out.
Your settings for Automatic Maintenance are shown in the status field of the Maintain System category. Your maintenance settings will only be optimal if you run Automatic Maintenance regularly and allow it to perform all maintenance tasks.
How to Make Maintenance Settings
In the Start Center in the status field of the Maintain System category, click Change settings. A configuration dialog opens containing one tab for Automatic Maintenance and one for 1-Click Maintenance respectively. Configure your settings here.
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Maintenance tasks
Since TuneUp Utilities seeks if possible to maintain every aspect of your computer, all maintenance activities are enabled as standard. However, if you do not want certain maintenance tasks to be performed, you can exclude them from maintenance. For example, if you would rather defragment your hard disk manually, simply clear the
Defragment hard disks checkbox.
For more information, see: Maintenance Tasks , p. 17
Your settings for Automatic Maintenance appear in the status field of the Maintain System category. Only if you run Automatic Maintenance regularly and allow it to perform all maintenance tasks will your maintenance settings be optimal.
Performing maintenance
You can specify whether and when Automatic Maintenance should run automatically in the background. You can even have Automatic Maintenance run only in idle mode, i.e. that it only starts when you are not currently working on your computer and no programs are required in the background This way Automatic Maintenance will never interrupt your work. If you select this option, following the period of time specified by you, maintenance will be attempted as soon as your computer is in idle mode.
If, after a period of a week, it was not possible to perform full maintenance because your computer was not in idle mode for long enough, then if you enable this option, maintenance will be carried out anyway. This prevents your computer from not being maintained over a long period of time.
If you choose scheduled maintenance, the procedure is similar: If your computer is not switched on at the time of scheduled maintenance, Automatic Maintenance is performed 5 minutes after you next start your PC. This option can also be disabled.
If you do not wish to see the notification that appears following maintenance, you can switch it off on the same window. Simply clear the Show maintenance report as notification checkbox.
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Optimizing System Startup and Shutdown

In the following chapters, you will find out how you can easily optimize the startup and shutdown of your computer:
All modifications to your system will be monitored by TuneUp Rescue Center and can be undone if necessary.
Optimizing System Startup and Shutdown - Introduction
Here you receive recommendations for turning off unwanted startup programs. These recommendations help to accelerate system startup and shutdown.
For example, common startup services that are not needed immediately after system startup are simply scheduled to start up at a later time. This still ensures that you will not lose these functions, but they no longer delay system startup unnecessarily. The waiting time for services to shut down is also reduced. As a result, during the shutdown procedure when services are ending, the shutdown can complete easily.
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You can either apply all of these recommendations immediately, or look at the detailed descriptions first and then decide one by one.
How to Optimize System Startup and Shutdown
To start the TuneUp StartUp Optimizer tool,in the Start Center under Maintain system, select All functions followed by Optimize system startup and shutdown. This takes you to the Overview tab.
You may be asked to answer a question here before receiving tailored recommendations:
Profile
Which services and devices do you use on this computer?
Here you can switch off functions you don't use. It identifies which functions and services you have already set up and only recommends those that are not being used.
For example, if you never use a printer, you can turn off all background programs that are related to print control. Simply specify this here.
If you never need to access a company network or domain, you can turn off all related background programs and services. Simply select the applicable answer from the list.
The more options you disable here, the more smoothly your computer will start up and run. Finally, after this optimization, Windows no longer uses these background programs that automatically start up and are constantly running.
Overview
This view provides you with an overview of any optimization recommendations found. You can apply them all by clicking once on Optimize all.
Details
Click on the recommendation or on Details to see detailed descriptions of each recommendation. Alternatively, switch to the Details tab. Here you can apply all recommendations by clicking once on Optimize all.
Click on a recommendation in the left column. In the right area of the window, there is a description of the recommendation. If you want to go ahead with the optimization, click Apply recommendation on the bottom right.
Hiding and showing recommendations
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If you are not happy with a recommendation, click Hide recommendation. Now you can select whether you want to hide it permanently or only for 30 days. The number of hidden recommendations is always displayed in the taskbar on the right. By clicking on the number displayed, you can easily show these recommendations again.

Defragment Hard Disks

In the following chapters, you will find out why it is important to do so and how you can defragment your hard disks using the TuneUp Drive Defrag tool:
Defragmenting Hard Disks - Introduction
There are many reasons why a computer becomes noticeably slower over time. One of them is the gradual fragmentation of the hard disk. This can be described as follows:
New files are first saved as a block to an empty hard disk one after the other. If you then, for example, deleted a file in the middle, there would be a gap in the hard disk. Windows uses this gap later to store the next file that you save to the hard disk. If this gap is not big enough, then Windows splits the file and stores the second half at another location. Over time, more and more gaps are created and more and more files are fragmented into pieces (fragments), i.e. the degree of fragmentation increases.
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This really slows down the performance of your computer: Every time you call up a file, this has to be read from the hard disk, which would of course happen faster if the file was stored in one place. In technical terms: If fragmentation is high, the hard disk reading heads must always be realigned in order that they can load the individual fragments of a file.
A simple way to speed up your system is therefore to defragment the hard disk. As the conventional defragmentation often takes a long time, TuneUp Drive Defrag offers you two different modes. You can either decide yourself how defragmentation should take place, or allow TuneUp Drive Defrag to make the decision for you.
Find out below what exactly happens during both defragmentation modes:
Thorough Defragmentation - What is This?
This defragmentation mode arranges the newly sorted files particularly intelligently: System files used frequently are stored at the top of the hard disk, so that Windows can find them again in no time at all.
It is clear that this defragmentation mode will take longer than simply consolidating the files. TuneUp Drive
Defrag is therefore also carried out with particularly low priority so that you can continue working almost
undisturbed. This procedure speeds up the booting of Windows considerably. Frequently used programs also start faster. This noticeably increases the performance of the computer.
Fast Defragmentation - What is This?
This defragmentation mode consolidates all files again so that they can be read noticeably faster.
The advantage of this method is the speed with which it is carried out: The performance of your hard disk is increased in no time at all.
How to Defragment Your Hard Disks
1. To launch the TuneUp Drive Defrag tool, in the Start Center under the Maintain System category, select
All functions followed by the entry Defragment hard disks.
2. Select which hard disks should be checked for optimization potential.
3. Select how defragmentation should take place according to the analysis.
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TuneUp Drive Defrag offers you two different ways to defragment (see Defragmenting Hard Disks -
Introduction, p. 23) so you must decide before performing the analysis whether the method of
defragmentation should be dependent upon the analysis.
Out of the four options, the first one is preset because you will receive a personal recommendation after the analysis and can decide yourself how defragmentation should proceed. For the other three options, defragmentation starts as soon as the analysis is complete. If, however, the analysis determines that the degree of fragmentation is very low, defragmentation will not be carried out for these three options because TuneUp Drive Defrag deems it unnecessary.
Wait for result and then decide
We recommend this option for you. Once analysis is complete, you decide for every hard disk whether you would like to run simplified or full defragmentation. You can also decide here to go without defragmentation.
Automatically as recommended
TuneUp Drive Defrag makes the decision for you and defragments each hard disk as soon as the
analysis is complete using the mode suited to the degree of fragmentation.
Automatically thorough
You optimize your hard disk performance down to the last detail, even if this lasts a bit longer ­regardless of the analysis result.
Automatically fast
You want to save time and defragment each hard disk in the simplified mode, regardless of the degree
of fragmentation.
If you selected the Wait for result and then decide option, you will see a dialog where you can select how each hard disk is to be defragmented. For all other options, you don't need to do anything else, as defragmentation will run automatically after the analysis.
4. Select a hard disk in the top area and select a defragmentation mode.
TuneUp Drive Defrag determines the relationship between speed and the benefits to be achieved and
creates a recommendation from it.
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5. Ensure that you have selected a defragmentation mode for each hard disk.
6. Click Next to start the defragmentation.
During defragmentation, you can monitor each hard disk in real time and see how the usage map changes. You can also look at the progress bar and determine the progress and how long the defragmentation has left.
Tip: NTFS is Better than FAT
Hard disks can either use the NTFS file system, as used in the most recent versions of Windows, or the older FAT system that is supported by earlier Windows versions. Analysis of drives before defragmentation is substantially faster on NTFS drives. For FAT systems, users must wait considerably longer and can take the popular coffee break. This is just one of several reasons why the old FAT system should be converted to the modern NTFS system.
The NTFS file system (NTFS = New Technology File System) is the file system from Windows NT and its successors (e.g. Windows 2000, XP , Vista) right up to Windows 7. It offers an intelligently devised access protection to file levels, allows flexible management of privileges, accommodates file sizes above 4 GB, offers automatic error correction of the file system and can utilize the storage space of today's standard hard disk sizes in a considerably more efficient manner.
If your hard disks still use the FAT file system, you can carry out a very simple conversion.
Although conversion is considered very secure, you should make a backup of your saved data before attempting this.
Click the Windows Start icon, open Programs, navigate to the Accessories area and click Command Prompt. By entering this CONVERT.EXE C: /FS:NTFS command into the small black window, conversion will start.
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Replace C: with another drive letter to convert a different partition. If the system partition is changed, the computer will need to be restarted. In this case, follow the instructions on your screen.

Removing Broken Shortcuts

In the following chapters, you will find out why it is important to do so and how you can use the TuneUp
Shortcut Cleaner tool to clean up your system by removing invalid shortcuts and references:
All modifications to your system will be monitored by TuneUp Rescue Center and can be undone if necessary.
Removing Broken Shortcuts - Introduction
The TuneUp Shortcut Cleaner tool helps you quickly and easily to "restore order" to your computer. The tool checks all shortcuts on your Desktop, in the start menu and in the Quick Launch bar. If a shortcut points to a program that no longer exists or to a deleted file, you can easily remove it. Empty folders in the Start menu are also identified, which mostly arise after you have rearranged the Start menu manually.
In addition, TuneUp Shortcut Cleaner analyzes the file history lists of Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, Windows Media Player, and Nero. These lists contain references to the files most recently accessed in the programs. These entries will also be checked here. If some point to files that no longer exist or which have been moved, you can delete them.
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This both removes unwanted ballast from your system and prevents waiting times that arise when you try to access such invalid references.
How to Remove Broken Shortcuts
1. To launch the TuneUp Shortcut Cleaner tool, in the Start Center under the Maintain System category, select All functions followed by the entry Remove broken shortcuts.
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Your interface (Desktop, Start Menu, Quick Launch bar) and the history lists of some programs are checked for broken shortcuts and entries. This analysis can last several minutes.
Following the analysis, TuneUp Shortcut Cleaner shows you a list of all invalid shortcuts and references.
If no invalid entries were found, a list of the locations searched will be shown. Click Close to exit this function.
2. Decide for yourself whether all invalid shortcuts are to be deleted.
Clear the checkboxes of those invalid references that you do not want to delete. The standard setting is for all invalid references to be deleted.
3. Click Cleanup
The cleanup process normally lasts just a few seconds. Afterwards you receive a short status report on the number of references and shortcuts removed.
4. Click Finish to exit TuneUp Shortcut Cleaner.

Defragmenting the Registry

In the following chapters, you will find out why it is important to do so and how you can use the TuneUp
Registry Defrag tool to reduce the size of the registry by defragmenting it:
Defragmenting the Registry - Introduction
The registry is the heart of a Windows system. It is where Windows continuously stores entries (values and keys). In addition, each newly installed program and every newly connected hardware is entered in the registry where it records keys and values.
This causes the registry to get bigger and bigger. However, the bigger the registry, the longer the system needs to find certain information requested at any given moment by a program - Windows then becomes slower. When a program is uninstalled or when the registry is cleaned up, these keys and values are usually deleted, but despite this the registry does not get any smaller. Why is this? The space previously taken up by a deleted key continues to exist in the registry - even if it is no longer used. At some point your registry then looks like a piece of Swiss cheese - full of holes.
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This is a real waste of space at the expense of system performance - not just on the hard disk but also in the memory. TuneUp Registry Defrag is able to compress the registry so that it becomes much smaller. This function increases the stability of your Windows system.
TuneUp Registry Defrag analyzes the registry and creates a completely new version of it containing only the
intact data, in the correct order. The old registry is deleted following this step and automatically replaced with the new version when the computer is restarted.
How to Defragment the Registry
1. To launch the TuneUp Registry Defrag tool, in the Start Center under the Maintain System category, select All functions followed by the entry Defragment registry.
An introductory screen is displayed.
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2. Click Next to start the analysis.
TuneUp Registry Defrag determines how heavily fragmented the registry is and whether an optimization
is necessary.
Before the analysis, a message appears advising you to close all other programs. During the analysis,
TuneUp Registry Defrag turns the screen gray and displays a wait dialog. A small clock flashes in the
upper left corner of this window showing you that the tool is still working. A progress bar is also shown to inform you of the progress of the analysis. There is no need to worry if the progress bar does not move for several minutes.
3. Choose when you want to perform the optimization.
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