Entered CNET Catalog: 04/26/2007
SKU: 813279000578
Manufacturer: Iolo Technologies
Product summary
The good: System Mechanic 7 Professional has a new interface and more tools, including new Iolo-based security tools.
The bad: System Mechanic 7 Professional requires you to accept its decisions; the Iolo antivirus app failed the latest VirusBulletin test. The Iolo firewall fell short of our expectations; and there's no free, live technical support.
The bottom line: System Mechanic 7 Professional goes beyond its original greatness, morphing a system utility suite into a kind of grand security suite. As such, it comes up short and cannot be recommended.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 05/04/2007
Setup
System Mechanic 7 Professional runs on Windows 98 through Vista. You can download a full-function 30-day trial from CNET Download.com.
The setup for System Mechanic 7 Professional on our Windows XP machine was unnecessarily challenging. Even with a disc from Iolo, we were asked to enter a long license number, then enter an even longer registration number. That's a lot of numbers to key in, and if you make a mistake it's hard to find which character is out of place or entered wrong. You'd think you were entering the access code for Fort Knox.
Should you want to remove Iolo System Mechanic 7 Professional, there is no uninstall icon. You will need to use the Windows Control Panel, then Add or Remove Programs. After a reboot, we discovered several system registry entries and program folders and files remained for System Mechanic 7 Professional. We do not recommend deleting the system registry entries without technical support; however, deleting the program folder required us first to change its read-only status. Only then could we delete the program entirely from our machine.
Interface
For System Mechanic 7 Professional, Iolo redesigned its interface. In addition to the familiar speedometer showing your system status as good, fair, or poor, there are right-hand menus that locate specific tools, although most user interface studies have shown the left-hand side of the screen to be the user's sweet spot, visually. Indeed, several times we had to remember that the navigation was on the right, not the left. The left side is occupied by a combined diagnostics test. In previous versions you had to analyze and run separate tools, which was a pain. This is an improvement, of sorts. Within System Mechanic 7 Professional, you only run one, and quickly, you'll see what needs to be fixed in one listing.
Unlike System Mechanic 6 Professional, which periodically asked us to download the latest updates, System Mechanic 7 Professional makes the update process more automatic. This is a welcome change, but it also highlights our concern that too many of the processes within System Mechanic now occur in the background.
What's truly frustrating about the new interface is that unlike earlier versions where you could check the items you wanted--and uncheck those you did not--you are strongly encouraged to accept Iolo's word that all the changes recommended are the best for your PC. The automatic option makes the changes without much information. Only by selecting Remove Manually did we see exactly what Iolo had flagged. In most cases these were minor shortcuts and cookies and other items that we did not think warranted removal, and ultimately we unchecked them. We also question the hyperbolic terminology. "Warning" implies danger, and we don't see how two broken shortcuts on our test PC rise to that level. If anything, in simplifying its interface, Iolo has weakened System Mechanic Professional's credibility to diagnose truly severe problems.
Features
Rather than license existing antivirus and firewall technology, Iolo created its own in-house security products. While this ensures the security apps will play well with the existing Iolo tools, these are largely unproven applications competing in a mature and competitive field. We ended up disabling the firewall because it was too noisy, and recommend you also disable or not even install the antivirus app (see the Performance section below).
Iolo Search and Recover 4, available as a standalone product, is included within System Mechanic. Search and Recover 4 allows you to search your hard drive for that missing file that you know exists, and, if you happened to have deleted it somehow, Iolo gives you a tool to recover it. This can be very handy. We did, however, experience some system errors while using Search and Recover 4 (see the Performance section below).
DriveScrubber 3 is another good feature. If you ever sell your PC, you'll want to not only delete the data, but overwrite it with ones and zeros several times so that the data will be unrecoverable. System Mechanic 7 Professional includes this tool with options to scrub one file, a specific folder, or an entire drive. Also you can set it to automatically scrub whenever you delete a file.
There's also a pop-up blocker feature within System Mechanic 7 Professional but we found this feature totally useless. We use the Firefox Internet browser exclusively on our CNET machines yet Iolo provides pop-up protection only for Internet Explorer, Netscape, and Opera. Netscape and Opera currently occupy less than 1 percent of the Internet Browser market; Firefox is currently over 10 percent. That said, all of these browsers, even Firefox, now provide their own pop-up protection, so this feature is unnecessary.
Missing from within System Mechanic 7 Professional are tools to block spam and stop phishing attempts.
Performance
Overall, our experience with System Mechanic 7 Professional was mixed. Although it's a system utility designed to fix problems, we tripped over a few error messages while using System Mechanic and Search and Recover 4. Future updates should be able to correct these flaws, but the errors (memory faults) were enough to lower System Mechanic 7 Professional's overall rating and undermine our overall confidence in the product.
Iolo Antivirus 1.x is a new, proprietary antivirus product that has been certified by Check Mark Labs. Certification is a less rigid process than formally testing the antivirus product against viruses in the wild. Iolo has informed us that its antivirus product was tested against live viruses by VirusBulletin, but we found that Iolo Antivirus 1.1.9 failed in the June 2007 VirusBulletin test (free registration required for access). We also found the antivirus scans tended to slow our test PC noticeably.
Iolo Firewall is also a proprietary firewall product and has not been tested by CNET Labs. On our informal test machine Iolo Firewall prompted us for permission to allow just about every application we had on our machine. After a week the alerts did slow, but it seems that Iolo does not have many applications in its database, and leaves the decision to grant access to you. We ended up disabling the Iolo Firewall and using Windows Firewall instead.
Support
We found the technical support for System Mechanic 7 Professional to be light, surprising since this utility suite configures and tweaks the internal settings of your PC. The in-program Help feature is adequate, but we'd prefer more detail about the specific tools within the program. Online, the knowledge base is also rather light, available either by asking the right questions or by searching an index. There's no PDF manual, for example. The online step-by-step tutorials are little more than glorified FAQs. There are no live online chats available and no active forums to learn from other users. And while there is a toll-free number to purchase System Mechanic 7 Professional, there is no toll-free telephone support for System Mechanic 7 Professional. If you have technical problem, you'll need to make a long distance call to Los Angeles and during business hours, Monday through Friday.
Conclusion
Based on past performance, we eagerly awaited System Mechanic 7 Professional, only to be disappointed. Instead of a pure system-utility suite, Iolo has played up the security features in this release--and may have taken on too much. Frankly, there are too many tools in this suite and not enough information about what all of them are doing to your computer. Also, the occasional glitch tended to undermine our confidence in System Mechanic 7 Professional's ability to accurately tweak and optimize our PC. Think long and hard before handing your computer over to a product such as this, that can change your system registry files and defragment your hard drive without providing much detail before and after the fact, or much in the way of live technical support should you run into trouble.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15out of 15 user reviews
Firewall and Antivirus aside, it is a GOOD PROGRAM!!!
Pros: Just going onto the internet, downloading software, or allowing friends to get on your computer, (big mistake) can cause Big problems. System Mechanic Pro takes care of almost everything that can go wrong with your computer.
Cons: However, I'd say that the Firewall and Antivirus on the System Mechanic Pro version, does an average job. It definitely could be improved.
out of 15 user reviews
Don't install it unless you NEVER want to uninstall it.
Pros: I don't like this product at all.
Cons: On boot it produces an error message "Resource PROGRESSS_CONTAINEREMPTY not found" and then several DAX access violation messages. And it cannot be uninstalled via Windows Add/Remove Programs.
out of 15 user reviews
not very good!
Pros: Removal of system clutter.
Cons: The take it or leave it option when a problem is found by the software.
out of 15 user reviews
the worst rip off ever
Pros: never,never buy anything from this company.they are very dishonest on the box, and lead you to believe they are rated # 1 by this site and many others.
Cons: the company will not respond to your emails and when you register your product which i bought on 12-30-08, they say it expired on 12-1-08, and you can not download or use the purchased software. tech directions do not work either.
out of 15 user reviews
Drags your PC to a standstill. Avoid at ALL costs!
Pros: Nice interface, good results when manually running tasks (i.e. user uses the interface to compact registry, free up memory etc.)
Cons: Brings the PC to a stop doing "background tasks"
Won't uninstall
Prings into life when least expected causing PC to freeze for 20+ seconds
Switching on PC can take 2-3 times longer as the mechanica "performs repairs"
Total loss in PC performance
Then it takes over the PC. Booting up the PC invariably ends up with unnecassary checks and repairs being carried out, leading to a 2-3 fold increase in boot up time.
The program springs into life with registry checks and repairs wihout any warning, causing the PC to freeze. It doesn't care if you're tying an email, talking to a freind or playing a game. These are not important to the Mechanic.
Then, despite disabling all the possible interfering features (and therefore ending any use of this software?), the PC just gts slower and slower.
Eventualy, after culling all the other possible culprits, SM7 is uninstalled. Or so you think. SM7 still leaves traces on your PC long after you uninstall it. Advice from their website is to actually delete the folder on c:\program files\ioio and then manually remove entries from the registry. I'm sorry, but not to have done this during the unintall process and leaving segments behind - this is paramount to vandalism!
Do yourself a favour. DON'T buy this program, even more importnantly, DON'T install it. It was the single biggest misake I ever made to my 3 PC's (laptop, games PC and network storage PC).
Do yourself a favour and read the countless reviews online of people who have suffered the same apalling experience. I will not be using System Mechanic again and I most DEFINITELY won't be using IOLO software agai. Make a note of that website, it's www.iolo.com.
D O N ' T M A K E T H E S A M E M I S T A K E A S I D I D ! ! ! ! !
out of 15 user reviews
GARBAGE !!!!!
Pros: I know of exactly zero 'pros'.
Cons: Trashed my computer.......has not worked correctly in one year of trying...
My one single goal is now to get this software removed from my computer. No luck as yet.
A word about iolo phone support. iolo phone support consists solely of sending emails.
NO, it is not just you and me having problems. I've learned that each iolo support person is receiving about 150 emails per day. Far more than anyone can handle.
out of 15 user reviews
Program good but complicated. Tech Support frustrating!
Pros: Lots of tech tools to diagnose/tweak system with.
Cons: Background analysis tie up too many resources, slow machine.
I may just use free programs or windows security programs. I just know this program is not meeting my requirements.
out of 15 user reviews
Stay away from this program!
Pros: Can't think of even one
Cons: Will damage your registry beyond repair
out of 15 user reviews
A "Big" leap forward for Iolo
Pros: Does most functions automatically. Many features for a low price.
Cons: minor flaws and product support, there sites' data base could use some work. Like, adding a tagged search function. What year is this, 1980 something?
out of 15 user reviews
Too risky to use at this point
Pros: Slick and fully automated
Cons: Gives too little details and crashed my system
My rating was 4. The bar must have slid. By crashing, I meant that after removing System Mechanic 7, my operaring system crashed to the blue screen.
out of 15 user reviews
You Will Format Your Hard Drive
Pros: Great Marketing
Cons: Does not work
At worst it will disable your computer, at best it does not work. No refund or customer service.
out of 15 user reviews
Is not working when you have no internet connection
Pros: When it is working it is easy to handel and keeps your computer running
Cons: System Mechanic is not working when you have no internet connection
out of 15 user reviews
Not Fully Vista Compatible
Pros: Clouded by the negative
Cons: Help and support nonexistent, help guide references XP when you search under Vista operating system, Call support only if you like being on hold for very long periods of time,
I had the prior version of this on my XP computer and had no problems at all. I figured when I bought my Vista unit and seeing that SM7 was available for Vista I jumped! Well I jumped to fast! Problem #1 - Fragmentation reporting. SM7 reported that my machine was 47% fragmented even though other programs after uninstalling SM7 said it was only 3% (Diskeeper). Going by the guide it says that to help performance you can do a boot time defrag, well you can’t if you have Vista, even though it says this in the guide. With tech support help they finally said that some items would not even be there when running Vista? Sound strange? Help says Tools for specific problem: under it, it gives you 7 choices but in Vista there is only 4, go ahead look, and yes I have the Vista version. So guides that don’t correspond to the actual program set up flares to me.
When a program is said to be Vista Compatible it should be just that instead of works with Vista and some of the functions while running in Vista should be clearly stated!
out of 15 user reviews
free download AntiVirus Pro 2006
Pros: System Mechanic 7 Professional
Cons: Sends your query to reviews.cnet.com when clicked.
out of 15 user reviews
Antivirus/Firewall nothing but a headache
Pros: System utilities themselves work well, improving system performance
Cons: Antivirus/Firewall such a headache with no support it is not worth installing.
