Specifications

FIRST LOOKS SOFTWARE
Shut down Windows
with one click—fi nally!
TOTALIDEA TWEAKVI
Whip Vista into Shape
Why waste time waiting for Microsoft to come out
with a Vista release of the TweakUI Windows con-
figuration utility? Just grab Totalidea Software’s
TweakVI. Even the Basic version covered here goes
considerably beyond its forefather’s capabilities.
Better still, the smart installer makes getting started
easy, and you don’t need much tech know-how
to use the app.
The System Information and Tweaks area
lets you see system information and configure
hard drive details, CPU settings, and Vista’s boot
manager. An especially useful feature gives you
access to the CD keys for your Microsoft Windows
and Offi ce software and also lets you back up your
Offi ce XP/2003/2007 product activation fi les.
The CPU section, where you can optimize the
system cache according to your system’s RAM—as
well as force core processes to remain in physical
memory instead of being shunted off to virtual
memory—does a much better job than the built-in
Vista equivalent. Hard drive tweaks let you further
speed your system by enabling defragmentation of
boot fi les (placing them next to each other for faster
start-ups), disabling an NTFS feature that places
a time stamp for the last access of folders and
fi les, and more.
Visual Tweaks collects all the configuration
options available in various Windows dialog boxes—
from the Appearance button in Display Properties
through the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties
dialog. Internet Tweaks contains a huge array of
settings for Microsoft Outlook and Windows Mail,
Internet Explorer, and Firefox. Miscellaneous tools
let you change system folder settings, hide specifi c
Control Panel applets, and make a number of other
modifications that tighten your control over your
system and change the look of the interface.
TweakVI not only provides customization
elements that you won’t find in Windows itself, it
also collects the huge array of Windows custom-
ization options into one interface. The choices are
generally well explained, so you’re not likely to run
into trouble. But if you do, you can easily revert to
the Windows defaults.
The paid editions add, among many other
things, features for automatic shutdown, password
generation, and managing software installation and
system updates. Ultimate adds a disk doctor feature
and a utility for protecting folders and dealing with
virtual drives and page fi les. Even with the free ver-
sion, TweakVI offers considerably more confi gura-
tion possibilities than Microsoft’s own TweakUI.
Choose one of the paid editions and you have an
entire suite of OS confi guration tools. This package
isn’t really a competitor to TweakUI at all—it’s a
signifi cantly better tool all around.—Neil Randall
Totalidea TweakVI
Basic, free; Premium,
$30 direct; Ultimate, $40
lllhm
PROS Installs intel-
ligently. Provides scads
of system information.
Makes confi guration
highly accessible.
CONS Somewhat costly
yearly subscription for
advanced versions.
For more:
go.pcmag.com/tweakvi
Shouldn’t have made that
change? No problem
NOVEMBER 6, 2007 PC MAGAZINE 33