AppBooster

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on August 31, 2010

For PC users, "new computer speed" is like "that new car smell," but how would you feel if your car got slower and slower every time you drove it? Savvy gamers, road warriors, and tech types know the trick of shutting down unneeded stuff to reclaim some of your system's performance, but it's cumbersome at best and too intimidating for most casual users, who are, ironically, the ones who need it the most. Enter AppBooster from Mobile Concepts. It shuts down unneeded applications, processes, services, and Windows Features running on your PC and returns your machine to normal operation when you exit the program.

When we opened AppBooster's colorful interface, a wizard prompted us to create a new profile; you can also edit and delete profiles and create shortcuts to specific programs from this intro page. AppBooster's targeted categories, Device Support, Windows Features, and Applications, each feature five check boxes for deselecting items from the program's shutdown list, as well as good enough explanations and labeling to keep most inexperienced users from going wrong. For instance, we opted not to terminate Office and Browser support under Applications by simply unchecking the appropriate boxes. We like the ability to easily add specific applications to the list, too, as well as the option to test your settings before you save the profile. Clicking Activate initiated AppBooster's system scan, returning graphs and percentages of RAM and CPU power regained. We clicked the system tray icon to deactivate the software, which took about a minute and seemed to restore our machine completely to its previous state.

AppBooster is free, though there's a paid upgrade that adds some features. Activating and deactivating the program takes a while, which makes toggling between modes cumbersome, but AppBooster is all about boosting PC power for a specific use, so it's not such an issue. Though the gains it produced on our fairly new, well-maintained testbed machine weren't huge, they could be significant to mobile users or on an older PC with a lot of software installed.

 

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Publisher's Description

From Mobile Concepts:

Do you want this "new car smell" back? Some people use "Magic Trees", these little air freshener trees for their cars, to get that "new car smell" back. But air freshener doesn't help, to get that "new computer feeling" back. As time goes by you may have installed a lot of applications. And lots of them install background processes and services, which you don't use many times. The more background processes are running, the more memory is used and starting apps and games is much slower. Disabling these processes normally needs a pc restart. Instant Power: AppBooster gives you instant power for your apps and games whenever you need it. Instead of manually shutting down running processes, applications and windows services, AppBooster quits all unneeded background processes and services making more RAM and CPU power available for your favorite games and apps. Without being a professional pc user you are able to get the most out of your computer. "There is an update available..." You know these kind of notifications which always come in a very inappropriate moment? When you are gaming and waiting for you opponent to come around the corner? By disabling background processes and scheduled tasks temporarily, AppBooster prevents those notifications and let you play smoother and without interruptions. AppsBooster is safe and easy to use: AppBooster doesn't change any system settings or modify the windows registry in order to stop background processes. You system will be reset to the exact same status after the Booster Mode has been stopped your system has been restarted. Even inexperienced users may use AppBooster without crashing anything or making something wrong. No restart required at any time: You can enabled and disable the Booster Mode at any time without needing to restart the system. No delay, instant performance.

What's new in this version:

• Memory Booster: Prevents swapping during Gameplay to reduce lags by swapping unused memory before starting the Game or Application.
• Windows Sidebar and Tray-Gadget: For fast access to the Booster Mode and the Booster Profiles a Sidebar Gadget and the optional Tray-Icon are available, which need only a small amount of memory.
• More Details about unneeded Applications: Each category now contains a detail view with information about uneeded processes. This makes it easi... See all new features

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