PowerTools Lite EX 2013 2.1.0.1201

Overview

Taking care of your system is essential, as it plays a big role in the computer’s speed and efficiency. A good choice for maintaining it is PowerTools Lite EX 2013, a complete suite for deleting useless junk, fixing registry errors and removing installed software. But that’s not all there is to it; the program has a blacklist with all up-to-date malicious websites and protects you from visiting them.

Installation

After downloading and running the installer you will be presented with the installation wizard that will guide you through the installation steps. There aren’t any difficult settings throughout the procedure, but you will have to choose at some point whether you want to install translations, shortcuts, a Handbook (Help file) and make few other easy settings.

No kinds of malware like trojans and spyware are included in the setup package, and neither do any advertised 3^rd party software.

Supported operating systems are Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7 and 8 (32/64-bit).

Interface

When you open the program for the first time it will perform an analysis of your computer in order to make some internal configurations for optimal performance. This might take a while depending on your computer’s specs. After it’s done you will be brought to the program’s main screen, where you will see all the available features within a modern interface. Below the toolbar is the company’s logo along with a couple of buttons, and below (in the main area) are 6 large buttons (“Clean and fix my computer”, “Registry Cleaner”, “Fully remove software and leftovers”, “Immunize my computer”, “Backups” and “Settings”), each one responsible for a different operation.

At the bottom of the window you can see two percentage bars displaying your computer’s and registry’s health. Next to those bars is a small text giving you statistical information regarding the usage of the program.

Pros

The feature that you’ll probably be using most is the “Clean and fix my computer” one. This function scans the whole system to find junk files (temporary files, broken shortcuts, logs, etc.) and registry errors, which will then delete/fix. In this feature, the registry cleaning routine is the same as the separate “Registry cleaner” feature; it’s just that you can use the latter one if you want to scan only the registry and not the entire computer.

Removing software through the program’s interface is possible as well. Running the corresponding feature will display a list of all installed software from which you can choose the ones you want to uninstall. PowerTools Lite EX will also scan the computer for a program’s leftovers after it has been removed.

The program creates backups of all registry items that get deleted/modified by its modules, so that you can restore them again in the future. You can also create manual backups of your data such as the “My Documents” folder or all desktop items.

PowerTools Lite EX has a blacklist that includes many malicious websites, which are added to Windows’ hosts file in order to protect you from visiting them. For those who aren’t aware of what the hosts file is, in simple terms it’s a file in Windows that you can edit to block access to a website. So by adding the malicious websites there you’re automatically blocked from visiting them. The blacklist in PowerTools Lite EX is regularly updated and new malicious websites are added to it (and consequently to the hosts file).

Cons

The initial setup that analyzes your computer when running the program for the first time is not very quick to finish; it took over 20 minutes in our computers to complete and let us use the program.

Alternatives

CCleaner (free), TuneUp Utilities (paid), System Mechanic (paid), IObit Advanced SystemCare (freemium) and Wise Care 365 (freemium) are all excellent alternatives, with CCleaner and TuneUp Utilities being the best of them.

Conclusion

PowerTools Lite EX 2013 is a good program for newbies and users with an average level of experience due to its easy to use interface and clear features.