Best PC Optimizer

When trying to figure out how to make your PC run faster, many people turn to look for the best defrag tool and best PC optimizer. Look at reviews, head to the user forums, ask their colleagues and friends to see what the options are. Free or paid for. Automatic or manual. Lots of options or few. Enterprise defrag or for personal use only. It's all well and good, and what drives us here at Raxco to deliver the market's best defrag software year after year.

                                               

But we also like to differentiate ourselves in a different way, through our technical support and customer service. So while we truly believe PerfectDisk is the best defrag software available, we also think our service and support are superior as well. That attitude is epitomized by Wendy Clontz, who heads up our customer service department and whom we are proud to have with us.

Dan Baldry is a 20--year IT professional in Sydney, Australia, managing a team of people who sell maintenance and professional services for one of the world's largest networking companies. Dan wrote to me directly recently about what he described as our "excellent service," which he argues is hard to find these days. Here are some of Dan's words: 

                                                

"I purchased Perfect Disk a few years ago mainly on the basis of an article I came across in a local PC magazine that I thought gave a good impartial review and sold me on the merits of the product. With a computing background, to me disk defragmentation is what I would describe as a routine housekeeping item that I would consider baseline for a healthy PC. In a perfect world this would be delivered as a native part of the operating system. You might argue that it is, but I'm suspicious of the standard utility  and a bit wary of the available freeware (though I know they are reasonably good). With my hard disk capacity getting bigger, I was on the hunt for a good utility that would just do the job and I could be confident in (no doubts), so that was why I decided to stump up the dollars and go for Perfect Disk. In short, I wanted to be sure my system was at optimum health and running with maximum performance all the time. You might ask why? Well, I use my PC  for a mix of work and play and it became a bit of a mission to drive the best performance without resorting to a massive/expensive upgrade as time went on. A few dollars on PD seemed like a good option. Eventually I did upgrade but I still use PD as part of the same housekeeping approach.

However, over the past couple of years, with reinstalls, losing keys, lost downloads etc... and needing to call on support more than once came to realise that the Raxco company offered me an extension of the confidence that I had in the product, and that was the confidence that if I had an issue I would get a reasonably quick, no nonsense, response. Even though it was probably only a few interactions over something like 24 months, I realised it was the same people assisting me throughout, which made me feel the company must have something going for it to be able to retain people like that. The consistent message I hear back is that while customers choose our physical products to drive their business based on value and the vision of our company, it's the Services we offer that keeps them coming back. Not only that, but our partners value our Services above all for the profitable revenue it drives - and customers are willing to pay as they have confidence that they are getting a total package. I think it's how we treat our customers after the sale that creates real business, and I think that's something Raxco has understood from the get go."

• "I used to have problems defragging some drives. A few years ago I purchased PerfectDisk and haven't had a problem since."
• "PerfectDisk is the industry standard for serious defragmentation."
• "For defragmenting, you'd be hard pressed to find anything better than PerfectDisk."
• "PerfectDisk and it works like a charm. Not a hitch!"
• "I run PerfectDisk every night which defrags my drives. (A great tip I got on this forum."

1. The developers of your defrag utility meet regularly with Microsoft development teams, including file system experts, for a true understanding of file system behaviors, strategies and plans.
2. The defrag utility employs disk and file optimization strategies for the best possible drive optimization, rather than simply defragments files, so it is a true PC performance optimizer, beyond just a simple defrag utility.
3. It performs robust free space consolidation to significantly prevent fragmentation, reduce the rate of future fragmentation and improve write performance.
4.  It's smart enough to just defrag a file -- a single file or a few selected files -- rather than the entire drive, if that's all that is fragmented and that's all you need done at a particular time.
5. It doesn't force you into a single way to defrag - it provides flexible scheduling options that are accommodating to your activity and requirements, whether you need or want automatic background defragmentation during idle time, screen saver defrag, or daily or weekly schedules.
6. It optimizes boot files to improve boot time by 20% or more.
7. It provides a free, Microsoft-certified duplicate file remover and file recycler to further assist disk cleanup and optimization efforts.
8. It's simple enough for the novice user but with free, optional advanced features for power users.
9. It's smart enough to be the choice for tens of thousands of World of Warcraft users around the world to improve World of Warcraft performance and used by millions of gamers around the world to improve the performance of other PC games.
10.   It's intelligent enough to contain patent-pending technology that ensures no resource contention in virtual environments and can boost virtualization performance with specific solutions for vSphere and Hyper-V.
11.   It's passed the internal tests, pilot programs and RFPs of many of the world's largest companies and government agencies, and is deployed in and helping those enterprises today.
12.   It is certified by Microsoft for Windows 7.

                                                

Writing in that old industry stalwart PC Magazine, columnist John C. Dvorak declares that "software discovery is broken." In particular, he observes:

"A combination of SEO (search engine optimization) tricks, product duplication, fake companies, and bogus product reviews have muddied the water for software. No wonder app stores have begun taking over—it's almost impossible to find good software on the Internet. It's hard to find anything beyond big names like Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop, because little sleazeball companies have taken over the space.

"You see them all the time. If you're looking for any sort of utility on Google, you'll come across a ton of crappy and often useless (if not outright fraudulent) garbage that has risen to the top, thanks to what I like to call "active" SEO trickery."

                                                 

Well, I do know there's a lot of junk out there. Hey, there are 5 billion people in the world, and there are a lot of bad ones too - but that doesn't make everyone bad. As one of only 2 real  enterprise defrag software companies in the world, we know there are a lot of weeds out there. No matter what you do on the Internet - work, play, research - you know you have to be smart about it and put your filters on. It's only natural, given the freedom of expression that the Internet has provided the world. 

So everything is not so easy. But day after day, month after month, the largest enterprises in the world, thousands of small businesses, and millions of consumers do what they are paid to do -- or desire to do -- and look for the best defrag software. And while I'm sure many end up with 'crap" (hey, Dvorak's words :)) for a defragger, we know that the majority end up with PerfectDisk or Diskeeper. They do their homework, they find real, valid reviews, and make the determination that the best disk defrag or the best enterprise defrag really leads to very few options.

You want the best recipe for making pizza? You know how to find options and filter through until you get the ones that you can trust. Want the best defrag software? Same process. It's life in 2010.

What do you think - is software discovery broken? 

The PC Magazine article is here.

                                         

                                    

Are you ready? The people below certainly are. They're just a small sampling of feedback from the largest beta test in PerfectDisk history. Thousands of users -- home users, small businesses and enterprises -- have lent their time, energy and expertise to making sure we deliver the best defrag software ever.

And with their help, we've done it. On a scale of 1 to 10, it's an 11.

Coming March 9th, 2010.

                                    


"...once again, the best compliment I can give is that YOU GOT IT RIGHT!  I have Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit and the interface is clean, beautiful, and totally functional. This version appears to be noticeably faster than PD10, which was already pretty good.  You have stepped ahead of the competition yet again."
                                                                Paul T. Blades

"...lots of goodies in this new version. Many times products come up with a new feature here and there or fix things that should have been fixed in the prior version—you guys really aired it out and took a whole new crack at the product. Really speaks volumes of the caliber of your people and company. VERY fast compared to prior editions -- great!

"Like the new progress bars showing how much of the drive is left to defragment and the activity indicators along the bottom right in the drive map view showing 'defrag' 'recycler' and 'schedule.' Again, pounding on the GUI stuff, I really like the new block effects -- the blocks with the 'shine' effect and bright colors are great.

The SMARTPlacement types you can select based upon resources available and performance needs so far as fast file access etc., blew me away.  Pretty much ended my even checking to see what each new version of *** expletive deleted *** looks like before I upgrade to one or the other. I did have a chance finally to compare the amount of file information *** expletive deleted *** gives you when you use the 'cluster inspector' versus your new right click feature-- not even close. PD11 wins the details award there.  Everything anybody would ever want to know is reachable through a right click and a few other clicks to get to the specific details you want-- very nice."
                                                               Gary Michelson

"I've noted significant defragmentation improvement on the Windows-7 system. Very much appreciate the usability features...thanks for a wonderful product." 
                                                               Henry Gardiner

"Your claim that initial analysis of a drive is faster in Version 11 than in previous versions is an understatement. Analysis used to take several annoying minutes, just to determine whether defragging was needed. I just ran the analysis for an 80GB PATA HDD in 19 seconds. In the past, the analysis of that drive always took several minutes, even when it was not highly fragmented."
                                                               Kenton Machina

"Thank you. I have participated in many Beta tests, including Microsoft XP Beta and Vista Beta, but never has the experience been as easy or as pleasurable as my experience with you and PerfectDisk 11. PerfectDisk 11 has been faultless in its operation. You have done an outstanding job with this program."
                                                               Michael Downs

"I now find the software excellent and a big improvement on v10.  The drive map does not take so long to build; the menu tabs are clearer and more logical. Well done!"
                                                               Julian Grenfell

"Version 11 Beta operated flawlessly. Solid, stable and much faster than Ver 10."
                                                               Richard Lindsay

"New StealthPatrol features make this a very feature-rich version."
                                                               Alfred Morgan-Jones

"I think you're showing off a little - when I installed this build, PD11 immediately analysed my 4 1TB disks simultaneously in just a few seconds. Keep up the good work."
                                                              Robert Rigby

"The speed improvements are very obvious with the analysis. Going maximum window and analyzing gives the WOW to the client. Just two words: Love it."  
                                                             James Brown

"I've noted significant defragmentation improvement on the Windows-7 system. Very much appreciate the usability features...thanks for a wonderful product."
                                                              Henry Gardiner

"...faster than previous versions. So far everything looks great to me." 
                                                              John Hull

"PD 11 Home Edition is looking good, and its performance is excellent. I like the changes you've made to the Drive Map tab."
                                                              Greg Webb

"...quick....smooth..."
                                                              Richard Futch

"...faster....solid..."
                                                              Richard H. Brown, Jr.

"....much faster....thank you...."
                                                              John Hall

Having used PD11 HE and Pro the same as I have been using PD10, the overall impression I have is one of a more professional and robust feel. There are many minor interface tweaks and additions, input and output, which contribute to this feel and after a while I could tell that there are many improvements under the hood too." 
                                                             Mark Stubbs

"It is substantially better on the Win7 x64 system! So the better the system, the more performance gains you'll see with PD11 (which makes perfect sense). Congratulations on a smooth dev cycle. I generally leave PD in Stealth Patrol, and forget about it. Once in awhile, I check on things and find all my hard drives in optimal condition. I just smile and silently thank you guys for a great product."
                                                            Stephen V. Smith

"...noticeably faster and has a very nice feel. Congratulations." 
                                                            Alan Burt

"Product has worked flawlessly on several different machines using various operating systems and hardware."
                                                            Ronald Chenoweth

“awesome software”
                                                            Shawn Antosz

“…very impressed…”
                                                            Bryn Pritchard

"Analyzing and defragmenting is noticeably faster than previous versions and I like the new layout.  I've not noticed any issues. Installed on Win 7 x64.  Looking forward to the final release! Good work." 
                                                            Adrian Jefferies

"I like the intelligent handling of SSD drives."
                                                            Tom Bruce

"Bravo Zulu!!"
                                                            Tom Vaughn 
 

Related Posts:

• Mini-sneak peek: a few few PerfectDisk 11 videos on the PerfectDiskNews YouTUbe Channel
• Well, well -- aren't you picky -- defrag a file -- or 100
• VSS defrag -- more flexibility and control
• More than defrag -- to space and beyond
• Bipartisan support on the best defrag software -- from the defrag capital
• Enterprise defragmentation evolved -- Remote Free Space Management
• A smarter way to speed up PC performance 
• Size matters; then again, it doesn't
• Exchange defrag software -- ready for Exchange 2010
• Look beneath the surface, clean your PC, shrink your drive
• Defrag analysis -- catch me if you can
• A smarter SMARTPlacement is a smarter defrag and disk space management
• PerfectDisk 11 -- Gearing up for Beta
• PerfectDisk 11 defrag -- on the horizon
   

                                                
We like to think we have the best PC performance optimizer software, and we're constantly testing and improving to make sure that's the case. But we also take pride in the technical support and customer service we provide to go along with our defrag and PC optimization software. It's instilled into everyone here, no matter what their job title. We receive a lot of feedback from our customers praising our employees as well as our technology, and I'd like to share some of a recent one. We think the perfect mix is superior technology and service.
                           
George Carr of Ontario, Canada is a retired employee of a Fortune 100 hardware company, who managed a $600 million division of the company. George now is an active stock trade, where faster PC speed is critical, which is why he is interested in PC optimization software. One of his 3 laptops is devoted specifically for trading. Video performance is also important to Carr, as he has another laptop devoted to his hobby of video creation and video editing. The third laptop in his household belongs to his wife, who wants a optimize PC, but doesn't spend a lot of time worrying about PC maintenance.

                                               

Unsolicited, George wrote the following:

"I am writing to share an experience I recently had with your company that was pretty unique in the consumer software business, and really influenced my decision to purchase from your company. I downloaded a trial copy of your PerfectSpeed product for evaluation.  Within days of downloading the trial, I received a message from Wendy Clontz. What was unique about this is that the email was very professional, it was from a real person, and the tone of the message sounded to me like your company was really interested in how the evaluation process was progressing.

Normally when you download a software trial, a computer generated form message is sent saying "if you have any questions, please call "1-888-i want to sell you something." This was not the case with the message I received.  I actually replied to the message with some comments and questions that I had about the product, and amazingly, I received a reply within 24 hours actually addressing my questions and comments.

What I learned from my communication with Wendy was that the PerfectSpeed product was probably not the one I really needed. The product I needed was PerfectDisk Professional, and I purchased that product with a 3-user license, and now have it installed on all three of my computers.  The product has made a huge difference in my disk performance, and I love the fact that I can set the "AutoPilot" on my wife's computer.  She is not technical, and usually ignores defragmentation warnings.

Finally, I want you to know that the overall approach you company uses to communicate with clients is what made me decide that you are the company that I want to do business with. I have spent over 30 years in the computer industry in client services for a fortune 100 computer company, and this experience would rank as number 1 in my book.

Please thank Wendy for her tremendous dedication, diligence, and follow up.  This is what clearly demonstrates the Great companies from the average companies."
 
Will do -- thanks Wendy. And thanks for sharing your video performance and PC performance optimizer story, George.

                                        

                                            

Since we have thousands of WoW players who are PerfectDisk users and always looking for all the WoW performance tips they can find, I thought I would provide a quick list of a few things that we think help improve the WoW game experience as well as any MMORPG game. Of course, I'm always partial to a good defrag as my favorite World of Warcraft performance tip - I can't help myself.

                                               

But a few other handy tips include:

• Increase virtual memory
• Update your graphics card
• Close startup programs you don't need
• Increase the priority of WoW
• Clean up your computer of junk (duplicate files, temporary Internet files, etc.)

• A war worth fighting -- defrag World of Warcraft MPQ files -- WoW optimizer
• PC game performance -- defrag for a fuller life for Half Life 2

• Bipartisan support on the best defrag software -- from the defrag capital
• Enterprise defragmentation evolved -- Remote Free Space Management
• A smarter way to speed up PC performance 
• Size matters; then again, it doesn't
• Exchange defrag software -- ready for Exchange 2010
• Look beneath the surface, clean your PC, shrink your drive
• Defrag analysis -- catch me if you can
• A smarter SMARTPlacement is a smarter defrag and disk space management
• PerfectDisk 11 -- Gearing up for Beta
• PerfectDisk 11 defrag -- on the horizon
  
   

                                                   

SMARTPlacement is PerfectDisk's patented optimization strategy that groups files on drives according to users' unique usage patterns. Rarely used files are grouped together, as are occasionally modified files and recently modified files. This strategy in essence "shrinks" the drive, because many of the driver's files don't need to be moved at all while defragmenting PC - they've been defragmented, they've been put together, and they don't need to be touched. A byproduct of this is total free space consolidation. Putting all this together, you receive the all around best performance for PCs and servers, physical and virtual. And you get a much-reduced rate of fragmentation, as new files are typically created contiguously because of all the large chunks of free space.

                                                        

                                      

Tom Spring's Sneaky Fees article in the December 2009 issue of PC World caught my attention. Spring looks into everything from shipping and handling fees to paper statement "fees" to extra fees to book airline tickets online. He notes that "wireless providers, cable companies and other firms are increasingly nickel-and-diming us to death."

The article states that "according to the Ponemon Institute, a research group specializing in consumer privacy, such sneaky fees cost each U.S. resident an estimated $950 every year. None are outlandish -- $1 here, $3.95 there. But they add up."

                               

When it comes to defragmentation utilities, some of what you can pay for is not so much sneaky, but can be considered nickel-and-diming. In today's world with new economic realities, most of the world's biggest brands have recognized that home consumers and businesses demand top value for what they pay. Like not paying extra to defrag larger disk drives. Like getting maximum flexibility to receive automatic background defrag or the ability to schedule defragmentation.

It's the philosophy we've taken here with PerfectDisk -- the world's most advanced disk defragmentation, including our patented SMARTPlacement optimization technology that reduces the rate at which fragmentation occurs -- at the best price. For businesses that can't put their organizations at risk with freeware, to home users who also won't risk their valuable data.

Not free, but no sneaky fees. True value, which has helped make 2009 a very successful one here at Raxco.

You can read the entire PC World article here.

Along with many of the world's leading brands, we recognize that top performance, quality and service can be provided at a reasonable price, without trying to stick it to users. 

                        

Here’s a little something on defragmenting with Windows 7 from a single user perspective. Greg Smith, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana,  is a full-time software engineer, and also is a part time audio engineer. He wrote the following to me:

“I mainly use my PC for software development and productivity, but occasionally I use it for live recordings of small concerts around the area.

"The computer is a self-built Intel Q9400 system with 4 GB RAM.  There are two hard drives installed – a Western Digital 320 GB drive as my system drive, and a Western Digital 640 GB drive for storage.  The system drive is partitioned for dual-booting.  The outermost partition (200 GB) is my software development partition, which is running Windows 7.  The innermost partition (100 GB) is my recording partition, which is running a stripped-down version of Vista x64.  The 640 GB storage drive is partitioned as one large partition.

"Since I use my Windows 7 installation 99% of the time, that’s the Windows installation on which PerfectDisk is installed.  It is configured for StealthPatrol on the Windows 7 partition and the Storage partition (I have the Vista partition set to manual).  All my programs are installed on the 200 GB Windows 7 partition, but my data is entirely on the 640 GB storage partition.  PerfectDisk keeps my program files and data perfectly optimized.  I don’t even have to think about defragmenting my drives anymore – I just always have outstanding disk performance.  This is especially important when recording, as the large audio files (sometimes several GB per track) can quickly become extremely fragmented.  I simply kick off a SmartPlacement defrag on the storage partition before AND after a recording session, and everything is perfectly optimized.”

                                                   

Greg also had a little to say about PerfectDisk support:

“Your support is simply amazing. If you have a problem, you are contacted within 24 hours, and often times within a few hours of your submission. The support staff are an absolute pleasure to work with - friendly, knowledgeable, competent, and above all — HELPFUL. Raxco has provided some of the best product support experiences I’ve ever had.”