optimism

Often, asking Windows do your bidding is like disciplining a two-year-old child. You'll get your way in the end, but only after some resistance.

These six top-rated Windows applications optimize XP and Vista--everything from managing the programs that launch on start-up to freeing up your RAM cycles, to plucking out broken links in your Registry.

Most new AV receivers come with an "auto setup" or "automatic calibration" feature, but despite the word automatic, these features can stump AV novices. If you're setting up an AV receiver for the first time, this guide will put you on the right track.

First, let's describe what auto setup systems do.

They send test tones to all the speakers and subwoofer, and use a microphone to pick up the sound of the speakers in your room. Auto setup systems determine speaker sizes and volume levels, set the subwoofer-to-satellite crossover frequency, measure distances from each of the speakers to the listener, and confirm that all of the speaker cables are correctly hooked up. Some receivers also use equalization to balance the frequency response of all the speakers.

Auto setup systems go by different names, but they all do approximately the same thing. Denon and Onkyo feature Audyssey; Sony has Digital Cinema Auto Calibration, Pioneer Multi Channel Acoustic Calibration, and Yamaha uses a Parametric Room Acoustic Optimizer.

The exact positioning of the auto calibration microphone is crucial for achieving accurate results. Some auto setup systems work from just one mic position, which would be the primary spot where you sit when watching movies by yourself. Ideally the mic should be placed at the same height as your ears when you're sitting watching a movie.

If you have a camera tripod, use it to place the mic at ear height; perfectionists should move the couch entirely out of the way. Lacking a tripod place the mic on the back of the couch, atop the highest pillow.… Read more

With more app upgrades and service packages adding burdens to our systems every day, finding a reliable means of optimizing and accelerating a system is very important. That makes System Accelerator, a simple-to-use optimizer, very appealing. However, its methods aren't visible to the user, and its online Help file shines no light on how it performs. As a result, determining the effectiveness of its tweaks is difficult.

System Accelerator opens an appealing tabbed interface that's easy to follow. Tick a checkbox for items with performance you want to improve, and hit Next. You'll have to reboot after … Read more

Vista users usually find lots of room to enhance their system's performance. DTweak helps optimize your OS by offering lots of info and options.

DTweak offers a sleek, stylish interface that houses a nice complement of tools that any user will appreciate. Besides the obligatory Registry cleaner and disk defragmenter, this utility offers a variety of system tools and settings to optimize memory and CPU cache, firewall handling, Internet Explorer tweaks, and Windows Update management. This utility responded well during our tests, and seemed to be designed with the user in mind. We liked the way it categorized its … Read more

Reading through an excellent essay in Saturday's Wall Street Journal entitled "Will this Crisis Produce a 'Gatsby'?", left me remembering the title of a book I once read, Hemmingway's The Sun Also Rises.

We've spent the last decade spending like prodigals. Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised, then, that so many of us now strain to simply get by. In many ways, as the article points out, we just relived the 1920s and American idealism is now being harshly battered by 1930s style depression, which simply illustrates just how uneven the promise of American mobility … Read more

This effective memory optimization tool will boost your system's performance, but the demo disables some useful options. MemTurbo's well-designed interface logically places the important tools at the forefront, while making other functions easy to access. The program minimizes to your system tray for quick access if needed. Many users may find they use the wizard and let the utility operate unmanaged. Oddly, however, the wizard suggests Auto Recover and Target Free RAM levels, but doesn't automatically set those values.

The concepts and information presented through the wizard and help screens is clear and helpful. The default memory … Read more

This handy all-in-one optimizing utility offers more than advertised, and it does it quickly and with little effort.

Comodo Registry Cleaner has a well-designed interface with simple, functional buttons to lead the user in the right direction every time. While it only promises to scan and clean your Registry, there's so much more to this freeware utility. When the program opens, it automatically displays some basic system information about your computer, and it also shows a Tip of the Day without the usual pesky pop-up box. Simply hit the scan button, and wait for the results. More advanced users … Read more

We've received further word from Google on the demise of iGoogle, a version of the Google home page that was optimized specifically for the iPhone. The iPhone-formatted version of iGoogle now redirects users to the generic Google Web site formatted for mobile devices.

We contacted Google again to see if the changes to iGoogle were the result of a staff reduction and advised them that some of our readers were taking up arms over iGoogle for the iPhone being taken down and a Google spokesperson replied:

"We are redirecting all iPhone users to the standard mobile version of … Read more

This easy-to-use and informative application cleans, configures, and optimizes your PC. Advanced WindowsCare Pro's interface dispenses with the bells and whistles to display commands and data without embellishment.

The install Wizard zips through the set up, querying the user on the PC's primary use and Internet connection type. Answer those two simple questions, choose from a short list of options, and you're ready to virus check and scan for spyware, registry errors, and start-up problems, or clean your PC of history and surfing traces. The app's strength is the detailed information the scan provides, which lists … Read more