Soluto TLV

Soluto promises to do at least one of the things Microsoft never got around to: speeding up the time it takes to log in. The problem is not a PC thing, it's a Windows thing, as evidenced by Ubuntu Linux which currently can boot from scratch in 10 seconds. So the answer lies in the software, more specifically all the things your PC is doing while you go make a coffee and come back, such as loading a number of services and applications which you may or may not be able to see. The number of steps going on is going to be different for almost everyone, depending on what apps have been installed, but in almost every case, there are going to be unneeded processes wasting valuable time and potentially slowing your PC down. This much is already well-known and a large number of applications claiming to speed up performance are already on the market. Many of them do offer ways to look at a list of all your startup processes, and turn off or remove the ones you don't want. Many of them also throw in a bunch of things you don't need, such as registry cleaners and so forth. Some of them might actually work, but frankly I've never seen a Windows installation improved drastically by any of them. Soluto is claiming to be different. Firstly, it starts up when you start your machine and it monitors not only what is starting up in the background, but when, in what order, and how much time it takes. So you begin with a chart that immediately helps you identify stuff that is a potential blockage in the system. Then it identifies your running processes and offers you a list of the ones you definitely don't need - everyone has a few, and they all run all the time, even if you can't see them. I won't name names, just say that some of these pests come from very well known ones. This is also well known, but Soluto goes that little bit further in showing you exactly what's going on and how to deal with it, what's safe to do and what's not, in a way non-techies can understand. People have reported boot times cut in half with this product. The next job for Soluto is to sit in the background itself, and keep an eye on what's going on. It will help you out in a crash and generally try to keep your PC running smoothly. The concept isn't new, in itself, though again I've not found an app that really makes a huge difference, so far. Where this one may well do, though, is that unlike the others it is going to be linked to a global network of users and their machines. And information about how one person solved a problem can be sent over to another person stuck with the same problem somewhere else. Data can be compiled about all the computers in the network and how and why they fail and how to fix them. And this is the big selling point, that real people with computing problems or skills are out there and can share data with you without your having to scour the web for solutions. Such is the plan, and the product is already getting some solid promotions in the media. It's in open beta at the moment, which means you can download it but it's not entirely finished. I'd say give it a go anyway, if you're as fed up as most users are by slow startups. The only people who definitely won't like this product and won't install it, are those bosses mean enough to cut employees' wages to compensate (allegedly) for the unproductive time they spend sitting waiting for Windows to boot up in the mornings. I have a few thoughts about that one but they aren't appropriate for a family site.