Technology Tips – Published April 2024 in the Guide and Digest
By Don Trauger – Kennett
PC Manager is a relatively new PC cleanup tool from Microsoft. It removes deleted, unneeded and used once but not deleted files. You can download the free app from the Microsoft Store. It will install itself automatically and put a shortcut on the Desktop screen.
I installed the app and did a fairly intensive test comparing its effectiveness with Wise Disk Cleaner, my recommended cleanup tool. I set it up to run at a maximum removal level. My testing showed a rather dismal showing of only 37% of the junk files were removed. Whether this is due to just conservative parameters imbedded in the app or possibly a lack of other items that aren’t made available to clean. My guess it’s a combination of the two. One thing I do like that it’s fast, safe and with better programming it may do a better job of cleaning in the future.
Click the shortcut for PC Manager to get started. You’ll start in the Home position. Next to Boost click Set Smart Boost and turn it on. This a memory controller that comes into play under high memory usage conditions. It will work best on computers that have 8 Gbs or less of installed memory. Next, click Boost on the blue bar to activate. Click Health Check. You can accept all the pre-checked items then click Proceed. Click Deep Cleaning. You can accept the pre-checked items or click details next to unchecked items for more info. Process can be ignored as it is a list of running programs. Startup displays a list of programs that start up at power on. They should be minimized to help the computer boot up quickly and minimize overall memory usage. Anti-virus files must load at startup but others can be optional. Third party programs are known for using this category to get a jump on startup at the expense of your startup time. These programs do not have to start at boot up or at all. They are usually delivered when your computer is turned on the first time but they continue until you uninstall them or turn them off in Startup. Protection does not do any cleaning but is more of a status report on the listed items. One item, Pop-up management, does offer to block pop-ups so click it then click Enable pop-up block. Click Storage then click Processing. The Apps items offers a repeat of Process and Startup items shown in the Home category. The Toolbox is a work in progress showing only memory usage, screenshot (used to send Microsoft shots of pop-ups when they bypass the pop-up blocker) and the Settings icon.
If you want a fast, safe but incomplete cleanup, then PC Manager is for you. You should run it weekly if you are a moderate to heavy user. Wise Disk Cleaner users can do their cleanup monthly.