Keeping your PC in peak condition normally requires installing a whole library of utilities, learning their individual quirks and hoping that they'll somehow all work together. But there is a simpler alternative. TweakNow PowerPack 2009 provides all the PC management and tweaking tools you need through one straightforward interface, so there's no wasted time, no software conflicts - you just get to work immediately with the utility you need.

If hard drive space is short, for instance, then the Disk Usage Explorer will reveal the most bloated folders, helping you to quickly address the problem. Or you could just set the Disk Cleaner to work, finding and deleting any redundant files that are cluttering your hard drive.

If you're more worried about performance then turn to the Startup Manager, which helps you control exactly which programs launch when Windows boots. Your Registry is kept in order with a Cleaner and Defragmenter, while a RAM Optimizer frees up memory when you need it.

Anyone concerned about privacy will appreciate the Track Cleaner, which removes the application history for browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome), Explorer, Windows Media Player, Microsoft Office, and more.

You also get a complete Windows tweaking tool, that lets you change everything from Windows memory management strategies, to your network settings, Start menu appearance and more.

And there are still more tools that don't fit easily into other categories, like an auto shutdown module (turn off your PC at a given time) and a virtual desktop (have up to 4 desktops available and switch between them with a system tray icon).

PowerPack 4.1.6 adds these new features:

Miscellaneous Tools -> Drive Shortcut: fixed function not found problem in Windows XP system.
Miscellaneous Tools -> Drive Shortcut: now the program responds nicely to the WM_ENDSESSION message.
General: minor improvements and bug fixes.

Keeping your PC in peak condition normally requires installing a whole library of utilities, learning their individual quirks and hoping that they'll somehow all work together. But there is a simpler alternative. TweakNow PowerPack 2009 provides all the PC management and tweaking tools you need through one straightforward interface, so there's no wasted time, no software conflicts - you just get to work immediately with the utility you need.

If hard drive space is short, for instance, then the Disk Usage Explorer will reveal the most bloated folders, helping you to quickly address the problem. Or you could just set the Disk Cleaner to work, finding and deleting any redundant files that are cluttering your hard drive.

If you're more worried about performance then turn to the Startup Manager, which helps you control exactly which programs launch when Windows boots. Your Registry is kept in order with a Cleaner and Defragmenter, while a RAM Optimizer frees up memory when you need it.

Anyone concerned about privacy will appreciate the Track Cleaner, which removes the application history for browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome), Explorer, Windows Media Player, Microsoft Office, and more.

You also get a complete Windows tweaking tool, that lets you change everything from Windows memory management strategies, to your network settings, Start menu appearance and more.

And there are still more tools that don't fit easily into other categories, like an auto shutdown module (turn off your PC at a given time) and a virtual desktop (have up to 4 desktops available and switch between them with a system tray icon).

PowerPack 4.1.6 adds these new features:

Miscellaneous Tools -> Drive Shortcut: fixed function not found problem in Windows XP system.
Miscellaneous Tools -> Drive Shortcut: now the program responds nicely to the WM_ENDSESSION message.
General: minor improvements and bug fixes.

Every computer needs a regular maintenance schedule to prevent minor problems snowballing into something more major. Windows has most of the tools you need to diagnose and fix problems built in, but they’re not exactly intuitive to use and you need a fair degree of technical competence to locate them, never mind use them.

Some programs offer to constantly monitor your PC for problems, alerting you to issues and fixing them as they occur. This approach is almost too much – in most cases, the drag of having such a tool running in the background is more hassle than simply checking every month or so yourself to see what problems may have built up over that relatively short period of time.

Mindful of this, iolo’s System Checkup is designed to be run manually by the user whenever they deem fit. It scans your computer for problems, running nine quick tests in all: internet speed, memory levels, startup speed, Registry errors, drive corruption, security holes, drive clutter, internet clutter and shortcuts check.

Once complete, the results are displayed in a new, larger window – you can expand each section where problems are found to discover what the recommended solutions are. From here you have two choices – if you’re fairly compos mentis with your PC you can then take steps to manually resolve these problems, or you could click the “Fix Errors Now” button.

Choosing the latter whisks you to a registration screen – enter your details, click Next and then choose whether or not to pay $10 for a one-time fix, or $30 for a “premium” option, which basically gives you 12 months subscription to the program’s fix-it services, which are based on the same technology as iolo's award-winning System Mechanic tool.

The big question, of course, is whether it’s worth it. It's undoubtedly cheaper than buying System Mechanic, but it still feels quite expensive for a tool you'll run once every month or so, particularly as the premium option only lasts for a year. You can – with a bit of detective work – fix the problems yourself, or source a number of free tools that will offer equivalent functionality, such as CCleaner.

If you want to give your computer a quick once-over to simply identify problems with your PC, then System Checkup is worth considering, but think twice before shelling out to fix the problems it finds. 

EMDB is a powerful database that makes it easy to keep track of your movie collection.

How easy? To add a movie you simply enter its title, click the Search IMDB button, and EMDB will track down matching movies for you. Choose the right one and it automatically finds and fills in details like the cover art, cast, genre, director, duration and a whole lot more.

You can then customise the entry with a rating, or more specific information about your copy. Like, is it a VHS tape, DVD, Blu-ray disc, something else? Is it a PAL, SECAM or NTSC copy? Which region is it? And the list goes on.

Or, if you're in a hurry, you can just click OK and add this particular movie to your collection. Which is very nicely displayed, with your movie cover art images laid out on a virtual shelf (although you can also opt for a more ordinary text-based list, if you like).

Once you've finished then the database can have several possible applications. You're able to use it to track movies you've loaned to others, for instance. Or to create Wish Lists of movies you like, but just haven't got around to buying yet.

And if you've a particularly impressive collection, then the Export option will allow you to save its details on HTML pages, ready for uploading to a website and sharing with the world.

-Database: Added option to merge databases (duplicate movies, based on IMDB numbers, are filtered out).
-Database: Added option to save a partial database (based on search results or filtering).
-User Interface: Omit months if they are zero in loan duration longer than 1 year.
-Database: Added 'Persian' to possible Spoken Languages and Audio Streams.
-Translations: Added a Persian Translation.
-Translations: Updated the Arabic, Slovak, Finnish, Hebrew and Greek translations.

NirLauncher is a suite of more than 100 of NirSoft's excellent portable freeware Windows utilities, and provides an interface that makes it easy to find and launch the tools you need. Which works for us - because there's something here for everyone.

Have you forgotten a password stored in your browser or email client, for instance? Recovery tools here may be able to find them for you.

Maybe you'd like to check your hard drive health? A disk tool will display its S.M.A.R.T. data (if the drive supports this), so you can view read/ write errors, temperature and other useful details.

Is your system unstable? The System Utilities section includes several tools that can help to explain why your PC might be crashing.

And there are a host of other programs on offer in categories like "Network Monitoring", "Web Browser Tools", "Video/ Audio Related Utilities", "Outlook/ Office Utilities" and more.

Please note, perhaps because a few of these tools can be used maliciously (the password revealers, say), some antivirus programs will flag them as threats. We've never had a problem with any NirSoft tool, though, and you can read more on this issue at the author's site.

PhraseExpress is a clever text replacement tool that adds productivity-boosting features to almost every Windows application.

It can automatically expand commonly used phrases, for instance. Type "adr" and the program can replace it with your address; enter "sig" and it could be expanded to your regular signature. You're able to create as many phrases as you need, and they'll work in most Windows programs.

Automatic spell check is another useful benefit. There's nothing to set up, no options to configure, PhraseExpress simply works in the background, monitoring whatever you type, and correcting any errors as they appear. And again, this works everywhere, in Notepad, all browsers, wherever you type blocks of text.

There's a clipboard cache, which keeps track of everything you've pasted into the clipboard recently. If you'd pasted a lengthy URL to the clipboard, say, then accidentally overwritten it with something else, this isn't a problem. Just right-click the PhraseExpress system tray icon, click Clipboard Express and select the URL from the list.

The program also recognises repetitive text automatically, and can complete full sentences for you. A macro facility carries out special tasks just by typing text shortcuts, so for instance you might type "word" to launch Microsoft Word. And a comprehensive settings dialog ensures you can customise every aspect of PhraseExpress to work exactly as you'd like.