Most home users don't need to worry as much these days about squeezing the last drops of performance from their PC. Even relatively low-specification machines are capable of handling the majority of day-to-day tasks.

After extended use, however, computers are notorious for becoming cluttered up with unnecessary files, processes and applications that can slow them down, and if you're either unwilling or unable to keep things tidy then a package like SpeedUpMyPC could make a significant difference.

The software is designed to both monitor your machine and automatically scan for and correct issues that may be slowing down startup and general operation. After installation you'll find a range of dials that inform you of your current processor, memory and network usage and a general indication of your current performance level.

An initial scan performs a cleanup of junk files and privacy files and carries out a number of tweaks on your network, operating system and startup configuration. You can either configure this to run automatically or review the changes before they are made, and we found both scans and corrections to be extremely fast and efficient.

A range of tabs along the top of the main interface makes it easy to access the tools available, including a detailed group of settings for enabling or disabling the various monitors to determine how the software behaves. The optimisation tools allow you to manually free up memory and optimise a network or Windows' startup, and you'll also find you can allocate priorities to certain processes which can be stored under configurable user profiles to optimise performance in specific environments.

If you discover that some of the changes made to your PC have an undesirable affect on performance, the recovery suite, which along with the quarantine manager for suspended processes is a new feature in this version, allows you to restore the various parts of your system to a previous state.

In addition there's a startup and uninstall manager that'll help you view and manage the software that's installed on your system and is fired up with your PC. While this function is available through standard tools within Windows, you're given far more information here and the effective layout makes it a lot easier to manage the way the software behaves.

After an initial scan on a fairly cluttered machine we saw a noticeable improvement in the speed at which Windows started up, and generally felt that things were running a little smoother during operation. It's difficult to put a figure on how significantly performance is improved, so the main appeal for the software for some will be the way the optimisation tools are collected into a single suite.

The fact that many of these are included with Windows in some form means that more advanced users probably won't feel the package has enough of a punch to justify shelling out. However, the effective usability and layout of the software means that it's extremely easy to use, and if you're new to PCs and don't want to get involved in manual cleaning and software management, SpeedUpMyPC 2009 could make a big difference. Try a free scan today.

While many of the tools included with SpeedUpMyPC 2009 are found in one form or another within Windows, most people will find them far more informative and easier to use through this software. There are some added benefits unique to the suite, and considering the low price it's worth consideration by anyone looking to squeeze a bit more power from their machine.