Extensive customizability is the primary desire of many Windows users, and this tool helps with that. Your Windows OS has many settings that you can not easily access. This tool gives you easy access and lets you customize your settings extensively. Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. Read our editorial mission & see how we test. After running the tests, I used the computer extensively to get a sense of how the app had changed responsiveness. Norton Utilities delivered a noticeable performance improvement; the entire OS moved at a snappier pace, even with iTunes or Steam open. If your goal is to clear space then it would be handy to know which areas are taking up the most storage rather than just a sheer number to show off. Many Windows users don’t want data harvested from their devices and shared with third parties. This feature prevents data collection and sharing on your computer. It’s only available on Windows 10 and Windows 11.

You get three actions to choose from here: Keep on, Delay and Turn off. You’ll have to decide which ones are worth turning off if you want to speed up your boot time. Norton Utilities is costly, especially for individual users. We recommend it for enterprise users. An annual subscription of Norton Utilities Ultimate covers up to 10 PCs, so it’s better suited for enterprises. This feature lets you scan for and remove unnecessary entries from your Windows Registry. Unwanted entries can cause slowed performance and frequent crashes of your computer, so it's essential to find and eliminate them. Before Norton Utilities scrubbed the laptop, it achieved a 5,914 Geekbench score and booted in 50.2 seconds. After using Norton Utilities, the GeekBench score rose to 6,008. That's a definite improvement, but one that's still more than 200 points short of Iolo System Mechanic's 6,229 mark. On the other hand, the notebook's boot time decreased to just 38.3 seconds. That's almost one second slower than the result acheived with System Mechanic, 37.5 seconds.Uninstalling software programs may seem trivial, but it’s a critical tool. Your computer’s in-built uninstaller often leaves leftover files after uninstalling programs. However, this tool eliminates all software program files to free up disk space. Identify unnecessary and unwanted software clogging up your Windows PC that you can easily uninstall to enjoy more space for the applications you actually use. Every system has its troubleshooting tools, which can be hard to find. Norton Utilities makes it easy for you to find and utilize them. This tool lets you troubleshoot your computer extensively and resolve issues with programs, hardware, internet, sound devices, and more. Its eager beaver behaviour continues as after removing files, Utilities Ultimate scans the computer automatically again. After the first set of removals, it then reported that my system status was poor rather than the good previously stated.

In terms of hardware requirements, Norton Utilities is not at all demanding. The software requires that your PC have 100MB of available storage and a 1024 by 768-pixel resolution (or better) monitor. These are all specs that most modern computers should easily exceed.Norton Utilities Ultimate’s Startup Optimizer lets you easily enable or disable software programs from running automatically when your computer boots afresh to improve performance. Process Scanner - Scans processes that are running and maybe using unnecessary system resources that could lead to slowdown as well as for potentially malicious processes. As the name suggests, Utilities Ultimate has a lot more to offer if you start exploring the interface beyond the main dashboard.