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Windows Accelerators - Do They Really Work?

danila asks: "Today I came across an intriguing review of Windows tweakers on a Russian technology news site. Among the plethora of traditional registry tweakers, the review mentioned Hare 1.5.1. The developers promised nothing less than up to 300% speed increase, 10% FPS increase in 3D games, automatic RAM preservation and even a wizard that automatically cleans and optimizes Windows. It also had AntiCrash 3.6.1 a program to prevent up to 95.8% of Windows crashes. Understandably, I was both intrigued and suspicious since it sounded too good to be true." Has anyone tried this piece of software with any degree of success? How successful are other "windows accelerators" at improving Windows performance? "After a little research I found that download.com didn't have it and there are precious few reviews of this revolutionary software online, but that it was endorsed by McAfee and that developers touted conformance with Microsoft's interface guidelines as an important feature.

Still suspicious, I gathered all my courage and installed both programs (silently preparing for something like Bonsi Buddy or XXX Toolbar) on my Win2k Pro machine (P4 1.6/512Mb). Truth be told, after several minutes I was blown away. Obviously I can't tell how well every promised features works, but disk caching (and pre-fetching) that Hare does is outstanding and display performance improved enough to scare me - windows were opening, minimizing and redrawing without the delay I was accustomed to.

The question is -- is it real or was I fooled by some clever placebo tricks? And if it is real, why isn't the Web full of success stories involving Hare and AntiCrash? Why isn't everyone installing them on every Windows machine in the world? And a rhetorical question -- why doesn't Microsoft incorporate some of the features into its operating systems."

6 of 777 comments (clear)

  1. Thread for alt methods.... by shawn(at)fsu · · Score: 1, Redundant

    I have set up this thread for alternive methods for accelerating Windows here.

    Such as throwing your pc out a window

    --
    500 dollar reward for tip(s) leading to the arrest of the person(s) who stole my sig.
  2. I'm waiting for... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Redundant

    the obligitory "The best software for speeding up Windows? Try ." post.

  3. Re:As I have told my wife by kidgenius · · Score: 0, Redundant

    You must really have problems now that there are "As Seen On TV" stores in every mall.

  4. Re:Uh-huh by Unregistered · · Score: 0, Redundant
  5. Re:details please by TMB · · Score: 1, Redundant

    In Soviet Russia, repetitive joke overlords welcome you!

    [TMB]

  6. Re:There is a simple reason by thinkninja · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Have you tried fluxbox? I seriously doubt that litestep comes close. Sorry.

    Besides there's always ion and rapoison... :P

    --
    "The number of Unix installations has grown to ten, with more expected." (Unix Programmer's Manual, 2nd ed.; june 1972)