Are PC Optimization Tools Safe?

Normally, I don’t pay much attention to what’s going on with my computer. After all, I have no reason to since I've never run into major PC issues. I mostly use my laptop for streaming services like YouTube or to watch movies, or shop online, nothing of the heavy stuff.

But recently, the applications started to drag themselves, and sometimes even refused to load. Evidently, my PC needed a performance boost and I knew that I could do that using Windows 10 built-in tools. But, I’m not a Windows expert and I didn’t even know where to start the process. Plus, what if I messed up the settings only to make things worse? It wasn’t a chance I was willing to take. 

Although there have been heated discussions questioning the effectiveness of optimization tools in general, I decided it couldn’t hurt to try one. After all, I could easily undo any changes made to my system using Windows System Restore.

So I turned to Google and searched for PC optimization tools. I decided to download Outbyte PC Repair because it had a free trial version. 

While installing, I made sure that every security feature on my Windows PC was turned on to keep the PC repair tool in check in case it threw some red flags. The installation went smoothly and I didn’t get any warnings from Windows Defender. 

How to Use Outbyte PC Repair?

When I launched the program, it automatically started scanning the computer. At first, all the details being displayed were a bit confusing since there was a lot of information on the overview screen. But, as soon as the scan finished and everything was grouped together, I quickly understood what each category covered. These included corrupted files, disk space, passwords, website notifications, and security holes, etc. 

To view the details of each of the detected issues, I clicked the “Details” link to see additional information about the exact issues that were affecting my PC's performance.

For instance, I noticed that some of the websites were categorized as suspicious, phishing, scam, spam, ads/pop-ups sites. Upon checking the details, I discovered that 7 sites were categorized as malware or virus and I couldn’t even recall ever visiting them.

I also noticed that 11 duplicate passwords were likely to be compromised by websites that stored my passwords. 

I wanted to fix them all instantly because, as I said, I use my computer for online transactions when I shop and couldn’t imagine my data getting in the wrong hands. So, I clicked the “Start Repair” button on the main screen and the repair process kicked off.

The repair didn't take long and I watched the progress of how the tool was working on cleaning and optimizing my computer. I did notice that it skipped some of the options like 'Website Notifications" and 'Malware". 

Regardless, after the repair was complete, my apps were revived and they opened instantly. Even the network seemed to have improved since I didn't experience any buffing time while watching YouTube videos.

But I didn’t stop there. I’ve decided to try the Real-Time Privacy Protection feature under the Privacy tab in the ‘Power Tools’ section that allowed me to turn on several safety features like daily browser cleanup, safe web search, and file shredder. I also enabled the option to detect websites that displayed pop-ups and stop apps from collecting and transmitting personal data which was very important for my privacy protection. 

The tool recommended running a rescan to resolve all the detected issues, which I did. And as promised, most issues were resolved. My PC was already boosted and over 1.5 GB of PC junk was removed.

Conclusion

From my experience, it's clear that PC optimization tools like Outbyte PC Repair are safe to use and can really help in boosting a PC’s performance. These tools are necessary to keep your PC slim by preventing the accumulation of leftover junk files and allowing the uninstallation of bloatware even if all you do is watch YouTube videos. While each tool is designed differently and might have certain limitations, a regular PC maintenance with any of them will improve your system performance. It all boils down to your personal preference.

As for me, the Outbyte PC Repair fixed the unresponsive apps on my Windows laptop and brought to my attention privacy issues that I didn’t even think about. Now I can safely transact online without having to worry about exposing my confidential data.

About the Author:

Elisa Stewart, IT and software trends researcher, medium.com contributor.