Iolo Releases Winspresso Windows 8 App, Plans System Mechanic 11.5

After releasing a Windows 8 app called Winspresso this week, Iolo Technologies is now putting the finishing touches on System Mechanic 11.5, an upcoming new edition of its flagship PC tune-up utilities software package targeted at optimizing performance across Windows 8, 7, Vista and XP.

System Mechanic 11.5 will add a "Collective Intelligence" guidance feature to the Tune-Up Definitions and True Impact recommendations already built into the software, said J.J. Schoch, Iolo's VP of marketing.

The new Collective Intelligence data will inform you as to the percentage of other users who have decided to delete specific start-up items in order to raise system performance, according to Schoch.

"We hope to release System Mechanic 11.5 by the end of this month," he noted, speaking with NotebookReview at a Pepcom press event in New York City.

The new Winspresso app, on the other hand, lives only in Microsoft's Windows 8 "Modern" environment. It's intended to improve Windows 8 responsiveness and conserve on battery life by "reclaiming and reprioritizing" unneeded memory from idle apps running in the background.

"We discovered a flaw in the Modern environment. If you open an app, you can't really turn it off. Windows 8 will reserve the resources indefinitely, even if you're no longer using the app. Eventually, you can run out of memory," said the marketing VP. "The Winspresso app pushes things out of memory so that only the important processes remain." If you're running a navigation app, for example, GPS processes will remain in memory, Schoch illustrated.

After installation, Winspresso resides as a live tile. By touching or clicking on the tile, you get access to three different optimization modes.

Winspresso is now available as a free download from Microsoft's Windows store.