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IObit Advanced SystemCare Pro vs Ultimate | 13/12/11/10 Free Download

David Baddeley

In today’s world where we increasingly rely on technology, a premium is placed on systems that are fast, reliable, and most of all secure. That is why there is now a plethora of antivirus and optimization software competing for our attention and business.

One tune-up and protection software available to Windows users is the IObit Advanced SystemCare. It comes in two paid versions – Pro and Ultimate – and both promise to “clean, optimize, speed up, and protect your PC.” So what exactly is the difference between these two versions?

Advanced SystemCare Pro and Ultimate in a Glimpse

For those wanting a quick answer, the glaring difference is that the Advanced SystemCare Ultimate is a powered-up Advanced SystemCare Pro because it tops off Pro’s tune-up and protection tools with an antivirus utility. IObit markets the Ultimate version primarily as an antivirus, while the Pro version is advertised as an overall tune-up application.

Shared Features Between Advanced SystemCare Pro And Ultimate

We’ll first take a look at the features and functionalities that the Pro and Ultimate versions have in common.

Look and feel

Advanced SystemCare’s user interface is easy on the eyes in itself but IObit lets you bump up the look a couple of notches by allowing you to choose or download skins, change the background, and even change the font size and the transparency of the application. It’ll never stick out like a sore thumb and be at odds with your PC’s theme.

Here’s one with a modified background:

Care

This feature combines 12 modules to thoroughly optimize and clean your PC and get it in tip-top condition. All of these are at your fingertips and require only a few clicks. These modules are:

  1. Startup Optimization– allows you to disable startup items that can slow down your PC’s boot time
  2. Privacy Sweep– helps you clear your browsing activity data.
  3. Junk File Clean– aids in getting rid of junk files so that you reclaim your disk space.
  4. Shortcut Fix– identifies bad shortcuts and helps you repair them.
  5. Registry Clean– performs a safe cleanup of the registry.
  6. Spyware Removal– does a basic hunt and zap of spyware and other threats.
  7. Internet Boost– tests and assists in speeding up your Internet connection
  8. System Optimization– scans your PC for services and configurations that can be modified to improve your PC’s performance.
  9. Registry Defrag – compacts and optimizes the registry.
  10. Security Reinforce – builds up a defense against hacking.
  11. Vulnerability Fix – looks for vulnerable points in your PC and downloads and installs patches from the Microsoft server.
  12. Disk Optimization – ensures optimum disk performance by defragmenting HDD and trimming SSD.

Speed Up

This utility enables you to free up RAM by disabling unneeded background apps and services. It can also update or install outdated/missing/bad drivers to guarantee stability and it can improve your computer’s speed by doing a deep dive on your hard drive, network, and system configuration.

It’s App/Toolbar Cleaner identifies malicious applications and plugins and promotes uninstalling them with another IObit program, the IObit Uninstaller.

Protect

The “Protect” utility is only displayed upfront in the Pro version. The six features included in it are still available in the Ultimate version and can be configured from the Settings menu.

Software Updater

Bugs in outdated software can be exploited by those with not-so-good intentions. The Software Updater helps you update your installed applications to rid of bugs and beat crooks at their game.

Action Center

The Action Center endorses other software that can improve your computer’s performance and security. Advanced SystemCare Pro and Ultimate users can get exclusive offers/discounts on other IOBit programs from this screen.

Toolbox

This is like a convenient dashboard of the features offered by Advanced SystemCare, categorized into four groups: IOBit products, System Optimize, Security & Repair, and System Clean.

Performance Monitor

The Performance Monitor will show you the RAM, CPU, Disk usage, and other system metrics. With this, you can identify resource-hogging services/applications and make an informed choice on which services or applications need to be stopped.

Rescue Center

Complications can happen sometimes during optimization attempts. Luckily, the Rescue Center can go back to a restore point before changes were made by specific tune-up or optimization tasks.

Ignore List

The Ignore List lets you manage items that you want to exclude from the following scans: Spyware Removal, Registry Clean, Startup Optimization, System Optimization, Browser Cookies, Internet Boost, Shortcuts Fix, and Security Reinforce.

What We Like And Don’t Like About The Advanced SystemCare Pro

The installation is pretty straightforward and the user interface is easy to navigate. Unlike some tune-up software, it does not badger you with nitpicky details and bug you to run unnecessarily frequent scans.  It is also not crammed with features that no one will have any use for.

To confirm whether it can optimize your PC or not, we tested a 2GHz Intel Core i7 laptop with 8GB of RAM and a 112GB Intel SSD drive with GeekBench before and after a Care scan. It marked a 113-point improvement on the GeekBench score. It also cleared 998.2 MB of junk files, fixed 654 registry entries, and erased 24849 privacy traces.

Our only beef with it is that some tools would have to be obtained or downloaded separately for you to get a holistic tune-up. But this is probably because they want to keep the interface clean.

Quick Review Of The Ultimate Version’s Antivirus Feature

The Ultimate version utilizes Bitdefender’s engine to scan and get rid of threats. Currently, it has not been rated by independent testing labs.

Compared to antivirus and antimalware leaders, Advanced SystemCare Ultimate still lags a bit behind when it comes to speed and accuracy in identifying threats. PC Mag ran tests of their own to gauge how effective Advanced SystemCare Ultimate is like antivirus and it did not fare quite as well as hoped, despite the fact it uses Bitdefender’s engine.

The Verdict

Overall, the IOBit Advanced SystemCare Pro is a good tune-up software that can recognize and target several factors that hinder your PC from performing at its best.

The Ultimate version’s antivirus at this time has been found wanting. Hopefully, IObit will be able to strengthen it because the savings that one can get from a tune-up + antivirus software will give anyone a run for their money.