System Mechanic 6 Mobile Toolkit simplifies field support
Wednesday, May 24, 2006 10:11 AM
Centralized, server-based administration is usually the easiest way to support and maintain client systems, but what happens when distant firewalls play hardball, branch offices pose domain and bandwidth restraints or you're a consultant supporting numerous clients in the field? While remote support often proves a worthy sidekick, there are occasions when there's just no substitute for sitting down at a problematic machine.
After overcoming logistical problems to physically get to the remote system--such as sitting in traffic idling away three-dollar-a-gallon gasoline--licensing soon becomes the next challenge. Even though you may have purchased a wide array of software packages and troubleshooting tools for your office, those licenses may well not prove valid for use in clients' facilities, at remote sites or in other locations. Iolo Technologies' System Mechanic 6 Mobile Toolkit solves that problem.
Figure A |
 |
| System Mechanic 6 Mobile Toolkit presents a clean but thorough dashboard for troubleshooting, repairing and maintaining PCs. |
If you work in an office that's purchased site licenses, additional software investments may be required to support remote locations or subsidiary locations. Further, if you're a consultant, most of your licenses likely are non-transferable to clients. With System Mechanic 6 Mobile Toolkit, however, a license need not be purchased for each system upon which you use the software. The licensing costs are already built into the product's purchase price.
Carry the single System Mechanic 6 Mobile Toolkit CD-ROM for access to potent tools for all of the following:
- Spyware and virus protection
- Performance optimization
- Registry tweaks
- Hard disk repair
- Disaster recovery
- Data security
- System cleanup
- Identity protection
The software's capabilities are wide ranging. The mobile toolkit version collects four Iolo products--System Mechanic 6, Search and Recover 3, System Shield 2 and DriveScrubber 2--in one package. The program's simplicity (no installation is required, as you can run the software directly from the CD) helps make short work of complete system scans, performance improvements, crash recovery and/or maintenance.
But System Mechanic's ease of use doesn't inhibit its potential. Carrying just the single CD (or sharing it over your network, if you choose) enables a multitude of services.
Security
System
Mechanic 6 Mobile Toolkit's security applications range from detecting and
removing spyware and viruses to securing systems using the PC Security
Optimizer. The included System Shield also protects PCs from identity theft
attempts aimed at discovering personal or confidential information.
When the time comes to discard a machine or hard disk, DriveScrubber overwrites and removes all data much more securely versus a merely reformatted disk. And, as you can run the program by booting directly from the CD, even systems with temperamental Windows installs can be effectively wiped.
Performance optimization
In
addition to the Startup Optimizer, which accelerates booting
by reviewing the applications that load at startup, Disk Defrag defragments
disk drives up to ten times faster than Windows' native defragmentation tool.
There's also a Startup Manager that checks more than 30 locations in which
programs hide (before starting automatically).
Figure B |
 |
| System Mechanic 6 Mobile Toolkit provides a clean interface and keeps the administrator abreast of the actions its performing. |
The PC Acceleration Wizard, meanwhile, optimizes system, Internet and network settings to provide measurable overall performance gains. An included PC Cleanup Wizard provides an easy method for quickly locating and deleting unnecessary and obsolete files (including cookies) that needlessly clutter a system and inhibit performance.
A Registry Optimization tool enables complete registry review and fine-tuning functionality, while the Process Manager supports viewing running processes (complete with publisher, description and startup mode information).
Figure C |
 |
| The Process Manager provides much more information about active processes than Windows' native Task Manager. |
Disaster recovery
System
Mechanic 6 Mobile Toolkit, whose Drive Medic application can be booted directly
from the CD, can repair failed drives or identify and fix hard disk errors
before they even occur.
The product's Search and Recover StrongScan technology, meanwhile, can recover deleted files (including data from hard disks, CDs and DVDs, memory cards and other storage media).
Other tools
System
Mechanic 6 Mobile Toolkit includes a host of other capabilities. Here's a
rundown of just a few.
System information
With
numerous different systems, many purchased from different vendors in different
years, the first thing you may need to know about a machine, whether you're
performing routine monthly maintenance or troubleshooting a problem, is what
are you dealing with. In other words, what components is the system running?
System Mechanic 6 Mobile Toolkit includes a System Information tool that quickly reaches deep into a system to return detailed information about the hardware the machine's running. The application also displays the Windows product key and update status.
Un-installation tools
Besides
a Duplicate File Inspector, which helps identify and remove duplicate files on
a system, the product includes a Junk File Removal Tool as well as a separate
Uninstall Software program that can be used to completely uninstall unwanted
and stubborn applications.
System snapshots
System
Snapshots tracks the changes that are made to a system and allows you to
compare changes made over time. This information can prove invaluable in
diagnosing the cause of new system errors.
The convenience factor
The
convenience of a single CD still weighs as one of System Mechanic 6 Mobile
Toolkit's biggest advantages. While you can share the CD over a network, being able
to take the CD from system to system (even outside the organization) simplifies
the process of diagnosing problems, performing regular system maintenance and
repairing problematic systems.
Considering the wide range of tools, from data recovery utilities to disk defragmentation and anti-spyware resources, even if you're unsure which specific tools a system's going to require you're likely to find you're already carrying the ones you need. Plus, those pressed for time can simply defer to System Mechanic's default logic by leveraging the PC TotalCare feature and enabling System Mechanic's range of cleanup, repair, security and performance optimization tools with a few simple clicks.
Add in the fact the CD possesses an unlimited license to operate on any number of computers (including servers), and you can see how the toolkit can quickly become indispensable, especially for consultants.
There are currently no comments for this post.