Most PC users know that to speed up an old system, you need to spring for new hardware: RAM, a graphics card, or a CPU. If you're not ready to make an investment and crack open the case, however, system-cleanup utilities are enticing. They promise to pry off all the digital barnacles that have collected on your PC and on Windows, remaking it into the spry system you remember from the day you first set it up.
But do cleanup utilities really improve system performance? Or are they the digital equivalent of a placebo (your PC only seems faster because you've invested $40 and a half hour on a utility, and you don't want to think you've wasted your money and time)? The PCWorld Labs tested such programs to settle once and for all whether they significantly speed up computers.
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