Last week's article about tweaking spurred a few comments from our Readers.

Wait a sec -- what is tweaking?

In techy-terms, the word "tweak" means to optimize. With respect to PCs, tweaking may refer to one of three things: a hardware tweak (the PC itself), a software tweak (an application, or the operating system), or both.

On the weekend, Bob T. from Wisconsin sent me an email:

" Hi Dennis! Great article [last week] on tweaking. I really enjoyed reading it. I'm sure you've probably about this already, but your readers may also want to know about a program called WinGuides Tweak Manager ... I've been using it on my system for a little over a year now ... [and] it is by far the best tweaking utility made available for Windows. "

A snippet about Tweak Manager from the WinGuides web site reads:

" Tweak Manager enables casual and experienced computer users alike to effortlessly ... [tweak] with just a few mouse clicks ... you can customize virtually every aspect of your computer, including tweaks for popular software like Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer. "

Side note: Last week's article was about another tweaking program called SpeedUpMyPC. Although SpeedUpMyPC and Tweak Manager are labeled as "tweaking programs", their focus on exactly *what* is tweaked is very much different. For example: SpeedUpMyPC spotlights hardware optimization and stability for Windows through system monitoring and automated tasks. In contrast, Tweak Manager showcases Windows customization in great detail and includes basic Windows performance tweaks.

I decided to install and check out Tweak Manager on my own system.

Tweak Manager: A quick rundown of features

• Works with all versions of Windows
• Secure Windows with hundreds of restrictions and policies
• Tweak popular software like Internet Explorer and Office
• Easily download new and updated tweaks using Live Update
• Export your changes to standard registry files (.REG)
• Unlimited free upgrades, e-mail support and live updates for one year

Tweak Manager: the layout

Tweak Manager uses collapsible sub-menus, much like Device Manager does in Windows. Some of the tweaking categories listed include:

• Accessories
• Appearance
• Desktop
• Explorer
• File System
• Login and Authentication
• Start Menu and Taskbar
• Startup and Shutdown
• System
• Troubleshooting
• Hardware
• Software
• Network
• Security

Tweak Manager: the user interface

Applying a tweak was very much straightforward.

After expanding a collapsible sub-menu on the left of the screen, a list of related tweaks are displayed (and dated) on the right of the screen and below the collapsible menu. Selecting a tweak link provides further information about the tweak and how it can affect the system.

Tweak Manager: worth a try?

Unregistered users have access to around 120 tweaks, compared with 1000+ in the registered version.

The user interface and supplementary dialogue are a great convenience, while providing easy access to fast tweaks. Tweak Manager does not contain intrusive advertising software of any sort, which makes it a very worth-your-while application.

Download

The latest version of Tweak Manager can be downloaded from the infopackets web site:

http://www.infopackets.com/articles/tweakmanager.htm