We did a video a while back on why you should probably stop using C-Cleaner,
and that's advice that we stand by. But did you know that now Microsoft has widely distributed
its own app, simply called PCManager? And no, this isn't a soccer coach who's very concerned
about not offending anyone during press interviews. If I speak, I am in big trouble.
PCManager is Microsoft's answer to C-Cleaner and other PC cleaning utilities. And although it's
actually been around since 2022, it was just recently released for all Windows users. So what
are the main features and would we recommend trying it out? PCManager attempts to be a
many things in one type of program. The most prominently displayed feature is PCBoost,
which clears up space used by temporary files and terminates some unnecessary processes to
free up part of your RAM. There's also a smartBoost feature you can set that performs these functions
automatically once your overall RAM usage or disk usage from temporary files hit certain
thresholds. Speaking of freeing up space, there's also a deep cleanup function that lets you drill
down a bit more and choose different kinds of unnecessary files to delete, including cached
data from non-Microsoft programs. You also get health check, another easy way to clear space,
and manage your startup programs in case unwanted crap keeps popping up when you boot up your PC.
And another option that lets you see running programs and easily terminate them,
as well as a more granular startup programs menu. Over on the left side, you'll see a
protection tab that gives you more specific options for virus scanning, system updates,
controlling your default browser and apps, pop-up blocking for certain applications,
and something called taskbar repair, which really just disables any third-party taskbar
extensions you might have installed and gives you options to re-enable some
default Windows features you may have turned off, such as the search box.
The storage tab lets you quickly display all large files on your system,
set by default to mean anything larger than 10 megabytes, and purge anything you don't want,
while also providing similar functionality for duplicate files. There are also shortcuts to
your downloads into the storage sense feature, which automatically deletes temporary files.
Apps basically just copies the same functionality from the home menu and adds a couple of links to
the Microsoft Store and the Settings app, and Toolbox displays shortcuts to certain programs
like Notepad and Calculator, and, annoyingly, tries to encourage you to use Microsoft Web
tools like Bing Translator. There's also an option for a quick access toolbar that
replicates this functionality in a smaller window, while also providing a shortcut to that
PCBoost function we mentioned earlier. But we actually had issues with it on our own end when
playing full-screen games, as the system kept trying to keep that toolbar in the foreground.
Now if you were to ask me, can't you do most of this stuff elsewhere in Windows already?
I would say yes, you're absolutely right. Many of the tasks we just discussed can be easily
accomplished in either Task Manager or the Settings app, but we're not trying to say
PCManager is completely useless as making these settings more easily accessible,
especially large and duplicate file scanners, could be more helpful for novice users who could
be quickly overwhelmed by all the options present in the full-fat versions of those programs.
Indeed, Microsoft originally described this app as based on user pain points and a one-stop
problem-solving solution. So it sounds like they were fully aware that it largely replicates
functionality, but that the point was to lend a hand to less experienced users who just want
a way to try and quickly fix a sluggish PC, or one that's running out of storage space.
Of course, there's a more cynical take that Microsoft is trying to push its own services
and take more control out of the hands of users. Earlier versions of the PCManager app came under
fire for saying that your system needed repair when you had a search engine other than Bing set
as your default. And while it appears that this has been removed from the current version,
it makes you wonder what Microsoft's real motivation for creating this app was.
You could also look at the Taskbar Repair feature as another way for Microsoft to try and stop you
from making too many customizations to your PC. Although you could ostensibly use it to try and
remove a third-party Taskbar widget, you installed accidentally. We all make mistakes.
So would we recommend actually using PCManager? We will say it doesn't seem to have the same
downside of Ccleaner in that there's less risk of accidentally breaking something,
as PCManager doesn't do crap like clean-up registry entries, which have no detrimental
effect on your system. It does also make a couple of tasks a bit easier as we previously discussed,
but overall, we don't think it'll be all that useful for intermediate to advanced users,
especially as features like HealthCheck don't tell you if something is actually wrong with your
computer. But one big upside, it might reduce the number of questions you have to field if you're
the family IT person. Thanks for watching the video guys, like it if you like it, dislike it if
you dislike it, check out our other video on Ccleaner, comment with video suggestions,
and don't forget to subscribe and follow TechWiki. We talk about this kind of stuff all the time!