Benchmark Report of 133 Windows Optimization Software Products > Test 4

Benchmark Tests / / 3 minutes of reading

These tests were performed in March 2015

Test 4: Windows 8.1 Benchmark Tests Following Software Uninstallment

There is one more angle of the story that needs to be addressed: if you install software to Windows, it clearly makes the entire system slower.  However, does uninstalling all the software bring the system speed back up to its original levels?The tests were ran again under Windows 8.1 operating system using the testing procedures detailed in the Overview of the Benchmark Test Procedures. Again, the same 15 popular software were installed to a freshly installed version of Windows 8.1.The system startup times were recorded at the following times: As can be seen from the graph, a newly installed Windows 8.1 took just 17 seconds to fully start. After the 15 popular Windows software had been installed, the system startup time skyrocketed to 38 seconds, taking twice the time to start up. After all of the software was uninstalled, the startup time improved to 24 seconds, which is clearly much faster than with all the software installed but still surprisingly far from the original startup time of 17 seconds.As can be seen from the graph, a newly installed Windows 8.1 took just 17 seconds to fully start. After the 15 popular Windows software had been installed, the system startup time skyrocketed to 38 seconds, taking twice the time to start up. After all of the software was uninstalled, the startup time improved to 24 seconds, which is clearly much faster than with all the software installed but still surprisingly far from the original startup time of 17 seconds.Similar results are also evident when looking at the benchmark scores: With a newly installed Windows operating system, the PCMark 7 benchmark score was 2443. After the 15 popular Windows software had been installed, the score went down to 2182 points. Uninstalling all of the software improved the system’s benchmark rating to 2213 points which is still clearly less than the original score and before the software had been installed.

It seems that simply uninstalling software does not fully undo the effects they have on the performance of a computer. The reasons for this are unknown but it should be safe to speculate that the uninstallment of each software may not work with 100% efficency and that some of the software leave something piggybacked behind to the computer, even after the software has been uninstalled.

Test Results

Next, the focus goes back to the products claiming to speed up your computer. After all of the software have been uninstalled, can any of the Windows cleaning products restore the high performance of the freshly installed Windows?The results for the measured Windows startup times are as follows: Again, all the products seemed to be able to improve the system startup time, with the exception of System Mechanic’s 29 second result.  All of the results are fairly similar with jv16 PowerTools X taking the lead with a result of 16 seconds.Next, the same test was repeated with the PCMark 7 benchmark tool and the results are here: Cleaning the system with the tested product seemed to have some effect to the benchmark scores with jv16 PowerTools X and Ashampoo WinOptimizer providing the best scores at 2319 and 2515 points, respectively.

Please proceed to the next page of this benchmark test report: Test 5: Windows 10 benchmarks

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