O&O CleverCache 6 Pro review

It may not have escaped your notice that there are some things Windows isn't very good at.

One area that Microsoft still hasn't nailed is file caching and memory management: Windows always seems to be chugging away shifting data between the hard disk and memory when you'd really rather it was getting on with what you were asking it to do. The idea of CleverCache 6 is that it sits quietly in the background, tweaking the way your PC's storage is used according to what tasks are running. This should result in an increase in performance. So can it really do better than Windows on its own?

CleverCache comes with an informative and easy-to-follow user guide that outlines the process of file caching (keeping data requested from the hard disk in RAM in case it's needed again) and the limitations of the way Windows handles it. O&O reckon they can improve on this to speed things up, particularly when you're running programs that need lots of memory, or multiple applications at once. Managing the file cache more efficiently could also reduce program crashes.

The kitschily named Mem-O-Free feature allows you to control the percentage of your PC's main memory (RAM) that's always available by using a slider bar, and the amount of 'virtual memory' on your hard disk to release when memory gets low. But if you don't fancy learning about how these functions work - and there is quite a bit to understand - the program should manage fine using its default settings, which you can revert to at any time. In fact, the manual controls for adjusting the file cache and available memory are hidden until you choose to create a new profile.

A logical and well thought-out control panel makes CleverCache easy to use. Most importantly, it made a noticeable improvement in our PC's performance when running multiple applications. We'd always consider a RAM upgrade if your system is sluggish, but CleverCache is another cheap and simple way to boost your system.