While, like the song says, it ain't easy being humble, JOHN HARRIS discovers that marriage is a great teacher in the apology department.

For me, one of the great benefits of marriage is admitting that I’m wrong.

To her credit, my darling wife has proved a great teacher: Her very first lesson for me was: “Remember that I’m always right about everything and we’ll get along fabulously”.

Admittedly, I have flunked a few classes during my education because when the good wife and I disagreed, I’d foolishly succumb to the desire to open my mouth in defence.

Nearly a dozen years of wedded bliss have now taught me that the only words that should pass my lips are: “I’m sorry about that, dear”.

These lessons in humility came to mind last week after the courteous chaps at iolo software in California (I think that starts with a capital) told me how to use their software properly.

A few weeks back, I put iolo’s System Mechanic 9 software through its paces on my notebook’s sluggish Windows Vista operating system.

In my review, I lamented that my notebook still seemed to “wobble along at the same speed” despite undertaking various SM tune-ups and system restarts.

After my review appeared, the polite people at iolo - who I suspect have undergone Wife Improvement Therapy themselves - apologised that the software had not assisted me and suggested some extra tricks I might try.

Half an hour later, after subjecting my computer to the tantalisingly titled Deep Analysis and the obligatory reboot, my Fujitsu notebook did run noticeably better.

While I was on the personal (computer) improvement path, I took a different track at work where my home-made PC was suffering the DTs (Digital Tremens) that often precede a system disaster.

Rather than reinstall Windows XP from scratch, I simply created a new user account for myself an manually reinstalled the handful for applications that were not set up automatically.

The improved performance of the same software on the same hardware was startling: The machine started faster, programs opened quickly and generally my whole day was much improved.

While this tactic is straightforward enough, it is not without its travails: I am still fiddling around trying to get some settings right, for example, preventing the synchronisation software for my iPhone from treating Australia as a foreign country.

Given the choice between reconfiguring Windows and running a System Mechanic tune-up, I would definitely recommend the later.

So mea culpa, oh iolians, my hasty and erroneous opinion is now corrected. For $79.95, System Mechanic provides a quick and easy way to improve the performance of a sluggish computer.

As long as, just like marriage, you keep working at it.

John Harris is managing director of Impress Media Australia. Email jharris@impress.com.au.

 

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