Microsoft has Windows. Have been with us for over 40 years at this point. During that time it has managed to collect all kinds of add-ons, companion apps, and utilities that you may not have discovered.
Some of them are made by Microsoft itself. An example is Microsoft PowerTools, which lets you tweak everything from keyboard shortcuts to the layout of your desktop. There is also Microsoft Journala journaling app designed primarily for use with a stylus on Surface computers.
Here though we are focusing. Microsoft PC Managerwhich first appeared in beta form in 2022, and is now available for free to anyone who wants to try it. Microsoft promises that it “easily boosts PC performance with just one click,” and “will keep your PC running smoothly.”
In other words, it’s meant to clean out some of the clutter and stuff that may have accumulated in your computer over the years—perhaps even that “good as new” feeling you get when you boot up your Windows computer for the first time.
Microsoft PC Manager interface
Once you Download and install software, the first thing you’ll see will be a pop-up in the bottom right corner of the screen. It gives you an overview of the current state of your system, including how much RAM you have in use, how many apps and processes are currently running, and how many temporary files are taking up space on your hard drive.
You can see a lot of information from this pop-up, but many utilities and scans included with Microsoft PC Manager will launch a separate window. To get started, you can head over to Settings To ensure that the software is configured as you wish. You can launch the app automatically with Windows, and intervene by automatically freeing RAM or clearing temporary files.
Something that might give some users pause is that you don’t get a lot of information about what the program is doing behind the scenes in terms of optimizations and deletions. Presumably if these actions are so beneficial to your system, Windows will perform them anyway without resorting to any additional utilities. Still, rest assured that it’s an official Microsoft tool, so it should know what it’s doing.
There is some overlap with the rest of the windows. through Toolbox Panel, for example, you can take screenshots, launch Notepad and Calculator utilities, and open links in Microsoft Edge. You don’t really need Microsoft PC Manager to do all this, but the shortcuts are here anyway. There is also one Show the toolbar on the desktop. A toggle switch on this screen, which places a permanent dashboard with key system information on your desktop.