Let's get started: Soluto

Soluto (Windows, Optimization)

A quick glance at our current computing landscape shows an increasing dependency on web-based apps & virtual machines: stuff that's always accessible except when it's not, and stuff that can run on any platform except some where it can't.  As we integrate useful software and plugins into bigger OSs and bulkier browsers, host our data everywhere but locally, and sign-off on background auto-updates, we achieve ease-of-use and convenience but often relinquish control and, perhaps more often than we realize, resources.  More on the horizon, but looming large in the current vista is a new (beta) application to help us manage and educate us: Soluto.

Soluto's mission is 'anti-frustration'.  While some features are more flushed out than others in the current beta, Soluto's most exciting function is a well-designed & informative 'boot-chopper'.  By default, it runs on each system startup (adding a few seconds to boot time by its own measure) and compiles a list of services that run on startup.  This is where Soluto puts msconfig to shame.  Using data from the cloud (read: other Soluto users), it sorts every service it can find into three categories:

1. No Brainer
2. Potentially Removable
3. Cannot be removed with Soluto (yet...)

Once you've handled the no-brainers (iTunes & Skype included) Soluto's smooth interface has level upon level of useful info, including the number of seconds an item adds to boot, a description of the item when available, its disk load, etc.  The PC Genome (Soluto's cloud database) is more than just a sleek Googler for those sneaky browser bar apps and confusing Windows services: Soluto found and (with my consent) disabled a Spybot service running in the background even though I'd used Spybot's interface and msconfig to disable it.

In the end Soluto added 3 seconds to my boot, and shaved 13, resulting in a 2:04 total boot.

Soluto's interface is a breeze.

What's the downside?  None, if you're careful.  My need for Soluto ends with my boot, but Soluto has more to offer, so it keeps running after boot.  In a perfect world, crash-recovery, boot optimization, browser optimization, etc are responsibilities of separate, dedicated apps rather than just another suite to supplant your unwanted suites.  A right-click on the tray icon reveals an 'exit after boot' option if your usage is limited to boot optimization.  If you want to go to the next level, and only run Soluto at your discretion (which presumably limits your contribution to the cloud data), then you'll have to do it yourself; Soluto isn't "able" (or willing?) to disable itself on boot, but a quick trip to msconfig will handle that (boot time: 2min!).  To be fair, Soluto's footprint is pretty tiny.

I look forward to a denser Soluto cloud as it gains maturity and gathers more info.  Do me a favor and edit Microsoft Office Client Virtualization Service's (cvhsvc.exe) description and my 70 boot apps will be fully cataloged!