AVG Technologies has unleashed an entirely new and far more powerful version of PC TuneUp, its system cleaning and optimisation tool.

And the new release sees the old Auslogics BoostSpeed-based technology replaced by what is essentially a rebranded TuneUp Utilities, after TuneUp Software GmbH was acquired by AVG in August 2011.

If you’re unfamiliar with that package then it’s tempting to assume that it’ll be just another identikit PC maintenance suite, and certainly the PC TuneUp feature list seems very familiar: it can manage your startup programs, clean the Registry, free up hard drive space, and so on.

But PC TuneUp is no “me too” cleanup tool; it’s far smarter than that.

AVG's new PC TuneUp is essentially a revamped TuneUp Utilities

Ask most optimisation packages to review your Windows startup programs, for instance, and they’ll simply list them, and wait for you to decide what to do. But PC TuneUp makes precise recommendations on what you should keep, and what can go, and you can have all the necessary fixes applied with a click.

After a quick scan the program can make similar recommendations to optimise battery life, your internet connection, system performance and more.

And PC TuneUp also contains features you’ll rarely find elsewhere, such as its ability to disable programs you don’t use often, freeing up system resources they might be using via services, background processes and so on. When you need to use the program again, just run it as before and PC TuneUp will automatically restore normal operations.

On balance, then, the new AVG PC TuneUp looks like a major improvement to us, offering far more functionality but remaining very accessible to expert and novice users alike.