SlimWare Utilities Inc. |
| Type | Private |
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| Industry | Software |
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| Founded | Ocean Springs, Mississippi (2009) |
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| Founder(s) | Chris Cope |
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| Headquarters | 3586 Sangani Blvd. Suite L-325,[1] D'Iberville, Mississippi, USA |
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| Area served | Worldwide |
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| Key people | Chris Cope
CEO[2] |
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| Website | SlimWareUtilities.com |
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SlimWare Utilities is an American information technologies company that produces cleaning and optimization programs for an international market. The products they produce center on using crowdsourced feedback to generate real time reviews and evaluations of other programs.[3]
History
SlimWare Utilities CEO Chris Cope launched the company in 2009. This launch corresponded with that of FixCleaner, a general cleaning and optimization utility. FixCleaner was built on the platform of shareware in that could be freely distributed and downloaded.[4]
The company, based on the Gulf Coast in D'Iberville, Mississippi, expanded its marketing arena over the course of the following year. The company's marketing scheme sought to codify the idea of "slimming software" via a single theme, reflected in both the logo and the application names.
The release of SlimComputer marked the first of SlimWare Utilities’ free offerings. It also characterized the branding scheme of the company, aligning it with the minimalism movement in computing. SlimComputer was designed to be a program that would remove pre-loaded software that comes with new retail PCs. Part of its marketing strategy was keyed on the program having a small footprint and being easy to use.
Upon its release, SlimComputer was offered as a simple binary (executable) for a PC or for a direct-to-USB file which would auto-install the program onto a flash-drive. This version could then be executed on a new computer without its having to be installed. This makes the application portable, a feature that was hoped to gain the attention of computer technicians, giving repair agents a mobile platform with which they could simultaneously flag junk software and recommend optimizations.
In July 2010, SlimWare Utilities debuted the release of SlimComputer at the BlackHat Security convention in Las Vegas.[5] It met with favorable reviews by the security community for its ability to minimize security risks, mostly through the removal the pre-installed trials and adverting links that come loaded onto a retail PC.
The promotional argument is as follows: by minimizing advertising-based surfaces within a new computer, one can also minimize access points for other, affiliated advertising platforms that may be linked to or associated with the pre-loaded programs. SlimComputer also performs general cleaning routines that are designed to aid the defense of personal data by cleaning/deleting recorded information, including Internet caches, saved Internet files and log files from all of the major browsers, IM clients, etc.
Cloud Computing
SlimWare Utilities' method for proposing optimizations is contrasted against one wherein a cleaner comes with a pre-loaded set of optimizations. This set constitutes a list built in to the application that flags malicious objects and benign objects deemed to be unnecessary.
SlimWare Utilities’ programs deviate from this framework by encouraging and implementing user feedback, i.e. community-sourcing. The proposed goal is to establish an infrastructure for using crowd-sourced feedback as a way to produce optimization schemes for a computer.[6]
SlimWare applications separate service updates from the feedback. The service updates can be controlled or disabled by the user at will and carry the normal program-related updates designed to add functionality and bug fixes. The feedback is voluntary. Evaluations are fed to every version of a SlimWare Utilities’ application so that a user has the potential to receive recent reviews within a relatively short period of time in relation to previous reviews.
Dynamic Feedback is implemented in SlimWare Utilities’ Programs in the following ways:
- Programs - feedback suggests uninstall of malicious programs or those deemed to be un-useful
- Services - feedback suggests disablement of malicious services or those deemed to be un-useful. These suggestions are processed by the application and rendered as a 3-fold template: one is more lax, allowing more services to run, one is moderate, and one is sever, disabling the most services to encourage maximal running speed.
- Startup Entries - feedback suggests disablement of malicious start-up entries or those deemed to be un-useful
- Internet Settings Configurations - feedback suggests configurations that best match a given computer’s preferred browser, Internet Speed and previously set user specifications
- Drivers - feedback suggests upgrade of certain drivers if an older one is detected for a given device.
- Program Updates - feedback suggests updates (including windows updates) - if they are found for certain programs.
Computer Minimalism
Because SlimWare Utilities’ programs don’t carry with them large rosters of evaluated applications and services, their size on disk is relatively smaller than other cleaning applications. In other regards, they are marketed as having a low profile, with few to no notices or alert messages. To keep contact with their dedicated servers, they do include an always-on service. This service can be disabled. Further, programs like SlimComputer are treated in such a way as is common in the open-source community, that of applications that are highly portable and can be run from remote locations like a removable disk drive.
The general promotion of SlimWare Utilities’ programs is also one that focuses on the idea of minimalism on a personal computer: maximizing efficiency by minimizing unnecessary functions and maximizing space by minimizing unnecessary programs. SlimWare Utilities' marketing philosophy claims to promote better productivity and safety through various methods, including marginalizing resource-consuming elements and decreasing surfaces of attack.
User Safety
The continual link between a SlimWare Utilities program on an individual’s PC and the SlimWare Utilities data cloud is reliant on broadband access. However, all SlimWare Utilities programs will function without continual Internet access; they simply won’t have the up-to-the-minute dynamic feedback until the connection is re-established.
Because the link is otherwise perpetual, SlimWare Utilities’ programs specify in their respective privacy policies that data sent is limited to that which is relevant to a given scan. This includes data requests sent to the cloud and a subsequent reply containing evaluations of programs, services, Internet configurations and start-up entries.
The user must specify how many of the suggestions he or she wishes to implement and then must push a “GO” button to activate. No user-personal data is exchanged in this process. User-based controls are also provided for additional behavior, including scheduled scans, the application's running service and its start-up control. All SlimWare Utilities’ programs also include full uninstall sequences.[7]
Products
FixCleaner is a shareware application. It was designed to be a multi-purpose cleaning application. It’s divided into utilities, each of which cleans a given section of a PC or alters settings in such a way as to better computer performance. It has a registry cleaner, a shredding application designed to overwrite user-selected data, and various optimizing utilities. The optimizers assess the way running programs behave and then suggests different configurations that are tailored to a given computer.
SlimCleaner is a freeware application. It is FixCleaner’s sister program in that it performs many of the same functions but has no licensed version. Users can run and implement any of the utilities individually but there’s no sequence that runs all of them simultaneously.
SlimCleaner also includes a diagnostics hijack log. This log utilizes the cloud-link feedback to make an evaluation of a computer’s software infrastructure. Inspired by the ubiquitous Hijack-This log, the community-sourced feedback log produces the same type of roster listing all installed applications, services, and recently active registry keys. The log appears as a in-program readout that can be copied to a text file and used to profile a PC for repair. Within the application, a given entry in the log can be hovered over to see its evaluation as set by other technicians who contribute to the SlimWare Utilities’ data cloud.
SlimComputer is a freeware application, designed to offer a portable cleaning and diagnostics program. It’s marketed to computer technicians but is freely available to anyone. It provides an automated sequence that can be run on a new computer to find pre-installed programs, trials and ad-links. It also flags corresponding services and start-up entries. Built in to the utility package of SlimComputer are other functions, including a shredder (overwriting sequence)and various optimizers.
SlimDrivers is a freeware driver-update program designed to use community-sourced feedback to recommend driver updates. It scans a computer and compiles a list of the installed drivers that are outdated. It includes device drivers and system drivers.[8]
DriverUpdate is the shareware sister to SlimDrivers. It employs the same features but includes a single, “Update All” sequence. Upon purchasing a license, users can click this button and initiation the install processes for all selected drivers at once.
Technical Support
SlimWare Utilities provides both international and American-based technical support, both of which are accessible via chat and email. The support, in addition to fielding questions about given products, is advertised as a source for universal computer care.
With the launch of SlimComputer, SlimWare Utilities also set up a forum to both accommodate questions and foster a public environment for Q and A that was more in keeping with its "community-based" theme.[9]
Commercial Aspects
Organization
The company is headquartered in D'Iberville, Mississippi. Headed by C.E.O. and founder Chris Cope, SlimWare Utilities has divisions that focus on R and D, public relations, marketing, web content, and support.
Marketing
The general marketing schema of SlimWare Utilities are keyed on non-invasive software that can better the overall performance and safety of a personal computer.[10] Their cloud-based feedback initiative makes up the bulk of their specialized branding.
Since SlimWare Utilities offers both licensed shareware and freeware, the sales structure is based on the level of automation and user wants. Nearly all of the functions that the various programs render can be implemented for free, but purchasing a license for either FixCleaner or DriverUpdate, allows the optimization process to be automated, as such, they are geared toward non-savvy computer users who want the ease and convenience of push-button cleaning.
The multiple functionality of applications like SlimComputer is aimed at aiding computer repairers or technicians who can use them as a base for remotely diagnosing and repairing a client’s PC.
Microsoft Certification
In March 2010, SlimWare Utilities was made a Microsoft Certified Partner.[11] The partner certification is a network of approved manufacturers and developers to which Microsoft has granted access to developmental resources. The certification also highlights programs that are specifically made to work with Windows operating systems and that meet the standards of programs considered to be safe, effective and beneficial by Microsoft.
References
