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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 community-sourced feedback to generate real time reviews and quality evaluations of other programs.

History
SlimWare Utilities CEO Bruce Cope began the company in 2009. The 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. Unlike notable competitors, FixCleaner’s marketing strategy utilized no advertising or embedded toolbars. Nor did it offer only a limited number of its total utilities. Instead, users could implement all of the on-board optimization tools for free, but purchasing a license to use FixCleaner would enable sequences that would coordinate the different utilities, making them work together and resulting in more hands-free optimization.

The general success of FixCleaner spurred the development of other programs which would complement its optimization motif, initially visualized as a suite of tools that would each focus on a separate aspect of computer maintenance.

The company, based on the Gulf Coast in D'Iberville, Mississippi, expanded its marketing arena over the course of the following year. Part of this was to solidify the image and idea of SlimWare Utilities under a single theme, reflected in both the logo and the application names.

The release of SlimComputer marked the first of SlimWare Utilities’ totally free offerings. It also characterized the branding scheme of the company, aligning it with the minimalism movement in computing. SlimComputer’s very concept was minimal: it was designed to be a program that would systematically remove all of the pre-loaded software that comes with new retail PCs. Part of its marketing strategy was keyed on its small size and ease of use. From the moment of 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 into a flash-drive. This version could then be executed on a new computer without its having to be installed. The idea was to make it highly portable, a feature that would attract the attention of computer technicians. It would give computer technicians and repair agents a mobile platform with which they could simultaneously flag junk software and recommend optimizations pertaining to the configuration of startup entries and services.

In July of 2010, SlimWare Utilities debuted the release of SlimComputer at the BlackHat Security convention in Las Vegas. It met with favorable reviews by the security community for its ability to minimize security risks. It does this primarily by removing the pre-installed trials and adverting links that come loaded onto a retail PC. By minimizing advertising-based surfaces within a new computer, SlimWare Utilities argues that you also minimize access points for other, affiliated advertising platforms that may be linked to or associated with the pre-loaded programs. Further, SlimComputer 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 and others.

The second program released (and also debuted at BlackHat) was SlimDrivers, a multi-function driver download tool that automates the process of diagnosing outdated drivers and retrieving updates from the web. It is marketed as freeware.

A second driver application marketed as shareware is scheduled for release before 2011. Other applications slated for release include a freeware cleaning application, SlimCleaner (meant to complement FixCleaner) in early 2011. SlimCleaner is available to the public for cooperative beta testing.

Cloud Computing
SlimWare Utilities’ established a framework for using community-sourced feedback as a way to produce better optimization schemes for a computer. The previous mode for cleaners was to come with a pre-loaded set of optimizations: a list built in to the application that flagged outright malicious services for disabling and also flagged benign services and programs that were seen to be unnecessary. The pre-loaded list could be updated routinely with a given program’s servicing updates, but as such, were subject to being disabled if the user decided he or she didn’t want to receive those updates.

SlimWare Utilities’ programs deviate from this framework by encouraging and implementing constant user feedback, i.e. community-sourcing. SlimWare applications separate the 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 that add functionality and bug fixes. The feedback is completely voluntary. After a scan, users can hover over an entry and a feedback dialog appears. Here users can rate a given program, startup entry or service, evaluating its worth, and usefulness. By consolidating hundreds of reviews in a dedicated server cloud, SlimWare Utilities can then make dynamic evaluations. These evaluations are then fed to every version of a SlimWare Utilities’ application so that a user has the potential to receive the latest review of an item potentially within minutes of a previous review.

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 for 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 relative size on disk can be kept to a minimum. In other regards, they are marketed as having a low profile, including an always-on service designed to keep contact with the data cloud but not engender computer slow-down. This service can be readily 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 fosters the idea of minimalism on a personal computer: maximizing efficiency by minimizing unnecessary functions and maximizing space by minimizing unnecessary programs. Beneath this is a marketing philosophy that does not promote spartanism but better entertainment, productivity and safety, each obtained by having less clutter, fewer resource-consuming elements and fewer 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 only 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. This reply is automatically processed by the application and transformed into suggestions. No suggestion or configuration-template sent by the data cloud is ever implemented automatically. 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 ever exchanged in this process. Further, users can control all aspects of the programs' behavior, including scheduled scans, the running service and the start-up control. All SlimWare Utilities’ programs also include full uninstall sequences.

PC Data and Registry Cleaning
FixCleaner 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 that looks for unnecessary or duplicate registry keys and deletes them, a shredding application designed to overwrite user-selected data, and various optimizing utilities. The optimizers assess the way running programs behave, including start-up permissions and services. Using its active cloud link, it then suggests different configurations that are tailored to a given computer. The parameters for these suggested configurations are bounded within a desire to protect all vital systems and disable unnecessary systems.

FixCleaner is a shareware application. Users can download and use the program for free. Purchasing a user license will enable more hands-free cleaning in that a single button will coordinate all of the scans and implement them based on a default level of performance.

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.

Diagnostics, Cleaning and Optimizing
SlimComputer is 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. It then lets users specify if and how many of these things they want to remove. Built in to the utility package of SlimComputer are other functions, designed to aid in further cleaning, including a shredder (overwriting sequence), various optimizers and a community-sourced hijack log.

This log utilizes the cloud-link feedback to make a more in-depth 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. This function not only renders a rated description of the entry instantaneously, but also accepts evaluative input if the viewer feels that he or she can add to the description in a meaningful way.

Driver Diagnostics and Updating
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 not only device drivers, but system drivers and windows updates. SlimDrivers sets itself apart from other Driver update programs by its high level of automation. By clicking an entry in the results readout, users can not only view/contribute information on the driver, but automatically access the manufacturer’s support site, download the new driver and begin the installation process.

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 24-hour chat and email. The support, in addition to fielding questions about given products, is geared toward proving a measure of universal computer care, and technicians are willing to broach questions concerning any aspect of PC maintenance. The primary reason for this is because SlimWare Utilities characterizes its support infrastructure as a cooperative extension of the products, so the singular goal of better computer maintenance is supposed to inform all interactions with the company. With the launch of SlimComputer, SlimWare Utilities also set up a forum; not only to accommodate questions, but also make the question and answer process more public.

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 is keyed on non-invasive software that can better the overall performance and safety of a personal computer. Their cloud-based feedback initiative makes up the bulk of their specialized branding since it is a feature they pioneered in regard to computer maintenance. 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, makes for a completely automated experience, as such, geared toward non-savvy computer users who want the ease and convenience of push-button cleaning. In other regards, the multiple functionality of the programs, especially SlimComputer, is aimed at aiding computer repairers or technicians who can make SlimComputer a one-program base for diagnosing and repairing a client’s PC without having to install a separate program.

Microsoft Certification
In March of 2010, SlimWare Utilities was made a Microsoft Certified partner. The partner certification is a network of approved manufacturers and developers to which Microsoft has granted exclusive access to developmental resources. The certification is used as a way to highlight programs that are specially made to work with Widows Operating systems and that meet the standards of programs considered to be safe, effective and beneficial by Microsoft.