SmartClose
Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7
What is it? An application killer/restorer
File size: 687KB – Less than 3 minutes for dialup users…a second or less for broadband users
When I first saw this program, I thought, “What the heck?” Well, that’s not exactly what I thought – but this is a family publication. Anyway, I don’t wear Smart Clothes, but EB does – though that has nothing to do with this program, but I couldn’t resist.
After I looked at the program and tried it- I was very impressed, and I’m sure you will be too. I love the author of the program – he is so windy. In fact he’s so windy, he will spew forth lovingly about his program so that I don’t have to. And that’s a good thing, because it’s getting late, I’m old, and I’m tired.
If you’re like me, you’ll think, “What the heck good is this program?” But when you actually use it, you’ll find out. No longer will you have to hunt and peck to find all those running applications. They’ll all be killed quickly with just a click. And Smart Close ain’t called smart for nuthin’. It takes a system snapshot so your programs are restored to the same state they were in when you killed them. It’s kind of like computer resurrection. For instance if you were stealing a great recipe from Grandma’s Best Secret Recipes – when Smart Close kills your browser it will remember what you were stealing and return you to the same place so you can continue pilfering dear old Grandma. You get the idea.
But I don’t want to ramble on anymore. Like I said before, I’m tired, I’m old, and I want a beer. If you think I write poorly pre-beer, just wait until you see how I write post-beer. Not now, but maybe later I’ll show you.
Time to bring in the SmartClose developer – he’s going to prattle for you now, while I procure a beer:
“Many tasks that can be performed on PC’s these days require you to close all currently running programs. For example, almost every installer asks you to close all other applications to minimize conflicts and to avoid replacing in-use files. Other high-end tasks, such as burning CDs and defragmenting or scanning hard drives can slow down or even fail when other processes ‘kick in’, like background programs, the screen saver or a scheduled task.
Of course, you could manually close each program one by one, disable the screen saver…, but that is where SmartClose comes in. SmartClose will automatically close all running programs, disable the screen saver and halt all other processes that can interrupt without asking.
But what when the task is finished and you want to restore everything that was disabled by SmartClose? Restart the computer? No, because before SmartClose closes or disables anything, it will save the current state of the system (running programs, screen saver…) to a ‘system snapshot’, that can be opened and restored again later.
Other features:
- Two wizards: the Close Programs wizard, for closing all the programs, and the Restore wizard, to restore a system snapshot. Both provide an intuitive and clear interface, and assist you step by step.
- Thanks to its SmartClose-technology, most programs can be properly closed, so that the program can still save its settings and return memory and resources to the system.
- In the rare cases that a program can’t be properly closed, SmartClose can use SmartKill to kill the program. Still, all the memory and resources used by the program will be freed.
- If you don’t want a program to be closed or killed by SmartClose, you can add it to a list of ‘Protected Programs’.
- Besides closing programs, SmartClose also closes Explorer and Internet Explorer windows and saves their current location, so they can be restored properly later.
- Disables and restores the screen saver.
- On modern Windows versions, SmartClose stops and restarts Windows services that can interrupt other processes, such as the Task Scheduler. On Windows 9x/Millennium, the Task Scheduler can also be disabled and re-enabled.
- And finally, you get all of these features for free. SmartClose is 100% freeware without any nag screens, trial periods, ads, spyware etc….”
OK Dokie folks. I’ve had my beer(s) and I’m in my little PJs ready for bed. But before I retire for the evening I’m going to have a bowl of gruel. While I’m eating my bowl of gruel, you can go read more about our freeware pick of the week – SmartClose. I’m sure you’ll want to download it and see what all the fuss is about. Yes I end sentences with prepositions – no matter what the “Elephants of Style” says.
SmartClose is one great program – it really is – and that’s why we’ve named it our freeware pick of the week.