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SmartClose

By BM-productions Free Editors' Rating

Editors' Review

Download.com Staff Nov 26, 2008

It's deceptively simple, but this application quickly and cleanly closes all programs, and just as easily restores them. SmartClose's five-icon interface smartly uses tooltips to quickly and adequately explain program operation. Intermediate to advanced users will install and operate the program with no further instruction.

SmartClose's primary function leads the user through a wizard to close all programs except for critical Windows functions. Listed options are well explained as the program advances. Before closing anything, the application takes a quick system snapshot; storing it to reset your computer to that same state at a later date. During testing, SmartClose handled various programs very well. It was rare that it couldn't stop a process. On those occasions, the application invoked SmartKill to finish off a process quickly. Restoring programs is as simple and quick as stopping them. A similar wizard opens a system snapshot. Users merely check which apps to restore. A helpful option removes running processes from the list.

SmartClose is a freeware application every user should keep in his or her system toolbox. It's one program you'll turn to often.

Full Specifications

What's new in version 1.3

Version 1.3 fixes: in some cases, SmartClose didn't save the closed/killed programs to the system snapshot; after running the Close Programs wizard more than once in the same SmartClose instance, the closed/killed programs and stopped services didn't get saved to the system snapshot correctly anymore.

General

Date Added February 10, 2010
Version 1.3

Operating Systems

Additional Requirements None

Popularity

Total Downloads 77,145
Downloads Last Week 20
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Developer's Description

SmartClose will automatically close all running programs, disable the screen saver, and halt all other processes that can interrupt without asking. Before SmartClose closes or disables anything, it will first save the current state of the system (running programs and screen saver) to a system snapshot, which can be opened and restored again by SmartClose.

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