Windows 10 is not supported? So this giveaway is pretty useless…

cannot download – file “SharewareOnSale_Giveaway_TweakMASTER_hub.exe” is broken!!!
clicking start in Welcome Screen produces error:
The file being readed is not a valid “Portable Network Graphics” image because it contains an invalid header. This file may be corrupted, try obtaining it again.

second attempt of obtainment has the same effect … so what to do?!?

The installer file seems corrupt, I get an error message trying to run the *hub.exe, saying “the file being readed is not a valid PNG image because…. etc.”

I had no trouble with the install or the program. It squeaked out some extra wireless speed for me. Worth a try!

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So I click on the things in the window of the program, and the “DU Meter” control just pops up and says “sorry, only in pro” version ( same for the mysterious “Link Fox” tool for … Internet Explorer … yes, a Fox tool for IE — is this so old that it was this designed before Firefox and before IE was pronounced unsafe and dead ? ).

That’s it.

No “… would you like me to download and install a TRIAL now for you? …”

DU Meter has a FREE trial version on the web, but the programmers could not think of a way to include A TRIAL version in the standard version, or even offer to automatically download it from within the TweakMASTER program on demand ( the way IObit Advanced System Care only downloads tools upon first use of each tool ).

Now, what is “DU Meter”?

It’s a program that measures not just Download and Upload activity, but total activity over time.

Why?

For people who have data-transfer limits with their ISP Internet Service Provider.

If there are any people out there who have an ISP that limits their data-transfer total per period … so here you can BUY a program that lets you watch your data usage trickle away each month ( and it can be configured to combine usage statistics from multiple computers running DU meter ) … as if ( a ) any ISP has monthly data transfer limits anymore, and as if ( b ) the ISP does not already have a combined meter for you.

Are there any other uses of DU Meter?

Yes, as a graph in the corner of your screen, you can watch data transfer activity on a scrolling time graph … and if you see loads of activity, yet YOU are not doing anything, then … maybe you’ve been hacked … or maybe Microsoft is downloading updates ( pretty much the same thing as being hacked, don’t you think ? ) … or …

And DU Meter has right-click tools that let you see what programs are using what Internet services, and how much.

This is actually a nice suite for tools for someone who is interested and understand the information and knows what to do about anything, and has tools OUTSIDE DU Meter to address any surprises revealed.

A I mentioned, DU Meter is a FREE TRIAL tool.

A FREE TRIAL tool that is NOT included in the standard TweakMASTER, even as a FREE TRIAL … even though there is a “DU Meter” control in the standard TweakMASTER program.

Yup, the programmers have give you a DEAD END TEASE that prevents THEM from making any more money.

Savvy that.

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The lack of Windows 10 function, and the age of the interface and tool-set reveal that this was developed during the peak of non-free AOL dial up, so does it have any value now?

On the one hand, the lack of self-automated TCP/IP tuning belies an ancient and unintelligent implementation of controls, where you yourself have to choose between options, reboot, and test ( how ? ) by yourself if there have been changes that improve or compromise performance — TweakMASTER has no intelligence.

On the other hand, oddly, as critical as I am, I discovered and resolved a problem on my computer that I might not have caught so quickly had I not been playing with TweakMASTER.

My laptops have wireless AND wired connections, and I leave both on automatic — the result is that I don’t know which is connecting me, but the Internet is there, so I’m happy.

The speed test in TweakMASTER showed ~1/3rd the speed I expect when wired … so I checked, and my wired adapter had a configuration problem, and I was ONLY on wireless ( good backup plan ! ) without knowing it.

I uninstalled and reinstalled the wired adapter, and once again I have the full speed I pay for.

I would have discovered this eventually by many other means, and TweakMASTER did NOT tell me there was a problem, nor did it offer to fix a problem that it did not find — I am the one who suspected that a test result revealed something, and I am the one who went outside TweakMASTER to discover and resolve the problem — TweakMASTER had no awareness of all of this.

For an example of how unintelligent TweakMASTER is, or how poorly the original programmers didn’t speak to each other, after using the tools to, um, “tweak” things, I noticed a message in the main screen:

“… Network settings have been analyzed and some issues were found …” … nicely, a clickable message.

I click on it, and got this report, with NON-clickable recommendations:

You have <strong>enabled</strong> syn attack protection. Unless you are under DoS attack right now, or are a frequent victim of such attacks, disable this setting since it may cause reduced network performance.

Name release on demand is enabled. Disable it to protect the computer against malicious name-release attacks on local network. 

 Use Connection Optimization Wizard or Advanced Optimization Settings to correct the issues outlined above.

In the other tools, I notice that “syn attack protection” controls offer “normal” and “hardened”, but not “enabled” or “disabled” as the error report message implied, a hint that the programmers either didn’t talk to each other, or if one programmer, did not check their own work.

Also, “name RELEASE on demand” is ambiguous, do they mean “name BROADCAST” or “name CLEAR and reset”?

On my local network, I WANT my computers to broadcast their names to each other to enhance ready and reliable networking connectivity.

In public I WANT my computer to eliminate offering it’s name to anyone else at Starbucks.

So, how can TweakMASTER help me?

Oh, it can’t.

Conclusion: TweakMASTER contains some useful MANUAL tools from the early days of networking and Internet tuning, for those willing to iteratively reboot and measure and reboot and measure and … that is, PLAY, instead of actually USE their computer.
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[@jiri] Best review I’ve seen in a long time. I like your style — you made it clear where you are coming from, and why the software does and doesn’t help you. I hope the developers listen in, they can learn a LOT. I learned this program won’t help me, so thanks for saving my time and for providing an informative bit to read.

The installer still give me some PNG image header corruption.