Probably what helped was the computer reset. Always good to do that at least once a year. If you want to know why things like the tornado are just snake oil take a good look at your intake guts. Especially the MAF. Everything in there is designed to straighten out the airflow.

Does aviation use the tornado and similar devices? How about automotive racing? No, they don't. And when you consider what's at stake in those two fields alone when it comes to power and fuel consumption you'd think they'd be all over something with the claims of such devices.

Whenever you encounter something like that at the future, take a good hard look at an area that could really benefit from such a thing. If they're not using it, then that's a pretty strong clue.