Software
Review of: |
 Norton
SystemWorks 2000 contains an amazing collection of utilities programs that
make a valuable addition to your basic Windows 95 or 98 operating system.
What’s included?
Although Norton SystemWorks 2000 is a collection of programs, a single installation program installs them all. And all the programs look and operate very similarly. The Norton SystemWorks 2000 control panel controls all the programs, including updating them if necessary. Live Update queries a site on the Symantec website, and downloads and installs program updates as they become available. Such updates consist mainly of virus list updates, which are issued every Thursday, unless a particularly nasty virus becomes active, and then the virus list is updated as soon as possible. Norton SystemWorks 2000 reminds you if your virus list is more than two weeks old, and urges you to download new virus lists. That feature has erred several times on my computer, chiding me for an obsolete list when I had downloaded a new one within a couple of days. Norton Utilities
Norton DiskDoctor is a replacement for Scandisk. It gives you more precise control over how the program operates, but I don’t know that it’s better than Scandisk. Norton UnErase Wizard is the current version of the erased file recovery program that was one of the original Norton utilities. It lets you recover files you have actually erased; not just sent to the Recycle Bin. It also modifies the Recycle Bin to hold 1500 files that are erased automatically. The Recycle Bin only catches those files you manually erase, so automatically erased files can’t usually be recovered. The Improve Performance menu contains two or three programs. The first is Speed Disk, a replacement for Disk Defragmenter. Speed Disk seems faster, has a much better screen, and places the Windows swap file at the inside of the disk so it gets read faster. Speed Start is a program that works with Speed Disk to improve startup times by placing those files and programs you use most near the center of the drive, where they are accessed faster. This function is built into Windows 98’s Disk Defragmenter, and is disabled for Windows 98; but it adds the function to Windows 95. The Norton Optimization Wizard is a Registry optimization program that streamlines your Registry files so they load faster. It also optimizes your swap file (something Windows does rather poorly at times) and works with Speed Disk to put the swap file at the first of the hard drive, where it’s accessed faster. The Preventative Maintenance menu has four choices. The first is Norton System Doctor, which starts a program that runs continuously in the background and monitors your computer for problems as it operates. I prefer to disable this feature, since it slows the computer down, and its warnings are sometime trivial, wrong, and usually annoying. Someone who is less used to detecting warning signs of impending trouble may find it more useful. Norton WipeInfo is not really a preventative maintenance program, but it’s useful for some of us. It’s function is to erase files beyond any possibility of recovery. There is even a government option that overwrites the space used by an erased file with random ones and zeros. If you have sensitive files that you don’t want someone else to find and access, such as financial data, credit card numbers, or passwords, WipeInfo can be useful. Image takes a snapshot of your hard drive’s important information and stores it so it can be used to recover files, or restore a damaged or even accidentally formatted drive. It runs automatically when Windows starts. Norton Registry Tracker tracks changes made to the Windows Registry and lets you review them and undo those that may have caused problems. The Troubleshoot menu is a hodge-podge of programs which don’t all really have anything to do with troubleshooting. One that does is the Norton Diagnostics, which scans your computer hardware and analyzes it for problems. The System Information menu tells you a lot about your computer hardware. Its display is easier to read, although not necessarily more informative than the System Information program in Windows 98. The Norton Registry Editor lets you manually edit your Registry, something that is not recommended for the casual user. Finally, Norton File Compare lets you compare two files with the same name to see if they are identical. Norton AntiVirus 2000
Norton CleanSweep
Norton CrashGuard
Norton SystemWorks 2000 includes several DOS programs that are really useful. One lets you recover from accidentally formatting your hard drive. That can be really useful is you have accidentally made that blunder (I have). It works very well. Another replaces the DOS version of ScanDisk that runs when you improperly shut down Windows with a Norton Disk Doctor. ScanDisk seems to work faster, and I can’t tell any improvement in the Norton version, but it’s up to you. Bonus Pack
Quarterdeck Zip-It 4.0 is a Zip file manager like WinZip. It has gotten some good reviews. If you don’t have a Zip file manager, you need one. This one isn’t bad, although I am not persuaded to give up on WinZip. The final program in the Bonus Pack is a Bios Test/Fix. I think this was left over from the Y2K scare. The Help file with Norton SystemWorks 2000 is still somewhat limited, although better than previous versions. The 188-page manual is very readable and helpful; typical of Symantec products. System requirements
The combined price for all these top-rated utilities is $59.95 from Symantec’s online store. It is often cheaper elsewhere, and frequently includes a rebate offer. As usual, shopping carefully can produce significant savings. All in all, this huge collection of utility programs is a real value when packed together as Norton SystemWorks 2000. But you may already have some of these utilities, or equivalent ones from other companies that your really like. And Windows 98 has some pretty decent utilities of its own. But if you need most of these programs, the bundle, sold for way less than the cost of the individual programs, represents a super value.
Vade Forrester has been a member of Alamo PC since 1988. He served on the Board of Directors from 1990-1993 as Vice President of Information and Public Relations, First Vice President, and President. He has since continued to serve Alamo PC as a frequent contributor to PC Alamode, as instructor for Windows and Microsoft Word. He enjoys arranging special presentations to the club, such as the Year 2000 presentation given in September, 1999; and presentations on topics like Backing Up Your Hard Drive. A civil servant employed by the Air Force, Vade has been a computer user since 1982. |
really
a one-stop access to several of the other programs, and lets you schedule
maintenance programs to run when you’re not using the computer. The WinDoctor
fixes Registry problems without requiring you to know anything about the
Registry. Usually, it offers three types of Registry fixes: completely
automatic fixes for most problems, choices of several fixes for you to
select, or completely manual (if you know what you’re doing-be careful).
Before I started this article, I ran WinDoctor to see if it could help
me fix a weird problem I had with Word 2000. WinDoctor found 24 problems
with my Registry, and fixed them all. Some I selected solutions; for others,
I picked automatic fixes. All 24 problems were fixed; however, my Word
problem was not solved. I later solved it manually.
One
of the most famous Norton programs, the 2000 version adds some useful features,
such as scanning e-mail and attachments while they are downloading, even
if they are Zip files. Given the recent LOVEBUG virus scares, this feature
is really valuable. PC Magazine recently named Norton AntiVirus as best
virus checker currently available. The user interface has changed since
Norton AntiVirus 5.0, however; and not for the better. While it’s still
easier to use than the McAfee antivirus program, I thought Version 5.0
had a better interface, with controls much easier to see and use. One interesting
new feature is the Quarantine menu, which provides a place for the program
to isolate and store viruses it can’t fix, and send them back to Symantec
for analysis in their virus labs.
One
of the best uninstaller programs, and probably the fastest, CleanSweep
has added additional protections, including removal of Internet downloaded
cookies and ActiveX files. After a browsing session, I ran CleanSweep’s
Fast and Safe Cleanup to clean my Internet cache. It found nearly 40 MB
of files in the cache that could be deleted. Strangely enough, when I reran
the cache scan, without deleting any files, it only identified 28 MB of
files to delete. So there may be some ambiguity in reading cache files.
Windows 98’s Disk Cleanup utility provides even greater functionality.
tries
to fix those crashes. Sometimes it works. I would estimate that on my system,
it works about 40% of the time. That’s a lot better than nothing.