Fix-it Utility

I'm wondering what any of you members think of Ontrack's SystemSuite program? I just read that PC Magazine has rated it with five stars. This also has a virus scan program that comes with it and I'm wondering if it is very popular?

Will be waiting for your pros and cons.

Thanks.

Rose

 

I would recommend you to see these users comments . Most people recommend it, but there are some people who find it as a horrible sofware, since it messed up their system by deleting a lot of system & dll's files.

 

Here's another review. All-in-all it looks pretty good although the delay in the virus updates (mentioned in the review) is more than a little conerning.

 

Hello

FixIt is a very good one.For Win98/98SE the most reliable version is v 1.5 while v3 and 4 work fine with Win2000.The FixIt antivirus is not effective at all.FixIt is not so popular, because Ontrack spend less in advertizing than Symantec-Norton.In my oppinion, Norton System Works, except for Norton Ghost is a piece of junk.

 

The AV program in Ontrack System is made by Trend Micro (the makers of PC-cillin) and the firewall is made by Sygate (the makers of Sygate Personal Firewall). Both these products are very good as stand alone programs and they are as good as part of a suite. Any program that alters system files can damage your system if used improperly but System Suite has a feature that will undo any changes that it made. This can be ran from within the OS or from the bootable CD if the OS is un-bootable. I get updates weekly sometimes twice a week and it even upgraded itself from version 4 to version 5.

I think Ontrack System Suite is the best Utility suite that I have used.

Ontrack System Suite was recently sold to V-Com along with a bunch of other Ontrack Utilities including Zip Magic, Powerdesk, and Partition Commander. Ontrack is now concentrating their efforts in the corporate data recovery market.

Norton System Works including Ghost is junk.

Power Quest Drive Image 2002 is much better than Ghost and easier to use.

 

I switched from the intrusive and buggy Norton to Ontrack a couple weeks ago and like it a lot.

The usual cautions that apply to all registry cleaning and dll cleaning apps need to be observed (don't haphazardly delete), but the cleaning apps at least rate things according to a priority scheme so that you don't remove things you don't know how to replace (unlike Win Doctor which has damaged my registry before and unregistered software).

I'll cast my vote with rond36 about Drive Image, too. I have used it several times when installing new drives and find it a fine piece of software. It seems I've had bad experiences with every Norton product I've used, and they seem to only repair bugs with the next release (fairly good knowledge base, however).

AV seems fast and doesn't slow my machine noticably, like Norton.

And, the feature I like best----you have total control over what runs and when.

So far, I'm glad I found it.

 

Now for the flip side of the coin

Where are those things I do not see them ?

The only way I have seen Norton WinDoctor take out stuff that may be needed is if I as the USER allowed it to. Norton WinDoctor gives you several choices and if you select the wrong one it ani't Nortons fault. NWD also has an IGNORE feature in case one is not sure.

Of course if you let it fly on Auto Pilot the story can be quite different. I did that ONCE and ONLY ONCE That was back in the days before Win98 and the Reg backup came onto the scene to bail my butt out. It took me a day or two to recover from that one. But, I did not consider it to be Nortons' fault because I was not watching more carefully.

Norton WinDoctor is no different than a lot of un-installers. It will take out stuff that may be needed IF WE DO NOT watch it.

And anytime I do run WinDoctor I make VERY SURE that I have a recent backup of the registry. I DO NOT 100% rely on Windows or any other software. As they both have been known to mess up. ( along with me ). And if we both mess up ????.

In all the YEARS that I have had Norton Products I have yet to see them slow anything down, take out stuff that I did not want it to ( other than the one time ) or have I lost control of them.

I run Win98SE with Norton Utilities 2001, NAV & NIS 2003 and have yet to see any loss of control over what or when things run.

NAV and NIS run full time. I am on a Cable Modem so they do need to run full time.

However. If System Works ( at least the older version that I had ) was allowed to install with the default settings it could be ( and was ) BIG TIME problems.

System/software configuration and user preferences still play a hugh part.

BillyBob

 

Well, BillyBob , to each his own, of course.

I think that when an app like Win Doctor asks if it should automatically repair something, it should do just that, rather than deleting needed registry entries in the process. This is Norton's fault, and people with little knowledge of the registry should not be expected to have the technical knowledge to second-guess the so-called "repair" software.

I will certainly never use Norton AV again--it has caused me far more problems than any virus ever has. This includes deleting necessary files, interminable false alarms, and the inability to run scripts without being warned by Norton about a whole class of file-types. And Norton completely prevented me from installing some device drivers.

All software should be uninstallable without special "fixes" to be downloaded from the web-site, as an afterthought by the makers, and manual deletions of registry and startup file entries.

But, like I said, to each his own, and when someone becomes familiar with whatever they choose, all will work out for them in the end, especially if they match the AV with the types of work they do on the computer.

 

And Norton completely prevented me from installing some device drivers.

Isn't it usually recommed by most software and hardware venders to shut AV off before installing anything anyway.

I myself never do. And so far have no problems. But that is not to say I am doing it right cause I really am not.

And most of the problems that you describe are pretty much the same ones that I had with McAfee.

I have never had a problem un-installing Norton products.

But you are correct.

I am me. You are you. Two different personalities and Systems.

And therefore there is more than likely not going to be a type of software such as being dicussed that will be satisfactory to both.

But that is in no way to say that either piece of sofware is not good.

And the heck of it is that there is no way we can tell which one is better * FOR US * untill we install it and see what it turns up ( or down ).

BillyBob

 

Touché!

The crowd waits with bated breath for Abraxas' riposte

 

Another long-time and pretty happy Norton fan here.

First off - I have never been hit successfully with a virus while running NAV. I can't ask for more than that.

WinDoctor - I usually tell it to fix any problems it finds. And can't remember the last time that caused me a problem.

But if it should (or when I otherwise shoot myself in the foot), Go-Back has never failed to get me back to normal and running.

Ghost - no opinion since never used it or any similar.

Defragger is IMO better than 2k had or XP has. Just make sure not to run both since they don't agreed on how to lay out a drive.

System performance issues - I have tried with Norton off (after unplugging from the DSL modem) and didn't notice any speed increase at all. And don't notice any slow-down with it running. Very similar performance to my work XP box that runs a corporate version of Trend Micro's Office Scan for AV.

The only removal issues I've had so far was (I think) from 2001 to 2002 or which ever upgrade required complete removal of the previous version. That did take the special removal utility to complete the removal but really no biggie and only ever needed to do it once.

As has been noted before, these things are largely a matter of personal preference unless they are horribly buggy. And so far among the packages I've personally used, only McAfee will never get near a PC of mine again. Ever.

 

 
 
Well, this has been a productive discussion. I'm sure the debate could go on forever. We have all had a chance to tout our favorites, and I have had a chance to mention an app I like that is not so well-known as Norton.

Thank you, gentlemen.

PS. McAfee will never approach a machine of mine, either. My first computer was ruined by McAfee's crappy imaging software (I knew I was sunk when scandisk found over 4,000 cross-linked files).
But the clincher was when I got a renewal notice from them with a discount offer---the box was too small to write in and try as I might, I couldn't renew until the "special offer" expired. I find it hard to believe that they were unaware of this problem, especially since I wrote them several times. Norton is trying to buy them, and will succeed eventually.