Norton SystemWorks 2001 combines Symantec's most popular Windows utility programs into one package. In addition to the ubiquitous Norton AntiVirus, it comes with Norton CleanSweep, for safely removing unwanted files and programs from your hard drive, and Norton Utilities, for diagnosing and repairing system woes. (The AU$217 Professional Edition adds WinFax 10.0 Basic Edition and Norton Ghost, which duplicates entire hard drives.) Several new features have been added to the individual programs, along with better overall integration.
SystemWorks 2001 can help you even before you install it. Several of the utilities, such as Disk Doctor and WinDoctor, can be run directly from the program CD. This is a neat solution to the chicken-and-egg problem of how to use a program to fix your system when its problems are so bad that they interfere with program installation.
Once you've installed the program, a new Integrator screen provides easy access to every function of the separate programs. It also includes a One-Button Checkup feature that allows you to perform 10 separate scans at once. These scans diagnose and fix a variety of common problems, such as bad registry entries, hard drive problems, and inadequate free space on your hard drives.
The individual programs are all among the best in their respective categories, and the new versions feature several enhancements. Norton AntiVirus, for example, has improved e-mail checking to respond to the increase in this type of virus. Symantec's LiveUpdate feature helps ensure that you have the latest version of these programs, and the new Web Services feature allows Symantec to offer additional functions through the Internet.
The casual user may find the comprehensive nature of these utilities a bit daunting, because together they offer dozens of functions. But SystemWorks doesn't cost much more than Norton AntiVirus alone, so it's worth buying the entire package if you plan to use even one of the other utilities.
Norton SystemWorks 2001
Company: Symantec
Ph: 02 8879 1000; Fax: 02 8879 1001
Price: AU$162.
Rating: 5 Star
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