We offer 16 utilities designed to ensure reliable operation of the PC by properly configuring, organizing backups, optimizing performance.

Even on a well-tuned computer, "accidents" occur from time to time-data is lost, files are lost, and hard disk failures occur. Fortunately, there are system utilities that can prevent these problems, or, if the worst happens, save what you can. These programs timely recognize and correct errors that lead to such troubles, and sometimes even repair damaged data. Finally, if on one unfortunate day your PC does not start, these utilities can help you to retrieve important documents or photos.

In a good package, most of the necessary utilities should be on the same CD-ROM and have a common user interface. Why the "majority", but not all? Because we have not yet managed to find a package that would contain absolutely everything necessary. Especially often there are not enough good backup utilities and sometimes disk partitions management programs. Finally, the utilities for creating an emergency startup disk in all the packages we reviewed - Symantec Norton SystemWorks 2004, Business Logic Ultra WinCleaner Utility Suite 8, Iolo System Mechanic 4 Professional and V Communications SystemSuite 5 - had some disadvantages. As part of each package there is also an anti-virus program: SystemWorks is Norton Antivirus 2003, System Mechanic includes Panda Antivirus Platinum, SystemSuite includes VirusScanner Pro, Ultra WinCleaner - QuickHeal.

Let's see how these packages help to maintain the proper performance of Windows XP, the cleanliness and order on the hard drive, and what they can offer us in case of trouble.

Since Windows XP includes its own set of system utilities, for additional programs we have set a high bar: in our opinion, to install a package of independent developers makes sense only if it has more functions than its own Windows utilities. Such a package should:

• Ensure system security;
• Test hardware and warn in advance of problems that are brewing;
• Correct inconsistencies in Windows Registry and prevent their random accumulation;
• Simplify the daily operations of computer maintenance.

Since, as is known, on a hard disk different garbage accumulates even faster than on a carpet in the car, a good package of system utilities should help the user to remove unnecessary programs and data. Such a package should come to the rescue in case of accidental deletion of the desired file, but, at the same time, irretrievably delete those that are no longer needed. Finally, the package should provide funds for that accident, if Windows does not start at all.

In our opinion, the best was a collection of SystemSuite utilities from V Communications - as containing the most extensive set of useful programs. And the biggest disappointment was Norton SystemWorks 2004, which, in our opinion, needs a serious revision. We, of course, liked its unified management and approach to cleaning the registry - however some of the most important utilities, such as emergency restart, do not support the NTFS file system used in Windows XP. The anti-virus component of Norton AntiVirus is really good, but it's hardly worth buying the whole package for it, especially since this component is sold separately (and also in the more functional Norton Internet Security - $ 70).

System Mechanic and Ultra WinCleaner contain useful selections of utilities, but they both lack the breadth of SystemSuite. However, the utility for recovering deleted files in System Mechanic was the best of all, and the Ultra WinCleaner package, exactly in accordance with the name, was the only owner of the program that cleans the hard drive better than the built-in Windows utility - Disk Cleanup. However, none of these packages found as complete a set of tools as in SystemSuite. True, Ultra WinCleaner is intended only for cleaning the system, but not for complete diagnostics and other tasks stated in the advertising brochures of other packages.

Over the past few years, Norton SystemWorks and SystemSuite have gained a reputation for slowing down Windows. However, tests showed that the latest versions of these packages (in the standard configuration, but with disabled anti-viruses) have almost no effect on performance. In previous versions, background monitoring was automatically started - it led to a decrease in performance. In new versions, monitoring utilities are not started by default.

Ensuring system security

In addition to utilities for disk and system maintenance, all four packages offer facilities to protect the computer from bad guys from the Internet. In addition to virus protection, all packages have utilities for removing browser settings and other personal data.

The best selection of security tools is System Mechanic. This package includes Panda Antivirus Platinum, which "concurrently" performs the functions of the firewall, and also detects and removes Trojan programs from the computer. True, Panda is not the most effective antivirus.

SystemSuite also has a firewall, and SystemWorks detects trojan programs (using Norton AntiVirus 2004) - but only System Mechanic blocks "pop-up" advertisements.

The only innovation of the latest version of Norton SystemWorks is the password management system. Passwords and other important data are encrypted. SystemSuite includes a MailWasher spam filter and GhostSurf, an anonymous Internet browsing tool. However, their functionality is limited, and MailWasher, moreover, constantly pops up a pretty tedious screensaver. Perhaps it is better to purchase a separate, full-featured version.

Cleanliness is the pledge of health of the disk

As you know, the best means of supporting health is not treatment, but prevention. About the health of the computer, you can say the same thing: it is recommended to regularly check Windows and hard disk for errors and other problems that can eventually become worse and lead to trouble right up to a system failure. In addition, in case Windows stops working as it should, we need a convenient tool to find and fix the cause of the problem.

In all the packages under consideration, the basic maintenance operations are simplified through a single verification system. Typically, such a system scans and defrags the hard drive, performs some diagnostics, removes unnecessary files, scans the system for viruses and removes traces left by visiting the Internet. Such prevention is best done once a week. In addition, all packages allow you to run the appropriate modules separately, and in SystemWorks and System Mechanics, you can even schedule automatic launch of preventative utilities. The SystemSuite Scheduler supports individual tasks, but not complex validation.

All packages except Ultra WinCleaner include a defragmenter utility. In SystemWorks and SystemSuite there are disk scanners for error checking, and in SystemSuite, in addition, one more thing that is missing from the standard Windows utilities: a scanner of removable media that detects errors on CDs and DVDs. He successfully finds problems, but, unfortunately, does not offer a solution - unlike, for example, the freeware CDCheck utility that attempts to recover corrupted files.

The Fix-It component of SystemSuite provides advanced hardware diagnostic capabilities-more than other packages. It tests memory, motherboard, disks and - after installation of additional feedback plugs - PC ports. And graphics and multimedia system tests can also boost your mood by demonstrating a psychedelic color show.

Another great tool SystemSuite determines when the hard disk is running out of space. The graphical representation of the folders reflects the data on how much space they occupy (along with all the attachments). Something similar is in SystemWorks, however, only the selected folder size is displayed there.

Windows Diagnostics

Typically, problems occur because of a lack of system resources or hard disk space and much less often due to a hardware component failure. In order to protect users from such everyday problems, SystemWorks and SystemSuite include Windows background diagnostics programs that monitor the computer while you are working on it. They provide much more information and warnings than your own Windows task manager. However, the program running in the background and controlling everything in a row, almost always reduces the system performance. Users of previous versions of both packages often complained that because of such programs their computers are too slow, and sometimes even fail. Therefore, in the latest versions, monitoring programs are disabled by default-they can only be enabled if necessary.

Startup control

Many applications during installation are configured to start automatically when the PC is booted, and canceling this mode is not easy. Using the utilities included in Ultra WinCleaner and System Mechanic, you can "clean" the list of applications that run with Windows. True, in Windows for this purpose there is own utility Msconfig, however in the considered packages there is a notable advantage: they work with profiles. In other words, you can create different sets of programs for different users: for example, one profile with several applications for daily work and another, empty, for diagnostic purposes. Otherwise, we note that WinStart Commander from Ultra WinCleaner is trying to complicate even the simplest everyday operations - Startup Manager from System Mechanic is much more convenient.

spring-cleaning

As the hard drive is used, a lot of junk accumulates on it - and quite quickly. Some pieces are simply wasting their time, which slows down the backup and other maintenance operations, while others can lead to destabilization of the system. Fortunately, all the packages we reviewed contain disk cleanup tools. These tools can be divided into the following categories.

Registry Cleaners

The worst kind of garbage accumulating on the hard drive is the trash deposit in the Windows registry. After removing programs in the registry, there are often unnecessary keys that create confusion. If the computer works somehow wrong - for example, the program fails or the CD-RW drive for some reason refuses to burn the discs - it is quite possible that the cause should be searched in the system registry.

All four considered packages have registry scanners that detect potential causes of problems, report them and try to eliminate them. No less important, all four utilities allow "rollback" to the original state - after all, in order to make sure the utility of registry changes, it is usually necessary to see what happened.

The most convenient process for cleaning the registry is implemented in SystemSuite, where the detected problem areas of the registry are highlighted in different colors. Those of them that are painted in green, it's easy to fix with the help of the program, but you have to think over the yellow ones. As for the red lines, here before you touch something, you need to think twice.

SystemSuite provides detailed descriptions of each list item, but in Norton SystemWorks, these explanations are even more detailed, since they indicate the possible consequences in case you do not delete this key. However, no program says what will happen if such a key is deleted. But the WinDoctor component from SystemWorks has a nice feature: when you restore the registry key, the program reports why it was deleted.

Full Backup

The most typical backup technology is to create full copies of all partitions of all drives on the computer at regular intervals, for example once a week, and in more frequent updating of the modified files (this can be done at least every day). All considered programs, with the exception of Iomega Automatic Backup, allow both types of backups - and on such a schedule, that the copying moments were outside of working hours. If you have a rewritable DVD or a second hard disk, this means that you can regularly create full backups. It is enough to leave a rewritable CD or DVD in the computer for the night - and each time you will receive a fresh backup by the morning (if, of course, the capacity of the disk allows).

Iomega Automatic Backup implements a slightly different approach: it creates backups not of the entire system, but only of certain important files selected by the user, and only as they change. The program also allows you to store multiple copies of the same file made at different times, so at any time you can return to any of the versions. Thus, Iomega Automatic Backup is not a full-scale backup utility, but rather a means of improving system reliability.

As the tests show, Dantz Retrospect makes backups much faster than other programs: copying about 9 GB of data to the Maxtor OneTouch USB 2.0 hard drive takes about 25 minutes. The Dant version, supplied with the external Maxtor OneTouch, works almost as fast as the "boxed" version. The slowest of the utilities was Stomp BackUp MyPC. It took 42 minutes to copy the same amount of data. If the backup is planned for the night, perhaps these differences are not so important, but if it is to be performed during working hours, a difference of 20 minutes can be significant.

When you create a backup on a FAT32 disk, all the programs considered split the data into several files, so that their size does not exceed the 4 GB limit imposed by this file system. All the details of this process are tracked automatically - except for Stomp BackUp MyPC, where you want to enter the name of each newly created file. Unfortunately, with this approach, automatic copying of large files becomes impossible. Thus, if such operations are planned, you should use another backup utility or a disk with the NTFS or CDFS file system.

Dantz Retrospect, in addition to the standard feature set, includes client software for working on a remote computer, which provides the client with the means to manage the backup. If multiple backup copies of the same file are found on the same PC, Retrospect saves only one of them, so that the copying with the addition is accelerated.

Recovering lost data

All the programs considered allow you to restore both the entire backup copy as a whole, and individual files. However, you really begin to realize the value of such software only after a complete system failure. If the hard drive is irreparably damaged, you can always buy a new one, install Windows and a backup program on it, and then restore the data and restore the system completely. Dantz Retrospect, NTI Backup Now and Stomp BackUp MyPC simplify this task, since they create emergency disks for restoring a full backup without installing Windows directly to an empty disk.

However, there are several "pitfalls" here. To create a set of emergency disks Windows requires a full installation CD of the operating system - emergency CCD with disk images, attached to many computers, in this case will not work. NTI Backup Now function works differently: in order to use it, you need to create a separate copy of the entire disk using the supplied DriveBackup program. You can not use backups created by Backup Now to do this. But the DriveBackup image can be created and restored from the system regardless of the presence of the Windows XP installation disk.

Uninstallers

When installing the program, we give the hard drive at the mercy of its developer. As a result, the program files are scattered all over the disk. Worse, the configuration of Windows can change - in accordance with someone's ideas about what you need. In three of the four considered packages, there are universal uninstallers, theoretically able to remove any program. Unfortunately, none of these funds turned out to be truly radical.

Obviously, to solve this task, you need "native" uninstallers of the corresponding programs. Ultimately, you can hardly come up with a better tool for removing a particular application than what is written on its own CD. Unfortunately, many uninstallers remove only the functionality of the corresponding application, "forgetting" about the numerous files scattered on the hard disk. And it's very rare to recall Windows back to their original state. However, the universal uninstallers, which are part of the packages of system utilities, work even worse, because they do not have the advantages of built-in deletion programs.

Universal uninstallers SystemSuite and Ultra WinCleaner, if possible, use original removal tools, if they are, of course, in unwanted programs - as these tools tend to work better. In the same cases, when universal uninstallers had to operate their own mind, EasyUninstall from SystemSuite shows, as a rule, better results than WinUninstall Wizard from Ultra WinCleaner. However, it, like other uninstallers, also does not delete everything that follows.

CleanSweep from Norton SystemWorks does not resort to using its own application uninstallers. Instead, it controls the installation in the background and remembers the changes that are made to the system. Thanks to this, he can later return everything to the place - again, theoretically. In fact, this monitoring works very uncoordinated. So, he refused to function on a computer with an Intel processor where hyper-streams are used, and on another PC "skipped" the installation of QuickBooks. When the program fixed the installation, then when you delete the corresponding application, it still did not work as carefully as the "native" uninstaller. CleeanSweep removes programs without monitoring - but it does it worse than SystemSuite and Ultra WinCleaner utilities. As far as we can see, CleeanSweep does not change anything in the registry.

In System Mechanic, there is no uninstaller at all, but there is a monitoring program. With its help, you can make "snapshots" of the system before and immediately after installing the next application and save a report on the changes. Later, this report can be used to find the installed software and to remove it manually.

Removing unnecessary files

All four packages have the simplest tools for removing unnecessary files, which only slow down the hard drive - for example, temporary files, the web cache, etc. But, again, there is a similar function in Windows XP, and only Ultra WinCleaner performs this task better than the "native" utility of the operating system - Disk Cleanup. During the test, WinCleaner managed to remove 44 MB of "garbage", while XP's own function detected only 35 MB. The result of SystemWorks - 36 MB - almost repeated the actions of Windows, and System Mechanic managed to detect only 1.4 MB.

SystemSuite again outperformed other packages, but this time in a different way: its utility removed several gigabytes of data from a folder called temp on a second hard drive that was not subject to verification at all.

Irreversible destruction of files

The ability to recover deleted files often helps. But sometimes it's necessary to delete some files so that no one ever sees them again. All four packages include tools for reliable file deletion and allow (with the exception of SystemWorks) to clean up the entire hard drive - for example, in the event of the sale or donation of an old computer (links to the EPOS article, ULPO).

In SystemSuite, PowerDesk, the file manager supplied with SystemSuite, is used to delete files. The previous version of SystemSuite included a more powerful predecessor, PowerDesk Pro. But SystemSuite 5 includes only a version with limited functionality, which can be downloaded for free from the Internet. However, and free PowerDesk is a good tool, better than Windows Explorer. In comparison with the paid version, it lacks only a universal function for viewing files and settings.

Accident insurance

Imagine that you have cleared the trash, and then discovered that you accidentally deleted the file. Your actions? .. And if one morning will not run Windows?

Most utilities designed for older versions of Windows helped to solve these problems. However, in Windows 2000 and XP, where the NTFS file system is used, these utilities are powerless.

Recover Deleted Files

As you know, in Windows remote files are placed in the "Trash", where they are located until the user clears it. In a word, the basket is a good temporary storage, where you can restore files deleted by mistake. However, such a decision is not ideal. If the file size is too large and it does not fit in the trash, then when you delete it, the file does not fall into the recycle bin - hence, you need to look for another way to restore it. The same applies to the cases when a file is remembered already having cleared the trash.

Norton SystemWorks offers a slightly improved version of the Recycle Bin, which delays files that Windows missed. Unfortunately, it is of little use for NTFS disks. SystemSuite and System Mechanic often - but not always - allow you to restore files deleted from the Recycle Bin, even in the NTFS file system. A deleted file can not be recovered when other information has already been written on the area where it was located. SystemSuite offers an additional level of protection in the form of Deleted Files Bin - the places where the files get after cleaning the basket or in case they did not fall into the trash when deleted. System Mechanic allows you to put the recovered file on another disk, which is a good precaution for the future. In addition, System Mechanic has one more useful feature: the restoration of deleted e-mail messages. Mail clients Outlook, Outlook Express, Netscape Messenger and Eudora are processed.

Emergency loading

There are few things that are worse than non-running PCs. In Windows XP, finding a way out of this situation is not easy. True, the "native" CD with MS Windows XP has a useful, albeit not very easy to use utility for system recovery. You only need to run it ... if only you have this CD. If not, then the prospect seems bleak: to return the hard disk to the original - a virgin clean state and install the system again, and to say good-bye to the data.

But in Windows XP there is another utility that does not require a CD from Microsoft, - System Restore. It creates backup copies of the main system files and, if necessary, restores them. Similar backup tools are available in Norton SystemWorks and SystemSuite. These utilities provide a more reliable, in comparison with System Restore, protection. GoBack Personal from SystemWorks is automatically installed in the boot sector of the hard drive in front of Windows and provides the ability to return the operating system to the state it was in before problems occurred and Windows stopped running. Of course, if the cause of the failure is in the boot sector itself, it will not be possible to restore the initial state of the system.

Recovery Commander from SystemSuite offers the best solution. It allows you to create a bootable CD and restore the backup copies of the hard disk (including NTFS drives) created by Recovery Commander from it. Moreover, files from the hard disk can be copied to the USB memory module, which is especially convenient when moving from place to place.

Unfortunately, none of the packages found a tool, so necessary for all Windows 2000 and XP users, a boot disk with NTFS file system recovery tools and a user-friendly interface. Such utility is in Winternals ERD Commander 2003 - it creates a bootable CD with a special version of Windows XP (under license from Microsoft). After the PC is booted from this disk, you can start System Restore, check the hard disk for errors, and copy the files to another computer over the network.

Conclusion

In our opinion, all the described functions should be included in the composition of Windows XP itself. This is especially true for the ERD Commander package, since the technology is already used in Windows XP. Yes, and the rest of the packages considered it would be nice to get something like the ERD Commander. And until then, it remains to select the one that is most promising for you, and add it with utilities offered separately.