I love computers. I hate fixing them. However, I do get paid to do just that, and most of the time the reason a computer needs "fixed" is because its owner has neglected routine software maintainance -- downloading critical OS updates, allowing it to be infected adware/spyware, etc. Worst among these offenses would be failure to regularly defragment the hard drive, empty trash, temp directories and old caches, and clearing out of old registry items.

Thankfully, I have one software suite that helps me take care of all of this -- Fix-It Utilities 4.0. I have used this suite since I discovered version 2.0 in 1999, and I'm not ashamed to admit that it was a "pirated" version ... but considering that they print the serial number right on the disc and make no restrictions on making copies or installation (and still do not!) I'm not exactly sure if this can be considered piracy. When version 4.0 came out, I had NO PROBLEMS paying for it, at $30 it was not only affordable, it was one of the best investments I had ever made.

Okay, enough testimonial, let's get into the details of just what you're getting and why you need it!


DISK & FILE UTILITIES: The following programs are used to be used for routine (weekly or monthly) maintainance and management of your drives and files.


JetDefrag: a fantastic hard drive defragmentation and optimization utilitiy. It uses the patented IntelliCluster technology to track which programs you launch most often, and which files you use most often with those programs, and clusters them all together so that everything launches faster.

SystemSaver: backs up and restores critical system files and system registry and other requested files that you deem "critical".

Disk Snapshot: this tool takes a snapshot of your hard drive's File Allocation Table (FAT) and makes a copy of it. If your hard drive becomes corrupted or your system crashes, having this FAT image makes using the Recovery Disk or File Undeleter (explained in a few) that much better.

Disk Fixer: this program scans your hard drive for physical media damage and corrupted files. If your files are corrupted (such as with cross-linked files) it will attempt to repair them. If there is physical damage, it will attempt to rescue the data in those damaged areas and move them to another location, and it will mark those sectors as bad so no further data is written to them.

Disk Cleaner: this program will scan your hard drive and identify files which are rarely or never used, or have duplicate names (such as w/ multiple backups) and allows you to delete them, move them or compress them in a few short, easy steps.

File Undeleter: if you delete a file that you need to recover, this program can help in the process. Not only can it rescue files from Windows' Recycle Bin and the special Fix-It Utilities Deleted File bin, it can also attempt to rescue files that you deleted and removed from those places, or deleted in DOS (the files that you THOUGHT were permamently gone!) Rescuing deleted data is never 100% perfect (and OnTrack makes the bulk of their income providing these services at VERY expensive prices!), but this most certainly helps.

Disk Verifier: this program is used to verify removable media such as floppy disks and CD-ROMs. It will try to read every media and file, and if it cannot it will notify you and attempt to explain what the error is.


SYSTEM REGISTRY UTILITIES: These programs will help you maintain and optimize your registry to reduce or eliminate special system files.

Registry Defrag: this utilitiy organizes your registry so that it works optimally with Windows.

Registry Fixer: searches and repairs or remove invalid registry entries (which happens often if you frequently add and remove software).

Registry Cleaner: As you add and remove software from your computer, leftover registry entries are left behind due to incomplete or incompetent uninstalls. Registry cleaner helps to identify registry entries which no longer correspond to an installed program and lets you remove them.

Registry Editor (RegistrymMagic): an advanced Windows registry editor that includes much more powerful tools than the standard Windows REGEDIT program.

SYSTEM PROTECTION UTILITIES: These programs help to protect your data and recover from system crashes.

CrashProof: running in the background, it attempts to catch programs which will hang or otherwise crash your system, and provide you with an opportunity to save files you are working on and make a gentle recovery rather than facing the dreaded "Blue Screen of Death" or a hard system lock-up that requires a reboot and long delays in repairing the damage from lost or corrupted data.

Virus Scanner: unfortunately this is the weakest part of the Fix-It Utilities 4.0 suite. While it was a fairly effective tool, it wasn't the greatest, and Ontrack stopped providing updates in this version in February 2004. Thankfully there are much better (and FREE!) anti-virus packages that you can get.

Rescue Disk (Win9x/ME) / System Lifeline (WinNT): These two programs help you try to recover a crashed Windows system that will not boot up. Windows 2000 and XP users cannot use these tools, as Microsoft has included recovery utilities within these Windows installations to help.

Fix-It Scheduler: Don't want to manually mess with all of Fix-It Utilities tools? Fix-It Scheduler will schedule them to run whenever you want.

UnDoIt: WHOOPS! Sometimes Fix-It Utilities doesn't exactly do what you expect it to do. If you need to undo a fix, this program will go back to the way things were.

SYSTEM DIAGNOSTIC UTILITIES: These programs help you to detect problems or potential problems early and fix them, and also provide more information about your computer.

PC Diagnostics: detects which components are or are not working and how they work, as well as some helpful suggestions for resolving issues.

System Explorer: similar to tools such as Sandra SiSoft or AIDA32, this provides a simple interface to give you more information about your hardware and OS settings.

ClockSync: a utilitiy to synchronise your system's time with one of many available atomic clocks around the world.

Error Tracker: can't remember what that last error message said? Run this program in the background, and it will keep track of every error message for easy recall later while you're on the phone with tech support.

System Monitors: another set of utilities, these keep track of any system resource or or activity and provides you with warnings when your selected limits are exceeded (such as low disk space, CPU loads, high temperatures in your case, etc.)

SMARTDefender Warning System: For several years now hard drives have included Self-Monitoring Analysys and Reporting Technology (SMART) for identifying failing components, allowing you to rescue data before you potentially lose it. This tools provides you with an easier interface to run checks when you want it to and provide you with a report on your hard drive's physical health.

FIX WIZARDS: These programs run several of the above programs at once, providing a simple interface to get what you want done all done at once.

SpeedUp Wizard: runs the utilities which help your PC run faster.

CleanUp Wizard: runs the utilities which back up and/or clean out files on your PC.

FixUp Wizard: runs the programs which help to repair the broken parts of your PC.

All-in-One Wizard: Too lazy to do ANY of this on your own? Just run this and it will go through EVERY program for you automatically.

The documentation for Fix-It Utilities is VERY complete and Ontrack has taken a LOT of time to make this a very complete, easy-to-understand and user-friendly PC suite. I recommend this for anybody with ANY computer experience. Even my own mother has learned how to use these tools on a regular basis and improve your PC using experience.



Recommended: Yes