Norton SystemWorks 2004 Professional; Worth the money?
Written: Apr 18 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A good, complete program for optimizing and backing up your PC.
Cons: Not too many significant changes from previous versions.
The Bottom Line: Go Pro for Ghost; Don't upgrade from 2002 or 2003 as not significantly different; other than that, great!
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| ivplay's Full Review: Symantec NORTON SYSTEMWORKS PRO 2004 RETAIL (10109... |
NOTE:This will be a very lengthy review, as I wanted to do justice to this suite. Anytime you take on a suite of software, you get a very comprehensive list of features and programs, and to review this adequately requires some space. The Norton SystemWorks Professional 2004 is a very nicely bundled software suite, and I just wanted to warn you that this will be quite a read!
Do you not have an Antivirus program yet? Do you want a good system to do a Windows checkup and remove unneeded or obsolete registry items? Want to clean up your internet debris from your computer? Have you ever wanted to clone your failing drive, or perform backups periodically for safety sake? Norton SystemWorks Professional 2004 can do all of this, plus a whole, whole lot more.
Brief Overview
Norton SystemWorks Professional 2004 is a software bundle from the leaders in internet security, Symantec. This is a bundle of some of their more popular titles along with a few really unnecessary apps along for the ride. There are multiple solutions, all geared towards keeping your PC running in tip top shape. I bought this to replace my aging SystemWorks 2001, standard edition. This program can easily perform the following tasks:
Scan the computer for unnecessary files with Web Cleanup
Create full backup copy of disks or Partitions using Ghost
Run PerformanceTest benchmarks to see how your computer compares
Run Process Viewer to see what processes are currently running
Improve system performance via Speed Disk
Monitor and analyze full system components using System Doctor
Fix common windows problems using WinDoctor
Fix computer problems using DOS based Norton Disk Doctor
Free hard disk space by removing files that are not necessary using CleanSweep
Monitor and track all files that new programs use in order to remove fully at a later date using SmartSweep
Keep track of cache files, plug ins, cookies, etc and remove later via InternetSweep
Use Backup Wizard to compress and back up unused programs, thus freeing up disk space
UnErase Wizard can recover files that are erased so long as the disk sector has not been rewritten
Wipe Info can permanently remove files to try and discourage recovery
Norton Antivirus protection for internet surfing and email gathering/sending
Use Password Manager for keeping all of your various passwords in one place
GoBack; similar to the system restore used natively in Windows
Live Update will keep each and every one of these up to date!
All of this functionality and more is what you get when you buy the Norton SystemWorks Professional 2004.
Why go Pro?
You could get most of this functionality in SystemWorks Standard 2004 and pay less. However, for me the Ghost program was enough to cause me to upgrade, as I wanted to burn backups of my disks just in case! The Professional version also comes with the Process Viewer and PerformanceTest, which the standard version does not have. In my opinion, both of these are next to worthless and I would not have upgraded if it were not for the Ghost.
Purchase
Just a quick blurb; I was looking through the Sunday Specials at my favorite websites, CompUSA.com, BestBuy.com, and CircuitCity.com a few weeks ago. I noticed that CompUSA.com was having an anniversary celebration, and that part of this was screaming deals on Norton SystemWorks Professional 2004. You bought the boxed software for $99.99, and then mailed in a $30 upgrade rebate and a $49.99 mail-in rebate. After rebates, the software cost me all of $20! Great deal for the Pro version, especially considering the Standard would have cost me $69.99 with the $30 upgrade rebate for a total of $39.99. I had NIS 2002 and SystemWorks 2001, so the upgrade rebate was good to go.
Installation
Once the software arrived in the mail, I quickly filled out the rebate forms and sent them in. I always make sure to do this first to ensure that I don’t forget it and end up paying full price.
I opened the box to find one, single CD. I honestly thought that there would have been more disks, what with how much software there is in the box. I uninstalled SystemWorks 2001 completely, even going so far as to erase the folders out of the common files and program files. There are many documented cases of upgrading problems with SystemWorks, NIS, NAV, etc., and I didn’t want to take my chances. I had once been marooned with NIS on my computer and no administrator account, thanks all to NIS upgrade. Without an administrator account you cannot shut it down, uninstall it, change the settings, etc… Not a fun situation.
After completely wiping out the 2001 version, I inserted the disk and started the install. I chose not to install Norton AntiVirus(NAV) as that was already loaded when I bought NIS 2004.
This particular version of Norton SystemWorks(NSW) now utilizes online registration and activation. This is very similar to the Microsoft Windows XP activation system, and many people absolutely hate it. I was somewhat skeptical at first, as I do many, many upgrades to my computer. If I change too much in my computer, theoretically the software will stop working and I will have to buy a new package.
This is not true. I have had to reactivate both Windows and SystemWorks already, and in both cases if you are the original purchaser you will have no problems. If you hear someone complaining loudly, realize they are probably trying to get the software for free!
The disk only contains 367MB of data total. Inserting the disk in your drive will bring up several options for loading and running from disk, so it is very easy to setup. Run the installation process, restart your computer a few times and activate over the internet with the 24 alphanumeric character activation key found on the disk sleeve and you are ready to run with the big dogs!
Documentation/Support
Before getting into the meat, I should say that this program comes with one of the largest user manuals I have ever seen accompany a software bundle. The book is 346 pages long, written in very legible English. For easy to answer questions you can use the Automated Support Assistant or search the knowledge base. If you do not find any answers to your questions there, you may have to move to the next step. Symantec has sold out their tech service to a third party vendor, and you can get 24-7 support over the internet at the following address:
http://www.tech24.com/symantec.asp#
Keep in mind, this will cost you $19.95 per session, so have all of your questions written down!
So what software is included?
Norton SystemWorks is a compilation of several top quality software applications, including:
Norton Antivirus 2004 Professional Version
Norton Utilities for Norton SystemWorks 2004
Norton CleanSweep for Norton SystemWorks 2004
Norton Ghost 2003 for Windows 2000/NT/Me/98/XP
Web Tools for Norton SystemWorks 2004
Norton GoBack 3.5 personal edition
Norton Password Manager 2004
Process Viewer
PerformanceTest
So, with all of these uses, how does one interface pull it all together?
Interface
The interface for this program is NOT one of the best software interfaces I have used. If you have used NIS or NAV in the past three years, you will have already been exposed to this less than pretty interface. I wish that Norton would get it together and build an interface that was nice looking and intuitive, similar to Acronis’ Privacy Expert Suite 7.0.
In any case, the interface is a Window with all of the above options down the left hand side as expandable headers. Clicking on Ghost, for instance, will expand the Ghost option on the left and allow you to select the options available. It is functional, but not may favorite interface. Let’s go through each option and discuss how each works, what it can do for you, and why you may or may not find it useful.
One Button Checkup
One Button Checkup is a nice all in one tool that will check for registry, program and file problems as well as ensure that the Norton SystemWorks files are all up to date. You can simply click the hot button and it will go. On this screen you can also schedule this task, read repair histories, and click on options. Within the options you can customize what your One Button Checkup will do, taking out tasks or leaving them all in. The default is to run all tasks, which include:
Windows Registry Scan
Program Integrity Scan
Virus definitions Check
Auto-Protect Check
Last Virus Scan Check
Shortcut Scan Check
Web Cleanup Check
Each of these will be explained under their respective areas below.
Norton Utilities
Norton Utilities consists of:
SpeedDisk
I use SpeedDisk quite a bit, as it has a handy analysis tool to tell you how much of your disk or partition is fragmented. This will also show you which files are fragmented the most, and comes with a built in defragmenter. The real wonder of this tool, though, is that it will allow you to tell Norton which files you want closer and further away. If you run MP3’s quite a bit, or have DVD recordings on your disk, placing them at the front of the disk will give you fastest read time. You can also schedule the defragmentation to occur whenever you want within this tool. Overall a very worthwhile tool to have.
Norton System Doctor
System Doctor allows you to continuously monitor the PC for problems. You can choose CPU usage, RAM usage, drive fragmentation, and others. I use this to monitor fragmentation and RAM usage. The system tray indicator will go from green light to red light when you have an issue, and then I generally run SpeedDisk to defragment. You can customize each alert to whatever setting you would like, such as percent fragmented for the disks.
UnErase Wizard
This is simply a tool to reclaim any files erased that were protected by Norton or erased from the recycle bin. This will only work if the drive sector has not been overwritten since the deletion, but should be attempted prior to a recover from GoBack or Ghost. Recovering is much better than restoring, as you never know what else might be lost when you restore from past settings
Norton Disk Doctor
A jazzed up version of ScanDisk, the Disk Doctor will diagnose and attempt repair of the disk. This includes the partition table, file structure, indexes, security descriptors, file data and surface testing. I run this infrequently at best, just to verify nothing has gone awry with my disk. This is schedulable on startup and customizable to determine which variants to run.
Norton WinDoctor
Norton WinDoctor is a program whose purpose is to inspect your Windows system program for errors. The program will check for common errors with your Windows installation, including a complete review of the registry entries. A program integrity scan is initiated, as well as a shortcut scan. If you have any shortcuts to programs you have deleted, including with the start bar, the program will eliminate them! This will also detect drive letter changes and attempt to fix shortcuts that were corrupted as a result, and also will attempt to fix directory moves. All in all, this is a great program that can be scheduled as well. It is run on my Windows installation once a week. If you hardly ever update, download or eliminate programs on your computer, you may not need to run this nearly so often.
System Information
This program is designed to let you know what you have inside the box. It is a useful tool for those who do not know what is in their computer, but I would still recommend the free utility called SisSoft Sandra 2004. It is much more comprehensive and in my opinion more correct. I used to recommend the program AIDA32, but that was discontinued as of March 24, 2004! Darn it! You can find the program here:
www.sisoftware.co.uk/
The Norton system information is not a bad little application, but it is nowhere near as comprehensive as Sandra.
Wipe Info
This application will wipe information off of your computer using either fast or government settings. Government overwrite option writes each sector with zero’s, verifies the overwrite, overwrites again with F’s, Verifies the F’s overwrite, writes a random value, verifies, verifies again, and then will re-overwrite and verify again for as many times as you want, up to 100. You can set the application to overwrite all deleted files, specific files, and all free space on the disk. This is a good application that can be customized and scheduled, but I do not use it. I instead use Acronis Privacy Expert Suite 7.0 for all of my wiping needs.
Password Manager
The Password Manager is an application for keeping track of and automatically entering your passwords for certain websites, etc. Each time you enter a password on a website or popup the program will ask you if you want to have the Manager store the password. If you say yes, it will store it and enter it the next time you come to that page. If you say no, it will add it to an ignored list. You can have multiple profiles with separate passwords for the same site, and you can export your list and import it to another computer with Password Manager on it. You can also store addresses and credit card numbers, although this conflicts with my private information monitor on NIS, so I don’t use it. I can attest to the usefulness of the manager, although I do not know how easy it is to import/export as I have never done so. I also only use one profile on my computer, so profile management is something I cannot comment on. However, I would like to be able to print out a list of the sites and passwords, which I do not think is possible with this program.
Norton AntiVirus
I am not going to say too awful much about this app, as it is highly documented elsewhere. If you have used the internet, you already know what Antivirus software is, and you probably have used a computer with NAV on it. NAV is the acknowledged leader in this avenue of software, and it works well in my opinion. It checks incoming and outgoing emails, downloaded files, compressed files, Instant Messenger files, etc. It is very comprehensive, self-updating and customizable. I like it!
CleanSweep
CleanSweep is an application which is designed to clean up your computer, including an uninstall tool and a Fast and Safe Clean up tool. In addition to this, there are several internet clean-ups, such as Cache Cleanup, Cookie Cleanup, Plug-In Cleanup and ActiveX Cleanup. A lot of these items you can schedule using a free windows add in called TWEAKUI (Look it up on the web), and I use this in combination with Acronis Privacy Expert Suite 7.0. I do not use CleanSweep at all, except for where it is added into the One Button Cleanup. There is also a Backup Wizard and Restore Wizard, neither or which I use. They are designed to backup individual program sand restore them when needed. I prefer the whole disk protection of Ghost.
Norton Ghost 2003
Norton Ghost is the only reason I bought this program as opposed to the Standard edition. With this program you can backup or restore partitions and view a log of execution history. You can go to the advanced section to Clone a partition, Run DOS Ghost interactively, Run across a network, create virtual partitions, and check your image files for integrity. Finally, you can create a boot disk for Ghost to allow you to run Ghost on a computer with no Windows partition already on it. You can also run the Ghost Explorer to see what is in the image file, and load and print a User’s guide.
I have used this to backup my Windows partition and data partitions to an external hard drive for insurance reasons. I have restored both to another disk to upgrade my hard drive. I had a small issue of needing to set the disk partition as primary and active so that Windows would start normally, but other than that I had no problems. I highly recommend this program for data backup, either with a DVD burner or an external hard drive. Once you lose all of your data, you will backup once a week at minimum, as I do!
Norton GoBack
Norton GoBack is a tool to revert your hard drive to a point in time that will eliminate problems. This loads prior to Windows and thus can be used even if your Windows installation is corrupted, as opposed to Windows System Restore program. I have not had opportunity to use this as of yet, but I do have it turned on and it is saving restore points. I turned off windows System Restore, as the program wastes a lot of hard drive space with its restore points. Better to have only one restore program running!
Process Viewer
This is a program that will show you what processes are running, similar to tapping Ctrl Alt delete in windows. The difference is that this will show you a tree with all DLL’s associated with the processes, including the full address of the files. I have very little use for this program, but you may have a need for it, so I mentioned it. This was software developed by an individual and then either licensed or bought by Symantec in 2001.
Performance Test
A trial version of Performance Test is included with this, and again I find very little use for it. It is a benchmarking software application, of which I already have many, many titles. This particular application is produced by Passmark Software and bundled by Symantec. I can get all of the benchmarks on this from the free SisSoft Sandra 2004, and I trust the reported figures on SisSoft more. I would recommend downloading SisSoft and canning this particular application.
LiveUpdate
LiveUpdate is a program that will go out to the Symantec Servers and check for program updates as well as virus definitions. This program will update each and every application that you have supported by Symantec, all in one. I have mine scheduled to update every day, as the virus definitions can update quickly. In this fashion I am fairly certain to not get a virus. If you notice that your update does not appear to be working, run a security check from Symantec’s website. There are viruses out there that will turn off the LiveUpdate feature first, thus guaranteeing their ‘survival’.
Overall
Norton SystemWorks Professional 2004 is a very robust software suite with some very nice applications and a few add-ons that should be left out.. You can schedule and customize most of the actions, and I really do think that some of them are best in class, including NAV and Ghost. The WinDoctor is very nice, as is the Disk Doctor. Norton System Doctor is nice to run in the system tray to keep tabs on your hardware, and I use it to know when to defrag with SpeedDisk.
If you have a desire to image your drives and partitions, go ahead and upgrade to the Professional version. If not, you may as well stay with the Standard, as that is the only good upgrade included.
I would recommend this for anyone who is performance minded about their PC. It is a screaming deal for $20, and I would say it is even worth it for the $99.99 with $30 rebate right now at CompUSA.com. If you have a previous version of any Norton Product, the box should come with the upgrade rebate, or you can download it from the Symantec website through August of this year to get an additional $30 off.
I hope you find this review useful, and please leave a comment and a rating if you so choose!
Recommended:
Yes
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