The Trouble-Free PC
Tune it up. Back it up. Ramp it up. We test 16 utilities designed to keep your system running strong today and tomorrow.
By Lincoln Spector , PCW Print
Features Comparison: Utility Suites Scorecard (chart)
All suites have antivirus tools, but beyond that they tend to specialize. V Communications' SystemSuite 5 covers the most bases.
SUITE Street price 11/14 2003 System scan Cleanup Disaster recovery Comments
All-in-one checkup
Start-up program control
Registry cleanup
Program uninstall
Junk file removal
File shredding
Undelete
Non-booting-system recovery
Business Logic
$50
Good
Good
Good
Average
Very good
Good
None
None
Has the best tools for system cleanup, and a zip utility. However, it omits defragging, undeleting, and disaster-recovery tools.
Iolo System
$70
Good
Good
Good
None
Average
Good
Very good
None
Good array of tools to secure your PC; best undelete, but other components are harder to use. No recovery tool.
Symantec
$65
Very good
Very good
Very good
Poor
Good
None
Poor
Average
Excellent antivirus program, but other components are showing their age. Its encrypting password manager is unique.
V Communi- cations
$60
Very good
Very good
Very good
Average
Good
Very good
Good
Good
By far the most diverse and well-designed collection of maitenance utilities. Some of the tools are crippled versions, though.
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