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Ontrack's SystemSuite 3 won a Best Buy from us last year for its combination of functionality, ease of use, dependability, and price. SystemSuite 4 provides some great new tools and makes standard chores easier. But it may be losing a little ground in the dependability department.

Prior SystemSuite versions came with a defragger, diagnostics, tools to restore lost data and regain hard drive space, and an antivirus program, among others.

Version 4 adds a tool that syncs your PC to an atomic clock via the Web; a Windows error message tracker; and printed documentation on what to do in an emergency. You also get a firewall--a must for broadband users and typically not offered in a non-security-themed utilities suite.

Four Maintenance Wizards simplify common tasks. For example, the FixUp Wizard directs a backup of critical files, a hardware-problems diagnosis, and a drive scan. The All-In-One Wizard does the work of the other three wizards and adds a virus scan; you can schedule its run, too.

My major complaint with SystemSuite 3 was that the antivirus program did not scan e-mail as it came in. With version 4, it does--or it's supposed to. In my tests, only when I opened an infected message did the virus scanner object. Ontrack sent me a patch to fix this problem, but it didn't work. Another glitch: After I first ran the All-In-One Wizard on a Windows XP PC, Word XP wouldn't load until I let Word reinstall part of itself. Both problems may be unique to my PC--I searched various Net locations for similar complaints without much success.

SystemSuite 4 may be imperfect, but it's still a very good tools set, and generally still has an edge over its rivals.

SUMMARY

Ontrack Data International SystemSuite 4 A few bugs mar an otherwise excellent set of tools. List: $60

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