« Return to: Cover Story: Tools for Trouble-Free Computing
| Disk Imaging Program | Street price (3/1/02) | Supported operating systems | Features | Comments |
| Best Buy PowerQuest Drive Image 5 | $70 | Windows 95/98/NT 4.0/Me/2000/XP; DOS | Supports FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, HPFS, and Linux EXT2/Swap file systems. | Included QuickImage utility lets you create partitions from within Windows. Offers automatic resize on the fly; restores individual files and folders; supports CD-R and CD-RW. |
| Symantec Norton Ghost 2002 | $40 | Windows 95/98/NT 4.0/Me/2000/XP; Linux | Supports FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, and Linux EXT2 file systems. | Advanced features are better suited for an IT department than a home or small-office user. We didn't like the program's confusing terminology and annoying copy protection. |
| V Communications DriveWorks | $70 | Windows 95/98/Me/NT 4.0/2000/XP; DOS; Linux | Supports FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, and Linux EXT2 file systems. | No support for recordable CD, but the program can create and resize partitions. You can set up a backup routine using the wizard or dialog boxes. |
| Registry Utility | Street price (3/1/02) | Supported operating systems | Features | Comments |
| Best Buy Ontrack SystemSuite 4 Registry Fixer | $60 | Windows 95/98/NT 4.0/Me/2000/XP | Performs Registry cleaning, backup, and restore. | Shows a list of problems and then lets you fix those problems en masse or one at a time. |
| Symantec Norton SystemWorks WinDoctor | $70 | Windows 98/NT 4.0/Me/2000/XP | Performs Registry cleaning; diagnoses various Windows problems, including software errors and hardware configuration conflicts. | In our tests, WinDoctor scanned the Registry and found potential problems, but didn't list dangerous ones. |
How We Test: We tested Registry cleaning software on a 1.5-GHz Pentium 4 system with 256MB of RAM and Windows XP Professional.