Norton Utilities 2002. Good or Bad ?

[DaSLiMe]

Hey guys/babez,

Is Norton Utilities 2002 useful ? Or just expendable ?

 

[phishhead]

I have had bad experience with norton utilities personally I use Ontrack system suites...its the underdog but a great suite of progs.

 

[Lonman]

Yeah, I don't like it either... Speed disk screws up XP's optimization cycle, and even when i have it set up to only display information, it still has crap running in the background that locks the partitions and what-not... I'm not positive, but i think it messes with system restore too.

 

[Khayman]

I hve had no probelm with norton utilites for many years, although i have stoped using speed disk as adviced on here. but the windoctor and discdoctor and other stuff are great IMO

 

[phishhead]

hey kman have you tried any other utilities...it's like one someone gets on AOL and they get stuck on because that's all they know...give ontrack a whirl...betcha make you switch..norton has crashed my pc too many times and it takes over too much without asking.

 

[Khayman]

Don't swear at me (AOL ). I'm more than willing to try new products. its just i don't need to, i've been using NU for many years without a problem, they do what i need and i don't use them all that often. If they start to give me problems then i shall immediatly look for somthing else.
But if it anit busted...

 

[AndyP]

I definatly reccomend Norton Utilities 2002! Works absolutely great, not one single problem. I have tried Ontrack Systemsuite and Macafee Office earlier, and they were nothing compared to the Nortons.
Actually ran speeddisk yesterday, and my machine is running so smoothly.
I can't understand why you guys have experienced trouble with it.... When 3 of my buddies, all running Norton Utils and XP, haven't experienced a single problem...wierd

 

[Akash]

I'v ebeen using Norton Utilities for a long time. The only one that ever messed up with me was the version during windows95. 2002 has had a big change and its very good in keeping your machine clean. As like some of you, i've disabled the norton speeddisk service. If a computer wihtout norton utils can live without speeddisk, then a computer with it, can also live without it.
I also disabled small things like the shell icons, and norton unerase (in recycle bin)
small things like that.

 

[Bytes Back]

I love Norton stuff. it creates so much work sorting out it's mess.

 

[original delboy]

Ummm..So many replys from ppl regarding norton..some say it has given them probs..where as some not!
Well i was gona meake a post regarding this as i have got norton antivirous 2002 and norton system wrks 2002...and wanted to knw weather its worth putting it on xp pro!

I have just got my laptop running smoothly so after all so the last thing i wanna do is mess the damn thing up..(hate re-installing progs again and again!)
So lets just say what does norton actually do??? well i knw that it protects against virouses etc but what else does it do..?? does it clean up the old reg files etc..that arn't needed...?
also what is speed disk etc??

I don't knw if i shall install this or not...so just getting ppls thoughts also what is norton system works..? what does that do..


thx guys

 

[Khayman]

Norton utilites does not check for virus' , you need Nortan AV. although i had old version which did have a lite NAV version.
either that or i don't install all the options.

it has, IMO, three main functions.
Norton Disk Doctor - which is like scandisk but much quicker and better

speed disk -which is defragin, much fatsre than xp standard, although i'm told it buggers up xp normal cycle or somthing

windoctor - checks, shortcuts, reg entrys, file asociations etc and flags up anything that it dones't like. you can then tell it to fix them itself or go though them manually

also unerase and system doctor - basically a monitor of variuos things

 

[h8ted]

I think it depends on what type of user you are. In the sense of what time you put into configuring your system and what you expect to get out of it.

For people who don't know too much about computers or want to minimize the time required keeping the box in working order, Norton is fine.

For those who know a bit more, and like to get into the nitty gritty of tweaking, setup, etc; Avoid Norton at all cost. I had the entire System Util & Internet Security Suites. Bah, the only remnants of that garbage on my HD now is Norton Ghost. I'd instead get a real virus scanner (nod32, KAV), tiny or zone alarm free firewall (why pay for features you will most likely never use anyway ?), and specific applications for each type of cleanup/maintenance chore you want done. Yes, it might take a little more time and/or money. But an application that does only one thing, yet does it well, is much better than an app that does a lot of things halfassed.


For Uncle Bob and Grandma who don't dig too deep into their systems, Norton is just fine. But I wouldn't get into that mess again myself. The only way I've found to fix Norton screwups is format c:

 

[Lukas]

Personal Opinion: Norton is OK

Norton Symantec software summary:

Norton Ghost: back ups, images, atc,
Norton CleanSweep: Install and Uninstall Monitoring and registry cleaner
Norton Antivirus: d'uh
Norton Utilities: Windoctor (find and repair probs on win systems, including but not limited to registry probs, missing dll's, wrong shortcuts, incorrect ActiveX stuff, ...) SpeedDisk (Defrag), WipeInfo (safe deletion of files, so that they can't be recovered and recovery of deleted files), DiskDoctor (scandisk), and some more...
Norton Personal Firewall: d'uh again
Norton Internet Security: not sure bout that one, think is the same as the Personal Firewall
Norton SystemWorks: There are two editions of that prog, one includes few more proggies then the other. SystemWorks include, but is not limited to AntiVirus, Norton Utilities, Norton CrashGuard, Cleansweep I think and the firewall (I'm not 100% sure, visit symantec for more info


Greetz

Lukas

 

[Hilander]

I've been using Norton Systemworks 2002 with no problems. Kind of in the same boat as andyp.
I had disabled Speedisk and was trying other defrags, but they seemed to slow things down and make the HD work harder. As for Speedisk screwing up XP's optimization, I don't know. Never noticed any difference in the placement of the Windows files, maybe I just don't understand XP's optimization.
This will be my final version of Systemworks. They have removed many features from older versions.
Examples include:
NU: Registry Editor
CleanSweep: Checking for dup files, DLLs empty directories, unesed files.
Maybe they are still available, but not used in XP .Seems like the program gets bigger and does less.
Since I only paid $20 for the Pro version, it wasn't a bad deal.

 

[Cosmin]

no problems at me either ...

 

[Spanko]

I have been using norton utilities 2002 since before it was released, my mom works for symantec
And well all I have to say is that it owns. Never once had a problem with it, and I like it very much, windoctor, speeddisk, wipeinfo, disk doctor are all invaluable.

And Im not just saying this becuase my mom works for symantec, I think all their other stuff sucks ass, like norton AV and that crap, but Norton Utilities is a must have.

 

[sickmailer]

My Opinion

I cant even install NU. "Waiting for speedisk setup to start". It took a long time and nothing happened. I prefer Fix-It! by Ontrack. It is a great software.

 

[stuy_b]

I've been using Norton Utilities on one form or other for years, even back when win95 was the OS to own!

Never had any major problems.

I disagree with the statement.. its for people that dont know much .. because there are some complex options available in advanced controls, that I'm sure the PC dummy user wouldnt have a clue about.

Like many programs today, some people love it some people hate it.

All I'd say is readup about NU, or any program your interested in, check any reviews from independant reliable organisations/magazines (like PCAnswers/PCPlus). But dont rule it out.

 

[madmatt]

I'm with stuy. I have been running one form or another of Norton since the early days of '95 (still have the CDs too). I have never had any problems whatsoever. I trust the Symantec name and recommend it to everyone. Norton SystemWorks 2002 is a great addition to any system running XP. It is very easy to use and works very well.

One benefit I have found to using task scheduler is to setup Norton Speed Disk to run every night, over night while I sleep. It runs every morning at 4 AM and keeps me from having to optimize while I want to use my PC.

NSW is a purchase I would make over and over.

If you're willing to spend the money on Utilities, I would just spend $20 more and get NSW.

Enjoy.

 

[stuy_b]

Well said madmatt.

I guess thats part of the crux issue here..people not prepared to spend money.

You want inferior utilities.. go get all the freeware you can carry!.. if you want quality/reliability/experience then buy Norton.