Product Reviews

Best known for its sophisticated data recovery services, Ontrack moved into the utility suite market by acquiring Fix-It-Utilities from Mijenix Corps in 1999 and renaming it as SystemSuite 2000 (see Reviews, issue 69, p194). The software has seen a number of modifications since, with the latest version on review adding some useful features to the melting pot. Sygate's NetDefense personal firewall software is a valuable addition, making SystemSuite 4 the only utility suite to come with intruder protection as standard. Clean up and repair operations have been speeded up, an AutoEmailScan tool keeps an eye out for email-borne viruses, while ClockSync can contact an Internet time server and keep your system time accurate.

Installation on a Windows 2000 Professional test system proved simple enough. All the various tools and utilities are grouped tidily within a single interface. If SystemSuite has been purchased specifically to recover a sick system, you can use the supplied Rescue Disk, but this only works with Windows 95, 98 and ME, as it only supports FAT file systems. The Rescue Disk presents a simple menu for running diagnostics and recovery routines and, providing you've run the SystemSaver feature to take a system file backup, you can use the System Restore tool to reinstate critical files.

All of the same utilities can also be accessed from the main CD-ROM, as this is now bootable. Windows NT and 2000 users have fewer options, with the former offered a System LifeLine feature that's designed to interrupt the NT boot process and provide a command-line prompt. This feature is no longer available under Windows 2000, and you're advised to activate the Recovery Console instead.

The NetDefense firewall utility can be accessed and modified directly from the main SystemSuite interface or the System Tray. Both inbound and outbound traffic is monitored, and NetDefense keeps a list of all local applications that have attempted to connect to a network, so you can determine whether to allow access, deny it or ask each time the program tries to initiate a connection. The three main NetDefense security options are: Normal, Block All and Allow All. The application list is only active in Normal mode, and you can decide whether your PC can access other network resources and if those same users are allowed to see your shared files and printers.

NetDefense maintains an impressive array of log files, which will be of interest to the more technical user. The security log shows detected attacks on your system, while the traffic log records incoming and outgoing network traffic. The packet log could prove useful, as it can be set to capture packets and display a detailed raw decode of each one. All three log files also include a backtrace feature, which can be used to track down the intruder's location.

All of the main system housekeeping and maintenance tasks can be accessed easily from the One-Stop Solution window and automated using

ADVERTISEMENT

the All-In-One Wizard. This runs a barrage of tests including a Registry check, a virus scan, hard disk defragmentation, system file backup, unused file cleanup and much more. You can customise each operation to suit and the Wizard can be scheduled to run at regular intervals. Windows 2000 and XP already come with a good disk defragmenter based around the excellent Diskeeper, although you can use SystemSuite's JetDefrag, which looks to be almost as fast. It also offers an IntelliCluster tool, which analyses hard disk usage to determine which applications and associated files are used most frequently. Data is then placed in five zones on the hard disk, depending on their popularity.

All tools available in the One-Stop Solution can also be accessed and run separately. DiskFixer checks areas, such as partition boot records, invalid FAT entries and filename and directory structures, while the CleanUp Wizard reclaims disk space by searching for redundant files such as Help, backup and temporary files, and offering to save them, compress them or delete them. PCDiagnostics runs tests on hard disks, memory, video systems and even CD/DVD and Iomega drives, while SMARTDefender keeps an eye on SMART-compliant (self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology) hard disks and gives early warnings if a failure is imminent.

There's much more in SystemSuite 4, as its uninstaller utility rivals Norton CleanSweep for features. It can analyse and remove recalcitrant programs cleanly, move them to another location, back them up and archive them to free up disk space. The Transport tool can also bundle selected programs and their associated files into a self-extracting archive for moving to a different system. But as I've frequently found with CleanSweep, it's fine with simple software, but doesn't cope well with large applications.

Virus protection is also on the menu, but if there's a chink in SystemSuite's armour this is it. The supplied virus signature file was six months out of date. Curiously, EasyUpdate advised us that there were no updates available on Ontrack's Web site, and it was only when we ran the Get Latest Update option from the CustomScan window that a new signature file was successfully located. With this in place, both on-demand and real-time scanners spotted all 60 of our genuine test viruses. However, the real-time scanner pales into insignificance when compared with the A-Listed Norton Anti-Virus 2002 (see Reviews, issue 87, p194) because while it now offers email attachment scanning, it still falls short in terms of features.

Last, but certainly not least, comes Ontrack's own data recovery tools, which can't be matched by any other utility suite. The Recover section provides access to a Lite version of its EasyRecovery tool, which allows up to 50 files to be recovered, with the full version costing extra. If this fails, you can use the RDR (remote data recovery) service, which links you via a modem or Internet link to an Ontrack engineer or, as a last resort, Ontrack can dismantle a dead hard disk in its secure, Class 100 clean room to retrieve the data at a previously agreed price.

It's clear that Ontrack has put a lot of work into SystemSuite and has turned an also-ran into a top contender. It's a pity the anti-virus software is comparatively poor, but otherwise this utility suite offers an enormous range of tools all neatly gathered under a single, intuitive interface. Step aside McAfee - SystemSuite 4 is now the main competition to Symantec's Norton SystemWorks, and a worthy alternative.