McAfee Office 2000

Discover Pro provides in-depth information about system hardware and resources. Benchmarks are also provided but are now looking dated - the processor test still compares its results to those of a 486/33, a 486/100 and a 100MHz Pentium.

Under the Clean and Optimise heading you'll find a CleanUp Wizard that scans the hard disk for rarely used files and displays them for deletion. If removed they'll be backed up in a compressed ZIP file first. Another Wizard looks after your Windows Registry by scanning, repairing and re-organising the structure for improved performance, while WinGauge Pro gives you a visual read-out on system status. This updated version had trouble with our test system, as it was convinced the processor was always running at around 90 per cent utilisation. McAfee Office 2000 does load a whole raft of background tasks, but the Windows System Monitor showed that utilisation never went above 20 per cent during idle times.

Windows protection duties are now handled by Guardian. This monitors memory usage to protect it from being accidentally overwritten and also intercepts program failures. A Reactivate button is added to the Close Program window so you can attempt to restart a hung program and save your work before closing it down.

First Aid 2000 is offered as an alternative diagnostics tool to users who feel that Nuts & Bolts is too complex. It runs a complete hardware and software health check on your PC and, if it spots any problems, it loads an Advisor that guides you through the troubleshooting process.

In answer to Norton's CleanSweep, McAfee supplies UnInstaller. This monitors program installations and keeps a log of all files loaded so applications can be cleaned out when removed. This is the latest version with more tools to help keep your hard disk free of unwanted rubbish, but it still falls behind CleanSweep in terms of ease of use.

Anyone who's already familiar with McAfee Office will note the lack of Guard Dog and PGP encryption software. These are still available if you choose to wait for the Pro edition of this suite, which is due to be released early in the new year. The idea of Guard Dog is to protect any sensitive data on your PC while you browse the Internet, and it also gives you extra control over cookies. As its description suggests, the PGP encryption software allows you to securely encode files, which can then only be read by fellow PGP-owners, and only then if you encrypted the file using your fellow owner's key.

Although these utilities are useful, their extraction has made McAfee Office 2000 leaner and more streamlined. Installation is far slicker and the whole suite can now be updated via the Internet in a one-button operation. The duplication that was rife in previous versions has been remedied, but the fact that McAfee Office loads so many background tasks - 15 in our case - somewhat defeats its aim of improving performance.

There's no doubt that you're getting an awful lot for your money, and for many people McAfee's virus scanning software will be worth the buying price on its own. Nevertheless, and despite the all-round improvements, Norton SystemWorks retains its edge for overall quality, and if you're serious about squeezing the most power and efficiency out of your system it's worth the extra initial outlay.

Author: Dave Mitchell