Not all computer users have perfect, no-problem computers, and some put off purchasing any kind of fix-it software as long as their systems are working the way they're supposed to. For several months, I've been using a Prime-built Pentium II 450 as a test bed for new Windows software and hardware, but lately it's been prone to crashes, cranky reboots, mid-operation hang-ups, and refusal to shut down. Dealing with all these problems told me that it was clearly time to look for some relief.
What better time to try a do-all, be-all, bail-me-out-of-my-miseries program, so I installed Ontrack http://www.ontrack.com SystemSuite 2000. Clicking on the SystemSuite icon, I immediately received an error message. So I tried installing it on a second, new computer that had only been up and running for 10 days. While attempting to install SystemSuite 2000 on this machine, I got the blue screen of death twice before the screen went black.
At this point I tried installing some of the programs that are included in SystemSuite 2000 but are found on separate disks. I tried EasyUninstall first, and installation was smooth. While it has some useful added features, such as Move, DiskCleaner, Backup, Restore and Transport Wizards, the uninstaller didn't do the job. To begin an uninstall, EasyUninstall needs to scan your system. After watching it scan the registry 12 times, I shut it down.
After uninstalling EasyUninstall using Windows' own uninstall routine, I reinstalled it. This time it took 40 minutes to scan the registry and the entire system. Since my label-printing program doesn't work in Windows 2000, I tried uninstalling it with EasyUninstall. Fifteen minutes after it scanned the registry, I tried to remove the label program and the system crashed!
Suffice it to say we can't recommend a fix-it program that causes more problems than it solves. In contrast, Norton's System 2000 worked fine, although it was slow with virus protection turned on.
Ontrack's ZipMagic2000 is a different story. I like it. I've used data compression programs since the early 1980s, when I used ARC to squeeze more room out of my 360k floppy disks. For some time, both WinZip and PKZip for Windows have been my compression/decompression programs of choice, but now I have another. ZipMagic is easy, full-featured, and it works.
The best part is that ZipMagic can edit or modify zipped files without extracting them. You can even run zipped files and install zipped programs. The interface gives access to different menus that allows you to open, add to zip files, extract. or view. Some features that
I haven't encountered in other compression programs include the capability to make a self-extracting zip file, convert a previously zipped file into a self-extracting file, and my favorite, zipping folders. A password can be added for folders that are nobody's business but your own.
Postscript: The day I filed this story, I double-checked Ontrack's Web site, only to find a notice announcing a update (1.5.3) that "includes significant improvements and fixes for EasyUninstall and DiskCleaner."
