sklar@ihlpl.ATT.COM (Sklar) (02/02/89)
For anyone who doesn't already know, there have been problems
with Norton Advanced Utilities V4.5 trashing partition information
on disks with non-DOS partitions, including disks with both DOS
and UNIX(TM) partitions, and disks with partitions created by such
programs as Ontrack's Disk Manager.
The Norton people are very concerned about the problems that have
been caused by this, and about possible future problems. They
have been extremely cooperative. When I talked to them, I
volunteered to post the attached letter to the net so that it
would gain the widest possible distribution.
Robert Sklar
(Lachman Associates Inc. @)
AT&T Bell Laboratories
Naperville, Illinois
att!ihlpl!sklar
LETTER FOLLOWS:
This responds to all bulletin board users who have found
they have problems with the latest version (4.5) of the
Norton Utilities. Most of the complaints have concentrated
on the Norton Disk Doctor: specifically, running the Disk
Doctor with partitioning schemes other than straight DOS.
Please feel free to upload this message, unedited, to any
other bulletin board you frequent.
First, let us say there was a problem only with "third-
party" partitioning software. This did result in false
error messages, and NDD asked for permission to repair the
error. If told to fix the error, NDD would clobber the
partition trying to fix what wasn't broken.
All of the destructive bugs have now been fixed, and we
(Peter Norton Computing) are taking the following steps to
put things right:
We will notify all registered users of the Norton Utilities
v. 4.5 so they can get a free fix-it disk that will correct
the problems. For faster service, send the title page of
the 4.5 reference manual to Peter Norton Computing, Inc.,
100 Wilshire Blvd., 9th Floor, Santa Monica, CA 90401 -
ATTN:NU4500. Please specify which size disk (3.5" or 5.25")
you require, and please tell us if you will not be
installing the fix onto a hard disk.
Our phone support has also had its problems: lines were
overloaded, calls were not returned --- this is NOT
acceptable. We are now allocating special phone lines to
give fast, effective support to anyone who has had problems
as a result of the Norton Utilities v. 4.5.
At Peter Norton Computing, we take your comments and
suggestions very seriously and apologize for not responding
to them sooner.
I personally feel very bad about what happened, and
apologize for the problems caused. You are the people who
built this business, and you are the people who will keep us
in business.
Peter Norton