phil@waikato.ac.nz (01/22/91)
This is the review I promised of Norton Utilities a couple of months ago. It's been done for a while -- I just forgot to follow up my offer to post it. It's not amazingly well-structured or anything -- I just added to the file whenever I discovered something interesting. The manual was more up to date than Read Me file! Not a big problem, but I thought it was meant to be the other way around. Norton Utilities (NU) comes with an installer, which simplies installation. The utilities wanted are selected, then they are installed in the appropriate place. It didnUt mind that I moved the NU folder into my own Utilities folder after the installation. A few useful DAs, INITs and CDEVs come with NU, viz: Fast Find DA replaces AppleUs Find File and it is fast. Has useful options, e.g. Open Document. DiskLight is an INIT/CDEV which displays an icon (either at the left or right of the menu bar) when there is disk access going on. It differentiates between read and write and floppy and hard drive and might be useful to those who have a hard or floppy disk without a light or with its light obscured. KeyFinder is a DA which shows all the key combinations in one big table. Some people might prefer Key Caps which is slightly more interactive and where you see the keyboard layout and get to try the different key combinations out. Directory Assistance is an INIT that adds some Finder operations to Open and Save dialog boxes. It also allows the order that files and folders are listed to be changed. I find it a good extension to the interface. Being able to select different volumes with a pop up menu would be a nice addition (I have another INIT which does this). None of the INITs seemed to react unfavourably with the others in my arsenal or the applications IUve been using lately. I found deleted file protection easier to enable with Norton. Disk Doctor checks for desktop and file inconsistencies. On my drive, it found some files with bundle bits which werenUt set (so their proper icons didnUt show) and some files with incorrect dates (from when my Mac was new and I hadnUt set the clock). A report can be produced explaining what was found and what action was taken, which can be saved to disk as a plain text file. Speed Disk had similar options and information to SUM Tune Up, but itUs disk usage map was easier to see and allowed close inspection of its contents. I donUt know how much use it would be, but it was interesting. I was unable to compare the optimization, as my disk was not very fragmented (1% according to SUM, 0.68% according to NU). The Disk Editor was limited in that sectors couldnUt be copied and pasted (useful for fixing damaged disks by hand) but otherwise provided a lot of information and allowed changes to be made in an easier format for novice users than ResEdit provides. SUM was equally limited. FEdit+ is more powerful in this respect. Layout Plus is a useful tool. It allows a user to customise Finder and System settings, something that would otherwise have to be done with ResEdit and a knowledge of which resources to edit. Most Mac users baulk at tinkering at this level. NU didnUt seem to know that Layout had been renamed Layout Plus, and had to ask me to find it. It was in the folder where NU was looking for Layout. On line help in NU is HyperText style and context sensitive. It is one of the better online help systems IUve seen. NU comes with some extra features not included in SUM II, however SUM provides a more extensive set of tools. Features provided by SUM II, but not provided by NU are disk backup, file/folder encryption, fast floppy disk copier and software disk partitioning. I doubt if compulsive utility collectors will be able to do without both, as each has sufficent unique features to justify its purchase. -- Phil Etheridge (phil@waikato.ac.nz) /\ /\ -+-,--, .--, ._ Computer Services/Mathematics & Statistics / \/ \ / /--< /-- / University of Waikato, Hamilton, NZ. / \/ /__.) \_ /
moriarty@tc.fluke.COM (Jeff Meyer) (01/31/91)
In <1991Jan22.162416.2781@waikato.ac.nz> phil@waikato.ac.nz writes: >I doubt if compulsive utility collectors will be able to do without >both, as each has sufficent unique features to justify its purchase. According to MacWeek, Symantec plans to combine the two sometime in June, though they hint that it will probably occur later in the year. "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli." --- Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer INTERNET: moriarty@tc.fluke.COM Manual UUCP: {uw-beaver, sun, microsoft, hplsla, uiucuxc}!fluke!moriarty CREDO: You gotta be Cruel to be Kind... <*> DISCLAIMER: Do what you want with me, but leave my employers alone! <*>