Suggestions for Utility Software

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2005-07-27 04:15pm

I'd like to have a Utilities program on my new rig and dimly recall a friend of mine raving about Norton System Works back in LAw School. He even 'gave' me a copy for my own computer and I was impressed by how it helped me out to figure what was the culprit of a glitch, back up my files, etc.

I haven't used its like in my latest Dell system since late 2001. Now I was shopping on some sites looking for reviews on Norton's System Works and was surprised to find some scathing reviews by people who complain bitterly that Norton's products have gradually been getting worse and less stable since 2003. They recommend not even getting the latest 2005 edition because your computer runs better without it.

Anyone have any suggestions for similar software that can help find out whats wrong with your computer if something does go wrong, create backups and otherwise help you keep your system working smoothly.

Also has anyone run into issues with the free version of McAfee antivirus provided by AOL. I have managed to isolate my current computer woes to an issue with AOL and the latest securoty upgrades. Its gotten to the point where I'm just going to nuke all versions of AOL off my hardrive and see what happens.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2005-07-27 04:21pm

There aren't really any good tools for this kind of work anymore; really, you'll have to do research on specific ailments for computers to figure out what happened.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2005-07-27 04:22pm

AOL will fuck your computer up long-term depending on what you get off them. Winamp and ICQ not so much(Plus you can get "cleansed" versions of those) but most time you take anything from AOL you also are getting a few thousand files spread over your computer without your knowledge or permission that have nothing to do with what your installing.

And as it stands Mcaffe is currently doing better than Norton as far as giant all in one packages go.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2005-07-28 05:26pm

I did a little pokingt around and found some Firewall/antiviruus/etc packages but since the only ones I've ever heard of are Norton (whoch is getting horrible reviews from users) and McAfee (whoch I suspect is behind my fucking up my current computer after seeing some reviews baout their latest updates freezing up people's computers) I found two others:

Zone Alarm

and

PC-cillin Internet Security 2005

Does anyone know about or suggest either one of these as a possible security package? I curently use Kerio as my firewall and haven't had too many complaints but I'm shopping around for a possible complete package that would be stable and not fuck up my new rig.

Tiger Ace · Post by **Tiger Ace** » 2005-07-28 05:30pm

I'm not sure of Zone alarm as an overall solution, but I love it as a FW, great control, for me as a network security newb it was easy to set up.

darthdavid · Post by **darthdavid** » 2005-07-28 05:38pm

Zone Alarm has never messed anything up too badly for me. Though I havent used the latest version due to me getting a hardware firewall and deeming it a waste of processing power at that point.

General Brock · Post by **General Brock** » 2005-07-29 05:59pm

I'm not exactly sure what you're looking for in utilities, however this is a good site for reviews:

http://personal-firewall-software-revie ... views.com/

They rate Zone Alarm highly, and DW mentions it in his computer section as being acceptable. They rate other utils here too.

www.download.com also has user and editor reviews of products.

I've read on this board that Norton is teh evil; any any major software company that relys on IE for updates is probably not all that on the ball. It came with my comp, and I renewed without thinking last year. Should've checked here first, but I wasn't signed up then.

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2005-07-29 09:35pm

Zone Alarm has a known history of sometimes exploding and taking out the TCP/IP stack which is vital to actually talk to the 'net.

Captain tycho · Post by **Captain tycho** » 2005-07-29 09:41pm

ggs wrote:Zone Alarm has a known history of sometimes exploding and taking out the TCP/IP stack which is vital to actually talk to the 'net.

Which is probably what happenend the other day to me; otherwise, Zone Alarm has been working great for me.

Tiger Ace · Post by **Tiger Ace** » 2005-07-30 04:25am

ggs wrote:Zone Alarm has a known history of sometimes exploding and taking out the TCP/IP stack which is vital to actually talk to the 'net.

Uh...explain? I've never had anything like that.

Shadowhawk · Post by **Shadowhawk** » 2005-07-30 04:52am

Tiger Ace wrote:
ggs wrote:Zone Alarm has a known history of sometimes exploding and taking out the TCP/IP stack which is vital to actually talk to the 'net.
Uh...explain? I've never had anything like that.

I've had it happen on two completely separate ZA installations.

It works fine for a while...then dies. Networking simply stops working until you completely disable ZA's TrueVector service (which isn't the same as disabling the firewall).

I vastly prefer Kerio Personal Firewall to ZoneAlarm, though it's starting to bloat up with crap I don't want, like a web filter (disabled in free version) and system security module. I liked Tiny Personal Firewall, but then it stopped being free for personal use.

For viruses, Grisoft's AVG Free Edition is plenty.

For crash detection and recovery...I don't even bother. My system rarely crashes as it is, and virtually every crash I've had on this box can be traced back to video drivers.