What, more Norton stuff already?
by Alan Zisman
(c) 1999. First
published in Toronto Computes,
November 1999
Norton Utilities 5.0: $149.95, $74.95 upgrade
Norton Antivirus 6.0:. $104.95, $44.95 upgrade
Norton Utilities 2000: $74.95, $44.95 upgrade
Norton AntiVirus 2000: $59.95, $29.95 upgrade.
Norton SystemWorks 2000: Standard version-- $89.95,
$59.95 upgrade.
Professional version-- $149.95, $119.95 upgrade.
?Internet Time? was a cliché in the computer
industry?change
happening faster than we could get used to it. A few years ago it
seemed
that by the time you to downloaded a copy of Netscape Navigator, there
was a newer version.
Netscape has slowed down of late, but it the mantle of
constant change
has been taken over by Symantec, with their Norton line of utility and
antivirus programs.
It seems like they just released new versions of these
programs, both
for Windows and the Mac, but those versions have already been replaced
by even newer versions. As in the past, each offers lots of value, and
pretty much defines its respective category. Lets take a look at what?s
new in each.
For the Mac?
The Symantec/Norton products on the Macintosh haven?t
offered the overwhelming
number of features of their PC cousins. Instead, they?ve focused on
delivering
a strong core set of capabilities. These new versions are no
exceptions.
Norton Utilities 5.0 and Antivirus 6.0 each now
include Live Update.
Like the PC versions, they offer a simple way to keep the versions up
to
date, using the Internet. This is an especially useful feature for
antivirus
programs?while the Mac has had fewer viruses than PCs, the new
generation
of Word Macro viruses can be equally destructive on Macs or PCs, and an
antivirus program can only offer peace of mind if its virus definitions
are up to date.
Symantec promises that all the key features of Norton
Utilities have
been updated and improved, partly to be able to work better with large
hard drives, and Apple?s new HFS+ file system, built into newer Macs.
The
new version also supports Firewire devices?the new, high-speed
interface
built into the latest generation of G3 and G4 desktops.
Nice feature?if you install Norton Antivirus, it gets
added to the Norton
Utilities main interface, letting users start it up the same way as
Norton
Disk Doctor or Speed Disk.
Norton Antivirus 6.0 promises faster virus scans,
while improving the
user interface. The program is self-repairing, checking itself at
startup,
and prompting for the installation CD to replace missing pieces. It
will
unstuff compressed files in order to check them. Unlike the PC version,
however, it won?t automatically check e-mail. The Live Update feature
is
invaluable?get it and use it regularly!
Owners of pre-PowerMacs or users of System 7.x: don?t
even think about
these two?they won?t run on your Mac. And we wonder why the Mac
versions
are significantly more expensive than the PC equivalents.
On the PC side of the fence?
Symantec offers these programs in two
ways?individually, or as part
of the SystemWork suite. All new versions come with a ?2000? moniker, a
naming fad that doesn?t seem to have spread to the Mac.
Norton Utilities 2000 offers the most modest upgrade
of the bunch?it
really is version 4.5, and is pretty similar to the recent version 4.0.
The new version now supports hard drives over 20 gigs in size.
LiveAdvisor
is a new feature, using the Internet to check in with Symantec for
news,
tips, and upgrades. You may want to turn off some of the features that
run in the background, and I personally find the CrashGuard feature
(promising
to catch system crashes) often causes more problems then it solves.
Norton AntiVirus 2000 can run on nearly all PCs?it
includes versions
for DOS and Windows 3.1 along with support for Windows 95 and 98, and
NT
versions from 3.51 through 4.0 and including the not-yet-released
Windows
2000, though older systems get version 4, rather than the newest
version
6.
This new version gives two valuable features?running
in the background,
it will scan e-mail attachments as you receive them. As well, it can
check
inside many sorts of compressed files, even checking compressed files
that
are contained inside other compressed files. As with the Mac version,
use
the Live Update feature regularly to keep it up to date.
Both of these products, along with Cleansweep, an
uninstallation program,
and a trial subscription of Norton Web Services are bundled together in
the Standard Version of the SystemWorks 2000 suite. The Professional
version
of the suite adds Norton 2000 to check hardware and applications for
potential
Y2K problems, and Ghost 2000 for cloning hard drives.
Like the previous version, you can choose which
programs to install?unlike
those versions, you can dig deep into each program, customizing which
individual
features to install. As with the earlier versions, it offers lots of
added
value for less than the cost of buying (or upgrading) just the
Utilities
and Antivirus packages.