Rating: 
Summary: I lost.
Review: Danger! Danger! I'm glad other people had luck with this product. I'm writing this from a friend's computer because there's no way I could be writing it from home. I purchased it because my home machine was becoming slow and glitchy, and I was hoping this software would help me prop it back up and getting it going again. Instead, after a few shaky weeks, I was running one of the software's functions and it blew my whole set-up--blue screen of death for days--and even with the rescue disk and back-up software, almost everything is gone beyond retrievability--even turned my CD drive into a tombstone. Maybe I'm the klutzy one here, I don't know--but I'm going to put out a warning to be very, very careful using this product. I'm locked out of my computer for good, files and programs, everything gone, fried, disappeared. Got a new computer on the way and you can be sure I won't be using *this* product again. (Unless I feel like banging my head on concrete for a few more weeks again sometime.)
Rating: 
Summary: Big Improvement over Norton SystemWreck 2003
Review: Have you heard the one about the software company that released an update in May, pulled it because it was [messing]-up everyone's system and then put it back out in June...and then it [messed]-up mine??? SystemSuite 4.0 isn't perfect but, with the exception of Merlin's Buyer's Book and Snipe, my system is feeling much better now. Perhaps it's not as high tech as SystemWorks, but it doesn't do weird things to my e-mail server, stopping downloads and requiring me to visit the server DAILY to delete the plugged-up mail. And it doesn't make boot times over five minutes! Peter, you should get off your yacht and go see what Symantec is doing to your good name. At least you could ask them what they are doing to fix the problem, besides telling users to uninstall, reinstall and update the product up to, but not including, the recent update. Based on my own experience, SKIP AT LEAST THE LAST TWO OR THREE NORTON UPDATES...ACTUALLY, SKIP SYSTEMWRECK 2003 ALTOGHER AND BUY SYSTEMSUITE 4.0.
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy it
Review: I am a user of previous versions of System Suite. Everything was fine in Windows 98. On Track has been bought out by VCom. Version 4.0 has many bugs. There is no support and the application has beeen nothing but trouble (Windows XP). It reported I had a virus PE_ELKERN.D I ran a complete virus scan 5 times, 6 hours, and it said it was cleaned. However, System suites virus message kept popping up, hundreds of them, almost every key stroke. I ran Norton Virus Scan- no infected files, I also ran McAfee, no infected files. I tried to look up the virus (vil.nai.com) and there is no record of it. System Suite completly hosed up my system. I finally had to use Win XP to uninstall it.
Rating: 
Summary: superb piece of software
Review: I BOUGHT THIS UTILITIES TOOL FOR MY OLD COMPUTER( LAPTOP, WIN 98).I HAVE A NEW LAPTOP(WIN XP)BUT I STILL USE MY OLD ONE OCCASIONALLY. ON 3 OCCASIONS MY OLD LAPTOP CRASHED AND THIS UTILITY SAVED ME. BY INSERTING THE RESCUE DISK YOU MAKE I WAS ABLE TO RESTORE THE VITAL FILES NECESSARY TO BOOT MY COMPUTER WITHOUT HAVING TO REFORMAT AND REINSTALL THE OPERATING SYSTEM. EXCELLENT DISK DEFRAGMENTER AND REGISTRY FIXER. OVERALL STRONGLY RECOMMENDED FOR WINDOWS 98 OS. I INTEND TO BUY THE NEW VERSION FOR MY NEW LAPTOP FOR TECHNICAL REASONS. IT DOESNT HAVE A FLOPPY DRIVE BUT I CAN USE A CD INSTEAD AS A RESCUE DISK.
Rating:
Summary: For Windows XP--works great but....
Review: I have the Ontrack System Suite for Windows 95/98, the version
prior to Vcom's buy-out. That version works terrific but is inadequate with Windows XP (it lacks a firewall feature.) This version states that it will work with Windows-98, but I had a devil of a time getting it to comply, even with the online help downloads. (Even with Microsofts updates.) So I passed this one
on to a Windows-XP-machine where the FIREWALL featureworks!...as well as other find functions. The powerdesk feels like the same as the older Ontrack version, few enhancements there. But the SystemSuite-4 does have extras worth the trade-up if you have
Windows XP. (Remember to do your Microsoft updates before loading this program, helps to smooth out some issues.) Also, I do find that the new version takes a longer time to Defrag the harddrive than the former Ontrack version on Windows XP. And, There are extra warning about using a "Jet" feature, and a bit of confusion on what subprogram has to be used before using the Jet DEFRAG, the "DISKFIXER" or.... Eventually, you will figure it out. The FIREWALL works way better than what Microsoft offers, but doesn't seem to want to work on my WINDOWS-98 computer. Haven't figured out why yet. And I'm not going for
the version-5 upgrade Vcom is recently pushing until I see others' reviews.
Rating:
Summary: DON'T USE THIS -- DESTROYS HARD DRIVE
Review: I installed this and soon my computer couldn't load Windows because critical files had been deleted. Reloaded Windows. Still have problems because this re-writes system files. NO Customer Service from V-com to speak of.
Rating:
Summary: I'm Happy With It!
Review: I like it. I like it a lot. After using my old Norton System Works 2001 to clean up my computer, I installed Windows XP Pro. NSW 2001 will not work with XP, so I was faced with upgrading or going for something completely different. I read several reviews of the Ontrack product and none of them were less than glowing in their writeups. So I took the leap.My experience has been that it was easy to install, works perfectly with Win XP Pro, and provides a complete group of utilities that do a complete job. The only real problem I have encountered has been with the NetDefense firewall. As with many other firewalls, the first time it sees an attempt to get onto the Internet from your system it will ask you if you want it to allow the connection to be made. I have told it yes, and allow any future connection attempts, on many of my products. All have worked fine except for my Netscape 6.2 web browser. The only way I can get it to connect is to disable NetDefense. Hopefully, I will find a fix, but this problem keeps me from making this review a five star rave.
Rating:
Summary: Not "Upgrade to XP" Compatible
Review: I recently upgraded from Windows ME to XP and re-installed System Suite v 4.0.30.13. When I went to the "uninstall" feature it took about 45 minutes for the the scan to find one item and that was another program I had reinstalled successfully after the upgrade to XP. After searching FAQ'a on V-Com.COM I contacted tech support. Here is their response: "Response (V Communications Technical Support) - 02/10/2003 05:12 PM
Hello, This is correct. Only programs that were installed by the current operating system will be recognized. Also any programs that are installed with the Windows Installer tool itself will not be available for removal by the Uninstall tool in SystemSuite."
Rating:
Summary: Currently the best set of tools available
Review: I've used Norton Utilities as well as Ontrack's System Suite (and their Fix-It Utilities), and have found Ontrack's product much more reliable and have also got better results from it. One part which I haven't yet installed is the firewall, NetDefense, primarily because I'm happy with ZoneAlarm. I was, however, curious about Ontrack's VirusScanner, as I hadn't read much about it. Turns out it's provided by Trend Micro, makers of PC-Cillin. After trying Mcafee's viruscan and trashing two machines with it, I ran Norton AV 2002 next to Ontrack's Suite, and found that Ontrack recognized two viruses that NAV didn't. I already had these viruses stored away, and while it's not a very extensive test, it gave me confidence in its virus-detecting ability. RegEdit is one tool in this suite that has proven itself to me over and over again, both on Win2000 and a slower machine using Win98SE. After deleting useless links and such from the registry of an older machine, I got almost twice the speed from it. Jet Defrag does its job well, much faster than Microsoft's defrag tool, but you'd do well to heed Ontrack's warning to run system/disk check first. EasyRecovery (lite edition) is one tool that will make you want more; it allows the recovery of up to 50 files in this edition -- The full-blown EasyRecovery Pro goes for around $.... And considering the results I've had, it's worth it. I've recovered files from formatted drives, deleted files, and everything except for full-formatted floppies and "erased" files (using a disk-erase utility). This edition saved me from losing valuable work on two Zip disks that were trashed on the network where I was going to school. Overall, I gave the suite four stars because, like another reviewer, the updating routine is a major pain! On Win2000, it only took one reboot, but on Win98 it took no less than FIVE REBOOTS! C'mon, guys; there's got to be a better way! Once installed, however, it uses less system resources than it's predecessor and considerably less resources than its competition. For the price, it's more than worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Best Package Available !
Review: I've used System Suite for over a year now which was originally purchased because of hard drive problems. The program worked as advertised, solved my drive issues with ease and recovered my data. Over the course of a year I have had a chance to use the other six utilities and all work fantastic. The automatic virus scan routinely catches viruses that my 2nd PC at work running a different program does not. Additionally, the firewall has stopped several intruder attempts over the past year. Word of warning when upgrading to Win XP -download the updates before rebooting. I had the "blue screen of death" after an upgrade because I didn't get the download before the reboot. The only way to recover was to reinstall the Win XP upgrade. Customer Service was great in getting me past the issue and I have not had any others since then with Win XP.
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