Tech Review

I was on my weekly pilgrimage to Nerdvana (Fry's Electronics) when I happened upon two utility bundles, Norton Internet Security with Ghost and PartitionMagic 2007s; and Iolo System Mechanic 7.

I've noticed that the PC utility market seems to have shifted concentration lately from all-around system health with seemingly all-but-forgotten apps like defraggers and benchmark tools to those focusing on internet dangers spyware, viruses, and computer hijackers.

This switch reflects the fact that modern operating systems bundle more utility-type tools for "free" and that with ubiquity of broadband, many people engage in riskier computer behaviors today (age-appropriate internet safety education should start in kindergarten).

Another factor in my purchase was whether I needed a suite at all. I've been getting by with stellar free apps like Avast, and CCleaner for years now with no problems. But, both came with rebates that made each cost -1 cent before California's 8.25% so I decided to pick one.

I've had Norton nightmares in the past. Norton, like some of the older versions of Realplayer, entwine themselves into your OS where it hangs on for deal life, making efforts to expulse it at least frustrating and sometimes futile.

It was still a tough choice, though, as the Norton bundle normally costs a hefty $99.00 and Ghost and PartitionMagic are great programs that I've used before (remember when you had to partition your FAT 16, 1.2GB hard drive to shrink the clusters?)

I ended up with System Mechanic. Iolo did a nice job with the more spartan Mechanic of a few years ago and I liked the idea of the undelete function.

Some thoughts:

1. Installation required three serial numbers. My Vista machine (it comes with two licenses-another pro when compared with Norton) also needed an internet connection. The XP installation went smoothly.

System Mechanic Screen shot.

Follow up:

2. The interface is attractive and integrated. SM doesn't nag you as much as Norton, but it still bugs you a little.

3. My system only slowed down when it was performing a virus scan.

4. The virus scan says it caught three viruses while I was writing some blog posts. Avast, which was installed a few minutes before never mentioned them. I'll give SM the benefit of the doubt and say that it did a better job than Avast. This happened before by the way: Avast couldn't get rid of a virus and I had to call in AVG for backup.

5. I don't know how useful registry cleaners are or whether they're even necessary, but I get a little satisfaction knowing that I just eliminated 300 problems, even if I don't notice any difference in my computing. Since SM comes with one, I decided to conduct an experiment; I ran Ccleaner without fixing any problems and then followed up with SM.

Ccleaner told me it found 265 problems. SM, by comparison, tracked down 258. So, I fix the problems with SM and test immediately after with Ccleaner. It still had 172 error! I don't know how to explain it. Either they found different errors or SM was lying when it said it took care of them. For all I know SM could be running an underground railroad for runaway registry issues.

6. The spyware blocker caught several little buggers.

7. I like the idea of an automatic internet speedup tool that plays around with all of those arcane MTU settings and things.

8. I also like that you can tweak Windows settings in a tool that performs the functions of not-free programs like Tweak Manager.

9. It can do a bunch of other stuff. Husbands will be happy to learn that they can eliminate their internet traces with one mouse click. SM frees up disk space, and it optimizes Windows Startup, although programs that perform these functions aren't hard to find for free.

10. Lastly, I can't leave without telling you how unsatisfactorily the undelete function performed. Like a dummy, I forgot to back up some photos before I exorcised Vista from my laptop (good riddance, Devil OS!). I had formatted the drive so I knew it wasn't going to be an easy task. SM found about 600 photos, not including the one I was looking for. I downloaded a free programs called Pandora Recovery which found 2000 pics including the ones from my Army EN school graduation. Granted, it was a tough assignment and if you're just looking for something that recovers trash-canned files, it should be fine, but I wanted to let you know before you made a decision.