Norton SystemWorks 2002 One Button CheckUp Repairing Errors (click to enlarge) Note: SystemWorks 2002 contains a Symantec Web tab that links to the free Norton Web Services now powered by CNET CatchUp that will analy z e your current software and hardware configuration in order to let you know which updates are available for your system.

Norton SystemWorks 2002

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Symantec's Norton SystemWorks 2002 is a thrifty way to purchase Norton AntiVirus, our Editors' Choice for virus protection (see 'Personal Antivirus'), along with some useful extras. But if you already have a good antivirus program, SystemWorks isn't worth the bother. The combination of Symantec's three long-established products—Norton AntiVirus, Norton CleanSweep, and Norton Utilities—is a good idea in theory, but is starting to look slightly threadbare. Some components of Norton Utilities simply won't run on Windows XP. And CleanSweep's Internet cleanup features aren't as convenient or customizable as Ontrack's equivalent.

SystemWorks' installation is effortless, with an option to select or reject individual components of Norton Utilities. Memory-resident features, like Norton AntiVirus, are installed automatically, with an explanation of how to turn them off if you choose not to run them. Once we installed SystemWorks, it automatically updated itself, downloading modified program files and virus definitions from Symantec's Web site. This required a system reboot, with no option to cancel and reboot later.

The main menu offers One-Button Checkup, which automates a useful series of checks and fixes. Unlike Ontrack's single-click wizards, SystemWorks doesn't let you customize the automated procedure.

Other features on the menu are organized according to the original package they are part of, with separate entries for Norton AntiVirus, CleanSweep, and Utilities. There is also a page for extra Web-based features, including an online security check and a link to CNET's CatchUp, an application update service. If Norton Internet Security ($69.95 direct) is installed on your system, you can opt to have it appear as a separate item on the SystemWorks menu.

The CD also includes a lite version of Roxio's GoBack (a system restore utility) and a process viewer. Norton SystemWorks 2002 Professional Edition ($99.95) adds Norton Ghost and WinFax Basic.

Our first sign that SystemWorks has seen better days was on the Optimization page in Norton Utilities. In Windows XP, this submenu has only one item: SpeedDisk, which is one of the best defragmenters we've used. Missing from this page, however, are the Registry optimization features, which do appear on Windows 9x and Me systems. Symantec didn't update these tools for Windows XP, because according to the company, customers didn't demand it. This is a specious argument in our opinion.

The Find and Fix Problems page leads to the classic disk repair utility Norton DiskDoctor and to the Unerase wizard, which can restore files from the Windows and Norton recycle bins. But it lacks the ability to recover deleted data from the free space on a hard drive—a significant feature that is present in Ontrack SystemSuite 4.0 as well as early versions of Norton Utilities.

Norton WinDoctor does an excellent job of repairing Registry errors, broken shortcuts, and other glitches. But it has an awkward interface that does not display the repairs it proposes to make until you open each item individually. Nor does WinDoctor sort repairs by relative safety levels.

The System Maintenance page includes a comprehensive System Information tool. But SystemSuite is a step ahead, offering highly useful hardware-testing features. The WipeInfo program on the same page offers government-security-level deletions of individual files. But it doesn't even warn you about other copies of the same data that might be hidden in the swap file or in free drive space. And in Windows XP, WipeInfo lacks the option to clean free space on your hard drive, which means that its security can be illusory. This is another feature that is available with Windows 9x and Me.

Norton CleanSweep's Internet cleanup features lack SystemSuite's ability to lock cookies against removal, and they don't let you choose different options for Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. Other Internet safety features are left to Norton Internet Security.