Norton Utilities 2002

[Mastertech]

That is the thing though I don't understand why you would have to revert your system back to how it was 20 minutes ago? I personally never use System Restore and rarely if ever use it on a clients machine. But the few times I have it worked fine. The average user would only need to revert to the last working state if something went catostrophically wrong, some rare instance of severe driver corruption that renders a piece of hardware unusable or Windows cannot boot. In all cases outside of hardware failure, I've been able to correct the problem in safe mode without restoring to a previous state. For a novice user it is easier to just revert back.

For the average user they have no need for software that does something they have no use for.

As for Norton Utilities, there isn't a single thing in the package that the average user would use that their is not a better alternative.

I generally prefer people not use System Restore or an restoration software and resolve the real cause of the problem. Since people carelessly revert back for no reason.

I suspect part of the reason people think they need this type of software is due to other reasons. I have largely seen people with unstable systems that are overclocked or misconfigured or have defective hardware. They misassociate problems with their system as a Windows problem.

[polonus]

Hi Mastertech,

I agree with you in this respect that restore programs, like RestoreIt should be there only as a last resort. I think nobody in his or her right mind would carelessly restore a computer to a previous setting. But I got RestoreIt on my computer and I can well tell you that I thanked the day that I installed it (it was a present of my wife's). Not all problems are that easily resolved for instance when some software does something inconceivable to the OS that you do not want or comprehend at once (all the dates of your mails in your inbox  regrouped or randomized for instance is a good example here), back-up all your present data and logs, analyze the situation and then use this sort of program for the reason it was made. Mastertech, I think the firm that makes restore programs is not going to hire you in the foreseeable future (hi-hi).

regards,

polonus

[Mastertech]

all the dates of your mails in your inbox  regrouped or randomized for instance is a good example here

This is a good example. Why did this happen? What caused it? I would want to know so it does not happen again. I agree that it can save time for those who do not want to figure it out but my point is what is there to prevent this from happening again?

I've seen sever system problems covered up because people keep doing things like restoring or reformating and reinstalling the OS. The whole time they had a system with defective hardware. Windows 2000 and XP should be 100% stable, if not something is seriously wrong with your system or configuration. Overclockers frequently have "problems".

I wonder if this is the case that users who use Norton Utilities also use GoBack? Since I have seen quite a few instances where WinDoctor "fixed" things by incorrectly linking the wrong files to the wrong registry location. This happens too with some junky registry cleaning applications that delete good registry entries. Or really bad utilities that "compress" the registry ect...

[polonus]

Hi Mastertech,

I tell you about this good example. Please do not try to replicate the situation, because you land in a mess then. It can happen when you try to scan with a non-resident anti-virus scanner (I won't name the free software here) Outlook Express files as they are situated in program files, you have to open them and you losse the sequence there (do not ask me how and why?). These things happen when you try to do something the programmers did not foresee, and this is bound to happen while programnmers of external software do not know all (or enough) about the inner workings of the OS software used. That is also a reason why patented software as proposed would be hindering solving these problems in the future. Well I am not going to replicate this situation, but I was glad I had RestoreIt to safe my glorious behind here. RestoreIt is that accurate, that when you restore to a BSOD situation, it repeats that with the accompanying scandisk log files.

greets,

polonus