Ontrack SystemSuite 4.0 Review All You Need in One Box and One Program Eric Grevstad
Mon 11/26/01 -- Most PC users don't get wildly excited about system utilities (not even we do, unless they're lifesaving innovations like Roxio's GoBack was in '99). And Ontrack Data International Inc.'s SystemSuite 4.0 isn't the most exciting utility package we've seen -- you just install it and it works, giving you Windows and hard disk maintenance and troubleshooting, antivirus, and online firewall protection. And that, of course, is precisely the point: SystemSuite is a painless, effective toolkit that keeps Windows PCs (from Win 95 through 98, Me, NT 4, 2000, and XP) in shape so you can concentrate on your work.
It's also the best integrated, most affordable utility bundle you can buy: Not only do you get everything you need in one box, you get it in one program, with just a single listing on the Start menu (plus two icons in the system tray, one for SystemSuite and one for its NetDefense firewall) and a simple menu-driven interface. And you get it for $60 complete with a helpful printed manual ($54 as just a download).
To match Ontrack's capabilities with the best-selling Symantec brand, you'll need to buy Norton SystemWorks 2002 (a multiple bundle of Norton Utilities, Norton AntiVirus, and other tools) plus Norton Personal Firewall -- combined list prices $120, though Symantec's Web site offers a combo pack for $80. Finally, while Symantec's Norton Commander days are far behind it, SystemSuite 4.0 includes Ontrack's PowerDesk 4 Pro, a customizable file manager and viewer that makes Windows Explorer look wimpy.
While the box shows a Norton-style array of multiple retail packages, actually installing SystemSuite (taking some 90MB of hard disk space) yields a single program or control console from which you can perform various tasks or launch individual utilities, as well as tinkering with program settings. The top menu offers a quartet of "One-Stop Solutions" that combine functions such as checking and defragmenting your PC's hard disk, backing up important system files, running virus scans, and deleting unneeded files to save disk space; you can launch an "All-in-One Wizard" to give your system a complete physical, or schedule it or other utilities to run unattended.
Online Protection: Okay and Excellent
Ontrack's Virus Scanner Pro uses Trend Micro's antivirus engine, with an automatic update function to check the Web for updated virus definitions (or any other SystemSuite modules). The program combines combines a variety of manual scan options -- your boot sector and memory, those two plus executable and macro files, selected folders, or the whole PC -- with a pair of resident scanners that check each file as you access it and all incoming e-mail messages and attachments. A file or folder scan also appears as a right-click option in Windows Explorer.
The antivirus protection works smoothly and invisibly, though it may not totally reassure users who demand the most vigorous, paranoid protection: There's no sign of fancy heuristic or behavior-analysis safeguards against unknown viruses as opposed to known signatures, and we were a little dismayed that as of this morning (November 26) the auto-update feature was content with Trend's November 12 virus info and pattern file 967, while users of Trend's PC-cillin could get file 971 dated November 24.
Nor could we reassure ourselves of protection against the "Re:" e-mail worm (W32.BADTRANS.B) that's stirring up trouble as we write -- the update displayed a Readme file detailing its virus vocabulary, but we didn't save the file, and Virus Scanner Pro doesn't let you browse your current list of virus definitions as Norton AntiVirus does, offering a link to Trend's online Virus Encyclopedia instead.
(Update 11/27/01: SystemSuite's AutoUpdate installed virus pattern file 971 including W32.BADTRANS.B protection yesterday afternoon -- reasonably promptly, but after we'd received several infected e-mails. -- Ed.)
We were more impressed with NetDefense, a module based on Sygate's Personal Firewall that provides both inbound and outbound blocking (Windows XP's own firewall lacks the latter) of unauthorized Internet traffic -- whether it's a hacker trying to snoop his way into your PC, or a "spyware" or Trojan Horse program trying to smuggle your data out a back door.
During setup, NetDefense finds and offers to configure permission for recognized Internet applications (in our case, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, Netscape, and SystemSuite's own auto update). Whenever another program tries to send data over your modem, cable, or DSL line, NetDefense pops up an alert letting you always allow, never allow, or decide each time whether to grant the program access. It won't be fooled by simply renaming a spyware program with a "known" name like IEXPLORE.EXE, either.
And when a hacker tries to scan or probe your system's ports, they simply won't appear -- NetDefense stymied both Symantec's and Gibson Research's test sites by operating in full "stealth" mode. You can check a log file of all Internet traffic or just hacker attempts, and prepare for revenge against the latter by clicking a button to trace the probe back along its path of Web servers to the source, where a Whois button may identify the culprit. Overall, we found NetDefense every bit as satisfying as Zone Labs' deservedly famous free firewall ZoneAlarm, with a friendlier interface to boot.
