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From TNPC issue #3.10...
Windows 2000 3rd Party Utilities: Part 1by Al
Gordon
May 11, 2000
OK, so I apologize.
A few weeks ago, in this space, I chided the makers of
utility software and other apps about their slowness to
develop Windows 2000-compliant versions. Since then, I've had
occasion to discuss the situation with a number of utility
technical gurus, and they all had the same thing to say: blame
Microsoft. The word from the third-party vendors is that
Windows 2000 was more than the usual work in progress. Even
the "final" code wasn't final. Several companies tell me that
last-minute changes were made, and the third-party vendors
didn't find out about them until after Windows 2000
shipped.
No one is suggesting anything nefarious in Redmond; just
that Microsoft appears to have had problems coming to closure
with Windows 2000. Of course, this could just be other
software companies making excuses; but I heard the same story
often enough from disparate enough companies for it to be
credible.
Anyway, with that as prologue, I can now report that the
Windows 2000 utilities logjam is finally starting to break,
and important products are now starting to make their way to
the market. This is the start of an ongoing series of articles
on the product lineup.
As mentioned in our last issue, just out is Version 8.0 of
what is my all-time favorite utility, WinZip. I suppose it is
stretching the point to call this Windows 2000 related,
inasmuch as WinZip always has worked with Win2K. However, the
new version contains a number of interface changes that enable
it to integrate more smoothly into Windows. It also has a
nifty new feature that allows you to right-click on a file or
files in Windows Explorer or My Computer, create a zipped
archive, and send it on to your e-mail program all in one
operation.
http://www.thenakedpc.com/t/310/tr.cgi?util1
More truly tied to Windows 2000 are PowerQuest
PartitionMagic 5.01 and DriveImage 3.0. PartitionMagic version
5.01 is a free upgrade for customers who purchased 5.0, and is
available for download now. It is the definitive tool for
resizing partitions without erasing data, and is just the
thing to reconfigure your hard drive to handle Windows 2000.
The new version provides support for Win2K's new NTFS 5 file
system. However, Win2K support is limited to running from
floppies. Native Windows 2000 operation won't come until the
next version. PowerQuest officials said they wanted to make
Win2K capabilities available now and work on integration with
the OS later.
DriveImage makes bit-level copies of your hard drive, for
backup or for transport to another drive. I try to make it a
practice to create an image of my basic system configuration,
and then burn that image on a writable CD. That way, when the
inevitable system corruption takes place over time, I can
minimize the time required to restore a clean, functional
system.
http://www.thenakedpc.com/t/310/tr.cgi?util2
I'll have more to say about the PowerQuest products in a
future article, after I have put them to the acid test of
using them to reconfigure my system.
An interesting aspect of Win2K is that while the Big Fish
in utilities, Symantec and McAfee, are still at work on making
their suites compatible, some new players have gotten into the
game.
Executive Software--which heretofore has specialized in
enterprise tools--has plunged into the end user market with
Diskeeper Workstation 5.0, a defragmentation program, and
Undelete 2.0. Executive Software provides Windows 2000's
defrag applet, and its knowledge of the new operating system
is such that it has been able to tightly integrate its product
with Win2K. Diskeeper incorporates what the company calls
"FragGuard" features that allow it to proactively monitor file
system data to prevent fragmentation, and it has a "Boot-Time
Defragmentation" feature for defragging directories, which the
company says normally cannot be touched during Windows 2000
operation.
http://www.thenakedpc.com/t/310/tr.cgi?util3
It also adds the normal bells and whistles one expects when
purchasing a replacement for a Windows built-in applet:
scheduling, automatic operation, ability to defrag more than
one drive at once, and faster operation.
The company's undelete product replaces the Windows Recycle
Bin with a "Recovery Bin." As per the norm with this type of
utility, it relies on the fact that ostensibly erased data
remains on your hard drive until overwritten by something
else. Your file system perceives that the data isn't there
anymore, but it is, and Undelete tries to find it. The
Recovery Bin has a no-nonsense interface, which provides a
drive and directory tree structure limited solely to those
branches where there are files to be recovered. It is a more
orderly array than the standard Recycle Bin.
The same strictly business approach also holds for the
Diskeeper interface. The company's enterprise emphasis is
obvious here. Whereas consumer-oriented defrag products tend
to feature entertaining animations, in which flashing colored
squares depict data being rearranged, Diskeeper settles for
boring, albeit functional, bar graphics--long on performance,
short on entertainment value.
There is another interesting new entrant into the defrag
sweepstakes: PerfectDisk 2000 from Raxco Software.
PerfectDisk's defragmentation strategy is "Smart Placement,"
which is to arrange files on your hard drive according to
usage patterns.
http://www.thenakedpc.com/t/310/tr.cgi?util4
The principle is simple: your basic program files (e.g.
winword.exe) almost never are modified, so they can be packed
away at the most distant reaches of your drive. Meantime,
something like your Outlook .pst file, which changes
constantly, needs to be placed somewhere where the
defragmentation program can readily consolidate it. This means
that the first time you run the program, the defragmentation
will take a VERY long time, but should pay dividends in future
use.
I found that both Diskeeper and PerfectDisk did an
effective job. PerfectDisk's interface was somewhat more
user-friendly, if only because it offers fewer options. But
Diskeeper got the job done more quickly, and for me,
minimizing downtime is always a plus.
You can reach Al Gordon at:
mailto:algordon@TheNakedPC.com 
Copyright © 2000, PRIME Consulting Group, Inc.
and Dan Butler. All Rights Reserved.
The Naked PC is a
trademark of PRIME Consulting Group, Inc.
ISSN: 1522-4422
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Windows 2000 3rd Party
Utilities: Part 1
by Al Gordon
(This
article originally appeared in The Naked PC newsletter #3.10,
subscribe at http://www.TheNakedPC.com)
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