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Three Essential Computer Utilities by Ms. Lin MacDoss |
Utilities are those nifty little programs that make maintaining and fixing your computer easier. In a way, they're like health insurance, since you often wonder why you spent money on them. But when you need them, you're thankful that they're in place to help you rescue yourself from a problem.
Fortunately, you don't have to spend an arm and a leg to get some great utilities to help make your computing experience more trouble free. The brief list of utilities I've assembled here are all designed for Windows, since Microsoft's products usually need all the help they can get. As with any application, before using any of these programs you're advised to RTFM. Politely translated, that means “read the manual.” EndItAll: Whenever you install a new application under Windows, you're advised to close all running programs before beginning the installation process. Unfortunately, even after you close everything that you know you have running, there are still many processes running in the background that can interfere with the installation process. EndItAll is a free utility that will close all of these processes for you, to make certain that your installation is trouble free.
There used to be a version of EndItAll that was idiot proof and safe for the novice user. Unfortunately, the latest “improved” version of this utility can cause some serious problems if you're not careful. However, if you follow the following instructions, even the newbie should be able to use this program safely.
Immediately after you install EndItAll, open the program and “protect” your antivirus program and your firewall if you have one. Then protect any running Microsoft applications (these will either say Microsoft in the description or the file name will begin with the letters ms). After that, before you start an installation, manually close any running programs (your word processor, firewall, etc), disable your antivirus program, then open EndItAll, click “close all,” and you're ready to go.
EndItAll can be downloaded from the Aptiva Toolbox web site.
Memory Zipper Plus: There are hundreds of memory managers available, some of them worthless and others very expensive. After evaluating many, I've decided that Memory Zipper Plus, at $18.95, gives the most bang for the buck.
Memory managers are applications that perform tasks that should have been built into the Windows operating systems but weren't. When a program is closed in Windows, for example, the operating system doesn't always completely remove the application from memory, which can cause memory allocation problems and lead to the dreaded “blue screen of death.” In my experience, system crashes under Windows can be reduced by more than half by utilizing a good memory manager.
A free 30 day evaluation version of Memory Zipper Plus can be downloaded from Systweak, the program's developer. The purchase price includes upgrades for life.
Fix-It Utilities: This is a set of utilities that includes all of the basics needed to keep your Windows system maintained, useful both to the experienced hacker and the computer novice. Although this set of utilities duplicates the more popular Norton SystemWorks, it contains many other utilities not found in it's better known counterpart. It also works better, is not prone to causing crashes, and will run in “safe mode,” which can be essential when a serious problem arises. The CD is also bootable, which means you can use the program to repair damage, even when your computer won't boot.
Like SystemWorks, Fix-It contains a disk scanning utility for finding and repairing problems on your hard drive, defragmenting program for keeping your hard drive maintained and registry editor for the brave. All of these work better than the utilities that ship with Windows. Also like the Norton product, Fix-It ships with a virus scanner, supplied by Trend Microsystems. In my evaluation of the product, Fix-It was able to find a virus that Norton Anti-Virus overlooked.
In addition, Fix-It has many wizards for keeping your system maintained and a handy utility called Smart Defender that checks your hard drive to determine if it's getting ready to fail. My favorite part of the program is called SystemSaver, an easy to use application that saves critical systems files. Run this before doing anything that will change your system's configurations. If anything goes wrong, you'll be able to restore your system to its original shape. Another cool application will automatically sync your system's clock with the National Bureau of Standards.
Fix-It sells for $49.95 and can be ordered from VCOM.
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2003 by AlternativeApproaches.com
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