Norton System Works 2001 - Speed Disk

[cossack]

Bought this recently and almost immediately regretted it.
Speed disk ran and found some errors on my hard drive. No problem thought I, it will fix them for me.
Oh no it won't!
Nor will MS's built in defragger.
"Unable to write to drive C" is all I got. Those nice people at the Evesham Micros helpline say:
"Its a common problem. It finds minor faults (not picked up by the MS defragger) and blows them up out of all proportion and stops the drive being written to."
Fantastic!
Solution:
Reformat hard drive!!! Arrgh!!!
Anyone else suffered the same?
Should I send it back and get my money back?
Just use the anti-virus bits or what?

[matelot]

My experience with Norton products over the years is that they tend to be quite good, BUT, the programmes say, 'Look at me! Look at me! I'm in charge!'

If Norton gets a hold in the wrong places, it can be a bugger to shift.

Without a long dicourse, I could get rid of it if your machine was in front of me, but otherwise you're looking at it's own install programme to uninstall etc. If you can quote Evesham as support, send it back for a refund. Or start on your HDD from scratch.

Have fun :)

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Me, sweat? I'm that cool, it's condensation.

[cossack]

Cheers matelot
I've reformatted the HDD and am in the process of reloading all my crap onto it. The Norton disk is sitting there while I decide what to do. Bought it in the US so returning is an option, although trickier than normal. Only paid $57 as opposed to £60!
Is it worth just using the anti-virus and leaving speed-disk well alone or should I send it back? Still have about 40 days of the 60 left.

[matelot]

Again, from experience, if you use the AV, it'll put files and alter settings all over. If you want AV, go for a proprietary package, e.g. Dr Solomon's.

If I got hold of Norton, I'd use it, cos I know what it's like, but if you don't know the animal....

Not much help I know, but swap it if you can.

:)

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Me, sweat? I'm that cool, it's condensation.

[cossack]

It's in the post!!!
Cheers

[AquaPlane]

I've used Norton Utilities ever since Version 3.x and have never had any problems with it. I'm currently running the latest version on both a Windows 2000 workstation and Windows 98SE box without a hitch. Perhaps your disk had a few bum bits of data before the installation cossack...?

As far as AV goes, I use Norton AV with good effect. I used to use S&S International's Dr Solomon's which was also excellent.

Aq

[cossack]

AquaPlane
These "bum bits of data" were never picked up on by the pre-installed Windows defragger.
Are you suggesting I should maybe give it another chance now that I have a clean HDD to work from?
If I lose everything again I would be extemely p!ssed off.
BTW whats the best way to back up everything to make reinstalling easier?
Cheers

[Squiddley]

Hi cossack,

I use NSW2001 too and have come across the same "Unable to write to drive C". However, it seems to happen whenever I or the system is "doing something" on C:\. If I leave well alone and let speedisk run its course, there aren't any problems. The habit now is to start it running after a boot and leave it alone until finished. No problem.

I wouldn't bin it if it's only happened the once: give it another go. Since it's software it won't harm the disk physically by trying again. Also, if MS defrag didn't fix it, it's even less likely to be a problem with Norton.

FYI the same thing happens occasionally when "image" is running. It doesn't like other activity on the disk, which gets in the way of the snapshot being taken.

Good luck either way.

[AquaPlane]

Cossack. The defragmenter only shifts data to allow the HDD to read it off faster, it does nothing to actually check the integrity of the data on the disk. When using Norton, best thing to do is to have it as the only application running. Launch the 'One Button System Check' and let it run through and do it's checks. Allow it to fix any and all the problems it finds. If there's a problem with the disk, it'll fix it automatically.

Hope this helps,

Aq

[cossack]

Thanks a lot,
I'll reinstall, give it another go and let you know if there are any problems.
I've got nothing better to do on these long winter evenings.
(Loud noise and lots of stars visible as Mrs cossack beats me around the head with the iron...ouch!)

[spannersatcx]

defragging the HDD does find errors, to fix those you have to use scandisk. If there are errors scandisk will allow you a couple of options, reclaim the space by deleting the lost clusters/files, or try to recover them. Defraaging will not do this, when defragging if it finds an error it normally kicks you out and says to run scandisk. Had nortons stuff once caused so many problems I binned it as many others have done.

[cossack]

Thanks for all your input.
I have reinstalled it and all seems to be working OK. So far!
I guess the problem I had wasn't caused by System Works, just found by it.
Once again thanks.
cossack

[Maxclimb]

Windows ME has a defrag problem with either the MS version and Norton 2001, a download is available from the MS web site under Windows Update.

[InFinRetirement]

I cannot say enough against Norton! Everything I have ever used that was Norton has caused one problem or another. One was when I could not access my C drive after it had done it's work. Lost all my data.

Problem to seems to be that Norton's stuff consistently finds problems and promptly get itself stuffed on how to deal with it.

Leave Norton OFF your computer is the best idea. Keep your disk healthy by using its own disk clean-up and as the wise Spanners says let de-frag do its great job, then let Scandisk do a 'thorough' through the night.
Next morning you will find it a pleasure to use your pooter again.

Some of the best utils and tools are the ones you can download for free. But......MS have thought about how to DIY quite well in my view so always try their way first.

[CargoRat2]

Couldn't disagree more InFin! Have had Norton products for a while (System Works on this machine). Never had a problem!


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rgds Rat

[cossack]

It's still working!!!!

[InFinRetirement]

Good for you CR2. But, one day.............!

Like Spanners says, and I have said Norton causes more problems than it cures. Let ScanDisk and De-frag do their good work.

[brianmay]

Sorry, I'm with Aqua Plane

I'm using Norton Utilities 4 on my computer and it (especially Speedisk) is running very well.

Hang on to it. If you have to re-install windows to get rid of this glitch, go the whole hog, reformat the HD and go for a clean install. You should find the problem disappears.

Good Luck.

However, in a past life my nickname was Mr Format. 'Twas several years ago - the Dark Ages.