Here is what happened to the author of this article when he was learning about Computers and how Calibrate saved his life! It was the author's first PC, a PC-XT with a 20 MB Hard Disk. In the sixth month of purchase, he did something quite stupid (he REFUSES to share that with members/ readers, even after nearly 20 years!!) that erased the FAT and Partition Table data on his 20 MB Hard Disk! Fighting back tears, he approached the vendor who had sold him the PC and confessed his crime. To his surprise, the vendor was quite happy to take back the 6 month old, dead Hard Disk and give him a used 40 MB Hard Disk immediately, as replacement for the dead Hard Disk. The condition was that once the PC's manufacturer replaced the dead Hard Disk by a similar 20 MB Hard Disk, the old 40 MB Hard Disk would be returned... The vendor had one word of caution though - the 40 MB replacement Hard Disk had been on his son's PC. Since it ran maddeningly slow, he had been planning to get it replaced too, but since he did not have a stand-by Hard Disk, this was all he could cough up for now...

The author of this article was only too glad to grab the slow 40 MB Hard Disk: all his favorite programs and data were safe in a big stack of Floppies anyway and purchasing a new 20 MB Hard Disk would have burnt a hole in his pocket then! It was only when he ran his PC-XT with the 40 MB Hard Disk connected, that he realized just how slow the Hard Disk was: it took 5 minutes to boot into DOS! This wasn't much better than a dead Hard Disk, was it?!

With nothing else to do, he ran Calibrate on the Hard Disk, waiting patiently for the program to load. When it finally loaded, he changed the Hard Disk's Interleave from 1:13 to 1:5, as per Calibrate's recommendation. The Computer was left on during the night with Calibrate running. Come the next morning, Lo and Behold! The 40 MB Hard Disk was as fast as his dead 20 MB Hard Disk. Better - this one had twice the capacity! Needless to say, the 20 MB Hard Disk that the manufacturer supplied to the vendor as replacement was never claimed by the author! The vendor too did not insist on the return of what he believed was a 'slow' 40 MB Hard Disk! The replacement 20 MB Hard Disk may very well have been fixed to his son's PC too! Many months later, the author told the vendor that he had changed the Interleave of the 40 MB Hard Disk and that it ran as fast as any other Hard Disk! The 40 MB Hard Disk went on to survive many trials and tribulations, finally losing out to a much bigger 640 MB Hard Disk, some years later!

In time, many of Norton Utilities' modules were built into DOS and later, into Windows. For example, Chkdsk incorporated the ability to check and correct errors on Stacked/ SuperStor compressed drives. Microsoft also built in rudimentary Speed Disk-like functionality into Windows. However, Norton Utilities stayed far ahead of Microsoft. Some of the functions of Norton Utilities became unnecessary - for example, the excellent Calibrate became redundant when technology allowed the manufacture of 'Intelligent' Hard Disks that always got the Interleave correct.

Soon, dedicated products cropped up to compete with Norton Utilities. Today, you have dedicated products that clean and optimize the Registry (read our review of Registry Cleaners by clicking here), Optimize the Hard Disk by reducing File Fragmentation (read our review of Hard Disk Management Solutions by clicking here), utilities for undeleting files and unformatting Hard Disks, etc. Some of these as freeware. Moreover, Hardware itself kept getting cheaper. As a result, replacing a faulty Hard Disk became the option for more people.

However, Viruses and Spyware began to increasingly cause massive data losses. Around this time, Peter Norton Computing Inc. (PNCI) was renamed as Symantec Corp., though a number of Symantec products continue to carry the 'Norton' brand name till date. With changing requirements, Symantec too geared itself up, under the leadership of Peter Norton. Norton AntiVirus made its appearance and continued to grow by leaps and bounds. Along the way, it acquired Dr. Solomon's AntiVirus and thus became a serious competitor to McAfee's AntiVirus solution, going on to displace McAfee from the Number 1 spot amongst AntiVirus solutions. Other products were acquired too, in the quest to stay on top. Another notable acquisition was PCTools, which had an array of tools similar to Norton Utilities. CleanSweep was yet another acquisition. Symantec continues to be one of the most respected ISV today, with an annual turnover running into Billions. It continues to spearhead the fight against Viruses, Worms, Trojans, Rootkits, Spyware, Phishing, Hacking and other malicious threats that the Internet is replete with.

And - Ahem! If you haven't guessed it yet, Symantec is our Favorite IT Company, ahead of IBM, hp, Microsoft, Apple and others! We are pleased no end, that we are an affiliate of Symantec through Digital River OneNetworkDirect! Click on our software advertisements to purchase QUALITY software products at standard prices!

Norton SystemWorks 2009 is available in 3 Versions, as follows:

1. Norton SystemWorks Premier

2. Norton SystemWorks Standard

3. Norton SystemWorks Basic

A comparison of the features of each edition, their costs and purchase links are present in the Table below:

NOTE:

1. Prices printed above may change, depending upon Symantec and Digital River's policies from time to time. In case of any difference, the prices mentioned at Digital River will supersede the prices printed above.

2. If you are upgrading from an earlier version of Symantec products, you may be eligible for a discount of $ 20!

To continue reading about the Norton SystemWorks modules, click here

Here are the detailed features of each of the Norton SystemWorks editions:

1. Norton SystemWorks 2009 Premier

Key Features:

• Norton Pulse Updates (New feature)

• Norton Insight (New feature)

• Norton Protection System (New feature)

• Norton AntiVirus 2009

• Norton Save and Restore 2.0

• Disk Imaging from Norton Ghost

• Incremental and Differential backups

• Norton Disk Doctor

• Norton Speed Disk

• Norton Cleanup

• Norton WipeInfo

• System Optimizer

• CheckIt Diagnostics

• One-button Checkup

Key Capabilities:

• Stops viruses, worms, spyware, bots, and more-Keeps your system protected against malicious threats

• Provides Norton Insight-Delivers innovative, intelligence-driven technology for faster, fewer, shorter scans

• Delivers rapid pulse updates every 5 to 15 minutes-Provides up-to-the-minute protection against new threats

• Blocks browser exploits and protects against infected Web sites-Allows you to surf the Internet with confidence

• Creates full system and file backups-Keeps all of your system files, application settings, and important data safeguarded from PC disaster

• Restore from system failure-Recovers your system and data even when you can't restart your operating system

• Defragments, cleans, and repairs hard drive-Keeps your computer clean and running at peak level

• Diagnoses and fixes PC problems-Automatically detects and fixes Windows® issues

• Removes Internet clutter-Cleans up unwanted cookies, cache files, and temporary files that slow your computer's performance

• Recovers deleted files-Searches disks for deleted files and restores them to their original state (available on XP only)

• Deletes securely-Securely and permanently removes sensitive files from your PC

• Maintains your PC with one click-Defragments and optimizes your hard drive for better performance

Norton AntiVirus

Features Description:

Norton AntiVirus™ 2009—engineered for speed

• Saves time and improves performance with Norton Insight (New feature)

• Installs in under one minute on average (dependent upon system configuration) and requires less than 8 MB of memory (New feature)

Up-to-the-minute protection

• Delivers up-to-the-minute protection with rapid pulse updates every 5 to 15 minutes (New feature)

• Prevents bots from taking control of your PC (New feature)

• Boots and repairs badly infected PCs with recovery tool (New feature)

• Delivers our most complete, deep cleaning scan possible (New feature)

• Defends against Web-based attacks (Improved feature)

• Provides multilayered security through the Norton Protection System (Improved feature)

Control without disruptions

• Automatically schedules scans and updates to occur while PC is idle (New feature)

• Allows you to review the security status of every process on your PC (New feature)

• Helps ensure movies and games are never interrupted (New feature)

• Maps your wireless home network

Norton Save & Restore 2.0—full system backup and restore

• Creates full system and file backups

• Automatically backs up on schedule and events

• Reduces system slowdown with incremental and differential backup

Norton SystemWorks Premier Edition utilities—enhanced PC performance

• Diagnoses and fixes hard drive problems

• Defragments, cleans, and repairs the hard drive for optimized performance

• Quickly and permanently removes unwanted Internet cookies, cache, and temporary files that slow down your PC

• Speeds up your system by preventing the automatic loading of undesired software applications

• Identifies and fixes problems with the Windows registry, system files, and software applications

• Searches disks for deleted files and recovers them to their original state

• Safely and permanently removes sensitive files from your computer

• Allows you to easily see which software processes are running on your system and which ones are affecting its overall performance

• Enables you to customize Windows settings according to the way you use your computer

• Maintains your PC with one click of the button

• Evaluates the performance of your system and hardware and compares it with other systems

2. Norton SystemWorks 2009 Standard

Key Features:

• Norton Pulse Updates (New feature)

• Norton Insight (New feature)

• Norton Protection System (New feature)

• Norton AntiVirus

• Norton Disk Doctor

• Norton Speed Disk

• Norton Cleanup

• Norton Startup Manager

• Norton WinDoctor

• Norton WipeInfo

• CheckIt Diagnostics

• Process Viewer performance

• System Optimizer

• One-button Checkup

Key Capabilities

• Rapid pulse updates-Deliver up-to-the-minute protection against new threats (New feature)

• Norton Insight-Offers innovative, intelligence-driven technology for faster, fewer, shorter scans (New feature)

• Norton Protection System-Provides multilayered protection working in concert to stop threats before they impact you (New feature)

• Norton AntiVirus™-Provides fast, light, and continuous protection against viruses, spyware, worms, bots, and other threats

• Norton Disk Doctor™-Diagnoses and fixes hard drive problems

• Norton Speed Disk™-Defragments, cleans, and repairs the hard drive for enhanced performance

• Norton Cleanup-Quickly and permanently removes unwanted Internet cookies, cache files, and temporary files that slow computer performance

Features Description:

Norton AntiVirus 2009-engineered for speed

• Saves time and improves performance with Norton Insight (New feature)

• Installs in under one minute on average and requires less than 8 MB of memory (New feature)

Up-to-the-minute protection

• Delivers up-to-the-minute protection with rapid pulse updates every 5 to 15 minutes (New feature)

• Prevents bots from taking control of your PC (New feature)

• Boots and repairs badly infected PCs with recovery tool (New feature)

• Delivers our most complete, deep cleaning scan possible (New feature)

• Defends against Web-based attacks (Improved feature)

• Provides multilayered security through the Norton Protection System (Improved feature)

Control without disruptions

• Automatically schedules scans and updates to occur while your PC is idle (New feature)

• Allows you to review the security status of every process on your PC (New feature)

• Helps ensure movies and games are never interrupted (New feature)

• Maps your wireless home network

Norton SystemWorks Standard Edition utilities-enhanced PC performance

• Performance Test™ evaluates the performance of your system and hardware and compares it with other systems (New feature)

• Diagnoses and fixes hard drive problems

• Defragments, cleans, and rearranges the hard drive for optimized performance

• Quickly and permanently removes unwanted Internet cookies, cache, and temporary files that slow your computer’s performance

• Speeds up your system by preventing the automatic loading of undesired software applications

• Identifies and fixes problems with the Windows registry, system files, and software applications

• Searches disks for deleted files and recovers them to their original state (available on XP only)

• Safely and permanently removes sensitive files from your computer

• Allows you to easily see which software processes are running on your system and which ones are affecting its overall performance

• Enables you to customize Windows settings according to the way you use your computer

• Maintains your PC with a click of the button

3. Norton SystemWorks 2009 Basic

Key Features:

• Norton Disk Doctor

• Norton Speed Disk

• Norton™ Cleanup

• Norton Startup Manager

• Norton WinDoctor

• Norton WipeInfo

• Process Viewer

• System Optimizer

• CheckIt™ Diagnostics

• One-Button Checkup

• Performance Test

Key Capabilities

• Defragments, cleans, and repairs hard drive—Keeps your computer healthy and running at peak level.

• Diagnoses and fixes PC problems—Automatically detects and fixes Windows® issues.

• Removes Internet clutter—Cleans up unwanted cookies, cache files, and temporary files that slow your computer's performance.

• Speeds up system boot—Promotes faster PC startup by preventing the automatic loading of undesired applications.

Features Description:

Enhanced performance

• Defragments, cleans, and repairs the hard drive to boost performance

• Removes unwanted cookies, cache files, and temporary files that slow your computer’s performance.

• Speeds up your system boot by preventing the automatic loading of undesired applications at startup.

PC problem repair

• Diagnoses and fixes hard drive problems.

• Identifies and fixes problems with the Windows registry, system files, and software applications.

Safe deletion and restore

• Searches disks for deleted files and recovers them to their original state (available on XP only).

• Safely and permanently removes unwanted files from your computer.

Windows settings customization

• Puts you in charge of Windows® by allowing you to control access to your Windows settings.

PC maintenance

• Performs a physical examination of your PC’s hardware to determine its stability and capability.

• Maintains your PC with the click of a button.

Tools

• Enables you to easily see which software processes are running on your system and which ones are affecting its overall performance.

• Evaluates the performance of your system and hardware and compares it with other systems.

The Norton SystemWorks version we present is the 2009 Premier edition. The Standard and Basic editions do not have all the features described here. For a comparison of the features of each edition, their costs and purchase links, click this  link.

Our recommendation is that you go in for the Premier edition: it is the most comprehensive suite of PC Utilities ever developed!

• With the Basic edition, you need to purchase AntiVirus and AntiSpyware separately (or use free, inferior products!)

• With the Standard edition, you do not have the ability to safely back up and restore your important data.

• With the Premier edition, you are assured of peace of mind and a well-behaved PC, for a hundred dollars!

Here are the purchase links once again: Please note that prices may change, depending on Symantec's policies. Click on your preferred product, to pay securely and download your purchase!