Norton Utilities 14 Review

Norton Utilities 14 Review

Is Norton Utilities good or bad?

Pros:

• Feature bundle is packed full (a lot of features)
• Technical and Customer support ticks all the boxes
• Improved performance of test machine
• Refreshingly the 30 day trial program is not limited (full use trial)

Cons:

• Downloading and Installing took a little longer than expected;
• Price is a little high;

Quick Overview:

Norton Utilities has a lot of features, all the technical support options you need, made the test machine more responsive and faster all round, but the price is somewhat expensive in comparison to its competitors.

Website: www.norton.com (click to visit)

Ease of Use:

The interface is well designed and makes interacting with the program easy – on the left is the navigation menu and on the right are the functions and info associated with the selected menu item. Annoyingly you cannot adjust the height or width of the interface.

FEATURES EXPLAINED:

1. Registry Cleaner:

Optimizes and repairs your registry by scanning the windows registry database for erroneous entries and fixing them.

How to use the Registry Cleaner:

On the ‘Optimize’ tab click ‘Clean Your Registry’, you will immediately be presented with the registry scan window and it will automatically start scanning. It took only 2 minutes and 44 seconds give or take to scan my Registry, and then you are presented with the scan results. Registry error explanations for each error are listed, along with a severity rating and check boxes that allow you to decide what entries to repair. (Note: right-click the list for more options, like deselect all or select all).

2. Manage Startup Programs:

Lists the applications that run when the computer starts and gives you options to enable, disable or delete programs.

How to use the Manage Your Startup:
Navigate to the ‘Manage Your Startup’ section and Un-tick or tick which programs you want to run when your system starts-up and then click apply.

3. Manage Services:

Services are processes (or mini applications) that run on your computer performing various tasks; Manage Your Services feature automatically determines what services should be running and disables the others. Playing with services can cause problems (rarely but it happens…) so comfortingly Norton Utilities offers the ability to easily restore your services to their last know good configuration.

How to use the Manage Services:
Open the ‘Manage Your Services’ feature from the ‘Optimize’ tab, decide between ‘Recommended Services’ or ‘Minimal Services’ options and click the associated button. It ticks the recommend services that should run – for advanced users you can check and uncheck manually – then click the apply button and Symantec Utilities goes to work adjusting the services.

4. Defragment Registry:

Removes gaps and wasted space in the registry in an effort to improve system performance.

5. Junk File and Disk Cleaner:

Gives you the ability to remove unnecessary files such as recycle bin contents, temporary files and internet cache to free up memory, reduce security risks and improve PC performance.

6. Windows Defragmenter:
It offers a button that accesses the pre-installed disk defragmenter that comes with the Windows Operating System – it’s not impressive that they have not created their own defrag tool, but instead piggy-backed off a tool that is already installed. I guess it’s not all negative as I guess it makes it easier to access for novice users through the UI of Norton Utilities.

7. Monitor Your System:
A feature that has 4 functions –

• you can monitor the processes that are currently running,
• Look at your system performance and or click the ‘Optimize Your System’ button to perform optimization tweaks.
• check hard disk space, and
• View system information like RAM available, CPU, OS Version, etc…

8. Windows Tools:
Provides a nice central interface to access pre-installed windows functions and tools that are located in difficult to find places (especially for novice users). The tools is makes easier to access are:

• Computer Management
• Windows Updates
• System Restore
• System Properties
• System Information
• Control Panel
• Local Security Settings
• Local Users and Groups
• Group Policy Editor
• Windows Security Center
• Device Manager
• Disk Management
• Event Viewer
• Performance Monitor

9. Administer Tab:

Gives the ability to adjust settings, Restore and undo previous repairs, and look for Norton Utility updates.

Help and Support:

1. Online Knowledgebase (FAQs);
2. Email Support;
3. Online chat;
4. Phone Support;
5. Norton Utilities Quick Start Guide;
6. Callback Service (submit a request for a callback via their website – no more waiting on hold)

Awards/Postive Reviews:

1. PC World – Superior Award Recipient
2. Computer Shopper - Editor’s Choice Pick

Moneyback Guarantee:

Unknown

Conclusion:

The Norton Utilities product has been around since Peter Norton released the first version for DOS back in 1981. Norton Utilities 14 is the latest version and its better than ever with its big bag of features, it also has all the technical support options you want.

But were there are positives there are normally negatives – Norton Utilities is at the top of the expensive tree – if you need system optimization software check our PC Tuneup Software List – unless you don’t mind paying premium price.

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