Symantec announces Norton Utilities 3.0 for Windows 95 giving computer users unrivalled problem-solving and control

HONG KONG 14 January, 1998 - Symantec Corporation has announced Norton Utilities 3.0, the latest version of its unrivalled, award-winning utilities product.

Widely recognised as the experts' choice for solving serious computer problems, this latest version of Norton Utilities 3.0 continues to provide the most complete and powerful set of utilities available for safe and reliable computing for Hong Kong's business and home users.

In a local initiative resulting from feedback from users in the region, Symantec has incorporated Norton Utilities 3.0 for Windows 95 together with Norton Utilities 2.0 for Windows NT and Norton Utilities 8.0 for DOS/Win in a multi-platform solution, Norton Utilities Gold Edition, conveniently packaged in the same box.

Norton Utilities 3.0 for Windows 95's new and advanced problem-solving, disaster recovery and optimisation capabilities are designed to intelligently tune and optimise the user's system for crash protection, provide continuous detection and correction of hardware and software problems, and offer unrivalled performance optimisation. Norton Utilities 3.0 is three times as effective as any competitive software on the market, and has been modified to start up more quickly than previous editions.

"Norton Utilities Gold Edition conveniently provides Norton Utilities 3.0 for Windows 95 as well as Norton Utilities for all major PC platforms in a single box, making it easier for users in Hong Kong to upgrade from one operating system to another when they migrate to a new system," said Daniel Schneersohn, regional director, North Asia, Symantec.

"As many users in Hong Kong still deploy a variety of platforms, thanks to this combination package, Hong Kong users can more quickly get from dealers just the right version of Norton Utilities that they need to improve the performance of their personal computer."

"It is important for all computer users in Hong Kong, no matter what platform they run or whether they're operating at home or in a networked environment in the office, to install system protection and data recovery tools, like Norton Utilities. With Norton Utilities, even the computer professional and the technically advanced power user will have the most powerful, best-of-breed tools available to maintain an optimum computer system," he added.

Norton Utilities 3.0 for Windows 95 delivers faster start-up and improved problem-solving and disaster recovery tools

Norton WinDoctor A new and exclusive feature to Norton Utilities 3.0 for Windows 95, WinDoctor is a standalone utility that extends problem-solving capabilities for users. It proactively and continuously monitors and cleans the system, then intelligently detects and fixes problems within system files and software applications. WinDoctor checks for problems such as lost shortcuts, invalid registry entries, broken applications and missing DLLs. WinDoctor presents a list of problems and either fixes them automatically or lets users manually fix them. WinDoctor detects software errors and ensures that Windows applications are installed and working properly. WinDoctor intelligently groups problems based on their cause. For example, if a user renamed an application's folder, WinDoctor will identify all registry and application problems caused by this action and repair them all at once.

Norton Web Services and LiveUpdate Pro The Norton Utilities 3.0 for Windows 95 provides a free, limited-time subscription to Norton Web Services. Norton Web Services allows users to access LiveUpdate Pro, a new Internet-based utility that provides patches for Norton Utilities, Norton AntiVirus virus definition updates, and any other software applications and hardware drivers on the user's system. Ideal for problem-solving, LiveUpdate Pro updates applications and drivers by taking an inventory of the software on the user's system and comparing it to a database of available updates. When a match is found, LiveUpdate Pro offers to install the update and also provides the ability to undo an update if necessary.

Norton CrashGuard 3.0 Norton Utilities 3.0 for Windows 95 now includes a fully integrated version of Norton CrashGuard 3.0 and provides the best crash and recovery protection available. In fact, testing by US body NSTL (National Software Testing Laboratories) in November last year proves that Norton CrashGuard provides three times the crash protection of any other competitive software on the market.

CrashGuard runs continuously in the background, using only 150K of memory to intercept crashes and "unfreeze" applications. When an application crashes, CrashGuard intercepts the crash, so users can save their work. CrashGuard includes Norton Anti-Freeze that offers to restore frozen applications, even when the user is forced to use Ctrl+Alt+Delete.

Now integrated with the Norton System Doctor, the CrashGuard sensor not only intercepts application crashes, but also monitors critical system resources for conditions that lead to system or application crashes, such as when resources or memory are dangerously low, and prevents crashes from occurring.

Norton Zip Rescue Rescue Disk offers exclusive disaster recovery improvements and now provides the added capability of saving rescue information on an Iomega Zip Disk. Norton Utilities 3.0 for Windows 95 is the first product to allow users to recover their systems by booting into Windows, instead of DOS.

The new Rescue Recovery Wizard guides users through the recovery process via a familiar and easy-to-follow Windows interface. Users can save their work and recover critical files using Windows. They can also run the Windows-based Norton Utilities such as Norton Registry Editor and Disk Doctor to fix problems and recover the system. The rescue sensor in Norton System Doctor now recommends updating the rescue disks when changes are detected to critical system areas such as the boot record or CMOS.

Norton System Doctor Unique to Norton Utilities, the Norton System Doctor helps keep computers free of problems and working at peak performance. It runs quietly in the background, continuously monitoring a computer's operating environment, and unobtrusively scanning for serious problems. System Doctor now uses fewer resources while running in the background and scans for problems with no interference to the user. Norton System Doctor is completely customisable, giving users the option of monitoring more than 80 system conditions. When a problem occurs, there are now three levels of alarms to indicate the severity of problems (Notice, Caution and Alert.) The alarms will notify the user immediately when conditions require attention and provide a detailed description of the problem. Norton System Doctor tells the user how to fix the problem and which of the Norton Utilities to use, and it can also fix many problems automatically.

New and Improved Optimisation Tools

Norton Optimisation Wizard This new utility provides several system optimisation functions including Registry Optimisation, a process that compacts the Windows Registry and reduces the time it takes Windows to boot. The Norton Optimisation Wizard also optimises the size and placement of the Windows swap file by setting it to an optimal size and placing it at the front of the disk.

Norton Optimisation Wizard allows Windows to access the swap file faster, which boosts system performance and speeds up the user's system.

Speed Disk Significantly enhanced in this version of Norton Utilities 3.0 for Windows 95, Speed Disk provides the fastest, most intelligent disk optimisation available. Using patent-pending optimisation technology, Speed Disk intelligently optimises the placement of files on the disk based on how often they are accessed or modified. Speed Disk places frequently accessed files at the front of the disk for fast access and infrequently accessed files at the end of the disk, leaving the free space in the middle.

This not only increases overall system performance, but also reduces the potential for file fragmentation over time.

Pricing and Availability

Founded in 1982, Symantec maintains corporate headquarters in Cupertino, California with regional offices in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore, Malaysia, Sydney, Melbourne - Australia, and Auckland. Traded on Nasdaq under the symbol SYMC, Symantec is ranked in the top ten international software vendors and employs more than 2000 people worldwide. Information on the company and its products and about Symantec's regional activities can be accessed from the Symantec Asia Pacific Regional Media Centre Online at www.symantec.com/region/hk/press/. News on this and other Symantec activities in Asia can be found at http://www.newell.com