 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Network Associates 2000 Toolbox Bernadette Houghton bernieh@iaccess.com.au |
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There is still a little time before the year 2000 but the countdown has begun. If you haven't already done so, you'll soon have to review your computer's exposure to the millennium bug. Network Associates has released 2000 Toolbox for just this purpose, aiming to offer a complete set of diagnostic and repair tools for the millennium problem. My initial response on reading about 2000 Toolbox's capabilities was one of enthusiasm--not only is it supposed to fix up hardware problems, but also to assess your software and correct date problems in your data files. The reality, however, turned out to be a bit of a disappointment.
2000 Toolbox Diagnostic Wizard
Like most of Network Associates' utilities suites, 2000 Toolbox consists of a main application - in this case, 2000 Toolbox Diagnostic Wizard--bolstered by a series of supporting utilities. The Wizard performs four different kinds of tests:
- Application Compliance,
where it scans your computer for popular applications and alerts you to any known Year 2000 issues. The Wizard doesn't "fix" problems; it just tells you about them so you can upgrade if necessary or, perhaps, work around the problem. - Database and Spreadsheet Analyzer
checks your spreadsheet and database files for problem dates and supposedly reformats two-digit years to four-digits. - Hardware Checker
tests your PC's Real Time Clock, BIOS, and DOS and Windows clocks to determine whether they handle Year 2000 dates correctly. If Checker finds a problem, it installs a fixer program, adding it to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so it runs every time you boot your PC. - Viruses
which scans your computer on demand and removes viruses.
Other Utilities
As for the other utilities in the box:
- McAfee Image
backs up your computer's boot record, partition tables and File Allocation Table, and restores them if your hard disk fails. - WinGauge Lite
monitors your system and alerts you to potential problems. - Registry Backup and Restore
backs up and restores your Windows registry. - Discover
displays information about your computer in graphical format. - Rescue Disk
creates a bootable startup disk. - Instant Update
updates 2000 Toolbox to the latest version.
Assessment
2000 Toolbox didn't leave me feeling entirely confident that it had checked my computer thoroughly for Year
2000 problems. For instance, the Wizard reported only non-compliant applications; it didn't tell me which
ones it had checked and found compliant or even which ones it had checked in the first place. I was left
wondering whether QuickBooks Pro 4 and MS Works 2, among others, were compliant or whether they just hadn't
been checked.
The Database and Spreadsheet Analyzer proved quite troublesome. When I first tested it, it worked only with Windows 98 or 32-bit ODBC drivers installed on my machine. Since not everyone is lucky (or unlucky?) enough to have Windows 98, or access to the relevant drivers, it wasn't a very satisfactory situation. Network Associates promised a fix, but when the fix arrived Analyzer still failed to live up to my expectations. It found various problems with some Excel 5 and Access 2 files, but failed to detect problems with other Access 2 and dBASE III files. Some of the files Analyzer passed over were straight copies of those which it identified as problematic, and sometimes Analyzer would identify a problem file then ignore it for a few runs before finding problems with it again.
2000 Toolbox's packaging, manual and online help had given me the impression that Analyzer could fix date problems in all kinds of data files; however, I eventually discovered that Analyzer can supposedly only fix spreadsheet problems. Unfortunately, I once again had problems verifying this as Analyzer refused to recognise my problem spreadsheet files on subsequent runs, even though the files hadn't been "fixed" or changed.
If 2000 Toolbox worked as claimed, it would be a valuable tool.
Unfortunately, I'm not entirely comfortable with it. I spent many hours testing Analyzer, in particular, but
in the end was unable to determine why it behaved so inconsistently. Of the Wizard's four-pronged defences, I
have reasonable confidence only in two--Hardware Checker and Viruses. Hardware Checker met my expectations on
the three machines I tested it on, and while I didn't actually check that Viruses does its job well (not
having access to any viruses), it is a modified version of McAfee's VirusScan. Application Compliance is
useful but simply isn't informative enough, and the Database and Spreadsheet Analyzer fails to live up to
promises.
Reprinted from the February 1999 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group,
Australia
