Diskeeper…defrags NT
Diskeeper 2.0 claims that you can “set it and forget it,” and it’s one of only a handful of products that can legitimately make that claim. It defragments NTFS and FAT disks running Windows NT (Workstation or Server). We have used Diskeeper on our Window s NT server at work with a 9 Gigabyte RAID disk array for 10 months now, and it has never caused a problem. For this review, I also defragmented 2.5 and 4.0 Gigabyte hard disks on machines running NT Workstation both standalone and as part of a network.
Diskeeper 2.0 installs easily from a CD, and once installed it runs quickly and smoothly. Although technical support is available both from the company’s web site and by e-mail and telephone, Diskeeper is one of the very few products I have used where I have never needed technical support!
Diskeeper allows both a graphical and text reporting of the fragmentation state of the drive. You can even print out a report telling you which files are fragmented and to what extent. It took about four minutes to defragment a half-full 2.5 Gigabyte har d drive and about 12 minutes to clean up a 4.0 Gigabyte drive that had been in use for several weeks without being defragmented. Text reports can be printed out and/or saved in a log file, and the graphical display is constantly updated as the clean-up i s going on.
It runs equally well on Windows NT Server and Workstation in either manual or unattended mode. The “Set it and Forget it” unattended mode runs as a service on Windows NT and can be scheduled to run at a variety of intervals depending on the load on your computer. Because it can work on files that are in use, it is truly transparent to users. Files can also be excluded if desirable. Even more impressive, Diskeeper runs across an NT network to maintain users’ hard disks without the necessity for them to r un the program locally. Microsoft is said to be impressed enough with the utility that they are including a manual version of it with NT 5.0!
You can try a 30-day version of the software from Executive Software’s web site (http://www.diskeeper.com) or download a free version of the software (Diskeeper Lite) that is designed for single users. Diskeeper Lite runs only in manual mode and offers no networking or multitasking functionality, but it’s nonetheless a powerful utility for a standalone works tation.
Laplink95…anywhere.
If, like me, you have not used LapLink since a much earlier incarnation of the program, you will be amazed at the capabilities it has acquired over the years. LapLink 7.5 now has more features than you will probably ever use unless you’re a rabid power-u ser. You can use it to control other computers over a network, over a direct cable link, over dial-up connections, or even through the Internet!
In order to provide such wide-ranging capability without leaving your machine open to every lurker on the net, LapLink has incorporated significant security features. The most useful features of LapLink allow you to set up security lists of IDs and passw ords to determine what incoming connections will be accepted and what access they will be given.
Taking remote control of another computer requires you to be running LapLink on both machines with appropriate security clearances.
In addition to transferring files (its original purpose and still a strength), LapLink 7.5 now allows you to control remote machines and run programs on them, routing the results, graphics and all, to your console. This feature is most useful perhaps for people who have expensive programs at work who need to use them occasionally from home or on the road yet who cannot justify the expense of second or third copy. For most of us, being able to retrieve files we store at work from home or the road will pe rhaps be its most common use.
The most recent incarnation of LapLink definitely gives programs like pcAnywhere and its congeners a run for their money.
LapLink 7.5 ran seamlessly on Windows NT and Windows 95, with either operating system being able to function as host or client equally well. A much appreciated feature is LapLink’s searching for other computers running itself and making those connections for you automatically. You can also set up address books with the IP addresses of specific machines to which you connect with some regularity, much as e-mail programs use address books.
Every feature of LapLink that I tried and in every combination worked flawlessly. At one point I had a laptop hooked to a Windows NT server by a direct cable and another computer running Windows 95 networked to the server all running LapLink. I could tra nsfer files easily, and more impressive, I could control any one of the computers from any of the others.
The only annoyance was the Help windows’ continuing to pop up and keep themselves on top even when I didn’t want them. I finally set them up so that they did not always remain on top, and that made things run much more smoothly for me.
LapLink, for both Windows NT and Windows 95, is a superb program, maintaining the strengths of its past versions while keeping pace with the needs of an increasingly networked and Internet-linked world.
LapLink is available with or without cables. For more information go to http://www.travsoft.com.
Dr. Dwight Raulston, a HAL-PC member, is Director of Technology for St. John’s School and its former Upper School Head.
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