An evaluation copy of the program arrived on July 8. I installed the two suites of programs that are included, Fix-It Utilities 99 and Powerdesk Utilities 99. The programs install easily and work well.

When I receive a program, the first thing I do is read the manual, and this manual is over 200 pages, which should tell you there is a lot of valuable material here. These Utility programs will also work with Windows NT; others don't.

Here is a list of the qualities of Fix-It Utilities 99 as shown on the shrink-wrapped cover.

1. Crash protection. Computer programs do crash. Computers also do crash. You can set Crashproof 99 so it is always on. If a crash were to happen with your computer, this can help you save data, even if no one is around to help you. The manual tells you about the program and how to set it "always on".
2. Disk Defragmentation. Defrag Plus defrags your disks. It gives you a neat graphic as it works.
3. #1 Registry cleaning. When you bring this up, there are a number of options. Run fixer and you will see any number of items you may want to remove from the registry. Other registry views are provided for.
4. Virus protection. One free year of updates is included. Good anti-virus protection, but there was not a convenient A/V disable feature that appeared on my computer.
5. Hard Disk Fixer. Checks individual boot records and header data against the master boot record. NTFS, FAT, and FAT32 disk repair. There are too many detailed areas to enter for me to write them all up here.
6. Hardware Diagnostics. System diagnostics are provided in greater detail than any other program I've seen. A year 2000 checker is included to make sure your computer is Y2K compatible.

Installing the program is simplicity itself. Running the program consists of clicking the icon on the desktop. A menu comes up that includes Fix Wizard; Disk and Files, Optimization and Repair; System Registry, Registry Repair and Clean; System Diagnostics, Hardware and System; and lastly, System Protection, World Class Protection. Clicking on each headline takes you to a sub-menu for that category.

Going through these menu items, I found Undelete Plus. The list of files on my hard disk that I could recover with this utility is unbelievable.

A startup disk can be created to allow you to start up if the hard disk crashes. Also, an Emergency Rescue Disk comes with the program. This disk has a Help section that displays a text file to give you hints as to what to do next when something has gone wrong. Disk Snapshot is a program that writes out your FAT table and boot sector and stores it in case your rescue disk needs help in recovering data.

A manual is included in the program to be there if you have a crash; it will assist you in using the rescue disk and the startup disk. It includes much more than just that, but what a nice thing to have if a real crash occurs when no one else is around.

An update program takes you to the Mijenix site and allows you to update your programs components.

I put the program on a computer with a bad internal modem and when I checked COM1 in System Check, a large red X appeared on the modem menu, in contrast to the checks on the other items listed. In the Diagnostics Suite, you can look deeply into the motherboard, memory, or hard drives. It makes it easier to decide if you have a software or a hardware problem.

Before this review gets too long, let me point out that the program PowerDesk is included on the CD ROM. This is a program that offers powerful file viewing, file removal, and also a graphics conversion utility that has provisions for 19 graphic formats. We reviewed the PowerDesk Utilities 98 in the July 1998 issue of Bits of Blue. (Yes, I save all the old copies, from years back.) An email attachment decoding feature is included. With PowerDesk, you can set up two Explorer windows so that it is easy to drag and drop between them.

Fix-It Utilities 99 is a suite of programs. To go into detail on all the various features included would make this review way too long. I recommend this suite over the competition (Norton's System Works, Nuts and Bolts98, First Aid 2000) as it is easy to use, and the various components have similar interfaces. The cost of this program (including the $30 street price PowerDesk Utilities) is $40 to $50. The Mijenix Company can be contacted at 800-645-3649 or http://www.mijenix.com. u