Diagnostic Software Suggestion

I was hoping to get a little advice on what type of diagnostic software is suggested. I've looked at several , and like "The Ultimate Trouble Shooter". Since getting my new Dell D800 laptop, I've been dowloading a bunch of software to burn DVD's, de-coding software, etc. but have noticed during some of these episodes virus's trying to load - I think I have all of the latest updates (since the laptop is only one month old), but I've gone ahead and checked for updates anyway. I have the trial version of the Ultimate Trouble Shooter v2.35 and it shows that there may be several problems but I have to register the software before it will suggest how to fix the problems. Is thes software worth the purchase of $25 or is there something better out there to keep my laptop running smoothly? Using WIN XP Pro

 

Please post what you are using for virus and trojan control,type of firewall etc

 

I've been using various versions of the FixIt utilities for several years and really like them. When I first purchased a Win98 version it was distributed by OnTrack but I think VCOM owns it now. I now have the WinXP version of FixIt and think it's hard to beat at the price -- only $30 for quite a comprehensive and easy to use set of diagnostic and repair tools. My only criticism of the product is the registry editor. While there is a tool in the FixIt utilities to allow you to backup and restore the registry easily it's in another part of the program not linked to directly in the Find and Fix registry problems section. When you use the registry editor tool it doesn't prompt you to create a backup first. That would seem to be an obvious feature to include, but it's not there. Other than that one criticism I think it's an exceptionally fine set of diagnostic and repair tools for the money. I also have Norton's System Suite Professional (which is much pricier than FixIt, even after the usual upgrade/competing product rebates) and use it for some things that FixIt doesn't cover, but for most problems FixIt is my first choice.

I don't know anything about the utility set you're considering purchasing so I can't compare it with the FixIt utilities. There's a whole system suite that includes the FixIt Utilities as well as an anti-virus program, a firewall (I think) and probably some anti-spyware stuff along with some other additional (mostly internet related) features if you want a more comprehensive integrated set of tools. But the entire suite is, of course, more expensive -- $50 or $60 I think.