Talk:PC Tools (software)

message: I also need to speculate, that CP Desktop for Windows has not been beaten by anything else up to today, ~13 years later (especially its file manager). However it consumed lots of memory. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.21.12.27 (talk • contribs) 12 August 2006
:Please note that as a general rule, talk pages are for discussion related to improving the article, not general discussion about the topic. Personal (unsourced) opinions do not belong on Wikipedia. -- intgr 03:17, 24 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: CP Desktop

message: This should be separated into 2 articles, because CP PC Tools and PC Tools company PC Tools only share a name. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.21.44.59 (talk • contribs) 8 September 2006
:Done! rohith 17:42, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: PC Tools company

message: Someone just did a CSD request on the recently split off company article. If it is deleted, we should protect/be vigilant against recreation of content here on this article. 70.55.88.134 03:18, 24 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Yep, I'll be watching... Big Brother is watching!! lol.. rohith 17:47, 24 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  PC Tools windows software developer 

message: As this article presently stands (June 22, 2014), it discusses PC Tools for DOS but makes no explicit mention of PC Tools for Windows.  Seeing as PC Tools for Windows was a big hit when it was introduced, and version 2.0 — which came out less than a year later — was a substantial improvement on an already-unique and distinctive product, some explicit mention and discussion of the Windows version of PC Tools and its history would appear to be warranted.
(I could take a stab at composing such a section myself, but I would rather defer to others who know more than I.)
Striking points probably worth mentioning include:
* PC Tools for Windows provided a complete replacement for the standard Windows desktop (i.e., Program Manager).
* PC Tools for Windows included a File Manager that was far more capable than that included in Windows 3.0 and 3.1, or even the Windows Explorer of Windows 95.
* PC Tools for Windows had the then-remarkable ability to safely defragment a hard drive from within Windows, without requiring the user to exit Windows into DOS!
(DiskFix could also perform some file system repairs from within Windows; others required that Windows be shut down first.  Or maybe it was that it could examine the file system to see if any repairs were needed while Windows was running, but it could only repair the file system with Windows exited and closed down.  I forget.)
* PC Tools for Windows was the first version of PC Tools to be rated solidly ahead of its Norton counterpart(s) (Norton Utilities, Norton Antivirus, Norton Desktop for Windows . . . weren't they all bundled together for a time to compete with PC Tools for Windows?) in comparative reviews published in magazines.
If memory serves, one comparative review I saw at the time called it a virtual tie as between the then-latest DOS versions of Symantec's and Central Point's respective utility suites, with Norton having a slight edge in five functional categories and PC Tools narrowly winning in five other categories; the review in question (in PC World?) gave PC Tools the edge overall, but only by the narrowest of margins.  But then in a comparison of Windows products, the vastly greater scope of PC Tools' interface enhancements, and the ability of PC Tools' various utilities to function even while Windows was running, gave PC Tools for Windows an overwhelming edge over its Norton counterpart(s).
I see now that the desktop replacement is already mentioned in the article as it presently stands, but only as a bundle of important features listed all-together within a single bullet-item at the end of a very long bullet-list of features.  Many of these features are features of the DOS version only; the bullet-list goes back and forth between features that are in fact DOS-only and features that happen to be common to both versions, without ever indicating (except in the bullet-item for Central Point Desktop) which version of PC Tools for Windows the features belong to, or even mentioning the Windows version by name!
(Because features of both versions are listed together without distinguishing the two versions, or even mentioning the Windows version, two separate bullet-items — the first and the last — each mention a file manager!)
(Within this single bullet-item, the PCTW File Manager is incorrectly listed as part of the Central Point Desktop; they were separate and distinct features of PC Tools for Windows.  Indeed, even using the Central Point Desktop, one could still launch the regular Windows File Manager instead of — or in addition to — the PCTW File Manager if one wanted to.  Likewise, in the incredibly unlikely event that one chose to make Program Manager instead of the Central Point Desktop one's designated Windows shell, one could still launch the PCTW File Manager from within Program Manager, and use it instead of the Windows File Manager.
Heck, though few Windows users knew this, you could even designate File Manager (either the Windows or the PC Tools for Windows version) as your Windows shell!  Just change the "Shell=" entry in either Win.ini or System.ini . . . I forget which.
But in any event, the File Manager that came with PC Tools for Windows was not part of the Central Point Desktop, but instead was a separate, additional program included with the package.  One program among many, of which the Central Point Desktop was another.)
I believe that PC Tools for Windows should be mentioned by name, and discussed in a separate section.  It is closely enough related to the many DOS versions of PC Tools not to rate a separate Wikipedia article, but it was a distinct product with many distinct and important features — features that distinguished it both from the DOS versions of PC Tools and from any of its Windows rivals.  Some of these features were simply Windows versions of their DOS (PC Tools 9.0) counterparts, but many had no DOS counterparts.  It definitely rates a separate discussion in a separate section under the existing page.
2001:5B0:24FF:3CF0:0:0:0:30 (talk) 14:00, 22 June 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  PC Tools for DOS vs. PC Tools for Windows 

message: XTree, which Central Point acquired in 1993, had many of the same features and capabilities (file and picture viewing, ZIP viewing, Undelete) that were included in PC Tools (i.e., the DOS version), PC Tools for Windows, and their respective File Managers.  Were any of these features based on or obtained from XTree?  Even if Central Point's/PC Tools' DOS and Windows File Managers were originally developed in-house, were any of their features added from XTree after the acquisition?  If so, that would be worth noting.
(And if not, then what — if anything — did Central Point actually get out of the XTree acquisition?)
2001:5B0:24FF:3CF0:0:0:0:32 (talk) 06:54, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Any features obtained from XTree?