Windows 98 utilities suite coming

Symantec will announce on Monday an integrated antivirus and systems utility suite encompassing its Norton line of utilities applications, the first such package for the Windows operating systems, including Windows 98, according to the company.

Norton SystemWorks will include the latest version of Norton Utilities, which detects and repairs system problems. The package contains: Norton AntiVirus, which monitors PCs for viruses and provides Web-based virus protection in the form of downloadable updates, Notron CrashGuard, Uninstall Deluxe, and six months of Norton Web services.

"This is one integrated suite of utilities to protect your machine and solve problems, and recover from disasters," said Tom Powledge, senior product manager for Symantec. "What differentiates this from a marketing bundle is that this is complete versions of all the categories. We see this suite as the way the utility category is going."

The suite is one of the first Windows 98 utilities introduced since the June 25 release of the upgraded operating system. "All the products in the suite are updated to Windows 98 and ready for Windows 98," Powledge said.

The suite is priced at $99.95, which represents about a 40 percent savings compared to the total purchase price of the individual applications, according to the company. Owners of any of the individual Norton products can upgrade to Norton SystemWorks for $69 through the end of the year, and owners of competing products such as First Aid 98 or CleanSweep can also receive a $30 rebate toward the cost of SystemWorks.

Norton SystemWorks will be available at retailers in September.