Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!ssbell!mcmi!unocss!ho@fergvax.unl.edu
From: ho@fergvax.unl.edu (Tiny Bubbles...)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: RE: hard disk de-fragmenter
Message-ID: <1366@unocss..unl.edu>
Date: 7 Jan 90 22:13:29 GMT
References: <90004.231733MHS108@PSUVM.BITNET>
Sender: root@unocss..unl.edu
Reply-To: ho@fergvax.unl.edu
Lines: 32

From article <90004.231733MHS108@PSUVM.BITNET>, by MHS108@PSUVM.BITNET (Mark Solsman):
> I strongly disagree with the use of PCTools. One late night as my bbs ran its
> timed event, pctools decided to totally screw up the entire users-file. There
> was no apparent reason for this act, no breaks or power-inturrupts, and the dos
> err level was gnarley! If you value your disk's contents- just say no to PCTool

As I always do when someone attacks a software package, I'm going to have to
ask exactly what PC Tools did.  What program did you run?  What did you ask it
to do?  Were you running other tasks in the background?

"late night" ...  were you watching so that you knew PC Tools was at fault, 
and not just a periodic disk crash?  Disks /do/ crash occasionally, despite
what the manufacturers say.

I'm not trying to stick up for PC Tools per se -- I'm trying to defend all
software packages which are blamed for routine failures.

As the co-sysop of a Lincoln (Neb.) bulletin board, I get complaints all
the time -- at least once a week -- from users claiming that their hard 
drives were eaten by this application or that.  Well-known and stable
programs like Telix and ProComm.  Useful programs like Con->FMT and 
CTRLALT.  Most of all, programs which I know can and do work.

If you found a genuine bug in the program, my apologies.  But I've watched
too many quality programs get slandered this way, and I'm to the point of
disbelieving just about anyone with claims like yours.

Especially if they are not substantiated.
---
	... Michael Ho, University of Nebraska
Internet: ho@hoss.unl.edu		USnail:  115 Nebraska Union
BITnet:   cosx001@UNLCDC3			 Lincoln, NE 68588-0461