Refusing to rest on its laurels, Now Software has devised an even more robust Now Utilities system-enhancements package. Version 3.0 includes several new tools as well as enhanced versions of existing Now utilities, making it the most complete collection of Mac system enhancements to reside in a single package. Best of all, each of the ten utilities included in version 3.0 is System 7-compatible and several add significant value to specific System 7 functions.
The current version of Now’s StartUp Manager works with System 7’s multi-folder System Folder, giving users control over which extensions and control panels are to load and in what order. You can also create groups of extension files and assign a keystroke to each group to invoke it at startup.
StartUp Manager can also define links between related extensions and control panels, so that when one is turned on, those related to it are either activated or turned off automatically (the latter is a good way to eliminate conflicting extensions).
These are all nice touches, but the real Now centerpiece is Super Boomerang, a utility that adds lists of recently opened files and folders to all standard Open/Save dialog boxes as well as to the File menus of most programs. New with version 3.0, Super Boomerang's search capabilities are combined with the Finder, creating a Super Boomerang entry on the Apple menu that displays a hierarchical list of recently accessed folders and files. When you select a folder, it opens in the Finder. When you select a file, it's launched.
You can also opt to use Super Boomerang’s fast search features from within the Finder. As before, the search criteria can be filename and last save date, but version 3.0 also lets you search for specific text strings within a file. Also new is the ability to search within SluffIt and Compactor archives.
Under System 7, NowMenus lets you create hierarchical submenus, as much as five folders deep, for folders you’ve elected to display on your Apple menu, and you can open items and files contained within the folders directly. The utility also creates submenus for all Apple-menu items, the Chooser, and the Control Panels folder, so you gain instant access to these items as well. You can set NowMenus to pop up your Apple menu when you click anywhere on the desktop and to drop menus down automatically whenever you move your mouse into the menu bar.
MultiMaster provides a fast route to launching applications and files by letting you bypass the Finder with a MultiMaster pop-up window or pull-down menu that you configure. The window and menu, which you bring up with hot-key combinations, contain listings of applications and files you can select and launch quickly, using either keyboard command equivalents or the mouse, MultiMaster also provides helpful memory-management tools that show you how memory is being used on your machine and allow you to change memory allocations.
WYSIWYG Menus was as sleeper in the previous version of Now, but it's back with a vengeance in 3.0. It allows you to combine font families into hierarchical listings, as does Adobe Type Reunion, and it can also display each font's name on the menu in iis own typeface. The utility even displays size and style menu items in the selected style and size. A Now control panel lets you rearrange fonts on your Font menu, and you can choose whether a font will he displayed in its own face or in the system font.
To protect your data, the Now Save function lets you specify when and how applications are to go about automatically saving open documents. You can specify the number of minutes, keystrokes, or mouse clicks that are to elapse before a file is saved. A special control panel lets you set the NowSave function, but you can also opt to have it appear on the File menu of all or selected applications.
Now's DeskPicture lets you replace standard desktop patterns with multiple color or black-und-white PICTs. The program's Screen Locker is a screen saver that doubles as a security guard, allowing you to set it to lock your screen. Now also includes AlarmsClock and a miniapplication called Profiler, which can document a surprisingly detailed amount of information about your Mac's hardware and software configuration.
The Bottom Line
At a list price of $129, Now Utilities 3.0 gives you far more bang for the buck than a mishmash of similar utilities from other commercial and shareware publishers. If you're looking for the best route to a customized Mac that's optimized for efficient operation under both System 6 and 7, Now Utilities 3.0 is your ticket.
Tau, Eric. (January 1992). Now Utilities 3.0. MacUser. (pgs. 61-62).
Now Software
Applications
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now_utilities_3-0-2_4-0-2.zip
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
Basilisk II
