MacTools Pro's latest upgrade now runs on Power Macs and offers users better help features. The current version, however, drops System 6 support and will not run on the Mac Plus, SE, Classic, or PowerBook 100.
The redesigned MacTools Clinic program combines DiskFix, Anti-Virus, Optimizer, Undelete, and FileFix. AutoCheck, which scans your disk for directory problems, runs in the background and can collect disk-scan results from any Mac running AutoCheck on the network. Some MacTools Pro programs are unchanged. For example, FastCopy copies floppy disks and creates disk image files; DiskLight’s flashing screen icons alert you to disk and peripherals activity; and the Backup program, despite its confusing interface, works with removable media and digital audiotapes.
MacTools Pro’s most exciting new feature is RAMboot. RAMboot automatically creates a RAM disk with a System file and the MacTools Clinic application, and automatically restarts your Mac from the RAJVI disk. When MacTools Clinic completes the repair or optimization, RAMboot automatically restarts the Mac from the usual start-up disk. For models that don’t support a RAM disk — the Mac II, IIx, IIfx, IIci, IIcx, IIsi, Classic II, SE/30, LC, and LC II — MacTools Clinic lets you create bootable Emergency and Optimizer floppy disks.
The new QuickAssist is a help system that leads you through the disk-repair process. First, you check off the problems you’re having from a list, and DiskFix runs the appropriate repair routines. SmartTips is a series of help screens detailing how to fix common problems.
DiskFix can now repair more disk problems without rebooting from a separate disk, and it can fix disk-directory problems that the previous version could not. DiskFix is faster than in the previous version, especially on Power Macs. The Optimizer program is also faster. But even with MacTools’ improvements, I found that Symantec’s Norton Utilities for Macintosh 3.1 could mount and repair some crashed disks that DiskFix could not, reinforcing my belief that you should own both MacTools Pro and Norton Utilities.
AutoCheck and Anti-Virus constantly scan the disk looking for problems. Both work well but require a ridiculous amount of RAM. AutoCheck needs 512K of RAM, and Anti-Virus and TrashBack together need approximately 270K. Norton Utilities’ FileSaver requires only about 80K of RAM.
Technical support for MacTools Pro is expensive. Toll-free support calls are $25 per call, and 900-number tech-support calls are $2 a minute. Unlimited tech support is available for a flat rate of $30 for 30 days. There is no free phone support for MacTools Pro. Many users buy a disk-utility program after they’ve had problems and usually need at least one support call. Symantec offers free tech support via E-mail to its BBS, and on CompuServe and America Online. Symantec’s fax information line offers answers to the most-often-asked questions.
MacTools Pro worked well on my Macs, but after reports of an incompatibility between FastCopy and the AV Macs, Symantec released an updater program. The company is also working on an incompatibility problem between TrashBack, System 7.5, and QuickTime 2.0 that causes AutoCheck to report an incorrect amount of free disk space.
The Last Word
MacTools Pro does a good job of finding and fixing disk problems, and RAMboot and QuickAssist make disk repair easy. Unfortunately, MacTools Pro suffers from both expensive tech support and a large RAM requirement. If you might need technical support, you should consider buying Norton Utilities, which comes with 90 days of free, albeit not toll-free, support. If you’ve got the RAM, and tech support isn’t important to you, I recommend MacTools Pro.
Negrino, Tom. (May 1995). MacTools Pro 4.0. Macworld. (pgs. 73, 75).
Central Point Software
Applications
out of 10 (0 vote)
33 / 
2020-09-15 / 
e1a739085870a067a78432891b21b61c22a500d3 / 
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MacTools_Pro.sit
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
Basilisk II
