Copyright: © 1994-2002 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved.
Citation: © 1994-2002 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved.


Introducing Norton System Doctor

Norton System Doctor continuously monitors your computer to keep it free of problems and running at peak efficiency. It can alert you immediately when conditions require attention, and can fix many problems automatically, without interrupting your work.

The Norton System Doctor main window is a panel of sensors that can monitor just about every aspect of your computer system, including the disks, memory, CPU, and network. Norton System Doctor sensors include alarms that alert you to critical conditions requiring attention. The sensors also provide information that can help you fine-tune the performance of your computer. Double-click any sensor for a brief description of what it does.

While the default settings are ideal for most users, Norton System Doctor is completely customizable. For example, you can:

Specify the conditions Norton System Doctor monitors by adding and removing sensors.

Select the critical conditions you want Norton System Doctor to fix automatically.

Run Norton System Doctor minimized or docked to preserve valuable desktop space.

To take full advantage of the monitoring capabilities of Norton System Doctor, leave it running at all times. You can specify that Norton System Doctor run automatically whenever Windows starts.

Note: Norton System Doctor features are different depending on whether you are running in Windows 98/Me, or Windows NT/2000/XP. Click here [image] to see a feature matrix for Windows operating systems.

More Info


 Types of sensors

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


Types of disk sensors

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Types of information sensors

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Types of memory sensors

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Types of Internet and network sensors

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Types of performance sensors

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Types of system sensors

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About the Battery Power sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Cache Hits sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Cache Memory Utilization sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Disk Throughput sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the CPU Usage sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Current Date and Time sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Disk Optimization sensor

This sensor monitors the level of disk fragmentation. It can alert you or automatically run Speed Disk to defragment and optimize the disk whenever fragmentation of the used disk space exceeds a critical level.

Fragmentation can impair your computer's performance by slowing access to the disk. The more you create, modify, copy, or delete files, the more quickly the disk becomes fragmented.

From this sensor's Properties, you can configure the sensor to show the percentage of used disk space that is unfragmented, rather than fragmented. You can also control how frequently the sensor scans a disk, and which disk it scans. You can add a separate Disk Optimization sensor for any drive, or have a single sensor watch all local drives.

The Disk Optimization and Disk Doctor sensors both scan your drives. Norton System Doctor can gather the information required by both sensors from a single scan. If you change the scan or rescan intervals for a disk from one sensor's Properties, the intervals for the other sensor are automatically adjusted to match.

More Info


About the Image sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Disk Doctor sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Disk Slack Space sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Disk SMART Status sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Disk Space sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Disk Doctor Surface Test sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the DOS Memory sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the GDI Resources sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Internet Packet Turnaround sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Internet Speedometer sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Memory Load sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Network Reads Throughput sensor
About the Network Reads Throughput (IPX) sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Network Writes Throughput sensor
About the Network Writes Throughput (IPX) sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Norton Protected Files sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Norton Utilities LiveUpdate sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Open Files sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Physical Memory sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Windows Performance Stats sensors
About Windows Performance Stats sensors

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Rescue Disk sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Selectors (16-bit) sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Swap File sensor
About the Swap File Size sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Swap File Utilization sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Threads sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the USER Resources sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Virtual Memory sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Windows Up Time sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About sensor history

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the links to other Norton Utilities programs

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When to hide sensors

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


When to reset a sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


When to reset Norton System Doctor

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When to update a sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


Customizing Norton System Doctor

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About sensor alarms

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About sensor maximum readings

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Norton System Doctor notes for network administrators

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Command-line options for Norton System Doctor

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To add or remove sensors

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To set sensor properties

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To arrange sensors within the Norton System Doctor window

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To display sensor history

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To display or hide the title and menu bars

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To enable and disable sensor alarms

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To hide and show sensors

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To keep Norton System Doctor visible at all times

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To dock and auto hide Norton System Doctor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To monitor Windows performance statistics

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To open Norton Utilities programs from Norton System Doctor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To reset Norton System Doctor sensors

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To set sensor alarm properties

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To set the drive to be monitored

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To change the sensor display type

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To set a sensor's maximum value
To set sensor maximum value

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To set sensor measurement method

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To set sensor size

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To set sensor measurement units

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To set sensor update interval

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To choose Norton System Doctor startup options

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To update sensor readings

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To use custom configurations

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To create display schemes

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


Disk Throughput sensor

This sensor measures the speed at which your computer handles requests for data stored on disk. Because some of this data is pre-loaded into the disk cache (a part of memory set aside to temporarily store data from your disk), the measurement is influenced by both the speed of the system RAM and the speed of disk accesses.


Disk Space sensor

Shows the amount of free disk space available on a local or network hard disk.


Threads sensor

Shows the number of threads (subprocesses) currently running on the computer. Having too many threads running concurrently can waste memory and degrade system performance.


Memory Load sensor

This sensor reports computer memory usage by monitoring how much of the memory has been committed to running applications.

When all the physical memory (RAM) has been committed, Windows can commit additional memory from the virtual memory of the swap file. However, applications run faster when they are entirely resident in RAM.

When this sensor indicates a high memory load, you should try to close some applications.


Physical Memory sensor

Shows how much of the physical memory (RAM) is free. Windows uses much of the available RAM as a disk cache, so this sensor generally shows only a small amount of RAM free. Windows changes the size of the cache dynamically, however, freeing up RAM as needed for other applications.


Swap File Size sensor

Shows the amount of free disk space currently reserved for use by the Windows swap file. By default, Windows dynamically enlarges and reduces the swap file according to the demands of the system.


CPU Usage sensor

Shows the time the CPU spends executing instructions relative to the time it is idle.

It is fairly common for the CPU usage to jump to 100% during some operations, such as loading programs. Also note that using Windows' Advanced Power Management feature or certain 16-bit device drivers can prevent the CPU usage from ever falling to a low value.


Cache Hits sensor

Shows how much of the data required by applications is found in the disk cache. If data is not found in the cache, it must be read directly from the disk, which is a slower process.


Network Reads Throughput (IPX) sensor

Shows the speed at which your computer reads data from a Novell NetWare network.


Network Writes Throughput (IPX) sensor

Shows the speed at which your computer writes data to a Novell NetWare network.


Windows Performance Stats sensors

Show various performance statistics provided by Windows. These sensors show the same types of information reported by the Windows System Monitor program. You can add multiple sensors to monitor different types of performance data. Though some of this information duplicates native System Doctor sensors, Windows Performance Stats sensors do not include sensor alarms.


Cache Memory Utilization sensor

Shows the amount of physical memory (RAM) currently in use for the disk cache.


Open Files sensor

Shows the number of files that are currently open on a local or network hard disk. A large number of open files can degrade system performance.


GDI Resources sensor

Shows the available Windows Graphics Device Interface (GDI) memory resources. To run applications, Windows requires free GDI resources. When these resources are exhausted, additional applications cannot be opened, and you receive out-of-memory errors. When GDI resources are low, you should close any unnecessary applications to free up some memory.


USER Resources sensor

Shows the available Windows USER memory resources. Part of USER resources must be allocated from a fixed-size area of memory. This sensor measures the portion of that memory area that is free.


Selectors (16-bit) sensor

Shows the number of 16-bit selectors currently available. 16-bit Windows applications require 16-bit selectors for memory management.

A total of 8192 selectors are available under Windows. Some applications use hundreds of selectors. When no selectors are available, out-of-memory errors result, and you cannot open more 16-bit applications. When the alarm is triggered, you should close any unnecessary applications.


DOS Memory sensor

Shows how much conventional memory (the lower 640K of RAM) is available.

Windows loads any real-mode, DOS-based device drivers into the DOS memory region. Some applications designed to run under Windows 3.x also must use the DOS memory region. Real-mode drivers reduce the amount of memory available to such applications. When DOS memory is low, you may not be able to open certain applications.


Battery Power sensor

Shows the charge remaining in a portable computer's battery.


Windows Up Time sensor

Shows the time that has elapsed since Windows was last started.


Current Date And Time sensor

Shows the current date and time.


Disk Optimization sensor

Shows the level of disk fragmentation. This sensor can alert you or automatically run Speed Disk to defragment and optimize the disk whenever fragmentation of the used disk space exceeds a critical level.


Disk Doctor sensor

Monitors the integrity of a disk's logical file structures (including compressed disk structures, if any). It periodically scans the disk, checking for file allocation table errors, cross-linked files, and lost clusters.

A red light means significant problems exist, a yellow light means only lost clusters are detected, and a green light means no problems have been detected.

Use the Disk Doctor Surface Test sensor to periodically scan the disk surface for errors.


Image sensor

Shows how recently the disk was imaged and can alert you or run Image automatically after a specified amount of time has elapsed. Image takes a "snapshot" of critical disk information for a local disk drive. This information, the disk "image," can be used to unformat a disk and can help to unerase files or folders.

A red light on the sensor indicates that the time period specified by the sensor's alarm properties has expired, and it is time to run Image again.


Rescue Disk sensor

This sensor periodically checks your system's critical setup data and startup files. The sensor alerts you when any of these files has changed, and detects whether any new files should be added to your rescue disk set.

A rescue disk set stores copies of these important files on floppy disks. If your computer fails to start, you can use your rescue disk set to get the computer running again. Once the computer has been started, you can use Norton Utilities to help fix any problems, and restore your computer to full functioning.

It is vital that the information on your rescue disks be kept current. The Rescue Disk sensor can alert you or automatically run Rescue Disk to update the information whenever necessary. You should not add multiple Rescue Disk sensors to the Norton System Doctor sensor panel.


Disk Doctor Surface Test sensor

This sensor periodically scans the surface of a local disk. The bar on the sensor face indicates the progress of the current surface scan. The sensor can alert you or automatically run Norton Disk Doctor if a surface problem is detected, preventing problems that would result from disk failures.


Disk SMART Status sensor

Warns you of imminent disk hardware failures, allowing you time to back up files and replace the disk drive before losing valuable data.

Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (SMART) is built into newer IDE hard drives. It allows these drives to monitor their own operation and predict most drive hardware failures before they occur. The Disk SMART Status sensor works together with SMART drives to alert you to these conditions.

This sensor only supports SMART-compatible drives.


Disk Slack Space sensor

Shows the amount of slack space on a disk.

The operating system allocates (reserves) space for files in discrete chunks. Most files, however, occupy less physical space on the disk than the operating system has reserved. Slack space is the excess space allocated for a file that remains unoccupied by any of that file's data. Once allocated for a particular file, disk space cannot be used for any other purpose, so slack space is essentially disk space that is wasted. Using a smaller cluster size, as the FAT32 file system does, helps minimize slack space.


Norton Protected Files sensor

This sensor shows the number of files currently under Norton Protection. Norton Protection enhances the file recovery capabilities offered by the Windows Recycle Bin. Norton Protection lets you recover overwritten files, files deleted from a DOS window, and files deleted by Windows applications. As long as these files are protected, they can be recovered intact, even after their deletion.


Norton Utilities LiveUpdate sensor

This sensor periodically displays an alarm message reminding you to check for updates to Norton Utilities. If your computer is connected to a modem or to the Internet, this sensor can use Symantec's LiveUpdate technology to get Norton Utilities updates automatically when they become available.


Internet Packet Turnaround sensor

Shows the speed of Internet packet transmission between your computer and a host site of your choice.


Internet Speedometer sensor

Shows the speed of your Internet connection to the host site of your choice.


Shows how all small-style sensors will look with the current appearance options. The large-style sensors are always twice the width of the small-style sensors. Use the horizontal and vertical sliders to change the sensor dimensions.


Drag the slider or click anywhere along the slider scale to change the height of all sensors.


Drag the slider or click anywhere along the slider scale to change the width of all small-style sensors. Norton System Doctor automatically sets the width of large-style sensors to twice this width.


Click the box to list the available display schemes. A scheme defines the sensor dimensions, colors, text fonts, and background bitmap use for the Norton System Doctor window. You can choose one from the list, or use this tab to create a new scheme.

The background bitmap feature is enabled only if your display is set to support more than 256 colors.


Saves the sensor dimensions, colors, text fonts, and background bitmap currently set on this tab as a new display scheme. After you specify a name for the new scheme, it will appear in the list. You can switch Norton System Doctor between display schemes at any time.

The background bitmap feature is enabled only if your display is set to support more than 256 colors.


Deletes the selected scheme.


Click to specify the color assigned to the selected sensor component.


Click the box to show a list of sensor components. Click a component from the list to change its color or font.


Click to specify the font used for text or calendar text.


Type the path and name of a bitmap to be used as the background image for all sensors, or click the folder icon [image] to browse your system for a bitmap.

The background bitmap feature is enabled only if your display is set to support more than 256 colors.


Lets you browse your system for a bitmap to use as the background image on the Norton System Doctor sensors.

The background bitmap feature is enabled only if your display is set to support more than 256 colors.


Resets all Norton System Doctor Sensor Appearance properties to their default settings.


Lists the currently active sensors in the order they appear in the Norton System Doctor window.


Moves the sensor selected in the Sensor Order list box up one position. The Norton System Doctor window reflects the order of the sensors as they appear in the Sensor Order list.


Moves the sensor selected in the Sensor Order list box down one position. The Norton System Doctor window reflects the order of the sensors as they appear in the Sensor Order list.


Keeps the Norton System Doctor window on top of any other windows on your desktop.


Controls whether the Norton System Doctor window title bar is displayed. When the title bar is hidden, you can restore it by right-clicking any sensor and choosing Show Title Bar from the View menu.

Double-clicking any sensor-free portion of the Norton System Doctor window toggles the display of the title bar.


Controls whether the Symantec logo bar is displayed on the side of the Norton System Doctor window.


Hides the Norton System Doctor window by reducing it to a thin gray line along one edge of the screen. Moving the mouse cursor against the line redisplays the full Norton System Doctor window.

Norton System Doctor must be docked in order to use the auto hide feature. Norton System Doctor and the Windows taskbar cannot both be set to auto hide along the same edge of the screen.


The Auto Hide feature is available only when Norton System Doctor is docked.

Norton System Doctor and the Windows taskbar cannot both be set to auto hide along the same edge of the screen.


Docks the Norton System Doctor window, snapping it to the edge of the display. You can drag the docked window to any of the four edges of the display. Though the menu bar is hidden, you can access all menu options by right-clicking to display a context menu. You can move the sensors within the docked window by holding down the Control (Ctrl) key and dragging sensors to new positions.


Automatically starts Norton System Doctor whenever you start Windows.


Causes Norton System Doctor to open minimized, so it appears only as an icon in the Windows taskbar. To restore the full Norton System Doctor window, click the icon.


Resets all Norton System Doctor window settings to their defaults.


Lists all Norton System Doctor sensors. Select the sensors you want to add to the Norton System Doctor window, then click Add.


Lists the Norton System Doctor sensors that are currently active.


Adds the sensors currently selected in the Available Sensors list box to the Current Sensors list box. These sensors are added to the Norton System Doctor window and begin monitoring your system when you click OK or Apply.

(This command button is not enabled until you have selected one or more sensors in the Available Sensors list box.)


Lets you set the properties for the sensor selected in the Current Sensors list box.

(This command button is not enabled until you have selected a sensor in the Current Sensors list box.)


Removes the selected sensors from the Current Sensors list box. These sensors are deactivated and removed from the Norton System Doctor window when you click OK or Apply. The sensors are not removed from the Available Sensors list, so they can be added back to the Norton System Doctor window at any time.

(This command button is not enabled until you have selected a sensor in the Current Sensors list box.)


Configures Norton System Doctor to have only the default sensors active.


Shows how the sensor looks with the currently selected style properties.


Resets this sensor's style properties to their default settings.


Click to show a list of the different visual formats available for this sensor. Sensors that display information in graph formats can appear as:

Bar graphs

Analog gauges similar to automobile fuel gauges

Histograms that display multiple readings collected over a period of time

Digital readouts

This list is disabled for sensors that do not display information as graph sensors.


Displays the sensor in a large-style format.


Displays the sensor in a small-size format.


Hides the sensor so it doesn't appear in the Norton System Doctor window. Although the sensor is hidden, it is still active and will still monitor its assigned condition and trigger its alarm, if the alarm is enabled.


Causes the sensor to display how much of the resource being monitored is available. The sensor label changes to reflect what the sensor is displaying. This option button is not available if it is not meaningful for this sensor.


Causes the sensor to display how much of the resource being monitored is in use. The sensor label changes to reflect what the sensor is displaying. This option button is not available if it is not meaningful for this sensor.


Causes the sensor to display how much of the data on the drive being monitored is fragmented. Fragmented data is not stored in contiguous (side-by-side) data clusters, so it takes longer to access and manipulate.


Causes the sensor to display how much of the data on the drive being monitored is unfragmented. Unfragmented data is stored to contiguous (side-by-side) data clusters and can be accessed and manipulated faster than fragmented data.


Click the down arrow to display a list of the units of measurement available for this sensor. From the list choose the units you want this sensor to use. The sample graphic will reflects the units. This list is not available if there are no measurement unit options for this sensor.


Resets all style properties for this sensor to their default settings.


Check to enable the alarm. Uncheck to disable the alarm. When an alarm is enabled, the alarm action occurs when the alarm is triggered.


Sets the trigger level [image] the level at which the alarm action is to occur. As you adjust the slider, the number corresponding to its position appears in the text box.

This option is not available for all sensors.


Lets you set the trigger level [image] the level at which the alarm action is to occur.


Clicking the down arrow displays a list of the units of measurement available for this sensor's trigger. Click the units you want to use. This drop-down list box is not available if there are no measurement options for this sensor.


Shows how the sensor looks with the currently selected Alarm properties.


Check to show an indication of the trigger level on the sensor face. When the monitored condition reaches or exceeds the trigger level, the sensor face displays its warning color, and the alarm action is triggered.

You can use the slider below to change the trigger level.


Click to prevent Alert, Caution, and Notice messages from appearing when the alarm is triggered. When the alarm is triggered, the sensor will only change from its normal color to its warning color.


Click to have the sensor display a Notice, Caution, or Alert message when the alarm is triggered. These messages call your attention to critical conditions quickly. The messages also recommend corrective action to alleviate the alarm condition and restore computer performance.


Type in the number of minutes you want to elapse before Alerts, Notices, and Cautions will be displayed again. If you close one of these message dialog boxes, Norton System Doctor will wait for the specified time before displaying the message again if the alarm condition has not been alleviated.


Click to have Norton System Doctor automatically take corrective action when the alarm is triggered by starting the appropriate Norton Utilities program.

This option is not available for all sensors.


Click to configure the Norton Utilities program used to make automatic repairs.

This option is not available for all sensors.


Check to have Norton System Doctor play a sound file (.WAV or .MID format) whenever the alarm for this sensor is triggered. Type the name of the sound file in the box at the left, or use the folder button [image] to browse your system for a sound file to play.


Type the name of a sound file (.WAV or .MID format) to be played when the alarm is triggered. This text box is enabled only if Play Sound is checked.


Click to browse your drives for the name of a sound file (.WAV or .MID format) to play when the alarm is triggered.


Plays the sound file specified in the box at the left.


Lets you specify how old image, or rescue information can become before the alarm is triggered. Specify the frequency at which you want the alarm triggered. The alarm can remind you to run Image (for the Image sensor) or Rescue Disk (for the Rescue Disk sensor), or can run those programs automatically for you at the specified intervals.


Lists the units of time for the alarm trigger. The options are minutes, hours, days, and weeks.


Prevents the alarm from being triggered if the only problems detected are lost clusters.


Resets all alarm properties for this sensor to their default settings.


Drag the slider to change how frequently the sensor updates its readings. The text under the slider indicates the current setting.


Click to have the sensor display the actual current reading detected by the sensor.

This option is disabled if it has no meaning for this sensor.


Click to have the sensor to show an averaged reading, weighted in favor of the most recent readings.

This option is disabled if it has no meaning for this sensor.


Click to have Norton System Doctor establish the maximum reading for this sensor. Initially, the maximum reading is the number displayed in the Maximum text box. If the sensor records a reading that is higher than that number, the highest reading becomes the maximum. Norton System Doctor displays the maximum reading in the history window and uses it to calculate the percentage of the sensor's resource relative to the maximum.

This option is disabled if the sensor has an absolute upper limit.


Click to limit the maximum value for the sensor to the number entered in the Maximum box below. Norton System Doctor displays the maximum reading in the history window and uses it to calculate the percentage of the sensor's resource relative to the maximum.

This option is disabled if the sensor has an absolute upper limit.


Lets you enter an upper limit for this sensor's readings:

If Let System Doctor Control is selected, the number in this text box is the starting maximum. If the sensor records an actual reading that is higher than this number, the maximum reading is set equal to the higher reading.

If Use Fixed Maximum is selected, you can type a number in this text box to set a fixed maximum reading for the sensor.

Norton System Doctor displays the maximum reading in the sensor's history window and uses it to calculate the percentage of the sensor's resource that is used or free.

This option button is disabled if the sensor has an absolute upper limit.


Resets all measurement-related sensor properties to their default settings.


Displays a list of the drives that this sensor can monitor. Click the drive you want this sensor to monitor. To monitor more than one drive, set up a separate sensor for each.

Some sensors include an option to Monitor All Local Hard Drives. These sensors can monitor all local drives simultaneously, and warn you if problems are detected on any one.


Drag the slider or click anywhere on the slider bar to change how frequently the sensor scans the disk.

The Disk Doctor and Disk Optimization sensors get their information from the same disk scan. Consequently, adjusting the slider setting for one of these sensors, affects the scan for both.


Drag the slider or click anywhere on the slider bar to change how long the sensor waits before rescanning after a scan is interrupted (or if a scan cannot be performed) because of other system activity.

The Disk Doctor and Disk Optimization sensors get their information from the same disk scan. Consequently, adjusting the slider setting for one of these sensors affects the scan for both.


Lists the categories of performance data that can be monitored. The specific categories available depend on your system configuration. At a minimum, the list box includes File System, Kernel, and Memory Manager.


Lists the type of performance data that can be monitored. When you click OK, a sensor for the selected item is added to the Norton System Doctor window.

(You can add multiple sensors to monitor different types of performance data provided by Windows.)


Describes what the item measures.


Displays the title that appears with this sensor if you use the large sensor style, and lets you enter a different title.


Displays the title that appears with this sensor if you use the small sensor style, and lets you enter a different title.


Resets the Title and Abbreviated Title to their default values for this sensor.


Displays a brief explanation of the alarm condition.


Displays suggestions for correcting the alarm condition.


Closes this message box for a specified period of time, then redisplays the message if the alarm condition still exists. (The period of time is one of the sensor properties you can set on the Alarm tab of the sensor's Properties dialog box.)


Closes this message box and sets the alarm action for this sensor to No Action. (You can reset the alarm action from the Alarm tab of the sensor's Properties dialog box.)


Opens the property sheet for this sensor so you can review or change the sensor's properties.


Opens the application that can take corrective action appropriate to this alarm condition.


Histogram displaying several of the sensor's measurements collected over a period of time. The x-axis shows the elapsed time. The y-axis shows the units of the condition that the sensor is monitoring.


Shows the current sensor values, the results of the most recent sensor reading. You can change the frequency of sensor readings from the Measurement tab of the sensor's Properties dialog box.


Shows the highest value recorded by this sensor since it was first added or since the last time it was reset.


Shows the lowest value recorded by this sensor since it was first added or since the last time it was reset.


Shows the value at which the sensor's alarm action is triggered if the sensor alarm is enabled.


Shows the minimum reading possible for this sensor.


Shows the maximum reading possible for this sensor. The sensor uses the maximum to calculate relative percentages and display them in the graph. If this sensor has no absolute maximum, you can fix your own maximum as one of the sensor properties (using the Measurement tab). Otherwise, the maximum is the same as the highest reading.


Saves any changes you have made within this tab and causes them to take effect immediately. This command button is unavailable until you have made one or more changes.


Checks for updates to this version of Norton Utilities. If updates are available, your copy can be automatically upgraded.


DOS Memory sensor (Windows 98 and Me)

GDI Resources sensor (Windows 98 and Me)

Memory Load sensor (Windows 98 and Me)

Physical Memory sensor (Windows 98, Me, NT, and 2000)

Selectors (16-bit) sensor (Windows 98 and Me)

Swap File Size sensor (Windows 98 and Me)

Swap File Utilization sensor (Windows 98 and Me)

Paging File Size sensor (Windows NT and 2000)

Paging File Utilization sensor  (Windows NT and 2000)

User Resources sensor (Windows 98 and Me)

Virtual Memory sensor (Windows 98 and Me)

Commit Memory sensor (Windows NT and 2000)


Disk Optimization sensor (Windows 98, Me, NT, and 2000)

Disk Health sensor (Windows 98 and Me)

Image sensor (Windows 98 and Me)

Disk Doctor sensor (Windows 98 and Me)

Disk Slack Space sensor (Windows 98, Me, NT, and 2000)

Disk SMART Status sensor (Windows 98, Me, NT, and 2000)

Disk Space sensor (Windows 98, Me, NT, and 2000)

Disk Doctor Surface Test sensor (Windows 98 and Me)


Battery Power sensor (Windows 98, Me, NT, and 2000)

CPU Usage sensor (Windows 98, Me, NT, and 2000)

Open Files sensor (Windows 98 and Me)

Rescue Disk sensor (Windows 98 and Me)

Threads sensor (Windows 98, Me, NT, and 2000)

WinDoctor sensor (Windows 98 and Me)

Users Connected sensor (Windows NT and 2000)


Internet Packet Turnaround sensor (Windows 98, Me, NT, and 2000)

Internet Speedometer sensor (Windows 98, Me, NT, and 2000)

Network Reads Throughput (IPX) sensor (Windows 98, Me, NT, and 2000)

Network Writes Throughput (IPX) sensor (Windows 98, Me, NT, and 2000)


Cache Hits sensor (Windows 98, Me, NT, and 2000)

Cache Memory Utilization sensor (Windows 98, Me, NT, and 2000)

Disk Throughput sensor (Windows 98, Me, NT, and 2000)

Windows Performance Stats sensors (Windows 98 and Me)

Performance Data sensors (Windows NT and 2000)


Current Date And Time sensor (Windows 98, Me, NT, and 2000)

Norton Protected Files sensor (Windows 98, Me, NT, and 2000)

Norton Utilities LiveUpdate sensor (Windows 98, Me, NT, and 2000)

Windows Up Time sensor (Windows 98, Me, NT, and 2000)


About the Disk Health sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


Disk Health sensor

Monitors several aspects of disk health, including file system integrity, disk image information, and SMART drive status.

You can also have a single Disk Health sensor monitor all local hard disks with non-removable media. It will alert you when problems are found on any drive. (You should not set multiple Disk Health sensors to Monitor All Local Hard Drives.)


Properties: Style tab

The Style tab lets you configure the look of individual sensors.

More Info


Properties: Alarm tab

The Alarm tab lets you configure the sensor's alarm. From here, you can enable and disable the alarm, set the alarm trigger level, and determine what happens when the alarm is triggered.

More Info


Properties: Measurement tab

The Measurement tab lets you configure the sensor's measurement. For most sensors, you can specify how frequently the sensor monitors a condition, how the measurements are averaged, and the maximum value for the sensor.

More Info


Properties: Measurement tab (Disk Health sensor)

The Measurement tab lets you choose how frequently the Disk Health sensor makes its various disk assessments.


Drag the slider or click anywhere on the slider bar to change how frequently the sensor checks the integrity of the file structures on the disk.


Drag the slider or click anywhere on the slider bar to change how frequently the sensor scans the disk surface for physical errors.


Drag the slider or click anywhere on the slider bar to change how frequently the sensor checks the status of the disk drive hardware. SMART checks can only be performed on drives that support SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology).


Drag the slider or click anywhere on the slider bar to change how frequently the sensor checks to ensure the disk's image information is current.


Resets all Disk Health sensor scans back to their default intervals.


Properties: Drive tab

The Drive tab lets you specify the drive for this sensor to monitor, and configure how frequently the drive is scanned.

More Info


Properties: Site tab

This tab lets you specify the Internet site Norton System Doctor will use to judge the speed of network transmission over the Internet.

This tab contains the following:

Site To Monitor
Type the host name or IP address of the site Norton System Doctor should monitor for Internet transmission speed. Checked regularly, these sensors can give you an indication of the best time to access specific sites.


Properties: Item To Monitor tab
Properties: Item To Monitor

This tab is available only for the Windows Performance Stats sensors. It lets you choose the type of performance sensor to add. The categories and items available reflect those provided by the Windows System Monitor program.


Options: Sensor Appearance tab
Options: Sensor Appearance

More Info


Options: Window Settings tab
Options: Window Settings

More Info


Options: Active Sensors tab
Options: Active Sensors

More Info


Smart Scans let Norton System Doctor intelligently yield to any mouse or keyboard input that occurs during its various system scans. This keeps system maximally responsive during the scans. If you would prefer the scans to occur faster, and are willing to sacrifice some system responsiveness during the scan process, uncheck this option.


Options: Alarms tab
Options: Alarms

More Info


Click the box to see a list of the types of alarm messages available in Norton System Doctor:

Notices [image] Least severe alarms. They frequently indicate situations that cause poor system performance but will not compromise your data.

Cautions [image] Flag situations that can potentially compromise data, such as low disk space, or disk surface errors. When Cautions appear, you should save your work immediately and correct the situation causing the alarm.

Alerts [image] Warn you of serious conditions that should be attended to immediately. If Norton System Doctor detects numerous disk errors or an imminent disk hardware failure it displays an Alert message.


Click to have the selected type of alarm display on top of other windows. You can continue to work in other applications, though the Norton System Doctor messages will be visible.


Click to have the selected type of alarm display in the background. If you have another application open on the desktop, you will not see alarm messages set to display in the background. Using this display option for Cautions and Alerts is not recommended.


Resets all Norton System Doctor alarm messages to their default display types.


About the WinDoctor sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


WinDoctor sensor

Uses Norton WinDoctor to periodically scan your system for the most common types of Windows problems. If problems are detected, the sensor can alert you, or open Norton WinDoctor automatically to repair the problems.


Click to configure the Norton Utilities program used to make automatic repairs.

This option is not available for all sensors.


Virtual Memory Sensor

This sensor reports the amount of disk space available for use as virtual memory. Potential virtual memory includes any free space on the disk, plus some portion of the space that has been already reserved for the Windows swap file (that portion currently unused for temporary data storage).


Swap File Utilization sensor

Shows how much of the space reserved for the Windows swap file is currently in use for temporary data storage.


Click to have this sensor monitor all local hard drives (excluding removable media drives , such as Iomega's Zip [image] and Jaz [image] drives).


Click to have this sensor monitor a single drive only. Choose the drive from the list below.


Check to have Norton System Doctor automatically choose an appropriate trigger level based on the amounts of used space and fragmentation on the disk.


Drag the slider or click anywhere on the slider bar  to change how frequently the sensor scans the drive for viruses.


Drag the slider or click anywhere on the slider bar to change how frequently the sensor scans the computer memory for viruses.


To change the behavior of alarm messages

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About alarm messages

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


To disable Advanced Power Management

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


Causes Norton System Doctor to appear in a standard, non-docked window.


To open Norton System Doctor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


Check this box to schedule the repair for a later time. Type the time you want the repairs performed in the box provided.

This option is not available for all sensors.


Paging File Size sensor

Shows the amount of free disk space currently reserved for use by the Windows paging file. By default, Windows dynamically enlarges and reduces the paging file according to the demands of the system.


Paging File Utilization sensor

Shows how much of the space reserved for the Windows paging file is currently in use for temporary data storage.


Users Connected sensor

Shows the number of users connected to your computer.


Performance Data sensors

Show various performance statistics provided by Windows. These sensors show the same types of information reported by the Windows Performance Monitor program. You can add multiple sensors to monitor different types of performance data. Though some of this information duplicates native System Doctor sensors, Performance Data sensors do not include sensor alarms.


Commit Memory sensor

Shows the amount of virtual memory (physical memory plus paging file) that is avaialable for use.


About the Paging File sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Paging File Utilization sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Performance Data sensors

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Commit Memory sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.


About the Users Connected sensor

There is no context-sensitive help for this feature. Click here to open the online User’s Guide.