PC Tools Departs, Or History Repeating

4 November 2013

I knew I needed to renew my subscription to PC Tools Registry Mechanic, which does a fine job of cleaning out the cruft that accumulates in a Windows system over time. It has been useful in keeping my Windows 7 running as long as it has (years, indeed) before I was finally forced to reinstall Windows 7 a few weeks ago.

The latest reminder to resubscribe made me get around to installing Registry Mechanic on this new Windows 7 install. After that I have read the text of the letter, that started with this:

The current PC Tools Utility range consisting of File Recover, Performance Toolkit, Privacy Guardian, and Registry Mechanic will be retired on Wednesday, December 4, 2013 and will no longer be sold or renewable from this date forward. The decision was made because we are streamlining our product range to provide fewer, but more integrated solutions to our customers.

And I thought: Not again!

Symantec, which bought PC Tools in 2008, has a long history of buying competing products and then making them go away. It did that with the DOS-era utility suite PC Tools Deluxe from Central Point Software. I used this a lot back in those days. Then Symantec bought Central Point Software in 1994, and before I knew it, PC Tools was gone for good. Symantec's own product, Norton Utilities, was nowhere near as good.

Now we are seeing history repeating (cue Propellerheads with Shirley Bassey). But at least I am getting generous terms from Registry Mechanic's demise.

Should you decide to renew, as a thank you for your loyalty, we will automatically convert your license to a perpetual (or non-expiring) license. This means that you will be able to continue to use your product after your paid subscription term has expired. We will continue to provide customer support up through December 4, 2015 for all customers with a perpetual license.

And I did indeed renew, so I am good for at least couple of years more. But frankly I would rather be good for a lot more.