Helix Software Company was a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

based

software company A software company is a company whose primary products are various forms of software, software technology, distribution, and software product development. They make up the software industry. Types There are a number of different types of softw ...

founded in October 1986. The company developed software tools and utilities for

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

and

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

. In 1993, Helix licensed some of its memory management technology to

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

for use in

MS-DOS 6.0 MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

. Microsoft subsequently released Helix's memory management technology as part of the

MEMMAKER This article presents a list of commands used by DOS operating systems, especially as used on x86-based IBM PC compatibles (PCs). Other DOS operating systems are not part of the scope of this list. In DOS, many standard system commands were pro ...

and

EMM386 EMM386 is the expanded memory manager of Microsoft's MS-DOS, IBM's PC DOS, Digital Research's DR-DOS, and Datalight's ROM-DOS which is used to create expanded memory using extended memory on Intel 80386 CPUs. There also is an EMM386.EXE available ...

DOS commands. The company pioneered several technologies, including

virtual memory compression Virtual memory compression (also referred to as RAM compression and memory compression) is a memory management technique that utilizes data compression to reduce the size or number of paging requests to and from the auxiliary storage. In a virtua ...

systems, switching between multiple

protected mode In computing, protected mode, also called protected virtual address mode, is an operational mode of x86-compatible central processing units (CPUs). It allows system software to use features such as virtual memory, paging and safe multi-tasking d ...

operating environments, use of off-screen

video RAM Dual-ported video RAM, or VRAM, is a dual-ported variant of dynamic RAM (DRAM), which was once commonly used to store the framebuffer in graphics adapters. Note that most computers and game consoles do not use this form of memory, and dual-porte ...

, and highly recoverable fixed storage systems. On 1 December 1997, Helix Software merged with

McAfee McAfee Corp. ( ), formerly known as McAfee Associates, Inc. from 1987 to 1997 and 2004 to 2014, Network Associates Inc. from 1997 to 2004, and Intel Security Group from 2014 to 2017, is an American global computer security software company head ...

Network General NetScout Systems, Inc. (stylized as NETSCOUT) is a provider of application performance management and network performance management products located in Westford, Massachusetts. In July 2015, NetScout acquired the communications business of Dana ...

, and

PGP Corporation PGP Corporation was a company that sold Pretty Good Privacy computer software. It was founded in 2002, and acquired by Symantec in 2010, and by Broadcom in 2019. History PGP Corporation was co-founded in June 2002 by Jon Callas and Phil Dunkelbe ...

in a pooling of interest transaction, the resulting company was named

Network Associates McAfee Corp. ( ), formerly known as McAfee Associates, Inc. from 1987 to 1997 and 2004 to 2014, Network Associates Inc. from 1997 to 2004, and Intel Security Group from 2014 to 2017, is an American global computer security software company head ...

. Helix's products were integrated with the other companies' products as well as with products from the subsequent acquisitions of Cybermedia and

Dr Solomon's Antivirus Dr Solomon's Antivirus Toolkit is an antivirus suite which incorporates prevention, detection and repair for Microsoft MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows (up to 98), Novell, SCO Unix, Sun Solaris and OS/2. It was written by Alan Solomon of S&S Internat ...

. The combined products were branded McAfee Office and McAfee Security Suite.

Notable products

DOS/Windows memory management: * HeadRoom * NETROOM *

Cloaking Cloaking is a search engine optimization (SEO) technique in which the content presented to the search engine spider is different from that presented to the user's browser. This is done by delivering content based on the IP addresses or the User ...

Multimedia Cloaking DOS Protected Mode Services (DPMS) is a set of extended DOS memory management services to allow DPMS-enabled DOS drivers to load and execute in extended memory and protected mode. Not being a DOS extender by itself, DPMS is a minimal set of ex ...

, Cloaking Developer's Toolkit * Helix Multimedia Stacker Windows performance enhancement: *

Hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

Nuts & Bolts and related Windows tools: * DiskTune hard drive optimization * DiskMinder hard drive repair * Stronghold encryption * Safe & Sound automatic backup and recovery

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web , title=About company in press release , work=

PR Newswire PR Newswire is a distributor of press releases headquartered in Chicago. The service was created in 1954 to allow companies to electronically send press releases to news organizations, using teleprinters at first. The founder, Herbert Muschel, ...

, date=1997-08-18 , url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/helix-software-announces-unprecedented-sales-of-nuts--bolts-75054902.html , access-date=2014-12-04 {{cite web , title=Entity Information , publisher=NY Department of State , date=1986-10-14 , url=http://appext20.dos.ny.gov/corp_public/CORPSEARCH.ENTITY_INFORMATION?p_nameid=1228622&p_corpid=1119073&p_entity_name=Helix%20Software&p_name_type=%25&p_search_type=BEGINS&p_srch_results_page=0 , access-date=2014-12-04 {{cite magazine , title=The Ultimate Utility Guide , magazine=

PC Magazine ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and have continued to the present d ...

, date=1996-05-14 , page=172 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NGNpFuAXu70C&pg=PA172 , access-date=2014-12-04 {{cite web , title=McAfee, Network General to Merge , publisher=CNET , date=1997 , url=http://news.cnet.com/McAfee,-Network-General-to-merge/2100-1001_3-204204.html , access-date=2014-12-04 {{cite web , title=Network Assoc. Created as McAfee, Network General Merger Closes Ahead of Schedule , url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/network-assoc-created-as-mcafee-network-general-merger-closes-ahead-of-schedule-77737227.html , work=

, access-date=2014-12-04 , date=1997 {{cite web , url=http://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/poolingofinterests.asp , title=Pooling-of-Interests {{cite magazine , title=What Happened to all the Utility Vendors , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HyuCfeE-ftEC&pg=PA104 , magazine=

, access-date=2014-12-04 , date=1999-05-04 , page=104 {{cite magazine , title=Lan Memory Management, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X_tru4xwJ_sC&pg=PT239 , magazine=

, access-date=2014-12-04 , date=1991-01-29 , page=225 {{cite magazine , title=Headroom One-Ups Software Carousel , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9wwQdu9dei0C&q=pc+magazine+headroom+helix&pg=PA38 , magazine=

, access-date=2014-12-04 , date=1989-02-28 , page=38 {{cite magazine , title=NETROOM 3.0 More Room at the Top, first=Amarendra, last=Singh , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eX8w8B-OhIIC&q=pc+magazine+netroom+helix&pg=PA40 , magazine=

, volume=12 , issue=13 , access-date=2014-12-12 , date=1993-07-13 {{cite magazine , title=Best Utilities , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XNt4ttAFAiwC&q=pc+magazine+netroom+helix&pg=PA134 , magazine=

, access-date=4 December 2014 , date=14 September 1993 , page=134 {{cite magazine , title=Hide Programs With Cloaking , author-first=Rick , author-last=Knoblauch , magazine=

, publisher= Ziff Communications Company /

Ziff-Davis Publishing Company Ziff Davis, Inc. is an American digital media and internet company. First founded in 1927 by William Bernard Ziff Sr. and Bernard George Davis, the company primarily owns technology-oriented media websites, online shopping-related services, an ...

, volume=13 , issue=9 , date=1994-05-17 , page=269 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L39FUG-zDswC&pg=RA1-PA269 , access-date=2014-12-04 {{cite magazine , title=Multimedia Cloaking Reclaims RAM Gobbled by Drivers , author-first=Sheryl , author-last=Canter , magazine=

, publisher= Ziff Communications Company /

, volume=13 , issue=10 , date=1994-05-31 , page=48 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MfbDrFwiARgC&q=pc+magazine+netroom+helix&pg=PA48 , access-date=2014-12-04 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105230857/https://books.google.de/books?id=MfbDrFwiARgC&q=pc+magazine+netroom+helix&pg=PA48&redir_esc=y#v=snippet&q=pc%20magazine%20netroom%20helix&f=false , archive-date=2022-01-05 {{cite magazine , title=Memory Enhancement Utilities , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nJSSNehld0kC&q=pc+magazine+hurricane+helix&pg=RA1-PA209 , magazine=

, access-date=2014-12-04 , date=1996-02-20 , page=209 {{cite magazine , title=Nuts & Bolts: a True Norton Alternative , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nJSSNehld0kC&q=pc+magazine+hurricane+helix&pg=RA1-PA209 , magazine=

, access-date=2014-12-04 , date=1997-06-24 , page=73 {{cite magazine , title=Troubleshooting Utilities , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cSCV0oBdRzEC&q=pc+magazine+nuts+bolts+helix&pg=RA1-PA132 , magazine=

, access-date=2014-12-04 , date=1998-03-24 , page=132 {{cite web , title=Helix's Nuts & Bolts utilities hit the nail on the head , url=http://gcn.com/articles/1997/06/30/helixs-nuts--bolts-utilities-hit-the-nail-on-the-head.aspx , website=GCN.com , access-date=2014-12-04 , date=1997-06-30 {{cite web , title=Network Associates Launches Safe & Sound , url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/network-associates-launches-safe--sound---the-first-pc-utility-to-integrate-self-healing-diagnostic-and-repair-facilities-with-dynamic-backup-and-file-repair-technology-77196377.html , work=

, access-date=2014-12-12 , date=1998-03-23 {{citation , title=Helix Cloaking API Services , date=1993-10-01 , version=1.01 , publisher=Helix Software Company {{cite patent , country=US , number=5559978 , status=patent {{cite patent , country=US , number=5459869 , status=patent {{cite patent , country=US , number=5875474 , status=patent {{cite patent , country=US , number=6208999 , status=patent Software companies based in New York City Software companies established in 1986 Software companies of the United States

Notable products

See also

References