Fifth Generation Systems, Inc., was a

computer security Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, t ...

company founded October 1984 in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of count ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

by Robert Mitchell, Leroy Mitchell, Roger Ivey, and Bruce Ray. All four later left the company. Fifth Generation's initial commercial product was

FastBack A fastback is an automotive styling feature, defined by the rear of the car having a single slope from the roof to the tail. The kammback is a type of fastback style. Some models, such as the Ford Mustang, have been specifically marketed as f ...

, the first practical hard disk backup program for the IBM PC. Software by Fifth Generation Systems includes: * CopyDoubler (Mac) – system utility for speeding up file copies and managing file copy queues *

DiskDoubler DiskDoubler (DD) is a data compression utility for compressing files on the classic Mac OS platform. Unlike most such programs, which compress numerous files into a single archive for transmission, DiskDoubler compresses single files "in place" t ...

(Mac) – on-the-fly

hard drive compression A disk compression software utility increases the amount of information that can be stored on a hard disk drive of given size. Unlike a file compression utility, which compresses only specified files—and which requires the user to designate t ...

software * DiskLock (PC, Mac) – security software incorporating access control and

encryption In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can dec ...

(PC, Mac) – hard disk backup utility * PowerStation (Mac) * Public Utilities (Mac) – software with disk optimization, repair, and

data recovery In computing, data recovery is a process of retrieving deleted, inaccessible, lost, corrupted, damaged, or formatted data from secondary storage, removable media or files, when the data stored in them cannot be accessed in a usual way. The da ...

functions, developed by Sentient Software * Pyro! (Mac) –

screensaver A screensaver (or screen saver) is a computer program that blanks the display screen or fills it with moving images or patterns when the computer has been idle for a designated time. The original purpose of screensavers was to prevent phosphor ...

that displayed fireworks among other user-selectable displays * Search&Destroy (PC) – online and offline virus scanner for DOS and Windows, included in

Novell DOS 7 DR-DOS (written as DR DOS, without a hyphen, in versions up to and including 6.0) is a disk operating system for IBM PC compatibles. Upon its introduction in 1988, it was the first DOS attempting to be compatible with IBM PC DOS and MS-D ...

* Suitcase (Mac) – font management utility * Super Laser Spool and Super Spool (Mac) – print spoolers, acquired from Supermac Technology in 1990 * Direct Access – a menu system software for DOS. The company was acquired by Symantec on October 4, 1993, for

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

53.8 million.

References

Defunct software companies of the United States Companies based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana American companies established in 1984 Software companies established in 1984 Software companies disestablished in 1993 1984 establishments in Louisiana 1993 disestablishments in Louisiana Gen Digital acquisitions {{US-software-company-stub