Helix Software Company, Inc. was a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

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

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

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

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

for use in MS-DOS 6.0. Microsoft subsequently released Helix's memory management technology as part of the MEMMAKER and EMM386 DOS commands. The company pioneered several technologies, including virtual memory compression 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 Memory_segmentation, segmentation, virtual mem ...

operating environments, use of off-screen video RAM, 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 proprietary software company focused on online ...

, Network General, and PGP Corporation in a pooling of interest transaction, the resulting company was named Network Associates. 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. The combined products were branded McAfee Office and McAfee Security Suite.

Notable products

DOS/Windows memory management: * HeadRoom * NETROOM * Cloaking, Multimedia Cloaking, Cloaking Developer's Toolkit * Helix Multimedia Stacker Windows performance enhancement: * Hurricane virtual memory compressor Nuts & Bolts and related Windows tools: * DiskTune hard drive optimization * DiskMinder hard drive repair * Stronghold encryption * Safe & Sound automatic backup and recovery Nuts & Bolts Deluxe and Platinum included Hurricane as part of its utilities suite after the McAfee buyout.

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 continues . Overview ''PC Mag ...

, 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 , 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 / Ziff-Davis Publishing 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 Defunct software companies of the United States

Notable products

See also

References