Raxco

Raxco Software Inc. was a Gaithersburg, Maryland software company. Founded in 1978,^[1] the company's products have been sold internationally.^[2]

Raxco Software, Inc.

Raxco Software, Inc.
Industry	Software
Founded	1978
Defunct	May 2024
Products	PerfectDisk, PerfectUpdater, PerfectRegistry, PerfectGuard, InstantRescue, PerfectFileRecovery
Website	www.raxco.com

The company spun off one division as Axent Technologies; the latter was "acquired by venture capital firms in 1988."^[3] Meanwhile Raxco continued with its own product offerings. PerfectDisk became its flagship software package.^[4][5]

Raxco transitioned from its 1980s^[6] and 1990s VAX^[7] (VMS)^{[8][NB 1]} and OpenVMS^[9][10] software product line, and did a management buyout^[11] to become a private,^[1] independent company.

Interim ownerships

From the later 1990s thru the early 2000s, corporate ownership of the two organizations transitioned:

• Raxco spun off one division (Axent)^[3]
• Axent Technologies Inc^{[12][clarification needed]}
• Axent was acquired by Symantec^[13]
• Symantec dropped some of its acquisitions in 2001. At that point, the founders did a management buyout and got the company back again."^[14]

Raxco, which had retained its identity, then changed its course from VAX/VMS to the PC/Server world in 2003.^[15]

Raxco closed operations in May, 2024.^[16] All their standalone products will continue to work,^{[until when?]} but no activations will be made, and no updates or support will be offered. Subscription-based products will remain functional until their expiration date.

History

During the 1980s,^[6] using the collective name RAXCO Rabbit Software,^[17] the company marketed a series of nine software packages for the VAX:

• Resource Accounting
• Capacity Planner / Performance Analyzer
• Disk Monitor
• High-Speed Backup
• Disk-Optimizer ^{[NB 2]}
• Report Generator
• System Accelerator^{[NB 3]}

Raxco's VAX product line was still active in the 1990s,^[18] even as it was building and expanding its PC Product line.^[19] By 2003 the PC desktop and server market became the company's focus.^[20]

Product line

Aside from PerfectDisk,^[21] the company also marketed:

• PerfectUpdater - improves system stability/minimizes hardware conflicts by detecting/installing appropriate drivers for unknown devices^[22]
• PerfectRegistry - Fix registry errors that slow down booting up^{[23][NB 4]}
• PerfectGuard - Blocks/removes spyware, helps protect privacy^[24]
• InstantRescue - quicker rollback/system restore
• PerfectFileRecovery - an advanced undelete tool

Notes

1. pre-OpenVMS
2. prior to PerfectDisk, which came a decade or so later!
3. full title: V.A.S.T. - VAX Accelerator Software Technology
4. noting that it "automatically creates a system restore point before fixing anything so you can undo the changes if needed."