Australian PC World articles from July 2006

Australian PC World archives from July 2006

Free thinking: this month's issue is stuffed with fabulous freebies, maximum storage solutions, as well as first reviews of the long awaited Blu-ray and HD DVD drives, and Seagate's 750GB behemoth. Plus, if you've got a PC problem, who ya gonna call? Not tech support! We show you how to solve your PC hassles once and for all.
July 1, 2006... Microsoft recently announced the launch of its new Vista information Web site called "Get Ready" to provide information to any customers that are planning a new computer purchase, or want to upgrade their existing operating system to Vista. ...

Broadband to the masses?(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2006... It was interesting to read the letter from Ian MacFarlane in Readers Forum extolling the virtues of Telstra Broadband. Well, I would like to relate two instances where I believe that Telstra have been extremely poor in the way they have dealt...

Easy Linux fixes.(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2006... This is in response to the letter by "Fredd" in regard to his use of "Automatix" for getting things to work on Linux (Ubuntu). A better solution is to use a program called "Easy Ubuntu" as apparently "Automatix" has been known to crash a few...

Credit where credit is due.(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2006... I refer you to page 84 of your May 2006 edition; I was very interested in your eBay article. In the yellow box, the first two paragraphs are directly copied from the following Web site: www.auctionsoftwarereview.com/ software/alienfiles.asp...

Missive of the month.
July 1, 2006... Congratulations to Ian White! You are this month's winner of a year's subscription to Australian PC World magazine--that's 12 months of all the best PC news, reviews, tutorials and opinions from Australia's leading magazine for PC...

Vista requirements announced.
July 1, 2006... Microsoft has launched a Web site outlining the minimum hardware requirements for the next version of the Windows OS, Windows Vista. On the Microsoft "Get Ready" Web site, the company has outlined the requirements for running both low-end...

RFID tags go in the wash.(Fujitsu Australia Ltd. developed Identification equipment)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Fujitsu has developed an RFID (radio frequency ID) tag that can be put through the washer and still come out smelling of roses--or at least transmitting. The tag, encased in a soft plastic shell, can be attached to any textile and be...

AMD launches efficient chips.(Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Athlon 64 X2 dual Core chips)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... AMD is hoping to take a bite out of Intel's market share by selling energy-efficient versions of its desktop processors, the company said. The company has released energy-efficient versions of three chip designs: the Athlon 64 X2 dual Core...

Skype plans more for business.(Skype Technologies S.A.)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Skype will offer new features for businesses but it won't develop a specific voiceover-IP product for the workplace, Niklas Zennstrom, founder and chief executive of Skype, said. Skype already has some capabilities geared toward business...

Dodge the perils of early adoption: buying a hot new product shouldn't feel like paying to be a beta tester.
July 1, 2006... I love technology--always have. As a veteran PC World contributor, I'm lucky enough to be paid to check out many of the latest gadgets and services we believe you might find useful or fun. But all too often I'm reminded that it is a job....

Online storage war heats up.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Symantec is toying with the idea of delivering a new service that would allow users to automatically back up digital files to the Web, according to Symantec chairman and chief executive officer John Thompson. The software vendor has been...

Search engine links, a danger.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Search engines deliver links to dangerous Web sites that download spyware and adware to visitors' PCs, exploit security vulnerabilities and attempt to scam users and include them in spam lists, a new study has found. US users land on...

Sleek, but expensive.(SilverStone TJ07 computer case)(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Available in either black or silver, SilverStone's new TJ07 case has a minimalist appearance that will appeal to the more aesthetically-minded builder. The inside has well-finished edges and features a sliding motherboard tray--though perhaps...

230V power outlet in your car.(FSP Mobile Power 150W )(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... The Mobile Power 150W is a small power inverter that will turn your car's 13V DC cigarette lighter into a full three pronged 230V AC power outlet. This means you can do away with car adapters and car chargers, and just plug your regular wall...

HP welcomes the third dimension.(HP SpacePilot)(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Trying to use a peripheral that works in only two axes to manipulate a model designed in three axes was always going to prove challenging. To solve this problem, HP has released the 3D SpacePilot to work alongside your mouse. The 3D...

Wired remote control and FM radio tuner.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Despite being relatively expensive, Apple's iPods are undisputed kings among portable digital music players. This good-looking little toy, manufactured by Apple, provides both remote-control and FM radio-tuner functions. Simply attach the...

AMD changes platform: AMD ATHLON 64 FX-62.(FIRST LOOKS)(Product/service evaluation)
July 1, 2006... Those of us who have been using AMD's Socket-939 platform have benefited from the great versatility that it offers. At the low end, a motherboard with a Socket-939 interface will accept a single-core Athlon 64 CPU. At the high-end, it can...

SATA for the server: Western Digital 500GB.(Western Digital Caviar RE 2 WD5000YS)(Product/service evaluation)
July 1, 2006... Western Digital's Caviar RAID Edition hard drives are designed for server environments where individual drives are selected based on their reliability traits, rather than their high capacity. What the WD5000YS provides, however, is a copious...

Next-gen hard drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB.(Product/service evaluation)
July 1, 2006... Seagate's Barracuda 7200.10 750GB drive boasts the largest single drive capacity on the market and sets new high-water marks for capacity, price and performance. It achieves its high capacity by incorporating perpendicular recording...

Near-perfect privacy: Kingston Data Traveller Elite--Privacy Edition.(Product/service evaluation)
July 1, 2006... Because USB thumb drives are easily mislaid or stolen, they're a real security issue. It's possible to use software that encrypts your portable data by creating a password-protected partition, but this needs to be installed on any PC that needs...

Almost as fast as Ethernet: Netgear Rangemax 240 WPNT834.(Product/service evaluation)
July 1, 2006... Netgear has turned to the power of Airgo's third-generation True MIMO (multiple in, multiple out) chipset for its new RangeMax 240 wireless router, which aims to provide fast wireless transfer speeds. Using this chipset, the router has a...

BTX-based PC: Altech Sputnik BTX Deluxe.(Product/service evaluation)
July 1, 2006... Systems based on the BTX form factor are a rarity, primarily because only Intel motherboards are available in this form factor, and there aren't many of them out there. BTX was introduced by Intel to improve system cooling. In this form factor...

Basic PC with big LCD: Mitac Atlanta III Series.(FIRST LOOKS)(Product/service evaluation)
July 1, 2006... Mitac's Atlanta III Series PC is an inexpensive dual-core solution charged with the task of boosting your productivity. Its Pentium D 930 CPU and 1GB of DDR2 RAM makes it a suitable machine for multitasking and the supplied 19in widescreen...

Mini, mobile media centre: BenQ JoyBook S61 V30.(Product/service evaluation)
July 1, 2006... BenQ's latest release, the S61 v30, is the only 12.1in notebook we've seen to come with a built-in digital TV tuner. It weighs just 1.65kgs, has a 12.1in screen with a 1200x800 resolution and a slim optical drive bay, yet it's remarkably...

Nothing much to Aspire to: Acer Aspire E650 AT163 Model S.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Apparently, Acer's new Viiv-certified Aspire E650 has been given an award by a German design centre We're not entirely sure why, as there's not much here that can't be found in other systems--but it's not entirely without merit. While the...

Digital SLR cracks live preview: Olympus E-330 D-SLR.(Product/service evaluation)
July 1, 2006... It's common for newcomers to stare at the back of a digital SLR (D-SLR) and wonder why they don't see a picture on the LCD screen like they do on their $250 happy snapper. Well now they can with the Olympus E-330, which uses an ingenious...

New life for Opera browser: Opera 9 Beta.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Opera's latest browser release puts the current crop of browsers to shame with the company's swag of new innovations, in addition to an already impressive feature set, of note the introduction of widgets into the browser. The widgets work much...

Automatons for layman: AI Robot 2.0.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... The AI Robot is a simple piece of software that allows you to run automated keyboard and mouse sequences that you can record yourself. This is great news for anybody who has no idea how to program a script or run a macro, but inevitably has to...

Preview: blu-ray and HD DVDs arrive: Toshiba HD-A1 and Pioneer BDR-101A.(Product/service evaluation)
July 1, 2006... After much bluster and a few false starts, high-definition DVD has arrived. Unfortunately, high-def DVD comes in two, incompatible formats--Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD. That means buyers must carefully weigh their options while everyone waits to...

Cut the ads: Ulead VideoStudio 10 Plus.(Product/service evaluation)
July 1, 2006... Ulead's VideoStudio has always been a good choice for the novice video editor, and the latest version is no exception. As well as new features that bring it in line with its competitors, version 10 adds tools that will be well-received by the...

Top suite for budding programmers: Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Express.(Product/service evaluation)
July 1, 2006... The latest release of Microsoft's Visual Studio has come with a surprise for many users who might be tempted to experiment with programming, but are unwilling to invest in the full application. It consists of a release of separate Express...

A better app mix, for less: WordPerfect Office X3 Standard.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... If you're tired of waiting for Microsoft's delayed Office 2007, consider this: Corel's $569 WordPerfect Office X3 Standard which tops Microsoft's $674 Office 2003 Standard in every category. All five of the principal apps--WordPerfect,...

Microsoft search service: Windows Live Search.(Microsoft Windows Live Search)(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Microsoft is offering some interesting new features in its latest crack at Web search: Windows Live Search. A few of the changes in this beta version seem a little gimmicky, but others offer easy search customisations that could improve your...

Convergence is finally here: Sony Ericsson P9901.(FIRST LOOKS)(Product/service evaluation)
July 1, 2006... The P990i is the Einstein of smart phones, and is the latest in Sony's P900 range, which has maintained its dominance of the smart phone market since its release in 2003. It's approximately 11x2.5x5.5cm in size and weighs 150g. It's a...

Taking control of your network: NetSupport Manager.(Product/service evaluation)
July 1, 2006... Remote-control offerings aren't exactly thin on the ground--XPPro has one as standard, and there's always free VNC (virtual network computing). But these are one-to-one tools, not perfectly suited to the larger task of administering and...

101 fabulous freebies: the best things in life aren't just free--they're indispensable. Case in point: these outrageously useful downloads, sites and services.
July 1, 2006... There's never been a better time to be a cheapskate. Free utilities? We've got 'em. Want a full-fledged image editor? A few gigabytes of mail storage? How about an entire office software suite? We can top that, easy. Take the whole earth and...

Never call tech support again! Why suffer through hours on hold when you can solve the problem yourself? Whether your PC won't boot, keeps crashing, is infested with adware or can't get to the Net we'll help you fix it.(Column)
July 1, 2006... Bad things happen to good computers: motherboards fry, hard disks die, and spyware and viruses muck up Windows. You'd call tech support, but most of the time they're just reading from a script. You guess you can do better on your own--and...

Get more out of your wireless network: Wi-Fi: it's not just for notebooks anymore. With these products and tips, you can cut the cord when making phone calls, streaming music or video, sharing files and more.(Buyers guide)
July 1, 2006... If you think your wireless network is good only for using a notebook in the lounge room, think again. A slew of new Wi-Fi peripherals promises to send your music, movies, pictures and even phone calls flying from room to room, no cables...

Gamer heaven at E3: it's a tough job, we know. But someone's gotta do it. We trekked to Los Angeles recently for the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the annual showcase for the latest and greatest in gaming. Here's our take on this year's show.
July 1, 2006... BEST OF SHOW In control: It was great to see Nintendo's Wii controller in action. Motion detection in the device lets you mimic your game's steering wheel, sword, gun, bow and arrow, tennis racquet and more. A built-in speaker gives...

Reign of tera: because size always matters, we test the latest one-terabyte external hard drives. If 1TB is too much, rest assured we have some other options for you.
July 1, 2006... If you're a glutton for large multimedia files, or if you have a fleet of PCs in a small office that you need to keep backed up, a one terabyte (TB) external hard drive could be your perfect ally. Currently, there are a few external solutions...

Disk space galore.(BEST BUYS: TOP HARDWARE, REVIEWED AND RATE)
July 1, 2006... When it comes to hard drive space, the general consensus among most PC users is that you can never have enough of it. No matter how big your current drives are, you will always find ways to fill them up and then spend hours trying to gain space...

PCs.(Personal computers)(Buyers guide)(Table)
July 1, 2006... PCs [pc world TEST CENTRE] $1500-$3000 FEATURES AND SPECIFICATONS 1 Infocom FPS4200 AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ CPU, NVIDIA Price: $2950 nForce4 SLI chipset, 2 x 256MB...

Notebooks.(Buyers guide)(Table)
July 1, 2006... NOTEBOOKS [pc world TEST CENTRE] SUB-$2500 FEATURES AND SPECIFICATONS 1 HP Pavilion DV1610 Intel Core Duo Processor T2300 Price: $1999 (1.66GHz), Intel Centrino...

Wireless routes.(Buyers guide)(Table)
July 1, 2006... WIRELESS ROUTERS [pc world TEST CENTRE] WI-FI SPEEDS MIMO ROUTERS WI-FI SECURITY 1 Netgear RangeMax 240 WPNT834 11Mbps, 54Mbps, 108Mbps, ...

ADSL2 modems.(BEST BUYS: TOP HARDWARE, REVIEWED AND RATE)(Buyers guide)(Table)
July 1, 2006... ADSL2 MODEMS [pc world TEST CENTRE] ADSL2 MODEMS ADSL STANDARDS NETWORKING 1 Dynalink RTA1025W ADSL; ADSL2; ADSL2+ 4-port switch; DHCP Price: $199 ...

19in LCD monitors.(Buyers guide)(Table)
July 1, 2006... 19in LCD MONITORS [pc world TEST CENTRE] PANEL TECHNOLOGY RESPONSE TIME INPUT MODEL DOT PITCH SPEAKERS ...

DVD burners.(Buyers guide)(Table)
July 1, 2006... DVD BURNERS [pc world TEST CENTRE] MODEL CD SPEEDS DVD SPEEDS 1 Pioneer DVR-A11XLA CD-ROM 40x DVD-ROM 16x, DVD-R 16x, Price: $99 CD-RW 32x DVD-RW 6x, DVD-R DL...

TV tuners.(Product/service evaluation)(Table)
July 1, 2006... TV TUNERS [pc world TEST CENTRE] MODEL FEATURES AND SPECIFICATIONS 1 DViCO FusionHDTV PCI; USB 2.0; HDTV; SDTV; Dual DVB-T DVB-T Dual Digital tuners; PIP;...

Projectors.(Buyers guide)(Table)
July 1, 2006... PROJECTORS [pc world TEST CENTRE] PROJECTION TECHNOLOGY/ ZOOM/ ASPECT PROJECTION APERTURE RATIO/ MODEL ...

Lost thumbnails.(Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition)(Brief article)(Column)
July 1, 2006... Q My PC is running Windows Me. I used to be able to see thumbnail previews of my JPEG files when I selected Thumbnail view in Windows Explorer. Now they appear as a box with the icon of MGI PhotoSuite in the middle. How can I restore the...

Firewall for me?(Windows Me)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Q I was about to download the ZoneAlarm firewall when I noticed that it doesn't mention that it is compatible with Windows Me. Would this be a problem? --Derwyn Roberts A If ZoneAlarm didn't claim to be compatible with Windows Me then...

Lost memory.(Windows 98)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Q Windows 98 fails to detect that I have fitted extra memory. What can I do? --Bob Cowell A Windows 98 will normally find and use all the memory up to 2GB. If not, it's likely that the BIOS isn't telling it the memory is there. Go...

Old boot.(Windows XP)(Brief article)(Column)
July 1, 2006... Q I had problems with my PC so I loaded a second copy of Windows XP on my second hard drive. This didn't help, so I removed the copy and reformatted the drive, yet it still appears on the menu at bootup. --Peter Morris A The solution...

Human writes.
July 1, 2006... Chris Kendall wrote to say that he had the same problem trying to burn CDs as Roy French (page 102, May). On checking the Imapi service as suggested he found it stopped, but whenever the service started again it wouldn't be running by the time...

Leisurely drive.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Q I bought my son a Toshiba Satellite Pro L10. Recently he cleared out some viruses. Then the computer started to get slower and slower, stopping for minutes at a time with a quiet chugging noise coming from inside. We tried to use the Toshiba...

Firewall alarm.(HARDWARE)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Q I built a PC using an Abit AN8 Ultra motherboard, which has an NVIDIA chipset with a built-in hardware firewall. But I've had a lot of trouble with the firewall software. After removing NVIDIA ForceWare Network Access Manager and...

Difficult decision.(mixing devices with different capabilities on an IDE cable)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Q I bought a DVD recorder but am unsure where to connect it. IDE 1 has the hard drive as master and a Zip 100 as slave. IDE 2 has just a DVD player. I've seen you previously recommend not putting anything slow on the same cable as the hard...

Missed updates.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Q I have a Web site, which gets 1500 visits a week. I thought it would be a good idea to use RSS to tell visitors when there are updates. I have used FeedForAll (www.feedforall.com) to build the RSS feed and it works both in my browser and on...

Where is it?(Document management problem when using Yahoo mail message)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Q I opened an attached MS Word document in a Yahoo mail message without saving it first. I made a lot of changes and saved several times, not realising that it wasn't saved on my PC. After I closed the document, I couldn't find it. is it...

Order of play.(file management during to burn to CD by using DVD players)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Q I've found that many DVD players are capable of displaying good quality pictures on TV from a folder of JPEG images burnt to a CD. However, the problem is specifying the display order, which appears to be the order in which the files are...

Treewalk cakewalk.(when using Domain Name Service in Windows XP getting problem related to internet access)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... The Domain Name Service (UNS) provided by Windows XP is not particularly robust, so if you still experience problems we'd suggest replacing it with TreeWalk (www. treewalkdns.com or off the Cover DVD). We'd recommend this to anyone running...

Waste of space: if you ever wanted to know how to get the most from your CDS, or how you can stop paper jams, Steve Bass has the answers.
July 1, 2006... I'm the world's biggest cheapskate: I hate wasting anything, even the smallest bit of space on a blank CD. And throwing away a perfectly good late-20th-century printer? I wouldn't dream of it. My never-ending quest for ways to save a few...

Free taskbar replacement.(Stardock Corp.'s new Desktop accessory software 'ObjectDock')(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... I'm using the free version of ObjectDock (www. stardock.com/products/objectdock or off the Cover DVD) to give my desktop a little pizzazz and to make reaching my favourite apps and tools easier. It's Mac-style, with animated buttons and...

COM problems: protecting IE and windows from hack attacks, plus what to do with backup failures.
July 1, 2006... Microsoft has finally fixed a nasty Windows security hole that could hand control of your computer to an attacker. The patch offers welcome relief, because dozens of exploits for this vulnerability have been in circulation for weeks. You can...

Backup failures.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Imagine your panic if you tried to do a system restore on your computer and got a warning saying that your backups were corrupt and unusable. Many users of Acronis True Image 9.0 have reported that very nightmare. Acronis confirmed the bug...

Clean windows: if you can't ignore the temptation of free software, then you might be heading towards hard times. Give windows a break and tidy up after yourself.
July 1, 2006... Is your Windows installation looking flaky? Don't worry--we've all been there. With so much interesting free software to download or install from cover discs, it's all too easy to install one app too many. Before you know it, your hard...

Office decor: replacing an image in word is a challenge. Mary Branscombe shows you how it can be done without upsetting the applecart.(Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Office 2007)
July 1, 2006... The interface in Office 2007 has such a radical new look that it gets a lot of attention, but the upgrade is more than just a pretty face. Colouring in cells with bars and gradients, to show values graphically, will make spreadsheets clearer....

At arm's length: there are installation CDs and live CDs, but did you know that you can install Linux over the Internet as well? Scott Spanbauer has the details.
July 1, 2006... One of the best things about Linux is that its dozens of varied incarnations are generally available as free downloads on the Internet. To install the latest version of Novell's OpenSUSE Linux, Red Hat's Fedora Core 5 or Ubuntu Linux, all you...

Colour: the new black: the world has never been monochrome, but your old photographs often are. Bring your memories up-to-date with a splash of colour.(FilmLoop, Group Shot and Recolored image processing software)(Product/service evaluation)
July 1, 2006... Sometimes the little apps win after all. While many of us turn to graphics behemoths such as Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro or CorelDraw, no matter how trivial the image-editing task, getting a big program to do what we want can be a battle against...

Beam me up: this month, James Morris gives you the inside story on how to achieve two of the most common special effects in the editor's arsenal.
July 1, 2006... Back in September 2004, Laurence Grayson explored the chroma-keying effect and explained how easy this is to create, even with entry-level editing software. But setting up blue- and green-screen effects requires an appropriately coloured...

Get wired: wireless LANs will one day take over the world, but that day is a while away yet. here's how to best hook up your home until then.(Category 5E, 100 Base-T Ethernet cabling )
July 1, 2006... Kike it or not, life is becoming increasingly digitised. The networking tentacles have reached outside the spare bedroom and are strongly entwined around the lounge, kitchen and bedroom. In short, you really need to consider installing network...

Rugby 06.(EA Sports Rugby 06)(Product/service evaluation)
July 1, 2006... The EA Rugby series has evolved steadily in terms of graphics and content over its history, but question marks have remained over its gameplay. Thankfully, although the game engine remains largely the same, there have been enough notable...

Pop go the tangles.
July 1, 2006... It's hard to look cool when the cord from your iPod earbuds--and let's face it, it's long--is dangling around your waist or wrapped around your neck. Of course, you can always tuck it inside your shirt, but that has some serious comfort issues...

Commandos Strike Force.(PC/PS2/Xbox)(Product/service evaluation)
July 1, 2006... The first Commandos games was released in 1998 for the PC. Gamers warmed to its tough but rewarding brand of 2-D tactical action and a mission pack and two sequels were duly released. But Commandos Strike Force (CSF) is a different beast. ...

V8 Supercars 3.(PC/PS2/Xbox)(Product/service evaluation)
July 1, 2006... Can you feel it? That low rumbling sound that's vibrating through your lounge room and echoing into your very bones? That's V8 grunt, baby, and its glorious voice has never shouted louder, harder or more realistically than it does in the latest...

Warm and snuggy.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... If you're an obsessive iPod owner (is there any other kind?), you'll probably have noted that they get scratched at the drop of a hat. The answer is to fit it with a protective cover, like one of the stretchy socks that Apple sells. That way...

The Godfather.(PC/PS2/Xbox)(Product/service evaluation)
July 1, 2006... Right from the opening titles, where Nino Rota's unforgettable theme song plays over an authentic black and white title sequence, it's obvious that Electronic Arts has put a lot of effort into making the game worthy of the film's iconic status....

Bytesback: this month, Dr. Backbytes tries his hand at humour, and fails miserably. Surprise.
July 1, 2006... There's no 'F' in pork I've got a joke for you. It involves a woman, a butcher, and some needless innuendo. A woman goes into a butcher's shop. "I'll have a kilo of pork, please," she says. "Sorry madam," quoth the butcher, "I've got...