Computer Act!ve articles from December 2006

Computer Act!ve archives from December 2006

ION USB Turntable.(Product/service evaluation)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Luke Peters ION USB Turntable Revive those dusty classics with this turntable that plugs straight into a computer Until now, the easiest way to get vinyl music onto a computer, CD or mp3 player was to connect a hi-fi to a...

Nokia N73.
December 7, 2006... Byline: David Phelan Nokia N73 Nokia's latest smartphone focuses on multimedia fun, with a music player and a 3.2megapixel camera Nokia's N series of phones have usually been enormous monsters; powerful and multifunctional, but...

Adobe Premiere Elements 3.
December 7, 2006... Byline: Jonathan Parkyn Adobe Premiere Elements 3 Adobe's home movie star gets a makeover Premiere Elements is an easier-to-use version of Adobe's professional video-editing program, Premiere Pro, which attempts to walk the fine...

Canon PIXMA MP830.(Product/service evaluation)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Simon Williams Canon PIXMA MP830 Are the extra features on Canon's multifunction worth the high price? The PIXMA MP830 sits at the top of Canon's range of multifunction devices (MFD) and with a price of over [pounds...

Portable price drop.(portable personal computers)(Product/service evaluation)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Jonathan Parkyn Portable price drop You don't have to spend and arm and a leg to pick up a portable PC. We test six brand-new notebooks -- all costing less than [pounds sterling]500 There are many reasons for choosing...

Create personalised letters with Excel.
December 7, 2006... Byline: Paul Wardley Create personalised letters with Excel Expand an existing address database and use it to print personalised letters If you followed the first instalment of this two-part Workshop (published last issue),...

Split windows in Excel for multiple views.
December 7, 2006... Byline: Scott Colvey Split windows in Excel for multiple views With Excel's Split facility it's possible to view up to four different parts of a spreadsheet at the same time In a sprawling spreadsheet it may sometimes prove...

AAC to mp3.(advanced audio coding )(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Scott Colvey AAC to mp3 Xavier Hussain's tip about converting iTunes' AAC music format to mp3 using iTunes (issue 228) is fine for people who have imported their own CDs. However, if you have downloaded music from the iTunes...

The rename game.(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Scott Colvey The rename game Renaming files and folders is useful for keeping track of the ever-growing collection of information on a computer. One method of doing this is to click once on the file name and pause briefly...

Email for all.(Microsoft Outlook Express)(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Scott Colvey Email for all If several members of your family or office rely on one PC to check their email, consider creating individual accounts for each user. To do this in Outlook Express open the File menu, select...

Make recipe cards in Word.
December 7, 2006... Byline: Paul Wardley Make recipe cards in Word Format text and pictures in Microsoft Word to design easy-to-follow Christmas recipe cards This Workshop is aimed at newcomers to Microsoft Word and introduces many of the basic...

Open files on a PC over the internet Access personal music, video and photo files from any computer connected to the internet Many computer users have large collections of digital media files on their machines. Inevitably, there will be occasions when i.(usage of orb enable)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Mark Wilson Open files on a PC over the internet Access personal music, video and photo files from any computer connected to the internet Many computer users have large collections of digital media files on their...

Nikon Coolpix L3.(Product/service evaluation)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Gavin Stoker Nikon Coolpix L3 Budget beginners' camera with a Face Priority feature Now that camera phones are capable of taking a half-decent picture that will print at 6x4in, a dedicated digital compact camera with a...

Vista on horizon.
December 7, 2006... Vista on horizon Early next year Microsoft launches the successor to Windows XP -- Windows Vista. There are two versions aimed at home users: Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premier. That doesn't mean that Windows XP will be outdated...

Desktop deals.
December 7, 2006... Byline: Clif Joseph Desktop deals Believe it or not, you can now get a decent home PC for [pounds sterling]500 or less. We've found six low-cost desktops in time for Christmas The pace of change in the computer industry...

Feed your appetite.(really simple syndication)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Jacqueline Williams Feed your appetite RSS is an easy way to stay up to date with your favourite websites. If you've never given it a go, now is the time Imagine having every newspaper in the world delivered to you...

Get free RSS alerts from us.(really simple syndication)(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Jacqueline Williams Get free RSS alerts from us No library of feeds would be complete without the latest news, downloads and reviews from Computeractive. To receive alerts about the latest updates on our website, just download...

Rewrite the moment.(image editing systems)
December 7, 2006... Rewrite the moment We can't promise to erase troublesome relatives, but it is possible to get great results with advanced techniques that are easy to master Most digital cameras come with some kind of image-editing software, but...

Weird effects and filters.(image editing with special effects filters )(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Rod Lawton Weird effects and filters Photoshop Elements and other image-editing programs come with a range of special effects filters which can transform everyday photos into surreal works of art. Art filters, for example,...

Ulead Photoimpact 12.(Product/service evaluation)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Simon Williams Ulead Photoimpact 12 The latest incarnation of Photoimpact includes a lot for photo beginners, as well as semi-professional photographers Photoimpact 12 is a sophisticated photo editor that offers four...

Scaling and printing.(downsides of image enhancement)(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Scaling and printing Image enhancement is a double-edged sword. Practically everything you can do to your photos to improve them will have a downside. Usually this is subtle enough not to show, but sometimes the cure can be worse than the...

Mike sense.(repairing computer's microphone)(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Mike sense If you find that your computer's microphone isn't sensitive enough, try this tip. First open the Volume Control dialogue box by double-clicking on the grey speaker icon in the Notification Area. Now look for the Microphone...

Evesham Solar XK.
December 7, 2006... Byline: Luke Peters Evesham Solar XK A great-value family computer just in time for mince pies Notebook computers may be popular but at the same price, a desktop computer will still outperform it, especially when equipped with one...

Handmade Calendar Maker.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Scott Colvey Handmade Calendar Maker Handing over the best part of [pounds sterling]20 to buy a calendar-making kit might sound like quite a high price but when you consider that the likes of the Official Cliff Richard 2007...

Christmas crackers.
December 7, 2006... Byline: Scott Colvey Christmas crackers With Christmas just around the corner, we round up three discs with a festive theme With just a few days to Christmas, we take a look at some CD-Roms with a seasonal bent. We begin with the...

Religious & Festive Clip Art 5,000.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Scott Colvey Religious & Festive Clip Art 5,000 There's not a whole lot any review of this product could add that its title doesn't already tell you. Essentially, this is a CD-Rom that contains over 5,000 cartoon-style clipart...

Create Your Own Greeting Cards Deluxe.
December 7, 2006... Byline: Scott Colvey Create Your Own Greeting Cards Deluxe We should point out from the off that Create Your Own Greeting Cards Deluxe is in fact supplied on a DVD-Rom, not a CD-Rom. However, when you consider some of this...

AVG Internet Security.
December 7, 2006... Byline: Tim Smith security software >> [pounds sterling]42 AVG Internet Security Full security with two years of updates from the free anti-virus people Grisoft is best known for its free AVG anti-virus software, but that's...

Magix Movie Edit Pro 11 Plus.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Simon Williams video software >> [pounds sterling]40 Magix Movie Edit Pro 11 Plus Video editing is a natural extension of Magix's audio range and Movie Edit Pro has been around for a while. This eleventh iteration...

PC-cillin 2007.
December 7, 2006... Byline: Tim Smith security software >> [pounds sterling]50 PC-cillin Internet Security 2007 Claiming protection for three computers at a time, Trend Micro would have you believe that PC-cillin Internet Security 2007 is the only...

Fujifilm Finepix S6500fd.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran camera >> [pounds sterling]350 Fujifilm Finepix S6500fd A camera that picks out faces Face recognition is a new feature that Fujifilm hopes will have people flocking to its new Finepix S6500fd. ...

Genius MP3-DJ 520.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Tim Smith digital media player >> [pounds sterling]33 Genius MP3-DJ 520 Listening to music on the move can be solitary, so the Genius MP3-DJ 520 has an extra headphone socket so that two people can listen at once. Even...

Sound Traveller.
December 7, 2006... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran Speakers >> [pounds sterling]45 Soundtraveller It's easy to see the appeal of portable speakers -- in these days of iPods, it makes sense to be able to take a music player to a picnic or the park and...

Qstarz BT-Q815.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Will Stapley Navigation >> [pounds sterling]59 Qstarz BT-Q815 Great value, solar-powered GPS receiver The best way to get satellite navigation is using an all-in-one unit that combines the GPS (global positioning...

Battlefield 2142.(Product/service evaluation)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Eddie Henderson Battlefield 2142 The futuristic technology on display here is not quite as spectacular as you might expect Battlefield moves from the epic conflict zones of the Second World War and the dense jungles of...

Site seeing.(www.freeboardgames.com, www.whattorent.com, http://answers.yahoo.com)(Website list)(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran Christmas is sorted, with our selection of handy sites for the festive season http://answers.yahoo.com Get the answers to those annoying trivia questions with Yahoo Answers. Figure out whether that...

Twice the viewing pleasure.(tuners)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Jonathan Parkyn Twice the viewing pleasure When it comes to video recording, two tuners are better than one. We explain why that is Flat-screen HD-ready TVs might be all the rage (see issue 227), but to make the...

Off the record.
December 7, 2006... Off the record If you want the convenience of a dual-tuner PVR and the ability to archive recordings, then you could opt for a device like the Humax PVR-9200T or the Topfield TF5800PVR, both of which can be hooked up to a PC. Both devices...

No Problem.(technical prblems solved)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Tim Smith Anthony Dhanendran Faster Wireless QI bought a new Belkin N+ router with the promise on the box of video streaming, of photo sharing and emails at a rate of about 33 per cent faster than the present G+ router. It was...

Readers to the rescue.(using Outlook Express, hard disk drives and dvd drives with ease)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran THE PROBLEM In Outlook Express, when I type the first letter of the recipient's address into the To: box, the full address of another friend beginning with the same letter appears. How do I stop this? ...

A smart way of dressing.(smart clothing with sensors, chips and quadriplegics shown at Northwestern University)(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Martin Lynch A smart way of dressing Clothes that incorporate technology such as sensors and computer chips could hold the key to better mobility for the severely disabled. One of the latest programmes to look at the...

Tech toys not key for tots.(University of Stirling's Institute of Education research on electronic educational toys)(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Clive Akass Tech toys not key for tots Electronic educational toys are no better than traditional ones in helping toddlers learn to read, write and do sums, according to new research from the University of Stirling's Institute...

No ban on FM transmitters.
December 7, 2006... Byline: Dinah Greek No ban on FM transmitters In a couple of day's time it will be legal for people to transmit music to their radios and in-car entertainment systems using FM transmitters. Under the Wireless and Telegraphy Act of...

Page 13 nibs.(European Union not to regulate internet video services)(Vortex Home Entertainment system to offer 3d gaming experience)(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: staff Reprieve for internet video The European Union (EU) has backed down from a plan to regulate all for-profit internet video services. Under the forthcoming TV Without Frontiers directive, national governments will not have...

EU corks online booze cruise.(European Union)(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Dinah Greek EU corks online booze cruise Shoppers who buy alcohol and cigarettes online from other countries will continue to pay UK excise duty. Hopes that they would be able to bypass higher UK duty, like the booze...

Page 10 nibs.
December 7, 2006... Byline: staff Historical map overlays Google Earth users can now overlay modern city views with digitised historical maps from the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection. The collection of 13,600 online maps focuses on rare 18th and...

The Ashes online.(British Broadcasting Corp., TeleWest Communications PLC)(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran The Ashes online With the England cricket team now engaged in a battle for the Ashes in Australia, three websites have come up with new ways to follow the games. UK broadband users can view the BBC's...

Net link to aid disabled.
December 7, 2006... Byline: Paul Allen Net link to aid disabled disabled people who have difficulties using computers can benefit from a free remote assessment service from IT charity Abilitynet. The charity provides advice and training in the field...

Ebay bans PS3.
December 7, 2006... Byline: Dinah Greek and Anthony Dhanendran Ebay bans PS3 Online auction site Ebay UK is removing all listings relating to imported Playstation 3 consoles. The new games machine is currently only available for sale in Japan and the...

Record labels hit sour note over report.
December 7, 2006... Byline: Dinah Greek Record labels hit sour note over report The Government should ignore a recommendation by the Gowers Review not to extend the copyright laws on sound recordings, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) said. The...

Digital divide could get worse not better.(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Paul Allen Digital divide could get worse not better Next year will be a turning point in the debate on digital inclusion -- but there's no guarantee the change will be for the better, a Member of Parliament has warned. ...

Page 8 nibs.(fm transmitters in demand)(Warranty Club offers cut-price alternative)(Evesham Micros Ltd. launches Nav-Cam 7700 )(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Staff Sat nav for [pounds sterling]150 Evesham has launched a sat-nav system that plays mp3s and displays digital photos. The Nav-Cam 7700 features AA Navigator software and has preloaded, up-to-date maps on 256MB of in-built...

Landlord wants to evict tenant over website.
December 7, 2006... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran Landlord wants to evict tenant over website A Glasgow man is being threatened with eviction because his website criticises his landlords. John Quinn, a tenant of the North Glasgow Housing Association, set...

Sony recall.
December 7, 2006... Byline: Dinah Greek Sony recall Sony is recalling eight Cybershot digital camera models, after finding a defect in the LCD screen. An image sensor problem could cause the screen to display distorted images or, in some cases, the...

Hoax sparks public alarm.(email fraud )(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Dinah Greek Hoax sparks public alarm Authorities are alarming people unnecessarily because they are giving credence to hoax emails about a non-existent parcel delivery scam. The emails advise people to beware if a card is...

Page 7 nibs.(United Kingdom. Computer Misuse Act 1990)(flaw in the Mozilla Firefox)(Dynamode introduced Digi-FR7 digital photo frame)(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: staff Firefox flaw Firefox users have been advised not to use the browser's automatic password manager. Mozilla, the company that develops Firefox, found that the feature, which stores user names and passwords, is not secure....

EC calls for war on spam.(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Dinah Greek EC calls for war on spam The European Commission (EC) has called on member states to take stronger action against spammers and senders of spyware, saying it may bring in further legislation to combat the problem....

Page 6 nib.(British Telecommunications PLC installed next generation communications network in South wales)(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: staff South Wales on 21CN network BT has implemented the first phase of its next-generation communications network in South Wales. Customers in the town of Wick, near Cardiff, were the first to be put onto the 21st Century...

Borrowers shun banks to tap up web lenders.
December 7, 2006... Byline: Dinah Greek Borrowers shun banks to tap up web lenders A new web-based phenomenon could end up giving the big banks a bloody nose as people look for better ways to borrow. The trend is known as social lending and nearly...

Ofcom targets dirty MAC brigade.(Office of Communications, migration authorisation codes)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Dinah Greek Ofcom targets dirty MAC brigade Ofcom could force ISPs to hand over migration authorisation codes to customers telecoms regulator Ofcom has given its strongest indication yet that it will force ISPs to adhere...

Football Manager 2007.(Product/service evaluation)
December 21, 2006... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran Football Manager 2007 Get in touch with your inner accountant in this addictive game It's odd that one of the most popular games of our time is, essentially, a spreadsheet. The point of Football Manager...

Organise your life with EssentialPIM.
December 21, 2006... Byline: Rob Beattie Organise your life with EssentialPIM Keeping on top of a busy schedule can be difficult, so make life easier with a free organiser application Many people use Microsoft's Outlook to stay organised, but...

Get organised with free sticky notes.(stickies to keep notes)
December 21, 2006... Byline: Rob Beattie Get organised with free sticky notes Fed up with little scraps of paper cluttering up your desk? Keep them all on your PC with Stickies For those who believe that the paperless office is a pipe dream, we...

Free up space on your hard disk.
December 21, 2006... Byline: Rob Beattie Free up space on your hard disk The amount of junk that accumulates on a hard disk is amazing, so make space with some free software When it comes to keeping a hard disk organised, most of us may start...

In control.(Microsoft Windows XP)(Brief article)
December 21, 2006... Byline: Scott Colvey In control It can be a faff opening the Control Panel window in Windows XP to access the tools within. Luckily, all the Control Panel options can be displayed in the Start menu. To achieve this, open Control Panel...

Devil's in the detail.(knowing more about a folder)(Brief article)
December 21, 2006... Byline: Scott Colvey Devil's in the detail If you want to find out more about a folder or a file, click on the View menu in a folder, then Details. All the icons will shrink and you'll be given information about each file, such as when...

Bright spell.(Microsoft Word)(Brief article)
December 21, 2006... Byline: Scott Colvey Bright spell If you have problems spelling and you use a recent version of Microsoft Word, you'll be glad to hear that it has tools to help. Type a word as you think it might be spelled, then position the...

Tidy up your hard disk with ExplorerXP.
December 21, 2006... Tidy up your hard disk with ExplorerXP Got hundreds of folders and thousands of files? ExplorerXP can help to keep them organised An old maxim has it that things expand to fill the available space, and that's certainly true of...

HP Photosmart D7360.
December 21, 2006... Byline: Simon Williams HP Photosmart D7360 Fast, high-quality colour and a touchscreen to control it. Is this printer everything it claims? P rinters from HP come in such a wide range of shapes and sizes, it's sometimes difficult...

Sony Vegas Movie Studio+DVD.
December 21, 2006... Byline: Jonathan Parkyn Sony Vegas Movie Studio+DVD Is Sony's Vegas video editor a safe bet or a bit of a gamble? Sony isn't the first name you'd associate with video editing but with Vegas Movie Studio+DVD, the electronics...

Championship Manager 2007.(computer football games)(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
December 21, 2006... Byline: Eddie Henderson Championship Manager 2007 Having dominated the football management simulation market in the 1990s, Championship Manager has faced stern competition in recent years from Football Manager. But the old incumbent is...

Xbox 360 HD-DVD Drive.
December 21, 2006... Byline: Jonathan Parkyn Xbox 360 HD-DVD Drive Add some high-def movie magic to your Xbox console Sony's Playstation 2 is often credited with having a big hand in the success of DVD, since the popular games console featured ...

Prints calming.(using a computer printer)(Brief article)
December 21, 2006... Byline: Scott Colvey Prints calming In Windows XP, when you want to cancel a print run but your printer refuses to halt churning out pages when you press Stop -- because it has numerous copies in its own memory -- it is possible to...

Apple iPod Shuffle.
December 21, 2006... Byline: Ben Tudor Apple iPod Shuffle Apple's tiniest, cheapest music player yet Apple sells more mp3 players than any other company. Part of this is down to how easy the iPod is to use and part is down to the ease of use inherent...

Revive your records and tapes.(with Audacity software)
December 21, 2006... Byline: Niall McGinnis Revive your records and tapes It's not always convenient to connect a large hi-fi to a PC to transform vinyl and cassettes into clean digital recordings, but the size of a micro system makes this more achievable....

Site seeing.(www.freecycle.org, www.amazon.co.uk, www.computer-aid.org www.missionfish.org.uk )(Website list)(Brief article)
December 21, 2006... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran Site seeing... Christmas is here, which often means unwanted presents. Here's how to deal with them www.missionfish.org.uk If you want to get rid of presents on Ebay but would like to do it...

Nero 7 Premium Reloaded.(Product/service evaluation)
December 21, 2006... Byline: Tim Smith media management >> [pounds sterling]47 Nero 7 Premium Reloaded Far more than basic CD recording Nero is a familiar name because the basic version of its software is supplied with many new computers. The...

Art. Lebedev Mus2.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
December 21, 2006... Byline: Andrea-Marie Vassou peripheral >> [pounds sterling]50 Art. Lebedev Mus2 As the technology has evolved, wireless mice have taken on forms ranging from ergonomic to novelty. The Art. Lebedev Studios' Mus2 mouse, which...

The Filter.(plug-in for listening playlists)(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
December 21, 2006... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran music software >> [pounds sterling]Free The Filter Let your PC choose your listening A couple of years ago the idea of computers telling us what music to listen to would have been...

Mandriva 2007 Free Linux.
December 21, 2006... Byline: Tim Smith operating system >> [pounds sterling]free Mandriva 2007 Free Linux A rival to Windows? It's rare we review new operating systems in Computeractive, as they involve making a big change from Windows and...

Musical micro machines.
December 21, 2006... Musical micro machines Now you can enjoy the best in digital sound on a small system. We look at what the latest micro hi-fis have to offer To enjoy music you don't need a stereo that is so loud you can't hear the neighbours banging on...

Budget blockbusters.
December 21, 2006... Byline: Jonathan Parkyn Budget blockbusters You don't need a Hollywood budget to make great home movies. We look at six very affordable digital video camcorders Compare the earliest home video cameras with those on sale in...

World Talk Learn German Intermediate.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
December 21, 2006... Byline: Emil Larsen education software >> [pounds sterling]30 World Talk Learn German Intermediate Learn German is designed for people who want to improve their basic listening and speaking skills and we'd say the questions are at...

Pinnacle Studio Plus 10.0.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
December 21, 2006... Byline: Jonathan Parkyn video-editing software >> [pounds sterling]70 Pinnacle Studio Plus 10 Pinnacle's popular video-editing program, Studio, returns yearly with minor additions each time. This time, a new engine has been...