Computer Act!ve articles from July 2006

Computer Act!ve archives from July 2006

CyberLink PowerDVD 7 Deluxe.(Product/service evaluation)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Jonathan Parkyn CyberLink PowerDVD 7 Deluxe Power up your DVD viewing with this movie player software Virtually all computers these days come with DVD drives and you'll usually find some kind of DVD movie-playing...

HP Color LaserJet 1600.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Simon Williams HP Color LaserJet 1600 HP's latest budget colour laser hits the [pounds sterling]200 price barrier Colour laser printers are now much more affordable than was historically the case, and they're a...

Family Historian 3.(powerful genealogy program)(Product/service evaluation)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Tim Smith Family Historian 3 One of the cheapest and easiest ways to organise family records Family Historian 3 is a very powerful genealogy program that will organise information about your ancestors, as well as...

Create a forum for your.(YaBB)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Mark Wilson Create a forum for your website With a forum, website visitors can talk to each other and provide feedback. We show you how to add one Modern websites are all about interactivity and giving visitors...

Grab and save PC screen.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Paul Wardley Grab and save PC screen images Find out how to copy all or part of the contents of the screen and then view, print or save the image As most of us inevitably learn soon after buying our first PC, the...

Workshop.(professional-looking inserts for disks)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Cliff Joseph Use Word to create DVD box inserts It's easy to create professional-looking inserts for DVDs with Microsoft Word's built-in design tool If you've spent hours editing home videos and designing a slick DVD...

Log in with password-management.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Scott Colvey Log in with password-management software The concluding part of our series on software to manage passwords, logins, PINs and passphrases In the modern world it's all but impossible to avoid acquiring a...

Hint.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Scott Colvey Scan and deliver Several readers suggested the following scanning-related tip around the same time, so we'd like to thank you all for your input. When scanning a page printed on both sides, place a piece of black...

Site-seeing.(search onto a specific website)(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Scott Colvey Site-seeing It's possible to focus the power of a Google search onto a specific website, rather than the whole of the internet. To do this, connect to Google in the usual way (www.google.com) and in the search box...

Workshops.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Scott Colvey Become a groupie Windows comes with a serviceable electronic abacus in the form of Windows Calculator. However, when working with larger numbers it can be tricky to discern how many digits are present. This is...

Workshops.(Microsoft Excel)(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Scott Colvey Name the day Microsoft Excel includes a function to display on what day of the week a particular date falls (or fell). It's called Weekday, and the command takes the form '=Weekday(date cell)'. So to determine the...

Phone.(digital telephones)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Scott Colvey Phone home Home telephony has changed. Find out how modern digital telephones can make it even better to talk Home telephones were once quite simple things, rented from the General Post Office and serving only...

Epson Stylus Photo R2400.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Simon Williams Epson Stylus Photo R2400 Want to print photos larger than A4? Epson's R2400 offers great flexibility There are plenty of quality inkjet printers that can produce a stunning A4 photo, but far fewer can do it...

LG GSA-H1ON.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Jonathan Parkyn Removable storage >> [pounds sterling]40 LG GSA-H10N Burn and read almost any type of disc The GSA-H10N internal drive -- available in silver, black or traditional beige -- can write to a wide...

Kodak EasyShare V570.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Gavin Stoker Digital camera >> [pounds sterling]270 Kodak EasyShare V570 The stylish, mobile phone-sized EasyShare V570 manages to squeeze both a 3x optical zoom and an extreme wide-angle lens into dimensions less than an...

Expert PDF Pro 4.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran Utility software >> [pounds sterling]40 EXPert PDF 4 Pro Create and make changes to PDF documents Until recently, while we could all view PDF files just by downloading the free Adobe Reader...

Terratec Aureon 7.1.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Simon Williams Sound card >> [pounds sterling]29 Terratec Aureon 7.1 There's a fair choice of 7.1 channel sound cards, but few offer Dolby Digital Live (DDL) too. DDL is Dolby Labs' encoder technology, which is quick...

MSI MegaView 588.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Tim Smith Digital media player >> [pounds sterling]204 MSI Megaview 588 The MSI Megaview 588 handles both video and audio without being overly bulky or expensive. The 3.5in screen can display video at a resolution of...

StorVision MiniVCR.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Jonathan Parkyn peripheral >> [pounds sterling]100 StorVision MiniVCR SV-1000 The Storvision MiniVCR SV-1000 is a new breed of video recorder: it records video straight to memory cards. The SV-1000 is aimed at users of...

Philips Streamium.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran Media streaming device >> [pounds sterling]99 Philips Streamium SLA5520i Listen to music anywhere in the home There's a gap in the media streaming market for devices that will easily stream audio...

Net chart.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran Take a closer look at the state of your finances with our selection of money sites www.listentotaxman.com A great income tax calculator that is constantly updated with changes to wage structures,...

Alienware Sentia m3400.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Tim Smith Alienware Sentia m3400 Well designed and highly portable, with some clever features thrown in Alienware is well known for its gaming desktop computers. The Sentia m3400 may not win the hearts of hardcore...

Cossacks 2: Battle For Europe.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Eddie Henderson Cossacks 2: Battle For Europe The latest trend in gaming seems to be to release expansion packs that don't require the original to play. This standalone add-on for Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars is one...

Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Eddie Henderson Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War The unique selling point of this rather average real-time strategy is the ability to flip from controlling a whole army into seizing control of an individual hero unit and...

Half Life 2: Episode One.(Product/service evaluation)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Eddie Henderson Half Life 2: Episode One The first-person shooter that defined the genre is back with more non-stop action Gordon Freeman, Half Life's time-hopping, zombie-busting protagonist, must feel a little like 24's...

Glory of the Roman Empire.(computer games)(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Eddie Henderson Glory of the Roman Empire You may remember the classic series of city-building games from developers Sierra that included Caesar, which tasked the player with developing an empire in Roman times. Now CDV has...

HP iPaq rx1950 Navigator.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran HP iPaq rx1950 Navigator A combined satellite navigator and handheld computer This satellite navigation system is a two-part contraption, consisting of an HP iPaq Pocket PC and a GPS receiver. ...

Magix Music Studio 11 Deluxe.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Martin James Magix Music Studio 11 Deluxe Magix may not have the pedigree of the likes of Cubase or Reason when it comes to audio-sequencing software, but with Music Studio 11 Deluxe, the company is taking a stab at targeting...

3-in-1 Driving Test.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Martin James 3-in-1 Driving Test We've always awarded the Driving Test series high marks in the past, and with three discs in one package for just [pounds sterling]10, it gets off to a good start. The first of the three...

Monkeys, Ducks and Frogs.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Martin James Monkeys, Ducks and Frogs Aimed at children aged three to five, this title focuses on developing counting skills. It includes 21 activities based on the farmyard theme as the title suggests. The activities...

Board Games Compendium.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Martin James Board Games Compendium This pack of four titles brings together some tried-and-tested favourites for solid family fun. First there's Sorry, the Ludo-esque four-person game where the object is to get all your...

Language Translator.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Martin James Language Translator Translation services, especially those found online, can be a bit hit and miss. Language Translator doesn't claim to be perfect, but offers greater flexibility than its online counterparts. ...

No problem readers to the resucue.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Tim Smith The Problem In Excel, how do I go about rounding up a number to the nearest multiple of five -- such as 203.49 to 205, or 197.15 to 200? I can get it to the nearest 10 but not to five. Trevor Fry, issue 217 ...

Fast food adverts junked.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Dinah Greek Fast food adverts junked The government is to consider extending advertising restrictions that govern products such as junk food to cover new-media platforms. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is currently pushing...

Floorplan 3D v8.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Chris Wiles In the last issue of Computeractive, we gave you eXpert PDF 3, which makes it possible to create a PDF document from within any Windows application. This issue we have FloorPlan 3D 8, a full program valued at [pounds...

Land Registry opts for electronic storage.(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Tim Smith Land Registry opts for electronic storage The Land Registry has announced that from now, all documents relating to home titles and plans will be stored electronically. No paper copies will be kept, and...

3G broadband from Vodafone.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Anna Lagerkvist 3G broadband from Vodafone Vodafone has launched its Mobile Connect 3G broadband data card. The data card will enable Vodaphone to provide newer, faster services such as streaming of film and video,...

Nibs.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Staff Elonex goes under Computer firm Elonex has gone into administration. The company had made a move into the home entertainment market with products such as widescreen TVs and personal video recorders. Administrators...

Free Wi-Fi on BT plans.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran Free Wi-Fi on BT plans BT's new broadband internet packages will include free telephone calls as standard. All three BT Total Broadband packages include free telephone calls of up to one hour in duration...

NIbs.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Staff Block spyware Security software company Grisoft has launched an anti-spyware program that it claimed can detect and block malicious software even if it is not a recognised threat. Ewido anti-spyware allows potential spyware...

Surfers still snagged by scams.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Dinah Greek Surfers still snagged by scams UK consumers are failing to grasp even fundamental online safety messages and are leaving themselves wide open to online scams. This was the conclusion of a survey carried out ...

Tate Modern goes interactive.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Dinah Greek, Anna Lagerkvist Tate Modern goes interactive London's Tate Modern has launched an interactive online tour of the museum. Tate Online, developed jointly by Tate and BT, lets people create their own tour of the...

Nibs.
July 6, 2006... Byline: staff Mapping the way forward 192.com has launched a potential rival to Google's equivalent mapping service. 192.com Maps is a free Flash-based service that allows users to zoom in and out of maps, and overlay objects, such as...

Students use internet to cheat.(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Anna Lagerkvist Students use internet to cheat The internet has made it easy for students to cheat by copying other people's work, said Sally Brown, professor at Leeds Metropolitan University. Speaking at an...

3G for the masses.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran 3G for the masses Nokia has promised that its new 3G mobile phone will be one most people can afford. The Nokia 6151, which is being billed by the company as "a phone that will bring 3G to Everyone",...

Nibs.
July 6, 2006... Byline: staff F1 for Sony Sony has turned to Formula One technology for its latest Vaio notebook computer, the TX3. By using carbon fibre laminate for the TX3's case, a material more usually found in F1 cars, the case is not only...

Apacs advises on use of cards abroad.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Dinah Grek Apacs advises on use of cards abroad Apacs, the UK payments association, has published a guide on how to avoid falling victim to credit and debit card fraud when abroad. UK consumers spent nearly...

Nibs.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Dinah Greek Mycokemusic goes flat The Coca-Cola branded music service Mycokemusic is to close on 31 July. Once the number-one music download site in the UK, company officials hinted that the success of other online music...

Slow starts for new formats.
July 6, 2006... Byline: staff Slow start for new formats Although both Sony and Toshiba have now launched their next-generation DVD players in the US, sales are slow. Early reports indicate that Samsung's high-definition Blu-ray DVD players...

Ruling makes online libel hard to prove.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran Ruling makes online libel hard to prove People who believe they have been libelled online will have to do some research before making a claim, the High Court has ruled. When an alleged libel has been...

Toxic waste dumped overseas.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Dinah Greek Toxic waste dumped overseas greenpeace has expressed growing concern over hazardous electrical and electronic waste being illegally shipped to developing countries for disposal. Although the UK is not alone in...

Consumers get a raw deal online.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Dinah Greek Consumers get raw deal online A report reveals that consumers are increasingly dissatisfied with online shopping Complaints about web traders have rocketed over the past year, according to the network of...

New search engine protects userr privacy.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Dinah Greek New search engine protects user privacy A new search engine will allow web users to carry out searches anonymously. This is according to the Dutch company behind Ixquick, which collates the results from popular...

Coalition to combat child abuse.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Dinah Greek Coalition to combat child abuse A coalition of US companies and organisations has formed to combat the spread of online images depicting child abuse. The Technology Coalition, formed of online giants such...

No Problem FINAL.(computer problems)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Tim Smith Anthony Dhanendran Set-top banking QI surf the internet on my television using a NetGem iPlayer Freeview set-top box. As there is no way to update the security settings on the set-top box, is it safe to use this...

30 tricks for perfect pics.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Rod Lawton 30 tricks for perfect pics Put an end to disappointing snaps and learn how to get the most of your camera's features with our top 30 tips on avoiding photo blunders In years gone by, photo labs would put...

Box clever.(Outlook Express)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran Box clever Keep your emails organised and avoid unwanted eyes reading messages by creating identities for each user. We show you how With more and more people using email, households are increasingly...

Designer.(labelling CDs and DVDs)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Tim Smith Designer labels Personalise your collection with our guide to printing and labelling CDs and DVDs Home movies and photo collections are treasured memories, and thanks to disc-burning software, it's possible...

Fujifilm FinePix Z2 Zoom.(slim digital camera)(Product/service evaluation)
July 20, 2006... Byline: Gavin Stoker Fujifilm FinePix Z2 Zoom A slender pocket camera with hidden depths Fuji cameras have always mixed the practical with the affordable. The FinePix Z2 adds sophistication, its flat reflective surface concealing...

Nuance ScanSoft PaperPort 11 Professional.
July 20, 2006... Byline: Simon Williams Nuance ScanSoft PaperPort 11 Professional A three-part program but PaperPort doesn't quite manage to integrate them Nuance ScanSoft PaperPort 11 Professional is the latest version of the best-selling...

Serves.(e-government)
July 20, 2006... Byline: Rob Beattie Serves you right? Government now allows access to numerous services online. We take a closer look to see how successfully the internet can be used to get your local and national needs met Have you ever had...

Cut-price prints.
July 20, 2006... Byline: Paul Wardley Cut-price prints Much is said about the high cost of printing, but with a careful strategy and some nouse you can use your existing printer and still keep costs down. Our useful tips will show you how Most...

Book 'em.(ebooks)
July 20, 2006... Byline: Anna Lagerkvist Book 'em Whether it is a literary classic or this summer's blockbuster, electronic books are here to stay. We show you how to get them and how to read them The summer holidays usually mean plenty...

Under the bonnet.(basic input output system)
July 20, 2006... Byline: Ben Tudor Under the bonnet Use a computer long enough and it's likely that you'll hear of something called the BIOS. Read on as we explain what it is, what it does and why you should care In between Windows and the...