Personal Computer World articles from February 2005

Personal Computer World archives from February 2005

Editorial - Beware of the broadband blues. A temporary lack of technology made Rob Jones realise just how dependent we have become.(Editorial)
February 1, 2005... I stepped back in time this month, entering a long forgotten dark age that, I must admit, I'd hoped never to experience again. I went back to a time known as BBI - Before Broadband Internet - and relived a life of no connection, slow...

How we test. PCW uses the services of VNU Labs to perform all its hardware testing. VNU Labs' highly experienced staff use industry-standard benchmarks and methodologies to generate accurate, repeatable test results. Below you'll find the details of the most frequently used benchmarks that PCW publishes.(Personal Computer World)
February 1, 2005... SYSMARK 2004 Sysmark 2004 is a system productivity benchmark, designed to reflect system performance when running the most popular application software in real-world scenarios with real-world workloads. Sysmark 2004 uses 15...

8Mbit gear change for UK.(service enhancement of UK Online)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Clive Akass. UK broadband speeds are making a step change upwards with the launch of a breakthrough 8Mbits/sec service for [pounds sterling]39.99 a month by UK Online. Days later Freedom2Surf offered a 2Mbit service for [pounds...

Sony ultraportable sneaks into US.(launch of Sony Vaio VGN-U750P)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Is the device pictured below a media player? Well, yes and no. It's the Vaio VGN-U750P, the first of a range of Ultra Personal Computers (UPC) called the U series, and it can double as a media player. A UPC is a fully fledged PC the size...

Lycos starts 'spam spammers' scheme.(new service of Lycos Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Lycos is offering a way for you to get your own back on spammers - by spamming them. The revenge takes the form of a screensaver that, when you are not using your PC, generates traffic at the sites of known spammers. You can submit the...

Epaper looks on a scroll.(agreement of Plastic Logic with E Ink Corp. and Siemens AG)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Cambridge-based Plastic Logic is to work with the US firm E-Ink to produce what looks like being the nearest computing has got to electronic paper. It has also signed a deal with Siemens to develop flexible screens for mobiles. The...

Vodafone offers 3G video calls for 35p a minute.(third generation)(new service of Vodafone Group PLC)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Vodafone unveiled its 3G consumer mobile service last month, and I was impressed by my first live video call. Perhaps it was all those old sci-fi films and cartoon strips featuring characters videophoning that made it seem so futuristic - and...

'Supercomputer on a chip' unveiled.(launch of "Cell" microprocessor by IBM, Sony Group and Toshiba Corp.)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... IBM, Sony Group and Toshiba have unveiled was has been described as a supercomputer on a chip; a 64bit Power processor with multiple satellite cores configured for massive floating point processing. The chip, called Cell, is optimised for...

Scammer jailed.(cases against Nick Marinelli)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The mastermind behind a scam that fleeced gullible surfers of more than [pounds sterling]2m was jailed for a minimum of four years in Australia last month. Nick Marinelli admitted 10 counts of fraud. His team, based in Africa, conned...

PC ascendancy.(market share of operating systems)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Sales of servers based on classic x86 PC architecture have outsold traditional Unix boxes for the first time ever, reflecting a decline of the enterprise operating system. But Linux is also gaining market share (see page 18).

Undersea Fuji.(Fujifilm Finepix F810 Zoom)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Fujifilm is offering this sealed underwater housing unit for the Finepix F810 Zoom digital camera, usable down to 40m. It costs [pounds sterling]149.99 inc Vat. The 6megapixel 810, which has a 4x optical zoom, costs [pounds sterling]379.99.

HD-DVD boost.(high-definition)(approval of Paramount Pictures Corp., Universal Studios Inc. and Warner Bros.)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... High-definition DVD has won the support of three big studios - Universal, Warner Brothers and Paramount - as the successor to DVD. But one analyst says Blu-ray has the market edge (see page 21).

Peril of north.(wireless telephones usage by motor vehicle drivers)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Northern drivers are more likely than southerners to flout laws about using mobile phones at the wheel, judging from regional sales of hands-free kits.

6m get Firefox browser.(user statistics of Firefox 1.0)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... More than six million users have downloaded Firefox 1, the open-source descendant of the Netscape browser killed off by Internet Explorer in a battle that figured large in the US anti-trust case against Microsoft. Alternative browsers,...

Sun tries to head off Linux as Unix decline continues.(Sun Microsystems Inc. market share)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Microsoft is not the only company feeling the pressure from open-source software. Sun has packaged the latest version of its Solaris operating system to offer more competition with Linux, which latest figures show is the world's fastest-growing...

Microsoft to replace pirated XP code.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... People who buy pirated copies of Windows XP can get official copies free from Microsoft if they submit dodgy code for analysis. Microsoft made the offer after finding what it called 'a large volume' of high-quality counterfeit versions of...

Movie editor.
February 1, 2005... Version 5.99 of the $19.95 ([pounds sterling]10.75) FMV Pro movie editor and player is available from www.f-m-v.com, where you can also download a trial version.

Big view.
February 1, 2005... Mathematica 5.1 has enhanced features for working with large data sets. A list of features can be found at www.wolfram. com/mathematica/newin51.

Instant demo.
February 1, 2005... Instant Demo 4, which translates screen operations into Flash demonstrations, now allows you to combine several sessions into a 'movie'. It costs $299 ([pounds sterling]161) from www.instant-demo.com, where a free trial version is available.

XP utilities.
February 1, 2005... Allume BoostXP includes 30 utilities for improving the security and performance of XP PCs. It costs $29.99 ([pounds sterling]16) from www.allume.com/store.

Acrobat 7.(enhanced )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... New features in Acrobat 7 include help workgroups collaborating over the use of documents. Users can suggest changes to a lead author, who decides which to apply. There are two Acrobat 7 editions: a [pounds sterling]270 Standard and a [pounds...

Skype API.(Applications Programming Interface)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... A beta version application programming interface is included with the latest version of Skype for Windows, to allow software developers to integrate its web telephony functions into products.

Year of change for laptops.(product introductions)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... AMD has launched another Sempron processor designed for thin and light notebooks, in the run-up to the release of an updated mobile platform by rival Intel. The Sempron 3000+ is pitched to compete with Intel's low-end Celeron mobile...

3.8GHz Pentium 4 uses AMD-style Ram protection.(Intel announced 570J Pentium 4 processor)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Intel had yet to announce formally the release of its 570J Pentium 4 processor as we went to press, though it was popping up in new products and web reports. The 570J clocks 3.8GHz, which could turn out to be the highest rate for the...

Via releases PCX Athlon 64 chipset.(VIA Technologies Inc.)
February 1, 2005... Via has launched an Athlon 64 chipset implementing the new fast PCI Express (PCX) bus, previously restricted to Intel processors. The new KBT890 northbridge chip, available now, is linked to the processor by a 1GHz 16bit Hypertransport (HT)...

Video grabber.
February 1, 2005... Terratec's Grabster AV 200 takes the analogue output from camcorders, DVD players, or VCRs, digitises it on the fly, and pumps it into your PC's USB2 port. It comes with Ulead's Videostudio 7 SE and DVD Movie Factory 3 allowing you to edit...

Global charger.
February 1, 2005... Here's something for people who go charging around the world. It's an AA and AAA battery charger with a laptop-style universal power adapter that can cope with any mains voltage. It costs [pounds sterling]35.99 including Vat....

USB drives.
February 1, 2005... Iomega and Western Digital have both launched pocket USB2 external hard drives. Iomega's 20GB and 40GB models cost $179 ([pounds sterling]96) and $279 ([pounds sterling]150) in the US. Western Digital's 40GB and 80GB Passport drive (above)...

PC Project.(2.8GHz dual-monitor Personal computer from Microsoft and Scan Computers)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Microsoft and Scan Computers have launched a 2.8GHz dual-monitor PC designed for project managers. It is preloaded with Microsoft Project software and is designed to tighten control by providing simultaneous access to plans, resource pools,...

Cool BTX boards hit stores.(Balanced Technology Extended mother boards)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Intel has released for the first time on an open market a new type of motherboard designed to facilitate the cooling of components. Balanced Technology Extended (BTX) boards have previously been available only to major system builders such as...

Biostar helps you get to barebones.(Shuttle-style barebones cube systems)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Biostar is launching Shuttle-style barebones cube systems in a bid to diversify from the highly competitive motherboard market. The layout of its Ideq 300 series is similar to that of a BTX and is 'inspired' by it but does not conform to the...

Blu-ray 'has edge in HD-DVD battle'.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Blu-ray has a slight edge over rival high-definition HD-DVD to become the de facto standard format for post-DVD storage - but it needs to establish dominance quickly before emerging technologies offering even greater capacities mature,...

How to make dreams come virtually true.(University of Cambridge)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... If the real world is not to your liking, you can superimpose a virtual one with the aid of technology developed at the University of Cambridge. Tom Drummond, who heads a team developing the idea, calls it augmented reality and believes it...

World radio.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The Cambridge designed Reciva Internet radio has been around for a while but we're told it is much improved. It looks like a normal radio, but takes its feed from a Wifi link. A portal helps you select stations by type or geography and gives...

Wedge could bring cheap big-screens.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... This rather odd looking device could eventually lead to low-cost back-projection screens thinner than today's flat panels. It works on much the same principle as fibre-optic cable: the geometry is such that almost all light passing through it...

Holo projector for mobiles.
February 1, 2005... Byline: Clive Akass. Scientists have developed a holographic laser projector that is significantly more efficient than today's models and could be incorporated into handheld devices - allowing you, for instance, to project snaps from your...

Ole! Oled screens get big.(organic light emitting diode)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Epson came to London in force last month to show off its Organic Light Emitting Diode (Oled) screens, which are likely to start rivalling traditional LCD panels in a couple of years. Organic screens are already in use on small devices like...

Mini helicopter thwarts takeover bid by UK hacks.(robots)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... This tiny robot helicopter stole the show at the Epson event in London, where it made its UK debut. It took off from the hand of its inventor, Osamu Miyazwa, did a circuit round the room, and then landed back in his hand. Miyazwa looked...

A thin time for circuitry.(production processes of circuit boards)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Epson says this is this is the world's first ultra-thin 20-layer circuit board of a kind that is normally made by a complex photolithography process. Each layer has literally been printed using an inkjet and uses two types of ink: a conductive...

Letter from Tokyo - Tera stalks the stores. It's not enough to be mega in Japan. You have to be giga, a thousand times over, writes Mark J Lytle. A Sony PC sets the pace with a 1TB disk, seven TV tuners and 23in HD-TV.
February 1, 2005... The end of the year is traditionally a quiet time for new products in most of Asia, particularly in Japan, where most of the pre-festive huckstering is over and done with come the end of the Ceatec show in October. Other than the two new...

USB learns to talk direct.(new standard for universal serial bus )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... USB devices that can talk directly to each other without the aid of a PC should become available over the next few months as manufacturers start to implement a new standard. The USB on-the-go (OTG) standard means that, say, digital cameras...

M-Cube speaks volumes for living-room style.(loudspeakers)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Convergence has encouraged a succession of stylish PC designs, as system builders try to break into the home entertainment market. But convergence cuts both ways, and hifi vendors are hoping to expand their market into computing. PC owners...

UV-ray offers 500GB disc.(Pioneer to make optical discs with a capacity of 500GB)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Drivemaker Pioneer has found a way to make optical discs with a capacity of 500GB - more than 100 times the capacity of a standard DVD disc, according to a Japanese report. The system uses an ultraviolet laser with a wavelength considerably...

Advice on IT jobs.(Careers and Jobs in IT)(books)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... If you are thinking of starting a career in IT, you may be interested in a book published in association with The Times and the British Computer Society. David Yardley's Careers and Jobs in IT ([pounds sterling]7.99 from www. kogan-page.com),...

Voice input works! And without the need for a special headset. Clive Akass tries version 8.0 of Dragon Naturally Speaking with the smart mics on a Motion Tablet PC.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... This article is brought to you courtesy of a Motion Computing M1400 Tablet PC and the latest version 8.0 of Dragon Naturally Speaking, and is evidence that voice input is coming of age. One of the problems with early speech transcription was...

Dashing off a letter on a PDA - and making a gesture of PC control.(keyboards)(personal digital assistants)
February 1, 2005... By coincidence, as I was trying voice input on the tablet PC, I was confronted with two other alternatives to the standard keyboard. One, called Dasher, was shown by David Mackay at an innovations forum in Cambridge (see page 22) and is...

Last of old guard leaves Intel helm.(Andrew S. Grove resigns)
February 1, 2005... The feeling of the end of an era at Intel was reinforced last month with the retirement from the board of chairman Andy Grove. It means that for the first time none of Intel's three founding fathers is involved in the day-to-day running of the...

72Mbit mobile links draw closer.(Wi-Max)
February 1, 2005... Britain's first Wimax service, with the potential to offer broadband to mobile devices, is launching in Kent in early 2005. But until standards are in place for mobile use it will be restricted to fixed services to homes and offices. Wimax...

US vendor offers plug-and-play DSL in Britain.(Westell)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... A US company claims to be the first to offer an implementation of a new standard designed to allow plug-and-play installation of DSL links. The Envoy system comes from Westell, a company that is little known in Britain but reckons to be a...

UK chip puts Wifi on phones.
February 1, 2005... Wifi links are likely to be available on a wider range of devices thanks to a new mobile chip that supports all three flavours: 11a, 11b, and 11g. The tiny, low-drain chip, called the Unifi-1, comes from UK Bluetooth pioneer Cambridge Silicon...

11a flavour is faster and easier than 11g, say vendors.
February 1, 2005... The 11a flavour of Wifi is faster in practice than 11g even though both are rated at the same 54Mbits/sec, according to wireless-networking pioneer Symbol Technology. Many vendors, when asked why they have been slow to implement 11a, have...

Smart move.(Gemplus International S.A to secure wireless links)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Smartcard vendor Gemplus plans to secure wireless links by using the name, phone number or email address of the intended recipient as an encryption key, a system it believes is easier and cheaper to manage than the usual public key...

New gateway.(11g/b AirstationTM 125)(product information)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Buffalo claims its 11g/b AirstationTM 125 Gateway offers easy and secure remote access to email and other files. A proprietary 125 mode allows a real throughput of 34.1Mbits/sec, faster than that of 11g which never achieves its rated...

Reaching out.(Broadcom Inc. launches 11g chip line)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Broadcom has launched an 11g chip line that it claims increases range by 50 per cent thanks to high-sensitivity receivers. The 54g range comes in versions for client devices and routers.

Columns - Kewney @ large - Chaos reigns for home wireless nets. As more homes move to Wifi, channel congestion becomes a major issue, says Guy Kewney.
February 1, 2005... Byline: guyk@pcw.co.uk. How many neighbours do you have within 100 feet of your desk at home? How many of those have a PC? And in the next 12 months, how many will have a wireless network? And do you care? You should care: the figures...

Columns - Inside information - How to avoid major format frustration. Don't just assume an audio format will be compatible with your players, warns Gordon Laing.(Column)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Gordon Laing, gordonl@pcw.co.uk. There's currently a lot of debate about the relative sound quality of various audio formats. Does Microsoft's wma sound better than mp3 at low bit rates, and are the various lossless formats really...

Columns - Straight talking - Entertainment and mobiles don't mix. Barry Fox believes moves by cellphone companies to enter the home entertainment market are ill conceived.(Column)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Barry Fox, barryf@pcw.co.uk. The cellphone companies now have their sights set on the home entertainment market. Microsoft and Intel already dream of us all using a Windows PC with broadband and Wifi to bring music and movies into...

Columns - IT matters - Apple must evolve or face extinction. As more music formats and audio players emerge, Rory Reid asks if the Ipod is at the end of its reign.(Column)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Rory Reid, rory_reid@vnu.co.uk. Wander down your local high street, or cast a casual eye over your fellow commuters, and you'll notice a lots of people with white headphones - the sign of a nation obsessed with the Apple Ipod. ...

Reviews.
February 1, 2005... Byline: Chris Cain. There'll be plenty to spend your money on in the January sales if this month's reviews section is anything to go by, with hordes of new hardware and software vying for attention. On the PC side we take a look at the...

Reviews - Desktop PC - Sony Vaio VGC-V2S. A smart, integrated designer desktop PC.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Leo Waldock. Sony's VGC-V2S is an unusual PC in that it looks more like a 20in widescreen TV than a conventional mid-sized tower. Clearly, the Vaio team has attempted to develop a crossover product that's as much at home in your...

Reviews - Hardware - Athlon64 PC - . This Nforce4 system is a great all rounder.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran. Evesham's Axis Enforcer is the first PC we've seen using Nvidia's new Nforce4 chipset, bringing PCI Express to AMD-based machines. In this case, the system's MSI motherboard takes a Socket 939 Athlon64 3500+,...

Reviews - Hardware - Spire Inspire. A fast and attractive Media Center PC.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Rory Reid. Spire's Inspire is the latest PC to feature the new Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. Unlike the Evesham Ebox reviewed last month, it comes in a small form factor case so may not blend as seamlessly into your living...

Reviews - Peripherals - Multifunction device - Brother DCP-310CN. Value printing, scanning and copying.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Will Stapley. If you're limited for space on your desk, opting for an all-in-one printer, scanner and photocopier is usually the best option. The DCP-310CN is Brother's latest and includes an Ethernet port, allowing it to be easily...

Reviews Periperals - Digital camera - Fujifilm Finepix S5500 Zoom. Great range of features, but no Super-CCD.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Will Stapley. At first sight the Fujifilm Finepix S5500 looks identical to its predecessor, the Finepix S5000. But take a closer look and you'll notice one significant difference - there's no Super CCD badge on the front. Despite...

Reviews - Peripherals - Philips Brilliance 230W5. Huge display at an impressive price.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Will Stapley. If those tiny 19in TFT screens don't give you enough creative freedom, the latest entry in Philips' Brilliance range of monitors is definitely worth a look. With a whopping 23in widescreen display, the 230W5 will...

Reviews - Peripherals - Viewsonic VG712s. A good-value screen with a great picture.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... The VG712s is the flagship 17in panel in Viewsonic's corporate and advanced graphics range. It certainly looks the part, thanks to a slim bezel and chrome-effect buttons. However, it isn't as flexible as some screens as there's no pivot option...

Reviews - Peripherals - Mini round-up - Budget flatbed scanners. High-quality flatbed scanners no longer cost a small fortune. Here's a selection of what the major manufacturers have to offer.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Luke Peters. Home scanners have traditionally been used for creating digital copies of photographs, but with digital cameras now outselling film models the need for a scanner to digitise photos isn't as big as it used to be. ...

Reviews - Peripherals - Network storage - Iomega NAS 100d. High-capacity storage with wireless support.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Cliff Joseph. Aimed at the home and small business user, Iomega's NAS 100d is a hard drive that can be shared across both traditional wired or wireless networks. The NAS 100d is available in two sizes. Our review unit had a...

Reviews - Peripherals - Graphics card - ATI Radeon X850X. The war continues with the fastest card yet.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Simon Crisp. The latest salvo in the graphics cards war has been fired by ATI to herald the launch of its high-end Radeon X850 series. Based on the R480 core, ATI plans to bring out three flavours of the X850; the...

Reviews - Peripherals - Mini round-up - In-car technology. Find out about the variety of devices designed for your car.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... GPS NAVIGATION GPS systems plot your position using a number of orbiting satellites, and then work out driving routes using maps stored on an internal hard disk or memory card. Enter an address and you'll be given voice and visual...

Reviews - Peripherals - Devolo Microlink Dlan Starter Kit.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Rob Jones. Comprising two Homeplug adapters and a pair of Ethernet cables, the Microlink Dlan Starter Kit lets you use your existing home electricity cables to build a basic network. It's aimed at the networking novice or those who...

Reviews - Peripherals - D-Link DSM-320 media player.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Clive Akass. Microsoft's vaunted XP Media Center Edition is not the only way to turn a PC into a home-entertainment hub. The D-Link DSM-320 media player allows you to stream video or audio to your TV or hifi from any 500MHz-plus PC...

Reviews - Peripherals - Relisys RHTP200.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Will Stapley. Relisys has made DLP projectors even more desirable with the release of its RHTP200. Not only does it have the ability to hook up to your PC, but it also features a built-in DVD player and analogue TV tuner, making it...

Reviews - Peripherals - Terratec Raptor-Gaming M1.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Chris Cain. A mouse specifically designed for gaming may sound a little odd, but some insist the right hardware can mean the difference between a high score and game over. Terratec's Raptor-Gaming M1 aims to give you the edge over...

Reviews - Components - Graphics card - Club 3D Omnichrome S4. Great-value alternative to ATI and Nvidia.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Simon Crisp. You'd be forgiven for thinking ATI and Nvidia were the only two manufacturers of graphics chips. The Club 3D Omnichrome S4 128MB is based around an S3 chip, and is a low-cost alternative. The S3 chip in question is...

Reviews - Components - Nforce4 ultra motherboard - Gigabyte K8NXP9. PCI Express for Athlon64 fans.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Simon Crisp. Gigabyte's K8NXP9 is the first motherboard we've seen designed around the new Nforce4 Ultra chipset from Nvidia, providing PCI Express (PCX) support for AMD processors. The chipset works with Socket 939/940 Athlon64...

Reviews - Overclocking.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... ASUS STARICE Looking more like a jet engine than a fan, this is probably the largest CPU cooler you'll ever see, the Starice from Asus is only for those with the biggest of cases, and even then it will be a tight fit. Weighing in at almost...

Reviews - Software - Image management - ACDSee 7. Everything you need to manage your digital pictures in one package.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Laura Jones. ACDSee 7 is the latest version of the comprehensive image-management package designed to help you organise and share digital image collections. Along with a horde of new features, including the option to create pdf and...

Reviews - Software - Painting software - Corel Painter IX. The natural painting package gets an upgrade.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Ken McMahon. For 13 years, Painter has ploughed its own furrow in the world of creative digital software, providing tools that closely mimic their real-world counterparts. These days every image editor from Photoshop to Paint Shop...

Reviews - Software - File-transfer utility - Laplink Gold 12. Feature-packed remote PC access tool.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Kelvyn Taylor. Laplink Gold 12 adds some impressive new features to give you pretty well every tool you could need for secure remote access to multiple PCs. Installation, though, is an overly fussy process - you enter your...

Reviews - Software - Desktop publishing - Serif Pageplus 10. Value for money with useful new features.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Laura Jones. Serif Pageplus 10 brings page layout software into the hands of non-professional users, providing simplified tools to create a whole range of publications from business cards to books. It's been around for 14 years, so...

Reviews - Software - Online security - Internet Security packages head to head. How does Norton Internet Security 2005 measure up to Steganos Internet Security 7?(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Chris Cain. The Internet has revolutionised just about every area of business, entertainment and communications, but using it without protection can expose your PC to hackers, viruses and other menaces. With 2005 upon us, Symantec...

Reviews - Software - Acronis True Image 8.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Kelvyn Taylor. Disk imaging is only slightly more appealing than watching paint dry, so you might as well get a tool that's easy to use. True Image 8 has a wizard-driven interface that guides you effortlessly through the process....

Reviews - Software - Mozilla Firefox.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2005... Byline: Tim Smith. Firefox is gaining ground as an excellent browser and alternative to Microsoft Internet Explorer. An offshoot from the Mozilla Internet suite, it's fast and packed with useful features. At just 4.5MB, Firefox isn't a big...