Personal Computer World articles from June 2008

Personal Computer World archives from June 2008

Getting attached to Access 2007.(user interface)(Product/service evaluation)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Mark Whitehorn Getting attached to Access 2007 Take a look at some of the features and the new user interface for this Office package As discussed last month, I'm going to use Access 2007 from now on to illustrate this...

The element of online editing.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Ken McMahon The element of online editing Find out whether an online photo editor could be the only tool you really need On 27 March, Adobe announced the public beta of Photoshop Express. You might think that with...

Sites to help change your image on the web.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Ken McMahon Sites to help change your image on the web Aviary http://a.viary.com Aviary is or, from the look of the website, will be, a suite of web applications that includes Phoenix (image editing), Raven (vector...

Taking the pain out of backup.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Gordon Laing Taking the pain out of backup Find out how using sync tools can ease the hassle of duplicating your files We've discussed backup media and devices many times, but this month I'm looking at some affordable or...

Working together.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Barry Shilliday Working together Raid provides better safety and performance for multiple hard disk systems When it comes to installing a new operating system, most of us do it in a way that has changed little since the...

Long-term support for Hardy Heron.(desktop)(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Barry Shilliday Long-term support for Hardy Heron The latest release of Ubuntu, codenamed Hardy Heron, was released on 24 April. Although it follows the regular six-month release cycle, it is the first Long Term Support (LTS)...

From desktop to server.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Alan Stevens From desktop to server Do something useful with your old PC by turning it into a network server I'm often asked if it's a good idea, or even possible, to use an ordinary desktop PC as a network server, mostly...

An email issue i?1/2 Outlook and Imap4.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Alan Stevens An email issue - Outlook and Imap4 Here's an interesting little Outlook conundrum that came to light recently, which proved easy enough to resolve but took a little working out to get there. It started when a...

Lighten your laptopi?1/2s load.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Gordon Laing Lighten your laptop's load A new operating system can put undue pressure on an old notebook With every new version of Windows, Microsoft adds features and visual enhancements which take their toll on your...

Mind the gap.(Databases)(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Various Mind the gap Databases QI'm bugged by Access insisting on putting a huge gap between text boxes and labels when I'm building forms. Is there any way of dealing with this, other than selecting and moving the labels...

Question Time.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Various Digital Imaging Q After modifying a Vista tagged jpeg file in Photoshop 7, I cannot use 'Save as' to save the modified image. I have the option to do so, but when I select it from the menu, Photoshop fails to respond...

Effectively add FX to music.(plug-ins)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Niall Magennis Effectively add FX to music Start getting to grips with distortion, delay and reverb sound effects Effects have become central to many musical genres. Industrial music wouldn't sound so aggressive without...

The Midi touch.(audio sequencers)(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Niall Magennis The Midi touch Although most effects plug-ins work directly on audio, today's audio sequencers, such as Cubase and Sonar, also offer a range of Midi effects. Midi effects are interesting because they work on the...

Time and money.(hours and pay on an Excel spreadsheet)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Stephen Wells Time and money Learn how to calculate your hours and pay on an Excel spreadsheet Calculations of time are among the most frequent uses of Excel, and the most confusing. You might accept that a spreadsheet...

Carpe diem.(working with excel worksheet)(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Stephen Wells Carpe diem When you open an Excel worksheet, an entry of the TODAY() function shows the current date. But if you want the date to remain static, click on that cell, press F2 and then F9 and the day's serial number...

Favourites repurposed.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Tim Nott Favourites repurposed Find a new use for an old favourite and how to safely log on to Windows The quip about 'Lies, damn lies and statistics' has been variously attributed to Benjamin Disraeli, Mark Twain, Winston...

Words and pictures.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Tim Nott Words and pictures Hints and tips to help you combine text and graphics in Microsoft Word Contrary to the hopes of many, Microsoft Word is not a desktop publishing (DTP) program. If you need precise control over...

explore the Alternatives.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Nigel Whitfield explore the Alternatives Sometimes, no matter how much we might want to, it's not possible, or affordable, to use exactly the right tool for the job. But today's computers are versatile, and there's often an...

Ricoh Aficio GX 7000.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Alan Stevens Ricoh Aficio GX 7000 A colour A3 printer using Gelsprinter technology The new Aficio GX 7000 printer from Ricoh appears to have a lot going for it. It's supposed to be quick - Ricoh claims it can produce up to...

Zyxel NSA220.(compact, metal-bodied housing)(Product/service evaluation)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Monckton Zyxel NSA220 Price [pounds sterling]179.99 Contact Zyxel 01344 303 044 www.connectplayentertain.co.uk The compact, metal-bodied housing of the Zyxel NSA220 houses a pair of slide-out caddies that push the...

Thecus N2100.(enclosure chassis )(Product/service evaluation)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Monckton Thecus N2100 Price [pounds sterling]198.58 Contact Origin Storage 0870 168 8889 www.originstorage.com The N2100 from Thecus is designed to be friendly and easy to use, yet manages to cram in plenty of...

Synology Disk Station DS207+.(web based servers)(Product/service evaluation)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Monckton Synology Disk Station DS207+ Price [pounds sterling]218.49 Contact Synology www.synology.com The Disk Station DS207+ is remarkable in two ways: the range of features and capabilities on offer is far in excess...

SMC NAS02 Tigerstore.(high-performance drive)(Product/service evaluation)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Monckton SMC NAS02 Tigerstore Price [pounds sterling]234.99 Contact SMC 0871 277 9802 www.smc.com SMC's NAS02 Tigerstore is a rugged high-performance drive offering both business and consumer features in a single...

Qnap TS-209 Pro II.(Nas enclosure)(Product/service evaluation)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Monckton Qnap TS-209 Pro II Price [pounds sterling]285 Contact Qnap http://qnap.com.tw With the best build quality of any Nas enclosure in this round-up, the TS-209 Pro II has both the feel and appearance of an...

Linksys NAS200.(servers)(Product/service evaluation)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Monckton Linksys NAS200 Price [pounds sterling]99.99 Contact Linksys 0800 068 0327 www.linksys.com Constructed entirely from plastic, the NAS200 resembles a stack of smaller components, although it is in fact a...

Lindy Dual HDD NAS.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Monckton Lindy Dual HDD NAS Price [pounds sterling]99.99 Contact Lindy 01642 754 000 www.lindy.co.uk This is the most basic product of the group. Its functionality is confined to simple network file and printer...

DIY network storage.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Monckton DIY network storage Nas enclosures let you breathe new life into your old hard disks, turning them into network storage devices. Paul Monckton looks at eight of the best If you've got a couple of spare hard...

How we tested.(file transfer speeds)(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Monckton How we tested To test file transfer speeds, we copied a 1.4GB file between each Nas appliance three times in each direction. The average time taken was then used to calculate a transfer speed in megabytes per...

Nas enclosures-Editors Choice.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Monckton With such a wide range of prices and capabilities available, there's no one product here which is a clear best choice for everyone. Those who simply want a central place to store files won't need the vast majority of...

D-Link DNS-323.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Monckton D-Link DNS-323 Price [pounds sterling]179.99 Contact D-Link 020 8955 9000 www.dlink.co.uk The DNS-323 is the most visually simple Nas enclosure in this round-up and it's light, yet impressively robust. ...

Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Alan Stevens Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring Leap into Linux with this new Mandriva distro As with previous versions of Mandriva Linux, the latest 2008 Spring implementation is available for free download in a number of formats,...

HP Procurve 2610-24.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Alan Stevens HP Procurve 2610-24 One of a family of switches that provide intelligent routing and security The Procurve Switch 2610 series is a family of high-performance Ethernet network switches offering features...

Convert to NTFS.(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Wardley Convert to NTFS If your computer's hard disk is already formatted using Fat 32 you can't reformat it to NTFS without destroying what it contains, but there is a built-in utility called convert.exe in Windows XP and...

Advanced partitioning.(Microsoft Corp.)(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Wardley Advanced partitioning You may come across references to another built-in Windows utility, diskpart. This is a powerful command-line tool that does everything the Disk Management console can do, plus a lot more...

Benefits of paid-for software.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Wardley Benefits of paid-for software The Disk Management console in Windows XP can't resize partitions: partitions have to be deleted and recreated, which destroys everything they contain. GParted, running under Linux,...

Canon Pixma iP100 with Battery.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran Canon Pixma iP100 with Battery A truly portable, high-quality photo printer with its own power supply Canon, in its Bubblejet days, used to do a decent line in portable printers. But in recent years...

Sapphire HD3850 AGP.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Simon Crisp Sapphire HD3850 AGP A very fast card for those who still use a motherboard with AGP slots You might think motherboards using an AGP slot are a thing of the past, but a huge number of people still use platforms...

Pinnacle Video Transfer.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Lester Pinnacle Video Transfer A quick and easy way to save and store video content The Video Transfer is designed to be connected to a video source, such as a set-top box, video recorder or television, and convert...

Vodafone Mobile Broadband.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Will Stapley Vodafone Mobile Broadband Price From free depending on contract Contact www.vodafone.co.uk Overall HHHHH High-speed internet access on the move is booming and you can pick up Vodafone's HSDPA/HSUPA modem for...

Toshiba Dynadock.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Will Stapley Toshiba Dynadock Price [pounds sterling]99 Contact www.toshiba.co.uk Overall HHHHH Toshiba's Dynadock docking station links to a notebook via a USB2 cable that carries all the data, including that for an...

Terratec Aureon Dual USB.(graphical cards)(Product/service evaluation)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Will Stapley Terratec Aureon Dual USB Price [pounds sterling]14.99 Contact www.terratec.co.uk Overall HHHHH Although most modern notebooks come with some form of digital audio output, many older models just have a 3.5mm...

Mogo Dapter.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Will Stapley Mogo Dapter Price [pounds sterling]11.95 Contact www.mobilefun.co.uk Overall HHHHH Many notebooks come without built-in Bluetooth connectivity. If you regularly synchronise your phone or use a Bluetooth...

Logitech VX Nano Cordless Laser Mouse.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Will Stapley Logitech VX Nano Cordless Laser Mouse Price [pounds sterling]49.99 Contact www.logitech.com Overall HHHHH This Logitech cordless laser mouse is a fairly standard affair and will suit both left- and...

Logitech Alto Connect.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Will Stapley Logitech Alto Connect Price [pounds sterling]44.99 Contact www.logitech.com Overall HHHHH The Alto Connect doubles as a notebook stand and a device to aid cooling. It comes flat packed, but all you have to...

Spice up your notebook.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Will Stapley Spice up your notebook Will Stapley discovers a host of laptop gadgets from security products to cordless mice With notebook PCs currently selling like hot cakes, it's no surprise that the market for notebook...

Intel Wireless Wifi Link 4965AGN.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Will Stapley Intel Wireless Wifi Link 4965AGN Price [pounds sterling]25 Contact www.intel.com Overall HHHHH If you've splashed out on a new Draft N wireless router, it makes sense to upgrade your notebook to take...

Hauppauge WinTV-Nova-TD.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Will Stapley Hauppauge WinTV-Nova-TD Price [pounds sterling]49.99 Contact www.hauppauge.co.uk Overall HHHHH This small USB key includes two DVB-T tuners (both use the same aerial input) to receive Freeview channels. If...

Fujitsu Handydrive 300GB.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Will Stapley Fujitsu Handydrive 300GB Price [pounds sterling]89 Contact www.fujitsu.com Overall HHHHH Notebooks often come with small hard drives and if your model is a couple of years old, it's likely yours is less than...

Brenthaven Metro Lite.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Will Stapley Brenthaven Metro Lite Price [pounds sterling]59.95 Contact www.brenthaven.co.uk Overall HHHHH Brenthaven has a wide range of stylish bags designed to protect your notebook while you travel around. The Metro...

Belkin Hub-To-Go.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Will Stapley Belkin Hub-To-Go Price [pounds sterling]35 Contact www.belkin.co.uk Overall HHHHH Belkin's USB Hub consists of two four-port hubs. One doubles as a desktop paperclip tray, with three ports and a power input...

Autosafe Cubebyte.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Will Stapley Autosafe Cubebyte Price [pounds sterling]22 Contact www.cubebyte.com Overall HHHHH Almost all notebooks come with slots for Kensington locks, allowing them to be secured to non-moveable items. However, slight...

APC Universal Notebook Battery.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Will Stapley APC Universal Notebook Battery Price [pounds sterling]104 Contact www.apc.com Overall HHHHH If your notebook battery has seen better days, the Universal Notebook Battery will power a wide range of models (a...

Amps Lapgard.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Will Stapley Amps Lapgard Price [pounds sterling]19.99 Contact www.ampsl.co.uk Overall HHHHH It's not just the weight of a notebook that can make it uncomfortable on your lap - heat is also a problem and, in extreme...

3M Privacy Filter.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Will Stapley 3M Privacy Filter Price [pounds sterling]41.99 Contact www.3m.co.uk Overall HHHHH A few years back, monitors and notebooks had very restrictive viewing angles. These days you can view most screens from just...

Acronis Snap Deploy 3.0.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Alan Stevens Acronis Snap Deploy 3.0 A disk-imaging tool enabling automatic or manual deployment of new PCs over a Lan This software enhances Acronis' disk-imaging technology to allow deployment of images to new PCs on a...

Magix Website Maker.(Website overview)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Tim Smith Magix Website Maker Flash-based online web design package with 5GB of hosting space Standards-based web design is all the rage, but there are still some who simply want to get a site up and running as quickly as...

PNY Geforce 9800GTX.(Product/service evaluation)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Simon Crisp PNY Geforce 9800GTX A card with three-way SLI, a new cooler design, and more After launching the Geforce 9800GT and then the high-end 9800GX2, Nvidia is back with the Geforce 9800GTX. Based on the G92 core, the...

Set up your iPod as a portable device.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Chris Wiles Set up your iPod as a portable device 1First decide whether you're going to connect your iPod to a PC or a Mac while on the road. If the host will be a PC, format your iPod as a Windows drive and you should still be...

Security alert.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Chris Wiles Security alert Remember that with portable applications, you're not working in a trusted environment. If you open an email infected with a Trojan, this can infect the host computer rather than your removable drive....

Choose the right hardware.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Chris Wiles Choose the right hardware Before you get started, you will need some hardware to store your portable applications and other files. The most obvious choice is a USB Flash drive, built using solid-state memory with no...

Actinic Business v9.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Alan Stevens Actinic Business v9 If ecommerce is your thing, Actinic is what you need You know it's summer when there's tennis on the TV and a new release of the popular Actinic ecommerce package hits the streets. It's...

Asus Eee PC 4G 701.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Emil Larsen Asus Eee PC 4G 701 Price [pounds sterling]249.99 Contact PC World 0844 561 0000 www.pcworld.co.uk With a tiny 7in screen, 4GB solid-state drive, an Intel Celeron processor and 512MB of Ram, the [pounds...

Asus Eee PC 900.(Product/service evaluation)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Emil Larsen Asus Eee PC 900 Price [pounds sterling]329 Contact Asus 020 7631 2020 http://uk.asus.com Although the Eee PC 701's 7in screen is perfectly adequate for many tasks, this larger version, with an 8.9in screen,...

HTC Shift X9500.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Emil Larsen HTC Shift X9500 Price [pounds sterling]899 Contact HTC www.htc.com/uk More commonly known for its Windows Mobile phones, HTC has branched out into UMPCs with its Shift X9500. When you first pick it up, the...

Mobile marvels.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Emil Larsen Mobile marvels Asus might be stealing all the headlines with its Eee PC but, as Emil Larsen finds out, there are other small PCs out there If computing was supposed to change our life, small but fully...

OQO Model e2.(Product/service evaluation)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Emil Larsen OQO Model e2 Price [pounds sterling]1,599 Contact OQO 01279 822 090 www.oqo.com The OQO Model e2 is the only truly pocketable computer here, with the lowest weight and a solid smooth black construction. ...

Samsung Q1 Ultra.(Product/service evaluation)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Emil Larsen Samsung Q1 Ultra Price [pounds sterling]899 Contact Samsung 0845 726 7864 www.samsung.co.uk Usability is a sticking point with the Q1 Ultra. We were unable to type as fast as on other UMPCs. The Qwerty...

Nas without the hassle.(Network-attached Storage)(Buyers guide)(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Will Stapley Nas without the hassle If you'd rather have someone else build your Nas for you, there are lots of options, including Windows Home Server products. Here's a selection of four alternative network storage devices...

Vye S37.(Product/service evaluation)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Emil Larsen Vye S37 Price [pounds sterling]699 Contact Vye 01372 366 580 www.vyepc.com The Vye S37 looks somewhat chubby alongside the other notebook form-factor UMPCs here. It is rather sturdy though, with a sleek design...

Tom Clancyi?1/2s Rainbow Six Vegas 2.(Product/service evaluation)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Jonathan Parkyn Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 The team returns for this not-so-sharpshooting sequel The first Rainbow Six game was released for PCs back in 1998 and soon found itself ported to all the various consoles of...

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS.(Product/service evaluation)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Tim Smith Ubuntu 8.04 LTS A Linux OS for everyone, complete with security updates for three years With its strong focus on usability, Ubuntu is well known as the most popular face of Linux. This latest version has two...

Cyberlink PowerDVD 8 Ultra.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Jonathan Parkyn Cyberlink PowerDVD 8 Ultra DVD player software for the Facebook generation Most PCs already come with some kind of built-in DVD playback feature; Vista Home Premium and Ultimate can play DVD movies directly...

Get the best possible SITX compression.(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Mike Williams Get the best possible SITX compression 1By default, SITX files work very well. Select a group of JPEG files in Explorer, say, then right-click them and choose Stuffit 11 > Create > filename.sitx. You should...

Compress mp3s with Stuffit Deluxe 12.(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Mike Williams Compress mp3s with Stuffit Deluxe 12 New features Compress MP3s by 10 per cent Optimised PDF compression Adobe Photoshop plug-in Shrink 24-bit images (PNG, TIFF) Blu-ray burning support ...

Quickly clear your PC tracks.(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Mike Williams Quickly clear your PC tracks 1Windows and your applications can record details on just about everything you do. Fortunately East-Tec Eraser 2007 knows which files and Registry keys store this data, and can erase...

Cyberlink Power2Go 5.5 LE.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Mike Williams Cyberlink Power2Go 5.5 LE Disc burning ought to be a simple task in theory. Drag and drop a file or two, maybe carry out a few file format conversions, and that's about it. But the pressure to add new features...

get Power2Go 6 for just i?1/215.(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Mike Williams get Power2Go 6 for just [pounds sterling]15 Move to Cyberlink Power2Go 6 and you'll discover new features such as a Windows Vista gadget, along with password protection and even encryption for your most valuable...

20 per cent off Photo Optimizer 2.(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Mike Williams 20 per cent off Photo Optimizer 2 The latest version of Ashampoo Photo Optimizer includes easier selection of your photo folders, as well as allowing multiple optimisations, providing a Print function and...

A pearl of a service.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Alan Stevens A pearl of a service A relative newcomer to the SAAS market, Pearl is an integrated suite of business management tools delivered through a web-based service. The core component is an online Customer Relationship...

Before you sign up to a SAAS solution.(software as a service)(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Alan Stevens Before you sign up to a SAAS solution No matter what SAAS solution you're looking at, there are a number of questions you should always ask: acents Who exactly will provide the service, how long have they been...

Sharing files i?1/2 Windows to Linux.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Alan Stevens Sharing files - Windows to Linux

Making Vista see Samba.(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Alan Stevens Making Vista see Samba Vista users may find themselves unable to connect to Samba shares on some older Linux-based PCs or on older Nas (network-attached storage) appliances because of a change in the protocol...

Making Vista map XP.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Alan Stevens Making Vista map XP A new feature in Windows Vista is the ability to build and display a visual map of the local network and devices attached to it using a protocol called Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD)....

want saas with that?(Software as a service)(Brief article)
June 12, 2008... Byline: Alan Stevens want saas with that? Software as a service (Saas) has long been marketed to small businesses as a cheaper and simpler alternative to buying, installing and managing applications locally. In this month's business...