PCMag-iPrintApp 1.0.3 from Celstream Technologies is a powerful, inexpensive printing app for the iPhone and iPod touch, but I found it to be quite buggy.
I tested the app on an original iPhone connected to a Wi-Fi network. iPrintApp is supposed to print any photo stored on your iPhone either to PostScript printers directly connected to the same Wi-Fi network or to any printer connected to a Mac on the network with Printer Sharing turned on. (PostScript is a special language used primarily by higher-end laser printers.)
The app's interface has three panes. First, in the Photos pane, you pick out photos from the phone's gallery. You can select up to 12 at a time.
Then, in the Preview pane, you arrange your photos. You can move the photos around or change their size and orientation by swiping on the screen. However, I found that control sluggish—I often had to paw at the screen before a photo grew or shrank.
Finally, you click on Print, where you can select a printer and paper type and print your sheet of photos.
Unfortunately, I had problems with almost every aspect of this app. Our office has Postscript-based Tektronix Phaser printers, but I couldn't get the app to print on those printers. I had more luck printing to Canon and Epson printers shared by nearby Macs, though it didn't work with a Brother laser printer.
Sometimes, I'd quit the app, return, and find that all my selections were doubled—it wanted to print each photo twice. Used with a Canon inkjet printer, iPrintApp would always print a blank page before its set of photos. Finally, when I asked it to print eight photos on one page, it stalled and crashed; then, when I asked it to print two photos instead, it printed the previous eight. That said, when it worked, it worked; I got decent-quality printouts of my photos through the Mac-connected inkjet printers.
Normally, I wouldn't recommend a product this buggy. But given the lack of other iPhone printing options that print easily to non-HP printers—and given iPrintApp's low $2 price—I think it's at least worth a try.
iPrintApp (iPhone OS) Review
New EMC Retrospect 8.1 backup software supports PowerMac
CNET-Owners of Time Machine-enabled Macs need not apply. But for the rest--especially small businesses that want a centralized backup solution EMC has something for you.
The company announced Tuesday the availability of its Retrospect 8.1 backup software for the Mac platform, which, unlike the previous version 8.0, now also supports the the legacy PowerPC Macs. This is good news for businesses that still have the older Mac computers.
According to EMC, on average, users of Retrospect 8.1 on Intel-based Macs can expect local backup performance to increase from 10 percent to 15 percent over version 8.0, and from 30 percent to 35 percent over version 6.1.
Performance on PowerPC systems, on the other hand, varies depending on the power and speed of the processor. If the machine run a G5 processor, for example, performance can be up to 15 percent better than version 6.1.
Other than that, version 8.1 also has a better user interface, including nicer-looking icons, improved workflow, and better responses to the user's inputs.
The new Retrospect 8.1 continues to have other features that were included in version 8.0, including:
* A customizable user interface with remote management capabilities
* The ability to perform multiple, simultaneous backup, restore, and copy operations
* Support for disk-to-disk-to-disk (D2D2D) and disk-to-disk-to-tape (D2D2T) backups
* Certified AES-256 encryption of backup data
* Support for multiple network interfaces and the ability to wake sleeping computers for backup
Other than Macs, Retrospect 8 also supports Windows Server 2003/2008 and Windows XP/Vista clients, in both physical and virtual environments, including those running within VMware Fusion and Parallels.
The new software is available now. The cheapest three-user license costs $129 and the most expensive unlimited license costs $1,669. Owners of Retrospect 8.0 can upgrade to this 8.1 version at a significantly discounted price.
Symantec's Norton 2010 Betas Go Live
Symantec has released live betas of Norton Internet Security 2010 and Norton AntiVirus 2010. The updates to Symantec's flagship antimalware products feature reputation-based security technologies as part of what the company is calling a new security model - codenamed "Quorum" - that Symantec says will 'tackle undiscovered malware and today's toughest threats head-on'.
By Matt Egan
July 07, 2009 — PC Advisor (UK) —
Symantec has released live betas of Norton Internet Security 2010 and Norton AntiVirus 2010. The updates to Symantec's flagship antimalware products feature reputation-based security technologies as part of what the company is calling a new security model - codenamed "Quorum" - that Symantec says will 'tackle undiscovered malware and today's toughest threats head-on'.
Expected to launch in the autumn of this year, the 2010 models of Symantec's Norton lineup represent a radical change of approach from the world's biggest security vendor. They will all be Windows 7 compatible.
The NIS 2010 beta is available for free from www.norton.com/nis2010beta, Norton AntiVirus 2010 beta: www.norton.com/nav2010beta. (Only those people who consider themselves sufficiently technically savvy to deal with software glitches and flaws should test beta software, particularly security software.)
Symantec says it is seeing more than 200 million online attacks each month, and that as a consequence traditional signature-based security solutions are now 'obsolete'. Due to the rapidly changing and exponential nature of the threat, it is no longer sufficient to recognise threats in the wild, and then write signatures to counter them.
"Looking at the sheer volume of infected systems in the world, one thing is resoundingly clear: basic security protection is not good enough," said Symantec senior vice presidet Rowan Trollope.
"Norton pioneered the signature-based model of security and today we're introducing a new standard that reconsiders all facets of protection.
"'Quorum' lets us stop the bad guys even if we've never seen their 'wanted' poster."
Subsequently, Quorum introduces reputation-based threat detection, and includes significant tweaks to other areas of the security arsenal.
Using millions of users who feed back information to Symantec's researchers, the Norton 2010 products will be able to make judgments on code based on a reputation score. The products also include Symantec's SONAR 2 technology, which is behavioural antimalware, as well as the traditional signature-based antivirus and antispyware products.
"Symantec is in a unique position to bring this approach to market due to our unmatched installed base and the fact that we've had teams of engineers developing and refining this technology for the past three years," said Trollope.
"No other vendor's approach to consumer protection comes close. Our new approach changes the 'rules' by both enhancing traditional security techniques to make them more aggressive and by making it dramatically more difficult for attackers to evade detection by simply changing their malware."
All contents ©IDG 2007
Abbyy lingvo x3
Basic definitions, single-word translations and a bit of tutoring in one package 
Lingvo started as a Russian endeavour, tranating European languages for Russian speakers. The x3 (13th) version is more suitable for European users, especially the multilingual package (Italian, Spanish, English, French and German) reviewed here.
At its core, Lingvo r.3 contains a dedicated dictionary for each language (the English dictionary has 355.000 word definitions and their inflectec forms) and then separate dictionaries to translate between languages. it integrates into Explorer so word definitions can be set to pop up when the cursor sits atop a word or you can highlight a word in any program and then tap Ctrl and C twice to find its definition.
Translation between Italian, Spanish and French is missing, but Lingvo x3 can translate to these languages from English or German. Translation is always limited to single words, while competing software is happy to translate entire sentences. which may be more useful if you're trying to get an overview of some foreign text.
The Lingvo Tutor module included with x3 translates a range of words. useful for tourists, from Russian into its five European languages or from the five European languages into Russian or German. If you intend to try a bit of French, Italian or Spanish, then this module isn't for you.
Lingvo Tutor isn't a foundation to learn a language on, because it only makes you translate a single word at a time. sc grammar and sentence construction are neglected Eu rotalk Interactive (www.pcw.co.uk/2169646) offers more suitable language software packages .
Advanced linguists already confident with the languages Lingvo x3 supports will find it a useful tool to double-check the odd word or a bit of grammar. but other packages are better for language learning and Collin's 122.99 Dictionary Pro (www.collinslanguage.com) is better as a dedicated English dictionary. Emil Larsen
Personal Computer World April 2009
Filemaker Pro 10
A streamlined interface makes this Mac and PC database easier to use
There's no Mac version of /Microsoft's Access database, so Filemaker Pro has always had the Mac database market pretty much to itself. Its only real competition is Filemakers own low-cost Bento (www.pcw.co.uk/2233154) - a cut-down version of Filemaker. However, Filemaker Pro is also one of the few database prograrns that runs on both Macs and PCs, so it's used by quite a few large businesses and educational establishments that need to share their database information across both platforms.
This latest version of Filemaker Pro takes a few tips from Bento. with a redesigned interface and new features designed to improve the program's ease of use. Some of the new features are fairly mocest - such as the ability to import spreadsheet data in Excel's .xlsx format, in addition to the older .xls format. There's also a number of new 'starter solutions' - database templates that arc included to help you get started with common tasks. These cover a wide range of tasks, from organising your music collection at home to tracking business expenses.
The key changes in this upgrade revolve around the program's interface. A number of options that were previously scattered around various toolbars and menus have now been gathered into the Status Toolbar across the top of the screen. You can also customise this toolbar so that it includes just the features you use the most. Just right-click on the toolbar and you open a dialogue box that includes icons representing commands such as 'Save As PDF' You can then drag an :con and place it wherever you want on the toolbar.
The Status Toolbar is also context-sensitive, and displays different commands in different modes - graphics tools when you're in Layout mode or search tools in Browse mode - and you can customise the toolbar with different commands in each mode. This makes it easy to fine-tune the toolbar so that Filemaker's key features and commands are always right there on screen when you need them.
Other productivity-enhancing features include the ability to save search results and keep these neatly arranged in a pulldown menu in the Status Toolbar so that you can go back and retrieve the results of any search. Whenever you perform a search the program displays a small pie-chart in the Status Toolbar that shows what percentage of records in the database satisfy the search criteria. and allows you to view the 'omitted' records that didn't meet the search criteria.
For more advanced database design Filemaker Pro row includes a series of 'script triggers' Scripts in Filemaker are similar to macros in a spreadsheet - a series of linked commands that you Can save and use to perform routine tasks automatically - and script triggers can be used to activate a script whenever the person using the database performs a specific action, such as entering data into a field or selecting an item from a pulldown menu. This makes it easier for the database designer to control how users interact with the database - perhaps giving thorn a warning if they enter data in an incorrect format, or over correcting the data automatically to save time. There's also an Advanced version of Filemaker Pro 10 that costs f329. and which includes additional features such as a Script Debugger that provides more precise control over scripting. 
The number of new features in Filemaker Pro 10 may seem relatively small. but the more streamlined interface makes the program easier to use, making this an upgrade that can be recommended to any of Filernaker's existing users. Cliff Joseph
Personal Computer World April 2009
Norton Internet Security 4 for Mac
A comprehensive protection package for Mac users 
Mac users have not needed to worry too much about security in recent years, but a few recent security alerts have convinced more of them to invest in some security software.
Internet Security for Mac is pretty comprehensive; as well as anti-virus it includes Norton Firewall and Norton Confidential to offer protection against phishing and other breaches of confidential data.
Installation required a reboot and. in our case. an additional 60MB of data in updates - the original install is around 90MB - though the initial setup did seem a bit sluggish.
A menu at the top of the screen gave easy access to the component parts. The first anti-virus scan took a while, but subsequent ones were much quicker. Norton Confidential can block phishing sites: in our tests. it worked some of the time, but failed to block some sites that the latest version of Safari flagged as phishing. You can also bar certain types of information - such as addresses and credit card info - from being sent over the internet. unless a password is supplied. A further feature prevents certain documents from being opened - handy on a shared Mac.
The Firewall is 'Locaton aware' and will automatically alter its settings when a Mac is plugged into a different network; it seems to work well, and displays alerts when connections to or from your Mac are attempted - the built-in firewall is one way only. 
The suite has an attractive interface, though you have to launch components separately to configure them. It's a reasonable price for a year's protection, and the confidential data protection and automatic location switching are useful -- although the latter really just automates things you could do yourself. But for simple protection, it's definitely worth a look. Nigel Whitfield
Personal Computer World April 2009
FileMaker Pro 10
Latest version of venerable database software is powerful, easy to use
IF YOU'RE NEW to FileMaker Pro or databases in general—and don't know a record from a field or a schema—you'll have little to fear from FileMaker Pro 10. Though more suited to intensive tasks than its simplified (and Mac-only) consumer cousin Bento, FileMaker is now easier and more powerful than ever.
FileMaker Pro 10 comes in four different versions; the one we reviewed, which costs $299, can be bought from most software resellers. The app provides 30 "starter solutions," preconfigured database templates such as Contact Management, Expense Report, Home Budget, Photo Catalog, and Time Cards, and you can also start databases from scratch by importing Excel, CSV, SYLK, or tab-delimited files (or Bento files, if you're a Mac user).
Longtime FileMaker users will notice that the familiar keyboard commands and pull-down menus remain intact, but the interface has had a major overhaul. For starters, the long-standing left-hand navigation bar is now at the top of the application window. (Its functionality remains unchanged.) Most notably, the status toolbar, which runs common functions such as Open, Close, Find, and Re-find, no longer requires extensive programming— it's now customizable via drag-and-drop, something that many top commercial and open-source software packages have offered for quite some time.
Another of FileMaker Pro 10's useful features is its ability to connect directly to an SMTP server to send e-mail blasts. (In the previous version of FileMaker, you had to connect the database to Outlook.) We tested the SMTP feature with a few services: It worked well under Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 and with a few ISPs, but not with Google Apps. This is a powerful feature that should be used with care, since there's nothing preventing you from uninten- tionally sending a useless (or embar- rassing) e-mail to many, many recipients. 
This new version of FileMaker Pro can also connect to an external SQL database, and it supports Software Management Services and IPv6. These features are critical to those who use FileMaker in large, corporate settings, and they should extend the reach of users who want to develop their own databases.
In our tests, we were able to quickly find and replace, create, delete, and edit records in our 500,000-record database. The wait times were very short: A simple search that took FileMaker Pro 9 about 6 seconds to complete took less than 3 seconds. For better search time and overall efficiency, we recommend running FileMaker Pro 10 on a computer with at least 1GB (or even 2GB) of RAM rather than the recommended 512MB.
One aspect of FileMaker that can be improved, however, is customer support. Although you're allowed an unlimited number of free calls to deal with installation problems, free technical support is limited to forums, knowledge-base articles on www.filemaker.com, and an extensive online community of FileMaker users, developers, and hobbyists. FileMaker Priority Technical Support is avail- able by phone on a per-call basis for $45; the company offers a five-call package for $180 and a yearly contract of unlim- ited calls starting at $899. Managing the ever-growing amount of business and personal information is an important step toward being able to quickly access it. 
With its intuitive interface, FileMaker Pro 10 makes data management and access much easier, giving you a professional-level database without requiring you to enroll in geek school. -James Marino
Computer Shopper March 2009
System Suite 9 Professional
Solid hard drive utilities paired with limited security 
AVANQUEST'S System Suite 9 Professional is improved from last year's version, with more configurability, but it still lacks the easy access to system information that many users will want.
System Suite 9 Professional's disk utilities can help your computer recover from crashes, defragment both your hard drive and Registry, shred files, analyze and fix disk problems, and perform Web-content cleanup. While the apps lack depth, they're good for an all-around package.
The major improvement in this release is Sunbelt's Virus Intrusion Prevention and Recognition Engine (VIPRE), which is better at catching malware and easier to configure than last year's version. The NetDefense firewall also now lets you define specific ports and addresses that a program accessing the Web from your computer should employ.
One problem was the lack of useful information provided by its antivirus component, which seldom stated what threat had been found and never linked to a site giving more detail on that threat's means and likely frequency rate of infection. Otherwise, System Suite 9 nicely covers the security basics, though as with the hard drive tools you can find considerably more features in other products. 
We ran into some trouble finding LinkScanner (which finds and prevents access to dangerous Web links), which has no button on the main screen, and we found that it blocked major Web sites with little cause when used with Firefox 3. Some overall sloppiness in the software, in terms of design and typos, also mars the experience. At least there's a high-quality manual and a good online help system, though the lack of context-sensitive help can make it hard to get all the answers you need. —Barry Brenesal
Computer Shopper March 2009
BitDefender Total Security 2009
One of the best security packages you can buy 
SINCE WE REVIEWED last year's version of its software, BitDefender has improved Total Security in ways both obvious and subtle. The 2009 edition is among the leading personal security packages on the market and one of the best we've tested.
Although the program's main Security Center screen provides little useful information about your system's protection state, we continue to be impressed with the depth and breadth of BitDefender's security measures. For example, the firewall builds a whitelist containing your currently installed applications, saving you from having to approve each application's network communications the next time you launch it. (In case you think that's dangerous, it's configurable.)
Similar automated scanning is deployed on all plug-in devices in real time. Antivirus remains excellent, and the antispam module continues to use Bayesian filters in addition to whitelists and blacklists. Used in conjunction with an e-mail reader that contains heuristics filters— such as PocoMail—you can be virtually spam-free in a relatively short time.
New to Total Security 2009 are file vaults, password- protected files residing on physical drives that are virtually unbreakable. Although the RAM footprint is lighter and virus scans are quicker than before, real-time scans of files being moved or loaded into memory can put a drag on your system with the 2009 edition. 
We found this was true even when operating under the new Game Mode, which supposedly resets real-time protection to Permissive and the firewall to Allow All, along with disabling all pop-ups. BitDefender's hard drive utilities are also uneven, and there's no context-sensitive help, even though the overall help options—which include a toll- free support line—are thorough. —B.B.
Computer Shopper March 2009
PICASA 3 (BETA)
Picasa 3 Makes a Great Impression
After your great vacation, your digital camera is no doubt chock-full of images (and maybe a few videos). So how do you view them, touch them up a bit, and share them IN ith friends and family? For Windows users, Picasa has been the best way to do this for a while. Google's online offering is a slickly integrated image organizer, editor, and enhancer, with cutting-edge online galleries. And what's more, it's a free service that competes favorably with pay services.
On the Mac, iPhoto is nearly as good at consumer photo editing. If you want the online galleries, however, you'll have to pay a hundred bucks a year for Apple's Mob ileMe service, and you still won't get the rich mix of features you'll find in Picasa Web albums, such as geotagging and viewer commenting. With this release, Picasa adds the abilities to sync local edits with online gallery images, to edit digital movies, and to retouch photos for blemishes.
It also turbocharges red-eye fixing, collage creation, and slideshow presentations. After installation, Picasa gives you a choice of scanning either your hard disk or just My Documents, My Pictures, and the desktop for image files. You don't have to worry about the scan picking up all those temporary Internet image files, by the way—it's smart enough to ignore them. The scan is fast, and a small gray bar on the right-hand side of your screen shows its progress.
Picasa 3 doesn't have a drastically updated interface, but rather adds a lot of new functions within the existing interface, such as automatically scanning for new images; viewing images as a slideshow, collage, or movie; Movie, Geo-Tag, and Upload buttons; and the cool new Silhouette button (which finds any picture in an album that contains a face).
In short, for everyday shutterbugs who want to get those pictures off their point-and-shooters, organize them into albums, fix them up a bit, and—most important—share them with their loved ones, Picasa is the way to go. MM
PC Magazine February 2009
SKYPE 4.0 BETA 2
Cheap Voice, Video Chat Gets Better
In response to feedback from 50,000 testers of Skype 4.0 beta 1, the company has made interface changes and fixed some bugs in this Beta 2 version. When Beta 1 launched, many users objected to its much larger main window. This time around, Skype developers have attempted to address that with a compact option; they have also changed the way contacts are grouped and made notifications stand out more.
The newest beta features the same streamlined installation as previous versions, and the process doesn't require as much personal information as SightSpeed's install does, but the download is bigger-23.6MB versus 8MB. The large main window is still the default in Beta 2, but now you can choose Compact Mode, which splits the program's main window into two smaller windows.
The new version also cuts down on scattered windows by including instant messaging at the bottom of the call window. The less-crowded new interface also makes controls such as volume and video settings more visible. Placing calls is very similar to that of the previous versions. When I talked with a person in Bangladesh, the audio quality was quite clear, though with occasional gaps. Conversations over Skype-Out—which you need to reach people who don't use Skype—sounded clear, though not quite as clear as a calls over a landline.
To receive calls from non-Skype users, you'll need a Skypeln account ($20.25 for 3months or $67.50 for a year). Video calling is also slightly better. Although this Beta version contains some glitches and missing features, it is nonetheless stable and usable overall.—Michael Muchmore
PC Magazine February 2009
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS4
Photoshop CS4 Astounds
The tent pole of Adobe's massive Creative Suite 4 is Photoshop, the legendary image-editing application known for its power and scope. Adobe could probably get away with resting on the heaps of laurels the app has earned over the years, but as Photoshop CS4 shows, that's not what it's doing. In both the Standard and Extended versions, everyone will enjoy the new modern, animated interface.
But in addition, some major improvements targeted at photographers, designers, and animators make this a highly compelling upgrade, although these features augur an even more challenging learning experience. But that's why there's Photoshop Elements, right?
Navigating your way around images has gotten infinitely cooler. Clicking and holding the Zoom tool (or clicking on an image while holding the Z key) causes an animated, almost cinematic zoom-in. I also like the new tabbed document inter face, which lets you easily switch between multiple open documents. Other new features include an Adjustments palette, a Vibiance adjustment layer (which successfully manipulates saturation without disturbing skin tones), a new Masks palette, a revamped Brightness/Contrast tool, and an enhanced Auto-Blend Layers (which extends the depth of field so that all areas of the subject are in focus).
Among these significant improvements, unquestionably the most jaw dropping is content-aware scaling, a feature that lets you change the proportions of an image—for example, morph an 8-by-12 photo to 8-by-10—without squashing or stretching the important image elements. The program makes a good guess at what those important elements are, but you can also add manual guidance to the feature if necessary.
Photoshop CS4 is definitely a must-have upgrade for any graphics professional. The revamped interface brings this venerable program into the 21st century, but there are plenty of guts lurking behind the glamour. The application may be a vast, sometimes unruly beast, but its powers grow more awesome every year.—Galen Fott
PC Magazine February 2009
Serif Digital Photo Suite 2009
A basic, but affordable, photo-retouching program
Serif's new Digital Photo Suite 2009 doesn't have the powerful editing tools of more expensive rivals such as Photoshop Elements, but it provides a good basic set of photo-editing tools at a very affordable price.
The suite consists of two programs, Album Plus and Panorama Plus, although it's the first of these two that provides the main organising and editing features When you launch Album Plus for the first time, it asks if you want to import a set of photos from a specific folder, or simply let the program search your entire hard disk.
Like most photo organisers, Album Plus allows you to browse and search for pictures using settings such as date, rating, or keywords, and you can switch from thumbnail previews of large groups to zoomed-in views of individual images simply by double-clicking on any picture. There's nothing particularly innovative here, but the program's photo-management features are straightforward and simple to use.
In addition, Album Plus includes three 'studios' that can be activated simply by clicking on the Fix And Enhance button at the top of the screen. The Quick Fix Studio allows you to perform simple editing tasks such as adjusting brightness and contrast, colour saturation, cropping an image, or removing red-eye Each tool is represented by a large icon in the toolbar that runs across the top of the screen, and when you click on any tool a second panel on the left-hand edge of the screen displays tips that explain how it works.
There's also a useful split-screen option that displays 'before' and 'after' versions of your photo so that you can see how your changes will work. And, as well as the standard 'Undo' command, there's a 'revert' option. The Makeover Studio works in a similar fashion, but provides tools designed specifically for working with portrait photographs. There are options for whitening teeth, removing dark circles from under eyes, smoothing out wrinkles, and even a 'fake tan' option.
Instant Artist Studio allows you to create effects such as a pencil sketch, oil paints and watercolours and impressionist or expressionist paintings. These filters produce mixed results though — sometimes they can be quite effective, while you can just as easily end up with a big blotchy mess of colour.
The three studios are all easy to use, so even complete beginners will be able to tidy up their photos quickly. Our only real complaint is that the program can be a little sluggish when working with very large, high-resolution images (we tested it on a 1.8GHz Pentium 4 laptop).
When you've finished editing, the final option is the Create And Share button This allows you to upload
photos to Facebook or Flickr, or save them as a Flash video file that can be uploaded to sites such as Youtube. You can print a variety of documents such as calendars and greetings cards, or the Panorama Plus program can be used to 'stitch' together a series of overlapping landscape photos.
Admittedly, Digital Photo Suite doesn't provide the precise editing tools or the wide range of special effects filters that you can find in programs such as Photoshop Elements or Corel's Paint Shop Pro. This means you're essentially limited to fixing flaws in your photos. Rather than being able to creatively modify or combine photos to create new images. However, it is a good tool for newcomers who don't want to spend a lot of money on more advanced editing program. Cliff Joseph.
Contact www.serif.com
System requirements 500MHz processor, with Windows XP or Vista • 512Mb Ram • 650MB hard disk • Internet access for file-sharing options
Personal Computer World February 2009
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Far Cry 2
Battle through 50 square kilometres of African war
Brand power is the only reason Far Cry 2 is called what it is, since it has a different development team, a different environment, a completely different set of characters and a different storyline to the original game.
Far Cry 2 does, however, build on the original Far Cry's lush graphics and large free-roam environment, for which the original game received high praise. Graphics aren't as crisp or detailed as those found in Crysis, but the sheer size of the open world makes this the biggest first-person shooter environment we've ever encountered.
You play a mercenary who is sent into an unnamed war-torn African country, tasked with killing an arms dealer known as The Jackal But things quickly go pear-shaped when you get malaria and your target disappears. With the mission on hold, your focus is to get anti-malarial pills and collect diamonds - the currency in African wars – to buy new weapons.
After a brief introduction, you can roam free and complete any mission you please. Soldiers on both sides of the conflict take shots at you wherever you go. so building relationships with other mercenaries is very important. Encounters with the mercenaries, enemy soldiers and a journalist arc all sprinkled in with some excellent voice acting.
The biggest innovation in Far Cry 2, however, is the long flammable grass present across the entire environment. Throwing Molotov cocktails near enemy bases means you can fry adversaries without even pulling a trigger.
Realism is one of Far Cry 2's main goals and the sheer size of the open world certainly cements it, since
going from one point to the next regularly takes 20 minutes by car (with a few gun battles along the way, of course). Guns jam as they age, so you need to buy new ones, and cars regularly need fixing.
Instead of health packs that magically make you better, you have to perform gruesome battlefield surgery on yourself. Alternatively, you can inject yourself with some mystery healing fluid, although that barely seems more realistic than the old system.
There are serious flaws in Far Cry 2's realism in other areas too. Although the world is massive, the scenery is simply repeated all over. This includes the same shop owner copied and pasted into every gun shop across the country. It's also not clear how you've managed to come by a useful map showing where every enemy outpost is. Combative outposts are packed too closely together and there's an eerie lack of civilians – apparently they've all fled, but you'd expect a handful of poor sods to be left behind.
If you manage to complete the single-player mode (there's over 50 hours game play). then there's also a
relatively poor multiplayer option. Our biggest complaint with Far Cry 2, however, is that it crashed to desktop every 30 minutes to an hour on one test system, but not on anothcr. A 64-bit copy of Vista appeared to be one potential problem, but the internet is rife with users experiencing similar problems in other versions of Windows. 
Far Cry 2 is an ambitious game where the developers have overstretched themselves. With a bigger budget and an emphasis on quality rather than quantity, Far Cry 2 would have been an excellent game, instead of an average one. Emil Larsen.
Contact Ubisoft Far Cry 2
System requirements Pentium 4 3.2GHz or Pentium D 2.66GHz or AMD Athlon 64 3500+ or better • 1GB Ram • Nvidia Geforce 6800 or ATI Radeon 1650 with 256MB Ram • 12GB hard drive space
Personal Computer World February 2009
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Tune Up Utilities 2009
A collection of tools to clean and optimise your PC
Thanks to the relatively high performance on offer from even basic PCs in the modern market, tuning and optimising a machine isn't nearly as essential as it used to be. But for those who do like to keep a clean house, Tune Up Utilities has been one of the most effective all-in-one solutions in the past and has recently been updated for 2009.
In truth there's very little on offer here in terms of new features, with most changes focusing on a tweaked interface and tools that are already a fundamental part of the package.
For a quick clean-up solution the software installs a one-click maintenance application that can be used
periodically to fix the Registry, free up disk space, remove invalid shortcuts and defragment the hard disk.
The bulk of control is found through the main interface however, with the wide range of tools available split into performance, clean-up, problem-solving and Windows tune-up While quite a few of these are
supplied with Windows if you know where to look, there arc some distinctly useful components here such as the Registry cleaner/defragmenter, undelete functions to recover lost files and a shredder to permanently delete data.
Many of the other tools, such as the uninstall and startup manager, process manager and system defragmenter arc simply revised versions of the took supplied with Windows, though each of them does
offer a greater degree of control. For those with older machines the speed optimiser and performance adviser, which can tell you which software can be disabled if it is rarely used, will be beneficial and even though there's nothing particularly radical here, we liked the fact that the components are well integrated, easily accessible and could make a real difference to how your operating system runs. Paul Lester.
Contact Tune Up
www.tuneup-software.co.uk
System requirements Windows Vista (all versions) • Windows XP SP2,300MHz CPU • 800x600 display • 256M8 memory • 80MB free hard drive space
Personal Computer World February 2009
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Managing Money in Troubled Times
These four accounting packages can help you keep a closer eye on your bottom line. By Gary Berline and Kathy Yakal
Anyone running a small business knows that new money is hard to come by these days. Chances are, your revenue stream is not going to see much growth, so you'll have to make do with what you've got for a while. That means keeping a very close eye on your accounts and cash flow. Whether your staff consists of just you or an entire crew, you can't afford to keep doing your bookkeeping on Post-it notes.
Powerful, inexpensive, and easy-to-use accounting packages abound, and we've reviewed four of the best to help you pick the right one.
Microsoft Office Accounting Professional 2008 
When Microsoft first stepped into the small-business accounting ring a few years ago, it took a beating at the hands of nimbler competitors. But since then it has developed a product with a fluid Microsoft Outlook style and integration with eBay, PayPal, Equifax, and Outlook with Business Contact Manager. 
The 2008 version doesn't have as many updates as Peachtree's and QuickBooks' new offerings, but you do get pluses like scheduled documents, the ability to convert sales orders into purchase orders, and additional reports, making Microsoft a respectable contender in this category.
This suite's setup is quick and easy, though you should take the time to fill in the Set Company Preferences area, where you establish defaults, such as interest rates, system accounts, and using jobs for multistep projects, which will be useful later. Although setup isn't painful, QuickBooks and Peachtree both offer an approach to setup that's more thorough and automated.
The overall interface is easy to use, including a dashboard with reminders, cash-flow graph, accounts payable, and overdue-customer tools. This suite's strongest suit is its sturdy integration with Word, Excel, Outlook, and eBay/PayPal. Ultimately, Office Accounting is not as good across the board as QuickBooks, but it's none- theless a solid, creative small-business accounting program that's worth considering.
MYOB Premier Accounting 2008
MYOB may not be the name that comes to mind when you think of small-business accounting software, but it was one of the first for Windows. MYOB offers a very capable set of tools, and the application's Mac-based beginnings give it one of the cleanest, most easily navigable interfaces. The current version doesn't add an enormous amount, but the core capabilities are strong.
Unfortunately, MYOB hasn't kept up with the online capabilities of its rivals. The setup of MYOB is about as straightforward as those of the others here. The Command Center navigation is simple and clean, and only Microsoft's Office Accounting offers an interface with a lower barrier to entry. The lack of comprehensive online banking, however, is a huge drawback. You can send payments directly into vendors' accounts electronically, but you can't have the program mail out checks. 
MYOB is flexible but somewhat out-of-date. It's a good product, and existing users should be happy continuing with it. Still, QuickBooks Pro will serve you better overall at roughly the same price.
Peachtree by Sage Complete Accounting 2009
Peachtree's accounting roots in the small-business market reach back to the early nineties, and the company's experience shows in the 2009 version. The software competes well against the others here, though it can't beat QuickBooks at simplicity and usability. New features include real-time error reporting, multiyear reporting within general ledger reports and financial statements, and improvements to time and expense tracking.
Peachtree Complete has always had a good setup procedure, and this latest edition is no exception. The app has you select a matching business type from a list of dozens, then it builds a set of accounts that will work best with your choice. The Company Center contains an eclectic mix of tools that give you access to key reports and financial statements, links to data maintenance tools, and a list of miscellaneous company information. I like this dual approach; it's similar to the tack QuickBooks takes with its company snapshot and Company home page. You also get good online banking features. Hi ther, Peachtree's payroll solutions are impressive, trailing QuickBooks only in the sheer number of options. 
Aside from one gripe with Peachtree—its excessive use of new windows—it is a good package that will continue to serve its existing users well.
OuickBooks Accounting Pro Edition 2009
Quick Books has been a crowd-pleaser since it was introduced in the early nineties, and it will continue to he so with the 2009 edition. QuickBooks has made more enhancements and added more features than rivals Microsoft Accounting Professional, MYOB, and Peachtree.
Simply put, it's just a better overall package. Improvements include the ability to run reports even while others are working in QuickBooks, and a new Company Snapshot feature that gives you an overview of key financial data. This version also supports over 100 foreign currencies. And to promote your business, you can even build a professional-looking Web site. Intuit will host three-page sites free for 12 months, and $4.99 monthly after that.
The setup process for QuickBooks is somewhat involved, but that's so it can tailor itself to your needs. During the interview, the setup routine makes many program configuration settings for you, but not all of them. For payroll, you can opt for one of the two DIY solutions or the QuickBooks Assisted Payroll—all involve an extra fee.
QuickBooks is a perennial favorite, and we don't hesitate to recommend it for the lion's share of small businesses. It's flexible, friendly, and the best this year, earning our Editors' Choice for small-business accounting.
Norton Antivirus 2009
The latest version of Symantec's award-winning virus and spyware scanner
If you're happy using the Windows firewall or have another dedicated solution you're sticking to, anti-virus and anti-malware software is a must to shore up system security. Symantec has been at the forefront of this technology for some time and Norton Antivirus 2009 (NAV2009) adds a range of new features to address criticisms of both its own software and rivals in the same market.
First up is Norton Insight, an intelligence-driven technology that aims to save time by targeting high-risk files, which not only speeds up scans but means they aren't required as often. Automatic updates have been improved with the new rapid pulse system to ensure that your definitions are never more than 15 minutes old. The software has also been generally tweaked to give a better defence against web-based attacks and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of deep-clean scans.
All these updates (and there are more, which we'll highlight below) are welcome additions to an already impressive package whose interface now shows real-time CPU usage to underline the improved efficiency of the software. The main interface displays a reassuring green tick if all is well and allows you to switch each of the components on or off, run a scan or view recent activity and quarantined files. Custom scans can be created using a wizard-based approach and can now be configured to run when the computer is idle, and a silent mode prevents the software interrupting movies or games.
The comprehensive range of security on offer includes advanced heuristic protection, rootkit and stealthed item scanning and sonar protection which detects threats based on application behaviour without the need for a specific definition from an update.
Along with email, instant messaging, browser and intrusion protection it's a very reassuring collection of tools to guard against the latest threats. For those running a network in the home, the software will also monitor your wireless connection and provide remote monitoring for other computers on the network.
Scan results offer plenty of information on exactly what's been detected and why. and the security history dialogue offers further details for those who want to know more. Along with impressive usability and a nicely streamlined interface, Symantec offers both phone and online support if you get stuck or encounter a technical issue.
In terms of performance we did notice an improvement in both scan times and the load the software puts on your CPU when it's running. Though there were still some occasions when applications started to chug during a scan, the progress should make the software more appealing to those with older machines. The anti-virus tools are predictably top-of-the-line and have been certified by independent bodies VB100, W.C.L 1 and 2, and ICSA.
The rapid pulse feature also seemed to work well — rarely straying over 10 minutes and never past the quoted 15 minutes during our tests.
Overall, it's difficult to criticise any particular area of the software. While there are a few minor holes, such as the lack of parental control, it covers all the main requirements. However, it's the price that may put off those who prioritise value for money. While it is one of the best solutions of this type, NAV2009 costs around the same as some of the cheaper all-in-one suites out there. Paul Lester.
Contact Symantec
System requirements Vista Home Basic/Home Premium/Business/Ultimate • XP with Service Pack 2 Home/XP Pro/XP Media Center Edition • 300MHz or faster processor • 256MB of Ram • 150MB of available hard disk space
Personal Computer World February 2009
This article is published on Software Review, More Techs, and More of ITs.
Magix Musicmaker 15
Create your own songs with this easy-to-use music program
The success of Apple's Garageband on the Mac has proved there's a demand for easy-to-use music software that will allow budding young musicians to create their own songs on their home computer. Musicmaker from Magix attempts to provide a similar set of music tools for the PC, and this latest version includes features aimed at beginners.
The program's welcome screen allows you to start a new project from scratch, but you can also ask it to
play a tutorial video or load one of several demo songs, to give you an idea how the program works. When you enter the main program interface, you see a series of tracks running across the top half of the
screen. This is where you arrange the pre-programmed loops' and other sounds that will make up your song arrangement. The lower half of the screen is occupied by the Media Pool, which contains the program's built-in collection of loops and sounds.
The program now allows you to switch into 'Easy' mode by pressing a button at the top of the screen. This hides some of the more advanced tools that might confuse new users and displays a large 'Infobox' in the bottom-right corner of the screen When you place the mouse over any tool or button, the Infobox provides a quick explanation of how that tool works.
To make things really easy, there's a 'Songmaker' option that can automatically create a song for you When you click the Songmaker button in the toolbar it asks you to select a musical style, as well as a selection of instruments to include in the song — you can even ask it to add one of its prerecorded vocal tracks too. 
The manual has a tendency to throw around jargon such as 'Midi' without explaining it clearly, so there's some room for improvement However, features such as the Songmaker and Infobox provide a nice, simple introduction to the music-making process. Cliff Joseph.
Contact Magix
System requirements Windows 2000, XP or Vista • 1GHz processor • DVD-Rom drive • 3GB hard disk space
Personal Computer World February 2009
This article is published on More Techs, Fun of IT, and Software Review.
NERO 9
Good (but Not Perfect) Media Creation
Every fall since 1995. Nero and archrival Roxio have come out with new versions of their media creation suites. Since these suites made their debuts, many of their functions have been incorporated into operating systems or are available as freeware. Nero 9 is the better of the two titans this year, but the question still remains: Is either of these monstersuites still worth its price?
One capability in Nero 9 that you can't get in Windows or Mac OS X is B1u-ray authoring and burning, although I did encounter some problems during testing. You can also burn ISO disc images, and you get data recovery along with the Nero Live TV-watching software. Nero has also added some subtle changes to its interface with this version. including the ability to play. rip, burn, copy, and back up content right from the main window. without launching another of the suite's applications. Vision, the suite's video-editing component, has a simpler, more workflow-oriented interface, which aggregates the whole process of adding videos, transitions, effects, and text overlays with the process of authoring and burning a disc. For DVD burning, there are several ways to go about this, and Nero's burn time for our test image was 18 minutes, far better than Roxio's 35. Nero has also added Gracenote support for finding song and artist information tin music files, along with a Music Grabber
feature to capture soundtracks from videos and add diem to your MP3 library. Some downsides to Nero are that it crashed a couple of times during testing and that the setup is cumbersome and time-consuming.
The Nero suite also includes PhotoSnap and PhotoSnap Viewer, the latter of which duplicates existing viewers in Windows and Mac. Its Edit button takes you to the full Nero PhotoSnap, which lets you do things like crop images and fix red-eye and lens distortion. A couple of nice extras are the hot pixel fixer and the JPEG Artifact Remover. And the RescueAgent file recovery tool can back up either to local storage or to Nero's online service (for an extra fee). So while Nero wins over Roxio this year. I did not award either an Editors' Choice, because neither is as polished as it should be for the money-Neil Rubenking
PC Magazine January 2009
NETWORK MAGIC PRO 5.0
No-Sweat Home Network Management
Home and small-office networks have spread like wildfire. But users attempting to configure, secure, and maintain those networks may too often feel as if they're battling a blaze in the Santa Ana wind. That's where Network Magic comes in. Though it doesn't yet succeed in its toughest challenge, making security effortless, it's still a valuable tool for the home or business user who isn't a tech expert but needs to manage a network of up to eight computers—along with attached devices like printers and NAS appliances.
If you are already a Network Magic user, the first thing you'll notice in this version is the improved control dashboard. The graphical interface displays a map of your network with pictorial representations of all the connected devices. Which the utility finds automatically. You can point and click to connect devices, control Internet access, and track online activity Sharing connections, files, and devices such as printers is is just as easy.
Every time you make a change—or more important, someone else does—a pop-up notifies you of the change, so you know what's happening at all times. Network Magic even finds and reports wireless devices that aren't broadcasting an SSID, so you'll know if someone is trying to connect clandestinely. Then you can isolate any unknown machines and mark them as intruders. Having this level of visibility is as usefttl as installing security software.
Unfortunately the product's most serious failing is in its most important new capability: the Change Wireless Protection (CWP) feature. through which Network Magic can enable WEP or WPA encryption on supported routers. In testing. CWP failed to work properly with my supposedly supported business muter, the Linksys WRVS4400N. As a result of the bug my testing uncovered, Cisco has, for the moment, taken business routers off the list of devices supported by CWP. Cisco's consumer routers, however, will still be supported. Although this is bad news for businesses, home users (especially networking novices) can still benefit greatly from Net work Magic.—Mario Morejon
PC Magazine January 2009
OPENOFFICE.ORG 3.0
A Serious Rival to Microsoft Office
OpenOffice.org 3.0, is a free, open-source replacement for Microsoft Office. It is also the first and only
application suite that can be seriously considered a substitute for the massive power and flexibility of Microsoft's suite. OpenOffice.org used to look clunky and work slowly, but V3.0 is sleek and fast, retaining the essential look and feel of Office 2003 instead of imitating the new ribbon interface of Office 2007. That's a plus for many users who want as much continuity as possible when switching to a new application. OpenOffice.org doesn't include all of Office's features, but it does add some conveniences that Office can't provide, such as built-in PDF export and a single interface for opening and editing word-processing documents. HTML files, worksheets, presentations, and drawings. For government offices and corporations that don't want to depend on Microsoft (and don't want to continue paying Microsoft's prices ). OpenOffice.org 3.0 deserves an attentive look.
The suite has six basic components: Writer, a word processor and HTML editor; Cale, a spreadsheet; Draw, a graphics editor; Impress, a presentations program; Math, an equation editor; and Base, a database application. I was impressed with the way the interface hews closely to the familiar Microsoft Office 2003 standard and even improves on the placement of some menu items. However, I was less fond of the word processor's limited view options. In OpenOffice.org's spreadsheet, I missed the graphic flexibility of Excel's conditional formatting, but I managed well enough with the low-frills, 20th-century conditional formatting features.
Overall. I found performance impressively fast, on a par with that of Microsoft Office but with some limitations. File loading and saving, in all parts of the application, was almost instantaneous. OpenOfilce is also the only major application suite that runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux with almost exactly the same feature set on all platforms. Furthermore, it works astonishingly well with your existing Office does. Although it stillhas rough edges, OpenOffice's impressive feature set. a generally lucid interface, and pure open-source credentials are reason enough to give it a try—especially considering that it's absolutely free.—Edward Mendelson
PC Magazine January 2009
