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
Abbyy lingvo x3
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
