PC World April 2008 - PC World

Top 50-Inch p52 Best for Privacy Protection p.s4 PCWorld RIL 2008 © WWW.PCWORLD.COM we Test Report: Cheap You'll Love 15 Free Ways toMake Work Better = SOFTWARE SECRETS rjWnt eMs1aY(-) Coe) Me] a OL Meo) lel Tae M OLN 8) -lecm We can definitely help DVLA teem CeyaT NV oe] ‘As you sit there among the humming and buzzing of servers the miles of cables Sora ea es ea eco ad provide you with a personal account manager who knows your business and the IT challenges you face. We make sure your most dificult questions get answered by highly trained technology specialists who, quite frankly, are ridiculously Sees Oe Ru tc nea n ited Nene Ce ce ee mus aa products from the top names in the industry you should feel quite comfortable knovving CDW has everything you need, when you need it, And as always we're Cena ny CDW.com | 800.399.4CDW React eaTOO MANY PASSWORDS? 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Sets wil be sleeker and thinner Plugged In GeekTech Beta Watch Gadget Freak CONSUMER WATCH Tips on Tech Product Returns How to minimize the headaches ‘Skeptical Shopper On Your Side BUSINESS CENTER Project Management Apps Alternatives to Microsoft Project. Net Work SECURITY ALERT People-Driven Security Individual users help spot threats. [Bugs and Fixes Privacy Watch APRIL 2008 Volume26 Number 4» REVIEWS AND RANKINGS 50- and 52-Inch HDTVs sted eight high-def LCDs and phsnias to find the best ofthe big. Gateway One GZ7220 Wacom Cintiq 12WX Top 5 Color Laser MFPs LG Voyager Cell Phone Low-Cost Linux PCs Download This HERE’S HOW Fantastic Freeware Finds Here ace a dozen file management apps, multimedia tools, utilities, I ree Answer Line Steve Bass's Hassle-Free PCIclous t stopped a vi is jus' Jim Curt between bites. malware attack . 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Wait until you experience my mobile performance. NEW HAFNIUM-INFUSED INTEL’ CENTRINO® PROCESSOR TECHNOLOGY. (intel. ) It's helping set new benchmarks for next-generation notebook performance and amazing - battery life. Find out more about the power of hafnium at intel.com/areatcomputing Centrino, GREAT COMPUTING STARTS WITH INTEL INSIDE. Eta NaN baste) £2008 rel Copaatn Might eseved uel etl og Ceeo, and Cento ee Lena of ne Carpratenn te US andere cintes“IT'S ONE OF THE most stable operating systems that I have ever dealt with.” “Ie boots up faster." “It works well with many, many applications.” “Ie is simply the most user-hiendly ‘operating system to date.” Those are the words ofa few of the nearly 3500 technology users who par- ticipated in a recent PC World survey. But the product they're raving about isn't Windows Vista or Mac OS X 10.5, for anew version of Linus. Instead, it's a six-year-old throwback that’s about to suiler the saddest fate that can befall a technology product: ts creator is pulling it off che market The platform in question is Windows XP, which means that the ereator is Mi crosofi, And a whele lot of people are anything but gruntled about the company’s plans to end all etal and PC OEM sales of XP on June 30, thereby making itpretty certain that the next Windows PC you buy will ran Vista, Two-thirds of the folks who cook part in our survey sald that they were very unhappy about the news; 9 percent said that given a choice, they woulk opt for XP. (Our survey was inspired by a new community site from our colleagues at InfoWorld called SaveXP.com. To date, almost 196,020 folks have added their TO Techlog 8 XP vs. Vista: May the Best Windows Win (Sree thinks your next PC should run Windows Vista. If youd ather have the freedom to choose. you've got lots ‘pames to the online petition there, urge ing Microsofi to reconsider its decision to discontinue Windows XP, Why dhe outburst of affection for an ‘aging operating system? The quotes I ‘began this columa with neatly summa size why many people have no desire to dltch XP, Assuming that you're run- ring an up-to-date copy with Service Pack 2, it’sa remarkably mature, pre- ictable product. And implicit inal of that XP love is another sentiment Plenty of people see no compelling reason to adopt Vista In fact, some re spondents who have used Vista told us about problems they'd had, eanging from sluggish performance to software and hardware incompatibilties. They also said the new Windows is short on. [knockout features. (For more survey results, see find powcr com/S0033.) It’s not just survey takers and petition signers who ae Jess than smitten with Vista, Consider the millions of people ‘who visit PCWorld.com each month, AS [write this, around 71 percent of them do soon PCs that run XP, versus just 17 percent who use Vista. Back in late 2002, when it was as new as Vista is company, toulay, XP had been adopted by 33 per cent of site visitors—or about twice the percentage who now use Vista. Like every OS, Vista remains a work in progress. As application and drivee ‘updates arrive, the compatibility situation is improving, and the new Vista Service Pack 1 addresses some speed issues (see page 18). But SPL adds no sew features: havea sneaking susp cion that many users will continue to resist Vista unless Microsoft beef it up with at least afew additions that make ita tangible advance over XP. For now, there's an easy fix that the ‘company could make: Listen to those 92,439 SaweXP com petitioners and keep both Windows XP and Visea on the market for the foreseeable future. Regardless of which version of the OS particular customer opted for, the ‘world’s higgest software company ‘would ring up sale—and no one could fairly accuse i of forcing Vista on an un enthusiastic marketplace. @ Conese Erin Chief Harry McCracken cat hargy_mecrackeneipever. com: read his Boga bogs peor. cna/techiog YOU PROBABLY DIDNT know Ul Diehimann—and unless you're an avid reader of magazine mastheads, even her remeis tkely nfm. But if youre reading these words, ences are that youre one of the millions of technology users who ones atte debt of gratitude tour tonatime Test Center Director. who passed aney in January alter along battle with cancer. ‘A German native, UIijoined the PCWorld Test Center asa perfor: ‘mance analyst shortly after the lob’s 1992 founding. She was partof the tear that rolled out ambitious efforts such as Werld- Bench, our PC speed benchmark. And when Uliwas named Test Center Director in 2000. in an era in which cur coverage expand ed toinclude everything from cel phores to HOTVs, she ensured that our tests remained clear, useful and utterly objective ‘Those of us who worked with Ul knew we were lucky to have her as a devoted coworker and a warm, witty friend. As long as there's a POW. we'lLhonor her memory ina way we know would please her: by continuing her legacy of decication to lab-based tests that help people find good products and avoid bad ones, For more on UliDiehimanns life and career, read our online tribute at find serid com/50078,Toshiba recommends Windows Vista® Home Premium / Core'2 Duo ere Be 6 mses omen Fenn wr np sd ie neva Dai ieee 1 Leading Innovation >>>i When Steve Jobs announced the Mac- Book Air in January, our forums really heat- ed up. Some people think it's a great niche PCW Forum machine; others say it's woefully underpowered and overpriced. Tell us your opin- ion of the MacBook Air at find.pcworld. com/60039. See al so Forward, page 21. MacBook Air Mania ‘The new MacBook Air commercial had me sold. But Greenpeace’s applauding ‘Apple for the Air [tins peworld.com/ {60023} puts me over the top. It's about time that Apple went “green.” Applfan, from the PC World forane ‘The Mac faithful will love [the Ai]. The press will gle it. After using it fora while, anyone who wants to do reat \woek will hate i. Rercen, fromthe PC World forans Ione performance of this particular notebook is less than its earlier coun- terparts, then, apart from its aesthetics (being thin and lightweight), why pay almost wo or three times what you ‘would for something cheaper and fast- 1? The argument that its only for word processing, surfing the Net, and other “simple” tasks merely reinforces the fact that this machine is overpriced for its intended purpose DJ Tan, fromthe PC World foram ind it hamozous that people are con- cemed with what the MacBook Airis rnissing. Lxecall the same arguments and concerns when Apple removed the floppy drive from its systems, Nobody is going to care about the omission of fan optical deve. As for the battery, 1 seem to recall the same complaint about the iPhone... Of course, that Inasn’t seemed to hut its sales Panspeak, fiom he PC World forams {As an eager potential cient and owner of 15 Macs, 1am sorely disappointed in this new Macbook Ait Icis way over- sated and lacks basic features for a highly mobile business owner. Leemerchamt, fom the PC World forums Amazon's Kindle Regarding “Amazon Kindlles Interest in E-Books” [Reeicws and Rankings, Febru- ary}: 1 would be very surprised ithe Kindle becomes successful a its $399 price, Convenient? Perhaps, but it seems pretty limited. I would much, rather spend $10 (the cost ofa Naw York Times bestseller on Kindle) on a teal book and not worry about getting the device wet atthe beach, dropping << Constantly reminding others of basic security measures may be tiring, but it's necessary. datasecman2001, from the PC World forums it, and so on. Iove new technology, bbut there is something to be said for the feel ofa book in your hand and not Jookingata screen all the time. Of course, at about $100, such a cool new ‘gadget might be what I really want. Cindi VawWingeren Hantercle, Neth Carelina Protesting eBay's Price Hike ‘The primary problem with eBay's new policies [fe peworcom’'60063] isthe feedback system. This i an abandon- rent of eBay's community values samedarngfrrethe BC World fornar ‘he litte buyers and sellers who came together in the beginning are being shoved aside and discriminated against in favor of fewer, high-volume sellees ‘who can monopolize theie niche, Iporsemama, from the PC World forums — Future technological innovation depends on twa things: (1) Can corporations make a huge profit out of the new technologies? (2) Can politicians benefit from them? drrexx, jrom the PC World forums Reliable, and Obsolete ‘To Stephen Manes: Your “It’s Reliable! Ics Also Obsolete!” column [Full Dido sare Febcwary] was very interesting. A number of months ago, [fired up our ancient Apple Tle. Ihad forgotten how slick it was: Hic the power button, and inless than { second it's ready to go— ‘no hard drive! You load only the pro- ‘grams that you want to load when you ‘want to Joad them, Ie may be impracti- «al now, but [love the concept. Ron Brey, Rockford, Minots How to Buy an HDTV In response to Becky Waring’s “Ten Things to Do When You're Ready to Buy an HDTV" [Consumer Watch, 2 pan. 2008 www powoeto.com | 11Secure your organization— Elite Mol a career Ruled and skills you n Eres el mama) Reece ore ag Oe us ad Toa PSE or aA BS specializations FON enue Co Pernimic) ance your IT career EER ROR Rees eet ee ey Carexta University erica reas freee nes oa ible PCW Forum January]: 1 own an electronics store, and have been in this industry for2 years. To tell people that you also suggest asking stores to “match online prices.” We owners pay rent o have the nice settings, and we pay knowledgeable staffso they can be helpful co the customer: You are doing your readers a disser: oning that a vast majority of online dealers ae selling rized dealers. We area dying breed, and we are worth payinga litle more for. Debitoland, Preside Viewing Porn at Work Employees stupid enough to sucf for like those in your story [find desecve to be fired, Mi er, from the PC World rants Any employer so dumb or inattentive as to allow that much porn to be down: loaded over their network deserves to have this happen to them. Withall the controls we have these days to forbid this type of behavior, I don't under scand how it got to the “egregious” point. Ido, however, agree that the ‘employees should be fired as well Nema Joona the BC World forums U.S. Border Laptop Searches I's annoying that the Deparument of my PC and disscet it | If they want to analyze the disk ck the machine won't be coming before lyin we fiom the PC World forams Wow! Our g trol. I will et you take anything else before let you take my lapeo, I data, Those are m aity. They are the only things more important than my freedom and privacy AlantZasmuan, fom the PC World foranes 12 | www.ewonte.com 49211 2008 All they are doing is ticking people off Somebody should tell DHS that the sary to transport hard copies of data ‘over national borders. | guess they have to be seen as doing something, but it's Jookingas if their po their heads. They are out of control. Tune, fenadhe PC Word forum Netflix Picks Blu-ray Disc Over HD DVD Juse dumb, Netix [ 0 J. With more than a million HD DVD players out theze and more being sold on a daily basis with the new low prices, there is no doubt chat there is an HD DVD customer base! You just don't want to take care of your HD DVD customers and instead are drink ing the Blu-ray Kool-Aid, jrosaaoS, fomethe PC World forum: Netflix is a business, and they no longe see it profitable to market HD DVD. It's is over. Everybody can go on and rant about how there is an HD DVD custom: cer base being stranded and such, The fact is,all those HD DVD phyers don't really matcer if the movie studios aren't going to produce dises in that format Dwners of HD DVD players who have a sizable HD DVD collection should consider buying a duabfocmat player be ‘plepee, fromthe PCWorld f PC Weta we sdboek, We re serve the right to eit fr length and clarity ‘Shore your thoughts inthe Comments area TELL US WHAT YOU THINK Pret Poeun es eee eee nosYour Employees Caught in the Web? Reclair Every 81 minutes of prod vity loses mployee sed distractions, Most employees lize how quickly the stolen ld up, But research shows, 34 of workers habitual cIps identity problem arcas, offenders and frequency so you can coach employees. reduce company risk and productivity by monitoring all PC and Intemet activit How jt Wo BeAware trucks all employee PC activity through liv 1g of E-mails, Web-surfing, Chats and program useg en shots, real-time moni (recording se “BeAware showed me exactly what my team was doing so | could coach & motivate them toward ‘our goals.” Be be any networked otely deployed on npany PC (local or (or specific individuals, departments oF an enterprise up t© 10,000 employees. Adminis 15 can view reports of activity from anywhere, and receive automatic notification when select keywords, websites or specific applicat Once problem areas are identifi 7 polic motivation for improved focus and productivit can resolve them with be sist aes Sastivthveritica!! incidents ‘Ask about BeAware Home Edition ¢ Frcentve> 2Forward Good Looks Ahead: What's Next for HDTV? BY MELISSA J PERENSON FIVE YEARS AGO, just about any fa-pancl tev aah, and high-definition was a rarity. Today, although fh panel HDTVs are in only 25 percent of American house: holds, they're common enough thatthe gee-whiz factoris gone. So where do HDTVs go from here? Improvements in pictuce sharpness and advances in screen size are likely to be radu. “I's hind of ike computers: you wait acound, thece will always be someth sce ooks and Detter around the comer,” says DisplaySearch HDTV analyse Paul Gagnon, But the next step for HDTV isn't about technolo- Thinner, more stylish, and better-connected sets are on the way—eventually. But don't {expect huge price cuts anytime soon, gy perse. It's about the HP'S 42-INCH SLAZ78N Includes an etnernat port on the back that experience of watching, lets you access multimedia on your TV vi @home network, which brings previously peripheral considerations— paying pacticularattention _come in colored packages, suchas design, ease of use, tothe look and feel of their ‘TVs toa are moving beyond and integrated audio—to the products and to integrating basic black. Manufacturers fore. Asa result, you'll not sofiwave with hardware acealso taking a cue from only ike what you see on “Everyone is looking fora the sleek details found on your set, but you'll also have unique characteristic,” notes smaller products. 1G Elec better time experiencing Gagnon. “Yousee itinlap- cronies, for example, recen that content inyourhome. tops, you see it in cell, ly introduced TV sexs with phones—and now every- colorand style tweaks. The ANod to Style ody wantsa unique state- 32-inch LG40 features such Inthis postiPhone world, mentof designin a TV." accents as a curved pedestal here industrial design is Just as cell phones, digital and axed front-drop bezel: king, TV manufacture:s are cameras,and hptops now the back of the LGGO is red oo, and you can seea ash of color pecking through the side and front, An even bigger emphasis this years on thinness. Hit achi, JVC, and LG have all revealed thin sets, ranging from 1.5 inches to 1.7 inches thick. Crafting such a stim ‘TVisa technological chal lenge. LG, for instance, achieved its products" 1.7 inch depth by reengineering the circuitry aroune the LCD module—and reeng- neering the TV's eabinet—to remove unused space. In the favure, you'll ee even more slim sets on the market: Sharp's newest manufacturing facility begins mass pro duction next year, and it will bbe capable of producing ultrathin 60.inch panels Despite the slimmer profiles, television manufactur cers are stuffing new features Into this year’s cabinets, m= proved speakers being chief among them. A slew of com panies, including Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, and Westinghouse, have added speakers that fire down instead of forward, which audio experts claim achieves more full-bodied sound. And in its latest ‘models, LG has positioned hidden speakers—they're slide show of huge high-defi 14 | www. com p21 2008 Tf your philosophy on televisions is ‘More is more,’ check out our ion sets at find.pcworld.com/60101. Consult our flat-screen buying guide at find.pcworld.com/60102.located behind the cabinet, $0 thatthe front bezel looks smooth, JVC Jas even introduced mul tiple models that have an integrated “Made for Pod Dock,” which lets you phy both audio and video {tom an iPod on your television. Also taking light this year: televisions that con rect to your home network so you can tap into its content. Last year Hewlett-Packard and Sony were at the fore ofthis trend, and Pioneer offered some sets that comply with the Digital Living Network Alliance certification (an assurance that they'll be able to interact with other DLNA devices such as PCs, ga ed systems, and stora that are on yourhome network). HP ie installing in all ofits 2008 models a Win- dows Media Center Excend- x, which lets you access smulkimedia on your PC via a home network. Later this -at Sony will adda DMeX (Digital Media Extencies) ‘aption 10 them to interact with LNA. compliant networks. Internet conned ity comes in for a boost, as well At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, Sharp in: woduced models with its Aquos Net service for re ceiving customized Web- based content); Panasonic unveiled its VieraCast service (for watching YouTube videos and accessing photos vin Googk's Picasa photo: sh J and Samsu showed TVs that could re ceive an RSS newsfeed pow cred by USA Today. All are AQUOS GALLERY 1080p choices than ever ne 6 be expected to be released sometime this year As with all new bells and whistles, some of these developments are likely to be here today and gone The challenge for manufacturers is to find the right balance between next. gen features and price in a competitive market. For now, they're just test: ing the waters,” observes DisphySearch's Gagnon. “l think lot of manufacturers are hesitant to buildin features that they're not sure will ake off." The dowaside of such a misstep is obvious Incceasing the prices oftele- Visions toadd a new Feature that no one uses isa waste ‘of money for both manufac- LOD and Plasma Future Tech Now Resolution remains big axca of competition among b In previous years the stan~ resolution was 720p. def-TV manufocturees. ‘This year the scale tips in favor of 1989p, the maxi ‘mum resolution for HDTV. Among LCDs, which hold a slight edge in brightness over plasma, most 720p sets sold this year will be smaller By next year, this shift in resolution for phsma should be mestly com plete; Pioneer, for one says i will have eliminat ced 720p sets from its lineup by 2009. For the foreseeable futuie, how: eves, LCD models will 2p at continue to offer 7 ‘CONNECTIVITY ISIN the cards. Sharp's new Aquos Net service, forinsiance, sales, entay-level allows users to recelve customized Web-based content on thelr TVs, screen sizes (20 10 32 inches), which don’t ben screen models (37 inches _efitas much from 1089p. and under) selling at bar Other technological gain prices. Among plasma improvements are headed ‘TVs, known for their high- your way. LCD televisions contrast images on massive 120-Hz technology—waich screens, youll have more helps LCD panels better 9 PLUGGED IN uw gO MICROSOFTBIDSFOR YAHOO: Is "IF yREIOO! youcan'tbeat om, spendillions ina proxy fight for their anemic rival" reat lyawinning strategy against Google? WANONOWINPINK: Thank God! Now gem Pars ten ander many tiny coos éancatenyponsil hose Soxandtne Cy episodes before hema comes ar ic? Fey Si rnescasemsoma Ta DIED ccminat it, just cal a baring person. “The fated presenta candiatescan oo someting sel ater ll! py eB aTTacKnTssciENToLOOY; Disaster narrowly averted when Tom Cruise loners himselfon cables into hackers’ den, turns off botnet ‘COLLEGE PIRACY STATS INFLATED: Movie studio execs would rather not use the term “fabricated” They prefer . “ | tosey “Baseden atrue tor SEDNOLFEDANSTANE Tse peut 2000 www pewaata.com | 15Forward handle rapid motion, such as in action scenes and in sports—will move down to midrange models this year, Last yeara TV with such, technology cost $300 to $600 more than one without it, bu this year that feature should adé only $200 to 300 to the price, explains Tim Alessi, LG product development ditector. By nent year, Alessi believes, the additional cost will be minor or nonexistent. Now that 120-12 technol ogy is becoming more main- stream, LCD TV makers can focus on other potential breakthroughs, such as ade ing LED backlghts to less expensive models, Also introduced last year (by Samsung), LED backlights can offera wider range of colors and higher contrast. Sound pioneer Dolby is among the companies exploring this technology. Currently, LED-backlit displays remain a rarity, limited to one ortwo premium models per year. Display- Search’s Gagnon doesn’t expect co se them any more often in the next year or tuxo, but he does believe that, overtime, their pricing and availbiliy will improve Recently, plasm‘elevsion ‘manufacturers have provided some glimpses into the facure, as well. For instance, at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, Pioneer showcased two inuiguing concept technologies “absolute black” and very thin plasma displays. “Absolute black” relers to the color ofthe set’s sereen before any image appears on all television panels emit LIKE CELL PHONES, TVs are moving beyond basic black, as seen InL.G Electronics’ LO40 (Left) and L660. some light, making the base screen more ofa dack gray. “IF we can’t start with a com: pletely black canvas, all of the colors will seem washed out oF will ook faded, explains Paul Meyhoefes, Abig emphasis this year is 0 nescence efficiency, which should produce brighter plasma panels that consume less power and can better compete with the brightness of LCDs, At CES the company exhibited a prototype of thinness, but crafting a television that measures less than 2inches thick is a technological challenge vice president of Pioneer's marketing and product plan- ring for plasma displays. ‘With the new technology, you can go into a pitch black room, and you will only see the image, not the ‘TWorany other light emi ng from the TV. Because we can now exeate the black, we can create alot more color, and alot more depth and dimension incolox.” Pioneer also showed a prototype plasma technology that producesa display mea suring 9mm (or 0.35 ine) thick (sans TV tunes). "It's basically the thickness of the lass,” notes Meyhoefer. “Our ultimate goals to take both technologies and inte grate them into an ultrathin design concept. Panasonic, meanwhile, is working on improving lumi- shim plasma TV with a depth of just 24.7 millime- texs—just shy of an inch, OLED: Still Too Pricey ‘Afcer what seemed like years of hype, OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) display technology has finaly become a large-screen real ty AUCES Sony introduced the first OLED TY aimed at consumers. The Minch XELA offers brillant colors and high-contrast images in a superthin panel (only 3 mil- limeters thick), but at $2500 it’s less of sumer breakthrough than a proof of concept. Sony says it intends to release larger displays next year (Other manufacturers are keeping an eye on OLED, but only Samsung is speak ing publicly about its future plans. The company showed ‘ovo prototype OLED cis: plays at CES, one 14 inches and the other 31 inches; however like other manu facturers, Samsung doesn't expect to bring OLED dis lays to market until at least 2009, as the models become cheaper to produce. For many vendors, OLED. ‘emaing on the periphery. “Its stil Kind of novelty,” says LG's Alessi. Display- Search's Gagnon predicts that the technology probably won't reach its prime for another three or four years When to Buy you're inthe market fora high-definition TV now, none of the developments slated to come this year and later isa reason to hold off Beater design, sound, and resolution will all be welcome improvements, but when they finally arcive they ave unlikely to make you egret purchasing a set to day. And don't et the dis- tant glimmer of lower prices hhold you back, cither: Ac cording to both IDC and DisplaySearch, HDTY prices ‘won't fll as quickly this year as they have inthe past.coe verizonwireless When it comes to email solutions for your small business, who’s your “go-to”guy? (] Your Daughter (1 Your Golf Buddy L] Your 3rd Cousin Once Removed S the Verizon Wireless Network : & When you're ready to choose email solutions for your small business, turn to the experts at Verizon Wireless. We'll make iteasy to get the right devices. The right plan. The right price, Veraon WielessSNTS800 BladBerry’ Verizon WrlessK6800 And the security of Americas most reliable wireless network To learn more about our wireless solutions, consult with your dedicated small business representative. Call smallbusiness Visit your local Verizon Wireless storeForward Mixed Results With Windows Vista Service Pack 1 MICROSOFT'S NEWLY released Service Pack 1 may correct some of the performance glitches that have annoyed Windows Vista i discouraged oth people from adopting the ‘operating system, but our first round of tests indicate that it isn'ta panacea Service Pack 1 was released to manufacturing on Febru ary 5, and it will be available to useis asa download at around the time you read this: Microsoft plans to inte grate SPL into retail Vista discs as well, but couldn't say when that will happen. Benchmarks: Minor Improvements Based on our testing so fa, the Vista SPI update won't havea dramatic mpact on your daily computing experience. The PC World Test Center ran its Worldeneh 6 Beta 2 benchmacks on five systems upgraded to Vista with SPA, and the results Files copied faster in our initial tests, but other performance was slightly slower with SPL were very close to those iachines’ pre-SPA scores The computers, amix of desktops and laptops, improved by an average of just 2 points—nothing to write home about. The thice desktops saw slight differences in score. ‘The HP Pavilion Slimline 833002 (witha 1.9-GHe Athlon X2 BE-2300 and 2GB of RAM) went from 62 t0 63, the Acer VM460 UD2I8OC (with a2-GHe Pentium Dual-Core E2180 and 1GB of memory) went from 66 to 68, and the Polywell Poly P3503-3DT (with a 3.GH2 Core 2 Es- treme QX6850 and 4GB of RAMI) went from 111 to 114 When we disseeted the re sults ané examined the ten tasks making up the World- Bench 6 Beta 2 score, we discerned few clear trends. ‘The one definite conclusion ‘we could draw was chat SPI helped! boost some task performance times and slowed ‘others—bur the evidence ‘wasn't consistent across the ‘evaluated systems, In all ceases the diferences were ‘small, less than 3 percent. Quick Installation To conduct several informal tests, Installed Service Pack 1 on the falely high-end Polywell Poly P3503-3DT. Service Pack 1 Does Little to Speed Up Vista D 22-0He Core 20v0 17500, 208 RAM We Pavilon 95008 2 ‘cer ¥m4so-UDz160¢ 2.0 Peni Duat: Core E218, Cor 2 Bve 17800, 268 RAM BRAM TBE FIXING SOME OF Vista's performance problems i a main goal of SP. But running \WortdBionch § Bota 2on fio PCs with SPL produced only minor speed improvernonts. He PavilonStemine 523002 19-Gir Athlon x2 BE.2300, 268 RAM 2 C Patywel Poly 3603-007 5.GHe Cero? Extreme QXE850, (CB RAM. 1m us ‘URI NOTES: et tact Prd Teatro to ow tt ge A ere ‘Vista warned that the process might akean hour or ‘more, but my experience was, pleasantly, far bewer: The installation process required ju chan half the time necessary minutes, less when [installed the fist beta of SPA last Septem- ber: Your experience may vacy, depending on your system's configuration: The Dell Inspiron 1420 notebook we tested (witha 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo T7520 and 2GB of -memory) required just 30 ‘minutes to complete the process, but two other, less-powerful systems took far longer. SPI re quired three reboots inal on the P3503-30T, Jaleo did less-formal testing on the Polywell in some of the performance areas that Vista users have com- plained about the most: file copying, and startup and shutdown times. | copied 1.9GB of files (562 JPEG images) from a 2GB Kingston SD Card to the PC. Pre cook an average of 384 sec- nds. Post-SP1, the average ‘lame forthe same task sank to just 348 seconds—a 9 SPI, that opecation percent improvement, anda difference that you're likely co notice. In conteast, the startup and shutdown times showed lialec we installed SPL Published reports of Vista's sluggishness have dissuaded ‘many XP users from upgrad~ ing so far. We've seen no in- ication that SPL will make the OS mackedly faster —Malitsa. Perron ge after‘THE HP HOX recalveda sight speed gainwith Penryn. Penryn Chips Accelerate Laptops IN OUR FIRST tests, laptops with Intel's new Core 2 Duo mobile processors saw modest speed inceeases but im pressive battery life boosts, Toshiba's $3200 Qosmio G45-AV690 performed far better than the company's previous top-of-the-line Qosmio, the G15-AV680, eamninga WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 94 versus the AVO80’s mark of 74 (the AV690 has IGB more RAM. than the AVSS0, accounting for some of the improvement). The $3240 HP HDX. posted a WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 86, a point beter than a pricier predecessor. Penuyn’s energy-efficient design also lifted battery hfe: ‘The Toshiba's time rose by 12 percent (from 2 hours, 35 minutes to 2 hows, 54 minutes), and the HP's grew by 78 percent (1 hour, 27 min- Lutes to 2 hours, 35 minutes), The Penryn chips’ new SSE4 instruction set will speed up multimedia and data-intensive applications, too, but currently few applications take advantage of it. —Nanisu Rebbapragada Dell's Unfortunate DisplayPort Folly DELL ISON amissionto prove that's tech- ‘ology leader by ensuring that DisplayPort— the DVT replacementit’s pushing hard for the Industry to adopt—appears on your next note ‘book, PC, aid monitor. There's just ane prao- {em with that plan: We don’t need DisplayPor The standard currently doesn'toffer any reat cost or performance benefits over the well- established HOMT interface, anditsintraduction vill Ukely confuse and frustrate buyers. Worse, eventually Dell plans to launch DisplayPort= only monitors that wilt lack backward compat: bility with every sinale PC shipped to date. ‘That's not leadership. The PC giant is vinterface we The DisptayPort Dilemma Inaddition to wnting GeekTech, Im ar: search analyst for 10C ‘covering mentors and projectors, so Tve watched Dsplaypor’s ‘evolution closely Dell, HP, Samsung, and ath: (rs frst bogan discussing the standard in 2003, ‘and back in those days aroyalty-troo,noxt- {generation interface to replace the aging VGA ‘ane DVT interfaces mace plenty of sense. It certainly sounded mare appeating than using HOM, the new cigtal interface appearing on HOTVs that commanded royalty fees (compa ries that implement HOME today pay 4 cents per device plus. $10.000-per-year fee. 1 DisplayPort had launched then, we'd prob ably be using it merrily on our PCs today. In stead. the standart took years to mature (as standards often do). end HOMT acceptance took ff with the HOTY boom. Tad. HDMI shows ‘upon 2 great mary PCs and monitors from just about every major vendor, too—including Dell Despite HOMI's ascension to de facto distal Imterface standard, the isplayPort wheels were already in motion Years later, Del rolled cut the first-ever shipping DisplayPort monitor: the 30-inch UltreSharp 30OSWFP. Interesting ly. the $1999 LCD alsoincludes an HOME port (see fire peworld.com/S6709 for our review). and shouldn't have t Even Dell recognizes that HOMT is too well established to omit. whichis why the company plans te continue offering HOME ants consumer gear. For business products, however Deit believes DisplayPort makes sense. Teouleh't agree less. Why on earth shoud ry work monitor laptop. cr desktop havea ifferentciital interface than my products at hhome do? Every day I take my work notebook home, where often connect to my consum: erdesktop monitor Plus small-business buyers mix and match con championing ——_sumerand corporate n't need hardware all the time, ay for, —_DisplayPort backers lke to pontout that future implementations ofthe interface could Coffer campatibitty with HOMI, out such support would be optional, and potentially costly for ‘both the vendor andthe consumer. Besides whats the point? (Other arguments in favor of DisplayPort also fall apart upon closer examination Fer example, there's no guarantee that the standard wit remain royalty trae. Its capability to dalsy- chain tagethar a number of monitors seems cool. but you ean already do that tata with DisplayL ink technology and USB. And features such as USB hubs and Webcams powered ‘through the DisplayPort interface sound good but they dont exist yet. Finally, Dell says that DisplayPort will low it to build “drect prisingly light, because flash-memory cards have enabled the major camcorder companies to reduce the size of theie products to unheard-of dimensions. Somnsung’s SC-HMX20C, Using flash memory lets companies produce models smaller than a soda can. Some shoot 10-megapixel still images anc U gap x forexample, records both videoand stills to 8GB of Dulin flash memory, instead of toa hard drive ora DVD. Asa result, the cam- corderis smaller thana soda canand weighs only 10.9 ounces It will even accept removable SDHC/MMC cards ifyou want extra storage, Pricing is expected to be between $1000 and $1100, and the camcorder should be available in May. Flash memory, specifically SD Card memory, allowed Panasonic to slim its $809 HDC-SD9 down toa mere 9.7 ounces. The HDC-SD9"s heavier and bulkier (and more expensive, a SI1C0) relative, the HDC-HS9, isa hybrid model that can re cord either to SD (or SDHC) media orc its builtin (66GB hard disk Sanyo's Xacti HDIC weighs just 9.5 ouncesand tas a total volume of only 16,6 eubie inches, which the company says makes ithe world’s smallest and lightest digital camcorder eapable of Full HD recording (1920 horizontal and 1080 vertical pixels) yw does Sanyo do it? you've been fol Towing along, you already know: with an 8GB SDHC memory ear. The use of flash memory also means that some cam corders will be faster to operate. Samsung's SC- HMX20C, for example, will 1D video, too, start up alot faster chan cameras that use other ‘media—in under 3 seconds, Stills and More Inaddition to making movies, camcorders nowadays can take still photos at impressive resolutions. Sony will celease a pair of compact high- cfinition camcorders around the time you read this: the HDR-SR12 ($1400), which includes a 120GB hhard deve, and the HDR- 'SR1I ($1200), which contains a 60GB hard drive, Both can take 10-megapixel photos—more than enough resolution for you to use either camcorders your still camera. And, of course, both models can record video in high definition at 1920 by 1080. Samsung's SC-HMX20C, meanwhile, has the ability totale S-megapixel stills SONY'S HOR-SRI2 TAKES 10- ‘megapixel stil photos. Canon, too, has taken the flash-memory route, using what the company calls Daal Flash Memory in its new top consumer eam corde, the $1099 Vixia HFIO, Dual Flash Memory allows you to record to the camcorder's internal flash drive even if you don’t happen to havea spare SDHC ‘memory card. This particular CANONS VIXIA HFLO includes 11608 of internat lash, ‘model has 16GB of internal flash, the largest capacity we've seen recently. Ase. ond, lower-end version, the HE100, features an SDHC ‘memory-card slot only and costs $899, Both have a newly designed Canon 12X HD video lens anda Canon 3,3-megapixel Full HD CMOS image sensor, and should be available in April Your One and Only Camcorders may once have seemed useful only £0 people with young chi (orcute pets). Buc con- sidering these smaller, lighter modes’ ability totake outstanding sill photos, owning only a camcorder may nake sense. As fash nory gains capacity and becomes ubiqt: ous, prices will no doubt drop—and camcorders will shrink even more. With so ‘many features ia your camcorder, you may opt to leave your still camera at home. —RarwowG, MeLeed peut 2000 www powaata.com| 21Sony’s New SLRs Offer Live Preview of Shots DIGITAL SINGLE-LENS re flex (SLR) cameras are, by design, more advanced than their point-and-shoot coun- terpacis. Poi however, contiaue to excel ax making it easy o com= pose an image on the LCD sercen, while early digital SLRs forced you to look through the viewfinder to preview your shot. Sony's Invest digital SLRs will climi- nate that difference The Alpha DSLR-A350 (14.2 megapixels) and the Alpha DSLR-A300 (10.2 megapixels) both feature a new design that integrates, tuvo imaging sensors—one dedicated to previewing the the other dedicated to capturing the image, Although Sony is not the first company to employ two sensors to genet preview, its the fi allow full control of the auto-focus system, even dur- Ang rapicfire buest-mode shooting, without interrupe- ing the live view, as competing camer live Other digital SLRs have had the ability to preview age on the LCD sereen, but early implementations by Canoa, Nikon, and Olym- pus didn’t replicate the fe shoot experience as well as Sony's cameras appear to do. The Sony A300 costs $800 with nm-to-70mm lens. The is priced at $800 for the body only, and costs $900 for the body plas an a i 18mm-to-70mm lens. alana nd Meliss. Perensonhat fits wsledgeable folks atForward Contest Aims for Better Search of Audio, Video CAN COMPETITION yield a better search engine? Singa- pore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (ASTAR) hopes so: Itis offering $100,000 prize to the winner of a competition to develop new multimedia search technologies. Registration for the Star Challenge 2008 closed in February; the contest consists of three knockout rounds and a qualifying race for the final, which will be held in Singapore. ASTAR hopes to spur development of new technologies for mukimedia search, allowing users to look for specifi words in audio oF video files that aren't tagged. Teams are expected to develop search algorithms able to seck out words, objects, and events inaudio and video fies. Ahead of the knockout rounds, ASTAR will provide competitors with develop- rent data and tools. In die «qualifying race to choose five team finalists, competi tors will have to solve four challenges using the search technology that they devel op. Teams will be judged on the time taken vo complete all four challenges. The finals will beheld on October 20. The five finalists will race to complete four new challenges, with the fastest team taking the prize. —SunmerLemon 24|uww.ecworto.com xrari 2008 ey Nel MM aids Coming From Asia: The Next Cool Cell Phones ‘THE UNITED STATES leads the wort in oper ating systems, Web 20 startups. and drunken teenage starlets. When it comes to cell phones, however, we might as wel be Albania. With the ‘exception ofthe Phone. atruly game-changing (yet flawed) piece of technology. all the cont handsets ‘pear firstin Europe end Asia, ‘The main reason hy we lag: Because peoplein Europe ‘and Asio are more dependent on their call phones than on thei PCs, high- sspood motile broad band service has dovoloped much faster, Buying a handset verseasis alotlike buyng a Ccomputer—you can mix and match models and service providers. Here we're still mostly locked into one earrer par device ‘The good nawsis. that's chang, Verizon Wiroess, for instance, now supports any hand sets that werk on ts network BUR you want to ‘ee the future af cll phones, ook tate east GPS, electronic new ry Mobiles in Motion ‘Need some proo!? Take these thrae examples, {In apan you can point certain Sony Ericsson orDoCoMe cell phones ata bulding, and they will display information about what's insée it. suchas drections to athiréloor office ora ‘menu for the rooftop restaurant. Ths trickis ‘accomplished via the phone's GPS chip its electronic compass, and Mapion Local Search software powered by San Francisco-based GeoVector. Handsets incorporating Geovector technology will start to appear stateside by year's end. says CEO John Eltenby [Aso bia in Japan: mabile phones that have ‘motion sensors builtin. Lest year NTT DoCoMo launched cel! hones that et you play games or fast-forword through MP3s simply by way- ing your hand. In the United States, Verizon vare will s phones show us around town, has shipped handsets with games powered by Gesturetek.a similar technology that relies on the phone's carrera to detect motion. In China some cal phones. buses. and cars Will beable to receive lve HOTV broadeasis of ‘the 2008 Beijing Olym- pics this summer. ur Unlike streaming services such as MotiTV or Verizon's Vast, China's mobile TV will transi siqnalscirectly to@ UHFIVHF antenna built into the phones, thus bypassing the cellar network and allowing for 8D times the band: width, Mobile TVie alco taking off in Japan, Korea, and Europe. Handset makers and ccarsirs ares ham- ering cut a broadcast standard for US. mobile TV. But we shoulé begin to see devices employing carly versions oft sometime in 2009, says Bon Runyan, VP of ‘marketing for Legend Silicon, which makes tho chips that power mabe TV in China, ampasses, and jon | Interesting Times Nothing moves faster these days than the coll phone market AST write this, prototype phones. based on Google's Android mabile plato hhave begun to appear though Apple's secord- generation Phones stil vaporous. And the FOO biking war forthe od anatog-TV spec- trum coud open up thed network beyond cellular and WHFW/Max, an ever tat could tum the wireless world upside down. “Sooner or later the U.S. will become more tke the internatenel marke. were phones can be swapped between cifferent providers and the enlictions are more open predicts John Barrett. director of esearch for Parks Associates "We are inching toward the day when handsets wil be more like PCs and ess Uke treitional phones” ‘Amen to that.Becouse Tim tired of ving in ‘Aibonia, even wit ol the drunken starets. @Special Advertising Supplement Take Charge of With CarMD, catching hidden engine problems with your automobile is now as easy as plugging in a USB cable Your Car’s Diagnostics States since 1996 is equipped with goverment mandated pro rams instal in a vehie’s computer system to detect mafunc- tions, set 2 dagnastc trout code (DTC) and turn on the “Check Engine” ight theres a problem. 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CarMD uses similar diagnostic technology, but costs just $89.99 and displays Infomation that can be read and understood by anyone-no taining recessary. You can use CarMD to quickly check en unlimited number cof vehicles and run menthiy reports on up te three housed vices to provide your family and friends with peace of mind. Pus, CarMD inches ifetine vehicle coverage and free software updates, so if you buy another veticl, you can recister that as wel. Us Pam m8 6406 SE HsDell recommends Windows Vista” Home Premium. WORLD CHANGING. eA aces tek ek OR ae oe ae) — =<-Ps cs | | on EO $1199 ca ae ReteConsumer Watch Top Tips for Hassle-Free Tech Merchandise Returns ilers often play by different (' comes t BY ERINBIBA s when i chases of electronics. MAYBE IT'S AN unwanted gift, ora gadget that doesn't per- formas advertised. Whatever the reason, almost everyone eventually runs into a tech product they want to return. But retailers consistently maintain returns policies for electronics that axe different from those for, sy, sweaters. “We're talking [about] some higher-end items that retailers want to move quickly,” explains Better Busi- ness Burau spokesperson Steve Cox. To avoid headaches and high blood pressure atthe customer service counter, here area fev suggestions and guidelines, Mustit goback? Consider why you are returning an item. Ifyou're thinking of doing so beeause it's not working the way you believe it should, perhaps professional services such 35, Best Buy's Geck Squad or Circuit City’s Firedog can get your gizmo ‘working to your satisfaction You may not even have to pay fora house call: Geek Squad for example, provides online video tutorials for do-t-y ionstrace how to set up an assortment of shiny new toys Aetfast!Ifyou rally have no need foran item—maybe i's a duplicate of onc you already have—don't dawelle. Stores yen erally give you less time, andl make you jump through more hoops forrecurns of electronics tha for other items, iselfers that dem. Circuit Cty gives you 4 days for retumns. Costco, once famous for allowing no-questions,full-refund returns on any~ thing with no time limit, now takes back electronics only up to thiee months ater the date of pucchase—stilla generous return window compared with those of its competitors. Dor'topen anything: Among several common conditions fora full refund, the fist, and most important, is that the box be sealed. If sn, the retaler will need to make suce the gad~ igetis in fll working ordlervehich means that accepting your revurn will cos the company time and money. Typically the store passes those costs on to you, often in the form of r= stocking fees. Best Buy and Circuit City both charge a 15 per- ‘cent restocking fee onal opened clectronics. Amazon.com charges 15 percent restocking fee on ‘opened laptops and desktops. Some Things to Do Bring backeverything:I'you hice ‘opened the box, be certain that it's {ull before heading out to the store. Circuit City wll €educt the cost of cach missing item from your refund. For exchanges, the retailer will simply replace what you have beought (3 man val fora manual, a eable fora cable), s0 you're on your own for dealing with whatever pieces you've let behing. Save yourreceipt Yes, this one is a big “Duh.” But asthe BB's Cox observes, remembering to Aieep that slip of paper is always a problem: “It’s astounding how many folks don’t do that.” However, if you're returning a gift, oF you aceidentaly misplaced the receipt, you may not be completely out of luck Ifthe device you are returning isa gift, Amazon.com, for example, will ssue a gift cerficate rather than a refund if you can helpa customer service representative properly iden tify the original sends (Amazon promises not to tattle on you for the retum,) And if you bought the product far you self, Best Buy, according to spokesperson Jeff Dudash, may be able tolook up the transaction using your creditcard ‘number, and thereby fociltatea return. Check or retums policies: Some retailers teat online vetums the same as instore returns others don’t, Many retailers 9% Want to return a tech product bought at a major retailer’s Web site? Learn about its returns policy first. Go to find.pcworld.com/59977 for links to the policies of Amazon, Costco, Wal-Mart, and others. ‘pan. 2008 www pewoRto.com | 27Consumer Watch requie that you obcain a return authorization (many merchants call this a revura merchandise authorization or RMA) by filing outa Web form before you can mail back a product purchased online, Many stores also requize you to pay cevurn shipping and insurance, though for some merchants with brick- and-moriar operations, you can bypass those charges by hand-delivering the product, if that’s Feasible Don't be aregular returner: company’ called The Return Exchange helps most retailers track shoppers’ return habits inorder to reduce fraud—but even if you're an honest person who happens to retum products frequently, retailers may simply refuse to accept your return or permit an exchange. If you get such a refusal, you can file a protest at the ‘The Return Exchange's Web site (ind powertdom/59871). Whatifthoproductis busted? The store that sold a defective item to you should take it back; most retailers will exchange it fora working unt. Best Buy's Dudash says this is usually easier than exercis- ing manufacturer's warranty. Contact the manufacturer you've Used the item extensively or waited sev eral months to take i back, it’s time to check your manufacturer's warranty. Don’t fret ifyou've misplaced your warranty card: Many manufacturers make their product warranties available online for download in PDF form. Caritreturnit? Seti Selling open-box items isa big business on eBay: some of its sellers even publish guides on how to buy open-box products, Also consider putting the unwanted gadget up for sale on Amazon or Craigslist. Hovea complaint? Ifyou think a retailer acted ircesponsibly—or eriminally—you can filea repoct online with the Better Business Bureau (weleomebivora) or the Federal Trade Commission (feo). Also consider writing our On Your Side columnist, Amber Bourman (e-mail conyoursides peworld.com). Amber can't troubleshoot every problem that comes in the mail, but she ean often rmake vendors pay attention. BS) GS O78) dd a ers For True High-Def Movies, You Need Discs ‘THE HIGH-DEF FORMAT wars ave over and Blu-ray Dise has wan—or so sore pundits say. But others Insist that movie streaming and downlcad ‘services are making discs iretevant ‘Should you investin a pricey Bluray player that could soonbe obsolete? The answer depends on your HDTV I. like me, you have a 10800 cispley, aBlu- ray player won't become dated very fast. Youcan, however. already get ower-def bigh- 3 ik ata tet and haere ary ea pean eta ty nee decd Se craaiett Ce nce wien! bt Ney tn tare Clearly, experts like our technology. CERTIFIED We designed Webroot AntiVirus with AntiSpyware & Firewall with what our customers want — nothing but award-winning technology. So ce is designed to protect you from intruders, without getting in the way. And it all works together to deliver better security and better protection: To top it off, you get free US-based jelephone support, just in case you need it. So, if you want better security, better support, and better peace of mind, call Webroot at 1.866.865.3302 or visit pete In.an Unsecured Porla™ www.webroot.com/wav today Webroot security products are also available at leading retailers nationwide. © 2007 Webco Sewers re. Mabot is orate trader of Woot Softwar in thr res and sua athe igh ofr respecte le Tim ison etal Webrotenpliye rt an actor or mec Pc Magee Eto Cie Award Loge inaregietiedtademark cf if Davi blinking Hodge re Used und easeaw Resource Shopping Made Easier With Your Windows Mobile Phone... Have you ever found yoursel ina store, Completely overthelmed by the many tech produet choices, with no haipin sight? For a limited me only, PC World, together with Microsof, i offering a downloadable appication—exclusively on your Windows cbile® phone—at wil alow you access to PC Worcs How to Buy’ guides and reviews forthe most popular tech products, withthe touch ofa finger. FromyeurPO, gto marketing pewoid somnmagp toge staree, Cell Phones POA Seman eo Pe) Coen ee Windows Consumer Watch ON YOUR SIDE Pe ‘I PURCHASED MVELOPES’ Web-based porsonal finance service as a rosult of a reviow in your magazine. Shortly after my 30-day free trial ‘ended, my bank told me that my accounts had been accessed by some- ‘one from India and that I would have to close them all and open new ones. During the transition, I had no way to see which of my automated electronic bills were paid and which woren't, resulting in numerous overdraft cchargos. No one at Mvelopes helped, so I cancelled that account. But when I asked for a refund of the S189 Id prepaid for two years' service, I vas told that the company has an ironclad no-refund policy. I can’t imagine why they think they deserve to be paid for two years when I left only several days beyond the trial and my experience was so bad. OVS Respontis: Mvelopes determined that ‘St dames's problems began last summer, when the comaany switched the servers (and 1P addresses) t uses to gather in formation rem user bank accounts. ‘James's bank naticed that her aczount was boing accessed from an unfamitior IP address, flagged the Mvoiopes activty ‘a unauthorized, ad had her change her ‘accaurts, The bank's own subsequent investigation eventually lod to Mvclopes, but by then St James had already cancelled her Mvelopes service, and neither Mvelopes nor her bank ever told her ‘account had not. n fact, been hacked, ‘Asa result of our query. St James oot ful cefind and ecal rom Steve Smith the CEO of Finicity the company behing Myelopes. “We know that we missed the chance to deliver an optimal customer ‘experience’ Smith seid in a statement, We've since implemented a number cf changes te imarove aur level of service” The incident illustrates a typeof pb: fem that ean (but rarely does) arise with 30 | www Carel St James, Sanasot, Florida online services thet communicate with banks and other financial institutions. If you runinte such anissue, meke sure your financial institutions are fully aware ofa services that you've authorized to access your account information ortine Missing in Action ‘Monica Oztorne of Falls Chureh, Virgina, wrote in ater her X2Gen MW/LR me tailed and she received no responses to her e-mail messages, phone calls, o tax {@s. Sure enough, the X2gen.com Wieb site hhas anotice saying the parent compary, Computer Werte Solution is in bank ‘uptoy and s no longer providing support for ts products. The sitohas atink 10a POF of afocm that erecttors ean fl out ‘and sumitta the bankeuptey court Battery Replacement Snafu Chiao Huang of Martin, New Jersey wrote to seek cur help obtaining a replacement battery for his overheating Henett-Packard laptop, HP refused to take back his batery because ts bar- code sticker. which would have entifed itas a qualifying model, was missing Huang seid this was because overheating hhad caused the sticker to peel off HP says that it asks for the stickers because nat all batteries for a specific model were defective. As resutt of cur inca, the company sent Huang a re placement. But we recommend keeping records of al tech product serial num bers and stichers~evenif you must store Xed-ffNtsc olen) we, you can do when your Feo NUNN Nene StartDoingMorecomViI-AUDIO | Make music with your computer USB Merophone (ichudedn Session Music Producer systern) ee colo Tele} Dlr Coole SS = drag and drop music loops @ listen to your tracks with high-resolution sound qualityisaac to Secure your Data Loe ISP Tries Charging by the Gigabyte Aegis Secure Drives shan La (ele) tN eco iy D 800.458.5448Are your employees trying to tell you something? Tell them they're getting new technology from CDW. Pee ena TEES, aed s aro Eig Sa patie Ba Tio Seay = Haverty Roe Senna ; loner i Prt Ten Pepe ee nen bresagrosnerticr eerste A\| Cerlatteiaa ec aoa Ll Basiieneresers neers Tae ee eee OST reesei Pe eu ee ice ae There's simply just no rece for obsolete technology in today’s business2s. Fra upgrades tothe latest Pere ee eke Eat Bee ‘ure you get what you need, when you need i So call CDW today for new technology that works as hard eat Caper MRS yOS Eee) Betas er eT Taaray ‘The Right Technology Right Away.”Business Center Simpler Project-Managing Apps Get Job Done BY RICHARD MOROCHOVE ‘THOUGH MICROSOFT Project isa capable project management program, not everyone needs its power. [you want help managing a business project Dut using Project feels like swinging a sledgchammer to swata fy, try a ess ponderous alternative. Web-based project management ser vices are fairly easy to sct up. You don't have co install software on your PC; and since ll project information is stored. cline, any team member with Internet access, a Web browser, and an e-mail account can participate, even remotely. ‘Most Web-based project management services allow you to establish milestones (by assigning tasks to one oF more tearm members and specifying completion date) so you can track progress against major deadlines. Par- ticipants receive progress alerts and detaiks via e-mail, or by logging into the Web-based management 2¢count. Project management serves offer Less full-featured (and complex) than Microsoft Project, Celoxis, Clarizen, and SpotOn may be a better fit for small businesses. vayingamouns ofsecver = —_ aaa space for storing project- [aux sma uemias == a = rclated data ane files. Proj cect reporting capabilities ‘ange fom simple-text reports to fullfeatured sraphical Gantt charts. Coloxis Celoxis (wiveeloxiscom) Supports an assortment CLARIZENORGANIZES PROJECTS as a system af mile- ‘of reporting capabilities, stones plotted on a dated timetine called a “roadmap including Gantt charts (hich depice project progress) and export of data to an Excel spreadsheet in order to generate custom reports. You can allow only basie access. ‘The service isn’t too dilficuk to mas- ter It even provides abasic temphte to help you manage your first project. CCeloxis also tracks time and expenses associated with the project, useful feature for internal accounting oF for billing client. You ean allow elients or other oot- siders co log in and check on project progtess, too, Celoxis is available both asa hosted service and as packaged software that you can install ona server inside your network. The hosted version provides 20MB of storage per user and costs $15 per month ‘THE CELOXIS HOME page splays your projects. your prog per user. A 30-day lrce-ial ressineach, and the tasks for which youare responsible, ccitjon is available os well Clarizen CClacizen (winwctarizensom) heks a stact Lup template for users new to project ‘management, butt offers alot tempt experienced peoject managers. ‘You can ereate a new project from scratch, import an existing Microsoft Projectile, or usea Project or Clarizen template that your organization created previously. You can't export Clarizen project back to Project, however: ‘With Chrizen you can divide project milestones into subsmilestones and tasks into subcasks, and you can have important aests repeatedly emailed daly. Team members canadd notes or discuss the project; send e-mail messages regarding the project asa whole milestone, oF a task to the entire team 6 to one of more individuals; and find project information online. Reporting features are excellent, too, allowing you to gauge the percentage completion of key project tasks, for 3% For more information on Web-enabled business productivity tools, check out ‘Comparing Collaborative Web Services’ and related content at PCW's online Business Center (find.pcworld.com/59981). ‘pan. 2008 www pewoRLa.com | 35Business Center cxample, Clarizen costs $50 per month per user for an unlimited number of projects. Prepaid 6- or 12-month sub- scriptions qualify for discounts. SpotOn SpotOn (wwwspotonpm com) uses a dashboard to give an overview of your projects and status. A calendar view highlights days containing milestones. You can view your responsibilities in “My ToDos’. The ‘Messages’ screen displays project-related notes; the service e-mails any message marked ‘crtial’ to all team members. A "People’ screen lets you keep tabs on your team members. When adding team members, you ce cide the evel of access to grant them. ‘You can allow view-only basic access or give permission to create toxdos, add nnilescones, or enjoy unlimited account- management privileges. You won't find highly detailed report- {ng tools o fancy Gantt chart in Spot- On: this entry-level project manager is suitable for smaller team and for less detailed, short-term projects. Inthe beta service I tested, a fice plan supported one project, with to-dos and nilestones. Paid plans, which include storage space and don't limit the nun ber of users, start at $10 a month for tenor fewer active projects up to $445 a month for an unlimited number. All paid accounts offera 30-day free trial. Delos | Clans Technologies Capable, micbxoed project mane ‘ager helps rack expenses, 100 fo snore sonaraen ci re FTG esc site tmreortcnoes PR ers. Price: $50 perrmonth per user stain ‘SpotOn | Otis Technotogies Beta version, notated Easy-to-use service appropriate for neophytes, Price Free 10 §145 per month Sa Te) 51 teers Choosing a Host for Your E-Commerce Site TF YOU PLAN tosell Appropriate disk space and traffic limits products and/or services | are just the start. Here's what else to ‘ontine. choosing atest | Look for in your Web hosting package. for youre-commerce siteis an extremely mpoctantdecision. instal open-source Web apps—say. 2 fo- ‘What factors should you consider? Cost, rum or chat room—but I prefer to get ‘capacity, and benduidth, of course—but_ apps fromtheirsource Web sites. That ‘thosenumbersor' tel the whole story. way T know I'm working with the most When one of my cients noticed that his recent version ofthe apo, and T have ac Website was going down iwoor three cess toall eveilable support resources, evenings aweek. I cliscovered that the SSL and IP server hosting twas Address stored in the closet of Toreassurecustomers ‘local IT services about the safety of firm. If glitch devel their dota, consider ‘oped during the eve- cbtaining e Secure ‘ing or on the wok Socket Layer (SSL) cond, no one cout corttioate to support resolve itunt the data eneryation and to nowt business day. ‘authenticate your Toawoid such problems, look fora Web business identity. You may purchase an hosting service that offers 24/7 monitor- SSL certificate trom your host or trom Ing by on-site technicians in arnajor data VeriSign. One caveat: You can get an SSL. Cconter."Uptime"—usually defined asthe certiicateonly fora site that has a ded porcentage of timo curing a gen period cated IP akrass, and most consumer that asiteis accessibieon the Intemet— ISPs assign adresses dynamically Is crucial A gocd hosting service should that'sone reason not to un a Web-based dot an uptime ot 98.8 percent or bet- business from your home. Expect to pay a ter that's less than 90 minutes of down- bit extra fora fixed IP address. time (netucing network autages and Tr youneed alarger ste, Virtual Private ‘scheduled maintenance) per month ‘Servers (VPSs) dedicate arange of memo- ‘good Webhost should be willingto ry. storage capacity, and data transmission provide recent uptime statistics. Also, you fo it. Typically a PS server contains far should independertly monitor your Web fewer sites than a shared host. your site's uptime, Basic State (mvivbasiosiate, site keeps growing. you may want to host com)otfersa feesservice that checks the it ona dedicated server, ether managed availablity of your Web ste every 15 min (yourhest handles software installations tutes end alerts you when t's down, ‘and uadates, meritors performance, and Tryousell more than acouple of prod-_thelike) or unmanaged (you handle those ucts and services, youll want sitewith services, and probably pay abit ess). database like MySOL,where you can Beware of services that charge unusu- store thedetals. Your host should sup- ally low fees: They may be hosting too port aprocramming languace (such as many sites orskimping on support. PHP) to run shepsing-cart software, too. Manthly fees fora good shared-ho: ‘Anadministrative control panel will service should startet about $10, man help you track ste visitors and manage aed dediceted servers start a several your domain's e-mail accounts. too. Many hundred dollars: end a VPS secount Control panels also help youcbtain and should cast somewhere in betweenfae’, LINKSYS’ A Division of Cisco Break through even more barriers when you pair a Linksys Wireless-N ‘Adapter with a matching N-Router. Pre ie erent ty ~ S etftetfie Lhd Sees ae ciscoBusiness Center Keep Your Laptops (and Your Data) Out of Harm's Way LAPTOPS, CELL PHONES, PDAs, and USB flash drives have become business necessities. But a8 more people work a home or a the nearest Starbucks, loss or theft ofthis valuable equipment— and the ofter-even-more-valuable data con it—is an increasing problem, You can prevent al disasters, but youcan take steps to seduce your tisk of losing key haréware and data, Start by slapping an ID tag on cach laptop or mobile device your business owns, and register it with a recovery service such as Boomeranglt, YouGetlt- Back.com, or zReturn, Such services report recovery ates of 75 percent and higher on tagged items (inclusion of an 800 number and offers of ewards probably encourage honest finders). ‘Tae normal sequence of events is that you order the tags online and then reg dster them (along with a deteription of the device you stuck each one to) at the service's Web site. Usually you paya small peritem fee in the neighborhood of $5 to $19, with quantity discounts. ‘BELKIN'S USB Laptop Security Alarm works Inmmuch the same way as.abieyce cable lock. Ifa thief steals your laptop or smart phone, preinstalled tracking and recovery program can help you get it back. Various packages—among them Absolute Software's Computrace Complete (850 per year), Brigadoon's PC Phonetlome ($30 lifetime), Inspice’s Inspice Trace ($30 per yene), XTool"s Laptop Tracker ($40 pet year for the ‘Small Business Edition), and 2Trace ‘Technologies’ aTrace Gold ($59 per year) —have software thar communicates periodically with a central server main- tained by the service if the stolen lap- 0p or device happens to be connected to the Incemnet. When this oceuss, the service uses the connection’s IP address (oF GPS receiver (if available) to track the item, and then calls law enforce ment authorities to reeover it Some tracking products can also wipe out critical data ifa laptop is sto Jen, or ean take a photo of the thief if the machine has a builtin camera. Fre- quent travelers may want to consider getting a laptop alarm. For example, the Belkin USB Laptop Security Alarm (655), a lockable cable that you loop around something fixed (like a bicycle ‘able lock), sounds an alarm if someone cuts it. The Doberman Laptop Defend: cer Portable USB Computer Alnem (530) incorporates a motion sensor that trig gers. loud alarm if the device attached to itis moved. When you want to move your laptop, you disable the alarm. Becky Waring Low-Cost Dell All-in-One Has a Few Small-Biz Chops ‘THE DELL 948 All-in-One color inkjet ‘multifunction printer offers reasonable performance for alow price, and it in cludes a couple of features that higher- volume users should appreciate. (One of the main attractions is a.25- sheet automatic document feeder to DELLS 049 ALL-IN-ONE has an automatic document feeder and automatic duplexing. help you manage bigger jobs. In adel ton, the 948 Allin-One can scana two- sided document (with manual interve ton) and print a duplex copy, saving {you money on paper costs. We ako liked che simplicity of the printer’s con- ‘col panel, which consists of just a few bottons and a scrolling tworline LED scveen with phin-English menu items. Toe 948 Alkin-One has only a USB connection (Dell sells an 802.11b/g adapter for $70 and a Bluetooth adapt cr for $30), butit offers the media slots ‘needed for photo printing. Though the 106-sheet input tray is small, the 50- sheet, foldout output tray is sturdy. The 948 Alli-One's performance is not stellar, but not bad either. In our tests, test pages exited ata decent 7.6 pages per minute, but graphies pages crawled at 1.7 ppm. On phin paper, letters looked nicely black but slighty fuzzy, as die graphics, which were also sgriny and oversaturated. Using Dell's photo paper helped considerably —we noted milder oversaturation and rea sonable detail Ink costs vary: Printing, blocks of plain txt isa bit steep re tive toother printers, but printing fall pages with small amounts of eyan, ‘magenta, yellow, and black is cheap. We've tested fasterand flashier muli- fanction inkjets, but the special features of Dell's 948 Al-in-One make it more useful than others in its price range. —Meliza Rife deeatn ones oa Tn inmscomtn i i :talimesrcolu lau RMAC R Mes AMD Turions# ™G Ee Y ss STERSONAL “) pC 6 Ree os ae ed st aS ahd Serene thar. uci .a a, tN Pere ee ey epee mache eee a Ne ee Pert ee a Ret ho el died FROWN metry sci se CO eer ha A S7/AKO aus eM et nemo Les Atel $292 instant savings? Fee eee eee das ah eee 1-888-491-8371 | hp.com/go/toad2 | Find « reseller: hp.com/go/reseller a ieee meen rere mere) Selena Eee ores ese] Cet) PacerBe ef DELORME GPS for wherever you Go: ee Ree a ee (a National Geographic Adventure Magazine re Beara aU Re Ke ae Pieteton eR} Hite Inthe woods with ihe Eartmate® GPS PN-20, not back tothe stor for expansive maps, All te DeLorme-renowned raps you nesdare included. Copy .S. streetand toa maps from Topo USA®7.0, anette soltware to an SD card — easier than ever with pre-loaded maps ineiwed. Doweload $100 of ree weww.delorme.com USCS quads, NOAA naulcal chert, and even color imagery of yeurfavorle U.S: ocalons.A a Security Aler Services Are Tapping People Power to Spot Malware BY ERIK LARKIN PEOPLE-DRIVEN SECURITY, an approach that pools the judgments of individval participants to identify new thieats, is gathering momentum, with uses popping up in everything from antimalware and spam blocking to site filtering, OpenDNS’s Domain Tagging, introduced in February, is the latest example of this kind of strength in numbers. The fice Web-fltring service allows subscribers to block sites in their choice of categories. But instead of one company deci ing whether a ste is malicious, pomographic, or otherwise ‘unsavory, anyone who volan- teers can help do the filtering. Mustroting the trends extent, Google created a page last fall where anyone can submit a site that they believe to be mal cious (fn pewortd.com58827)- Once Google verifies a submission, it adds the tainted site to a shared bheklis. Other free and paid services for tracking attacks, identifying malware, and blocking spam are also tap ping such people power. Us Versus Them ‘The movement is achieving crit- {cal mass justin time, potential ly overcoming one problem with such free exchange of infor- rmavion: At sites such as VirusTotal (where people can scan files believed to be malicious and shace new find), wrongdo~ exscan use the information too (ire pewalcorl58829) “The good guys need to out-share the bad guys to help counter them,” says Johannes Ullrich, chief research officer at the Intemet Storm Center (ISC). The centers free D-Shield service analyzes data from people's firewalls to wack breach attempts. With a thousand firewalls being tracked, the center can then identify an at-risk machine and alert its owner. crowds to fight increasingly sophistic (Sears are turning to thi phishing, spam, and ne OpenDNS's PhishTank (inc seworkdcom!58820), launched in 2006, idemifies phishing sites based on user submissions and ‘community analysis. As a result, flagged sites are blocked for people who use OpenDNS for domain-name lookups. The Domain Tagging service, which expands on the idea behind PhishTank, permits any person who signs up to submit a site toa category, such as social networking. Other users then vote on that submission, and if enough people okay it, the site joins the domain-agging lists, To help prevent incocreet ‘categorizations or attempts by crooks to game the system, votes from trusted users have ‘more weight than do those from people whose submissions have been voted down, “Using community costs les, is more thorough, and is more in ‘real time,” says David Uleviteh, chief executive of OpenDNS. isdom of rious sites. User Involvement Is Key ‘Submittinga suspicious site to Google allows any Web surfer to act as an Intemet watchdog, but Going so is 2 somewhat altruistic act, since you don't see an immediate benefit. Mozil’s Uupeoming Firefox 3 browser (int powortdeoms933!), however, will use the Google blacklist vo black known malicious sites. MeAee employs ViusTotal’s shared information. The com pany receives more than 200,009 samples per month from the site, says Dave Marcus, security research and communi ‘cations manager for MeAfee Avert labs. He says that antivirus ‘companies share with one another the thousands of samples they receive directly from users, 100. Marcus notes that the inerease in user involvement is coming at a erucial juncture, as targeted teats are on the rise: “User submissions are moze impoctant than eves,” he says Whea you submit virus sample, die antivirus engines 2 No honor among thieves: A Moroccan group is offering free phishing kits to amateur scammers—but the kit sends the valuable data it col- lects to the Moroccan masterminds. See find. pcworld.com/59975. pan. 2008 www.pewoRLo.com | 41Security Alert and labs analyze it to decide whether its ‘malicious. But with spam, your eyes are often the best analytical tool available. Though automatic Hers in e-mail cli- ents and servers can stop some junk smal, spammers typically test thei trash to make sure it can bypass automatic BY ALLOWING PEOPLE totag Webdomains, ‘a2 wel 8 0 vote on submissions, OpenDNS ‘can categorizeandfiterthe shes. fiers before they send it out. To com: bat that tactic, several successful tools, such as those typically used by Web- based mail providers and companies such as Cloudmark, harness the colle. tive power of millions of human eyes “Spam will always get through,” says Jamie de Guerre, chief technology off- cer of Cloudmark. “So it’s a matter of hhow quickly can antispam respond.” Cloudmark’s system lets people click “This is spam’ button when they get an ‘obnoxious e-mail, When anyone coes 0, that person's judgment joins those of other users, based on afingecpeinting system tha ean track a message even if a few words oc image pixels change. Asin OpenDNS's filtering system, cach Cloudimark user has his or her own reputation. Ifthe rest of the com munity agrees with your assessments, you gain a high reputation. IPother users often disagree with your verdicts (suggesting that you might be a spam- mer trying to mess with the ratings), your reputation declines. Together, pcople-powered tools and sites work to build genuine security that benefits the entire online commu nity. “They are a very strong part of Internet security,” de Guerve says. 42 | www veworto.com 47ari 2008 BUGS & FIXES Rogue Packets Stalk Windows Vista, XP Microsofthas been busy tending toanewswarm of ‘bugs inclucing acritcal hole in Windows Vista and XP that could expose you to an early-season bite without your doing anything other than being onine. In an attack, a cracker could broadcast rogue TCP/IP packets to range of ‘eddresses onthe Internet. possibly including your PC's Sounds all to0 com- ‘mon, right? These rogue packets, howev- erare desioned to trick their way pest Windows’ security and hijack your PC, ‘making your machine part of botnet for sending out ‘spam—cr worse, asett- ‘copying worm, So far, no attacks have occurred. But proat-of-concept code 's Mating around, so dont put ott appiying thepatch It youve ‘enabled automatic updates, ‘Microsoft wil push the patch to you, Ot cernise, you cangrab tat find power. com/S8037 and install yoursat JUST IN TIME for spring, (Bis Firefox rushes plug-in patch; ho End Excel Zero-Day Attacks ‘Microsotis sorambling to plug 3 hote in Excel tha’ already under a zero-day attack thename means the exploit was ‘ut before a patch was). Though Miero- soft characterizes the aiteck as “limited? theprodtem i serious The wlnerablity isin Excel 2003 Ser vie Pack? for Windows and earlier, ‘and in Excel 2004 for Mac. Feeling smug ‘because you don't have Excel? Donte. Even Excel Viewer 2003's at risk You're fine if you use Exoet 2007 for Windows or Excel 2008 for Mac rif youve installed ‘SPQ on Excel 2003 for Windows, The attacks can hityou whether you ‘open a pcisoned e-mait attachment or lickon atainted Excel ile ona Web site The lesson: Aways question fle attachments, especialy they seem to lock down your d gital picture frame. ‘unusual somehow "Were you expecting It? Maybe pick up the phone and call thet person and askif they sent it’ says Afred Huger vice president of engineer- ing for Symantec Security Response, Firefox Plug-Ins Pose Risk Mozilla lugged hole that could enabie Firefox to Leak information lke sieve, ‘owing toa flaw in flat packed" browser add-ons. Such add-ons~and there area lotot them at risk-ere the kind that are not stored as ‘jor files, The bug allows 2 malicious program to hack intodlrectenes on your computor, Looking forcommenly namee files that may contain information such 2s browser cookies holding ser names and passwords. Ttyou have Firetoxs automatic up- {dates on, you vill be prompted to update, Otherwise, head to gotfrefox com to ownload Firefox version 20.0.2. When Picture Frames Attack Digital picture frames were not git items. this past Christmas, Unforturately, some frames sold by Best Buy were infected witha Trojan horse. The infected uns are all 10.4-inch versions, model number NS-DPFIOA urder Best Buy's Ensignia store rand, If you dont have antivirus softwere and youve alreay plugged the frame nto your PO, the malware could hhave spread. See find peword com/56940 for more details and a link to assistance.vre protect your digital worlds Imagine what you could do if you could predict the future We did Today, 15,000 newSecurity Alert ‘Hacker Safe’ Seal Under Attack Following Site Breach MORE THAN 86,600 Web sites display a small Jogo proclaiming them “Hacker Safe.” Bur the company behind this security seal, ScanAlert, found itself on the defensive recently afer technology reuallec Geeks.com, which carries the seal, warned some customers that their personal and credit card data may have been compromised by hackers. ScanAler's seal is the most widely used, and can be found on dozens of ‘marquce-brand sites, suchas Sony's. Its popularity attracted McAfee, which bought ScanAlert last year. AA ScanAlert spokesperson says that “preliminary evidence” suggests the Geeks.com breach, reported to an er of custom undisclosed mur January likely occurred during one of ‘several periods last year when Scan- Alert had withdrawn its certification from Geeks.com after discovering vulnerabil- ties on the Web site, ScanAlert” Nevertheless, the inei- cent has rekindled a debate about the valu of such seals Web site managers say that ScanAlert’s automated scanning service can sniff ‘out some security Haws and that the ogo isa valuable marketing tool. De- {tractors say that it can give companies and customers a false sense of security. ae SAFE c] seals ave completely ludi- says David Kennedy of Secure- ‘State, Upon a request for testing from the owners af ten Hacker Safe sites, his company was able to Deeak into and easily access financial and customer data from nine of the ten sites MeAfec’s Tim Dowling acknowledges chat “Hacker Safe is not perfect.” but says that the service does help users defend theie sites. See the full story at find peworld com/S8965 for more on the issue, and to weigh in on the debate. —Jatkumnar Viagem PRIVACY WATCH enix cassin Does Your Security Suite Also Protect Your Privacy? PRIVACY CONTROL. Personal- information protection. Jdenity control. ll are great-souncing names for featuros you may have « seonin your PC's security suit. But wat do they actualy do? To fing out, I dug into the privacy features of the top suites from PC Worlds tates: security rounetup (od peworté.com/59327}-Symantec Norton Internet Security 2008's Privacy Control partof ks free Norton Adg-on Pack). Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 Privacy Control, McAfee Inter~ ret Security Suites Personal Information Protection, and BitDe- fender Internet Security Suite 2008's Tdentity Contel With Symantee, McAfee. and BitDefender you must define the injormation that you wert to protect, such as Social Security and creditcard numbers Symantec and McAfee never promgt you to co 50, but BtDefender alerts you until you either comaly or tell t tostop. With Kaspershy, youdon't sive any instructions, since it automatically blocks malware that attempts to access your com: puter's Windows Protected Storage oree. including sensitive Web- form information such as creditcard pumbers. the Symantec, McAfee, or BitDefender suite notices that your Cis about to send the information you recistered over the Inter ret the program blacks the transmission er promats you to allow crcisallow it Symantec checks Web, e-meil, and IM connections, 46 | ww The major suites promise to safeguard your le ivate data—but their protections vary. Detencer scans Web anc e-mail tate, and Medes harctos just ‘Vio cata. ll hee are limited to scanning nonencrypted connec: tion, so they wont se anything you send to sacuresies, but such Ips ses are mostly already protected. And since many Inter- net serice provers accent emai ony isa anenerypted connee- tian theprivacy apps ean’ sean those messages ether. General though they can scan Web-based exril such as Google's Gal, beacause most providers require you to use secure connection to tog in tut switch to aransecare convection once you aren Symantec and McAfee romp you to allow sending personal data, and substitute asterisks for the data when you chose to biock sending. BitDefender blocks ousight any e-mal or Web fgesin which youve entered personal data without giving you anyopton tomakeit dootherwise, which can be annoying Thyouhave Symantec's package or McAfee’ suit. ‘ake the fen minutes required to define your senstve formation. cant think of asite that would ask for such details and nat be encrypted, ond setting up the privacy protections wil allow you to receive warn ings. BitDefender’ feature, however mayiritate mers than tro tects because it doesn'tellow sending protected deta even you trust the stuotion Kespersky’s feature is bathmore are less limit ed since ts malware focused approach doesnt require any extra setup but protects only a subset of your information. @PT) imagine a monitor that gives you more face time The Samsung 225UW is a 22-inch widescreen thal comes with everyting you need buit ight in. A ting 2.0 megapuel webcan. A dual-aray mer xd fusibe, iteg hers. t's the only LC F Microsoft Of mmunieator, go you ean reductive right out ofthe box Which means y agi. Get the whole picture at yaw samsung.com/225UW. 22, With the 225UW, is not that hard toSpecial Advertising Supplement A Place for EVERYTHING iSCSI bypasses Fibre Channel and provides the gateway to SANs for the SMB IF YOU'RE AN SMB WITH STORAGE NEEDS, _ vide are quite different. : ‘Among SMBs, “the largest pro= the good news is that virtually every storage vendor gerwanor sprang sl song wants your business. fonard DAS but is moving to SAN technology” sys Pauine Courtiu, “The bad news ie that the lage many endpoints Buchow they doso a New Yerksbased anahst_ with umber of options and feaures can and the primary benefits they pro= Access Markets International (AMI) Seem bewlderrg:Do you need NAS or SAN? iSCSI or Fibre Channe? Onsite or off-site backup? Most computer users are accus- Storage made easy tomed to direct-attached storage (DAS) in which storage is toreVault wants to take the attached on a one-to-one basis with fear factor out of SMB stor- a workstation or server. DAS is sim- age decisions, StoreVaule devices ple to install and. with the continued function as alkin-one storage downward price/performance curve, appliances that are capable of relatively inexpensive. INAS, SAN and DAS right out of However, as the number of users the box. You can buy StoreVault and servers increases, DAS becomes to solve one set of problems increasingly unmanageable and less today, but use it for other pur- efficient. Businesses large and smal poses in the future when your imately are compelled to migrate needs change. storage appliance starts at to network-based storage that pro- The StoreVaule $300 is a seala- under $3,000. duces significant economies of scale ble, all-in-one networked storage appliance that is customized for and opens up new opportunities to SMBs and ideal for remote or branch office installations Starting at leverage backup, virwalzation, off under $3,000 for a ITB solution. it delvers proven data center tech: site archiving and more. nology, including advanced security, seability, data protection and simplified data management, 3t a price point that is unmatched How SAN and NAS Differ ‘As a division of enterprise storage vendor Network Appliance, Storage area network (SAN) StoreVault combines the knowledge of enterprise storage needs and and networkeattached storage strategies with the ease of use and lack of complexity that SMBs (NAS) sound much like peas ina require. Robust for growing organizations, StoreVault appliances are pod.and to some degree they are, in simple enough to be implemented and managed by the IT generalist that they allow for consolidation of who is responsible for all IT decisions, from storage to telephones, storage while providing access to SPONSORED BY StoreVault | www.storevault.com & Celeros Corp. | www.celeros.comOff-site... Replication Instant Backup and Restore * Disaster - Recovery IF you are looking for instant back up and data recovery, with RAID-DP protection against dual drive failure, you've found the perfect fit. With INAS, iSCSI SAN, and DAS right out of the box. the StoreVault product family provides storage solutions that will grow with your business needs. NetApp enterprise-proven technologies provides a rich feature set, including simple on. the-fly provisioning and off-site data replication, It’s truy the perfect fit to maintain business continuity and regulatory complience The new $300 starting at under $3,000 orthe $500 starting at $5,535 hy NetApp’ Storage * Conselidation Database / Email Stora: | Server Virtualization Call us today at 800.206.5363 Leam more about our Special Offers at www.storevault.com STOREVAULT. ‘ANetApp DivisionSpecial Advertising Supplement A Place for EVERYTHING Partners Ine. She says NAS has actioved sgnifcant penetration but A good storage fit for SAN spending is growing faster. companies of all sizes SANs are high-speed specalized networks oF subnetwork that pro- hats good storage fora large company is good for a small om- vide very high-performance storage pany and vice versa. Thats the philosophy of Celeros, which capabilities for block data. SANs can | delivers a truly scalable, multlingual storage device with ExSANFler manage and pool the resources of EASANFler XD Series not only supports iSCSI SAN natively, it can cone or multiple storage devices, | also support Fibre Channel SAN functionality anda variety of Necwork including dsk and tape, and make | File Services such as Microsoft CIFS (SMB), NFS. (Linux, Unie, them avalible to many servers. | MacOSX), AppleTalk, FTP ané SecureFTP in a single appliance. XO “Thay are very well suited co large | Series" compatiblity with virtualization technologies such a6 VMware database applications. Additional | helps companies faly realize cost savings afforded by these solutions. storage can be added easily, without Combining the simplicity of a NAS system with the performance of disrupting applications. SAN, the easy-to-manage EzSANFiler appliance lowers the total cost Many smaller organizations in the | of ownership (TCO). Available with capacities ranging from ITB to past were leery of SANs because | 48TB, the system can function as a consolidated primary storage sys- they were managed primarily over | tem for small enterprises, or as a powerful backup and archiving unit ibre Channel topologies. However, for large enterprises. An intuitive Web- the advent of SCSI interfaces simpl- | based interface manages SAS, SATA, ga", fied things and lowered costs by | SAN. NAS and backup technologies in : making it possible to manage block | one single system, offering unprecedent- ZC cleros data across TCP/IP and Ethernet, | ed ease of administration. without requiring Fibre Channel NAS systems are storage appl- ances optimized for file sharing and are attached via Ethernet cable to as either SAN or NAS, or as both may be required to keep tape a local area network with an simultaneously. archives in a safe, off-site location. ‘assigned IP address, A NAS appliance ‘Online backup, archiving and repli- can replace muliple file servers, Protecting All That Data cation are increasingly accepted making management easier and As companies become more reliant options, according to market ro- reducing costs. They canbemanaged on huge storchouses of data, search firm IDC. from anywhere on the LAN and typ: whether database or files, i's ever Noting that storage needs are Teally support both Sun Network — more important to have backup growing more diverse, IDC says ven- File System (NFS) and Common procedures in place so the data can dors are changing the way thoy Internet File System (CIFS) to be restored in the event of a pri- design, deliver and deploy storage tenable file sharing among Unix- and mary storage failure. solutions in an effort t0 provide Windows-based workstations. Disk-to-disk backup or file sys- “role-based storage solutions” to fit SMBs worried about choosing tom mirroring are viable options specific needs. Many of these will be fone technology over the other, or that should be considered in combi- geared to SMBs. Ina recent report, having co build both NAS and SAN. nation with tape backup, as the IDC states:"The SMB market con- capabilities, now have the option of expanding volumes of data are tinues to be on the agenda of most, acquiringal-in-one or so-called mul. overrunning the capabilities of tape. if not all, top disk storage system tilingual applancos that can be used Bear in mind chat some companies vendors.”Celeros EzSANFiler delivers full featured enterprise storage to SMB: Start as small as 1TB and scale up to 100s. Sets up in minutes and Simple to manage Brings all your storage needs to one appliance (SAN, NAS, Backup, Archive, and more) No hidden charges, everything included (Snapshots, Replicatio Helps IT realize the value of virtualization (compatible with VMWare, Xen, and mon Works with all major applications (IVS SQL, MS Exchange, MS SharePoint, Oracle, and more) ilover, Online Volume Expansion, and more) Pos toute to o4 >> >> Fost ~= ot oy Psstsstsste54 Celeros Corporation weww,celeros.com tact info: sales@celeros.com 188-306-0646 PhonYou just bought a flat screen TV... now protect it with APC. APC AV How many paychocks have gone into your state- AV sotup? Two? Th 7 ort weet ak atot Yor spent time and money, and you need to protect your investment. 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He had ital. But his cyber joyride came to a sudden send! Pwned like an00b in a first-person-shooter, it was game over. People CMMs Ue ien an Verte ce Maia occa tuom moun neice ate slowing their PC's to a crawl, No longer the sorcerer of the cyber-citadel, WizardFingers is justanother bum on PITe-s ea Xen Aaa Sane nee OMAP OR ONT r at Tare daSe eaeee area ee etry maleate ee pea eee te The Really Big Picture: 50- and 52-Inch HDTVs REDUCED production costs, BBs: STEM ue, anda bunch ‘of new models have lowered ptices on many big HDTVs. The PC World Test Center evaluated eight $9-and 52 inch HDTVs and found that one ofthe least expersive sets inthe group, the Vizio GVS2LF, performs neacly as wells much higher-priced sets like the top-performing Sony Bravia KDL-S2XBR The Vizio's slid performance and low price (nearly 40 per s cent kss than the Sony's) vaulted it into second place n our chat. Inthe top spot the Samsung FP-TS084 did rot perform quite aswell as the Vizio, bt it comes with a better aray of features and doesn’t cost much more. Tacce models we tested— the Pioneer Kuro PDP- SC1OFD, the Samsung LN T5281F, and the Shacp Lc-52D920—fell ust short of making the chart, For reviews of these models and expanded reviews of tie TVs ranked in our char, visit find peworlcem/S0578, ‘The Samsung FP-TS084 offers pleasing colors and sharp picture detail in a sleekly designed cabinet. ‘Moreover, this 52-inch plas- sma HDTV has an extremely alfordable price ($2409), which helped it eapture the Best Buy in our chart of 50- and 52.inch HDTV sets Colors in high-definition seenes were hixutiously rich, An HD scene of Tie George Lopez Show revealed bright, natural colors and realistic skin tones, We judged the set's standard-def quality to be slightly above average. ‘The FP-T3084 offers slew of adjustments, including‘67 wacom cio. ‘TSRAZER MAKO2.1 TOLINUXBASEDEverex 12x Desktop Speakers ‘and mirus PCs RGB gainand offset controls in the White Balaace part of the on-screen display menu. ‘The television also has Sam- sung’s DNle (Digital Natural Image engine), which is sup- posed to reduce noise, en- hance color, and improve ‘motion processing to make piceures look sharper. The screen could use a bet: terantirellectve treatment, 2s reflections were distract ing during some dark scenes. The speakers, located on either side of the TY, ae far from the best. In Phanrow of” the Opera, audio sounded Dacey yet muddled Its not the most advanced or fulkfeatuced HDTV, but ‘Samsung's FP-TSO84 seared very well ovecall because i's inexpensive, well designed, and a solid performer. Vizio GV52LF The Vizio GVS2LF HDTV, a S2+inch LCD model, earned impressive scores on many of our PC World Test Center TV tests. The set carries an affordable price ($2220). High-def and standarct-def Video looked sharp and natu: ral on the GVS2LF, and no other TV in the group earned an overall score of Very Good for sereen brightness. Ina arc sort snp 1 GB rrreors Seon ot “entities 12400 “oon ete arco Frdponariconar ‘tmeatanorveveot | soraecaare OFTOMLNE Thiet sere wth contin =r 10 pate eoorsar PSY Me erro “ews ‘nas eon htt weomenet frdgororsconss770 EMEY soaeorveyons | setae fcrrovUuNE Pasta innesandare- doer ce ate ie OF nous NOT ae. Lo flectronies 0 Ya0F TT eon repartee ‘2500 ‘acne Sit eM congo ianagurn os + Overalldesign Ver Cood “= Not CobieCand ready BOTTOMLNE Thvgh rt eter stb ecto ns TV wl eget ant ney ee — “ey pte 4 Snywronvorseaane GSM rvcoe “oman ee | pe “ious et ween ‘eatamorveyens | stance BOTTOMLINE.Som’sproniunTVennsastliar sere igh deritenpectrmance cod wns dient pltsor sn. ceria impale sso ze a . Soon QT [eens SOTTOMLINE Thisbeavtfuly desigresHOT set hasaCabeCaré stot butisurderet by separ pertermance. ART NOTES Pies on apse CTR segment of TicGcorgeLopee Though the blue on-screen competitive performance, at- Shoo, it showed truero-lfe display menu looks less so- tractive options, anda killer skin tones and few digital _phistieated than most com- price. Budget-conscious autifacts in the background. _peting models, it offers clear, HDTV shoppers shoukd give The GVS2LP's four HDMI casy-to-navigate picture op- this set serious attention, ports lt high-def aficionados tions. The Color Temperature connect several deviees.A menu providescontrelsfor LG Electronics. lossy black bezcl borders red, green, and blue output. SOPY3OF Which sts atop a sit You must activate picture-in- LG's SOPY3DF is inexpensive ‘and silver built-in picture or pieture-by-picture and well-designed. This 52- speakers that have plenty of by going through the menu. —_inch plasma HDTV turned volume but sounded fla. The Vizio GVS2LF delivers performance marks near 2 peut 2900 wow pewenta.com | 53Reviews.Rankings the average in our tests, with an overall score of Good. Color quality on standard- and high-definiion scenes vas strong; brightness and contrast resulis were okay. Skin tones in a Georg Lopez ‘Sac segment and ina talk show seemed faitly realistic though jurors noticed some distracting pixelation, A standard-definition presen- tation ofa San Francisco Gi- ants baseball game produced balunced, nicely saturated oranges and greens. Among the many connec tions that the LG SOPY3DF offers are three HDMI inputs. AUSB pos on lft side of the SOPY3DE lets you attach a flash-caed reader ora thum’ drive and display photos. The TV swivels ater you loosen a tiny bok in the back of the unit. The model's die- play settings buttons are ia visible until you lightly press a touch-sensitive pad on the set's lower righthand side, beneath the bezel. A faiely well-organized on- screen display ment lets you adjust the TV's many settings, which include red, green, and blue controls. Presets for Dynamic, Stan- dard, and Mild adjust con- east and brightness. The builein speakers installed on the sides of the TV produced rich audio in scenes from Phantom of te Opera Despite its middle-ofthe- road performance, the LG SOPY3DF has many strengths and features, including good speakers, a two-year warran= ty and a reasonable price Sony Bravia KOL-S2XBR4 Sony's Bravia KDL-S2XBR4 HDTV has a distinctive and attractive cabinet design to match its impressive perfor ‘mance, This 52-inch LCD set posted the highest overall image-quality score in its size category, and its price (53500) is average among the sets in our test group. In PC Worlds lab testing, the set delivered unvaled brightness and contrast quality, including easily dis: ccernible detail in dare areas fof a segment from Loniofthe Ringe: Recwon ofthe King. lus black bezel is surround. ced by a glass frame with a ‘meal border for a unique and pleasing “foating glass” effect. (Replacement bezels (OPTIONAL BEZELS for Sony's KDL-52XBR4 cost $350 each. 54 | ww ‘HIODEN BUTTONS are an unusual feature of the LO SOPYSDF. are available, as well.) The on-screen display menu. looks just like the ones on the PlayStation 3 and the PhyStation Portable, You use smoothly sliding animat cd icons to navigate myrind options for adjusting the ‘TV's display settings, Builtin speakers on the TV provided rich, full sound, Playing a Blu-ray version of Phantom ofthe Opera, we heard a good range of audio, from background noises to the main singers! voices, Videophiles will appreciate the Bravia KDL-52XBR¢'s natural-looking colors and fine reproduction of image de- tall, Bur less-exacting view- crs will probably be just as happy with one ofthe lower priced models on our chart Mitsubishi LT-52244 Micsubishs 1752244 com sistently received perfor- ance scores of Fais—the lowest among the eight 50-and 52-inch HDTVs we tested lor this article, fault. In our tests of both high-and standard-definition shows, jurors noted images marred by garish tones and some background pixelation, The TV hasa setting called DecpFiel Imager, which adjusts conteast and brightness dynamically as it ana- Iyzes images for dark and light areas. However, I found the setting resulted in too bright an images | preferred using the TV's presets ‘The speakers dida't provide the range and fullness of sound turned in by other Ts, Background audio and orchestral musi for Phunrour aftheOpera sounded shel The builtin USB pore works ‘well for displaying photos, but loaded pictures slowly. The TV's base swivels 39 degrees to the left or right, for incceased flexibility in positioning the TV pane! The included CableCacd slot allows you toavoid using an obtrusive cable box. ‘The Miesubishi IT performance is hekhster You can find lower-priced alternatives that perform bet- tes, suchas the Samsung FP- 5084 and Vieio's GVS2LF. Rey Sanos Youcan readin-depth views for al the hh: definition TVs we testa ou HOTV Info Cent find peword.com 50085)movie edit pro14 Welcome to Hollywood. Everybody. Whether you're a beginner or an advanced video enthusiast: with MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 14 PLUS anyone can create breathtaking videos. Faster and easier than ever before, including the latest technologies such as Blu-ray support, web sharing, special effects, dynamic transitions, 9.1 surround sound and animated DVD menus. = 99 tracks + Automatic editing & dubbing ‘* Full HD workflow * 300 effects & transitions Try it free for 30 days at: On MYO) @ i» the multimedia communityReviews Rankings Gateway’s Stylish, Pricey All-in-One ‘THE ONE HAS arrived, No, Tm not taking ERM abou Keana Reeves and the Matrix, but Gateway's One G27220, whose display and PC com ponentsare integrated into a single, slim unit. Think of an iMac in glossy black with a slightly smaller, 19-inch, 1440-by-900 seveen, and you're on the right crack, The One has neat design flourishes that rival those of 76 (One 627220 Gateway Noel styled el r-one PC isnot hoop List $1800 fee pewortdcom/s9872 ‘OATEWAY'S SLEEK ONE, ‘witha remote control, the iMac. The black mouse and keyboard are wireless Several ports—one gigabit ehernet, four USB, and one S/PDIF audio—are on the external power suppl, so tunder most cizcuistances you have just one cable rune ning to the main unit. On the main unit are three USB ports, a slotloading DVD burner, and a memory reader Even external speakers have been eliminated. The One has builtin NXTSound- Performance is fine for Vu planar technology, which workday chores. With a 2 vibrates the front panelto GHz Core 2 Duo T7250 priced between a value PC, produce decent sound. Our CPU, 3GB of DDR2 memo- which it overwhelmingly out: $1800test machine alsoin- ry, anda SCOGB hard drive, _performs,and a power PC, cludes an external USB TV/ the One earnedasolid but which it certainly doesn't. FM tuner, enabling it to pull modest score of $7 on. But you're paying for style, double duty asa TV, though WorldBench 6Beta2 tests. and the One has lot of it it aeks an HD wner Like the iMac, the One is Jou L. Jacobi Software Helps LaCie's Basic Home Server Shine HOME SERVERS are becom- {ing more popular with fx lies who want to share their susie, videos, and photos inside and outside the home Hooked at LaCie's 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Edition server, and was im- turns the server into anadept given them access to, oryou pressed. Its not as powesful storage device that provides can give them rights to add as Hewlett-Packard’s$700 media serverfunetions such and delete information, MediaSmart Home Server, as streaming video. The LaCie servers easy to but at $210, i offers the HipServ has basic backup manageand use. you're core benefits ofa server with features. Itcan hack up and interested in more-complete ‘out busting your budgec restore files, and ivallows you PC system backups and ad- TheLaCiedeviceconneets toschedle folder backups. vanced remote access fear toyourrouter viaethernet. Itdoesn’thaveany system cures, however, you'll have Setting ic up took about 42 recovery features, though. co dig deeper into yout minutes, mainly because the Streaming audio and video pockets for HP's product. instalation app dida't auto- both inside and outside my —Tom Spring matically configure my rout- home network worked well. ex's UPaP sewtings, so had When used inside a network totweak them manually the LaCie unit supports The included HipServ app iTunes, which allows you to (which you install on any create playlists computer that you want to You can designate any Ethernet DiskMini-Home use to access the server) folderas private; inacdi+ Edition Laie tion, you cangrant users _Basicherne servers easy 0 LACIE'SHOMESERVERisabout permission toview only the marageard use. List: $210 thesize of ahardoover book. contents of afolder you've fnpewalenm60029Turion — es PELE ecHNoLocT] Unique Innovation March/April 2008 Ferrari 1100-5457 $1,999 (stsav07 * AMD Turion” 64 X2 Dual-Core * ATI Radeon” Xpress 1270 graphics Mobile Technology Gold Edition TL-66 * Integrated Acer OrbiCam camera * Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate * Dolby® Home Theater™ * Microsoft® Office Ready (60-day trial) © 802.11n WLAN, gigabit LAN, V.92 modem, # AGB DDR2 667 SDRAM Bluetooth®, Bluetooth® VolP phone © 250GB" hard drive * Wireless optical mouse * Integrated slot-loaded Super-Multi drive * Fingerprint reader (DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD-RAM) * One-year limited warranty’ + S-in-1 card reader 12.1" WXGA (1280 x 800) TFT display, Acer CrystalBrite Technology rie hone sittin pa tice tn shiaAcer® Aspire® 5520 a @mpovwering technology ‘Acer Empowering Technology ‘One touch of the Empowering Key and you can easily take contol of your notebook’s security, performance, settngs and communications * AMD Athlon" 64 X2 dual-core processor for notebook PCs * Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium * 1GB DDR2 667 SDRAM * 120GB' hard drive * Integrated Super-Multi drive (DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD-RAM) * S-in-t card reader + 15.4" WXGA (1280 x 800) TFT display, Acer? 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LCDs Acer AL2216Weed #22" widescreen TUCO +1680 1050 native resolution #70021 conuast ratio #170 horzonal viewing ange 160° verialvewing angle VGA, OVI (OCP signal connectors + 300 cl’ brighess Sie reponse time + Imemal power adapter $239 (€722168.000) Acer ALIS17 Chmd, “19° TTLCD + 1280% 1024 native eslution +704 cortastratio. 50° havzontal vewhg ange 135° verteal vewing ange + Two 1.0W integrated speckers * VGA, DM sigral connectors +300 edi’ brightness + Sms esponsetine + Inemal power adapter $229 (€119176.000) eer ALI916 Cb 19° TTL 11280 x 1024 native esohion ©1001 contrat tate + 150° hrizortal viewing angle 1135" vertical viening ange ‘= VGA signal connector + 300 cin’ brightness ‘ Smsresporse te + Intemal power adapter $219 (e1191€8.00¢) ‘Acer ALZO16WBbd 1+ 20° wide-screen TFT LCD + 1680 x 1050 ative rescltion + 8001 contrast ratio +160" hocizomalvewng angle + 160° vertical viewing ence + VGA, BV signa comecors + 300 elt’ brightness + Sms response time + internal power adapter $219 exor61e308) ‘Acor ALI9ITW Abd $19" wde-sereen TFT LeD +1440 » $00 native resolution #701 contastratio *157° horizontal viewing ancle (135° vertical viewing angle + Tino 1.0N integrated speakers * VGA, DVI signal connectors +300 edi brightness + 5ms response time + intemal power adopter $199 EXCITWPA04 ‘Acer ALIS16W Ab 119" widescreen TFT LED “1440 x900 native ecoluton #7001 conta ratio “150° horizontal viewing angie 135° vertical viewing angle + VGA signal crmecter 300d’ brightness ‘5 response time *iternel power edaoter $195 €719168,09)Acer® Aspire® 7520 * AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology * Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium + 2GB DDR2 667 SDRAM * 160GB" hard drive * Integrated Super-Multi drive (DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD-RAM) + 5.in-1 card reader * 17.0" WXGA+ (1440 x 900) TFT display, Acer® CrystalBrite Technology * NVIDIA® GeForce® 7000M graphics * 802.11b/g WLAN, Bluetooth®, 10/100 LAN, \V.92 modem, integrated webcam * One-year limited warranty? 2 8 wees Acer Aspire 7520-5115 $899 AMD Turion 64 X2 Ducl-Core Mobile Technology TL52 Genuine Windowrs Vista® Home Premium (XANZOX.OT0) |AMDz1| Turion! MOBILE TECHNOLOGY ‘Acer Quickcharge Faure on select models, Acer Quickcharge technology enables the notebook’sbatey tobe 80 percent fully charge in just one hour i ‘Acer DASP Dick Ant Shock Pretection ica technclogy that safe uetds the hard dsk aginst knocks and provides an ‘unmatched level of protection, Acer Cptalbrite é ‘technology that delves enhanced video performance fr tekant trages, making ‘ideal for sophisicated applications such a¢ HDTV ard digital games es hon ae etna te ps ae owe deta HN eters wale pes mayenAcer® Veriton® L410 ays ape @mpovwering technology + AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 dual-core processor * Genuine Windows Vista® Business or - Genuine Windows® XP Professional + 1GB DDR2 SODIMM * 160GB’ SATA hard drive * SuperMulti drive (DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD-RAM) * AT! Radeon” X1250 graphics solution + 802.11b/g WLAN, gigabit LAN * USB keyboard and mouse 2.4" Wx98" Dx7.9" H * One-year limited warranty? Acer Veriton L410 $499 AMD Athlon” 64 X2 dual-core processor 42004 ‘Genuine Windows Vista® Business Microsoft® Office Ready (60-day tral? and CD with Genuine Windows® XP Professional? (VL410-UD42010) 01 ‘Genuine Windows* XP Professional (VLai0-uD@201P)Acer® Veriton® M410 + AMD Phenom” processor * Genuine Windows® XP Professional * DVD-Dual drive (DVD+/-RW) * ATI Radeon™ X1200 graphics solution * Gigabit LAN + Keyboard and mouse * One-year limited warranty? Acer Veriton M410 $799 ‘AMD Phenom" 9600 quackcore processor Genuine Windows® XP Professional (viat0-UFS600P) 3G8 DDR2 SDRAM and 320GB! SATA hard crive Acer Veriton M410 $699 AMD Phenom” 9500 quad-core processor Genuine Windows® XP Frofessional (vtma10-UF9500P) 2GB DDR2 SDRAM and 250GB! SATA hard drive & & ay ey ‘Acer elock Management ‘Acer eLock Management locks and unlocks ssorage media with passwd protection for acdtenal secu ‘Acer ePerformance Management ‘Acer Performance Menagernet optimizes performance tw male the most of your computer's powet. ‘Acer eRecovery Management ‘Acer eRecovery Management isan easy-to-use utility tw ceate backups restore from your archives ‘Acer eSettings Management ‘eer eSettngs Management provides easy acess to bot options security oc general system information. ‘Acer eDataSocurity Management Convenerly integrated into the Windows® environment, Acer eDataSecurity Manegement provides one-dick encryption and decryption of your files.AMDi Acer® TravelMate® 5520 Turion * AMD Turion” 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology * Genuine Windows Vista® Business + 1GB DDR2 667 SDRAM * 120GB' hard drive * Integrated Super-Multi drive (DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD-RAM) + 5:in-1 card reader * 15.4" WXGA (1280 x 800) TFT display * Integrated ATI Radeon” Xpress 1250 graphics * 802.1 1b/g WLAN, gigabit LAN, V.92 modem * Fingerprint reader * One-year limited warranty? we B Acer TravelMate 5520-5678 $699 ‘AMD Turion” 64 x2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology 158 Genuine Windows Viste* Business Microsoft® Office Ready (60-day tia) and 7 CD with Geruine Windows® XP Professional* @mpowerin: g technology (xTKUZ,003) Protect Your Investment with an Acer Notebook Service Upgrade ‘eats thr ry oneal mshn ad Sch ct th aan oid 1 tug wd thr aed ast 3 ined rar ier cpa ‘indie yy ta nae Be al ton rae 2:¥ear extension of une waranty (46.8880) 2a tenon of Linked aan + year een Ueaace (ies aoriaen apa tight om Rep pat $199 ‘xaut orem ctntoraonl Hane aan repos ight tan rom hat oa Sep "geri a erga esi mak ct eter pave Soran lied wry nbs eo ee whee Ae recs orld wit ta es America pace Ce a in edd to, Genuine Windovn Vota Bunn " dargrnut ke ng teaver Mah | 20 A 208 uation eration nd icesae atic ‘tion we onary fe fe moe, ‘Firltae se ragetaed Wodema of Keine AcuoweReviews Rankings ViewSonic's Pretty, Pricey LED-Backlit Monitor VIEWSONIC’S 224nch wide- The VLED221wm offers a screen VLED221wm — 12,000:1 dynamic contrast TEED is the worke’s rst ratio (which allows the dis- sub-$1000 LCD monitor phy of impressive blacks), with LED backlight techno! ogy, which delivers Iy igh see color gamut. Though itlooks reat, a $799 it's still too expensive for most people. ft provides great color eepro- duction, has a 1680 by 1050 tive resolution, and boasts n and a wide response time of Sms, The VLED221wm is cleanly designed, witha thin, glossy, deep-black beze! chat proved to be smudge and finger print resistant. The bezel also unobtrusively holds the builtin stereo speakers, whose sound is satisiactory forlow background music, ‘Though the display tks, it does not swivel or pivot. Imour image-quality tests, VLED22IM | ViewSonic Huge premium fr tis monit’s LED backlightiert worthit, List $709 fine pewortd com 50825 the VLED221wm's performance overall was very good, but it failed 10 outdo several cheaper, non- LED-backlit com- petivors, While feom Star Wars Episode t—Auackof the Cloner, | noticed that the colors seemed inac- curate, but a quick i ering with the color- temperature settings fixe the problem, Afterward the on-sercen colors appeared bright and clear, not over saturated, Red lasers shot from starfighters looked brilliant and intense. This monitor is best suit: ed fora movie buff who has \IEWSONIC'S VLEDZ2IWm ‘smudges ittebut costs ot ‘multimedia/graphics design cr. Formost everyone else, $799 would be better spent ona larger LCD monitor o cevena dual-monitor setup. money to bura, or fora —GregAdler Free Video Editor: Stripped Down but Still Capable PINNACLE STUDIOIS far from my favorite video edit- {ing application, but Pinna: cle’s VideoSpin, a new, free editor based on Studio, does a pretty darn good job. ‘Though it doesn’t match the sophistication of paid-for applications, it does let you perform basic edits and out- [pur movies for use online. VideoSpin has some strict Limitations. The application works only with files on your hard drive. You can't edit audio, except for levels ‘THIS FREE VIDEO editor comes with a price: displays ads for other Pinnacle produ -and for products sold on Amazon.com. Since the app has no video effects, you can't brighten dark movies. Unless you pur chase add-ons, you can ex: port files only to AVI, Flash, Real, or MPEG-1 format; you can't exchange files with Studio, either. The interface directly to YouTube or to Yahoo Video easly. Altecna- ively you can output files in DivX, MPEG-2, or MPEG-4 format to your hard drive, albeit only for 15 days; afier chat you can purchase the set of codecs for $15 or pay $5 each for individual codes Pd stilladvise most people size is xed, so you can'e view it fullscreen, and you ‘must put up with advertise- ‘ments rotating in the top- middle of the interface ‘The application provides a surprising number of video ansitions, and though it has merely a handful of tide to buy a fallservice video editor, but VideoSpin is a good option if all you want to dois dress up clips before uuploaging them to YouTube Alan Staford templates, you can custom ize them to your heart's con tent, Ithas several cheesy sound effeets, and you can Import auclio files for use as a soundtrack. When you're done, you can use Video- Spin to upload your movies Videospin| Pinnacte Systems seul for a fee ideo edo, but vyoulUhove took at ads Free find peworld comy/S0687Reviews Rankings HP's Dedicated GPS Device Leverages the Web THOUGH HP has been ereat- ing GPS-enabled iPaq hand hields fora few years now, its Incest device isthe frst to has media plyerand supports Bluetooth for use asa hands-free celular ki The 310s cexrto-speech atcempt serious competition technology allows the voice with Garmin, TomTom, and dicections to n other dedicated GPS prod- ‘ucts made with automotive adventures in mind. But while the Pag 319 Travel Companion isa creditable effort, several glitches make its eather steep price—it lists for $450—difficule to justify, The 319 Travel Companion provides turn-by-turn direc- tions and points interest Jookup ona slim (0.7-inch thick) device with a hand: some, crisp $00-by-A80-pixel 43:inch LCD touch sercen which can be a major plas in ‘unfamiliar areas. The device's speakers didn’t seem powerful enough, however: Even with the product's volume turned all the way up, had difficulty hearing the dizec- tions sometimes. Currently HP is not offering an FM transmitter to direct the 310 ‘Travel Companion’s audio through car speakers. What eistinguishes the $310 from competing models {sits integration with HP's that youean perch onthe recently launched! iPaq Navi- included windshield/dash. board mount (youalso get a car charger to keep the de- Vice juiced up). The unit also An Outdoor Tablet PC CAN YOU RECOMMEND an affordable tablet PC that has an ex: ceptional screen for outdoor viewing? Jim Cicrnia, San Luis Obispo, California Senior Editor Narasu Rebbapragadaresponds: ook for tablets hose screens have options for extra brightness (measured in rits) and/or an antiglare coating: screens with these options ceneraly costa bt more than standard screens. Comoaries se different naming conventions fr their premium-screen technologies Fujtsu’s term is Color-Enhanced Crystal View, HP’sis BrightView and Sony's Xbite. A couple of recommen tions: HP's Pavilion 2000 tablet witha BrightView wide soreen splay starts at $1300. Fuitsu's Stylistic ST5100 Teblet PC comes with a reflective, front-litcispley that's optimized for cutdoor, daylight viewing, butt starts at a pricey $2649, E-mailyour questions to askourexperts@peworld com, or post them online at forums peworld.eam, HP'S DEVICE sports 2 ‘tlm, handsome design, and ‘crisp, clear4.2-4nchLeD. gate avel-planning Web says! Ostet Site and Content Manager seling apm ops desktop software. For exam- through its Web ste soon.) ‘The 310 iPaq Travel Com- anion is based on Micro soft’s Windows CE sof- ‘ware, and it suffers from that platform's inability to shut down applications that ‘aren't in active use. At one point I got an ‘Out of Mem- ‘ry’ error message, which ‘went away only when I reset the device—and when I re- booted, ! discovered that the uait had lost the North ‘American female voice 'd ple, you can syne Outlook contacts to the device and then choose contact’sad- dress.asa destination; you can alo plan trips on the site and then syne them to the device and/or share them with friends. But you must regis with the site to do any of that, and people who don’t care about trip planning might not appreciate having to reg ister just to syne contacts ‘Also, neither the site nor the Concent Manager sofware is incuitive. {tied co plan a summer road trip from San Francisco to Tampa, but was stymied by the site's arbi- trary sixcay limit; Teouldn't see how co determine what stops I might wish to add, cither. The site wanted me to earch for points of| estat specific places, assum ing I knew in advance where ‘on the route I'd like to stop. ‘Content outside North set ic to use. Furthermore, I found the plethora of cons around the main screen ‘bewileering; what each of them does wasn’t cleat. ‘The 10 iPaq Travel Com- panion is good-looking ‘hardware that handles navi- gation basics fine. But until the extras work better, i's not worth the high price. Yarden Arar America was very limited. For now, you can’t use the ‘Content Manager application to download additional ‘maps or transfer mukimedia content to the device—you have to buy additional maps preloaded on SD Cards. (HP iPaq 310Travet Companion Hewlett Packard Poor software desion end usability Undermire high-cuaity hardware. st #450 find peworld com 60055Drawing Tablet’s Built-In LCD Is the Draw PRICED JUST BELOW a especially in compacison tivity as och thousand dollars, Wacom’s with other, more afford Wacom tablets Cintiq 12WX isthe newest, able drawing tablets. do. Wacom The $999 12WX is E works with tiq drawing tablec todate. light (4:4 pounds), sofware pub- smallest, and cheapest C 4s with previous Cintig mod- with a 12.t4inch lishers to add ls, you canéraw directly on display area support for new its builtin LCD sereen with Tas a features in such pro- a digitizer pen; the compa ive resolu gramsaas Adobe Pho ny's drawing pensarefincly tion of 1280 by oshop and Illustrator tuned to the Features of 860. However, though and CorelDraw. major graphics programs. the 12WWX is more compact Wacom sces the 12WX ‘The 12WX looks and works than its larger cousins, Iwas fn affordable upgrade great, but you payahefty _takenaback by the amount BF designers who want to premium fora sereen that of desk space I had to clear ‘move up from its Intuos tab- isn’t pacticulaly roomy— for it. The display is encased THETILTINGSURFACElooks _lets. The cisplay is remark Insioayioihian sd peattncwariirin yer ce po "nin mle com Binge cig r15 tne conte conrnet ply) Ae Sco’ terme ser tniseatemciecrin Snterantrteesmensr healer ee oo that bridges your comput- to your PC, and you have Is the 12WX worth twice Vonage'’s Flashy V-Portal Offers Easier VoIP Setup IF YOU'RE AN Internet not always appropriate ones, that T unplug the powercon- fora fax or second voice (VoIP) phone user, you In ay tests, for instance, the nector and plug it in again; line. The unit is ako a single- right not pay muchatten-V-Portal detected an “incor- unfortunately, this didn't port outer, so you cancon- tonto the adapter that links rect network setting” during correct the problem,and 1 _neeta computer or another your home phone to the setup. The LCD suggested had tocall Vonageforhelp. _networkable device to it cable /DSL modem or router The LCD's interface iseasy Ifyou plan to sign up wich Vonage aims to change tolearn, and navigating the Vonage, the V-Portal adapt- that situation with onscreen menusis simple, er, fora merc ten bucks, isa its new V-Portal, a Postal works with Call- worthy upgrade that delivers flashy adapter with a ecID,and itdisphays some additional information builtin LCD screen the phone number about your VolP service. that helps with instal and sometimes the HefBerelaeci lation, toubleshoot ‘name of the person and diagnostic issues calling. The call Available to new Von- ‘imeris convenient age customers for a $10 for poople who need fecand to existing custom: to log conversation times, «rs for $89, the V-Portal and the voice-mail incicator Porta Vonage performs afew unexpected shows when messages are oodooking device oferplenty ticks. Its 2.5inch mono-_WITHITS SPORTY orange waiting, The V-Portal has of helpful features Ls: 80 (610 chrome LCD offers fixes for stripe, the VPertatat east two phone ports, onefor __fernew Vonage customers) common glitches—though attempts tobefashionforward, the mainline anda second fin peworlean60086 peut 2000 ww pewanta.com | 67Reviews Rankings New Color Laser MFP Dips Just Below $500 ALLTHE COLOR hiser mu! tifunction printer EW marker needsto become as hot as that of color inkjet multifunctions is fora decent machine 10 hic the magic $500 price point. Afew underpowered models have hovered in that range, but now they have some real competition: the $499 Lexmark X500n, which achieved a peppy speed of, 254 pages per minute in ourtests, and the $549 Oki Printing Solutions C3530n, which managed a competent 20.3 ppm. Not surprisingly however, these MEPs still sacrifice some features and. performance. The X500n Jacks duplexing, even as an co option. The C3539n feels less sturdy than other Oki products we've tested, and its graphics quality is dis appointing. Both ‘models will cast you more in the long rua because of their > Se expensive consum- ables, For example, a '5000-page black car- teidge forthe X500n costs almost $135, and 3000-poge color ear tridges cost nearly $120, apiece. Add those costs up, and you've nearly matched els on our chart, Brother's the price ofthe MFP itself. MEC-944OCN cams the top, You'll find the eal sweet position for its good bal- spotafew hundred dolls ance of speed and features. higher: Of the five new mod. Although some aspects of Pe yee 1 ‘$699 Fed genera 50880 ‘ett Multifunction Cotor 2. LaserPrintersisen 000 Fed gcneridea/S3800 XeroxPraser6180MEP 000 Fedycveridconsoo QM ‘OkAPrinting §5 Solutions C3530» 38 ndgoucricc/sa883 OTTOMLINE:Aawvotan Teg Speier stipe MFC-96600N *sapnes ay Fa ‘zippnoraenes emihtlerate his ntsc rapes sity ar ‘Tetdeped pn} 22 te apis gay Spear ‘sigan rap gy Cond yagi ‘Tete ped pon} 23 S00 epimaimamtueestr Haris reson Teg Speer Srp gsi Fair Tesedsped im): 25 ted 00 by 1 dpm ve clr strin Brophy Far *Tesedsped yon: 23400 ‘rapes URTHTES. res andra rs 270, ped ager mut ek ene aetna ‘TRADE-OFF:LEXMARK'S SOON costs ust S488 ‘but uses pricey toner. the designate awkward it’s the best bet fora small office. growing office should look at Dell’s Multifunction Color Laser Printer 3115en, the cunner-up, i costs more than the Brother, but it’s also lot speedier and more andable. Right behind it is Xerox's Phaser 6180MFP, ‘which is better cesigned and faster at printing text than the Del it closely resembles but is slower with graphics Konica Minolta’ Magi color 2590MF didn’t make the chart, but it’s notable for the extremely compact design ofits coze printer engine (although adding the seanner unit and other parts expands its total footprint co. more typical size) Its in- terior so crowded that you canaecess only one toner cartridge at atime, using an automated rotation process. ‘Though the 2590MF offers a PictBridge port for easy printing of photos from digital cameras with a compatible connector, ts photo quality was subpac Infact, none of the color- laser MPPs we reviewed this ‘month achieved natural- looking photo prints. They struggled with color accurae ey and often produced overall grainy ooking prints. For the best graphics printing you'll stil wantan inkjet. Melita RefScan Anywhere. Get Organized! Reece eas Wine necay raed The IRIScan™ 2 is ultra portable, USB powered and backed by an extended software suite, so you can get things done! Waseeh Portable Light-Compact-USB' Productivity softwere inckided: Readiris Pro 11 (Worlds #1 OCR softwere}, Carrs (Business Card Recognition Software), LRS. Desktop Search (Search Engine for yourPC), Photo Sulte 9 Special Edition Photo editing mace eas, by Roxio) and @bromt Office 7 (11 language pals translation software) | gos ‘Scan Business Cards Scan Paper Documents mm) Scan Photos = ‘To Outlook, Outlook Letters, faxes receipts, Convert piles of photos pres, Notes, invoices, te liminate into shared digtal Ga Aires Book Act etc your paper clutter se memories IRISScan2- : for Windows & MacintoshReviews Rankings Jango Internet Radio Adds Fun Social Features IFYOU'RETIRED of tuning station toward Iron Maiden into the same old music, ry and Ozzy Osbourne, which shaking things up abit with are too metal for my taste Jango. Similar to sites such Jango saves an unlimited as Pandora and Last.fm, umber of stations to your Jango seams custom Intei~ profile, and it offers several net radio sitions focused ways co customize them. fon your favoriteartists. But You ean add artists Jango itgoes way beyond phying provides suggestions, or you Djsthe beta version Itested can plug inyour own); ban integrates asocial aspect certain musicians; and choose thatmakes discoveringnew —_whetheryou want to play rmasicfun, by matching you popular songs, more obscure With ikeminded Istenees. music, or something that’s THEVANGO PLAYER spay dona sngsby he arent lay When you enter thename —_in between the two. ‘ing artist, a3 well as other users who share your musical taste. of an artist, the site creates a radio station centeet'on Limited Selection also sys tis constantly add- site also lets you keep trick thatarist, Unite Pandora, Customizing dations cer ingeunes tothe rotation) of what your Jango Friends itwon'tletyouenterasong winlyheipedime shape the Jango follows cetictions _arerecking out to, and tile) Jangoalsoadds other songiclettions more tomy defined by the Digial Mi-_ attempts we connect you tunes thinks youllenjey ‘liking though wthonly —Tennium Copyright Act—and. wah LikeWinde—ucere tased onanumberof ence: 15,000anistsand 200,000 paysroyakies tobelsand with similar musica inekina fia, Forinsance the service songs notation these artsts—sothe ste sper. __onsas yous, One polite takes into account what vce has limits, Forinstance, Telly egal. It makes money touc Jango offers to send cher serswho ethe atreviewtime,justten—whenyoudlickon inks to ahankyou when you tune tame aistare also listening Queen songe were in the ‘buy music through is part- out of someone’ sation toyandit looks st stylsucal system. (Aeordingo Jango, nes (sh athe Tunes For the most par, msi Iyanalogousaccsfrom simi Cheservcchat acess to Suoreamd Amazoncom) at steaming wae eooth, wich Targenmesandtime periods. much more music thanis_—-wellasthrough advertising, a ew rare utters on one Thoughthe service phyed ised, bucamlyzingicand__jngo'e sea prowess les in occasion, Jango indieated some plixing mien it did addingitothelstener Re soialnetworking fer thata song was paying atempttoslewmy Queen daralasetabes ime fango tures, which, whenyou ce _cven though there was ate aango profile, help you audio. Jango says that i is hook upwith people who worklngom repairing a fave he same good (or bad) numberof sues, 7 i tasteasyou.The Jango play- Sil jngo is solid tfyou Vista's Most Popular Version exdispliysadditional songs digthc whole social net- HEN YOUBUY your next PC. whch versoncf Windows Vita | by shecurrentl phayingant- working scene—and want should you chonse? Vista Home Bas lacks the sy Aero injaivllaseien hoard toiechow iccou expand environment but costs the least Vista Ultimate has everything listening to the same per» your musical universe— Microsoft offers inan operating system,butcostsan arm anda | former or similar artists. Jango is worth a spin. leg, Andthevaaiors inbetween erehardteiell apart. Fara | Clicking on asong takes you Cutty Le chicklookat the versions, go tinigenmscomss0072)Ove | tothe sation playing econ heweverta emerges the fevore arom PC buyers, | selctnga user takes you vo According oAGiten of TOC Research din 2007 pron | aprofi page, where you AST] rately 75 percent of consumer PCs shipped with Vista Home ‘can cheek out that person's [ii Premium, while most of the rest shipped with Vista Home Basic. stations and other informa- waa ‘Vista Ultimate accounts for only a couple of percentage points. tion (birth date, location, Jango (Beta) On the business sie Wndovs XP il rules but Windows | and favortebocks and mov- Jang ates msde tothe Viste Business aceounied for round 0 porcet ofthe bus ies or example) that they net ee Fre ress POs shiping with aia version —Gngadter | avechoon estar, The snenionsncom 70|uww.reworte.com spat 2008SIMPLIFY AND MANAGE YOUR 1. WITH A SINGLE CHASSIS. management set up. Easy to use way to simplify your IT. ads wih the ably o expand to muti From the \d Bus! into the chassie - 367B SAS or STB SATA t's innovation made easy. 3 yeer customer replaceable unt and on site ited warranty S21 EXPRESS 49) or ior dual por ed waresReviews Rankings Versatile Voyager Lacks iPhone’s Fine Touch ‘THE FEATURE-PACKED LG e-mail and instant messages. Voyager from Vere Its 2-megapixel eamera LEM zonWiccless per. capturessuperior digital NSIDETHE forms many tasks well. The stills, and its stereo speak~—_Vayagersts a reasonably compact ouch eisdoa pretty good job —_‘firstrate GWERTY Keyboard. screen phone makes voice playing MPs. Its builtin calls excellent quality and GPS receiverand VZ Navie the touchrsercen depart: flips open to reveal afirst- gation service (an extracost ment Its VibeTouch haptics we've tested. But the hand~ rate keyboard for typing ‘option) were easy to setup technology provides good set delivers alot of style (not and worked fine, making tactile feedback (alittle co mention 3G, but no Wi the Voyager tuly uscful for, vibration) when you pressa Fi, connectivity) for $349 well, voyages. Web brows- screen button, but fingertip with a wwo-year contract. ing overVerizon’s EDO —_scrollingis disappointing, you're not insistent on te network was zippy. lacking the effortlessly an iPhone-caliber touch g Le Voyager Verizon Wireless When closed, the Voyager smooth experience ofthe screen—orifyou preferVeri- Feotwe-flehandsetdossmast looks ikean iPhone, witha iPhone's implementation. zon Wiseless toATSET—the things wel. Ust 6349 (withto- face dominated by a beauti- The Voyagers batery Voyagerian goodakemative | E sein cneried ful2Binchdisplay—but ife—1 hours, 38 minutes into Apple’ litte gem. i nd ponertecom€003 the Voyager falls shore in our lab tests—was poor —Yandena Arar V J tt ™ www.FreeQuickWire.com ond Www. VersaJette.com ersaJette PAYMENT PROCESSING SYSTEM \VoreaJottor™ 1300.8 - FREE with minimum purchase. Visit wor VorzoJete.com/peword for detalls, or call Free @ seosnsruene 877.872.1189 QuickWire- echtck demery cto cost 72|mww.reworte.com spati 2008Razer's Sharp PC Speakers FIVE SPEAKERS AROUND your PC borders on overkill Bur cut down that number, and sound quality can suffer: Razea’s $400 Mako 2.1 Ad- vanced Desktop Audio Sys tem solves that dilemma. It ‘The two satellite speakers and subwoofer fool you {nto thinking that you ha more speakers than you do. That's hecause the Mako's ownwarthficing speakers ounce sound off your desk surface to eveate incredibly spacious sound quality Listening to gunfire in che game Crysis hal me duck- for cover. And despite the Mako's gaming heri tage, these speakers are great for movies and music too, Watching Tie Fast and the Furious, fel cars sexcam. past my cars to a near provides top-notch audio and does a good job of simu ning surround sound. 8 Mako 21 Advanced Desktop ‘Audio System | Razer This pricey system sounds 08 gece assome 5 speate its, Doppler effect. It's amaz- List $400 ing, really, the quality of ind 0 sound that sumbles from INRAZER'S SPEAKERS, high {ashlon meets holrtech aude. these A few drawbacks stand connects to the subwoofer, can adjust only bass levels and volume. And I'd ike to see more connectivity options on the back of the sub: woofer Ithas a standard 3.5mm jack for your PC and fone set of RCA inputs for your olde-tyme devices, but an optical audio input for connecting your present-day DYD player could have made these speakers realy sing, ‘Ac $400, the Mako is as expensive as most good 5.1 kts (suchas Logitech's 2-5500), ‘but it requires less space and sounds almost as good. For fashion-forward audiophiles, it’s well worth the money. Darrow Gladstone tera rt a aa i ore Dea Lacy ~ A A www.ewiz.com etd Pear een ae peut 200 wow pewenta.com | 73Logitech’s New Remote: In Perfect Harmony ul SAL hand. ts TV, and even an VCR, but [had to set up two satelite TVo DVRs manually i clfferent past the setup proc The Harmony One, like the Harm feel alone (itis hat it replac ‘The touch sereen she prtably inthe icons and eo ‘THE HANDSOME HARMONY One fits comfortably in the hand. Logitech tions or employ the push The esis weve buttoncontrok, [tall works found yt. List $260 together intuitively fire poncrtecer e002 While using the Harmony Without the CEO the company doesn’t work. eae MTN the CEO doesn’t work. eee ei ERR Lr Po Ose ee eNO Me UCN CEU! duce ec ba el CRT] 866.397.3056 (0) KAPLAN UNIVERSITY )ATEN www.aten.com ‘Simply Better Connections’ Oe WLI Fay, too many PCs and peripheras? ATEN KVMP™ Switches Come to the Rescue ~ > ms What is KVMP™ Switch? What Can a KVMP™ Switch Do for You? {esly and conorenly menage mull Ps ord USB peripheral xno sine cersle ‘ayboord, Yidoo and Max) ~#: 1 96 m Meeps Speke nom (1) =~ nin Usb Mate i _ Benefits of Using KVMP™ Switch Share Muiple Paiphwrls > Space Soving »€817328/¢517943 »¢81762/¢81764 a ee Sou Hein »es1742vesi744 »€81772/¢81774 Who is Using KVMP" Switch Slee Knaea Sune Mabie PC Ur, Noebock Ue, Malla Frpheral User, GomereCirkit: Dog in Wolf's Attire ECIRKITBILLS ITSELF asa ing, contaets,and even a social networking site or minibrowser: Its Social Pen- “arcists, speed-and thr trator applet (complete seckers, non-conformists, witha power-1000 employees) APC aged Rei “ f eee) Battery Back-UPS Staring a8 8899 ie. ur most oncray BE efficient backup for home comput. ‘Deut DS en Coae rover Nace/orctas itor, Hp Foun, ‘mints nt APC can fly with our ete poner protection nods (io pe conto se our corse ec nrovat pags Legendary Reliability’Reviews Rankings able to get some to install Dut others—ineluding ones that would have allowed me {o use HP printersaround ur office—would not down load or instal. FreeSpire comes preloaded with an instant messaging client and Samba (a program for sharing files with Windows PCs). The £05, in comparison, is much friendlier than Free- Spire, despite their common origins. Tae most obvious diflerence is a Mac OS-like toolbar at the bottom of the 208 screen; the icons even 10w a5 you mouse over them, as on the Mac. eons linking to Google's Web applications, including Google Docs, GoogleTalk, and Blogger, dominate the toolbarand the applications ‘menu, ut the OS has no ties to Google—apparently i's justan homage. Limited Support. Neither system came with any printed manuals or doc- ‘umentacion other than basic setup posters. Both have one-year warranties, and Everex offers tllfve, 24/7 tech support; Micus offers only the most basi of onli forms for tech support—you can't call the company. Truc, a huge Linux com= munity online i waiting co help even beginners, butif all you know is Windows- lke clicking and dragging, all the assistance inthe world won't make slogging through command-line entries seem casy. If your budget’ tight, I'd recom- rend waiting fora deal on PC that costs.a bit more— and that runs Windows. Alan Stafford DOWNLOAD THIS Fixes for News, Work, Music Overloads EVEN GOOD THINGS canget unmanageable attimes Let's look at software to cherry-pick the news. organize your projects and unearth forgotten gems from your music collection. The News You Need We're all amas in news. Reduce that flood to a eof just the topics that interest you with FeedDemon, aloratime, aoou- lar RSS reader that'snow ‘availabe for free. FeedDemon'sdual-pane, tabbed interface lets you easily navigate RSS feeds and read ‘ews items. The well-chosen default seleston of feeds rang- es from ful entertainment ‘gossip to sorious news, Youcan alzo save tems in Clippings folders and inctruct FeedDeron tokeep an eye out for articles you might like I! you preter oftine reading. you Ccanhhave FeedOeman prefetch the feeds fr lator perusal ‘Wen so many RSS foods, its easy to oversub- scribe, so you may appreciate the Panic Button, hich delates all news elder than a numberof hours or ays that you spec. Think it as 2 Ute presener. Free, fine eworetcom 2969, The Mountains of the Mind You need to marshal your thoughts—butRoman- ‘numeral outtines are too tinear, and so-called mind maps are too flat With 30 Toniescape Lite, you can build three-dimersional maps of your projects and fil in the necessary inferma- tion. Then you can “ly over your mental tnd ‘seage. zooming in and out; changing the ‘angles, until you home inon what youneed. 30 Topicscape depicts topics as 3D cones, ‘The parent topic dominates the area tke a ‘mountain with chile topics as hls around it ‘and their children arcund them. Youdrag and drop files links, and archived Web paces into ‘any topic, compiling list that organizes your resourees without maving fils around, Making sense of messy connections is 3D TTooicscane's forte. Ifa topicis related tooth ers, you can associate i with more cones, For ‘get what's associated with what? Click any instance of the topic in question. arc aglowing ‘white dot appears over its associations. ‘After waiching the short demos, youl need ‘only a few minutes of using the program to get ‘comfortable~and then addicted. 3D Topic= scape Lite isa powerful way o store, exlore ‘30 TOPICSCAPE LITE bulls 3D mind maps with your aececiations, ‘and retrieve all kinds of information, Free tral $850 t keep, fine powort.comy/$9970. Mine Your Musical Gems ‘Agood playlist is 2 work of art. Sut any hard drive full of music is bound to harbor neglectec jewels: Mutin MusicFinder Base analyzes your collection and creates playlists based on musical criteria, not on tags or obvious associations. The bigger your eclection, the more cohesive- sounding-and eclectic-looking—the playlists “Tose MusicFinder just import your cellec- tion, select the track or tracks that suit your macd,end let the progam find similar songs, You can save the playlists for later or play them right there in MusicFinder. “The programs idea for locating creat tracks hidden on uneven albums such as movie sound ‘racks. For onememorable playlist created, MusicFinder pulled tracks from albums classi: fied asheavy metal, jazz piano, and somba. I ‘could never have dreamed vp the resuit on my ‘own. Free, eaistration cequired after ane week. find ponor.con 5997), @Protects your computer, the environment, and your wallet. Get the most energy efficient desktop battery backup yet. 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A any a bg diflererce. ww lausaasonsofhopa comUsp Sti eS 56K USB MODEM (oesteay + USB convenience and ease of usc, with simple Plug and Play installation + Hot-swappable (installs and uninstalls automatically) * Bus-powered so it doesn’t require an external power supply abil + Excellent works with Windows, Linus, and Macs + UsRoborics Modem on Hold applicacion kets you screen calls and take ealls without droppin + Send and receive faves through your computer, supports group faxing and timed faxing *# Quick Connect reduces the time it takes o establish your dial-up Internet connection and V.92 lets you end email Lup to 50M faster + Home users with no broadband access and/or those who desire the additional security of dial-up Internet * Business travelers with laptops and no intemal modem for office access (when broadband isnt available) + Laptop and desktop users that desire “back-up” access the Internet in case of broadband failure + Home and business users that need fax eapabilicy wo andE Software, 8New Power Give your browser, office apps, and multimedia programs new life with these 50+ add-ons, tips, and tweaks. BY CHRISTOPHER NULL | ILLUSTRATIONS BY DAVID PLUNKERT STUCK WITH A BORING BROWSER? Wish that Word could handle more tasks? Feel hemmed in by Photoshop? You don’t have to toss (or upgrade) your existing software to get new features and tools, Sometimes a plug-in, an add-on, or even a simple tweak can enable your computer to do tricks you never even thought of before. We rounded up more than 50 of our favorite tools and tips for unlocking extra value from popular browsers, productivity applications, and multimedia tools. »> ‘pent 2000 www pewoRta.com | 83Browser Boosters Web browsers—especially Firefox—ace built with plugsins in mind, Thousands of these code snippets are available, Dut here we present some of the most useful add-ons, plus a few tips that don't require any extra code. NukeWebads Thoush decried by many Webmasters for cutting intoa lucrative revenue stream, Adblock Plus is practi: cally a mandatory addition to Firefox, due to an increasingly onerous glut of ‘Web advertising, (IE users ean try Ad Munches free for 30 days and then pay $30; find penerte.29n/30876.) Pat simply, ‘Adblock Plus blocks aés—not just pop- Ups, but regular banners, towers, rich- media staff, and Google’s ubiquitous advertisements. Adblock Plus doesn't stop everything, but i nabs enough that you'll notice the difference imme- lately, tne pewor'd com/5985 ‘Many POs. one set of Bookmarks: Ifyou tse numerous computers, you have ‘undoubtedly had to deal with separate browsers on each of those PCs, each with its own sec of bookmarks that must be managed separately—uriless you have a bookmark synchronizes, thacis. Foxmarks isone of a numberof tools that can syne Firefox bookmarks among multiple machines. just install Foxmarks as an add-on to the Fiefox installation on each system, and never worry about manual syncing again. As a bonus you can access your bookmarks on the Foxmarks Web site, too. fic. peworkd com/60003 PutanFTPappintoFirefox Even the most casual Web developer needs an FTP application, but many of these are cumbersome and unintuitive—and they require installing yetanother full-blown program. FicePTP urns Fiefox into an impromptu and speedy two-way FTP application, Once installed, FirePTP appears in the Tools menu, Click itand a ew FTP tab opens up, offering a simple two-pane system that lets you easily copy files between your desktop and your remote site. fe peworldcom(58873 Get ahandleondownloadedtites: If you area download junkie who always has something in the queue and browse to the following Registry ey: HREY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Sef- caure| Micro lnern Explore Mata, FearareConiro\FEATURE_HTTP_ USERNAME_PASSWORD_DISABLE Here, create two new DWORD vale ues: explorcexe and explorercre. Leave the default DWORD value for each of theseat ‘0’. Restart IE. Grabahardcopyaf any Webpage: Did you ever printa hard copy of a Web page oly to have it come out garbled, tokeech ofthe Web, you FLASHEETTRACKS missing images. and otherwise ‘needa download manag- allyourdownloeds, nigh unscadable? One reason certo helphandleevery- regardlessof the that may happen is because the thing. FlashGet isa fice specttcapplication, newfangled Web 2.0 standards and extremely popular download manager that can help you organize and queue up HTTP, FTP, BitTorrent, and other types of down loads, working inthe background and letting you pause and resume downloads. ean even tell your computer to shut itself down when the downloading s done. Works ‘on any browser. tne pevorion6000% Restore embedded passwords tolEURLS Several years 2g0, Microsoft disallowed Internet Explorer to use an embedded password as part of URL (ofthe format Ipe://asername:passwordaserver.com) ‘when a user goes toa protected Web site; instead the person must type in the password manually at che pop-up login sereen. (This restriction was a response to phishers’ employing phony password fies to deceive unsuspeet- ingusers.) Restoring IE’s original ability takesa Regisry tweak. Run Regedit, don't pay well with 0.1-era printers. Solution: Grab a screen shot of a Web page, and select Priar. But how do you do that, when a single page has enough content to fill up chree display screens? ‘Simple: Install Sereengrab for Firefox, which lets you save a full page, the visi ble portion af a page, or just the tidbit you'd like to keep. IE Sereenshot per: forms similar tricks for the Microsoft browser, Save images as digial files or print them out. find powerdcom/59878, find peworld cam S867 ‘Copyany Web vdeo: Vacious Web services let you punch in the URL ofa YouTube flick or ocher Web video and FIREFTP TRANSFORMS FIREFOX int a full-blown, speedy, two-way FTP application.receive a copy you can save to your hard deve. But they're often slow and buggy, and you never know if they'l ‘work on less popular video-sharing sites. Orbit Rich Media Downloader adds a context-sensitive et of new smenu items to your right mouse button inyour Web browser. Now when you see a vid on Dailymotion or hear a song, ‘on MySpace that you lik, just elick to ito your PC. find ponorldcon$9874 Saveprotected mediafites: Some Web sites ccuelly disable the rightclick button on images and other media, pre venting you from easily downloading them. Orbit (see above) is one work: around, but it’s overkill fall you want to do isto savean image occasionally, Good news: Firefox has a quick, built-in way to save protected media files without the hassle, Visit the Web page you want rightclick anywhere on the page FIREFOX LETS YOU save protected mecta by right-clicking to vew Page Infos Media tab. (not in the image), and select Views Page Tife. Click the Media tab vo see alist of all images on the page; scrll through the list (a preview will appearat the bottom ofthe window), and click Save 4s when you find the one you want. One click to something new: Collected quotes of Albert Einstein? Winners of the “I Look Like My Dog” contest? Pic- tures of reablife sea monsters? All of these Web pages can be yours at the touch of butcon if you install Stumble- Upon, a plug:in and toolbar available for both Firefox and Internet Explorer, ‘StumbleUpon, like social news sites such as Digg, takes user submissions to point other users to cool stuff on the Web. Click the thumbs up button if you like what you see, or thumbs down if you don’t. Over time, StumbleUpon refines its suggestions for you, making it eventually) the pecfecttime-waster, and one chat’s always at your fingertips. find wots cory 60005 Easy accesstodeals anduiscounts: Smact shoppers perform a quick search fora coupon code before buying anything online, but forgetting to do 30 is easy. RegisteredCoupons.com’s toolbar for Intemet Explorer simplifies bacgain ‘hunting by putting the information right where you're most likely to se it: A.utilitarian drop-down box lets you select the retail outlet where you're shopping. Click the store in question, and current coupon codes and promo tions instantly arrive in their own win dow. ind. soveri.cony59877 Relocate heFitetoxsia move the sidebar to the right side of your screen? Edit your userChrome.¢ss file or create a new one in your profile/ chrome folder. Find it in €\Docu- ments and Settings\xxcer\ Application Data\ Mozila\Firefox\Profiles\yy9an9: default\chcome, where xxceris Your username, and yyyyypyy isa random set of eight characters. (Ifyou don't see the Application Data file in your user folder, goto the Tools menu, click Folder Oprows and then the Vie ab, and select Show Hidden Fiesand Folders) Rename the example file there wser- Chrame.ess, and then aed the following code to the bottom of the file: /PPlacethesideberantheright edge ofthe window */ hvoxtbrowser fltectionrit:) hous browser>vboxdiectontr] Keeptrackof Adsense earnings: If you use Adsense on your Web site or blog, you can use the Adsense Notifier Fire fox plug:in to keep track of your daily ‘earings within the browser, in real ‘ime. Just check the bottom right cor net for total ad impressions, CPM, and your total daly earnings as they acerue find word com8660 oO Essential a Browser LL. Add-Ons ETabe Tf you use Firefox as your primary browser, you probably get stymied occasionally by Web sites that don't look rightin ts windows. Don't fire up Internet Exolorer (hich main tains a seperate history and won't have ‘your bookinerks):instead, use the TE “Tob plug-into instruct Firefox to term- ‘porarly use Internet Explorer's render ing encine. IE Teb residesin the bottom ‘ight corner of your browser. lick the Firefoxiconto switch toTE mode and ie verse find poworid.com/99881 Duplicate Tab: Wort » copy ofthe current window you're visitng, ‘ccmplete withthe history ofthat brows: ing session? IE users can eccomplish this without having to stall and use @ plugcin: Pross-Ctrt>-Nto opona now window with the entif history ofthe Current window For Fretox users, ‘Duplicate Tablets you cbtain such 9 history witha single shortoutkey- ‘stroke; oF you can use tho tool tomerge ‘multiple open windows inte a series of tabs find peworidcom/$9882 ErrorZita: The standard “server ‘ot found” page's useless ifyou're {ooking fora Web site that’s gone AWOL. Erro‘Zila adds a series of tutonsto the bottom of the standard “Ftefox ‘an fnd the server message. providing instant access to the Wayback ‘machine, Google Cacte, Whois tookup, ‘are more: int pvt camiS8873. Inline Searefe IE users can obtain searchras-you-type functionality that warks the same vay t dees in Firefox wth this fee, simple extension finipeworldcoris068 Extended Statusbar: Ths lverin ‘supplements the data that Firefox provides about a Web page end your Tternet connection, providing such details esthe total siz jn KB) ofthe page, the transfer speed, and the load time. fire pevioridcor 50004Office Optimizers Gct more out of Microsoft Office by adding a few extras. Watch Word, Ex- cel, and Outlook perform tricks you OpenOffice 2007 files with older Office sono tase aged so Teta in Otis 208 oyu won weiaueooapes la ied ery footie vrioes te Oct Tiny goa cen al a Ole pent Pock sd they ena Pees cetdlg Gah hota bi at hisoreioaions maroc Con beats Sena Pace oe Oc 100 carly coreem. Te oat Berto oes eae ar sna Snciensee eee ‘tone jou leo open ol fs i. i owiee8 Putofitine docs ontine ina jiffy: Online document-processing tools are wonder- ful for people who are working on files as a group, but getting files online—and keeping online versus offline versions Plug-In for Microsoft Office simplifies: uploading your offline documents to the Web service and downloading online documents from it, all without your having to leave your Office appli- ice fuieriaesastnes Moke POF filesinside Office: You don’t seed flown Adobe bart ee 86 | ww ate and edit PDF files. CenoPDF lets you build PDFs without leaving Word, PowerPoint, or Excel. After installing CenoPDF, simply print your do files and choose the PDF printer option—or build PDF-based forms using textentry fields, buttons, and boxes to be filed ‘out electronically. The program is feee toy, though PDFs are watermarked: it costs $29 to buy. find. ewer convS8887 Addholidays to Out- look: Want to avoid ‘manually adding Me- ‘morial Day and Christ ‘mas o your Outlook calendar each year? You can input 12 {quent messages in the thread. The system flags your most important contacts thased on how often you deal with them, and it color-codes messages based on the sender's importance. ClearContext reduces inbox clutter by “snoozing” ‘noncrtical messages—that is, by cemor- ing them from the Inbox fora specified period of time. The program is fee for 30 days, and then costs $90 to buy. find. eworecom'60007 Becomea meeting power ser Ncting- Sense takes Outlook's rudimentary calendar system and turns it into powerhouse, ‘months’ worth ofhol- OUTLOOKMASAbulttinsetting An extensive meeting aysat once by click ferautematically adding your dashboard gives youa ing ToelOprions-Cal- natlonetholidaystoits calendar. hub for making agen- cendar Opvions (on the Preferences tab). On the next screen, click Add Holiday, select the appropriate country or countries, an click OK. Organize and prioritize Outlook data: The (ClearContext Information Management ‘System offers tools that are useful for organizing your Outlook data, starting with a dashboard that provides a consolidated look at your tasks and calendar items, ClearContext allows you to assign topics cLEARCONTEXT (which you de- ms’ dasnboard fine) :o messages’ Mew keeps key Out- ther i automate took datahandy. cally fles subse- das, creating minutes, and sending out suramacies, all while providing a centralized meeting space ‘where you and other MectingSense users can share files, make notes, and create action items. It's perfect for scat- tered groups that meet frequently. After a 14-day free trial, the software ‘costs $199, tnd pewerts cam /Sc008 Import outlook contaets toLotus Notes, andvlceversa: Moving your contacts list from Lotus Notes to Outlook (or mak ing the opposite migration) is a snap ‘using the Personal NAB (Notes Address Book) Impor:/Export Usiity, a no-cost dawaload from Locus’ Web site. Openthe utility the same way you would any Notes datalase, and you'll see a simple form where you can point to the file that you wish to convert, choose the de- sired operation, and hit button to start the conversion. It's very useful if you're migrating to a new placform, for ‘example, fina pew con/S68 Getabird'seyeview of your contacts: Xobni is inbox spelled backward, but there’s nothing misdirected about Xob- nilnsight’s cool interface, which pro- Vides information about cach person that you correspond with as you read messages fiom them, Xobni (currently available only if you sign up fora private beta invita tion) Lives on the right side of your Outlook window. It provides a graphical look at e-mail frequency, contact infor mation, and old conver sations with exch con: tact. Don’t miss the Xobni Analytics feature, Which tracks how much e-mail you send and receive every day. ind pwr com/60010 18waystotweak Outiook: MAPILab Toolbox isa pile of 18 Outlook ad ins bundled into one big package. Some of the tools are simple; ane, for instance, hides fax numbers in contact searches. Others are pure genius, such asa plug-in chat scans outgoing e-mail for phrases like “see the attachment” and then pops up a reminder in case you forget co attach anything. The toolbox is fre for 30 days, $24 there afte. find. peword.com/58894 Redact text inWord: You know how the feds black out sections of documents they deem too sensitive (or embarrass ing) for public consumption? You can 100, if you download Microsoft's Word Si ee XOBN! PROVIDESINFO about Outiook contacts as youreade-mall from them, Redaction add-in for Office 2003. So the next time your Meus 0 TT 511° 0 es MMB an n6 one will be any the wiser. You can read your own redacted text but when you export che documents in ‘redacted form, the marked portions cannot be read (oredited, if you choose this limitation. find peworld eori588068 ShareExce files without groupware: You can share an Excel file without using a Web-based collaboration system: The «Xpresso Plugin for Ex- cel (a 2007 Innovations Award winner) ts you store the file while working in Excel, locking it while one user meddles with it, and then making itavailable for others to dit, Exmail alerts tll ‘when the file is unlocked. You can even lock specific portions of a spreadsheet to prevent others from editing them. find pewortd cor ‘Sweltyour spreadsnoots \withdemographie data: An Excel spreadsheet is only as good as its daca But manually ding information (su population in an area code or the average income in a zip code) is tiresome. CDXStrcamer does the heavy ifting: Install this Excel plug-in, and configure itt find information about a re- ition o a stock ticker you are interested in, CDX- Streamer then grabs the latest content from the Web, automatically. Over 100 pieces of demo graphic data are indexed toeach zip code, The free trial lasts 14 days; regular CDXStucamer service costs $30 per month. find pewor'd.com/S9008 ‘Add real-time stock quotes toExcet: Ob solete stock data ina spreadsheet does oO Essential .= Office LL Add-Ons International Character Toolbar: ‘Addthis toolbar ta Office to gan one-click azcess toa paletie of the most ‘common special characters usedin the foreign language(s) of your choosing. Warring: You may have to sian onto the Office Genuine Advantage program to get this add-onsind peworldcom/SSe07 ToolberTogste: Not thriled with Office 2007's racical new ribbon” design in lew of good old menus and toolbars? ToclbarTogale restores the 2003 suites arangement.A single- User icense costs 820 after a free five day tril. fire pewortd com 0015 Word Frequeney Count This sharo- ware application (ful namo: Word Frequency Count i Multiple Toxt & HTML Files) adds up the numbor of times that every word occurs in mult pletext, HTML, and Word documents. Unlocking the fu uttty wilt cost you $30, fic peworta.conys9ecs Remove Hidden Data: You probably sometimes receive files filed with ‘embarrassing “track changos” informa ton and personal data thatthe creator Aacoicentall eft in. Dont be that person yourself Thank Microsett for this free actin. ind peworcicn/se904 {lear TypeTuner: Part ofthe Wire ows XP PowerToys suite and ‘available in an online version. as well) this add-on gives you fine-grain contrat ‘vec how fonts tock on your CD screen Youll be amazed at how much ofadif- ference a light alteration in font thick- hess and smoothing can make on your yes find ponortd zon 59005, you no good. The MSN Money Stock Quotes for Excel ade-on inserts MSN stock prices (which are delayed by 15 minutes) into any Excel spreadsheet, ‘with updates every time you change the spreadsheet. finipeworldcom/s0866 9% pau 2000 wow pewaRta.com | 87

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