History's Greatest Battles
The military past is brought to life through photos, illustrations, texts, animation, and music. This program features the battles of Culloden, Austerlitz, Gettysburg, Verdun and D-Day. It investigates the armies and tactics, the background to each battle, the central characters, the fighting itself and the scene of the battle. Watch an animated reconstruction of the battlefield; discover Napoleon's motives and tactics; and then find out what the allies did to defeat him. Features include audio commentary; paintings from war artists; timelines depicting the evolution of arms and uniforms; object-by-object analysis of historical artefacts; slide shows and videos. FULL VERSION


VirtualDub
VirtualDub is a video capture/processing utility for 32-bit Windows (98/NT/2000/XP), licensed under the GNU General Public License. It lacks the power of a editors like Adobe Premiere, but is streamlined for fast linear operations. It has batch-processing capabilities for processing large numbers of files and can be extended with third-party filters. VirtualDub is mainly geared toward processing AVI files, although it can read (not write) MPEG-1 and also handle sets of BMP images. Most useful is its ability to edit DivX files without re-processing.


DivX 5 codec and player
DivX is a video compression technology developed by DivXNetworks and based on the Mpeg4 system. The DivX codec allows you to create your own DivX files, or view them in a suitable media player, such as DivXNetworks' own player – DivX Playa.
DivX could be used for delivering trailers, but most people are using it to sufficiently compress entire feature films so that they can be transported on single CD Roms or over the Internet. The DivX CODEC isn't available separately, but you get it when you install the Playa (you can install either one or both).

MadDVD bitrate calculator
This small but useful program will calculate the best constant bitrate when encoding a DVD into Mpeg4 (DivX low motion)/ MP3 format. Note: this software requires the VisualBasic 6 Runtime Library (you'll find it in the \software\maddvd\ folder).
SmartDisk MVP trial version
SmartDisk MVP is designed for building and managing your library of digital music, videos, and pictures. It helps you find and organise multimedia content stored on your PC's hard drive and removable media. Once your MVP Library is established, you can use the MVP Wizards or the MVP Entertainment Center to instantly: print your pictures in different sizes and layouts Play back multiple movies or music files in a set sequence Display digital pictures Create CDs that can be played back on your PC, CD player, or DVD player.
Ulead PhotoExplorer 7 trial
View any multimedia file (such as image, animated GIF, video, or sound) on your PC. Photo Explorer displays all your folders and files in a tree-like structure similar to Windows Explorer. Selecting a folder displays image and graphics files in thumbnails, so you don't have to remember file names when you want to open, delete, move, or copy files. Using drag-and-drop you can insert a file into another application. For example, you can easily drag an image file onto a PowerPoint presentation slide. What's more, Photo Explorer lets you create instant web pages with frames and hyperlinked thumbnail images, or create slide shows, calendars, screen savers and Windows desktop wallpaper. Photo Explorer now comes with digital photography features for taking photos via your PC.


Arcsoft PhotoStudio trial
PhotoStudio is an easy-to-use 32-bit photo image editor. You can Acquire images from digital cameras, scanners, or other TWAIN devices convert between different data formats Visually organise images into working albums Work and view multiple images simultaneously with different magnification ratios Adjust brightness and contrast; shadows, mid-tones, or highlights Modify hue and saturation to correct colour shifts. Improve image quality with smooth, sharpen, and other special filters (20 built-in effects) Print your image at any size and location on a page.

Ghostscript and GSView
Ghostscript can convert PostScript language files to numerous raster formats, view them, and print them on printers that don't have PostScript language capability built-in. Ghostscript also includes a similar interpreter for PDF (Portable Document Format) files; it can convert PostScript language files to PDF (with some limitations) and vice versa; and comes with a set of C procedures (the Ghostscript library) that implement the graphics capabilities that appear as primitive operations in the PostScript language GSview is a graphical interface for Ghostscript. For documents that follow the Adobe PostScript Document Structuring Conventions, GSview allows selected pages to be viewed or printed (requires Ghostscript).
Ghostscript GSview
Imitate trial
Produce Java programs without the need for programming knowledge. You can design Java Applets for use in web pages as well as stand-alone applications. Imitate uses an Artificial Intelligence model of imitation learning whereby you demonstrate procedures to the system… these are then transformed into the Java code. The program is easy to learn and even novices can start constructing Java applications straight away. On the Imitate website you'll find detailed tutorials to help you get started. We recommend you read these first.
OrgPlus 4 trial
OrgPlus provides tools for creating professional org charts fast. No drawing is required and data is stored in a database for easy, drag-and-drop planning. OrgPlus integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and email programs to easily communicate charts across the organisation, and outputs image files ready for publishing on the web. You can extract data with the built in Crystal Reports, or export your chart data to Excel or any database.
Steganos Security Suite 3 Compact Edition full version
The Steganos 3 Security Suite encrypts and conceals your data, and provides a your secure hard drive which disappears at the click of a button. Features in the standard version include: Internet Trace Destructor, file shredder, e-mail encryption, password manager and computer locking. Version 3 contains the new encryption standard AES with 128-bit encryption. The Compact edition is included on this month's disc. For details of how to upgrade visit the Steganos website.
Steganos Internet Privacy trial version
Steganos Internet Privacy allows you to surf the web anonymously. It disguises your true IP address so that the operators of the websites you visit can't track your movements. And, the InternetTrace Destructor deletes cache, history data, cookies and lists of programs used and documents that you have loaded on your computer.
trial version
Adobe has launched version 7 of the leading pro photo editing software package. But, until a trial version is available, we'll have to make do with the current version 6, which introduced powerful vector editing and masking capabilities, greatly improved layer control, a more powerful array of web publishing tools, expanded and easier to apply layer styles, and a revised interface that reduces screen clutter and boosts productivity.


As for version 7, the three big updates in this release are the completely rewritten painting engine, the healing brush, and Photoshop's new file-handling abilities. The rewritten paint engine has an extensive palette that allows you to change not only the shape and size of a tool, but also how it should behave; so angle, colour variations and underlying textures can be independently defined. The file browser provides information drawn from the image Exif (Exchangeable Image File) header where drawn from a digital camera, including when it was snapped, how long the shutter was open and the F-stop setting. The most impressive function of all, though, is the healing brush, which brings the clone tool into the 21st century. Essentially, it takes the texture of one area, mixes it with the surrounding colour of the destination and merges the results.
Cypherus Encryption full version
Cypherus is an easy-to-use encryption program. When you encrypt files, you choose an archive to put them in. The archive is a bit like a digital vault: anything that goes into it is protected. The use of archives makes it is easy to manage your encrypted files. You can keep all of your business files in one archive, all of your personal files in another, etc.
• NOTE: the installation code required is: NAVR-Y990-0000-1FNF-HYXT-4NVB-B5PY
To place a file in an open archive, just drag the file over the Cypherus window. Cypherus uses the industry standard Blowfish algorithm for all of its file encryption. The Blowfish algorithm allows for adjustable key strength, from 128 bits to 448 bits. The longer the key, the stronger it is, but longer keys also take longer to encrypt with. Cypherus makes it easy to secure files that you need constant access to. The Cypherus Autoencryptaur encrypts and decrypts groups of files or whole directories at the click of a button. Cypherus also lets you send encrypted archives to people who don't have Cypherus. Cypherus can turn a regular archive into an executable self-decrypting archive, which can be opened by anyone with the correct password. On this month's disc you'll find the full Cypherus Student Version v2.
SPECIAL READER OFFER
click here >>>

Audio Cleaning Lab trials
Breathe new life into your old recordings. This software offers sound "cleaning" functions that will remove distracting noises and sound interference from music and other audio sources – from records, cassettes, CD tracks, wav, or MP3 files. You can add effects too, such as echo and reverb, all calculated in real-time during playback. Experiment as much as you like, as editing is non-destructive to the original files. Functions include: the Declicker which eliminates crack and click noises; Decrackler which removes constant crackling; Denoiser erases banging or net-droning; and Dehisser removes analogue-band hissing. Other functions do away with noises from direct current and digital overdrive (or "clipping").
You can also edit or adjust volume and equalisation, or enhance the stereo panorama. In contrast to the equaliser, which only works on the currently available frequency, there's a brilliance enhancer, which calculates new harmonics from the residual material, to revitalise the overall sound. Finally, the "Multi Max" section works on the volume ratios with a multi-band compressor. It divides the spectrum into three bands that are compressed separately – in the same fashion as professional studio equipment. Compression is important for balancing bass parts of a song. Resampling and stretching functions allow you to accelerate or slow down a song. You'll find trials of both version 1 and version 3 on this disc.
version 1
version 3
Tel: 01923 495 496

Magix Video Deluxe trial
This is a complete, all-in-one, video studio for your PC – including video editor, video cleaner, recorder, video creator, mixer and videom@iler. You can import audio and video material from a wide range of sources, combining and editing any type of media – videos, photos, graphics, subtitles, voices, sounds, songs or even MIDI files for remote control of your computer's sound card. Once you have finished editing your video project, you can transfer the movie back to video tape or camcorder, store it direct to CD ROM or export it to the internet.

Magix Music Maker 7 trial
With 8 virtual instruments, 9 real-time audio-effects, numerous video & cross fade effects, 64 audio & video tracks, sound morphing, auto-remixing, and features to create of your own rich media websites, Music Maker is a complete music & video production studio.

Magix Music Studio 7 trial
Music Studio is Magix' MIDI and audio composing and mastering-software. Version 7 features 24 audio tracks and 1,000 MIDI-tracks, virtual sampler, real-time pitch-shifting, MP3-support, special internet-functions, 2 inserts in the master output, and more instruments.

Movies on CD & DVD tutorial
This software from Magix lets you capture and store your home movies on CDs or DVDs, complete with professional looking menus – just like commercial DVDs. To give you a taste of what the program can do, we've included the three short tutorial videos (AVI files) that come with the program (program not included).

Xara Online News Release Publisher    free for 90 days
Now you can add news content management to your website – free for 90 days. The Xara Online News Release Publisher lets you add news content management to your site, quickly and easily – and you don't have to be a programmer. A news summary is displayed in date order with a link to the full article.
Updates can be made by anyone and as often as you wish. There's no HTML to edit, which makes this an ideal solution for marketing or PR departments to manage their own section of the company website. This is one of a range of ready-built data applications created using the Xara Online connectable modules. There's nothing to download or install, so you can have your news releases up and running in minutes. Follow the prompts in the Xara menu.
 
Serif Photoplus reader offer
JUST £59.99 (saving 15% off the RRP)

PhotoPlus 8 adds more than 100 new features and enhancements to its award-winning formula, making professional image-editing available to everyone.
PhotoPlus 8 for Photo-editing
Whether you're looking for the best way to retouch your digital photos, the quickest and easiest way to create stunning painting effects, or the perfect companion for your digital camera or scanner, new PhotoPlus 8 is for you.

PhotoPlus 8 is full of great new features which take digital image-editing to a new level. These include the new 'Smart Resize' which uses advanced algorithms to ensure the best possible quality when resizing images. This is just one of many areas where PhotoPlus is now more technically advanced and able to produce better results than high-end photo-editing packages costing many times more.

For more information on Serif Photoplus 8 please visit http://www.serif.com/photoplus/photoplus8/index.asp
 
To claim your discount on Photoplus 8:
1 Order via telephone on 0500 454645. Please quote code RO/PCW/PH8/1002 for your discount.
2 Or send a cheque made payable to Serif (Europe) Ltd to:
PCW Reader Offer, Serif (Europe) Ltd, The software Centre, Unit 12, Nottingham, NG11 7EP.
Please send a copy (a photocopy is acceptable) and/or write the code RO/PCW/PH8/1002 on the back of the cheque to claim your discount.
The offer closes on the 31st December 2002.
WebAssist full version
This free program provides a substantial directory of useful web links, all neatly and conveniently organised so that you can find what you're looking for quickly and easily. Categories include Shopping, News and weather, Sport, Hobbies, Travel, Finance, Property, Computers, Phones, Motoring, Games, TV, and Music. You can also add your own favourite links to the database.