Microsoft Plus!


Christian Darkin braves 1960s America and dangerous creatures to find out how Microsoft Plus! is set to automatically improve the performance and looks of PCs running Microsoft Windows 95


Accentuate

the positive


If you want to give your Windows 95-based PC even greater functionality, then Microsoft® Plus! for Windows® 95 is for you. This companion software package consists of System Agent technology that works behind the scenes to keep your PC running at its peak; an Internet Jumpstart Kit that offers easy sign-up and one-button access to the Internet; and Desktop Themes such as sounds, fonts, colours, wallpaper, screensavers, icons and animated cursors to improve the look of your PC.

In short, Microsoft Plus! will make your PC smoother, slicker and easier to manage.

Undercover Agents

While the System Agent may at first sound like some kind of James Bond character, it is in fact a ësmartí assistant that works ëundercoverí, so to speak, to make sure that the performance of your PC is always optimised.

The System Agent will perform automatically all those jobs you keep telling yourself you need to do to keep your computer in good shape, but never actually get round to. All you ever see of the System Agent is a discrete little icon down next to the clock in the lower right hand corner of the screen, while it runs periodic checks on your system to make sure everythingís running smoothly. It defragments your hard disk every day. It looks for errors on your hard disk and fixes them before they become too serious. It even compresses data to free up hard disk space after youíve finished work in the evening.

You can also add tasks to the System Agent. For example, it can perform a regular automatic backup of your files. Whatís more, by simply clicking on the icon, and selecting a task, you can arrange its schedule to fit in with yours so you donít get interrupted while youíre working.

Creating your own space

My computer came with a hard disk of 520MB. Thanks to the enhanced version of the DriveSpace 3.0 disk compressor which comes with Microsoft Plus!, my 520MB disk has grown to be the best part of 800MB, without any painful modifications or significant loss of accessing speed.

The DriveSpace 3.0 window looks very much like that of its predecessor, the compression utility included in Windows 95. But DriveSpace 3.0 gives you several significant advantages. First, the compression is tighter, giving you more free space. Second, the new DriveSpace 3.0 is more flexible ñ you can customise it to balance access speed against compression. Third, the upgraded software has an additional utility called Compression Agent. While DriveSpace 3.0 makes your hard disk appear larger, the Compression Agent makes the files on it smaller. It packs them more tightly so that they take up less room on the disk giving you even more space.

The Compression Agent works with the System Agent by periodically shuffling through the hard disk and shrinking down any files that are taking up too much room. By default, my copy does its work at 7pm every Friday night when Iím not using my computer.

Kitted out for the net

There are now two types of people in the world: those who are already surfing the Internet, and those who are just about to. The Internet Jumpstart Kit provides easy sign-up and one button access to the Information Superhighway.

Microsoft Plus! includes a Set-up Wizard which takes you step-by-step through the process of configuring your system, enabling you to get online in no time at all, while the Internet Explorer, which comes built into Microsoft Plus!, is a piece of software which lets you roam the Internet. It acts as a World Wide Web browser allowing you to tap into information sources all over the world. It also lets you save the addresses of your favourite sites so that you can return to them later at the click of a mouse, and allows you to set up desktop

shortcuts to your favourite Internet locations.

The personal touch

The most obvious features of Microsoft Plus! are the Desktop Themes. These allow you to customise the way your PC looks and sounds. Just click on the Desktop Themes icon in the Control Panel window and youíll be presented with a display showing what your desktop

currently looks like. Just above this is a ëThemeí box which allows you to select your very own custom interface.

Each Theme contains its own backdrop, screensaver, desktop icons, fonts, colours, mouse pointers and sounds, allowing you to give your copy of Windows 95 its own personal feel and style. There are 12 different Themes to choose from including ëThe 60s USAí, ëLeonardo da Vincií, ëDangerous Creaturesí, ëThe Golden Eraí and ëSportsí. Just click on the title you want and youíll be given an example of how it will look in a window below. To the right of the display panel is a row of boxes so that you can turn on or off the various settings of whichever Theme you are using. Thereís pretty much a theme to suit any mood.

The 60s USA offers a tie-dyed psychedelic backdrop with garlands of flowers, peace symbols, and beads as icons complemented by a selection of sitar and drum sounds. The window titles are in a looping script, and the windows themselves are a rather shocking pink.

The Leonardo da Vinci Theme, meanwhile, provides an alternatively ëhighí cultured customisation featuring some of Leonardoís best known inventions as background and screensaver. The icons are a collection of drawing materials while the familiar hourglass of past is turned into a portrait of the Mona Lisa being slowly painted.

With the Dangerous Creatures Theme, a mountain lion adorns the desktop. Various

poisonous creatures surround it in the form of icons ñ the ëMy Computerí icon becomes an Amazonian tree frog, and the Recycle Bin mysteriously mutates into a puffer fish. When the computer is busy, a buzzing wasp, or the flailing tentacles of a Portuguese man-o-war warn you

to keep away from the keyboard. Sharks and manta rays glide silently across the screensaver.

Inside Your Computer effectively turns your machine inside out. The circuit boards are seen on the desktop; the components spin across the screen during quiet moments and the whole system reverberates to a series of strange electronic noises.

Pinball Wizard

The final program in the Microsoft Plus!

package is 3D Pinball, a game that takes full advantage of the multimedia support in Windows 95, making it look, sound and of course play just like the real thing. Since I first loaded Pinball Iíve been hooked.

So, while your Microsoft Plus! kit does all the hard work, in effect making your PC self-maintaining, and changes the personality of your system, you have more time to relax and concentrate on the more serious things in life ñ like topping your Pinball high score. Donít say I didnít warn you! M


Microsoft Plus! comes with 12 different Desktop Themes so that you can make your PC look and sound any way you choose.


Fully utilising the multimedia support which comes with Windows 95, 3D Pinball is sure to get you hooked on gaming.


Click on the Theme you want, or think you want, and you will be given an example of how it will customise your PC.