General & Business Applications - October '97

Angela Booth looks at shareware and freeware for Windows 95, 3.1 and DOS to suit all tastes. Plus we offer trial versions of a number of major commercial applications.

Shareware

Windows 95

 Billing Manager Pro Business Plan Master TimeWizard95 Vault for Windows 95 DirVault EZ-Forms Lite Freeware Notes SuperMail 2.0 Klick-N-View Business Cards Labels, Cards and More SyTools32 Brainstormer95 Vulcan FinanceCalc 97

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This program is a complete accounting system. Whether you own and operate your own business, or whether you work as an accountant for up to 32,000 businesses, this program gives you complete control over billings. The program includes a comprehensive Help system, to get you up and running quickly. As well as all the usual accounting features, the program includes enhancements, such as a Form Letters Wizard, to help you save time and energy. The interface is sophisticated, and easy to understand (you don't need an accounting degree). Definitely a program with which you'll enjoy working.

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Business Plan Master is a collection of templates which you can use to create your own professional business plan to present to your bank, potential investors and other interested parties. The complete program contains Proforma, Historical and Breakeven spreadsheets. In this evaluation version, only the Proforma (main business plan) spreadsheet is included with some other documents. The Proforma spreadsheet gives you a good idea of how the program works, but you should consider obtaining the full version to get the most from the package.

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This program is useful for anyone who needs to track the time spent using their computer. However, it's especially useful if you charge for that time. The program generates Microsoft Access 7.0 files, so you can manipulate the files in any way you need to: link them to your client database, generate invoices, print them in various formats, etc. Comprehensive Help files are included. You won't need these to use the program, but make sure you scan them, because the program contains lots of enhancements which are not immediately visible. A clever feature is the 'Add Item' button which allows you to track the time you spend out of the office, track sales tax (it's automatically added to invoices), archive completed projects, and more. The program is also available in a Team Edition for your workgroup and you can purchase the add-on Manager's Module.

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Vault is a handy database program. It's easy to use because all your information is stored as an outline. Just create a basic heading, for example, 'Clients', and then store all your clients as a sub-category. You can find the information you want instantly using the fast search engine. Handy features include sending items to others via e-mail and an auto-dialler.

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The larger your hard drives, the more time you spend in Explorer, looking for programs and files. DirVault is a simple program which gives you fast access to the last few directories you accessed on your system. It lives in the system tray and you access it with a left mouse click to locate directories or a right mouse click to change the configuration.

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This brilliant small program allows you to create and manage any form on your computer -- you can even fill out pre-printed forms. The focus in the program is on the forms themselves -- the design, production and fill out. Therefore it's much easier to use than DTP or word processing programs for creating forms fast. The program operates in WYSIWYG format, so it's easy and intuitive to use. To make it even simpler, it includes several templates, which you can customise to suit your own business. The program allows you to use all the capabilities of your computer: fonts, OLE, colour graphics etc, so you can create professional forms to enhance your business image.

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Notes is a nifty free text editor, which is fun and easy to use. It's the ideal jotter to keep running on your desktop. You can store reminders, reference material, URLs, etc. Each Note can be split into sections, using Tabs, and all your notes can use RTF (Rich Text Format). Features include: indents and bullets, auto save, multiple file support, 'hot' URLs -- click on any URL to load your browser, a 'Run' tag, to start any program from within Notes, and more.

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If you're looking for a mailing list manager, this program may suit you and your business requirements. It's well designed and simple to use. You can maintain an unlimited number of contacts in several separate lists. The program includes an auto-dialler, a duplicate-checker, and you can print form letters, envelopes, and labels, as well as a variety of reports. You can import and export records, as well as complete files. You'll find a comprehensive Help file, as well as sample databases to get you up and running quickly. Impressive features include the ability to tag records to group them, a report designer, filters, and more.

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Klick-N-View lets you create your own business cards, in a few simple steps. Many card templates are provided, or you can use the complete drawing features of the program to design your own. Colour printers are supported, so you can even include colour photographs on your cards. You can import the pictures directly or use OLE. When you register, you get even more templates, additional clip-art, as well as the ability to print multiples of cards on every page. If you've seen a previous version, this version offers lots of new and useful features.

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Labels, Cards and More is a complete tool for creating and printing your own business stationery. You can design business cards, envelopes, sales flyers, price tickets, mailing labels, index cards, etc. Most common graphic formats are supported, so you can use any of the fonts and graphics on your system. Additionally, if you have a scanner or digital camera you can acquire images directly. This new version of the program includes lots of new features, including a built-in address book, enhanced layout capabilities, and label and graphic previews in dialogue screens.

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SyTools helps you to design professional maps, diagrams and flowcharts. The interface is WYSIWYG, so it's very easy to use. Included is a toolbar, which has hundreds of shapes, symbols, connectors, pieces of clip-art and so on, to help you to communicate by making your diagrams visually exciting. Although the program is intuitive, it includes a good Help file to make you aware of the program's many additional features, such as flipping, 3D effects, etc. This program will cut down on the time you need to create sales material and specifications files.

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This is an interesting program -- use it when you need to develop new ideas for your business. It's simple to use, either for one person, or for a group. You begin by defining your problem. Then the program offers you a blank screen and a timer to give you time to come up with as many ideas as possible in the time allotted. The next step is to select your five best ideas and to rank them. The program leads you through the entire brainstorming process step-by-step.

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This program is a comprehensive financial calculator, handling 14 different kinds of calculations. For example, you can calculate the results for each sales period, as well as complete results. The program's interface is sophisticated, and easy to understand, even for the mathematically challenged. You can save your calculations as a text or bitmap file. If you choose to save it as a bitmap, you can use the file as Windows wallpaper.

Windows 3.1x

VistaCalc The Raven Balance Prompter DecideRight Weights and Measures

The problem with commercial spreadsheet programs is that you never use more than a small proportion of all their features. VistaCalc offers power and simplicity: you get all the features (including graphing) which are important to you, but you don't pay for what you don't need and will never use. You can't import and export with VistaCalc but you're provided with a complete array of maths and financial functions. A detailed Help file is included for spreadsheet novices.

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The Raven is a clever text management utility. It allows you to store and retrieve blocks of text. This is useful for those in the real estate, legal or business management fields, because you can keep 'boilerplate' text for contracts and other documents, and paste the text blocks to quickly create new documents. Another use for the program is the quick creation of the e-mail, faxes and letters which you write in reply to customer queries -- you can keep price lists, specifications etc in The Raven, and paste them into documents as needed.

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Sometimes simpler is better. This program is a simple way of managing your cheque account(s), in the usual spreadsheet format. You can balance, analyse and graph your account(s), so that you can see exactly where your money is going. If you own a small business, you'll find this program lets you keep track of your business income without forcing you to invest time and energy in learning a large program which may be more than you need. And because the program is small, it's ideal for your notebook computer.

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Scared witless when it's your turn to make a presentation? This program will make you more comfortable. You can use it to rehearse or use it during the presentation itself if it's loaded on your notebook computer. Basically the program scrolls your speech or presentation so that you can read it. You can adjust the timing of the scroll option until you're comfortable with the speed. You can import your speech in ASCII or use the word processor included in the program. An added enhancement is a reverse text option for mirror-image display systems. There's an excellent Help file and a couple of sample files are included.

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This program helps you to make decisions. Additionally, it provides a presentation-ready document for you to show how you arrived at each particular decision. A Wizard is provided for you to enter your decision topic, and the criteria you will use to make the decision, including weighting via slide controls. You can create alternative scenarios and print the results in various forms -- as a bar chart, a graph, etc. Files can be exported to Microsoft PowerPoint or Lotus Freelance.

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Weights and Measures allows you to converts weights and measurements in the following categories: weights, linear measurements, liquid volume, area measurements, dry volume and cubic measurements. The program is simple to use. You just enter the value you want to convert, then select the value you want it converted to and press the button. There's no way of saving or printing the results, so you'll have to copy them by hand. However, if you're in a business where you need to convert values, you'll appreciate this program's simplicity.

DOS

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This program is a superb productivity enhancer -- give it a try, even if you use Windows. Basically Square Notes is an index card program for your computer. It's ideal for storing almost any kind of information and retrieving it in a blink. You can use it to store information on clients, products, meetings, reference data, or use it as a journal or bibliography. When you create a card, you tag it with one or multiple keywords. The program's index then retrieves all the cards with the keyword you select instantly. You can have as many files as you wish, but the freeware 'lite' version restricts you to 50 cards per file.

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