Utilities - February '98

Software to protect your PC, tune up your system, read or play common file formats, and other essential tasks.

Windows 95

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The Documents option on the Windows 95 Start menu is so inadequate, you probably never bother with it. Recent Documents enhances and replaces the Documents menu. The program allows you to view your documents in various formats, group them into groups you define, maintain document histories, and filter them (by date, category etc). Initially the program works automatically, much as the Documents menu does, however you can modify this using various options.

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Theoretically, Windows 95 makes it easy to share information between applications. In practice, it's not that easy. Copy and paste from one application to another and what you end up with may be a weird mish-mash that takes time to set right. Any97 lets you pick up data, and transfer it (formatted in the destination application's style), to that application. You can send the material to documents, to e-mail, or to a printer, and sending the information is as simple as selecting it, and clicking your mouse. The information may be text, numbers, or images. For example, you can select stock prices from a Web page, and paste them into an Excel worksheet, already formatted for Excel. As well as making the sharing of information easier, Any97 has lots of other features.

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Unlike other virtual-screen programs, WinSpace doesn't create extra monitor screens; it extends your single screen into virtual space.

The program's interface provides a map of your screen. Open some programs then drag a program's thumbnail into an empty area on the map. Do the same with the others. If you want to access the programs you have open, you can either click on a thumbnail on the map, or just move your mouse pointer to the edge of your screen, and the screen scrolls until the other program comes into view.

This is an excellent program for you if you have a small monitor. Even if your monitor is large, it gives you a much more useful working area.

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This program is a file manager for Windows 95. It's more flexible than Explorer, and some of the interesting features include: a drive useage window; a custom program launcher with a command line; drive scanning for selected files; tagging files for processing; a text editor; hex browser; and a picture viewer.

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Password Tracker Deluxe does what its name suggests. However, it also does a lot more. For example, it will automatically generate passwords for you, and it will also prompt you to change your passwords every thirty days. The program is very easy to use, because password-creation is handled by a wizard, which asks you for input throughout the process. To enter a password, you can simply select the alias from a list. As well as storing your passwords, the program will also send text to program dialogue boxes, and it can even launch a program or an URL.

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DragonDROP is a handy utility that cuts down on repetitive tasks. It stores all the data which you use every day, and enter into forms, e-mail, letters and so on. Your data is stored in categories, and when you need it, you simply drop it into place in the application in which you're working. You can pin DragonDROP to your screen, so that you have it handy as you work.

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PaintShop Pro has always been our favourite graphic file viewer and converter, but in this latest version, this shareware program is now a comprehensive graphics package. As well as providing a Browse utility for managing graphics files, it lets you create and save graphics in the GIF and JPG formats common on the Web. It also provides image manipulation tools that'll let you grab an image and edit it to your heart's content.

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This shareware utility is our perennial favourite for unzipping and zipping just about every type of compressed file, as well as for decoding Internet file formats, such as UUencode, BinHex and MIME.

This new version features an updated zip/unzip engine with automatic support for multi-disk ZIP files, plus a number of Windows Explorer menu enhancements. But perhaps the best new feature is the free WinZip Internet Browser Support Add-On. Using this free add-on, you can download and open archives from the Internet with one click via Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.

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From our experience, one of the most reliable virus scanners around. Thunderbyte will detect all known viruses, plus guard against new and unknown viruses. For full protection and virus cleaning capabilities you will need to register, but the shareware version will alert you to any virus you may have and offer several options to getting rid of it.

This free player from Apple allows PC users to play Quicktime. MOV files -- the standard movie file format for the Macintosh, and used by many cross-platform multimedia CD-ROMs.

Windows 3.1x

Rating:

PaintShop Pro has always been our favourite graphic file viewer and converter, but in this latest version, this shareware program is now a comprehensive graphics package. As well as providing a Browse utility for managing graphics files, it lets you create and save graphics in the GIF and JPG formats common on the Web. It also provides image manipulation tools that'll let you grab an image and edit it to your heart's content.

Rating:

This shareware utility is our perennial favourite for unzipping and zipping just about every type of compressed file, as well as for decoding Internet file formats, such as UUencode, BinHex and MIME.

This new version features an updated zip/unzip engine with automatic support for multi-disk ZIP files, plus a number of Windows Explorer menu enhancements. But perhaps the best new feature is the free WinZip Internet Browser Support Add-On. Using this free add-on, you can download and open archives from the Internet with one click via Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.

Rating:

From our experience, one of the most reliable virus scanners around. Thunderbyte will detect all known viruses, plus guard against new and unknown viruses. For full protection and virus cleaning capabilities you will need to register, but the shareware version will alert you to any virus you may have and offer several options to getting rid of it.

This free player from Apple allows PC users to play Quicktime. MOV files -- the standard movie file format for the Macintosh, and used by many cross-platform multimedia CD-ROMs.

DOS

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From our experience, one of the most reliable virus scanners around. Thunderbyte will detect all known viruses, plus guard against new and unknown viruses. For full protection and virus cleaning capabilities you will need to register, but the shareware version will alert you to any virus you may have and offer several options to getting rid of it.

Previous PC User Offline CD's

Utilities - January '98

Utilities - December '97

Utilities - November '97

Utilities - October '97

Utilities - September '97

Utilities - August '97

Utilities - July '97

Utilities - June '97

Utilities - May '97

Utilities - April '97

Utilities - March '97