Software

The days of this being just an Anti-Virus product are long gone. In fact the only products that seem to have only Anti-Virus are the free ones and even then when you update them you have to be careful to click the correct box or you get the whole package and then you will start paying.

This is a piece of software that in its basic form anyone can download for FREE. I tend to be rather suspicious of any software that claims to speed up your PC, in fact hardly a month goes by without me being offered such items, normally from an unknown source.

Not to be confused with a similarly entitled graphics product from the same company, Xara Photo & Graphics Designer 11 combines elements of creative design and photo editing software within a single package.

A few days before the 29th July I was send a USB with a ‘late build’ of Windows 10. As with all major alterations I approached this with more than a little trepidation, below is the story of what happened on Monday 27th July 2015.

The de facto standard for electronic documents is PDF. Software for the creation and working with such files can cost from £400 downwards. This review is based on a product costing under £60.

Computer databases have come a long way since those of early days of the D-Base products developed by Aston Tate with libraries of instructional books written on the subject. While the ability to store and correlate different types of data might not be the sexiest task, it still serves an important role for both the home and office user.

Like several Cyberlink products this is very mature and so you should not expect mind blowing new features, however you do get increased speed and slicker functionality with tweaks and improvements to what was already a powerful product.

Ever since it was founded in 1996, CyberLink Corp has built up a reputation as a world leading consumer multimedia software company. A recent release from the company is its PowerDVD product which is now at version 15.

It is good bye and hello to a software application that has formed a regular part of my computer system for a number of years now.

This is the latest version of a product from Cyberlink it is called Power2Go and it burns and backs up, yes I know the latter is a bore but if you have not got a current working backup and the worst happens then your digital life ends.

I first came across a crippled version of Nero tied to a CD-Writer. I have used various versions ever since and I still do to write CD’s, I know how it works and it has one very useful function that other writing software does not have.

Whatever the type of threat, it is up to you to ensure your computer is protected with a product such as developed by BullGuard.

Now firmly entrenched as part of the Corel family of products, the latest version of WinZip is now available.

I have seen several versions of this software over the years, all were previously tied to a hard disc that enabled you to clone a disc to your new hardware. Here this is the full boxed version that not unsurprisingly can to this and much more.

With four main components and plenty of free add-ons, this next title will certainly take over a sizeable chunk of your hard disk.

While Adobe is intent on herding its business and professional clientele towards the Cloud with its Creative Cloud offering and various CS services, the more budget conscious consumer customer can opt for a product such as the company’s popular Photoshop Elements

Like other important events such as Christmas, birthdays and the like, new versions of anti-virus and Internet security products appear, like clockwork, on an annual basis.

As the year draws to close many software companies make sure that 2015 versions of their software are on the dealer’s shelves. Internet Security is one such product, with virus writers now getting more destructive so must our guardians be more vigilant.

It is your responsibility to keep your computer safe from those who are intent on gaining unauthorised access.

When was the last time you made a backup of your valuable computer data? Hopefully it was within a period that could be called “recent”. I know it can be a bind to fit such activities into busy modern day living but back-up software, such as Acronis True Image, can be set to schedule this type of operation and automate the process for you so you do not have to bother.

Although better known for its various graphics titles, some created in-house and other bought in, Corel does have another claim to fame. The company was responsible for helping kick-start the take up of the early optical drives as software quickly outgrew the available capacity of the floppy disks previously used for conveying commercial software, As a special promotion, Corel bundled a free CD drive with its CorelDRAW product. This was how I obtained

Arriving with the promise of containing “your 10 most wanted new features” is Nero’s latest version of its multimedia product. Now up to version 2015, this product is available in either Classic or Platinum editions with my review being based on the latter product.

As I get older, time seems to pass by at a quicker rate. This thought occurred to me with the arrival of Paint Shop Pro X7. It hardly seemed like a year had passed since I had unwrapped and reviewed Paint Shop Pro X6 and now the all new version of the Corel package was occupying space on my desktop. Actually when I took the trouble to check on the dates, rather than rely on my flaky memory, this revealed that the gap between the two prod

A product I have reviewed a couple of times in the past. The ‘15’ in this case refers to 2015 and not to the version number. So for anyone owning an earlier version what does this version have to offer that earlier versions did not?

No sooner do I reacquaint myself with the ArtRage graphics software than Ambient Design brings out a new version of this realistic art product for cross platform systems

If, in the early part of 1991, you were looking to purchase Desktop Publishing (DTP) software then your choice would have been limited to xPress from Quark or Adobe’s InDesign. In both cases a price tag of several hundreds of pounds would have been involved. However if you had waited a few months then a third option would have entered the marketplace in the form of Serif’s PagePlus product. The launch of this product caused quite a stir as it came with a sub £100 price po

Nuance’s market leading speech recognition software is now up to version 13 with the latest edition of Dragon Naturally Speaking. As with the previous versions of this package, Nuance has developed offerings aimed at different sectors of the market. With this version 13 of the product, you get the choice of Premium, the software used for this review, or that of the lower priced Home offering.

While perhaps not as well known as various titles from Adobe and Corel, Xara Designer Pro has a long standing and well deserved reputation for its performance speed when completing different tasks. In fact several years ago Corel licensed an earlier version of Xara software because its speed of performance made its own software look a little like a tortoise.

The latest version of Dragon Naturally Speaking (DNS) speech recognition software, Version 13, is more accurate, easier to train and works with a wider range of applications than previously. Consequently, an even wider range of people should be able to benefit from its use.

Yes it’s true, the oh so vital tool we all hate doing is now available for FREE from Paragon Software. The most important thing on your PC is your data. If your hard disc crashes money can replace it, can your unbacked up data be replaced?