Software

With a tag line of "Create it. Play it. Organise it. Share it", a new product from CyberLink sets out to provide support for the upsurge in digital lifestyles.

Nero has been around for many years, first as one of two excellent CD copying programs (I remember using it with Windows 98) and more recently as a Back Up package of repute now with version 10 it’s a Multimedia Suite.

Adding to its various image editing products, MAGIX has released Xtreme Photo & Graphics Designer 5 which brings together a number of applications.

Until a few years ago certain consumer products from Microsoft used to have versions released every year, now some like Works are updated occasionally, others like Money are no more, here the 2010 version of AutoRoute.

When problems occur with your computer, the excuse of out-of-date drivers is often put forward as the reason for any conflicts. Perhaps you should consider some form of driver management.

While the paperless office continues to be a myth, software does exist to keep electronic documents under some sort of control.

Capturing video clips can be great fun as you record memories of family occasions and other events. However what you actually do with this content when you have transferred it to your computer’s hard disk is another matter entirely.

With almost every newspaper having Sudoku games for you to do why have a PC program devoted to them? Well you could say the same for Crosswords or perhaps even Bridge. If you enjoy Sudoku then the 25,000 games here should allow you to be in ecstasy.

Holding your valuable data, your hard disk does deserve consideration and help when it comes to performing its various functions.

According to Sod’s Law, the odds against a hard disk failure, whether due to outside influences or not, decrease substantially the moment you neglect to carry out a backup of your data. While disaster might not strike immediately, when it does you will be sorry and to paraphrase an old saying “It is no use crying over lost data.”

While this in no way is the same as Adobe Photoshop, a very specialist tool for editing and enhancing files, this product does the basics and can improve an image from terrible to Okay or from Okay to quite reasonable.

Last autumn I was sent two new items from Serif. First their DTP item PagePlus that has been around for as long – if not longer – than most other that sell for considerably more. Second a package of British Clip Art.

Rather than increase the version number by one, Nero has added the word “Reloaded” to its recently enhanced flagship product.

This is by no means a new program but it is still available from the link at the end and also possibly from their dealers. Bridge is a game I enjoy however I would be the first to admit I am lousy at counting cards, so if this is you as well then this could help.

A lot of people think that Adobe are the only name in PDF. Here I am looking at Nuances offering. This is a company who are best known for speech to text products such as Dragon and various OCR products.

If the Windows solitaire offerings just do not cut it for you then there are lots of places willing to sell you a game or three on the Internet. Here however you can play (with no limits) 1000 different Solitaire games for less than a tenner.

Completing my round-up of the latest security offerings from BitDefender is the company’s Total Security 2010 title.

Generally sequels appear fairly quickly following the original offering. But there are exceptions (Zuma immediately springs to mind) with a new title from Alawar being a prime example of a longer period of gestation.

While most will buy this latest version of PowerDVD for its ability to play Blu-ray movies (providing of course you have a Blu-ray drive) it can and does support other formats. I am not sure why Windows 7 does not nativity support Blu-ray.

It was a case of déjà vu as a new game arrived from Playrix with yet more aquarium building and Match-3 game play.

While we often make visits to a virtual environment, there are some who spend their whole lives in this king of environment. I’m referring to those characters that belong to that tribe known as Virtual Villagers.

An Egyptian artefact, robbers, a train journey and plenty of puzzles and hidden object searching make up an offering from Focus Multimedia.

Rather than add a caption or speech bubble to get your message across, why not consider putting words into the mouths of your creations.

While Adobe controls the PDF standard, other companies have not been slow in developing solutions to take advantage of this technology.

A Search for Lost Treasure

After my recent visit to Buck House (excuse the familiarity especially as there was a distinct lack of tea and biscuits on offer for visitors) in the Hidden Mysteries escape, my next trip took me across the pond. This time the designated target for exploration was America’s most famous residence and home to the country’s Head of State, namely The White House – maybe coffee and donuts would be served.

It is time to enter a world of mystery and fantasy as you take on the role of a young woman in search of her father.

This is rather good music software. However in the form I got it the cost to anyone is FREE, providing of course you were to buy one of their keyboard, microphone or external sound card all of which connect to PC via USB.

The gestation period for the latest version of Nuance’s OmniPage OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software has been slightly longer than I would have expected Checking my records reveals that it was just over 15 months ago that I looked at the previous version of this market-leading software application.

While the main character’s name in this game may have a familiar ring to it, the use of a whip has little to do with this archaeological adventure.