Software Reviews

Spy Sweeper 5 review

Review Spy Sweeper 5 is a good choice for protecting your PC against spyware and shielding it against future infections, but it's too noisy, with its constant reminders that it's working.

FileMaker 8.5: a first look

Preview FileMaker 8.5 lets you drop Web pages into database layouts, so you can map contacts' addresses, track FedEx packages, display encyclopaedia entries, or whatever else you imagine without leaving the application.

Altiris Software Virtualization Solution 2.0 review

Review This is a deceptively simple application virtualisation tool that, once you appreciate what it does, quickly becomes indispensable.

Women and Information Technology review

Review This book draws together research on why women are underrepresented in IT. The findings reveal few surprises beyond the fact that little has changed since the first similar exercise in 1998.

ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 6.5 review

Review Internet Security Suite 6.5 has partnered with an identity management solutions provider to provide both offline and online identity-theft protection, making this suite well worth the price.

Spychips review

Review Are RFID chips just 'improved barcodes', or potentially sinister instruments of interference in our daily lives? This campaigning book takes the latter view, and urges us to take action.

Google Desktop 4 beta review

Review Google Desktop 4 beta is less clunky than its predecessor, and we love the zippy search and creative Sidebar Gadgets. Still, we're wary of handing over our computing habits to Google's servers.

Writely beta review

Review Can Writely replace Microsoft Word? Yes, if you have stable Internet access and don't need a lot of editing and formatting features.

Opera 9 review

Review We really like Opera 9 -- but we like it more as the cool, arty browser that it is and not as our everyday Internet workhorse.

Five things you'll love (and hate) about Windows Vista

Tech Guide We've lived with beta 2 of Vista for a while. Here are our top five pros and cons of the new OS.

Google Earth 4 beta

Preview By allowing you to fly around the planet and create your own virtual worlds, Google Earth 4 beta stands apart from other mapping tools.

Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 review

Review This is an effective server virtualisation tool, now available as a free download. However, Linux support is limited, and overall it’s not quite a match for VMWare.

Google Spreadsheets: a first look

Preview Following its purchase of Writely, Google has made another move into Web-based office productivity tools. Here are our first impressions.

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS review

Review Ubuntu is a powerful, free, ready-to-run desktop Linux distribution that's eminently suitable for mainstream use. Although the complexities of the system impose a steep learning curve on Windows users who plan to support an installation themselves, our experiences with version 6.06 LTS suggest that this is manageable.

MindManager X5 Pro review

Review MindManager X5 Pro combines brainstorming, project management and presentation functionality into an extremely useful business tool that's especially well suited to the Tablet PC platform.