Productivity Reviews

Maximizer 8 review

Review Maximizer is one of the most full-featured contact managers we've seen, suitable for growing small businesses that also need customer relationship management tools.

Groove Virtual Office 3.0 File Sharing Edition review

Review Groove is an excellent choice if you want to easily share files between your home and office computers or share with your co-workers. With its price and helpful extras, it clearly beats competitor Laplink ShareDirect.

FTGate4 review

Review This is a good all-in-one email/collaboration solution for small businesses, but the lack of Outlook integration is disappointing.

Skype 1.1 review

Review Skype 1.1 is a free and easy way to make phone calls to any other PC user in the world, and now there's a way to make cheap calls to technophobe friends, too.

Word Hacks review

Review Most Word users leave a large amount of its functionality unexplored and unemployed. This book will help you expand your repertoire of word processing skills.

EverNote (beta) review

Review EverNote is a great alternative to OneNote for note-taking and Web-based research. It's a bit rough around the edges (there's no spelling checker), but since it's free, we recommend it.

Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting (beta)

Preview Microsoft's first foray into the low-end book-keeping market leaves a favourable first impression.

AvantGo 2005 review

Review AvantGo makes handheld Web surfing simple, and it doesn't cost a thing. Need we say more?

Breakthrough: Stories and Strategies of Radical Innovation review

Review In Breakthrough, Xerox PARC researcher Mark Stefik and his psychologist wife examine the roots of innovation via the stories behind key advances made at the world-famous research centre.

Apple iWork: a first look

Preview Apple's new iWork software is less than a suite and more than an application, but it may become something extremely useful.

MSN Toolbar review

Review MSN's fair-to-middling toolbar lags well behind its still competition, but its one-of-a-kind highlighter viewer wins an honourable mention.

Google Toolbar review

Review Google's toolbar goes above and beyond its competitors, offering a wide range of specific searches, excellent search results and a range of extras, including an automatic form filler.

HotBot Deskbar review

Review HotBot Deskbar would be a strong contender for the search toolbar throne, were it not for its patchy performance.

A9 Toolbar review

Review Fans of A9's innovative search capabilities will warm to this search engine's toolbar, but those needing specific search types should keep looking.

AltaVista Toolbar review

Review AltaVista's toolbar gets the job done, but it does little to stand out from the crowd and is marred by some clunky features. We recommend a more feature-rich toolbar, such as Yahoo's.