11 PC World May 07

6 W W W. P C W O R L D . I N M A Y 2 0 0 7

FEATURES

COVER STORY

M P 3 P L AY E R S

44 Music in a Flash These feature packed entertainers give you a reason to own an MP3 player. We compare 10 of the latest 2GB models from top brands to help you choose the best.

O F F I C E S U I T E

70 Word 2007 Cheat SheetMicrosoft Word 2007’s new interface is likely to confound veteran Word users. Here’s everything you need to know to make the switch.

T H E M ES

77 Dress Up Your Desktop Theme packages let you create a snazzy

workspace with matching wallpaper, screen savers, cursors, icons, and sounds.

B U Y E R S G U I D E

81 Talented Performers Advice for evaluating options before you shop and select the best MFD that suits your needs.

52

M A Y 2 0 0 7V O L U M E 1 2 ◆ N U M B E R 1 1

W W W . P C W O R L D . I N

ON THE COVER

14

77

44

xxx

52

44

52 BEST INDIAN WEBSITES

Spoilt for choice, on what website to choose? Our panel of 15 judges evaluate more than 125 websites in 20 categories, to help you fi nd your way easier on the web. We evaluate these websites on design, navigation, functionality, usability and their customization for India, to declare the winners.

7 M A Y 2 0 0 7 W W W. P C W O R L D . I N

REVIEWS & RANKINGS DEPARTMENTS

NEWS & TRENDS

HERE’S HOW

84 Online Storage Tips

Use online services to create automatic backups of your fi les while you work on them as usual.87 Windows Tips

Encryption lets you keep your fi les truly private.89 Hardware Tips

Pump up PC graphics; see all your network data.90 Answer Line

Manage your PC’s problem reports to Redmond.

14 Connect in Style

Sandisk plays the Wi-Fi card, threatens to edge out the iPod and Zune.17 Windows Mobile 6: New E-mail Options

Microsoft’s forthcoming update of its operating system for handhelds has Offi ce functions.18 Tech innovations Fuel Low- Cost Laptops

Non-profi t organization creates a tough, simple and cheap notebook for kids in developing countries. 16 Google personal homepage gets sinkable.

Dynamic themes for Google personalized homepage. 20 Cool Gadgets

Latest products and gadgets in the global market.

22 Plugged In

Kodak’s cheaper ink; graphics cards outside the box; a Windows roadmap; Web 2.0 campagning.

28 Spacious Storage

Top storage brands wrestle it out to claim the best buy in the 320GB category. 31 Music Phone

Sony Ericsson W880i32 Video Card

Asus EN8800GTS 320MB33 Antispyware Utility

PC Tools Spyware Doctor 5.0 Beta34 Earphones

Creative EP 630 35 MFD

Canon Pixma MP51036 LifeStyle PC

Sony Vaio VGC LA-38G38 Budget Slider Phone

Samsung e250

See page 28 for a complete list of products reviewed.

10 Letters

Readers share views on the latest technology11 Up Front

Human interaction has discovered Web 2.023 The Other Side

Does our imagination stop us from exploiting technology?24 Tech Tonic

Vista has a rival out there. It’s XP26 Bugs and Fixes

An IE graphics fl aw exposes your PC to danger.30 Hassle Free PC

A Microsoft security component proves fl awed.112 Full Disclosure

Drowning in updates from chatterbox software.

84

14

WHAT’S ON DVD

Full Products

Mandriva Linux Free 2007East-Tec Backup Lite

Essentials- PC World

Super Suite

Our Super Suite includes software for almost all tasks. Right from brows-ers, offi ce tools, codecs to system tools and patches, you will fi nd them all here. This time we have included Autopatcher for Windows Vista as well.

Video Tutorials for Windows XP

Learn how to enable hiber-nation, hide taskbar icons, disable autorun for CD / DVD drives and use mag-nifi er tool and event viewer in Windows XP

42

28

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EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Vijay RamachandranTECHNICAL EDITORS

Geetaj ChanannaSoham RaningaTECHNICAL ANALYST

Kailas ShastryCOPY EDITORS

Preeti Sen SarkarTapasya Kumar

EDITORIAL COORDINATORSowmya M.

GLOBAL EDITORS

Harry McCracken, Tom Mainelli, Yardena Arar, Anne Kandra, Eric Dahl, Laura Blackwell, Andrew Brandt, Steve Bass, Scott Dunn, Stuart J. Johnston, Stephen Manes, Scott Spanbauer, Lincoln Spector, Kirk Steers, Carla Thornton

ART AND DESIGN

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Jayan K. NarayananDESIGNERS

Binesh Sreedharan Vikas Kapoor Jinan K. VijayanAnil V.K.Unnikrishnan A.V.M.M. ShanithAnil T.P.C. AnoopSuresh NairPrasanth T.R.MULTIMEDIA DESIGNERS

Sani ManiGirish A.V.PHOTOGRAPHER

Srivatsa Shandilya

ADVERTISING SALES

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Sudhir Kamat

REGIONAL SALES MANAGER (NORTH)

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Parul SinghMANAGER SALESRishi KapoorASISTANT MANAGER SALESChetan T. Rai

SALES SUPPORT

Moumita DeVidhi ShettyPrachi Gupta

INTERNATIONAL SALES

VICE PRESIDENT

Naveen Chand Singh

MARKETING

DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER

Sudhir ArgulaASSISTANT MANAGER - MARKETING

Siddharth Singh

PRODUCTION

PRODUCTION MANAGER

T.K. KarunakaranDEPUTY MANAGER PRODUCTION

T.K. Jayadeep

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CIRCULATION MANAGERS

Ravishankar T.N. (South)Jai Prakash Singh (North & East) Vasant Patil (West)

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FINANCIAL CONTROLLER

Ramesh RamachandranDEPUTY MANAGER ACCOUNTS

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REVIEWS | NEWS | FEATURES

ADVERTISER’S INDEX

Advertiser Page Number

Abacus 43

APC 114

Canon 5

Cat Computer 92

Dell 12 & 13

D-Link 27

IBM 113

Internet World Wide 95

Kingston 25

LG 1 & 2

Microsoft 9

Oracle 4 & 49

Simmtronics 93

Tata Teleservices 31, 33, 35, 37, 39 & 59

Top Notch 91

Trek 94

ViewSonic 19

Wikipedia 51


LETTERS LETTERS

WORDS OF APPRECIATION

i am a reader of PC World and I respect what you say in the column “New Tech Products? They’re Evolutionary. I congratulate you on having completely analyzed Apple products to their true value. It is true that the iPhone has created much hype, but it really isn’t a superior advancement; rather a cocktail of an iPod and a mobile phone (with, I assume, PDA features). As you so rightly say, many mobile phones already have these aforesaid features, (and more) probably for the same price. Personally, Apple products do not appeal to me due to their high prices and impracticality.

Nitin Malapally, By e-mail

i am a big fan of PC WORLD. In the April month edition, you guys rock by providing such a cool software bundle and articles in the magazine. I appreciate your efforts to make us happy. I have a

problem, I bought transcend 2 GB pen drive. When I connected it to any of the ports on my computer it is showing as unknown device. Although I went to device manager and uninstalled that driver and chose for hardware changes in action menu the problem persists. However, it worked on my friends system who is also running XP. What do I do?

Vamsi Krishna , By e-mail

Editors Reply: Firstly, you should patch

your Windows XP with the latest serv-

ice pack to ensure maximum compat-

ibility with all USB devices. In case you

have a slightly older motherboard, the

USB 2.0 drivers might be required for

the USB 2.0 controller to work smooth-

ly. Download and install latest USB 2.0

drivers from the motherboard manu-

facturer’s website and then the drive

should be recognized as UMS (universal

mass storage) device.

TECH WOES

i have a problem in my PC , I played IGI 2 last month without installing antivirus program. But now I took out IGI 2 from my PC and newly installed Windows XP Prof. and also installed Norton Antivirus 2005. After newly installing Windows and Norton Antivirus 2005 my problems are not

solved. Problems are - it automatically restart the PC while running any media player like Window Media Player and sometimes CPU fan is howling when keys and mouse button are kept in hold and sometimes it is silent. What is the exact cause of these problems ?

Shur Chandra, By e-mail

Editors Reply: Going by the sequence

of event, in all probabilities your proc-

essor might be overheating or compo-

nents like the power supply or video

card might be faulty due to which the

PC restarts intermittently. We sug-

gest you first check the power supply

and the video card separately on other

computers. If these components are

fine, you processor could be over-heat-

ing. Reinstall the processor and fit the

cooler properly with a fresh applica-

tion of thermal paste and you should

be good to go.

DVD SOLUTIONS

I have a request, a few months ago PC World had bundled along Open Ause 10.2 with the DVD, I tried out the distro very recently and it did not work, it gave an error couldn’t read from source during the installation, I think there is something wrong with the the distro bundled on the dvd.

Amit Patnaik, By e-mail

Editors Reply: A ‘could not read from

source’ error is generally to do with

a faulty disc or a faulty drive. If other

DVDs / CDs are working fine on your

PC, the problem could be with the par-

ticular DVD. While we try and maintain

the highest standards of mass repli-

cation of DVDs, sometimes a DVD can

be faulty. PC World will replace such

DVDs free of cost. Just write in to us at

[email protected] PH

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FEEDBACK TECH QUERIESDVD PROBLEMS

ACTION LINE

ON THE RIGHT TRACK

Dear sir,i have been reading PC WORLD for a few months now and am impressed with the overall quality of the magazine. In the April issue, the article about working from home was very good and timely. I hope more IT companies realize the benefi ts and encourage the trend! Also, your product reviews are well balanced covering both the good and bad parts. Keep it up.

Akshya BS - By e-mail

LETTERS

11M A Y 2 0 0 7 W W W. P C W O R L D . I N

H A R RY M c C R AC K E NV I J AY R A M A C H A N D R A N

The Human WebPeople are dictating the way the Net’s evolving, analysts be damned.

Navigator drew inspiration and code from it. Today, many mouse clicks later, Microsoft, Mozilla and other vendors seem to have gotten out of the one-upmanship game and moved on to looking at the browser as a platform for a whole new generation of rich Net applications.

It’s the debate about Web 2.0 technologies, that’s responsible for this transformation. It’s talk that’s filled with words and phrases like mash-ups and wikis and social networking and user generated content. And, yes, even blogs.

Web 2.0 is about collaboration. It’s about creating a global online village one hut at a time and getting you to bring along the bricks.

While whether it’s going to work (i.e. make a site some money) or not is one of the commonest reasons for the debate, there’s no disputing its disruptive nature.

It’s already got the entertainment gurus in the US running scared. Research by Accenture reveals that over half of them believe that user generated content in the form of amateur videos, podcasts, and blogs are three of the biggest threats they face. The study feels that the entertainment industry’s key to keeping the revenues fl owing has to be getting onto new forms of content in addition to the more traditional streams.

And, surprise, surprise, the denizens of the Net are making it easy for the moguls of Hollywood. Take strong community sites like YouTube or Flickr or Wikipedia. While such sites have seen traffi c growing close to 700 percent over the past two years, interactivity seems to have taken a downward plunge. The latest stats from the Internet traffic researcher Hitwise states that only a tiny fraction of users actually contribute content to the sites.

How tiny you ask? Well, only 0.16 percent of YouTube’s users actually uploads videos to the site. Similarly, a mere 0.2 percent of Flickr visitors upload photos . Wikipedia has i t positively good with a tad over 4.5 percent of its visitors actually editing or adding information.

Most visitors who click on to these sites thus seem to be passive recipients of the trivial details of other peoples’ lives.

So where’s the collaboration? That fundamental aspect of Web 2.0?

I wonder, is that really that important? Do all or large portion of users have to generate content?

I believe the interaction of people with these sites reveals more about human nature than analysts and gurus of the Net give them credit for. After all, what’s so out of the ordinary about a storyteller keeping a campfi re audience entranced 4,000 years ago or even the way we react to reality TV. Don’t tell me you’ve never eavesdropped on your neighbors.

The fact remains that millions of people the world over find reading other’s blogs and looking at other’s pictures and videos

quite compelling. They’re only being human in that.

The way they access information and exchange notes is the only thing that’s changed — podcasts are today’s radio, streaming video, tomorrow’s TV and blogs, the newspapers of this digital village.

It’s this changing landscape of the Net that’s so fascinating. Sites that’ll keep you informed, entertained, help get a job and even married. We really are spoiled for choice and levels of interaction. So we thought we’d assist you by cutting through the clutter and giving you the low down on the Indian sites most useful to you. That’s what the cover feature in this issue is all about (Page 52). Let me know what you think about it.

Vijay Ramachandran is the Editor-in-Chief

of PC World. Send him your comments at

[email protected]

In the beginning was the browser. And, that browser was Mosaic.

Released 14 years back, this graphical browser was the original online

killer app. It fuelled both the consumer Internet revolution and the

browser wars that followed — both Internet Explorer and Netscape

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NEWS & TRENDS

in many ways, the 4GB Sansa Connect surpasses the iPod. For one thing, its bright and simple interface is arguably, more engaging than the iPod’s. But its most notable capability is the built-in Wi-Fi, which is missing, so far, in Apple’s offerings. Like the iPod and the iTunes store, Sansa Connect is tied to an online media services and in this case it’s the digital music and image services offered by Yahoo!. Those services allow you to easily download music from the Internet, listen to Internet radio and view digi-tal images stored online.

In other words, the Sansa Connect dramatically increases what you can do with your media player and, for the fi rst time, highlights the potential of subscription music services.

SUPERIOR

CONNECTIVITY OVER

ZUNE

to date, the highest visibil-ity Wi-Fi-enabled media play-er is Microsoft Corp.’s Zune,

but it’s wireless capabilities are stunted compared to the Sansa Connect. For one thing, Zunes can only connect with other nearby Zunes, and users can use the wireless capabili-

ties only to temporarily share music.

By contrast, the Sansa Con-nect connects directly to Yahoo!’s Internet-based music and image services. If you subscribe to Yahoo! Music Unlimited, once you are con-nected, you can find and download individual tracks and albums. You also can view photos stored on Yahoo!’s Flickr service. And it’s a rush listening to streaming Inter-net radio offered by Yahoo!’s LAUNCHcast radio, which offers about 150 streaming stations, making SanDisk’s omission of an FM radio seem like a logical choice.

Sansa Connect also does music sharing far better than Zune. With Zune, you con-nect only to other Zune users who are near enough to con-

Connect In Style

16 PERSONALIZE GOOGLE THEMES

17 NEW MAIL OPTIONS FROM WINDOWS MOBILE 6.0

18 LOW COST LAPTOPS BENEFIT FROM INNOVATIONS

INSIDE

W H AT ’ S N E W A N D W H AT ’ S N E X T I N T E C H N O L O GY

SANDISK’S SANSA CONNECT WI-FI-ENABLED MEDIA PLAYER IS THE FIRST SIGNIFICANT RETHINKING OF

PORTABLE MEDIA PLAYERS AND THE PROCESS OF ACQUIRING DIGITAL MEDIA. BY DAVID HASKIN

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NEWS & TRENDS

nect directly via Wi-Fi. By con-trast, Sansa Connect uses Yahoo! Messenger to look for friends who are connected anywhere using a laptop or desktop computer or another Sansa Connect. You then can see what music they are lis-tening to and download —from Yahoo! — songs they recommend. Once download-ed, you can listen to the music all you want. Zune only allows three plays before you must purchase the song. Getting connected is simple. Once you are within range of a wire-less network, you select an online task from the menu, such as looking at your imag-es. After that, connecting works, more or less, the same as connecting to a wireless network with a laptop or desktop computer. If you need to enter a password to log on to the network, an on-screen list of letters and numbers appears and you select digits and letters using the device’s thumbwheel and buttons. You use the same method to log on to Yahoo!

While powerful and simple, there are a few additions to the wireless capabilities we’d like to see. The most glaring omission is that the Connect doesn’t yet support the type of authentica-tion needed to log on to public Wi-Fi networks. That means this device, which otherwise is nearly the perfect toy for loung-ing in Baristas and Coffee Days, won’t work there.

THE INTERFACEthe most immediately

noticeable things about the interface are the bright, ani-mated 3D icons with descrip-tions below each one. These

icons are brighter and more engaging than those used on the iPod interface. SanDisk clearly copped the Connect’s navigation from the iPod. The primary navigation tool is a round, rubberized thumb-wheel with a large button in the middle. Pressing on the left and right portions of the thumbwheel moves you for-ward and back; the bottom portion is for playing and pausing music and pressing the top portion displays the home screen.

On the home screen, you scroll among the icons by rotating the thumbwheel. The icons rotate on-screen with brief descriptions beneath them. You select the function

you want by pressing the but-ton in the middle of the thumbwheel. As long as Sansa was copying iPod’s time-prov-en navigation tools, it would have done well to enable adjusting volume by rotating the thumbwheel. Instead, it has two buttons on the left side of the device for volume. This isn’t a huge problem, but it’s easier to adjust volume with the thumbwheel, and that technique also simplifi es one-handed operation.

On the right side of the device is a microSD slot for adding more storage. That slot could be useful because, curi-ously, the device so far only comes with a capacity of 4GB, although Sansa is indicating it will offer other capacities before long. In the midst of an

activity, you select specific actions by pressing two but-tons just below the display. On the left is the Options button, which enables you to do things like rate or delete a song or album. On the right is the so-called Zing button (Zing is the company that masterminded the user interface), which enables you, for instance, to download the entire album if you’re listening to a specific track or automatically create a mix of songs similar to the one you’re listening to.

BIG AND BEAUTIFULthe device itself is made of black plastic, which feels a bit flimsy and certainly isn’t as exciting as Apple’s iPod.

And at about 2 inch-es wide and 3.5 inches high, plus a small stub antenna on top, the Connect is signifi cantly larg-er than similarly-spec’d 4GB devices.

In particular, it’s about twice as thick, about 10 percent per-cent wider and slightly taller than the iPod nano. But, then, you may like the reasons for its size. For one thing, there’s the built-in Wi-Fi capabilities. Second, it has a satisfyingly bright 2.2-inch TFT color dis-play that is signifi cantly larger than any other display we’ve seen on a 4GB fl ash device.

Sansa Connect is a signifi -cant step forward in terms of usability and access to digital music and images, for now surpassing even the vaunted iPod to become the most fun and flexible media player we’ve seen. It also provides a strong glimpse into the future of digital media and how we’ll be able to access it from virtu-ally anywhere.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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IN BRIEF

HTC ultramobile PC to have Intel inside

High Tech Computer

(HTC) plans to use Intel

microprocessors in its

f o r t h c o m i n g S h i f t

ultramobile PC.

The news puts to rest

speculat ion that the

gadget would use a

microprocessor from Via

Technologies, and could be

a sign of renewed vigor for

Intel in ultramobiles. Via

had been gaining traction

in the area, with design

wins in several devices,

including one from top-tier

v e n d o r S a m s u n g

Electronics in its Q1b.

The Shift runs on Windows

Vista and has a slide and

flip 7-inch touch-screen

that reveals a QWERTY-

keyboard for easy typing. It

is also a 3G (third generation

te lecommunicat ions)

mobile phone, and it can

access the Internet

wirelessly using HSDPA

(High Speed Downlink

Packet Access) as well as

WiFi. The Shift, which is due

before the end of the year,

will also come with a host of

other features, including a

30G byte hard drive for

holding songs, movies and

other data.

It will use the Intel Ultra

Mobile platform 2007

aimed at extending battery

life in small devices.

Zunes wireless capabilities are stunted compared

to the Sansa Connect.


NEWS & TRENDS

The “dynamic” in these dynamic themes means that you should notice changes in them from login to login. The image you see might reflect the time of day. Or maybe the weather in your area. Or pos-sibly other factors which might lead to entertaining surprises.

The launch of dynamic themes for Google’s Personal-ized Homepage is as striking for what it isn’t as for what it

is. For now, there are a grand total of six themes. All the ones I’ve seen look pretty slick and tasteful; Google wants them to be all about personali-zation rather than, say, tying into movie promotions. All in all, they’re modest and mini-malist in the way that new Google features often are.

Can Web developers or regular folks create these dynamic themes? Well, maybe eventually—technically, there’s nothing standing in the way of it being an open platform. But for now, Google said , it wants to keep things simple and limited.

So you’ll get the themes that Google makes available. And they’ll only appear if you have a Google Account and customize your Homepage—not in other Google features such as Gmail.

Little by little, Google seems to be allowing customizable, fancy-schmancy visuals to be part of its once relentlessly Spar-tan world—I’m thinking also of the Google Desktop’s Sidebar, which has evolved from a plain-

jane add-on to a Windows utility that’s as rich and good-looking as Windows Vista’s identically-named feature.

These dynamic themes are slick, too. And while they don’t seem to advance Google’s mis-sion—”to organize the world’s information and make it uni-versally accessible and use-ful”—in any way whatsoever, they do look like they’ll be fun, especially if the graphical sur-prises keep a coming. And like many a new Google feature before this one, it could be the start of something bigger....

—By Harry McCracken

when I think of Google, I think of a site with a relent-lessly consistent—and ulti-mately mundane—look and feel. Which is why a fairly minor new Google feature—dynamic themes for the Goog-le Personalized Homepage—is worthy of comment here.

The Google Personalized Home Page, which is almost two years old now, is among Google’s most practical fea-tures, especially now that you can customize your home page with thousands of use-ful gadgets from Google and third parties. But Google Per-sonalized Homepages have been pretty prosaic, visually speaking—they’ve looked very much like every other Google service out there.

Dynamic themes change that, but they’re as striking for what they don’t do as what they do. They have a remark-ably modest effect on the color scheme of your gadgets, but that’s about it. Mostly, what they do is add a custom-izable graphical bar around the Google log—a sort of off-shoot and expansion of the holiday logos that have been part of Google ever since there’s been a Google. In other words, a themed homepage has a dash more personality than an unthemed one, but both retain an essen-tially Googley look and feel.

This is a modest launch in other ways, too: There are a grand total of six themes for now, involving subject matter like a Japanese garden, a city-scape, and a bus stop.

SEARCH ENGINES

USERS CAN PICK FROM SCENES SUCH AS A BEACH, BUS STOP OR A CITY.

Google Themes Get Skinnable

THE NEW PERSONALIZED Google homapage adds a customizable

graphical bar around the Google logo.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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IN BRIEF

HP aims to speed business printing

Hewlett-Packard has built

its Edgeline print head into

two new departmental

printers designed for print

volumes up to 50,000

pages a month. The printers

offer the speed of laser

printing with the color qual-

ity and reliability of ink.

Th e C M 8 0 5 0 a n d

CM8060 color multifunc-

tion printer-copier-scan-

ners, print in black at

speeds up to 50 or 60

pages per minute (ppm),

respectively, and in color at

40 or 50 ppm. The new

print heads deliver pig-

ment-based ink and a bond-

ing agent across the full

width of an A4 page in one

go, allowing the printers to

run faster than inkjet print-

ers that must scan back and

forth across the paper. The

heads have a life of around

2 million pages, allowing

them to run for three years

under a typical service con-

tract, the company said.

Th e C M 8 0 5 0 a n d

CM8060 contain six such

heads arranged in pairs.

The first pair delivers the

bonding agent, the second

the yellow and black ink, and

the last cyan and magenta.

The printers also sport HP’s

EasySelect Control Panel, a

common user interface it

introduced six months ago.

By Peter Sayer


NEWS & TRENDS

MOBILE COMPUTING

ULTRA MOBILE PCs

HIGH HARDWARE PRICES

put a bit of a damper on the

fi rst generation of Ultra Mo -

bile PCs. Despite this, Micro-

soft says it remains com-

mitted to the platform, and

as hardware manufacturers

work on new products, the

software giant continues to

improve applications for the

devices. Here’s a look at its

most recent effort: a pro-

gram launcher called “Ori-

gami Experience” included

in the version of Windows

Vista that runs on UMPCs.

—Eric Dahl

NEW FACE FOR TINY PCs

AN EVER-

PRESENT Home

button enables

you to return to

the main screen

of Origami

Experience,

where you can

choose to

browse through

your media or

launch programs

and favorites.

WHEN YOU’RE VIEWING

media, the edges of the screen

become tabs that let you

switch between your library

and the Now Playing view.

CONTROLS FOR media playback are

accessible from nearly every screen in

Origami Experience, and the app remembers

which media you were playing last, so you

can easily pick up where you left off.

CRITICAL STATUS

indicators are located on

the title bar, making it

easy for you to hop onto a

wireless network without

leaving the app.

windows mobile 6—Microsoft’s generally modest update of its operating system for handheld devices and smart phones—will debut by midyear with enhancements for e-mail and editing of Offi ce documents.

Previously known by the code name Cross-bow, Windows Mobile 6 simplifi es e-mail ac -count setup and also provides new shortcuts to a multitude of common e-mail manage-ment tasks such as replying to all or deleting a message.

You can fl ag messages more easily, as well as view a history of activity (calls and text mes-sages) with contacts in your

address book. In addition, you can read messages formatted in HTML, where applicable.

MOBILE OFFICE

the three core applications in Office—Word, Excel and PowerPoint—more faithfully re-create and preserve desktop

formatting in the new OS. And now you can edit data in an Ex cel spreadsheet (you still can’t create formulas or new spreadsheets, though). Borrowing from Offi ce 2007, the calendar has a vaguely ribbonlike interface that shows your free time. It also checks for schedule confl icts whenever you receive

a meeting invitation. Windows Mobile 6 supports

some Windows Live services, including Windows Live Mes-senger. If your business works with Exchange Server 2007, you’ll find some useful im -provements, such as the abil-ity to search your mail folder.

Microsoft says that people will be able to upgrade certain Windows Mobile 5 devices— like the T-Mobile Dash—to the new version. HP’s fi rst line of iPaq smart phones, the 500 se -ries Voice Messengers, will be based on Windows Mobile 6.

Previous versions of Win-dows Mobile provided more functionality for Pocket PCs than for phones with keypads, but those distinctions are now largely gone. However, Micro-soft will still offer two editions of Windows Mobile 6, based on a handheld’s screen type: a standard version intended for devices that don’t have touch screens, and Windows Mobile 6 Pro for devices equipped with touch screens and styluses.

—Yardena Arar

Windows Mobile 6: New E-Mail Options HANDHELD OPERATING SYSTEM ALSO ADDS NEW EDITING POWERS IN CORE OFFICE APPS.

NEW SHORTCUTS TO common tasks speed up

e-mail management in Windows Mobile 6.


NEWS & TRENDS

Tech Innovations Fuel Low-Cost Laptop STURDINESS AND SIMPLICITY ARE KEYS TO $150 NOTEBOOK FOR THE WORLD’S POOREST KIDS.

how do you make a laptop that can tolerate sandstorms and monsoons, run on a car battery, and cost just Rs. 6,750? That was the challenge facing One Laptop per Child

DISPLAY: A SWIVELING

lid with a 7.5-inch LCD

screen has a latch that

can lock it against the

keyboard to turn the XO

into an electronic book

reader. The display has

a high-resolution black-

and-white mode for easy

reading in direct sunlight,

and a back-lit, lower-

resolution color mode.

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802.11b/g Wi-Fi allows XO

units to function as mesh

network nodes that can

connect and communicate

with other laptops even

when no link to the Internet

is available.

OPERATING SYSTEM:

THE XO’s Linux-based

operating system can run

only software that isn’t

hobbled by the notebook’s

storage and memory

limitations (see “Under the

Hood,” above center). Open-

Office, for example, can’t

run on the XO—but the XO

does come with a version of

the Opera Web browser.

BATTERY: THE XO

consumes just one-tenth

the energy of a standard

laptop. Powered by a

nickel-metal hydride

battery, the XO can run

for 3 to 22 hours on a

charge from a car

battery, a foot pedal,

a pull string, or a

conventional wall outlet.

DESIGN: THE XO’S case is

made of 0.08-inch-thick

plastic (standard laptops

use a less sturdy 0.05-

inch-thick plastic). Mesh

network antenna “ears”

double as covers for USB

and audio ports.

( www.laptop.org ), a nonprofi t group founded by MIT Media Lab veterans to get youngsters in developing nations online.

OLPC’s XO notebook PC at -tains its ultralow price through

a combination of innovative technology (such as its dual-mode LCD) and old-fashioned streamlining (it doesn’t have a hard drive, and it uses a Linux-based operating system).

OLPC plans to start distrib-uting 5 million XOs in July. As production ramps up, the price should approach the original Rs.4,500 target, OLPC says.

—Tom Spring

UNDER THE HOOD: The XO has no moving parts; it relies on

512MB of flash and 128MB of RAM. Heat from its 366-MHz

AMD Geode CPU dissipates via the keyboard and display.

Stereo speakers

INPUTS: THE RUBBER keyboard is sealed to keep out dirt and

water. In addition to the keyboard, the XO’s inputs consist of a

touchpad mouse (below the keyboard), a game pad (at lower

right of screen), and a directional pad (at lower left of screen).

Game pad

Power on/off button

Battery indicator

Video camera

Microphone

Directional pad

Back-light control

Audio ports and one USB port Two USB ports under antenna

Keyboard LEDs

Antennas

Touchpad mouse

PORTABLE PC


NEWS & TRENDS

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

LATEST PRODUCTS IN THE GLOBAL MARKET.

COOL GADGETSIf you’re like me then no matter how many new gadgets you see everyday some still make you say “wow” when you fi rst lay your eyes on them. This month it’s an impressively small digital TV tuner that’s doing the trick.

—By Martyn Williams

LG NEW BEETLE MP3 PLAYER

LG Electronics is teaming up with car-maker Volkswagen on a

digital media player styled along the lines of the New Beetle car.

The player sports an aluminum body and will be available in

three of the same colors as the car: Salsa Red, Shadow Blue and

Sunfl ower Yellow. The design of the player’s user interface was

inspired by the car, and the device also has a small VW badge on

the front panel and a New Beetle logo on it’s rear. However the

inspiration doesn’t extend to the shape of the player, which

looks like other MP3 players on the market. The specifi cations

are fairly standard for a media player of its class. It has a 2.4-

inch color LCD screen and can play MPEG-4, Windows Media

Video 9, MP3, Windows Media Audio and Ogg-format fi les. It will

come in two versions: 2G-byte and 4G-byte.

DIGITAL TV ON AN SD CARD

ELSA Japan’s Telebit card is compatible with Japan’s “OneSeg”

digital TV system and even includes a built-in antenna, although

an external antenna can be connected if needed. It comes

packaged with a Windows viewing application that also allows

for time-shift viewing of TV shows and access to the electronic

program guide. Because the OneSeg system is unique to Japan,

don’t expect to see it on sale elsewhere.

PANASONIC AVCHD CAMCORDERS

They’ve only been on the market a few months but Panasonic’s

high-defi nition camcorders are already getting an upgrade. The

SD card-based HDC-SD3 and DVD-based HDC-DX3 will capture

video at 1920 pixels by 1080 pixels in their highest quality mode

compared to just 1440 pixels by 1080 pixels resolution on the

two previous cameras, the SD1 and DX1. That’s an interesting

jump, especially since the older cameras were advertised as

“Full HD.” Apparently the HD wasn’t quite as full as it could have

been. At the two lower quality recording modes the resolution

remains unchanged. They record in AVCHD, the new HD format

jointly developed by Sony and Panasonic


NEWS & TRENDS

TOSHIBA GIGABEAT U

Toshiba pleasantly surprises with a colorful choice of models

each time it launches new Gigabeat music players, and the U-

series are no exception. Available in white, orange and blue, the

players have a 1.1-inch color EL display, can play Windows Media

(unprotected or DRMed), MP3 or WAV audio fi les and have a

built-in FM transmitter so you can listen to your songs through

a radio and don’t have to worry about audio cables. Battery life

is about 20 hours and a 10-minute quick charge will get you 3

hours of playback.

SONY 120HZ BRAVIA LCD TVS

Sony’s latest Bravia TVs are about to hit the market and they

pack the latest in LCD TV industry buzz-speak: 120Hz scanning.

This involves refreshing the picture at double the rate of a

conventional TV set, a benefi t when watching programs where

there is a lot of horizontal motion, for example in a football game.

The double refresh rate (it would be 100Hz in Europe) means the

motion appears smoother and the overall picture better. The new

Bravia J5000-series has this, with the bonus that the TVs are

DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) compliant, so you can

network them with other home electronics devices.

IO DATA 1TB HIGH-DEF RECORDER

High-defi nition TV is great when you watch live but recording it often presents problems. For a

start most recorders just can’t handle HD signals and those that do often come with a hefty price

tag. So it’s nice to see a lower price high-def recorder from IO Data. The snappily-named HVR-

HD1000LE packs 1T-byte of storage space and does not have a tuner from the recorder. Instead it

hooks up to a TV or satellite tuner over an IEEE-1394 connection. There’s room to record 103

hours of terrestrial digital TV in full high-defi nition.


Cheap Ink? Say It’s So! PLUS: OUTSIDE-THE-BOX UPGRADES, ELECTIONS IN THE WEB 2.0 ERA.

PRINTS FOR PENNIES

The Buzz: Line up all the pages you could

print using a gallon of ink, and you’d get almost as far as you would on a gallon of gasoline. Unfortunately, that gallon of ink would cost upwards of Rs.1,57,500. And you thought gas prices were out of control. Well, Kodak aims to change that with its new line of Easy Share all-in-one inkjet printers that make use of cheaper pigment-based ink and special paper. Ko dak says a color cartridge for one of the new models will go for Rs. 675, or a little over half the cost of most competing inks. That should drive the cost of printing a4 by 6 photo down from Rs. 4.50 to around

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Rs. 11.25. A black ink car-tridge good for 300 pages will retail for Rs. 450, com-pared with competing offer-ings priced at about Rs. 765. Bottom Line: We’ll have to wait and see how the output looks before we can render a fi nal verdict; still, any news of cheaper printer ink —from a company as solid as Kodak, no less—is always welcome.

EXTERNAL PCI

EXPRESS

The Buzz: Thanks to a new PCI Express spec,

your next graphics card might reside in a box outside your PC. The PCI Ex press group approved its first external cabling specification, which means system builders can bring the full speed of PCI Express x16 to external periph-erals up to 10 feet away. With high-end graphics boards approaching 200 watts per card, the power and cooling demands they put on a system have be -come enormous. Gamers should quickly embrace this technology to move high-end graphics setups outside the PC case—even though such solu-tions could cost as much as Rs. 54,000. External graphics boxes, with cooling and a power sup-ply built in, should start arriv-ing this year, yielding some interesting new designs.

Bottom Line: Imagine hav-ing a one-box PVR upgrade with a tuner and a hard drive, thanks to external graphics. External PCI Express should make both of them possible.

CAMPAIGNING 2.0

The Buzz: Bloggers, Internet polling, and

MoveOn.org each had their moment in the sun during 2004’s presidential election. Three years later, it’s clear the

Internet will play an even larger role in the 2008 campaign. Staff bloggers now are nearly a requirement for presidential campaigns. And with socially filtered news sites and a burgeoning political blogosphere ready to seize on any misstep, the stakes at any public appearance have never been higher.

Bottom Line: If you thought political debate couldn’t get any more high-minded, just wait till the fi rst text message from a campaign leaks: OMG LOL, you call that policy?!

COOLIT ELIMINATOR:

Self-contained proc-

essor water cooling sys-

tem installs in 10 minutes.

www.coolitsystems.com/

index.php?option=content

&task=view&id=132

CLIPMARKS: Grab

the best bits of a Web

page to blog about or save

for later. clipmarks.com

CUTS: This beta on -

line video editor al -

lows you to remix clips

from You Tube, Google, and

My Space. cuts.com

DUAL-FLIP: Sam-

sung’s SCH-u740 dual-

hinge cell phone is one of

the cooler handsets to hit

Verizon in years. http://

samsung.com/Products/

MobilePhones/Verizon/

SCH_U740CDAVZW.asp

NING: Ever wanted to

have your own social

network? Ning will let you

build one. ning.com

HERE\NOW

HAVING FINALLY SHIPPED Windows Vista after years of devel-

opment, Microsoft may feel its programmers are due a nice, long

vacation. Hence, perhaps, the code names for the next major

releases on the Windows road map: Fiji and Vienna. Microsoft

won’t say much about them, but observers point to Fiji as an

interim release—either a service pack for Vista slated for the end

of the year, or a larger Vista revision set for 2008. Vista’s true

successor won’t arrive until 2009 at the very earliest, when

Microsoft tentatively plans to roll out Vienna. According to Win-

dows watcher Paul Thurrot, Vienna will be 64-bit only and should

have a new Internet Explorer (designed by the team that created

Offi ce 2007’s ribbon), an increased focus on virtualization, and

(fi nally) the long-delayed fi le system update known as WinFS.

FUTURE TECH

WHAT’S NEXT FOR WINDOWS

1

2

3

4

5


and beyond. Consumers such as you and me no longer talk about single-medium dispersion of news and entertainment – along with newspapers, we want television programming on our cell phones; we want breaking news on television as well as on the Web and on cell phones; we don’t just want photos or live coverage of the Aish-warya-Abhishek wedding, we want to put up our phone videos (if we’re invited, that is!) on YouTube. If we have an opinion to share, we don’t just express our opinion in a letter to a newspaper’s editor, we blog it; sometimes even videoblog it.

With Planet Earth, however, the bar is now set even higher for both entertainment pro-gramming and for multimedia technology – we will no longer accept production quali-ties anything lower than what have seen, or would not expect leading broadcasters to adopt a multimedia simulcast policy with enriched content and instant interactivity.

The media, in general, and entertainment, in particular, are on its way to become a full-time two-way street, and the only handicap I can see would be our imagination. Discov-ery Channel’s Planet Earth is one of those rare victories in multimedia entertainment that need to set the pace for Indian enter-tainment conglomerates to work out a

multimedia attack. What, for instance, stops Ektaa Kapoor – now surely India’s leading television producer – to have her actors or directors or script writers to speak with their viewers in real time as an episode airs, or even solicit ideas from them for alternate endings that can be played exclusively on the Web?

The point is that, the technology is already there – it’s only our imagination that stops us from exploiting it.

The Age of Multimedia EntertainmentJust before its scheduled late March premiere, Planet Earth could have

been just another lavish documentary on the Discovery Channel, a 21st

century jazzed up version of the groundbreaking David Attenborough

series in the 1980s, The Living Planet. Attenborough, however fascinating

synchronicity was such that the informa-tion spiel on the website would pause the moment there was a commercial break on TV and later, throw up exactly the same information you were looking for when the programme talked about, say, the fas-cinating species of the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador – the place where Charles Dar-win became convinced of evolution.

In short, we were watching one of the most successful experiments in multimedia enter-tainment (OK, infotainment, if you like!).

A few months ago, on this very col-umn, we had discussed how entertain-ment would defi ne and drive innovation in personal technology during this decade

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The media and entertainment are

on its way to become a full-time

two-way street.

his series was, would not have imagined what the creators of Planet Earth did when it aired a month ago.

It was not just about the technology that they used (after all, many documentary fi lmmakers have access to the same tech-nology), it is also about how they used it. If you have not seen it yet, I would recom-mend an instant replay – the photography from space, the rare images of some of the most endangered species and even the scope of production, take your breath away. Yet, what I am truly happy about the series is not just my hunger for nature program-ming being satiated, but also the fact that, as a viewer, I am able to interact with the creators in real-time, participate in a pro-gramme rather than just be a couch potato and even express my opinion instantly.

Discovery ensured that Planet Earth – now regarded as one of the best documen-tary series ever made – would get real-time multimedia play on both television and the Web. The series premiere had millions watching the programme nationwide on television, and thousands on its offi cial website simultaneously inter-acting with conservators, answering real-time quizzes and getting the inside dope on every single aspect of the programme as it was being aired.

For instance, if there was a segment on the Polar Bear on TV, the website would give you all the inside dope on a Polar Bear’s habitat, why the species is endangered, an instant trivia section and a live chat with M Sanjayan, the lead scientist of the world renowned Nature Conservancy Group. The

Sachin Kalbag is the Washington,

DC, correspondent of Daily News and

Analysis, a Mumbai-based newspaper.

THE OTHER SIDETHE OTHER SIDES A C H I N K A L B A G


S O H A M R A N I N G A

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Bye-Bye Windows XP ?

being already in the middle of a lawsuit over the “Vista Capable” certification being misleading, Microsoft now finds itself in the middle of another brewing controversy. The announcement of closing doors on Windows XP by Microsoft is not going well with users and manufacturers alike. On its Microsoft Life-Cycle Policy Web page, Microsoft has announced plans to discontinue shipments of Windows XP to OEMs from January 31, 2008. With countless applications standardized on Windows XP, the transition to Windows Vista won’t be simple and in many cases almost impossible.

With the current hardware require-ments for Windows Vista, users will have to invest in more powerful machines to be able to run the applications with same speed and performance as their current Windows XP based machine. Microsoft’s Windows XP has been a popular choice amongst SMB and home users alike and it is by no stretch of imagination nearing the end of its product life cycle. So the decision to shun Windows XP within a year of Vista’s release is being met with a lot of fl ak.

Microsoft obviously wants to ensure that the OEMs and PC manufacturers gear themselves up for Windows Vista but taking the Windows XP option out of the system won’t go down well with ven-dors either. Dell has announced its deci-sion to continue selling XP-based PCs to cater to the SMB market which accord-ing to Dell needs more time to migrate to Vista. The costs involved in training staff in adapting to a new OS is a clear deterrent for small and medium busi-

ness houses who seem to be content with Windows XP and hence do not see a need to upgrade in near future.

VISTA FAILS TO MEET THE HYPE

IT’S CREATED

while Windows Vista might look a lot cooler and offer some fancy features, it’s not as polished with regard to core func-tionality and compatibility side yet. Win-dows XP has extensive software and driver support which makes it a lot more hassle free to adopt and maintain. With experts not yet convinced on the security aspects of Windows Vista, users are also cautious about making the switch. Microsoft’s trick to keep DirectX 10 exclusive to Vista might help them get the hardcore PC Gamers on their side but this will take its own sweet time. DirectX 10 hardware is in a nascent stage and very few DX 10 games have been announced. Gamers clearly prefer to hang on to Windows XP for its superior compat-ibility and better performance yield with current games.

It’s quite possible that Microsoft has realized that Windows Vista isn’t quite

Is Microsoft desperately attempting to force its new OS upon you?

the magic wand they expected it to be and it will take a while to get its grip on the market. Sight-ing a preference for Windows XP over Vista, Microsoft’s wants to keep its equation on the sales revenues and penetration fi gures for Vista intact.

AN OPPORTUNITY TO LOOK

ELSEWHERE

“a reason to go open source!” a colleague responded to Micro-soft’s announcement. While the open source community will give numerous reasons why we

should upgrade to Linux, Microsoft itself has given OEMs and home-users a reason to consider other alternatives. Vendors might just offer a wider range of products without bundled operat-ing systems, giving users a free hand in choosing the OS that best suits their needs.

It may not be surprising to see SMBs and home-users considering a shift to the popular Linux distributions that offer required functionalities. Hovering around the numerous local tech forums and community websites, I clearly gath-ered that common opinion of users not convinced with Vista revolved around deciding to stick to Windows XP while trying out various Linux distros. Micro-soft may do well to heed its community of dedicated users and continue to sup-port Windows XP a while longer.

Share your views and experiences on

technology hits and misses. Write to

me at [email protected].

WRITE BACK


BUGS & FIXESBUGS & FIXESS T U A R T J . J O H N S T O N

FOUND A HARDWARE or

software bug? Tell us about

it by sending an e-mail

to [email protected].

BUGGED?

Microsoft also patched a fi st-ful of critical holes affecting Internet Explorer 6. Some of the flaws actually reside in

Windows, but all create the risk of drive-by downloads if you browse a poisoned site with IE 6 on Windows 2000 SP4 through XP SP2. Vista is not affected, and IE 7 offers additional protection by re -quiring multiple confirma-tions to run ActiveX. All the patches have been distributed

Microsoft Security Programs Create Risk

via Automatic Updates; the fi xes appear to have come out before any known attacks.

The first two fixes close holes in two different ActiveX controls used by Windows (and loadable by IE) for HTML Help and Microsoft Data Ac -cess Components. The sec-ond two repair fl aws involving IE’s handling of COM objects. Get more on the Help fl aw at www.microsoft.com/tech-net/security/Bulletin/ms07-008.mspx and on the MDAC problem at www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulle-tin/ms07-009.mspx.

Details on the COM fl aws are at www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-016.mspx , along with info on the fi nal hole, which can be target-ed if you click a poisoned FTP (fi le transfer protocol) link in an e-mail or on a hacked site.

OFFICE ATTACKS

just as microsoft thought it had fi xed the last of a string of exploited holes in its Offi ce applications, another one popped up. The fixed portions (distributed via Automatic Updates) close vulnerabilities considered critical in Word 2000 and rated important in Works and in other Word versions (more at www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bul-letin/MS07-014.mspx ). The new, as-yet-unpatched bug is

a new flaw in Microsoft security software turns the software that’s supposed to be protecting you into a threat.

This critical hole appears in Microsoft’s Malware Protec-tion Engine, a part of Win-dows Defender and Windows Live OneCare, as well as of the Microsoft Antigen and Microsoft Forefront Security business programs. Through it, attackers could take over a vulnerable PC running the security software on any sup-ported version of Windows, including Vista, if one of the affected programs scans a doctored PDF fi le sent as an e-mail attachment or down-loaded from the Web.

No active attacks against this hole are known to exist, but if you haven’t already received the fix through Automatic Updates, get it now from www.microsoft.com/technet/secu-rity/Bulletin/ms07-010.mspx .

Stuart J. Johnston is a

contributing editor to PC World .

Plus: Fixes for Internet Explorer and Offi ce, and changes to Windows support.

A virus scan could trigger the attack.

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IN BRIEF

Firefox Update NEW VERSIONS OF Firefox

(2.0.02 and 1.5.0.10) and

Thunderbird (1.5.0.10) close

a number of holes, two of

which are critical. Upgrade

via either program’s auto-

matic update feature, and

obtain more information at

www.mozilla.com/en-US/fire-

fox/2.0.0.2/releasenotes/.

Google Desktop Fix RESEARCHERS discovered

that an infected Web site or

e-mail could trick Desktop

into divulging your data

( www.networkworld.com/

news/2007/022207-google-

desktop-flaw.html ). If Goog-

le’s auto-update fix (to

5.0.701.30540) didn’t reach

you, grab the new version at

desktop.google.com .

IF YOU CREATE digital photo tags using Microsoft’s Photo Info

program in Vista, existing tags can become unreadable. Worse

yet, photos in Nikon’s raw format can become unviewable.

Until camera companies provide driver updates, the workaround

is, fi rst, to avoid using the Photo Acquisition Wizard. Instead, use

the camera maker’s software to upload pics, or drag and drop them

directly from the camera. Second, don’t use Windows Photo Gallery

or Windows Explorer to edit photo tags or properties. Read more

at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927527/en-us . In other Vista

news, a compatibility patch allows a slew of older programs and

games to run under the OS. For the fi x and the list of affected

software, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929427 .

VISTA PHOTO GOTCHAS, SOFTWARE FIX

rated the same, and involves the usual tainted e-mail attachments or download-ed fi le (details at www.micro-soft.com/technet/security/advisory/933052.mspx ).


REVIEWS & RANKINGS

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D U M O U R E D I T E D BY K A L PA N A E T T E N S O N & R A M O N

31 W880I - 3G WALKMAN PHONE

32 ASUS EN8800GTS VIDEO CARD

32 STYLISH AND PORTABLE NU

DVD WRITER

33 SPYWARE DOCTOR 5.0 BETA

34 MICROSOFT’S EXPRESSION WEB

34 EP-630 - NOISE ISOLATION

EAR PHONE FROM CREATIVE

35 CANON MP510 INKJET MFD

36 SONY VAIO SLEEK PC

37 ZONEALARM INTERNET

SECURITY SUITE 7.0

38 SEAGATE 750 GB BACKUP

28

RREVIVIEWSWS & &RANKINGSANKINGS

REVIEWS

LAB-TESTED AND HANDS-ON EVALUATIONS OF THE LATEST PRODUCTS

top of the performance chart is the ST3320620AS from Seagate’s much acclaimed Barracuda 7200.10 family that features perpendicular recording. It posted a random read speed of 68.5MBps, much faster than the 55-58 MBps

that the other drives managed. The low

leve l random read and random w r i t e t e s t s give a reliable ind ica t ion o f drive behavior in real world usage.

Though the transfer rates will be lesser in real world sce-nario owing to

operating system overheads and inconsistencies, you can expect all drives to be affect-ed by the same proportion. The Hitachi and the Western Digital are third and fourth respectively in the perform-ance tables, both managing about 58MBps in random read. You can see the graphs on page 42 for better under-

just as you upgrade your system and

think you’ll not run out of space for a while, the movies just get bigger, your music collection grows, games demand close to 10GB and operating systems are get-ting space hun-gry as well. The storage industry is one of the most dynamic in the IT fi eld as even enter-prises constantly need more stor-age owing to wear out of older drives and demand for more space.

Hard drives are available today in all capacities upto the 1TB mark, but for most home users, the best buy (cost per GB) rests at the 160GB and the 320GB marks. With stor-age, no matter how much you have, you’ll always want more and hence we recommend a 320GB if you can afford its relatively higher purchase

cost. Do bear in mind that 320GB drives offer the lowest cost per GB in hard drives as of now and will also future-proof you for some time to come. We tested 320GB hard

disks with 16MB buffer and SATA interface from the four leading manufacturers – Hitachi, Samsung, Seagate and Western Digital, to deter-

S T O R A G E

HIGHER SPEEDS AND LOWER PRICES MAKE 320GB THE WAY TO GO FOR DESKTOP STORAGE

mine which of these offers the best buy over all.

PERFORMANCE

we used Everest 2006 Ultimate’s low level disk

benchmarking tool to test the read and write

speeds (in linear and random modes) of the drives. A low level testing ensures that operating system’s inconsistencies do not affect the result of the test. At the

Spacious Storage Gets Cheaper Still


REVIEWS & RANKINGS

38 SAMSUNG SGH-E520 SLIDER PHONE

39 AMD 690V BASED MOTHERBOARD

FROM JETWAY

40 SIGHTSPEED’S VIDEO CALLING SOFTWARE

41 NOD32 ANTIVIRUS SYSTEM

41 7MP A700 CAMERA FROM FUJI

42 22 INCH MONITOR FROM SAMSUNG

42 LEADTEK’S TV2000 XP GLOBAL TUNER

43 FINGERPRINT LOCK PEN DRIVE FROM WEP

36

standing of the differences in the benchmark scores.

Most internal hard drives offer high transfer speed in the beginning sectors and gradually decrease to just about 50% of that figure towards the end of the drive. This decrease is not linear and hence the average speed that you see on the graph next page does not always tell the full story. Hence, we included two other factors in our calculation – percentage of the drive where write speed is above 60 MBps and 50 MBps. The Seagate and the Samsung were the most consistent, with about 70% of the drive area showing transfer speeds up to 60 MBps and 88% above 50 MBps. The WD was the weakest with not even half the drive area (47%) above the 60MBps mark.

The implication is that with the WD, data transfer beyond the half capacity mark will be slower, but with the Seagate or the Samsung, you have 70% of the drives’s capacity to go before you see speeds drop.

FEATURES

Perpendicular Recording is

a hot topic amongst drive

manufactures and enthusi-asts alike. Seagate has been the first manufacturer to use this technology in desk-top drives with the 7200.10 series, including the 320GB that is featured in this test. This new concept promises upto 10 fold increase in drive capacities when compared the conventional longitudi-anal recording. NCQ or Native Command Queuing i s a SATA I I feature that is primarily aimed to increase hard drive

support this function, else NCQ will get disabled on the drive. The notable advantage in a single user scenario is not consistent, however.Number of platters (or physical disks) that a hard drive has will have a bearing on its reliability and performance as well (for a given capacity). Though we simply say ‘hard disk’, most of today’s high capacity drives are actually composed of two or more physical disks. All drives except for the Western

performance in servers. E x c e p t W D , a l l o t h e r drives in this test are NCQ enabled. Put simply. NCQ allows a drive to reorder the read / write instructions it receives from the operating system such that the various operations can be performed more effi ciently. This works to advantage in cases where data has to be read from or written to multiple scattered areas of the disk – typical of a server. Note that your motherboard must also

INTERNAL HARD DRIVE PCW Rating Performance Features

1

Seagate Barracuda 72100.10 ST3320620AS Rs.4,450

• Overall performance: Very Good

• Random write speed: 64.3 MB/s

• Random read speed: 68.5 MB/s

• NCQ : Yes

• Number of platters : 2

• Perpendicular Recording : Yes

2Hitachi Deskstar HDT725032VLA360 Rs. 4,600

• Overall performance: Good



• NCQ : Yes


• Perpendicular Recording : No

3Samsung HD321KJRs. 5,200

• Overall performance: Very Good


• Random read speed:54.5 MB/s

• NCQ : Yes



4Western Digital WD3200KSRs. 4,600

• Overall performance: Good



• NCQ : No



3 Bottom line: Offers best performance and priced less as well. Coupled with its 5 year warranty, you can’t go wrong with this drive.

81Very Good

3 Bottom line: Good performance and competitive pricing sees this drive in second place. Has lowest power consumption as well.

3 Bottom line: Performance almost on par with the Barracuda, but the higher price tag bogs the Samsung to third place.

3 Bottom line: Last in the performance table costing about the same as other drives, this is not an attractive option.

78Good

75Good

CHART NOTE: The test rig consisted of an Intel D975XBX motherbaord with 2x 1GB DDR2 800MHz RAM and a WD 150GB Raptor hard disk.

The prices mentioned above are indicative street prices as of the time of this review, and are subject to change according to various factors.

84Very Good

BestBUY

32


REVIEWS & RANKINGS

Digital (that has 3) have two platters, each with 166MB unformatted space. The lesser the number of disks - the lesser the chances of failure and generally, better performance as well.

We s t e r n D i g i t a l a n d Hitachi have molex power connectors (apart from the standard SATA connector)

which is useful if you have an older power supply.

VERDICT

this time around, for a change, spotting the best buy was not too diffi cult. The Seagate is clearly ahead in the performance arena with con-sistent transfer speeds over 70% of the drive area and

with equally impressive aver-age read and write speeds. The Samsung is in a close second place while the Hitachi and WD lag behind somewhat.

Hard disks do not have vast variations in pricing amongst similar capacities. The average street price for 320GB hard disks with 16MB buffer is between Rs.4500 – 4,700, except

TIPS

NO MATTER WHAT hard drive you have, here are

some tips for you to get better speeds and

increase the life of your disk.

Defragment your drive: This is one of the oft

repeated tips, yet we say this again - and for a

good reason. Defragmentation put together in

contiguous locations various chunks of individual

fi les scattered across the disk, so that it can be

accessed faster and with lesser mechanical strain

to the hard disk. Use the Windows defragmenta-

tion tool or a free tool like AusLogics Defrag-

menter (www.auslogics.com/disk-defra).

Use power saving options: The lesser you make

your hard drive work, the longer it lasts. If you are

used to leaving your PC idle while you step out,

enable hard disk power off under Power Manage-

ment or just Hibernate your PC which will switch

power your hard disk off. However, do Not use this

option if you are going to be away for just a few

minutes or you fre-

quently take such

breaks, as frequent

start-stops can actu-

ally reduce the drive’s

life. Use it if you are

going away for a cou-

ple of hours and you

dont want to switch

off and on your PC.

Avoid tilting or oth-

erwise moving your

PC when the PC is on. Hard drives do not take

too kindly to being moved around while they are

working! And, if you hear a screeching noise

from your PC that coincides with the hard drive

activity indicator (usually the red or amber

LED), it’s time for you to backup immediately

and be prepared for a new hard disk.

Optimise your hard disk’s performance

for the Samsung which is costlier by 10% with an average selling price of Rs 5,200.

Seagate’s performance, coupled with its competi-tive pricing makes it the best buy in the 320GB hard disk category. The five year war-ranty from Seagate must take care of any ‘just in case’ hard disk crash scenarios. West-ern Digital offers on-site replacement through its ‘WD Express’ scheme. The Samsung’s higher Rs

500 does not seem justifi able. It is this pricing differen-tial that puts the third fastest drive, the Hitachi in sec-ond place, ahead of the Samsung.

When you go hard drive shopping, be sure to specifi cally ask for one with

a 16MB buffer (preferably quote the model numbers that you see here). Do not buy the 8MB versions, given that the latter are cheaper by just a few hundred Rupees which is no great saving.

—Kailas Shastry

TEST RESULTS

Everest Ultimate 2006 Random and Linear Read

Linear Read Random Read

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Seagate Samsung Hitachi WD

MB

ps

TEST RESULTS

Everest Ultimate 2006 Random / Lenar Write Speeds

Random Write Linear Write

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Seagate Samsung Hitachi WD

MB

ps


REVIEWS & RANKINGS

simply a stunning piece of industrial design, Sony Ericsson’s latest entry into the Walkman range is one of the thinnest 3G mobile phones ever released. The W880i features a sleek, brushed steel face, a 2 megapixel camera, push e-mail support, and a 1GB Memory Stick Micro (M2) - all of this squeezed into a device measuring just 9.4mm thin.

WALKMAN

the W880i includes the latest version of Sony Erics-son’s proprietary music soft-ware, Walkman version 2.0. The new edition offers some welcome features, as well as a stylish new look. An icon representing each menu has been added for a sleeker and more structured feel. It still uses the previous tiered sys-tem with artists, albums, art-ists, tracks and playlist menus. The W880i also features A2DP which enables you wirelessly stream your music to a pair of Bluetooth headphones.

In terms of sound quality, the W880i is on par with previous Walkman handsets. For a mobile phone its audio quality is quite notable and the included earphones

Slim Walkman with 3GM U S I C P H O N E produced a crisp and warm

sound wi th good bass . The headphones include an adapter which allows a standard 3.5mm headphone jack to be used.

FEATURES

the W880i handled voice calls fairly well, although we did notice that in-call volume could have been much louder. It’s fi ne for using the phone to your ear, but using the hands-free speakerphone with some background noise isn’t ideal.

The W880i is a 3G phone, so it includes dual cameras - a 2 megapixel camera on the rear for taking photographs and a VGA camera on the front for video calling (which can’t be used for taking photos). Unfortunately, the camera doesn’t include auto focus or a fl ash, but it does have 2.5x digital zoom. The W880i’s camera should be enough to keep users happy for the odd photo thanks to panorama, frames and burst shooting modes, night mode, a 10 second self-timer, black and white, sepia and negative effects as well as the ability to adjust white balance. Video recording is below average at best.

The W880i also offers plenty of entertainment options.

In addition to the Walkman feature, there is a video player and games, as well as some of Sony Ericsson’s proprietary applications such as VideoDJ, PhotoDJ and Music DJ. There’s also remote control and sound recording functions as well as Bluetooth 2.0 and USB 2.0 connectivity. Unfortunately there is no FM radio included.

One cool feature of the W880i is the ability to blog. In a couple of easy steps you can take a photo, write a small snippet of text and publish it on the Internet as a blog - all through the phone itself.

DESIGN

the W880i has to be seen to be believed. It measures 103mm x 46.5mm x 9.4 mm and weighs 71g. It is a delight to hold in your hand and easily slides into a pocket or bag. The brushed steel fi nish gives a feel of excel-lent build quality, sophistication and class.

The keypad, Although

small, are very responsive, and the generous spacing between keys means that users should be able to achieve reasonable, if not lightning fast messaging speeds. Both the keypad and controls have a bright, white backlight, so using the phone in the dark isn’t a problem. Despite being so thin, Sony Ericsson hasn’t failed to include any controls. The W880i includes a volume slider and dedicated camera button on its left, and a dedicated Walkman button on the right.

Battery life is about average. On average, we charged the handset every two or three days, depending on usage patterns.

—Ross Catanzariti

THE NEW SLIM Walkman is not

only a head turner but filled with

features too

W880i Sony Ericsson

PCW Rating

Slim Walkman with 3G, dual

camera but without FM.

Price: Rs. 23,999

84 Very Good


REVIEWS & RANKINGS

last month we reviewed the Geforce 8800GTS 320MB from Leadtek and it proved to be an excellent choice for a DirectX 10 video card that offers a suf-ficiently future-proof solution without breaking the bank. The Asus EN8800GTS 320MB is also based on the same Geforce 8800GTS chipset backed by 320MB of memory. Priced at Rs 23,000 this Asus card is a thousand rupees dearer than the Leadtek. On the perfor-

mance front we compared it to the Leadtek’s Geforce 8800GTS and the results were right on the mark as expected. The card logged 96 FPS (Frames Per Sec-ond) while running F.E.A.R. with all the image quality set-tings maxed out and resolution set to 1280 x 960, scoring one frame higher than the Leadtek 8800GTS that logged 95 FPS. Scoring 8519 points in 3DMark 2006, the Asus EN8800GTS is about 15 percent slower than the Geforce 8800GTX based cards which are priced 30-40 percent higher.

With excellent video play-back functionalities, and abil-ity to render high definition content without taxing the CPU, these 8800GTS 320MB based cards offer superb value

in the high-end segment. Asus betters the deal with an excellent package that con-sists of full versions of two popular games. Ghost Recon Advanced War Fighter and GTI Racing. Given the list of freebies, the Asus branding and three year warranty, the

additional thousand rupees you spent on the card is abso-lutely justifi ed. If you are look-ing for a meaty video card u p g r a d e , t h e A s u s EN8800GTS 320MB should top your list for its perform-ance, features and package.

—Soham Raninga

A Premium Graphics Package V I D E O C A R D

EN8800GTS 320MBAsus

PCW Rating

Asus delivers with great

performance a nd a generous

bundle to match.

Price: : 23,000

85 Very Good

THE ASUS EN8800GTS 320MB sticks to the reference design. The

heavy duty cooler keeps the temperatures in control

can you associate style with a DVD writer? Well, if it’s an NU, then you can! Known for making rather impressive looking computer peripher-als, NU has made an external DVD writer that can double up as a mirror. Yes, we mean that literally – the top of the casing has an extremely refl ec-tive fi nish that surprises any-

one seeing it for the fi rst time. The drive, called SuperMulti Drive ESW846 is extremely sleek, measuring less than 2 centimeter in thickness.

The drive can handle all cur-rent DVD formats including DVD RAMs. When we used a 16x rated HP DVD+R, the NU burnt it at 2.4x taking a leisurely 23 minutes to burn 4.1GB of data, even though it

is marked as being 8x capable. A regular internal drive would do it in about 5 minutes (at 16x). Burning a DVD+RW at 4x (both media and the drive were rated at 4x) saw a slighter difference in speeds. The NU did the job in 14 min-utes while internal drives take about 12 minutes.

The combination of the bundled Nero 6.6 and the NU present issues in detecting optimal burn speeds for dif-ferent makes of DVDs, so be prepared to see some tortoise timings with certain DVDs. CD read / write times are rated at 24x, and thankfully, the drive sticks to this speed.

The loading mechanism is slot-in type (like car CD play-ers) and has no drive door. Just

slide the CD / DVD in and watch the NU accept it grace-fully. An acrylic stand enables the drive to be placed vertically as well. Noise and vibration levels are minimal and the drive scores high on design. There are no visible screws as well – all adding up to make this a life style product rather than a sheer utility one.

This NU can handle all DVD formats, has appeal, but is pricey as well.

—Kailas Shastry

THIS STYLISH DVD writer is less than 2 cm thick and can be carried

with ease.

Sleek and Stylish DVD Writer from NUS T O R A G E

SuperMulti Drive ESW846 NU

PCW Rating

Ably complements a stylish

notebook, has great appeal, but

is pricey .

Price: Rs. 5,750

75 Good


REVIEWS & RANKINGS

it seems like only yesterday that Spyware Doctor 4.0 was launched, but version 5.0 is already with us. At fi rst glance, the two versions look remark-ably similar. Probe a little deep-er, though, and the feature set has been noticeably extended.

Spyware Doctor is now able to integrate with other PC Tools products. With this release there’s a free optional upgrade to the PC Tools anti-virus engine, so that incoming emails are checked for spyware and viruses, while the scanner looks for both sorts of mal-ware. Plus, there are plans for integration with Firewall Plus to provide an integrate d suite.

HEALTHY UPDATES

one criticism concerning

updates has been addressed. Previously, updates had to be manually initiated, but now it’s possible to set up automat-ic ‘silent’ updates that require no user intervention. This means updates are incremen-tal and download faster.

Spyware Doctor 5.0 has a commendably light system footprint – even on an antique 450MHz P3 laptop it made lit-tle difference to performance. Plus, home PCs will benefit

from revamped multi-user support, since version 5.0 supports the removal and detection of threats from all logged-in user accounts.

Incoming and outbound emails are scanned through the Email Guard, although we weren’t able to test this feature in the beta. File Guard scans fi les in real time, while the Process Guard has better rootkit detection – although it’s switched off by default.

As before, Spyware Doctor’s protection breaks down into two components: an on-demand scanner and a number of real-time monitors. File scanning has been accelerated thanks to its patent-pending spider-scanning technology. A complete Intelli-scan of 3.5GB of data took just three minutes on our ageing laptop.

At the heart of version 5.0 is OnGuard Protection, which comprises a range of tasked guards: Browser, File, Keylog-ger, Network, Popup Blocker, Process, Site and Startup. Another is on its way: the Behaviour Guard will detect zero-day attacks.

Each one can be disabled and you can confi gure exclu-sions for websites or files only. This will prevent new

programs initiating auto-matically with your PC, block programs that collect your keyboard input, stop known malicious programs running and prevent access to mali-cious sites. The Process Guard can even kill kernel-level spy-ware processes.

One of Spyware Doctor’s enduring strengths is its ease of use. Its clear interface makes it easy to drill down to tweak a confi guration setting, although the range of options seems smaller than in version 4.0. You could accuse it of being overly paternalistic, but most users will welcome the jargon-free description of each threat. However, one minor criticism remains. It still over-eggs

the malware pudding a bit, describing tracking cookies as infections – a trifl e fanciful.

VERDICT

spyware Doctor 5.0 contin-ues the good work laid down by its forebears and manages to combine ease of use with effectiveness. Indeed, we’d go so far as to suggest that Spy-ware Doctor might be the best antispyware utility available.

—Roger Gann

PC Tools Spyware Doctor 5.0 beta

Spyware Doctror 5.0 Beta PC Tools

PCW Rating

High detection rate and strong

features make this a good

security software

Price: Rs. 1,400

S O F T W A R E

80 Very Good

SPYWARE DOCTOR 5.0: one of the

best antispyware utility available


REVIEWS & RANKINGS

microsoft has finally em -braced Web standards. The proof is its new Expression Web program, which puts Cascad-ing Style Sheets (CSS), XML, and other standards at the core of the application’s site design and management strategy.

While the program still shields Web designers from much of the code that underlies their pages, the resulting sites should meet a l l We b d e s i g n a n d accessibility standards. The trade-off for all of the added functionality is the hours of

training the program requires for noncoders.

Expression Web goes to con-siderable pains to make CSS as approachable as possible. For example, when you choose a style, a drop-down menu lists the attributes you can use for that style. The IntelliSense function enables you to type just a letter or two to select op -tions, and you can drag small pieces of code from one of the program’s palettes directly onto your page to add naviga-tion elements, form fi elds, or other components.

But even with all that help, making the switch to CSS re -quires quite a bit of training.

Another feature that many designers will welcome is Ex -pression Web’s support for

XML and Extensible Style-sheet Language Transforma-tions (XSLT), which permits you to drag and drop links to dynamic XML data into your pages and format them easily for presentation on the Web.

Despite a few lingering trac-es of old FrontPage features (such as the spinning-globe icon you see as fi les transfer), Expression Web is a giant step up from that program.

—Dennis O’Reilly

EXPRESSION WEB ALLOWS you to edit your site’s CSS style sheets

easily by selecting from a drop-down menu of available styles.

Microsoft’s Web-Design Software Grows Up

Expression Web Microsoft

PCW Rating

With its focus on CSS and XML,

this app lets you create modern,

data-driven sites—but it presents

a difficult learning curve.

Price: Rs. 13,455

80 Very Good

W E B D E S I G N

creative’s EP-630 are in-ear noise isolation ear phones. The “in-ear” ear phones offer a certain amount of noise can-cellation by cutting down the ambient noise, ensuring mini-mal disturbance and immer-sive listening experience. Locally there isn’t too much of a choice for in-ear earphones, simply because not everyone is comfortable with the con-cept of partially plugging ear phones in their ear. Sony and Shure are the other brands offering in-ear earphones but fi nding them can be a task.

Creative’s EP-630 is a wel-come change, with its popular-ity in the market and sensible pricing, getting an in-ear ear-phone does not necessarily

involve spending copious amounts of money. With a 9mm neodymium driver, the EP-630 carries impressive spec-ifications with a 106dB SNR ratio backed by a 6Hz - 23kHz frequency response. The higher SNR (signal to noise ratio) and a wider frequency response indicates ample loudness and ensures that you hear the small-est of details.

In our tests, the EP-630 pro-duced clean and loud sound with most applications, be it music, gaming or movies. Given the tiny 9mm drivers, the EP-630 does a surprisingly good job with punchy bass response and crisp vocals. There are instances when the high frequencies sound a tad too sharp and tinny, unlike the warm sound delivered by

some of the high-end head-phones. But with a price tag of Rs. 1,050, you cannot expect them to match full sized high-end headphones that cost almost 10 times as much. While the 1.2m cable is long enough for in-ear headphones, the cable is too thin for our lik-ing and the plastic feel to the earphones are typical of a value product. All-in-all, the EP-630 provide good clean immersive sound without burning a hole in your wallet.

—Soham Raninga

Quality at Affordable PriceE A R P H O N E S

EP-630 Creative

PCW Rating

Well priced in-ear earphones give

you a reason to dump those

default ear phones that came with

you MP3 player.

Price: Rs. 1,050

85 Very Good

THE EP 630S from creative are

perfect companions for MP3

players and music phones.


REVIEWS & RANKINGS

canon’s Pixma MP510 is an affordable combination of printer, scanner, and media card reader. The Rs. 13,995 MRP model lacks the frills that come with many multifunction printers, such as fi lm scanning and faxing, but you can get the basics done quickly and with a minimum of fuss.

A flap to the right of the printer folds up to reveal the control panel. The 1.9-inch color LCD is smaller than that of many competing models. The MP510’s in-printer editing functions are limited to auto-matic photo optimization and face-brightening options, which don’t require the larger screens and fancier controls of its prici-er siblings. If you expect to work mostly from your PC, then the LCD size and controls are largely irrelevant.

The two media slots, which sit behind a door on the front panel, accept most types of digital camera memory cards, but you’ll need a third-party adapter to read xD-Picture, Memory Stick Duo, and Mini SD Card formats. The Pict-Bridge port, for printing direct-ly from compatible cameras, is hidden beneath the media-slot door in the recessed base of

Quality Prints at a PriceA L L - I N - O N E

the unit, making it a little dif-fi cult to access. Unlike several rival MFDs and many photo printers, the MP510 doesn’t let you read images from a USB fl ash drive attached to its Pict-Bridge port. However, you can attach an optional Bluetooth adapter (costing about Rs 3,600) to print from suitably equipped camera phones and PDAs. The MP510 also sports an infrared port that lets you beam images from many mobile phones.

The MP510 lacks an auto-matic document feeder, so you must scan each sheet (up to let-ter-size paper) one at a time from the platen glass. Two sep-arate 150-sheet trays hold paper for printing: a cassette in the

base and an upright feeder at the rear, which is convenient for swapping among different sizes of photo paper. Each of the printer’s four ink cartridges incorporates a red LED that fl ashes when the ink runs low. The device uses a pigment-based black ink to produce darker text on plain paper.

In our lab tests, text looked dark and solid, though the char-acters’ edges could have been crisper. Line art was sharp, but we saw wide banding across the page and diagonal interfer-ence patterns in blocks of close-ly spaced lines. On plain paper, graphics appeared grainy with overly bright colors and poster-ized blacks. However, the MP510 printed superb-looking

photos on Canon’s Photo Paper Pro; they looked very sharp, with bright colors and plenty of shadow detail, though skin tones seemed a little too orange. Scans and copies scored well across the board for an MFP in this price range, with no nota-bly strong or weak points.

Against the clock, the MP510 showed solid performance. On plain paper, it printed slightly above average at 8.2 pages per minute for text and 3.3 ppm for graphics. It printed our test photo on letter-size photo paper in a commendable 40 seconds. The MP510 scans quickly, com-pleting our test scan of a 4-by-5-inch photo at 100 dots per inch in only 7.1 seconds. Its 5.0 ppm average copy speed is among the fastest showings we’ve seen for an inkjet MFP.

The Canon Pixma MP510 makes an excellent choice if you’re looking for a straightfor-ward printer/scanner combo capable of printing good-look-ing photos, though its color LCD could be bigger.

—Paul Jasper

Pixma MP510 Canon

PCW Rating

This general-purpose all-in-one

prints high-quality photos at an

affordable price.

Price: Rs. 13,995.00

81 Very Good

THE MP510’S PRODUCES good prints on Canon photo paper but image

printing is not as great on plain paper.


REVIEWS & RANKINGS

the Sony VAIO VGO-LA38G, part of the VAIO L series, uses a unique form factor that Sony calls the “Panel PC”. We were impressed by every facet of the design, especially the transpar-ent frame, fl ip-up keyboard and half-screen display (with Sony soundFLOW music player). A handle mounted at the top rear of the unit means it can be eas-ily carried with one hand.

The L series sits somewhere between a desktop replace-ment notebook and desktop PC. Built using notebook com-ponents, such as a Core 2 Duo T5600 1.83GHz CPU, a 120GB (5400rpm) notebook hard drive, a GeForce Go 7400 graphics card and a notebook battery (for mobile use), the L series offers a light, portable alternative to a desktop without conforming to the standard notebook chassis design.

One of the best features of this Panel PC is the half screen display, which instant-ly turns on when the keyboard fl ips up. When the play but-ton (this VAIO has a set of basic media controls) is hit, any music that’s loaded into the Sony soundFLOW soft-ware will start to play. When

music is playing, the track details join the clock and cal-endar on-screen as well as an animated equaliser (depend-ing on which soundFLOW background you’ve selected).

The soundFLOW software is fairly simplistic in itself, offer-ing nothing more than skip, play, stop and volume controls as well as a basic fi lter by artist and album (albums also include playlists). However, sound-FLOW can’t create playlists or add albums from sources other than CD without the help of the Sony SonicStage application, which comes installed. If you wish, you can use any audio player software as your default

application, but we found that they don’t transition as smoothly when the keyboard was closed.

The speakers produce a good, clear sound and are loud enough for music and movies within a reasonable distance, although they would benefit from the addition of a sub-woofer. The 15.4in widescreen LCD has a native resolution of 1280x800 pixels and has good brightness and contrast, but a very shallow viewing angle. From vertical positions it’s dif-ficult to see and has terrible colour inversion from side angles, making the image look like a photo negative.

With the 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo CPU and 1GB of DDR2 RAM the LA38G will have no problems running the most commonly used software in the market and doing every-day computing tasks. The GeForce Go 7400 graphics card allows this system to run Windows Vista’s Aero inter-face and also gives the system enough graphics power to play some newer games, albe-it at lower settings. Older games will run with ease as

indicated by the 3DMark 2001 SE score of 9421.

As a worst-case scenario battery test, we played a DVD on a looping repeat, and the LA38G ran for 91 minutes, which is just short of an aver-age hollywood fi lm.

The flip-down keyboard is slightly smaller than the aver-age notebook keyboard, so using it feels a little cramped and it may not be ideal for writing long documents. While the keyboard has a built-in touchpad, the four USB 2.0 ports allow for an external mouse to be used or a larger keyboard if you wish. There’s also FireWire to con-nect a camcorder, a media card reader for MediaGate, SD and MS media cards, plus a PC Card slot (type I/II) and Express card slot for any addi-tional devices. For network-ing, the unit has a 10/100 LAN Ethernet connection and a 56k modem, but the WiFi 802.11 b/g will be the most useful connection option for this type of PC. Finally, a 1.3 Megapixel camera sits in the clear bezel above the screen for basic webcam needs.

The bulk of the PC is mounted fl at against the back of the screen and is barely noticeable. An adjustable stand on the rear allows you to tilt the screen to the desired angle and the keyboard folds out at the same angle regard-less of the position of the PC.

—PC World Team

Slick, Petite and Pricey P C

THE LA38G - a stylish looking ‘PC’ morphs a notebook into a desktop

VAIO VGO-LA38G Sony

PCW Rating

A desktop and a laptop are

morphed in a sleek and attractive

package but pricey package

Price: Rs.89,990/-

78 GOOD

A- THE KEYBOARD of the VAIO folds up neatly while the soundFLOW

software gets displayed on the top portion of the screen.

B- THE VAIO’S slim factor makes it extremely portable.

A B


REVIEWS & RANKINGS

sites included on Check Point blacklists, along with unknown sites identifi ed via effective dynamic analysis.

The Vista version of this product is expected to arrive in the second quarter of 2007, and ZoneAlarm customers within the one-year subscrip-tion window will be able to upgrade to it for free.

Noticeably missing from the suite is an antiphishing toolbar. In fact, the suite lacks anything capable of blocking known phishing sites instant-ly (though you can download a free tool such as the Netcraft Toolbar, available at toolbar.netcraft.com). But ZoneAlarm does provide other, less effec-tive Web protection. The My -Vault tool will block data such

as Social Security, credit card, and password digits from exit-ing your PC—but fi rst you’ll have to enter the information (encrypted if you want).

The ZoneAlarm security suite is priced on a par with c o m p e t i n g s u i t e s . I t performs well, though it could benefit from better phishing protection.

—Narasu Rebbapragada

c h e c k p o i n t ’ s n e w

ZoneAlarm Internet Security Su i t e 7 .0 s ign i f i can t l y improves on version 6.0. The mediocre antivirus engine licensed from CA has been replaced with a superior one from Kaspersky Labs, re -sulting in a high-performance suite whose only weakness is its antiphishing protection.

The suite’s core compo-nents include antivirus, antispyware, and anti-adware protection, courtesy of the Kaspersky en gine, along with the house-developed network fi rewall and the OSFirewall, a supplemental protective layer to block malicious changes to your PC.

In a battery of tests con-ducted by AV-Test.org, the suite’s Kaspersky engine per-formed creditably, halting 98.3 percent of backdoor pro-grams, 97 percent of bots, and 99 percent of Trojan horses. It also caught 74 per-cent of adware samples. The OSFirewall de tected a simi-larly solid 80 percent of net-work and e-mail worms, based on their behavior alone. The suite spotted all pieces of malware hidden in side com-mon compressed fi le formats,

ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 7.0Check Point

PCW Rating

A new antivirus engine from

Kaspersky significantly

improves performance, but the

suite still lacks antiphishing

features.

Price: Rs 2,250.

and the fi rewall prevented all attacks from both inside and outside the PC.

The sui te’ s on-access scanner, however, failed to detect the PP97M/Tristate.C macro virus, which targets Microsoft Offi ce 97 fi les. AV-Te s t . o r g r e p o r t s t h a t Kaspersky’s own version of its virus engine suc cessfully identifi ed this threat, which suggests that the problem relates to Check Point’s implementation of it. While most security companies rate this virus as a low-risk threat, ZoneAlarm’s overlooking of it came as a surprise.

ZoneAlarm offers most of the usual suite extras. Its Pri-vacy sect ion se lect ive ly blocks Web site cookies, advertisements, and embed-ded objects and scripts. Its instant messaging security protects users of AOL, ICQ, MSN, and Ya hoo services from bad links and attach-ments, though it added so many warnings to my outgo-ing IM messages that I turned it off.

Spam protection, provided through MailFrontier, adds a confi gurable toolbar to Out-look and Outlook Express. Parental controls block all

ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 7.0 Performs

ITS EXCELLENT VIRUS protection comes from a Kaspersky engine.

SECU R IT Y SO F T WARE

88 Very Good


REVIEWS & RANKINGS

we are now seeing several large capacity external stor-age devices based on existing internal hard disks to cater to increasing backup. Seagate’s 750GB Pushbutton Backup is currently the second largest single unit external backup solution available (a 1TB model is also available from Seagate).

The drive is available with a USB 2.0 hi-speed and two Firewire 400 ports for connec-tivity. One of the Firewire ports can be used to connect to a

second unit to increase storage capacity. There is only one but-ton on this 750GB Pushbutton Backup to power the unit on and initiate backup as well. Once the drive is powered on (with an external power sup-ply), you only need to press the button once to activate the backup process using the bundled BounceBack software that offers enough options for a power user.

Drives like this are prima-rily meant for backup and not outright performance. So, we’d have to look closely at price per GB, the ability to scale easily (stack two or more drives together) and backup functions. On these fronts, this Seagate does not disap-point. When it comes to sheer

performance however, in Everest 2006 Ultimate’s disk benchmark, the drive man-aged a modest and consistent 26MBps in linear as well as random write tests and a lit-tle over 32MBps in read tests (less than half of what internal drives manage today).

In real world tests, we saw the drive do 25MBps (for a 1.3GB file) in writing data, and read speed at was a higher 33MBps, both in agreement the benchmark scores (with USB connection). The per-formance is close to that of the competitors – Western Digital My Book Premium and the Buffalo DriveStation Duo.

Although it is possible to make a back solution by buy-ing a 3.5” hard disk and a

casing separately for a much lower price, devices like this Seagate offer one touch backup, the ability to stack more drive together, and a neat looking case and reli-ability – important factors in an offi ce environment.

—Kailas Shastry

Endless Backup with SeagateS T O R A G E

750GB Pushbutton Backup Seagate

PCW Rating

Convenient backup and large

storage solution, but pricey.

Price: Rs. 23,000

78 Very Good

THE USB 2.0 hi-speed and the

Firewire interface produce near

idential transfers.

no doubt a slider is a phe-nomenal style statement com-pared to the drab candy-bars and clamshells. Samsung has an exhaustive range of good looking sliders in the market. The SGH-250 joins the same league with some innovative features and great price point.

To start with, the phone does everything that you would want a mid range phone to do. A VGA camera, FM radio, a ravishing design, easy to use buttons, a 128 x 160 and 262k color screen.

The phone also boasts of some unique features that it shares only with the Samsung X520 and C140. All these three phones have security features that can be used in distress or in the case of phone loss. The mobile tracker sends a SMS to two pre-designated numbers of your phonebook when the mobile thief changes the SIM card. The Emergency SMS feature on the other hand can be utilized to send SMS mes-sages to up-to ten numbers in the time of distress. The calls from these numbers would be automatically accepted to help in rectifying the situation.

While these features of the phone are nice, there are some basic problems with the device that defer it from being an abso-

Poor- Man’s Slider and a Thief CatcherM O B I L E P H O N E

SGH- E250 Samsung

PCW Rating

Stylish low budget slider

Price: Rs. 7,250

75 Good

lutely killer device. To start with the slider mechanism of the phone is made of plastic and not metal, as with most slid-

MOBILE TRACKER HELPS

locate this phone when lost

ers. Excessive usage may thus cause a malfunction in this area. Also, the voice clarity in the phone was not much to talk about. We did experience call drops and disturbance in low signal areas. The battery life of the phone is also about average, with about 1.5-2 days of backup time with normal usage. The screen, though quite big, is low resolution and thus you may be able to see the pixel squares quite easily in usage.

In a nutshell the phone looks drool-worthy, has enough and more features to drive away a lot of others in competition but falters a bit in some basic areas. Ideal for fi rst time users looking for a slim looking device that refuses to get lost and can help them in time of distress.

—Geetaj Channana


REVIEWS & RANKINGS

good news for AMD enthusi-asts - you can now get an AMD chipset for the AM2 CPUs. AMD’s 690G / 690V chipset caters to home users on a bud-get. The 690G uses the X1250 video chip that is HDMI capa-ble while the 690V is supported by the non HDMI X1200.

We received the competi-tively priced (about Rs 3,800 street price) M2A692-VP motherboard from Jetway, that is based on the non HDMI 690V chipset. On the performance front, the moth-erboard is equal to the best that we have seen so far, with a score of 133 in our real world benchmarking soft-ware, WorldBench 5.0. This is in the league of much more expensive boards such as the Asus M2N32 SLI or the MSI K9A Platinum. Be assured that this affordable mother-board will not give you a per-formance hit even in demand-ing applications.

We initially tested graphics performance of the M2A692-VP with our reference Asus 7900GT video card and found that games fared equally good or even marginally better on this motherboard when com-pared with other high perform-

AMD’s New Chipset Offers Great ValueM O T H E R B O A R D

ing motherboards. Half Life 2 – Lost Coast, for example ran at 80fps on the M2A692-GDG, while the MSI K9A Platinum (reviewed earlier) did 76f ps at 640 x 480 using the same video card and other hardware.

The X1200 video chip offers decent performance but is certainly not the best onboard video around. DOOM 3 was barely playable at 26 fps aver-age with the lowest detail and resolution. Nvidia’s 6150 on the other hand handled the same game at 30 fps. This dif-ference of about 15 percent will refl ect across most games. Having said that, this X1200 is still better than many other onboard video chips like those

from SiS or Intel’s current onboard offerings. For all the smiles that this Jetway offers, it is disappointing to note that the board has its share of glitches. During our testing, it failed to boot after we removed our Asus 7900GT and tried using the onboard video. We had to do a BIOS reset to get the board working. Also, with DRAM Command Rate of 1T the board was not stable and hung frequently and we had to settle for 2T. Though a motherboard in this category is not meant for overclocking the BIOS offers options to change the CPU / HT refer-ence speed and RAM and CPU voltages. Don’t think of

using any of these – even a nominal increase of CPU ref-erence speed from 200MHz to 210MHz rendered the board unstable.

The shortcomings of a micro-ATX form factor are tell-tale. The CPU heatsink comes extremely close to the RAM slots.

VERDICT

At Rs 3,800, the M2A692-GDG’s price is in line with nForce 400 series chipset based boards featuring the Geforce 6100 onboard graphics. This Jetway has demonstrated per-formance equal to the high-end nForce 590 based mother-boards and makes for a more tempting buy. If you are look-ing at a budget motherboard, this makes for a nice alterna-tive to the tried and tested nForce platform – a warning though – you might need to do a BIOS reset in case the moth-erboard throws tantrums.

—Kailas Shastry

M2A692-GDGJetway

PCW Rating

Offers performance equal to the

best of the AM2 motherboards,

but has some stability issues.

Price: Rs. 3,800

75 Good

WITH A MODEST price tag, the M2A692-VP offers great value with its

high performance and acceptable onboard video.


REVIEWS & RANKINGS

v i d e o c o n f e r e n c i n g

software has come a long way since the late 1990s, when un sophisticated programs and limited bandwidth made participants sound and look like astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle. In those days I half- expected to see a coffee mug fl oat across the screen, but no longer. I tested the new video-calling app SightSpeed 6.0, and though its video quality wasn’t perfect, I was impressed by its performance—in particular at syncing audio and video.

SightSpeed is available in two versions, a free edition and a Pro package; the latter costs $5 per month and adds fea-tures designed for business users, such as multiparty video calls and priority tech support.

Both versions require a Web-cam plus devices for audio input (microphone) and out-put (speakers or a headset). To try it out, I used various com-binations of speakers, Web-cams with integrated mi -

crophones, and headsets with embedded microphones.Downloading and installing the software is a snap. It auto-matically locates your audio and video source, and helps you adjust their settings for peak performance. Following the initial setup you can tweak the settings, but unfortunately you can’t do so when you’re on a call. That means that if you’re in the middle of a con-versation and you notice, for example, that the tint of your camera is slightly off, you will have to hang up before attempt-ing to correct the problem.

Version 6.0 sports a new tabbed interface for access to all of SightSpeed’s features. To add a contact, you simply enter an e-mail address on the Contacts tab; if the person is already a SightSpeed user, you’ll see their name appear on your list. If the person isn’t a user, SightSpeed will issue an e-mail invitation to down-load the software. All of your contacts are listed on the main screen, with a green icon indi-cating when they are available. When you mouse over a

name, you’ll see icons for con-necting via video call, PC-to-PC voice call, or text chat. In addition, you can send video e-mail to your contacts.

According to SightSpeed, the video quality in version 6.0 is 25 per cent better than that of past versions. I can’t verify that claim, but overall the video seemed quite good, although some colors looked dim.

When I tested SightSpeed at home over a cable modem, the video looked very clear, with audio and video in sync. When I used a speaker-and-microphone setup, my caller noticed an echo. This probably occurred because my mi crophone picked up her voice as it came out of my speakers, so she heard her own words shortly after speaking them. The problem vanished when I switched to a headset.

The quality of SightSpeed’s PC-to-PC voice calls is on a par with that of services such as Skype. In version 6.0, the text-chat feature occupies its own window, and as a result it feels more like a stand-alone IM app (though you can chat only with other SightSpeed users).

Though you wouldn’t mis-take a SightSpeed video call for a movie, the image quality is good. Unlike PC-calling apps such as Skype that have added video features, SightSpeed’s focus has been on video from the start—and it shows.

—Liane Cassavoy

SightSpeed 6.0 Lets You Make Video Calls Easily VIDEOCON FERENCING

WHEN YOU’RE CONNECTED on a video call, SightSpeed lets other

users know that you’re busy so your call won’t be interrupted.

SightSpeed 6.0 SightSpeed

PCW Rating

This easy-to-use, no-cost

program supports good-quality

videoconferencing and calling.

Free

88 Very Good

JUST BECAUSE YOUR digital camera uses SD Cards to store

photos doesn’t mean that it will work properly with just any

SD Card. Older cameras can’t recognize new Secure Digital

High Capacity (SDHC) media, which can hold 4GB to 32GB

of data and cost as little as $50.

Older SD Cards have typically

maxed out at a storage capacity

of 2GB. Some 4GB SD Cards ap -

peared prior to the new high-

capacity format’s release, but

using these cards isn’t recom-

mended, due to compatibility

issues. Unfortunately, most dig-

ital cameras sold before summer

2006 are unlikely to be SDHC-

compliant (though a couple of

models can be made compatible with a fi rmware upgrade).

If a camera (or other device) does not state support for

the SDHC format (look for the SDHC logo on the box), you

won’t be able to use the higher-capacity cards with it.

—Eric Butterfield

Can Cameras Do SDHC?

GOTCHA!


REVIEWS & RANKINGS

NOD32’s claim to fame is its sophisticated heuristics-based detection of malware; it doesn’t try to match virus signatures, but rather looks for suspicious activity. This means NOD32 is much better placed to deal with zero-day attacks. And it makes for a lean, mean anti-virus tool – it won’t impose a noticeable burden on even old or inexpensive PCs.

Version 2.7 incorporates sup-port for Vista, alongside much

improved protection against rootkit infections. And its effi -cacy against viruses remains top notch. It is certifi ed by ICSA Labs and has won the Virus Bul-letin VB100 award more times than any other antivirus vendor.

But NOD32 isn’t aimed at ‘fit-and-forget’ novices, and a couple of tricky techie questions will doubtless wrong-foot some users. Exploring the options and settings can be rather intimidat-ing, while version 2.7 sports the centrally managed enterprise ver-sion’s array of relatively complicat-ed settings. That said, the interface is clear and easy to navigate, with alert pop-ups to warn the user of any problems encountered.

Features are accessed via the NOD32 Control Centre – a cen-tral system divided into the dif-

ferent areas of protection. Four monitors provide real-time protection for fi le-, Offi ce docu-ment-, email- and internet-access. These are backed up by an on-demand fi le scanner.

However, the options tell-ing the program to look for potentially unsafe and unwanted applications are disabled by default.

—Roger Gann

Eset NOD32 Antivirus System 2.7S O F T W A R E

NOD32 2.7 Antivirus System 2.7 Eset

PCW Rating

Its fast, flexible and effective

antivirus product.

Price: Rs. 2,295

71 Good

NOD32 HAS WON the Virus Bulletin VB100 award more times than

any other antivirus vendor

even in the lower price range, many cameras look rather sophisticated, but the Fujifi lm’s styling is a little frumpy. It has an unflattering podgy profile and a lifeless silver fi nish.

While its curves may not win any beauty pageants, the A700 is a comfortable handful. The thumb nestles against the zoom rocker on its rear.

At the A700’s heart is a 7.3MP CCD (charge-coupled device), which is impressive for a camera that can be picked

up for little over Rs 9,995. It’s blessed with a healthy assort-ment of features, including a 3x optical zoom that’s married to a handy f2.8-f5.2 aperture spread and a 2.4 inch LCD.

Unlike some of the other compact cameras we’ve tested recently the A700’s ISO range sticks to safe territory, with a high point of 400. Fujifilm includes a smattering of scene-shooting modes, although if you wish to take manual con-trol you may be disappointed by the camera’s settings. These don’t even stretch to aperture and shutter control.

Thankfully, the A700 is pretty capable of gauging shooting conditions and producing good results. As is typical of Fujifilm cam-

A Fine Budget Choice D I G I T A L C A M E R A

A700FUJIFILM

PCW Rating

Good option for shutterbugs on a

tight budget.

Price: Rs. 9,995

81 Very Good

eras, this model exhibits slightly boosted color satu-ration and reasonable finer detail – providing the ISO level is kept at conservative levels. There’s evidence of slight fringing, but overall the Fujifilm consistently performs beyond its budget price tag.

WITH 7.3 MP, standard 3x optical zoom and a modest price tag, the

A700 makes for a great buy.

VERDICT

it’s not pretty to look at or blessed with many set-tings, but at this price you can’t argue with a 7.3MP sensor and 3x optical zoom. Picture quality is good and there’s a healthy assortment of features.

—PC World Team


REVIEWS & RANKINGS

a TV tuner can bring a PC to within touching distance of a complete entertainment cent-er. We are seeing an increasing number of tuners based on high quality chipsets which is a pleasant change from the budget ones the market had just a couple of years back. The Leadtek Winfast TV2000 XP

Global that we received for review is based on the compe-tent Conexant CX23883 chipset that offers very good video quality.

First, the good part – the per-formance is amongst the best that we have seen from TV tuners so far. There are no signs of vertical or diagonal lines that some tuners tend to produce. Similarly, the picture was devoid of any noise and made for clear viewing. Colour contrast was high, making the

picture look rich on our Lacie 319 reference mon-i tor. Sound

had minimal

hiss and ably complimented the video. A TV tuner’s usabil-ity is dictated by the software it comes with (unless you are adept at using a generic cap-ture software like DScaler). This is where the tuner is a let down. The buttons in the bundled WinFast PVR soft-ware are too small and unin-tuitive while the various options under confi guration are also diffi cult to fi gure out. A simpler and well laid out interface would have been appreciated by many users. Other small issues like lack of a slider to fi ne-tune a channel only add to the irritation. This tuner requires a fine-tune (the auto-fine-tune is not effective) and the lack of a slider with a large preview

window will have you do a lot of trial and error before hit-ting the right frequency.

On the functionality front, the TV2000 XP Global has sev-eral media center goodies – time-shifting (pausing live TV), recording to hard disk in various formats, scheduling a recording, picture-in-picture, direct burn to DVD, remote control, etc. justifi es its higher cost over lower end models, but you may need to live with a PVR software that isn’t quite the friendliest around.

—Kailas Shastry

Leadtek Renders Quality VideoT V T U N E R

Winfast TV2000 XP Global Leadtek

PCW Rating

Good performance, features,

includes FM as well. But software

is a let down.

Price: Rs. 2,450

78 Good

S-VIDEO AND COMPOSITE inputs add

versitality to the TV2000 XP Global.

the Samsung SyncMaster

226BW is a 22in widescreen LCD monitor with a native resolution of 1680x1050. With a slick design, exceptional image quality, and a reported response time of 2ms, it is sure to become a favourite amongst gamers.

We connected the 226BW to our test PC via DVI and ran the desktop at the native 1680x1050. The clarity and detail was quite stunning. There were no prob-lems at all with the desktop

icons, and the colours where rich and accurately reproduced.

Using DisplayMate Video Edition we ran a series of exten-sive test patterns designed to reveal any image quality abnor-malities. Throughout the entire test, the Samsung performed brilliantly with no problems whatsoever. The greyscale test was delivered with no discol-ouration and an excellent blend along the scale without step-ping. The uniformity test back light bleed test showed no blacklight leakage.

We ran World of Warcraft and Doom 3. Warcraft is an excellent test for colour due to the rich environments and motion in the battle action. We had no problems at all during this test. Spinning the camera

around our character did not cause any ghosting or speed trails and particles/visual effects were dis-played with high detail.

The enveloping dark-ness of Doom 3 is an excellent test for contrast and black levels and dur-ing our session we found no problems with either. There were no contrast issues to speak of and the blacks were accurate. The connection options are a lit-tle limited with only one DVI and one 15pin D-Sub. We would have liked to see two DVI ports on the 226BW, and even some component ports like the similarly priced Asus PW201.

For gamers though, this is an excellent monitor. It’s fast, it has awesome colour and the

piano black design will suit the need for all things fancy. It will also work brilliantly for offi ce tasks, but the response time and the 8 bit colour processing means the 226BW is targeted squarely at the gaming crowd.

—Dave Jansen

Expensive Wide Screen from SamsungL C D M O N I T O R

SyncMaster 226BWSamsung

PCW Rating

Excellent display provides bare

minimum connectivity

Price: Rs. 35,000

81 Very Good

THE 226BW LOOKS impressive

with a classy all black finish and

a thin frame.

it needs no telling just how convenient a pen drive can be, but a major concern associat-ed with them is that of data contained in them falling into wrong hands in event of the drive being stolen or mis-placed. Most pen drives today come with a password securi-ty feature that allows access only upon a entering a pass-

word. This drive from WeP takes security a step forward with a fi ngerprint sensor. You have the option of either key-ing in the password or by sim-ply moving your fi nger across the sensor.

The advantage of this sys-tem are many – you don’t need to type a password every time you use it to ferry data across, for instance. In the event of lending the drive to someone, you can just share the password that will ‘open up’ the drive. This luxury comes at a price though – the 512MB version that we reviewed costs about thrice as much as other 512MB drives that have a password-only security.

When it comes to reading and writing data, this WeP ‘s per-formance is slightly above average – you should not face any unreasonable delays in copying data to and from this drive. In Everest 2006 Ulti-mate’s drive benchmark test, linear read and write speeds were 9.8 MBps and 5.8 MBps respectively. In comparison, the fastest drive we tested thus

far, the Kingston Data Traveler Secure managed 15 MBps and 7.8 MBps – about 50% faster.

The linear and random read speeds are 16.9 and 18.6 MBps, slower by a similar 50% when compared to the fast Kingston. Manually copy-ing data to the WeP saw speeds of about 7 MBps – thus, filling the drive to its usable 480MB takes about a minute and 10 seconds.

The fi t and fi nish of the drive is excellent and its classy white exterior lends it a corporate worthy feel. For the fi ngerprint scanner and the excellent fit and fi nish along with accepta-ble speeds, you do need to pay a premium for this drive – Rs.1,500. If the features appeal to you and you wish to get this drive, we strongly suggest the 1GB (Rs 2,200) version which offers much higher value per GB. The 2 GB version is priced at about Rs 3,250.

—Kailas Shastry

Secure Storage from WePS T O R A G E

Fingerprint LockWeP

PCW Rating

Useful fingerprint security

feature comes at a high price.

Price: Rs. 1,500

74 Good


REVIEWS & RANKINGS

B Y S O H A M R A N I N G AP H O T O G R A P H Y : S R I VA S TA S H A N D I LYAI M A G I N G B Y U N N I K R I S H N A N AV

An MP3 player has almost become a must-have gadget. With rising commuting times and fre-

quent travelling, MP3 player is the perfect device to liven up your mood when stuck in a traffi c

jam by tuning into those favorite tracks or listening to the Radio. If you are in need of a compact,

sturdy and zippy music player, a fl ash memory based MP3 player is the perfect choice.


Flash based MP3 players have come a long way from being plain music players. With boosted storage capacities these devices are fi lled to the brim with features and style that will make you want them bad!

MUSIC IN MUSIC IN A FLASH A FLASH

They are rugged, compact and very responsive unlike the hard drive based MP3 players that are more suited for higher storage needs and video play-back. We put ten 2GB fl ash-based MP3 players from brands like Apple, Creative, iAudio, Sony, Samsung, Philips and Sandisk to the test, separating the win-ners from the losers.

2GB of storage lets you store about 500 songs in MP3 format. Most of the MP3 players we received came with color screens and offered video playback and photo viewing possibilities. While video playback is a handy feature to have, it does not go well with fl ash based MP3 players because of their limited storage capacities and smaller screens. Besides, none of the players in the comparison can play those video fi les out of the box, you need to con-vert them to specifi c compressed format in order to play them. Thus, when opting for a fl ash based MP3 player, the core areas of consideration should be sound quality, design and usability and the audio features it offers.

FEATURES GALORE!

with Flash based MP3 players, manufacturers are on a rampage, squeezing in as many features as they

possibly can in these tiny devices. The i-Audio D2 is the very latest from the Cowon stable and is on the bleeding edge of MP3 players with an excellent high resolution 16 million 2.5-inch touch sensitive color screen that can play v ideo c l ips a t 30 FPS (Frames Per Second). The D2 also comes with an image viewer; photos look great on the vibrant screen. While it claims to support l i n e - i n a n d v i d e o - o u t functionality, one needs to p u r c h a s e t h e c a b l e s separately to use these features. At its price point, the cables and add-ons should be bundled with the player to make the package complete. With a built-in SD card slot, D2 allows users to add additional storage, just pop-in a 4GB SD card and you will have 6GB of storage at your disposal.

Our best buy winner, the Creative Zen V Plus is equally puffed up with a long list of features. The vibrant scratch resistant 1.5-inch OLED display is very

easy on the eyes. The Line-in recording feature along with the ability to listen and record FM simultaneously will please all radio fans. Creative sweet-ens the deal with a bundled universal charging adapter, ensuring you are not restricted

to USB as the only mode of charging. The Cowon i-Audio U3 is almost ditto to the Creative Zen V Plus in the fea-tures department except for the fact that the U3 comes with a much small-

er screen and isn’t as bright as the Zen V Plus. The iPod Nano

falls short in the features department with no FM radio, line-in or video play-back support. The bright 1.5-inch LCD display along with a photo viewer and some bundled games try to make-up for the otherwise scanty features list.

The Sony NW S205 is one of the most unique MP3 players in the compari-son. Its built-in “Calorie Counter” allows you to see how many calories you’ve burned based on your weight and length of workout. Going a step further the “Music Pacer” feature cre-ates running and walking playlists which the player will automatically play based on whether you are running or walking. With just a single line OLED display, the NW S205 from Sony won’t display photos or play videos like the rest of the players in the comparison. From a music player perspective, the NW-S205F provides only an FM radio as an extra apart from the MP3 play-back support.

The Sansa E250 from Sandisk also deserves a mention for its FM playback and recording feature along with SD-Card slot for memory expandability. The 1.8-inch color screen on the E250 sup-ports video and photo playback but the screen quality is not conducive to video or photo playback. All the three Samsung

CREATIVE ZEN V PLUS COMES ON top as the Best

Buy, thanks to the excellent sound quality and useful

features like the line-in recording option that records

audio from any source to the player.

BestBUY

THE COWON IAUDIO D2’s unique mix of features include touch

screen controls, SD card slot to upgrade storage and the ability to

play 30FPS video on the brilliant 2.5-inch screen.


MP3 PLAYERS

MP3 PLAYER PCW Score Features and Specifications Performance Bottom line

1Creative Zen V Plus Rs. 8,600

• Built-in Capacity: 2 GB

• Screen Size (inches): 1.5

• Line-in Recording: Yes

• Sound Quality: Excellent

• Usability and Design: Very Good

• Screen Quality: Good

• Ear Phones Quality: Excellent

With excellent sound quality and friendly interface, creative manages to offer tons of features in this tiny device.

2 Cowon iAudio D2Rs. 12,500





• Usability and Design: Good

• Screen Quality: Excellent


The D2 impresses with innovative touch screen controls and prestine sound quality along with superb video playback and stellar battery life.

3 Cowon iAudio U3Rs. 12,501


• Screen Size (inches): 1






A no-mess player with features and sound quality on its side, U3 is the most compact of all MP3 players in the comparison.

4 Apple iPod NanoRs. 7,800



• Line-in Recording: No

• Sound Quality: Very Good

• Usability and Design: Excellent

• Screen Quality: Excellent

• Ear Phones Quality: Average

While the classic scroll wheel controls ensures seamless operation, the Nano skimps on features and offers average quality ear phones.

5 Sony NW S205FRs. 10,990


• Screen Size (inches): 1



• Usability and Design: Average

• Screen Quality: Average


The NW 205 sounds great but will only appeal to fitness enthusiasts and the high price is a deterent as well.

6 PHILIPS SA3125Rs. 4,999




• Sound Quality: Average



• Ear Phones Quality: Poor

Priced almost half of the rest of the players in the comparison, the Philips is a budget offering. We wish it could offer better sound quality.

7 Samsung YP-K3Rs. 9,000




• Sound Quality: Good




The touch panel in K3 can be tricky to operate. The smooth surface is scratch prone and the supplied ear buds don’t do justice to the player.

8 Sandisk Sansa E250Rs. 8,200








In an attempt to cramp maximum features, the E250 ends up with an average screen and an awkward navigation system.

9 Samsung YP-T9Rs. 12,500





• Usability and Design: Average



Cramed with features, the YP-T9 is sluggish in operation and is rather expensive for a 2GB MP3 payer.

10 Samsung YP-K5Rs. 14,500




• Sound Quality: Very Good



• Ear Phones Quality: Good

It’s nice to have built-in speakers but the K5 is a bulky MP3 player with an equally heavy price tag.

FEATURES COMPARISON

Feature Rich MP3 Players Offer Great Sound QualityTHE ZEN V Plus from Creative bags the first spot with the D2 and U3 from iAudio not too far behind.

82Very Good

BestBUY

81Very Good

80Very Good

76Good

74Good

73Good

72Good

71Good

70Good

69Fair

CHART NOTE: All price mentioned are indicative as on 17/04/2007

• FM Tuner: Yes

• Video Support: Yes

• Photo Support: Yes

• FM Tuner: Yes



• FM Tuner: Yes



• FM Tuner: No

• Video Support: No


• FM Tuner: Yes


• Photo Support: No

• FM Tuner: Yes



• FM Tuner: Yes



• FM Tuner: Yes



• FM Tuner: Yes



• FM Tuner: Yes



players are unique by themselves; the YP-K3 and the YP-K5 offer touch sensi-tive controls backed by bright OLED dis-plays. In the extras department the YP-K3 has a FM radio and a photo viewer while the YP-K5 comes with built-in speakers. The speakers are loud and clear and serve their purpose well.

DO THEY SOUND AS GOOD?

All these features and extras in a music player stand for nothing if the player does not sound good. Ultimately the sound quality is the single most important factor for MP3 players and that’s where we were able to separate the chalk from cheese.

The Creative Zen V Plus, the i-Audio U3 and D2 along with the Sony NW-S205 top our charts for sound quality. The i-Audio players offer a clean sound and their strength lies in their ability to deliver accu-rate and distortion free sound at maxi-mum volume levels, thanks to their 95db SNR (signal to noise) ratio. The Creative


MP3 PLAYERS

player with its equally impressive 92db SNR ratio sounds fuller with excellent bass response. Even with the volume cranked to max, the Zen V Plus maintained the sound quality with no crackling or distortion. The Sony NW-S205 is very much suitable to Rock and Pop music, with warm neutral sound, the NW –S205 is conducive for extended listening sessions. The Apple i-Pod Nano and Samsungs YP-K3, YP-K5 and YP-T9 can be clubbed together in the second spot for sound quality.

The Nano is accurate in sound repro-duction but at maximum volume level it

f a i l s t o h o l d against the iAudio and Creative play-ers. The Samsung players also offer above average sound quality but they are limited in their ability to pro-duce extremely high or low fre-quencies accurate-ly. The Sansa E250 from Sandisk is

almost in the same league as the Samsung players but for the fact that the Sansa E250 shows signs of distortion beyond 90 per-cent volume level. The Philips SA3125 leaves us asking for more, with strictly aver-age sound quality and very fl at frequency

response when compared to the rest of the lot.

The sound enhance-ment and tweaking fea-tures such as preset equalizers and bass boost features can go a long way in customizing the output to suit your tastes and particular gen-res of music. The iAudio leads the pack with its list of presets along with the option of user customiza-ble equalizer mode and s o m e h a n d y s o u n d enhancement modes like bass boost, 3d surround and MP3 enhance.

DESIGN AND USABILITY

after sound quality the next most important aspect to a music player is the usability factor. A music player which is simple, smart and responsive to use will serve the purpose better over players that give tons of options but are difficult to operate and use. The Apple iPod Nano is the undisputed king in the navigation department, thanks to the smooth one hand operation courtesy the popular two way circular scroll dial that is easy to master. Having said that, the player at times struggles to keep pace with the ultra

sensitive scroll dial, there is a clear lag when you moving multiple steps forward or backward. The Creative Zen V Plus also sports a simple navigation system with a four-way joystick that does its job well. The ability to change the screen orientation from portrait to landscape allows the user the freedom if using the device in more than one ways, giving the Zen V Plus and edge over the rest. The iAudio D2 with its touch screen approach does take some getting used to and the idea of tapping the screen everytime you need to skip a song is slightly cumbersome, an inline remote would make

WHILE THE CIRCULAR control pad on the i-Pod Nano is

very responsive and effective; the i-Audio U3 employs

the classic joy-stick based navigation that works very

well in changing tracks and adjusting volume levels.

COMPARISON

STACKING THEM UP

SAMSUNG YP-K5

COWON IAUDIO D2

SAMSUNG YP-K3

APPLE IPOD NANO

SANDISK SANSA E-250

SAMSUNG YP-T2

PHILIPS SA3125 SONY NW S205F

CREATIVE ZEN V PLUS

COWON IAUDIO U3

WE LINED ALL 10 players starting from the chunky Samsung YP-K5 to the tiny iAudio U3

THE SANSA E250 from

Sandisk has a built-in

SD card slot for boosting

storage capacity.


MP3 PLAYERS

the job so much simpler, not having to pull out the player from your pocket/bag just to skip a track or change the radio channel.

The Philips SA3125 impressed with its no-nonsense approach, the buttons are tacky and responsive and the menus are straightforward, despite the small size of the player the navigation is smooth and accurate. Connectivity is also a major fac-tor with MP3 players, the proprietary con-nectors on the Apple and Samsung play-ers implies that one has to be extra careful not to misplace the cables.

The rest of the players use mini-USB connectors which are standardized and the cables are easily available off the shelf. Transferring music/videos to the players can be daunting task, especially if the player does not provide UMS (Universal Mass Storage) support. While all the players allow you to drag and drop data on them, transferring media is not that straight for-ward. Apart from iAudio that allows you to drag and drop MP3 fi les to its music folder, the Creative, Samsung and Apple MP3 players require you to install their media applications that have to be used to transfer songs from your computer to the device. The Sony NW-S205 scores low on the usa-bility aspect mainly due to the tiny buttons and the confusing controls. The twist mechanism in the player makes it easy to jump to the next song or skip songs but the rest of the features aren’t easily accessible while you “wear” the player.

LOOKS, BUILD AND BATTERY-LIFE

flash based MP3 players are lot more power effi cient compared to the hard drive based MP3 players. The Cowon, Apple, Samsung and Sony players deserve a special mention for their battery performance. The i-Audio D2 player claims a stupendous 52 hour battery life for MP3 playback and a 10 hour back-up for video playback. In reality, on a single full charge the D2 lasted for fi ve days with 5-6 hours of music/FM and about 3 hours of total video playback. The Sony NW-S205 with its 18-hour claimed battery life does not break any records but

with its ultra fast recharge times; it gives one hour of playback time with a three minute charge and takes less than 3o minutes for full charge. The Apple i-Pod Nano and Samsung YP-T9 and YP-K3 will hold enough juice on a single charge to last you for 10 days with about 2-hours of music every day. On the build quality front, the Sony, Apple and iAudio players are of the top draw while the Samsung players are scratch prone due to the shiny reflective surface. The Sandisk Sansa E250 has a metal back but the feel of the

front scroll wheel is not quite reassuring. The Creative Zen V Plus comes with a scratch resistant body and that makes up for the all plastic frame which seems a little weak against the other players. In the looks department, the iPod Nano is slim and looks sophisticated; both the iAudio players look geeky while the Creative Zen V Plus is looks cool and funky.

TAKE YOUR PICK

while we have the Creative Zen V Plus as the overall Best Buy winner, we would also like to pick particular players from the list of ten that will appeal to distinct type of users. The iAudio D2 is the obvi-ous choice for the gadget freak and the Sony NW-S205 is made for the fitness freak who end up spending two hours in the gym every day. The Apple iPod Nano will fi nd fans among the brand, image and style conscious, it makes a style state-ment wherever you go. The Budget buyer should be happy with a simple and to-the-point Philips SA3125, priced at Rs 4,999, it’s a steal deal. The Creative Zen V Plus and iAudio U3 are meant for purists who demand nothing but the best music listening experience. The larger and brighter OLED screen and superior design of the Zen v Plus gives it an edge over the i-Audio U3.

THE SONY NW-S205F is a

wearable MP3 player that

comes with an arm-band,

allowing users to strap the

player on themselves during

those gym sessions.

ACCESSORIES

EAR PHONES MAKE A DIFFERENCE

THE CREATIVE ZEN V

Plus and the i-Audio D2

and U3 provide excellent

ear phones with the package,

doing full justice to the fine output that the

players are capable of. The Sony NW-S205F

offers behind-the-ear earphones, they sound

good but they might not be comfortable for

everyone. The default earphones bundled

with Apple i-Pod Nano, Philips SA3125 and

Sandisk Sanse e250 produced rather

mediocre sound quality, marring the overall

listening experience.


MP3 PLAYERS

52 w w w. P C w O R L D . i n m a y 2 0 0 7

best indian websites

53 m a y 2 0 0 7 w w w. P C w O R L D . i n


53 m a y 2 0 0 7 w w w. P C w O R L D . i n 54 m a y 2 0 0 7 w w w. P C w O R L D . i n




56

A Trillion Thanks!PC World thanks our distinguished and eminent jury members who wholeheartedly gave us their time, experience and trenchant views, thereby making these awards possible.

GV sreekumar – Associate Profes-sor, Industrial Design Centre, IIT Mumbai.

Prof. Sreekumar is an acknowledged teacher

and practioner in the fields of visual design,

typography and information graphics as well

as publication & magazine design.

sriniVas katta - GM & CTO, Changepond Technologies

An IIT engineer, IIM Lucknow, Srinivas excels in new

technology adoption and architecting innovative cus-

tomer solutions, for client mega-sites, including the

FIFA World Cup and the A1 Grand Prix.

krishna kumar – AVP Delivery, GCI Solutions

With over two decades in the software space

post an MBA from IIMA, Krishna Kumar is

responsible for delivery of key projects for

GCI, formerly known as Planetasia.

Vinayak sinha – MD & CEO, Advent InfoSoft

Vinayak founded Advent, which runs eIndiabusiness.

com, a leading B2B marketplace for export-import,

manufacturers and distributors. Advent boasts a base

of over 3000 clients in a short period of seven years.

rahul nanda – VP, Web Chutney Studios.

An economics graduate fortified with an MBA, Rahul is a techie at

heart. He has over a decade of path-breaking experience in the e-

commerce and new media domains.



roshen chandren– CTO Plynt.

Co-founder of Paladion/Plynt, Roshen is an

author, software security practice evangelist,

teacher, speaker; in short a security guru. Need

we say more?shamit khemka – Founder & CEO, Synapse Communications

The pioneer of the first BBS with e-mail services in India, Shamit

has over 12 years’ experience in internet technology, manage-

ment, software and professional development.

sujata keshaVan Guha – Co-Founder & MD, Ray + Keshavan Design.

Sujata is the first Indian woman to obtain a post graduate degree in

graphic design. Sujata has won several international awards for her

work, and is a two-time Designer of the Year honoree by A&M.

Vinayak sinha – MD & CEO, Advent InfoSoft

Vinayak founded Advent, which runs eIndiabusiness.

com, a leading B2B marketplace for export-import,

manufacturers and distributors. Advent boasts a base

of over 3000 clients in a short period of seven years.

sudarshan dheer – Founder, Graphic Commu-nication Concepts Design Studio. With more than three decades of experience, Sudarshan has won dozens of international design awards, and has published two books on design . He is an advisor, juror, speaker and lec-turer in the global milieu.

anirudha joshi – Associate Professor. Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay.

Prof. Joshi teaches and conducts research in human-computer

interaction design. He brings a unique perspective to the jury given

he is both an engineer and a PG in visual communication and design.



Judging websites on design and technology usage required us to call in the experts. Our expert jury represent the very elite from the design and tech-nology domain and have a collective experience of over 150 years.

Besides design and the use of technol-ogy, PC World and other group publica-tion editors (CIO and Channel World) rated the site as users to arrive at the overall winner. Our emphasis was more on technical aspects of the site develop-ment which meant that design and tech-nology carried 40 points each, while user experience was 20 points adding up to a total of 100. The overall winner of a cate-gory was the site with the highest com-bined score on the three groups – design,

technology and user experience.Design Score (40 points):

Our design experts rated sites on two broad sub-lev-els - design and usability. Color, graphics, typography,

visual appeal and consistency in design contributed to 25 points. Usability which took into account interactivity and custom-ization to India added another 15 points to complete the total score of 40 points on design. In recogni-

tion of outstanding work done in this area, we have ranked the Best Designed website in each category.

Technology Score (40 points): Similarly, our technology experts rated sites on the basis of two broad sub-categories with 20 points each. One component, navigation, covered structure or framework of the site, interface and scope. The other, functional-ity, focussed on use of technology to enhance user experience, diversity, error handling and security. The site which scored the maximum on 40 points possi-ble was adjudged the Best Technology website in each category.

User Evaluation (20 points): Our editors, who represent actual users of these web-sites today scored the sites on content and overall experience. In content, they looked for scope, relevance, ability to fi nd it easily (search) and layout. On the overall experi-ence they considered navigation, interac-tivity and design as end-users would.

Overall Winner: The user evaluation of 20 points was then added to the Design Score and the Technology Score to arrive at our overall winner. The highest score was crowned the Best Indian Website. In case of a tie the site with a higher tech-nology score has been declared the win-ner. In case of a tie on design or technol-ogy scores, the vertical specifi c sites were given preference over the portals reward-ing extra credit to their specialization in a particular fi eld to arrive at our Design or Technology winner. Thankfully, we were not left with any tied scores to han-dle beyond that!

technology will dominate the future and the web is clearly one of its greatest manifestations. Forget the dotcom bust that many sceptics will remind you of The Web is going to become our way of life in India.There are enough statistics to point to the rapid growth of the Internet in India – number of connections, e-mail accounts, transaction revenue – all very convincing. But who needs statistics? Just a quick look around will reveal how web is fast replacing traditional brick-n-mortar operations.

Be it picking new stocks or new friends, fi nding a job or a bride, there’s a web way to things that is proving far more effective, and rewarding. Websites today are built with robust understand-ing of users and available technology. They purposefully pursue fulfi lling the needs of their audience but are ground-ed in strong business reality. And hence, unlike the fairy-tail era gone by, this time round the web is geared to deliver all your needs.

Yes, the web has answers for almost all your needs and the problem is one of being spoilt for choice. There are scores of websites wooing you with the same con-tent or service. There are those who prom-ise to be a one-stop-shop while others claim they are better because they are focused and specialised. As a user one is left wondering where to begin and typi-cally end up with familiar sites or rec-ommendations. Perhaps not the best way to reach the site.

The best site should use technology to deliver solu-tions. Information should be presented intuitively and con-cisely. Design should aid the overall experience. And that is what our Best Indian Websites represent. In its fi rst year, the award focuses on 20 prominent categories – products and services that are most useful today and are not based on fancy future roadmaps. The 126 nom-inees that we evaluate repre-sent the best known names as

ratinG

HOW WE EVALUATED

technology and user experience.

visual appeal and consistency in design contributed to 25 points. Usability which took into account interactivity and custom-ization to India added another 15 points to complete the total score of 40 points on design. In recogni-

tion of outstanding work done in this area, we have ranked the Best Designed website in each category.

cally end up with familiar sites or rec-ommendations. Perhaps not

cisely. Design should aid the overall experience. And that is what our Best Indian Websites represent. In its fi rst year, the award focuses on 20 prominent categories – products and services that are most useful today and are not based on fancy future roadmaps. The 126 nom-inees that we evaluate repre-sent the best known names as

well as some not-so-famous-yet sites that our panel of experts believe do justice to their mission.

The awards aim to capture the frame-work and user understanding that the site has – embodied in its design and

deployment of technology - rather than to rate its specific content, something that changes very dynamically and per-haps impossible to judge objectively. We’ve also stayed away from making popularity a criteria or viewing traffic reports to declare winners. The win-ners here are based on what our experts believe are the most promising and deserving sites and we hope you agree with the verdicts when you try them yourself.



The other floritst player, Rajindra Florist, sports a site a bit too busy for com-fort. The site design is far from great without much visual appeal. The site has a couple of good concepts like tailor-made orders, which however, are not implemented correctly. There is much scope for improvement.

Of the shopping portals, indiaplaza.in emerged as the main challenge to fernsnpetals. The site provides consistent information, but

There is nothing like taking some time off from work to look for gaming action online. No, we are not talking about Mas-sively Multiplayer Online Role Playing games or (MMORPGs) as they are called. What we are talking about here

Gaming

mention for providing a networking area, where gamers can discuss games. A great implementation. Funtoosh.com, on the other hand, sports a nice compilation of flash games that are really interesting.

But, Yahoo! games rules the roost with a great mix of free-to-use, shareware and subscription games with a games news section. They could make the site even more interesting by adding game reviews, said the jury.

Flowers and GiftsCards and gifts are a great way to com-municate with loved ones across the country, or for that matter anywhere in the world. It is even possible to send flowers, cakes, sweets and gifts to friends and family at the click of a button. Dedi-cated websites and special sections on shopping portals allow you to communi-cate your feelings easily.

Unlike many other sections where por-tals have emerged as winners in vertical niches, fernsnpetals.com bags the honors here. This click-and-mortar operator has a clean look that seduces the user into buying flowers. But the images on the site leave a lot to be desired. Being a flo-rist website they could have made them more natural, rather than using Pho-toshop touchups. The site does offer a lot of user interactivity, employing chat options on MSN and Yahoo.

are small arcade-style games that can either be played multi-player in online mode or single player offline.

In India, Yahoo! games has became quite a hit with young-sters, with games such as pool, Literati (a scrabble clone), Chess, and Reversi etc. Based on the success and hit rates experi-

enced by Yahoo, Reliance jumped onto the foray with Zapak.com. However, to say the least, Zapak failed to satisfy the jury. Though the site has many games, it scores low on the usability, nav-igation and functionality scale.

And besides functionality, why on earth should a gaming site have trailers, recipes and fash-

ion videos is totally baffling.Indiagames.com deserves a special

does not provide any Indi-an customization (in the form of special arrange-ment for festivals for instance). They could do with a better registration and payment page. All portals have tie-ups with local vendors to fulfill orders. Though this proc-ess may work for them, the quality fo flowers deliverd cannot be guaran-teed. Even if you choose

not to use the winner, use a specialist who delivers in the desired location.

Games.yahOO.COm PROviDes a good combination

of design and content to emerge as the winner.

winners

Best indian weBsitescategory Best Design Best Technology Usage Overall Winner

GaminG games.yahoo.com games.yahoo.com games.yahoo.com

Flowers and GiFts fernsnpetals.com fernsnpetals.com fernsnpetals.com

“Fernsnpetals.com has a clean and decent look, you feel like buy-

ing flowers.”anirUDha JOshi

yahoo! games

fernsnpetals



India's unofficial national sport rouses passions like few other issues. Almost everyone has an opinion on the game. And that has result-ed in websites being oper-ated by everybody and his neighbor in this category. On one hand you have television channels such as ESPN STAR; on the other you have the special-ists — Cricinfo and Crick-et next. Newspapers and portals are also not far behind with Rediff, India-times, Hindustan Times and Express India putting together verticals on their respective websites.

In terms of design, ESPN STAR bagged the honors. The site provides excellent infographics within the live scorecard, though take a bit of time to load. It also has an excellent flash-based cricket cen-tre. The site design itself has good color balance and visual appeal.

Having said that, the one site that stands out of the crowd is Cricinfo. None

of the others come close to pro-viding such comprehensive con-tent, and in such a good pack-age. Though the site could do with a bit of less clutter. It is

phenomenally well updated, so much so that at the time of testing it was already ready to s h o w t h e n e x t match. It also fea-tures a unique way of filter-ing commentary by play-ers, and does the same thing for player stats.

To take this to the next level Crickinfo also features a new live 3-D rendering of the cur-rent game. Here, 3-Dimen-sional characters depict the happenings on the cricket field graphically. Though it would be akin to watching a

cricket computer game, it adds the excite-ment, without stretching your bandwidth requirements. It is also well customized for

During the dot com boom and bust, shopping was touted as one of the major drivers of e-commerce growth. As it turned out, the concept was a bit ahead for its time. With the Internet coming of age in the recent time, and increased trust in online transactions, this catego-ry has found many more takers. The jury evaluated Rediff, Indiatimes, Sify, ebay, Indiaplaza, Chennai Bazaar, Future Bazaar and India Mall. Though Ebay is predominantly perceived as an auction site, it was included in the comparison because most of the trades that are post-ed on the site are for new products.This was one of the few categories where

Cricket

Indian as well as foreign audiences. Kudos to them for a great job done.

None of the other cricket websites man-aged to impress the judges. They were either out of date, as in the case of Cric Buzz, or have poor navigation and plan-ning as was the case with cricket next.

As for the others such as Indiatimes and Express India, they seemed to be treating cricket as a necessary evil rather than adopting a focused approach towards the vertical. They do have news and analysis of games, but no in-depth information is available to enhance the experience.

shopping

though classifieds did not fea-

ture in our awards as a category,

predominantly because it has not

peaked yet. But, it is one of the most

important sectors that may make a

transition to the online world a lot

faster. there is already a no non-

sense site called craigslist for

classifieds around the world with a

secion on india. But, we also have

some homegrown classified websites

that are trying to make a mark. some

of these sites includes rediff classi-

fieds, oneindia.com, indialisted.com

and sulekha.com.

Classifieds

FutuRebazaaR wOn On the design front and

provides good shopping experience.

CRiCinFO FeatuRes a section where a live 3-

Dimentional rendering of the current game is available

“Cricinfo.com is very good in

terms of content, navigation, data, site structure and

planning.”

vinayak sinha

cricinfo

futurebazaar we saw very keen competition with differ-ent winners for design, technology and overall performance. Future Bazaar took



There were days when Hotmail was the only free specialty e-mail service on the block. Yahoo and AOL moved in later to provide it some stiff competition. Our home grown services like Rediff and Sify also have a loyal fan following, but are still not too high on the popularity charts. We evaluated Indiatimes, Yahoo India, Sify, Rediff, Epatra, MSN India and Gmail in this category.

In the past few months, the interfaces of some old websites have gone in for a huge makeover. Instead of using the age-old HTML most now use Web 2.0 technologies enabling interfaces similar to desktop e-mail clients. Some of these features like e-mails, conversations or web page shortcuts. were first introduced by google. The others have followed up with more dynamic features such as multiple selections, drag and drop functionality and right clicks.

The Jury found MSN LIVE, with its new interface, to be visually appealing. Its design is quite sophisticated and refreshing. The usage of refined gradients & fine thin lines give a good feel to the user interface. It scored the highest in our design rankings, countering popular belief. Yahoo Mail, on the other hand, boasts of a good overall interface with new features to hook the user.

Google was ranked much lower in design because of its aging interface, compared to the other contenders in the category. But it certainly wins overall because of the sheer number

of features it has. Epatra.com offers good features like vernacular e-mails but the one-off fea-tures did not get them even close to the winners.

shoppingthe top spot on the design front. Though this site sells a limited range of products it has a decent, no-nonsense approach, while providing a good shopping experience. Ebay, wins on the tech side of things. It provides diversity in functionality, good user tools and an intelligent error han-dling system.

Overall, we found futurebazaar.com to the be the winner. It does not feature at the top on technology, but performed consis-tently across parameters to come up numero uno. In terms of design and func-tionality the site is well planned. The look is clean and un-cluttered, while support-ing good user interaction. The product comparator is however, difficult to use.Long time veterans Rediff, Indiatimes

e-mail

and Sify were more than OK in their per-formance, and trailed very close behind future bazaar. Once again, we see a case of a new website(futurebazaar.com) win-ning because of better technology adop-tion. The incumbents need to take notice of this and re-invent themselves inorder to come upto steam with the winners.

The have-it-allsaggregators

there are portals, there are verti-

cals and then there are search

engines. But, out of all of these, there

is a new category of sites that are

emerging in the horizon. these are

called the aggregators. they are help-

ful in finding

information on a

particular verti-

cal. generally

this vertical has

a lot of competi-

tion and these

a g g r e g a t o r s

enable you to

choose from this

competition easily. in india they are

not too common yet, but they are get-

ting there.

there are a couple that you may

want to try out, bixee.com and zoom-

tra.com. Bixee.com searches through

various job sites for openings match-

ing your criteria. on the other hand,

zoomtra.com makes your search for

the lowest airfare easier. it would

search through all the major web-

sites for you. yes, it could be a bit

slower than a standalone site but its

quite helpful.

the perils of using these services

are that sometimes the information

being fed to these sites may not be

current and you may get stale results.

or, in some cases you may not even

come to know of any special deals or

promotions on the sites that the

aggregator searches through.

“Gmail.com has a great number of features, but the interface is not very

user friendly.”

rahUl nanDa

winners

Best indian weBsitescategory Design Technology usage Overall PerfOrmanCe

cricket espnstar.com cricinfo.com cricinfo.com

shoppinG futurebazaar.com ebay.co.in futurebazaar.com

e-mail hotmail.com yahoo.com gmail.com

gmail



The click-and-mortar approach to a brick-and-mortar business is becoming increasingly the way online realty is heading. With real estate prices shoot-ing up like never before, online real estate businesses are spreading slowly, overlapping with the services offered by your friendly neigh-borhood broker.

India Prop-erties, Magic B r i c k s , 9 9 Acres, India P r o p e r t y , came up for our scrutiny.

It's love at first site with India Property, and India Properties (yes, these are two dif-ferent portals). While India Property has a large number of interactive options, India Properties has very attractive colors, good layout and informative graphics. The pleas-ant blue-ish feel of India Property lends

Of all the technology websites, tech2.com emerged as the clear winner. It sports a clean and easy-to-use design with a smart color palette to attract the target audience. The dark background of the site enables it to maintain focus on the right areas while infusing a fresh feel to the site. Besides this, the addition of video in collaboration with CNBC-TV18 adds a new dimension to the website and moves it to a different paradigm altogether. How-ever, the site also does not come without its own set of problems; the Google ads on all pages creates a lot of confusion and

Real estate

technology

itself to a nice surfing experience while the good background picture makes it visually very appealing. At India Properties, the large number of categories make it easy to locate precise information. Besides this, the

testimonials and other interactive tools also make it a good site. When it

comes to navigation, users found India Property to have an advan-

tage over its closest competi-tor. Its structure/ frame-

work, interface and functionality are better geared to user comfort.

Also, the use of technolo-g y t o e n h a n c e user expe-rience, and

security are better in India Property.com.

It was therefore really not surprising, given its appealing, fresh colors, high-quality graphics that make the layout so appealing, and the in-depth and informa-tive content that India Property stayed ahead in our ranking.

second lifeonline gaming

if you are a pessimist you may

even call it escapism, or you may

also perceive it as good clean way to

have something you never had in

the real world. and, if you don’t

already know about second life,

you can already consider yourself a

part of the stone age.

it is a virtual community built and

managed entirely by more than 5

million inhabit-

ants. if you have

seen the matrix,

its very similar

to that, just with-

out as much real-

ism. you are an

avatar inside this

world and trade

in real money, as

you would trade in the real world.

the currency, linden dollars, can be

converted to and from us dollars.

the seriousness of the 'game' can

be judged from the fact that the

management institute iNsead is

already in the process of opening its

institute inside, and reuters already

employs a full time reporter there.

is distracting whilst reading content. Also, the videos page does not allow users to comment and discuss videos.

Techtree.com was one of the fore-run-ners in this category , but has not lever-aged technology adequately to enhance the user experience. It sports a very aver-age interface, which proves quite difficult to find a specific product, even though they have used tag clouds in places. CIOL.com on the other hand, is quite compre-hensive when it comes to certain catego-ries but does not span across horizontally. ZDNet India has a clean interface and is easy to navigate. The light colors on the website are soothing to the eye and makes the website very readable. On the content side however, this website falls short, as it is nowhere as comprehensive as tech2.

teCh2.COm emeRGes as the winner because of

current content, videos and a refreshing feel.

india property

tech2



Everything that used to be on terra firma a few decades ago is now done better online. There are a huge number of portals that make up the world that we inhabit in cyberspace. Among them, Yahoo!, MSN, Sify, Indya, Indiatimes and Rediff are unarguably the most- vis-ited Indian portals.

In terms of design and usability Yahoo! tops the charts. The color palette, graph-ics and layout of the portal is the best. The subtle blue gradient and the good pixel iconography results in great aesthet-ic appeal. In addition, its interactivity and the degree of customization for the Indi-an audience are also better than most websites. The interface and layout utilize the available space just right.

On the technology side too, Yahoo! takes the top spot, using the latest tech-nologies such as AJAX to ensure that user has a desktop- like interface. This provides the kind of personalization that instantly puts the user at ease. Yahoo!’s navigation is also good, and despite the great diversity of its content there is extremely effective utilization of space.

However, when it comes to quality, rele-vance and scope of content, Rediff beats Yahoo! to the finish line. The coverage, con-tent quality as well as layout get full marks. It has, very good coverage for a portal. Its layout is also consistent, and there is no overlap or structural confusion.

On the other hand, the one portal that disappoints, especially in terms of design, is MSN India. First-off, the single color

Portalsmost other sites on almost all counts. Providing a wide range of distinct features such as Yahoo Go!, the desktop feel and the mes-senger toolbar, while incor-porating the latest technol-ogies around, enhaces the user experience, and makes it a winner.

Localization and person-alization add toYahoo!’s dis-tinctiveness. Close on its heels, however are Rediff and Indiya.com. The latter is somewhat unique on account of its animated graphics that stand out

onsite as do the headlines of the day, giv-ing a very unique touch to the portal.

Job sitesIts hard to imagine how people got jobs before these sites showed up. With the economy booming and HR managers trying hard to curb attrition rates these sites have become a one-stop resource for employers, job seekers and job consultants alike.

The job-site wars sparked-off by Naukri.com and Jobsahead, and were fanned to a blaze by the entry of Monster India. And now we have a couple of new promising con-tenders in Job Street, Click Jobs, and Times Jobs.

From the design point of view, clickjobs stood out of the crowd because of its clutter-free interface. The site design is quite subtle in keeping with the demands of the catego-ry, and does not come off as loud and noisy. The use of shading on the site is also quite inspiring and pleasing to the eye.

All these websites extensively use Web 2.0 functionality. Clickjobs gives you chat -enhanced search. Naukri.com, has tag clouds which make it very informative. Monster.com has one of the best search tools using a single search box. It also has a well integrated and organized

registration and application process. It also has an absolutely clutter-free homepage that is pleasing to the eye and easy to use. All these features make Monster India the cho-sen one based on our test results.

In conrtast, the timesjobs.com interface is quite cluttered . Value-adds like ‘Career Services’ are hidden and not comprehen-sive. It does have its good parts with Ascent Job Postings standing out as an example.

palette is extremely boring, and the video advertisement on the homepag edoes not serve much purpose, except to irritate the user.

On content organization side, every section in MSN has a box on the homep-age, which makes it look quite cluttered. Indiatimes is also not too far away from MSN where clutter is concerned. It could do with a better structure leading to a more intuitive user e x p e r i e n c e . C l a s s i e r, brighter colors could also give this portal a new life. Not surprisingly, Yahoo heads the line-up, with the jury finding it superior to

“Clean, efficient, user-friendly

design. Yahoo.co.in does a very good job in pre-senting so much content in a lim-

ited space.”sUJaTa keshavan

winners

Best indian weBsitescategory Design Technology usage Overall Winner

real estate indiaproperty.com indiaproperty.com indiaproperty.com

technoloGy tech2.com tech2.com tech2.com

portals yahoo.co.in yahoo.co.in yahoo.co.in

Jobs clickjobs.com monsterindia.com monsterindia.com

yahoo

monsterindia



In today’s 36-plus hour workdays, meeting up with friends is usually possi-ble only due to the benign powers of your computer and the magnanimity of the world wide web. Moreover, social net-working today is not only about reaching out with the proverbial human touch but also about getting and staying connected, for a variety of purposes, be they family, friends or work. We evaluated Mingle Box, Yaari, Sulekha, Rediff, MSN Spaces, Yahoo India and Orkut in this category.

At first look, Yaari.com has the best visual appeal. The colors, graphics, con-sistency and typography make it the best-designed site in the domain. It also takes the cake for user interactivity and it is

Is this an exciting space or what? Be it newspapers, TV companies, Internet giants or portals, everybody wants a slice of the online news pie. While for some it’s their bread and butter, for others it’s a necessary evil. And this can be seen from the various kinds of news site implemen-tations on the Internet.

Starting with the Indian portals, both Sify and Rediff provide enough and more content than a user can handle. Though Sify could do with a little less clutter, Rediff scores better on account of its increased user interactivity.

Amongst the TV channel-owned sites we evaluated IBN Live and NDTV.com. Both

news

miNgleBox is

oNe of the new

sites that has

come up to suit

the indian cus-

tomers need in

more ways than

one. the site specifically caters to

the youth in india, and suitably shows

that on the home page also. has sec-

tions on blogs, groups, pictures and

video; while still being in alpha. hope-

fully the site would come around to

being as engrossing if not better than

its international counterparts.

KiNKafe.com, oN the other hand,

brings about another concept alto-

gether. it is a family networking site.

a phenomenally good idea to keep

families together in this age of

increasingly nuclear culture. it offers

features like family albums that sup-

ports pictures of different sizes and

even a family tree, that you can eas-

ily grow horizontally and vertically.

this is as interesting as it can get.

more than Orkut

ibnLive tOOk the top spot in news websites

with a clean design and good technology

praiseworthy for its cus-tomization to suit the Indian audience.

Orkut however, has been voted as the best of the lot. Though it is a glob-al site, there are hordes of Indians using it, making it one of the most popular social networking sites. In terms of user experience it is the easiest to navigate, with its straight for-ward, uncomplicated and clean interface. However, it may not be the best bet for those looking for business networking. It could also do with brighter colors. Orkut also faces some charges of unsuitability for an increasingly younger audience.

There are special sites now that cater to younger audience; one such is Mingle-box.com that focuses mainly on teenag-ers. On the other hand, sites like kincafe.com are positioned for family network-ing, incorporating features such as photo albums and family trees. And then you have techTribe, which is a professional networking site, one that promotes entre-preneurship in addition to networking.

Members are encouraged to propose and discuss business start-up ideas, which could be funded by techTribe . Though we have not evaluated these sites, they do deserve a special mention here.

MSN Spaces is predominantly focused on blogs. It uses webparts while creating spaces, using rich text editors which impart an extremely user-friendly and intuitive touch. However, the site provides the option of creating your own page with-in the space, something that actually cre-ates a lot of clutter. Also, as is the case with Yahoo, MSN Spaces is not really an appro-priate platform for social networking.

Among the sites we studied, Yahoo India scored best on relevance of con-tent, layout and search options available.

social networkingorkut

ibnlive offered almost identical features and scored much the same. Though NDTV stands out for its superior user interactivity, the clean design and good technology usage of IBN Live won the top spot amongst all news web-sites. Being one of the pioneers of videos on



Hurtling top speed into the twenty-fifth century has not deterred mankind from charting the stars in order to foretell the future. The ubiquitous astrologer now comes packaged as a website that does all the necessary jobs, some-times for a fee. Whilst almost every portal has an astrology channel, there are a few pure-play astrology sites. Amongst the sites our panel evaluated was Vedic Astrology Prediction, Astro Yogi, Sify, Cyber Astro and Astrology India.

Vedic Astrology prediction eclipsed others by its simple, clean design, relevant colors (a soothing blue), best visual appeal and consistency of presentation with a robust type style. However, the site comes across as being too non-moving with too many static pages. In addition, the lack of interactivity makes it dull for the user.

Astrology India ranked alongside this site for interac-tivity and local customization. In things as traditional as astrology, the Indian colors on the site impart a good feel to the whole visual experience.

When it came to the navigation and interface structure, Sify’s astrology portal was judged as the best. This portal also boasts of the best use of technology to enhance the user experience, error handling and security options. This site also has the highest level of security when it comes to payment by credit card, and with the SSL option provided.

Sify’s astrology portal and Cyber Astro both have very comprehensive as well as relevant content which is elegantly laid out Sify comes across as a very inter-

active site that allows interface with experts but it focuses too much on content. In the long run, this may create credibility problems for the site.

With all these parameters in play, Sify beats Cyber Astro by a hair’s breadth to emerge as the winner in this category. news

a website, it enjoys a large fan following. Even so, it could do with better implementa-tion of its user comment handling.

Though both the Hindustan Times and The Times of India sites provide great content, neither provides adequate sup-port for user opinion or contribution. In this mad race for grabbing the reader, the old ladies of news appear to be laggards.

Having said that, and despite its short-comings, on account of strong site struc-ture, effective interface and its ability to target a diverse variety of users, HT got the top honors in application of tech seg-ment. The other newspaper site evaluated was Indian Express. It was one of the first newspaper sites to be launched, but has not kept up with the times. The content is

astrology

segment, being an aggregator it deserves a special mention. The site provides a lot of room for customization of news and alerts. You can individualize alerts and webpage based on the product, service or keyword that you may want to track. If you are not particularly attached or hooked to any of the other news sites, then Google News is the best way to go.

youTube, flickr, Wikipedia killers

web 2 .0

hitwise has tapped the six web

2.0 companies most likely to reach

the soaring success of youtube,

wikipedia or flickr. the list includes:

yelp offers an online guide that

allows users to rate various goods

and services.

stumbleupon allows users to recom-

mend web sites to others with com-

mon interests.

Veoh provides software to allow

users to collect, publish and watch

high definition videos.

weeworld allows users to create a

graphic alter ego

to be used for

online or mobile

communications.

imeem is an online

co m m u n i ty to

allow users to pro-

mote their con-

tent, blogs, music,

photos and videos.

piczo is a site that allows users -- it

targets teenagers -- to create their

own customizable web sites.

“Sify.com has good navigation...

however the content is too focussed on

"forecasting". ”

krishna kUmar Tk

still fragmented and the site leaves a lot to be desired.

Finally, moving to the pure-Internet giants, MSN and Yahoo come out as just about average in performance. It almost feels that they are in the news space more as a necessary evil rather than out a desire to provide news.

Although Google is not in the news

winners

Best indian weBsitescategory Design Technology usage Overall PerfOrmanCe

social networkinG

yaari.com orkut.com orkut.com

news ibnlive.com hindustantimes.com ibnlive.com

astroloGy vedicastrologyprediction.com sify.com sify.com

sify



matrimony

With the rise of modern India, young people want to step out and travel around to see the world. What this means is a humungous business case for travel-related websites, evidenced by the num-ber of them that have mushroomed across the web. These are no longer mere ticket booking sites that offer you the best fares; they now provide comprehensive information about the best holiday desti-nations, hotel ratings and bookings, trav-eler blogs, pod casts, and almost anything else that helps make your travel simpler.

Matrimonial sites on the web today make us wonder how anyone got married before these sites bought potential soul mates together! Their deep and expansive reach outdoes ways of finding a match. Amongst the clutter, there are a few that stand out. We evaluated Shaadi.com, Mat-rimonial India, Jeevansathi, Bharat Matri-mony, SimplyMarry (Times), and Rediff.

In terms of design, Shaadi.com was the most popular. Great design and layout, good blogs, Q&A, video and photo gallery along with interesting links provide great value addition to this site. Fresh, appealing colors, interesting graphics and convenient

travel

be a winner when it does what it is sup-posed to and does that really well.

We observed web 2.0 implementations in most of these sites, as also a focus on user generated content. NDTV travels in partic-ular has a lot of user generated content in the form of reviews and travelogue. Make My Trip offers pod cast travelogues. At first glance these appear to provide a lot of info on various topics, but the content could be quite biased. It appears that travelers chose to write only about extreme experiences, either when overly impressed or totally dis-appointed. Our advice is to tread carefully when you look at such reviews, and try and filter out the bias, if any.

We tested six of these sites. Yatra.com emerged as the numero uno from design point of view. The site is a great combination of features, design and technology, providing a great user experience, while efficiently accomplishing the job at hand. The colors, graphics and visual appeal of the site are clearly miles ahead of the others. The only

grouse that we had was the lack of a SSL login, though the payment gateway of the site is secure. Cleartrip was the overall winner

with its simple and clear struc-ture, good error handling and a clear security policy. It is all

the other sites sans the frills, and therefore great functionality. It is a good example of how a site can

weB 2.0 could be a meaningless marketing buzzword or it

may represent a whole new paradigm for the internet. But,

it’s never really been adequately defined.

accordiNg to tim o'reilly, "web 2.0 is the business revolu-

tion in the computer industry caused by the move to the

internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules

for success on that new platform."

But tech expert Berners-lee says, “web 2.0 is of course a

piece of jargon, nobody even knows what it means. if web 2.0

for you is blogs and wikis, then that is people to people. But

that was what the web was supposed to be all along.”

Web 2.0 - a Definition

layout reinforce visual appeal. How-ever, at times, Shaa-di’s pages appear to be somewhat clut-tered. Equally posi-tioned, Bharat Matrimony also uses pic-tures extensively making the site visually attractive, adding appeal to the layout.

Every aspect of Indian marriages is spe-cial in more ways than one, and that includes the search for the bride or groom. Few websites understand these individual demands, and among ones that do, Times’ SimplyMarry was voted right alongside Shaadi. Shaadi is also very user friendly and has very useful links and options for

more effective search functionality. Bharat Matrimony boasts of the best navigability, in terms of structure/ framework inter-face, scope and functionality. It comes across as simple and helpful, with useful data that aids navigation. Rediff was also rated as a very functional site, so these are obviously the most user friendly websites for choosing a life partner today.

At the end of the day, Bharat Matrimony got the most votes for overall best website.

“Bharatmatrimony.com is visually attractive as

the emphasis is more on the photographs and

then the layouts which is appealing too.”

sUDarshan Dheer

CLeaRtRiP.COm emeRGeD as the winner because

of its clear security policy and simple structure

cleartrip

bharatmatrimony



Life has never been cushier, now that utilities, banks and other bills can be paid online. There are a number of websites that make the dream of queue-less bill payment come true. We picked up Visa Bill Pay, Bangalore One, Bill Junction, and Itzpay, and had a long hard look at which of them make our lives the easiest.

Visa Bill Pay offers the best in terms of colors, graphics, visu-al appeal, consistency and typography. It is useful only to a limit-ed number of cus-tomers, but its layout is clean and easy, and offers a range of pay-ment options. It also tops for usability, interactivity and customization for Indian users. While finance or bill payment sites could be slightly confusing if the naviga-tion and site maps are not clearly laid out, Visa Bill Pay takes good care of this aspect. Its structure and interface are very well designed, resulting in easy usage. It is also the widest in terms of scope, relevance and depth. Most definitely the site to go to if you are looking to pay your bills online.

However, in terms of sheer functionality and content, Bill Junction takes the cake. It is user-friendly, has loads of information and even provides the option for payment via SMS. The fact that it supports payment operations across a long list of cities as

bill Payment

thOuGh visa biLLPay accepts only visa

cards, it is the most comprehensive site

entertainmentNews of any kind is extremely important, right? Everybody wants to know about their favorite film or TV stars’ lives, marriages, love affairs, work, or light hearted gos-sip. This content category usually forms a very important part of most portals , and thus in our shootout was considered a separate category. The last four contenders in the race were India FM, Indiatimes, Rediff and MSN.

Amongst the websites evaluated in this category Rediff.com came out on top. While India FM scored higher in the design department, surprisingly Rediff topped in the content department, ahead of all the others. This was suprising, as we expect-

ed that the specialist, niche players, India FM for one,would sail through this aspect of the shootout .Adding insult to injury, Rediff was also the winner in the usability tests, the site providing superi-or interactivity.

Indiatimes, on the other hand, flattered to deceive and did not live up to the expec-tation. Yahoo got the most points for being the best technology implementa-tion amongst the entertainment sites.

winners

Best indian weBsitescategory Best Design Best Technology usage Overall PerfOrmanCe

travel yatra.com cleartrip.com cleartrip.com

matrimony shaadi.com bharatmatrimony.com bharatmatrimony.com

bill payment visabillpay.com visabillpay.com visabillpay.com

entertainment indiafm.com yahoo.com rediff.com

well as a large number of services some-times make it took a bit cluttered. But in select categories it has the potential to be a winner.

Bangalore One, though not a winner deserves special mention. The way the site has been conceived is great. You can pay all kinds of bills and other dues on the website. Being backed up by service centers across

Bangalore, makes it a robust click-and-mortar story too. Though the site holds out great prom-ise, it is nevertheless a bit too cluttered for our liking and could do with a facelift. At the risk of being over-optimistic, if Banga-lore One could scale

to provide similar service on a pan-India basis, it would be really great.

A somewhat different bill payment option deserves a mention here. Though not totally online, Easybill has centres across India that allow you to pay a wide variety of bills with-out logging on to the Internet. It would be great to see them extend this service online.

Visa Bill Pay appeared to be the best performer across all criteria, with a great interactive design, in-depth content and smooth functionality, not to forget its extremely interactive interface.

visabillpay

rediff



The advent of digital cameras has posed an uprecedented problem, how does one get the photos taken printed?. If you date back to the time of Flintstones, you may still want to wade through city traffic and give your photos to the neigh-borhood photo-lab; alternatively, you

could use one of the many photo-printing services available on the Internet.

Today, online photo printing is mush-rooming everywhere in Indian cyberspace, and that too with hard to resist price and service offerings. Amongst the websites reviewed by us the two that clearly stood out were picsqaure.com and itasveer.com.

Picsquare has a very clean and contemporary design. The colors used for the interface and picto-rial representation of ele-ments are really cool and fresh and completely suit-ed to the milieu. They have used Web 2.0 tech-nologies such as Ajax, the photo resolution is high, and password module refreshing. Overall the site comes out as extreme-ly clean and user friendly.

iTasveer also espouses a very clean and focused approach, while providing a highly user-friendly and

mobile ContentRediff emerges at the top of the pile for design in the mobile content area with its decent coverage of the latest mobile offerings with a focus on the entertainment space. The site appears to be clean, uncluttered, structured with well-designed icons. The type

style used, and font color add to its visual appeal. This site has outstanding functionality, while providing quick and relevant search results.

Content appears to be the best on the Yahoo! Mobile content portal, which provides very good , feature-rich coverage communication, logis-tics, entertainment, even such diverse topics as finance and sports. This makes.Yahoo! Mobile a really interesting site to visit. However, some of the experts on our panel felt that the positioning of the key features and specific entries could have been done better. The site also provides unique value-added features; SMS backup, picture previews, creating of (optional) personalized logos, to name just a few.

On the usability front,mobile.yahoo.com rates alongside Rediff, and it’s a neck to neck race. These two sites also provide great customization for Indian surfers, catering to our region-specific needs. According to expert opinion, even though it is easy to find info and links on the site, navigation could be made simpler on mobile.yahoo.com.

Indiatimes also boasts of easy navigation and a clean user interface. Its clear content categorization makes for easy readability too.

All things considered Yahoo! Mobile stands above the rest, the strongest point of this site being its content quality and extremely simple interface.

“Mobile.yahoo.com has Very

good coverage…ample scope for

a sustainable revenue

generation model”srinivas kaTTa

itasveeR FeatuRes inteRestinG elements like

doodlepad to make online photo printing fun

able job, but are barely average when it comes to design and interactivity. All said ,done and evaluated, iTasveer barely nudges ahead of Picsquare to finish first, and main-ly on account its superior navigational design and the doodle pad.

structured interface. It edges ahead of Picsquare on account of its very interesting doodlepad application which lets you create interesting graphics that can be used on mugs and t-shirts, that can be ordered off the website. It lets you add borders, graphics, multiple pictures and such likes to your photographs.

The sites that really disappointed us were Kodak and Snap Galaxy. Kodak is the oldest photo printing service in India, but the site fails to live up to that reputation. It is an extremely basic website that depends on a downloadable software to print photos. The interface is extremely simplistic, and best avoided. Snap Galaxy, on the other hand, is not a very user-friendly website. Fobaz and Merasnap, two other sites, do a reason-

Photo Printingitasveer

yahoo mobile



The sound of the proverbial hammer with the solid “sold’ may be missing here, but online auction sites are no less excit-ing or useful as a great means of ordering and buying from the comfort and con-fines of your keyboard. Today, auction sites, are a great place to buy everything,

auction

While all three sites boasted of similar technology, eBay India added more value in terms of using technology to enhance user experience, handling both errors and security risks. In fact, eBay India also has an e-mail authenticity check, which is an interesting security option.

Indiatimes excelled in scope of site con-tent, the relevance of that content, inter-face layout as well as information search options. It has a wide variety of well-cat-egorized offers, (though some products are in the wrong categories). Its simple interface made the site easy to compre-hend and use.

Rediff did not cover enough products, and suffers from content shortfalls, spe-cially while searching for information. Though certain jurors found it well-designed and easy to interface with, it did not clear the bar set by eBay India or Indi-atimes on these counts.

Predictably, eBay India came up as the best of the auction sites.

stock brokingA large crowded room with suited guys and gals shouting and gestivculating , scenes of utter confusion, and millions of rupees at stake. All these remind us of the usual stock market scenario not so long ago. Not any more. As with other online categories, stock broking has witnessed disruptive change with the coming of the Internet.

Although one might still see the bulk of the population riding on so-called tips as a basis for investment; serious investors are always on the lookout for authentic and up-to-date information about the companies that they have invested in. A secure platform to transact stocks, IPOs and Mutual Funds is also on top of their wish lists. Nowadays, some of these websites also allow you to trade in commodities, which are one of the hottest items in the business. We evaluated way2wealth.com, jvfinancials.com, HDFC Securities, Money Con-trol, ICICI Direct, IDBI Paisa Builder, 5 Paisa and India Bulls in this category.

Moneycontrol.com emerged as an outright winner, providing an absolutely clean and easy to use interface, with all the features that you might desire at your fingertips. The site also deals in commodity trading unlike many other sites. A live market map, watch list, current news and market advice are some of the other features on offer here. In contrast, ICICI direct was the winner on the technology side of things. The use of technology to enhance user experience was the best here too.

from latest gizmos to crafted jewellery. With more secure payment gateways in place, buying online is hardly an issue and more and more users are jumping on the bandwagon to buy from websites such as eBay, Rediff and Indiatimes.

A study of popular auction sites threw up these names and it was a dead-to-head fight. The judges rated each site on visual appeal,

interactivity and their convenience-oriented options, - links, add-ons and, in this case payment security.

Looking at design and usability, eBay India came up on top for its great graphic interfaces, colors, visual appeal, consistency and typography, as well as enhances interactivity and customization for Indian needs. This site has infor-mation flow, tabs, links and a very clearly charted-out information flow that a the user needs.

there has BeeN a bit of a thrust

towards making websites go ver-

nacular. hindi, as one of the major

languages in india does get a prece-

dence in this regard too. w ebdunia.

com offers its services in hindi,

telugu, tamil and malayalam. it is a

portal similar to rediff, indiatimes

and sify, but totally vernacular in

nature. msN india and BBc also

have a hindi channel to cater to ver-

nacular audiences across india.

vernacular mania

the wORLD LeaDeR in auction sites emerges as a

winner in india too

winners

Best indian weBsitescategory Best Design Best Technology usage Overall PerfOrmanCe

photo printinG picsquare.com itasveer.com itasveer.com

mobile content rediff.com/mobile mobile.yahoo.com mobile.yahoo.com

auction ebay.in ebay.in ebay.in

stock brokinG moneycontrol.com icicidirect.com moneycontrol.com

ebay

moneycontrol


Microsoft Word 2007’s new interface is likely to confound veteran Word users. Whether you have already made the move or are only considering moving to the latest version, there’s everything that you require in this article to make the switch and master the new Word 2007.

BY P R ESTO N G RA L L A I M A G I N G : V I K A S K A P O O R


OFFICE SUITE

Baffl ed by Microsoft Word 2007's

new interface? Join the club. Mak-

ing the switch to Word 2007 from

Word 2003 can be exceedingly diso-

rienting — like coming back home

from work and fi nding out that not

only has all your furniture been

rearranged, but the house itself has been moved to the next county. Despair not. We're here to help. We'll guide you through all the major changes in the interface, offer tips and tricks for get-ting the most out of Word 2007, and clue you in on how to use the best of the new features.

When you're done, not only will you know where the new virtual furniture is, but you'll also know the way around your new neighborhood — and you might very well fi nd it a better place than your old one.

Get a quicklay of the land

when making the move to Word 2007, throw away everything you know about the interface. Just about everything has changed. Whether you're opening fi les, changing the document view or using the menu, you're about to enter a brave new world. Here's a quick guid-ed tour to the Word 2007 interface:

1. The Microsoft Office

Button. The big button on the upper left-hand corner of the screen replaces the old File menu from previous versions of Word. You'll fi nd familiar features for opening fi les, saving fi les, printing fi les and so on, but there's a lot more here as well, as you'll discover later in this guide.

2. The Quick Access Toolbar. Just to the right of the Office Button is the Quick Access toolbar, with buttons for using Word's most common features, including Save, Undo, Redo, Print Preview and more — but you can add and remove buttons for any functions you please. More on that later.

3. The Ribbon. Love it or hate it, the Ribbon is the main way you'll work

with Word. Instead of old-style menus, in which menus have submenus, submenus have

sub-submenus and so on, the Ribbon groups buttons for common tasks together in tabs on a graphical interface. So,

for example, when you click the Insert tab, a Ribbon appears with buttons for

items that you can insert into a document, such as clip art, a hyperlink, a picture or a table. Even if you hate the Ribbon, it can be your friend; check out the section "Learn to Love the Ribbon" for details.

4. The Scrollbar. This is largely unchanged from previous versions of Word; use it to scroll up and down. There are a couple of minor changes — at the top, there's a small button that looks like a minus sign that lets you split your screen in two, and just below that, there's a small icon that displays or hides a ruler when you click it.

5. The View Toolbar. The View toolbar, which used to be on the lower left-hand side of the screen in earlier versions of Word, moves over to the right in Word 2007. It lets you choose between print layout, full screen, Web layout, outline and draft views, just as it did in earlier Word versions. There's also a nice addition — a slider that lets you zoom in or out on your document.

6. The Status Bar. This is in the same place as in earlier Word versions and has the same function — to display information such as the number of pages in your document. It has one nice little extra: It displays the word count of your document as well. If you highlight

lA Whole New Look

Switching to Word 2007 can leave you exceedingly disoriented. The Office

button, the Ribbon and Quick Access bar are some of the first changes that

you may notice.

Offi ceButton

Quick AccessToolbar

The Ribbon

View ToolbarStatus Bar

Scrollbar


OFFICE SUITE

an area of text, it will display the number of words in the highlighted area.

LEARN TO LOVE THE

RIBBON

at first, the Ribbon may be offputting, but the truth is, once you learn to use it, you'll find that it's far easier to use than the old Word interface. It does take some getting used to, though.

The Ribbon, by default, is divided into seven tabs, with an optional eighth one (Developer) that you can display by clicking the Office Button and choosing Word Options > Popular > Show Developer tab in the Ribbon.

Here's a rundown of the tabs and what each one does:

Home: This contains the most-used Word features, such as changing fonts and font attributes, customizing paragraphs, using styles, and fi nding and replacing text.

Insert: As you might guess, this one handles anything you might want to insert into a document, such as tables, pictures, charts, hyperlinks, bookmarks, headers and footers, WordArt ... well, you get the idea.

Page Layout : Here's where you'll change margins, page size and orientation, set up columns, align objects, add effects and so on. There are some gray areas between this tab and the Home tab. For example, on the Page Layout tab you set paragraph spacing and indents, while on the Home tab you set paragraph alignment and can also set spacing between lines.

References: This tab handles tables of contents, footnotes, bibliographies, indexes and similar material. It also lets you insert a "Table of Authorities," which sounds like something straight out of a Soviet bureaucracy but in fact is a list of references in a legal document.

Mailings: As the name says, this is where you'll go for anything to do with

mailings, from something as simple as creating labels to the more daunting task of mail merges.

Review: Need to check spelling and grammar, look up a word in a thesaurus, work in markup mode, review other people's markups or compare documents? This is the tab for you.

View: Here's where to go when you want to change the view in any way, including displaying a ruler and gridlines, zooming in and out, splitting a window and so on.

Developer: If you write code or create forms and applications for Word, this is your tab. It also includes macro handling, so power users might also want to visit here every once in a while.

Each tab along the Ribbon is organ-ized to make it easy to get your work done. Each tab is organized into a series of groups that contain related commands for getting something done — for example, handling fonts. Inside each group is a set of what Microsoft calls command buttons, which carry out commands, display menus and so on, the featured command button changes the font size. There's also a small diagonal arrow in the bottom right corner of some groups that Microsoft calls a dialog box launcher. Click it to display more options related to the group.

All that seems simple enough ... So it's time to throw a curveball at you. The Rib-bon is context-sensitive, changing accord-ing to what you're doing. Depending on

The Word 2007 Ribbon

Another addition is the

Quick Access toolbar next to

the Offi ce button. This bar is

similar to the Windows Quick

Access bar and can be

c u to m i ze d to p e r fo r m

repetitive tasks faster.

Quick Access Toolbar

The Ribbon is one of the basic changes in Word 2007 interface. The tabular interface may

look overwhelming to start with but it grows on to you quite fast.


OFFICE SUITE

the task you're engaged in, it sometimes adds more tabs and subtabs.For example, when you insert and high-light a picture, an entirely new tab appears — the Format tab, with a "Pic-ture Tools" supertitle on top.

Other "now you see them, now you don't" tabs include Blog Post, Chart Tools, Table Tools and SmartArt Tools — all of which appear in response to various actions you take in Word.

Office Button and Quick AccessToolbar

YOUR NEW BEST FRIENDS

there are two more new Word tools that you'll want to get to know — the Offi ce Button and the Quick Access tool-bar. Think of the Office Button as a

greatly expanded File menu from the Word 2003 days — the File menu on ste-roids. As you can see in the nearby fi g-ure, it's where to go for the various Open, Save, New, Add and related options and also includes a list of all your recently opened fi les.

But there are three particularly notewor-thy new features here as well — Prepare, Publish and Convert. Use Prepare when you've finished writing or editing your document and you're ready to send it to someone else. There are plenty of great new options here, such as marking a docu-ment as final or marking it read-only;

encrypting the document; inspecting it for hidden metadata and information you'd prefer remain private; and editing the document's properties, such as title, key-words and author.

Publish does exactly what it says — it gives options for publishing a document. You'll be able to publish your document as a blog to a variety of blogging services, including Blog-ger, Windows Live Spaces, TypePad and WordPress. If your company uses a document management server or SharePoint, you

can publ i sh i t there as well.

Convert lets you convert documents saved in older formats to the new Micro-soft Offi ce Open XML for-mat (.docx), which is the new Offi ce standard.

For those who like to fi d-dle with the Word interface

and how it works, the Word Options but-ton, located at the bottom of the Offi ce Button's box, lets you customize Word in many ways, including its display and editing options. It has many of the fea-tures that you accessed via Tools > Options in previous versions of Word. One thing you won't fi nd, however, is the plethora of customizable toolbars that were in previous versions. There's just one customizable toolbar in Word 2007, but you'll love it.

Even those who can't stand the Word makeover and the Ribbon will fi nd at least one thing to cheer about — the Quick Access toolbar. This nifty little tool, sitting just to the right of the Office Button, seems innocuous enough, but spend some time with it and you'll see it's one of the best additions to the new interface.

The three buttons on the left aren't particularly noteworthy — Save, Undo and Redo — but the nearly invisible Down arrow to the right of them is the key to the toolbar. Click it, and you'll be able to add and remove toolbar buttons for a preset list of commands. Custom-ize the Quick Access toolbar to your lik-ing, and you will hardly ever have to use the Ribbon. And as you'll see in the next section, there are plenty of other ways to customize the Quick Access toolbar as well.

Five tips to work with Word 2007

if you're a longtime Word user, you no doubt have accumulated a set of shortcuts and customizations. Many of those have gone away under Word 2007. But fear not, because there are plenty of ways for

Customize Quick Access

Customize the Quick Access toolbar to your liking, and you will hardly ever have to use the Ribbon.

The down arrow button next to the Quick Access tool-

bar helps you customize it. Once you add the most used

commands to it you would rarely use the Ribbon.


OFFICE SUITE

you back plenty of screen real estate, as you can see in the screenshot above.

The Ribbon will still be available when you want it — all you need to do is click on the appropriate menu (Home, Insert, Page Layout, etc.) and it appears. It then discreetly goes away when you are no longer using it.

There are several ways to turn off the Ribbon:

Click the Down arrow to the right of the Quick Access toolbar button and select Minimize the Ribbon.

Press Ctrl-F1 (Press Ctrl-F1 to make it appear again).

Double-click the current tab above the Ribbon.

4. Use Macros

At fi rst glance, macros — ingenious short-cuts you can create for performing repeti-tive tasks — seem to have been banished from Word 2007. But they're still there; dis-play the Developer tab, and you'll fi nd them in all their glory. In fact, the Developer tool-bar puts the macro tools at easier reach than they were in previous versions of Word.

You'll fi nd everything you want in the Code group on the Developer tab. Record a macro by clicking the Record Macro button, manage your macros by clicking the Macros button, and confi gure secu-rity for a macro by clicking the Macro Security button. (See Microsoft's Online

you to bend Word 2007 to your will. Here are some tips to get you started.

1. Add Commands to the Quick

Access Toolbar

Probably the most helpful customization for Word 2007 is to add buttons to the Quick Access toolbar. The simplest way to do this is by clicking the small Down arrow to the right of the Quick Access toolbar and selecting a new button to add. But this is quite limited, because there are only a small number of commands you can add in this way.

A better method is to click the Offi ce But-ton, choose Word Options and then Custom-ize. The screen below appears. Choose a command from the left-hand side of the screen that you want to add to the Quick Access toolbar and click Add. You can change the order of the buttons by highlighting a button on the right side of the screen and using the Up and Down arrows to move it.

The list of commands you see on the bottom may seem somewhat limited at fi rst. That's because Word is showing you only the most popular commands. There are plenty of others you can add. Click the drop-down menu under "Choose commands from" at the top of the screen, and you'll see other lists of commands — All Commands, Home Tab and so on. Select any option, and there will be plenty of commands you can add.

Finally, there's an even easier way to add a command. Right-click any object

on the Ribbon and choose "Add to Quick Access Toolbar." You can add not only individual commands in this way, but also entire groups — for example, the Font group.

2. Use Keyboard Shortcuts

If you're a fan of Word 2003's keyboard shortcuts, take heart — the same ones work in 2007. So keep using them. You can also use a clever set of keyboard shortcuts for working with the Ribbon. Press the Alt key and a tiny letter or number icon appears on the menu for each tab — for example, the letter H for the Home tab. (See the table below.) Now press that letter on your keyboard, and you'll display that tab or menu item. When the tab appears, there will be letters and numbers for most options on the tab as well.

Once you've started to learn these shortcuts, you'll naturally begin using key combinations. So instead of press-ing Alt then H to display the home tab, you can press Alt-H together. The table (on the left side) shows the most use-f u l A l t k e y c o m b i n a t i o n s i n Word 2007.

3. Turn off the Ribbon

Here's what may be the best tip you'll ever come across for Word 2007 — how to turn off the Ribbon. Doing this will get

RESIZE PICTURETurn off the Ribbon

There are several ways to turn off the Ribbon such as click the down arrow to the

right of the Quick Access toolbar button and select Minimize the Ribbon; press Ctrl-

F1 and double-click the current tab above the Ribbon.

WORD 2007 ALT KEY COMBINATIONS

Key combination Function

ALT-F Office Button

ALT-H Home tab

ALT-N Insert tab

ALT-P Page Layout tab

ALT-S References tab

ALT-M Mailings tab

ALT-R Review tab

ALT-V View tab

ALT-L Developer tab

SHORTCUTS


OFFICE SUITE

Offi ce site http://offi ce.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA100997691033.aspx for more information.

5. Find Your Old Friends

In Word 2007, no features or functions are where they used to be. But it's easy to fi nd them. You can also download a complete spreadsheet at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC102128591033.aspx?pid=CT102130321033&AxInstalled=1

New featuresin Word 2007

there's plenty new in Word 2007, and a complete description of all that's new is beyond the scope of this article. The Ribbon and the Quick Access toolbar are key innovations, as you've already seen, but also useful are the new mini toolbar, Live Preview and other features. The fol-lowing are the most important ones.

THE MINI TOOLBAR

having to move back and forth between

the Ribbon and the body of your docu-ment is a big time-waster, and annoying to boot. So Word 2007 includes the clev-er mini toolbar. Highlight text and point the cursor at it, and a nearly transparent mini toolbar appears above the text, with a set of commands relevant to the text you've chosen. Move your cursor to the mini toolbar and it becomes solid; click a command to use it.

For example, if you select text, a mini toolbar will appear with various text-relat-ed commands, including font face, size and color, indentation, and list options. If the mini toolbar disappears for some rea-son, right-click the selection or reselect the text, and it springs back into action.

NEW FILE FORMAT

under the hood, the biggest change to Word is the new Office XML format — all Micro-soft Office applications now use it. By default, Word saves in this new format, which has the .docx extension, or the .docm extension if the document contains mac-ros. For businesses, this can be a big plus, because it allows for easier inte-gration with enterprise-level applications and for exchanging data.

In some instances, it also creates files of a smaller size, because files are automatically c o m p r e s s e d w h e n they're saved to disk and then automatically uncompressed when you open them.

In addition, the new format makes it easier to recover damaged fi les because it saves different data components — such as tables and charts — separately from one another. This means files can be opened even if an individual component, such as a chart, is damaged.

That's the good news. Here's the bad news: Most of the world doesn't use the new format and won't for sometime. So if you want to exchange fi les with others, you'll need to use the old .doc format. To save a file in the .doc format, click the Offi ce Button and choose Save As > Word 97-2003 Document. To have Word save all of your fi les in the old .doc format auto-matically, click the Offi ce Button, choose Word Options > Save > Save fi les in this format > Word 97-2003 Document.

THEMES

have you ever tried making sure that your Word, Excel and PowerPoint docu-ments all include a common look and feel — for example, incorporating a corporate logo, certain colors and so on? If so, you've most likely struggled mightily and come out on the short end of the stick.

Themes, new to Word 2007 and Offi ce 2007, are designed to make doing that easier. You can create a single, overarch-ing theme, with colors, logos, paragraph styles and so on, and then use that theme for all of your Offi ce documents.

Themes may sound suspiciously like templates, but they're somewhat differ-ent. You can have multiple templates that use the same theme. So, for exam-ple, you could create a theme that includes your company logo, colors and font choice. You could then have one template in that style for letters, another for budget proposals and many others for different purposes.

Picture Editing

Word 2007 also enhances photo editing. Now you will be able

to perform basic functions like brightness, contrast etc. in

the interface itself.

The Ribbon and Quick Access toolbars are key innovations, but also useful are the new mini toolbars, themes, blogging etc.


OFFICE SUITE

To use Themes, select the Page Layout tab and click the Themes button to choose a new theme. You can also cus-tomize any theme and create new ones.

One important caveat: Be aware that themes only work if you're using Word's new Offi ce XML format; they won't work on old-style .doc fi les.

QUICK PARTS

if you need to create sophisticated docu-ments that include complex headers and footers, objects such as decorative text callouts, and fi elds for dates, fi le names, bar codes and the like, you'll appreciate the new Quick Parts feature. To insert just about any object, fi eld or style, click the Insert tab, then click Quick Parts and choose what you want to insert.

Choose "Document Property" for objects that relate to the entire docu-ment, such as Author, Company and Keywords. Choose Field to insert a fi eld such as the number of words or the page number, and choose Building Blocks Organizer to see every single Quick Part available.

LIVE PREVIEW

if you often change formatting in your documents and text, you'll welcome the new Live Preview feature. Highlight the text or area of a docu-ment you want to change. Then, on the Ribbon, move your cursor over the format you want to apply. The text you high-lighted will change so that you can see how it will look with the new formatting. Move the cursor away to revert to the original formatting, or move it over a different format to preview different formatting. When you fi nd formatting you want to apply, click it.

For example, if you are considering changing the font size of 10-point text, highlight the text. On the Home tab of the Ribbon, click the font size drop-down menu and hover your mouse over the text

size you're considering changing the text to. You'll see the text in the new size. You can choose that text size by clicking it, preview other sizes or leave the text as is.

BLOGGING SUPPORT

does your grandmother have her own blog? If she doesn't, she will soon. Word 2007 recognizes that everyone and their pets blog these days, so it includes a set of tools for creating blog entries and then posting them to your blog. Open a

document, click the Offi ce Bu t ton and choose Publish > Blog. A screen appears, asking you to register information about your blog account.

Choose "Register Now" to enter information, including where your blog is posted, along with your username and pass-

word, so that you'll be able to post entries from directly within Word. If you don't want to register and you want to fi rst cre-ate a post, choose Register Later.

At the top of your screen, you'll see an [Enter Post Title] fi eld for fi lling in the title of your post. The Ribbon will also display a Blog Post group, with buttons for publishing your post, managing your

blog accounts and performing similar blogging-related tasks.

MORE HELP

if you follow the advice in this article, you'll go a long way toward getting famil-iar with Word 2007. For more tips and help on Word 2007, head to Microsoft's Word 2007 site.

QUICK REFERENCE CHARTS

wondering where your favorite Word 2003 commands went in Word 2007? Worry no more. Just use these qu ick re fe rence char t s (h t tp : / /p c w o r l d . i n / f e a t u r e s / i n d e x . j s p /artId=5537818), which list the most commonly used Windows 2003 com-mands and tell you where they are in Word 2007. They're listed according to the menu on which they're found in Word 2003. We've also included keyboard shortcuts for all the com-mands. Most of them are the same in Word 2003 and Word 2007; we've noted where they differ.

For a full listing of every menu and submenu item, download the Word Ribbon mapping workbook from Micro-soft. Microsoft also lists more Word 2007 keyboard shortcuts at its Office Online Web site.

SHORTCUTS

DIFFERENCE IN WORD 2003 AND 2007 FILE MENU

Word 2003Location

Word 2007 Location KeyboardShortcut

File > New Office Button > New Ctrl-N

File > Open Office Button > Open Ctrl-O

File > Close Office Button > Close Ctrl-W

File > Save Office Button > Save

orQuick Access toolbar > Save Icon

Ctrl-S

File > Save As Office Button > Save As F 12

File > Page Setup Page Layout > Page Setup ( click dialog box launcher for more options)

orOffice Button > Print > Print Preview> Page Setup (click dialog box launcher for more options)

In Word 2003:

Alt-F, U

In Word 2007:

Alt-P, SP

File > Print Preview Office Button > Print> Preview Alt-Ctrl-I

File > Print Office Button > Print Ctrl-P

File > Recently

Used Documents

Office Button > Recent Documents Alt-F


BY K I M SACC I O - K E N T I L L U S T R AT I O N : P C A N O O P

Nearly all of us have played around with wallpapers or screensavers at some point of time. Changing these can not only give the PC a fresh look, but also con-nect the user to his favorite movies, locales or even abstract ideas. And, there is no limit to the variations you have with themes!


THEMES

A theme is like a matching outfi t

for your computer’s desktop. In

addition to wallpaper, you get icons

and cursors, and your windows

and menus receive a makeover as

well. Many desktop themes also

come with screen savers.

Themes can lighten up a humdrum workday and add a dash of personality to your workspace. Initially, this article seemed easy: Find themes that work with Windows XP, make sure they’re not loaded with malware, and review them for our Downloads library. For most folks, dressing up a desktop isn’t mission critical, so these themes had to be simple to install and either free or very inexpensive. You can fi nd these themes in the current PC World DVD.

MOVIES AND CARTOONS

are you a movie fan? You’ll probably enjoy desktop themes based on The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Producers, or Superman Returns. Fond of animated features? How about a desktop theme based on Cars or Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit? What about a

blast from the past? I found a fun Scooby-Doo theme package that includes nine different scenes from the original series and the cartoon’s theme song. All of the themes here are free.

CARS

fans of Disney/Pixar’s animated movie Cars will like this theme. You can select from two wallpapers: a red background with a big Cars logo, or the movie poster. The icons are tiny pics of the cars, and the cursors are equally eye-catching—a forklift, a small red and white arrow, and an odometer. The sounds are snippets of dialogue or a revving motor. The screen saver plays

a snappy rendition of “Route 66” while showing pictures of the characters.

WALLACE & GROMIT: CURSE OF

THE WERE-RABBIT

Wallace and Gromit fans, take notice: This desktop theme could make com-puting so much fun it might cause you to miss a few deadlines. The wallpaper is a terrific photo of the dynamic duo at home. The icons are pictures of the main characters, and for cursors you get a carrot and a garden gnome. The screen saver provides a slide-show overview of Wallace and Gromit’s life together, presented with the Wallace and Gromit theme music.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE

RETURN OF THE KING

Th is pack age inc lu de s s e v e n wallpapers, each featuring a different character from the movie. Your pointer is a sword that turns into the One Ring when the computer is busy. Icons are small pictures of the main characters. There are very few sounds, mainly clashing swords—but in a nice touch, error alerts are a chilling Nazgul cry.

WALLPAPERS ACCOMPANIED BY other elements can set a mood as you work on your PC.

This wallpaper from the Cars theme is colorful, vibrant and can put a smile on your face!

IF YOU WISH for the ultimate make-

over for your desktop, this is perhaps

what you should get. After applying

this pack, you

may not be

able to tel l

that the OS

r u n n i n g o n

your PC is the

all too com-

mon Windows!

Talisman can

create a look

and feel that

is totally customizible with rich graph-

ics to back it up. This is a shell-

replacement program – and that

means nearly every aspect of the GUI

can be changed. Alas, some things in

life are not free and Talisman costs

about Rs 1,100, but a 30 day trial is

available.

http://www.lighttek.com/talisman.htm

SOFTWARE

Talisman


THEMES

THE PRODUCERS

Mel Brooks lovers will enjoy this theme based on his 2005 musical. The wallpaper shows Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman, and Nathan Lane posed against a backdrop of old Broadway. The cursors—a hand holding a drink, a marquee arrow, and an old-time camera with a fl ashing bulb—are clever. Unfor-tunately, the screen saver is uninspir-ing: Against a brick-wall image, four small screens fl ash movie stills.

SCOOBY-DOO

This theme pack is based on the original Scooby-Doo series of the sixties. The

bundle contains nine wallpapers depicting Scoob and the gang encountering various ghouls. The icons feature all your old pals. The sounds include catchphrases like Velma’s “Jinkies!” and Scooby’s “Rooby-doobie-doo!”

SUPERMAN RETURNS—MAN OF

STEEL

This theme pack offers lots of eye candy based on the latest Superman movie. You get three wallpapers: Superman in fl ight, Superman looking down on Earth, and the Superman logo. I found the sounds—a swelling chorus, plus random swooshing noises—a little annoying. Also included is a screen saver called “Flying Through Space” that shows what you’d see if you were, well, fl ying through space.

THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Perhaps you want to bring a bit of the outdoors into your offi ce. Autumn Brook and Sea Dance are beautifully designed themes that add serenity to your working environment; Golden Gate is a quirky little theme that features San Francisco’s famous landmark and soothing ocean sounds. What about something way outdoors, like

outer space? Worlds Upon Worlds presents an artist’s view of our solar system.

AUTUMN BROOK

Enjoy the colors of fall with this pleas-ant and free theme. The wallpaper is a pho-tograph of a mountain stream banked by many-hued trees. The icons and cursors are fall leaves, and the sounds are birdsong. The screen saver is also pretty: The desktop image remains on screen, but the water fl ows softly, accompanied by piano music and the twittering of birds. Very Zen.

The screen saver displays movie-poster images on a black background.

MATRIX THEME BUNDLE

Growing tired of Matrix knock-offs that merely fill your screen with green code? Give this package a try. These nine original wallpapers are based on characters and scenes from the Matrix movies. Your windows and menus get different color schemes to complement each wallpaper. The sounds—odd electronic effects—are used sparingly. For cursors and icons, the program includes various futuristic-looking gadgets. The screen saver features squidlike robots fl ying through Matrix space.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN:

DEAD MAN’S CHEST

Get in touch with your inner pirate. This package includes three wallpapers based on Pirates of the Caribbean, plus coordinating sounds, cursors, icons, and a screen saver. The screen saver is the most entertaining part of the bundle: Against a backdrop of ships being attacked by a giant octopus, a pirate chest floats around the screen, opening to show movie stills while the theme music plays in the background.

THEMES REPLACE THE boring pointers with other symbols that tie in with the theme, completing

the look and feel of the theme. Some of the cursors from the Lord of the Rings theme are shown above.

COLOR SCHEMES ADD that dash of character or personalization. Many themes change the

color schemes while some others go the extra distance and replace fonts as well.


THEMES

GOLDEN GATE

This unusual desktop theme is worth the fee to register it. The wallpaper is a digitally enhanced photo of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, with an odd little sailboat-like vessel floating on the water. This image appears in the screen saver, as well, although there the water is animated. The icons are clever, too: The Recycle Bin is a foghorn, while the pointer is a lighthouse that turns into a rain cloud when the computer is working.

SEA DANCE

This soothing desktop theme should help you keep your equilibrium—and it’s free. The wallpaper depicts a tranquil beach with mountains in the distance; it appears to be evening, and fog sits on the water. A screen saver is included, but it’s rather odd: Against a black background, shapes filled with bits of the wallpaper move around the screen, accompanied by a jazzy piano piece.

WORLDS UPON WORLDS

download this free theme and be transported to deep space, where in the

inky blackness a ringed planet whirls against a cloud of glowing gas. Your pointer, a little rocket ship, turns into a spinning Earth when the computer is busy. Although this theme runs fi ne under Windows XP, the sounds didn’t work during my testing; the readme file that accompanies this download has a complicated troubleshooting section, but I didn’t take the time to fo l low i t s recommendat ions . Silence seems appropriate for deep space, anyway.

THE HOLIDAYS

time to decorate for the holidays. I unearthed two terrifi c Christmas packag-es: It’s Cold Outside is based on a jazzy version of the classic holiday tune, while Holiday Wrapping Papers presents nine themes based on different gift wraps. (Sorry, all of the Thanksgiving themes I came across were, well, turkeys.) And even though Halloween 2006 has passed, it’s not too early to think about this year: In the package called This Is Halloween, you get two beautifully ren-dered spooky scenes. All of these theme packages are free. IT’S COLD OUTSIDE

here’s a holiday hit inspired by the song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” The wall-paper shows two pairs of shoes by a cabin door that opens onto a winter scene. The included screen saver is particularly clev-er: The wallpaper remains on screen, but falling snow, bows, and snowfl akes slow-ly appear while you’re treated to Vanessa Williams’s jazzy rendition of the Christ-mas classic.

THIS IS HALLOWEEN

this stellar package lets you choose between two wallpapers: a Jack-o-Lan-tern or two Jack-o-Lanterns in a spooky forest. The unobtrusive cursors include a small orange arrow and a fl ying witch. Among the icons are a pumpkin for the Recycle Bin and scary eyes for My Documents. The spooky sounds, taken from Danny Elfman’s The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack, are used sparingly.

EXPLORE THE VARIOUS themes and choose one for your liking and mood – from movies

to solar system to nature.

Customize your themesTHEMES ARE ALL about personal taste.

You may feel like changing something to

your liking in an existing theme – the

wallpaper, the color schemes or screen-

saver. Windows XP allows you change

these elements without too much

effort.

Right-click on your desktop and choose

‘Properties’ to open the display proper-

ties settings. Click on the ‘Themes’ tab

and select the theme you want to modify

and Apply it. Next, change to any wallpa-

per and screensaver if you so wish. You

can change color schemes as follows:

Click on the Appearance tab, then on the

Advanced button. Under Item choose the

element which you want to change and

then colors and fonts. Come back to the

Themes tab and click on Save As and

choose a name for your theme. Now, this

theme that has been created will appear

in the drop-down menu.

TIPS


P R A C T I C A L A D V I C E B E F O R E YO U S H O P

SMART BUYERSMART BUYERTHE BIG PICTURE SPECS EXPLAINED BUYING TIPS

Talented Performerscopy, scan, fax, and print: Four separate machines could handle those needs. But why tax your budget and your desk space when one machine can do it all? Most multifunction devices (some-times called a multi-function printers) handle these tasks with great fl air and perform-ance—rivalling that of stand-alone units.

And a number of them let you to carry out more than one of these tasks simultaneously. Either laser or inkjet printers, MFDs will print photos and a variety of other document types. Some print in color while others only print in black and white. They have various features and networking options, and range in price from Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 50,000. High-end devices tend to be faster, have color printing, and also more networking and offi ce functionality.

T H E B I G P I C T U R E

for years multifunction

printers have saved scarce offi ce space, but the latest all-in-ones print as well as general-purpose printers do, at comparable pric-es. While MFDs can’t match the output and functionality of a photo printer or stand-alone scanner, but for standard offi ce tasks they fi t the bill. For busi-ness and enterprise applications MFDs can be a way to increase productivity, streamline tasks and potentially decrease costs .

Once you’ve settled on pur-chasing an MFD rather than a stand-alone product, you need to decide whether an inkjet or a laser model better suits your needs. The choice is easy if you use your printer for business. Inkjets can produce colorful documents and outstanding photos, but they simply can’t match the speed and profes-sional document quality of a laser printer. Most of today’s

laser MFDs compare favorably to dedicated laser printers in speed and print quality. They also offer a good range of offi ce-oriented features and match the performance of single-func-tion printers. With color mod-els also available in laser MFDs, you no longer have to sacrifi ce color to get sharp text quality in business documents.

For home and SOHO applica-tions, MFDs are an attractive option to save upfront cost and space. They can handle faxing, scanning, printing (both photos and documents) and copying on a regular basis. And with more households acquiring broad-band connections, the combina-tion of scanning and printing enables easy sharing of photos and documents with friends and family. Many MFDs have built-in memory that lets them store documents and send them straight to e-mail—becoming intercommunication portals.

When looking for an MFD for the home or the offi ce, ask yourself what sort of functional-ity you need. Maybe you don’t need a fax machine? Or, per-haps a network adapter? Asking yourself these questions will narrow down your search for a machine, and will also allow you to save money by not pur-chasing an extravagant device.

It is also a good idea, before you start looking, to estimate the maximum number of pages per month that you need to print, and buy a printer that can handle that workload. As a rough guide, for small offi ces 5,000 pages per month is more than sufficient, and a bigger offi ce could budget for up to 15,000 pages per month. Printers that are networked and shared will need to have the capability to produce up to 50,000 pages or more per month, depending on the size of the network.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO BUYING THE

PERFECT MFD YOU ALWAYS WANTED.


SMART BUYER

A DEVICE WITH clearly labelled

screen is easy to use.

Also, evaluate whether you want an inkjet or a laser device. Inkjets will be cheaper to buy, and do a better job on photos. But lasers are generally faster and have better overall print quality, making them the logi-cal choice for business. Many MFDs are now designed to be easy to use as standalone devic-es without the need to be plugged into the PC. This is useful if you want flexibility, portability, ease of use and quick set up.

S P E C S E X P L A I N E D

Speed: The main weapon in the marketing war among vendors, speed is often one of the first specs you will see in any adver-tisement. Vendors frequently cite ratings based on printing only the simplest text docu-ments, or printing in draft mode, and many don’t even include the time it takes for the PC to send a job to the printer. To further confuse the issue, laser and inkjet speeds are measured and quoted differ-ently. In any case, claimed speeds are frequently two, three, or more times the speeds you’ll see in real-world printing. Quite often, the print engines in laser all-in-ones tend to lag about a generation behind engines in stand-alone alternatives.

It’s also a good idea to look for a device with a number of print speed modes, e.g., extra fast, fast, normal, fi ne, extra fi ne. A final note about speed is that you can normally expect it to be compromised when you are networking the device, when it is carrying out more than one task simultaneously or there is a de-screening feature on the scanner. Find out how much the claimed speed is reduced when two tasks are happening at the same time. That is, for example,

when the device is printing and faxing simultaneously. Optical resolution: For display-ing photos on the Web or print-ing 3-by-5 or 4-by-6 snapshots, 100 dots per inch is plenty of resolution; for capturing text using optical character recog-nition, 300 dpi is standard. Color depth: The amount of color (and grayscale) data a scan-ner can recognize and save, termed color depth, is measured

in bits per pixel. Since a scanner can usually capture more data than its driver can save, you’ll frequently see a qualifier

appended to the bit-depth spec, such as 48-bit internal or hardware color, which describes how much data the scanner can recog-nize. External or true

color describes how much data the scanner’s driver can save. For almost all types of gen-eral-purpose use, 24-bit external color depth is suffi cient. Sensor technology: Scanners have one of two types of sen-sor technology: a charge-cou-pled device (CCD) or a contact image sensor (CIS). CIS sen-sors are a more recent innova-tion. Although they produce slightly lower-quality scanned images, CIS-based scanners can be much smaller and use far less power than CCD-based scanners.

If you need a scanner to digitize documents for storing, copy-ing, or faxing, an MFD will deliver good-enough results. But if you want to capture pho-tos or other art for reproduc-tion, we recommend that you get a stand-alone fl atbed scan-ner. In general, the more quick-ly an MFD scanns, the lower will be the quality of its output.Scanner: MFDs usually sport a flatbed-style scanner (which requires you to lift a lid to place your document on a glass), and some have automatic docu-ment feeders as well. A flat scanning glass works well for most tasks, and provides the only way to scan pages in books or magazines.An ADF comes in handy when you’re scanning lots of documents at once, or when you want to scan a sheet that’s longer than the scanning glass. Check that the scanning area is large enough for your needs—some of them can han-dle legal size paper, while oth-

Extra features that you might needOCR: Optical character recognition (OCR) software is sometimes supplied with the machine. This

allows you to scan in documents to extract the text for editing. One of the biggest challenges for OCR

software is whether it can accurately pick up the characters “r” and “rr” and not confuse them as “t”

or “n”. A good feature that is sometimes available with OCR software is an interface which allows you

to directly compare the scanned text to the original document side-by-side to find any errors.

ADF: An Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) is convenient if you need to frequently fax, copy or

scan multi-page documents and don’t want to individually feed each sheet. Most ADFs should be

able to handle at least 30 pages.

Printing onto CD/DVD surfaces: Some devices on the market will enable this, usually using a spe-

cial disc-holding tray, which is handy if you want to make CDs and DVDs.

Printing on other surface/media: Other media may include overhead transparencies, labels, stick-

ers, envelopes etc.

Support for different paper sizes and types: 4x6in photo paper, A4, A3 etc and glossy/semi-gloss,

matt etc.

Scan 3D images (physical objects) with relatively good accuracy.

Scanning directly to a number of different formats eg, PDF/JPEF/TIFF/WORD.

Digitally sending documents or to scan direct to e-mail or particular folders on your PC/network.

Scanning fi lm or slides: This can be handy for photographic enthusiasts though you will invariably

lose image quality, and often pick up dust, which will result in a grainy appearance.

TIPS

A DEVICE WITH

shortcut buttons

and a LCD screen is

convinient to use.

ers are limited to A4. Although many MFDs come bundled with an automatic document feeder for the scanner, you usu-ally won’t get a transparency adapter—a common accessory for ordinary scanners.Fax: In general, most MFDs compare well with standalone laser or inkjet fax machines in terms of output quality, and speed. Check that the device supports high speed faxing (14.4kbps and more), the amount of memory provided for storing outgoing and incom-ing fax messages. For improved usability, see if can store fre-quently called numbers.Cartridges: If you are planning to buy an inkjet MFD, you may also want to look for a model that has separate ink cartridges for each color. Inkjet running costs can get quite high, espe-cially if regular photo printing is required. Separate ink car-tridges will allow you to replace ink on a per color basis. Paper Handling: A machine with a large paper tray or even dual paper trays will allow you to print a larger amount of docu-ments without worrying about constantly re-filling the trays. An automatic document feeder is usually found on machines that have a fax-modem built in, and allows for multi-page docu-ments to be photocopied or scanned without having to

place each sheet in the scanner fl atbed individually. Connectivity: You will fi nd that multi-function devices will often offer some degree of multi-con-nectivity. Obviously, the more connection options available, the more fl exibility you have in how you use the device. Check the number and type of ports the device will support.

If you want to print wirelessly you will have to make sure there is a built-in wireless net-work adapter in addition to a 10/100 Ethernet port and that it will work on existing 802.11b or 802.11g networks. A fi nal point on connectivity is that you may want to check the location of the ports, and the subsequent likelihood of cables being dis-connected by accident.

S H O P P I N G T I P S

while you can buy MFDs from Rs. 4,500 to Rs. 20,000, the machine running costs are equally important.

The biggest ongoing cost for inkjets is the cost of the ink car-tridges. Vendors generally charge Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 5,000 for multi-color cartridges and Rs. 1,200 to Rs. 3,000 for a separate black cartridge. Yields range from about 300 to 800 pages per cartridge. Many ven-dors also offer higher-capacity cartridges which although are more expensive contain twice

the amount of ink, so they cost less per page. Laser printers will be more expensive than inkjet printers, but cost per page will generally be cheaper. Laser toner cartridges often cost between Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 15,000 each, but yield over 5000 to 6000 pages.

There are several commonly perceived downsides to multi-function devices. At the top of this list is quality. Many feel that although an MFD can perform multi tasks, the quality of those tasks is compromised. PC World testing has indicated that most MFDs (especially laser ones) match or nearly match stand-alone devices in terms of print speed, but print and scan quality can vary. While some MFDs can match standalones in quality and speed, others don’t. But overall, the perform-ance gap has narrowed.

Another major downside to a MFD is the vulnerability of hav-ing all your eggs in one basket. If one part stops working, you can lose the other functions too. While it’s true that if the printer breaks, you will generally not be able to photocopy, most MFDs are designed so that you will still be able to scan.

A cost for businesses using MFDs is downtime. Check the kind of support available for the device, and how quick-ly it can be fi xed. For example, high-end models may have a “call home” function that is activated when there is a prob-lem. Also check whether it’s possible for one part of the machine to continue working if another goes down. Noise can also be a factor when using one of these machines. Smooth roller, paper feed and paper eject mechanisms con-tribute to a device with lower

noise emission. Ease of use will probably be an important consideration too, especially if the device is to be used by a number of people with vary-ing technical skills. Shortcut buttons can help in using the machine quickly, though too many of them could become a handicap. Machines that have programmable buttons are also useful.

The accompanying software interface on the PC will vary in terms of user friendliness and effi ciency. Look for a point and click interface which allows as many tasks as possible, enable efficient management of the machine. At the very least, it should enable you to easily scan, print, copy and fax.

Space saving is probably one of the major reasons to buy an MFD. One aspect that saves space is having input and out-put paper trays located in the bottom of the unit, which does away with the need for long-reaching paper-support fl aps.

— PC World Team

SPEED

Find out how much the

claimed speed is reduced

when two task happen

simultaneously.

COLOR

For general-purpose use, 24

bit external color depth is

enough.

CONNECTIVITY

You may want to check he

location of the ports and

the subsequent likelihood of

cables being disconnected

by accident.

3 CHECK POINTS

IN BRIEF


SMART BUYER


i’m sure that by now all of you back up critical files weekly or even daily, and religiously refresh your full-disk-image backup once every few months, right? No? Well, you’re not alone. And while there’s no substitute for a genuine backup strategy, the move toward desktop-caliber online applications has made it easier than ever to get some degree of backup protection without even trying.

New, mostly free online services with snazzy features allow you to effectively get backups for many of your irreplace-able files just by doing what you nor-mally do—but with a twist. Through such services, you can ensure that your text documents, spreadsheets, browser bookmarks, digital pictures, and music

DOCS AND SPREADSHEETS

a host of new sites are eager to chal-lenge Microsoft for a slice of Office’s huge pie. My two favorites are Zoho’s suite for documents ( www.writer.zoho.com ) and Google’s Docs & Spreadsheets ( www.docs.google.com ) for spreadsheets. Both free services include storage space for your fi les (Zoho offers 1GB; Google limits the number and size of documents and spreadsheets you can store—for details see http://docs.google.com/sup-port/bin/answer.py?answer=37603&query=storage+limit&topic=&type= ). Any-thing you create is autosaved to an online server, providing a de facto backup. You’ll also be able to access all of your docu-ments from any browser, without having to install software fi rst.

Like many other advanced Web sites, Zoho and Google use Asynchronous Java Script and XML—or Ajax—to present a desktop-app-like feel. Both offer hot-keys for common features, background auto-saves, and other must-haves. Neither comes close to replacing Offi ce if you need its full spread of fea-tures, and you may encounter an annoy-ing though not game-stopping bug here and there in relatively new services. But for fi les you use at home, you probably won’t miss a thing.

I love Zoho’s sleek interface for docu-ments, but I prefer Google’s service (see FIGURE 1 ) for spreadsheets. You can easily use both services side-by-side.

If you do have Offi ce, Zoho recently re -leased a great plug-in (see FIGURE 2 ) that ties its service into Word and Excel. Install it, and a toolbar added to either app lets you open Zoho fi les straight into Office. When you make changes and

files not only survive a catastrophic crash but also become more accessible to you and anyone you choose to share them with.

Of course, using a company’s online storage means you’ll have to be comfort-able with the site’s stability, Web security, and privacy policy—or those of any com-pany that may buy that site. Real backups (see http://pcworld.in/hereshow/index.jsp/artId=3538958 ) and perhaps a RAID mirror on a second hard disk are still the best solution, and, like car insurance, they can make the difference between a bad day and a disaster. By using some or all of these Web services, however, you can easily gain some measure of backup in case of catastrophe, or add another level of redundancy to the backups you already have. IL

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Back Up Your Files Online Without Even Trying

HERE’S HERE’S HOWHOWHERE’S HOWE X P E R T A D V I C E O N H A R D WA R E , S O F T WA R E , A N D T H E W E B

O N L I N E S T O R A G E


87 WINDOWS TIPSNeed ironclad file security? Lock down your files and folders using Windows File Encryption.

89 HARDWARE TIPSUpgrade or overclock your PC’s graphics to prepare for Vista or to boost speed; simplify network setup.

90 ANSWER LINEReport problems to Microsoft, or not; customize Menus in Office; personalize Explorer shortcuts.

click the Zoho Save button, the online document gets updated. You can also add Office-created documents and spread-sheets to your repository on Zoho.

Neither service is perfect, however. Both require a stable Internet connec-tion for accessing your fi les (though the Zoho plug-in does mitigate that need). Also, while you can import Offi ce fi les into either service (through a site option or the Add button in the Zoho plug-in), doing so typically messes up the for-

matting. And you can forget about using Excel formulas, Word macros , and page numbers, as well as several other ad vanced features; if you import a fi le that contains any of these, it will break.

ONLINE

BOOKMARKS

browser bookmarks

are another painful loss in the case of hard-drive

failure. If you’re like me, you’ve sunk hours and hours of effort into discovering the best online information sources, both personal and professional. Losing them all would not make for a good day.

Here again, though, free online offerings can come to the rescue. Several Firefox extensions not only automatically back up your bookmarks to an on line server but also synchronize them between browsers on multiple PCs. Foxmarks ( FIGURE 3 ; www.foxmarks.com ), my

favorite, has some great setup options: If your ma chines get out of sync, you can replace all of your bookmarks with those that you’ve stored online, or replace what you’ve stored with your l o c a l f a v o r i t e s .

After installation, the add-on invisibly syncs your bookmarks with no addi t ional effort on your part. You’re not only able to bookmark something

at work and have it ready at home (with-out having to e-mail yourself the URL), but if your computer goes south, you merely need to reinstall Firefox and Foxmarks and then log in to re store all of your bookmarks.

Google offers a Browser Sync plug-in for Firefox ( www.google.com/tools/fire-fox/browsersync/ ) that syncs your book-marks, as well as your cookies, pass-words, history, and even open tabs. The truly security conscious will want to avoid syncing passwords to someone else’s server. I use Browser Sync strictly for passwords and browsing history—I got frustrated with the plug-in’s frequent screw-ups in syncing bookmarks (possi-bly because I tend to keep my browsers running on my work and home comput-ers simultaneously).

If you give either Foxmarks or Google Browser Sync a try, here’s a tip for keep-ing your work and personal favorites dis-tinct: Preface your bookmark folders with a designation such as Home- or Work- , and then group those folders together.

88

FIGURE 1: CREATE YOUR SPREADSHEETS online with Google

Docs & Spreadsheets, and let the service handle the backups.

FIGURE 2: ZOHO’S WORD AND Excel plug-ins allow you to access

Zoho’s service from within those applications.

FIGURE 3: KEEP YOUR BOOKMARKS synced

and safe with Foxmarks, a free Firefox add-on.


PHOTO BACKUPS

half the fun of digital pictures is show-ing them off, so odds are you’ve already uploaded your digital snapshots to a photo-sharing site such as Flickr ( www.flickr.com ) or SmugMug (www. smugmug.com ). Some of these sites have features that provide a decent de facto backup solution for your photos, as well.

You can upload an unlimited number of photos (JPEG only) to the new version 3 of Yahoo Photos ( photos.yahoo.com ). If you have a bunch, the upload will take a while. But afterward you (or any-one you share pictures with) can download the full-size image for free: Double -click the picture you want, and a Download option (see FIGURE 4 ) appears in the site’s menu; choose the full-resolution image on the next screen.

One thing to keep in mind is that while you can upload as many photos as you like (in what-ever resolution you choose), you must use your Yahoo ID (on the photo site, Yahoo Web mail, or any other Yahoo site or service) once every six months. Otherwise, the site will send a warning e-mail; and if you still don’t log in, it will delete your pictures.

If disaster strikes and you lose all of the photos on your hard drive, downloading pictures one by one to your (new) hard drive could be a long and tedious chore. Another backup option is to upload your photos to Shutterfly (www. shutterfly.com ), which doesn’t currently allow you to download a full-size image, but will send you an archive CD of your full-size

pictures for a fee. And as with Yahoo Pho-tos, you can upload an unlimited number of images to Shutterfl y.

To order a CD, select Shutterfl y Store, and from the drop-down menu under Products choose Gift Certs and CDs. You’ll need to pay up to Rs. 1,800 for the fi rst 1000 images and Rs. 675 for every additional set of 1000 (plus shipping). It’s

pricey, but this alternative could be a much faster way to restore your entire photo collection.

DIGITAL MUSIC

the most painless backup option for music is somewhat old-school, since it doesn’t involve a snazzy new online serv-ice: Just use the original CDs. But if you’d rather avoid the painstaking task of re-ripping each and every CD when your PC kicks the bucket, your portable music player can come to the rescue.

Make sure that any player you buy is large enough to store your entire music

HERE’S HOW ONLINE STORAGE

collection, with some room for growth. Storage space is getting cheaper for PCs and portable devices alike, so a number of choices for players can fit the bill. Aside from the ubiquitous iPod (availa-ble in 30GB and 80GB versions), Crea-tive’s 60GB Zen Vision:M and Micro-soft’s 30GB Zune are also good buys. With an iPod and iTunes, your bail-out

procedure is simply to reinstall iTunes and reconnect your iPod, and then follow the prompt to restore your music from your iPod. To reactivate music you’ve bought from the iTunes store, you may need to connect to the service and clear out your a u t h o r i z a t i o n s ( c l i c k Store•Deauthorize Computer ) so that your new PC can acquire the rights to play the songs.

With most other players, you can connect the unit to your com -puter as a USB mass storage or Media Transfer Protocol device and then drag and drop your

music back onto your hard drive via Win-dows Explorer. You can use a similar method with an iPod: Either set your PC to show hidden files and folders, and then navigate to the hidden folder iPod\Control and copy the Music folder to your hard drive; or grab an app like the dona-tionware EphPod ( www.ephpod.com ), which can do it for you.

If the directory or file names aren’t properly preserved when you restore your music this way, you can have either iTunes or Windows Media Player reor-ganize and rename your music according to what it fi nds in the ID3 tags.

In Windows Media Player, click Tools• Options , select the Library tab, and then check the boxes for Rename music f iles using rip music settings and Rearrange music in r ip music folder . Select the Rip Music tab and choose a folder and file-naming scheme by click-ing the Change and File Name buttons. In iTunes, select Edit•Preferences in the menu and choose the Advanced tab. Check the box labeled Keep iTunes Music folder organized .

— Erik Larkin

FIGURE 4: YAHOO’S NEW PHOTO service offers unlimited storage

and lets you download full-size images from your collection.

ONLINE STORAGE FOR ALL TYPES OF FILES

IF YOU WANT a catch-all option for stor-

ing any type of fi le, try one of the pleth-

ora of online storage services. Typically

you can share fi les you upload, and of

course you can retrieve them if your

hard drive tanks. My favorite is the Go -

Daddy Online File Folder ( www.godaddy.

com/gdshop/email/vsdb_landing.

asp?se=%2B&ci=270 ), which costs $20

per year for 2GB of storage. You can

access the service as a network place

from your PC and then drag and drop

files to it in Explorer, or you can save

directly to it via most, though not all,

programs. Another good service, Box.

net, offers 1GB of storage for free or

5GB for $5 per month. It sports a nice,

uncluttered Web interface, but doesn’t

let you map that storage as a drive or

network place.

there’s only one way to keep your fi les truly confi dential: Encrypt them. The Encrypting File System in most versions of Windows Vista, XP, and 2000 scram-bles the contents of files and folders, making it very diffi cult for snoops to read them. It’s easy to make encryption a part of your security arsenal.

Get ready to encrypt: Encrypting File System is in Windows Vista Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate; XP Pro; and Windows 2000. XP Home lacks EFS, and Vista Starter, Home Basic, and Home Premium allow only decryption—so you can read encrypted fi les but not encrypt them. To use Encrypting File System on a partition, that partition must be formatted using the NTFS file system. Not using NTFS? The switch is easy. See “Go With the NTFS Flow” at http://pcwor ld . in/hereshow/ index . j sp/artId=5537798 (the same steps work in Vista). Also, encryption requires that you use a password-protected account.

Stow your fi les: To encrypt a fi le or fold-er, right-click it in Explorer or any folder window and choose Properties (you can also right-click a group selection to en -crypt several fi les or folders at once). In the General tab, click Advanced , check Encrypt contents to secure data , and click OK twice (see FIGURE 1 ). If you’re encrypt-ing a folder, you’ll be asked if you want to encrypt its fi les and subfolders, as well. Once encrypted, the fi les or folders will

work like any others on your system; you don’t have to use any special passwords to open or save them. Other user accounts on the PC, and other PCs on the network, can’t view the fi le contents. Only some-one who is logged in to your account with your password can access these fi les.

Streamline the steps: You can shorten the process by adding an Encrypt command to your right-click context menu (the command switches to Decrypt when you right-click encrypted files). You can do this in XP with a quick Registry edit, but you might find it easier and safer to use Tweak UI, a free PowerToy from Microsoft ( w w w . p c w o r l d . c o m /downloads/file/fid,18220-order,1-page,1/description.html ). If you al ready have Tweak UI on your system, you may need to upgrade to a more recent version. Once Tweak UI is downloaded, installed, and running, select Explorer in the left pane, scroll through the options on the right, and check Show “Encrypt” on context menu (see FIGURE 2 ). Click OK . Now when you right-click an unencrypted fi le, you’ll see a new command: Encrypt (or Decrypt if you’ve selected an encrypted item). Choose that option, and respond to any prompts. As of this writing, Tweak UI was incompatible with Windows

Vista. However, Totalidea Software’s free TweakVI Basic utility ( www.totalidea.

c o m / c o n t e n t /tweakvi/ tweakvi -down.php ) allows

you to tweak many Vista settings, letting you add the Encrypt/Decrypt commands to the context menu. Make encrypted fi les stand out:

To see at a glance which fi les or folders on your system are

The Simple Way to Keep Your Private Files Private

W I N D O W S T I P S

en crypted (or which use NTFS com-pression, for that matter), open Explor-er and choose Tools•Folder Options . Click the View tab, and in the Advanced Settings box, make sure that Show en -crypted or compressed NTFS fi les in color is checked. Encrypted items are green, compressed ones blue. On the other hand, if you don’t want others to see which files are encrypted or com-pressed, uncheck this option. Click OK . XP Pro and Vista users need this tip only if they want to disable the display

of encrypted and compressed files in color, which the OSes do by default. To open the Folder Options dialog in Vis-ta’s Explorer window, click Organize• Folder and Search Options .

Give others permission: To give people who are using your system access to encrypted files, you can specify the individuals by their user name. First, right-click a single encrypted file (not a folder or multiple files, unfortunately), and choose Properties . In the General tab, c l ick Advanced , and next to ‘Encrypt contents to secure data’, choose Details . In the middle of that dialog box, click Add to open the Select User dialog, which lists others who have a certificate (a digital document that helps confirm authenticity) on your system (see FIGURE 3 ).

Users can acquire certifi cates in vari-ous ways, but one of the simplest is by encrypting one of their own documents. (For more about certif icates, choose

FIGURE 1: ENCRYPTION IS JUST a few clicks away

via any file or folder’s Properties dialog box.

FIGURE 2: MAKE ENCRYPTION EASIER by adding a

context menu command using the Tweak UI freebie.


HERE’S HOW


HERE’S HOW WINDOWS TIPS

Start•Help and Support , type certifi-cates overview , then press <Enter> .) Select a trusted user and click OK . Note that the Find User button in the Select User dialog box won’t work unless your network uses Active Directory, a Win-dows service in which administrators can store and make available informa-tion on network objects.

D isab le, don’ t de lete : Because encrypted fi les are associated with user profi les, deleting profi les prevents those people from accessing their encrypted files. For example, if an employee

named Scott goes on leave but may return, disable rather than delete Scott’s profi le: In XP, choose Start•Run , type lusrmgr.msc , and press <Enter> . In Vista, click Start and enter the same command in the Start Search field. Click the Users folder icon in the left pane and double-click Scott’s profile in the right pane. In the General tab, check Account is disabled and click OK ; when Sco t t re sumes work ing , uncheck this box.

A free Encrypting File System

alternative: You might need a stronger level of protection than Encrypting File System offers. Browse to http://

pcworld. in/downloads/index. jsp/dsecId=1443/dsubSecId=1445 to d o w n l o a d t h e f r e e Tr u e Cr y p t encrypt ion u t i l i t y ; a l so see the Windows Toolbox at right for another encryption alternative.

Lock it all up in Vista’s BitLocker:

Encrypting your entire hard disk makes it harder for malware to infect Vista’s system files, while also making it tougher for snoops to decrypt your fi les. The BitLocker feature in the Ultimate and Enter-prise versions of Vista encrypts the entire partition that the OS is installed on, and stores the encryp-tion key in your PC’s Trusted Plat-form Module chip, or on a USB flash drive. Since USB drives have become ubiquitous, and since most of us lack systems with a TPM chip, the fl ash drive option is the most attractive.

Unfortunately it’s disa-bled by de fault.

To enable this option, click Start , enter gpedit.msc in the Start Search fi eld, and press <Enter> to launch Vista’s Group Policy Object Editor. In the left pane, navigate to and select Compu-ter Conf igur ation•Administrative Tem-plates• Windows Components•BitLocker Drive Encryption , and double-click Con-trol Panel Setup: Enable advanced startup options . Next, select Enabled, check Allow

BitLocker without a compatible TPM, and click OK (see FIGURE 4 ). Exit the editor.

Now whenever you launch the BitLock-er Drive Encryption applet in Control Panel, it won’t complain about the miss-ing TPM module, and it will offer a new ‘Turn On BitLocker’ link. BitLocker requires that you be able to boot from your USB drive, and it also must have an additional nonencrypted partition. For further information, click the applet’s What should I know about BitLocker Drive Encryption before I turn it on? link.

— Scott Dunn and Scott Spanbauer

FIGURE 3: LET OTHERS IN on your secrets by giv ing

trusted users permission to your encrypted files.

FIGURE 4: USE VISTA’S EXTRA-STRENGTH

Bit Locker encryption utility without a TPM

secu rity chip by editing Vista’s group policies.

SOMETIMES THE BEST way to keep

people from prying into your personal

folders is to keep the folders’ exist-

ence secret from the get-go. That’s

easy to do with Cleanersoft.com’s Free

Hide Folders (http://pcworld.in/down-

loads/index.jsp/dsecId=1494/dsubSe-

cId=1502 ).

The program lets you make any folder

(and its subfolders and other contents)

completely invisible with a just a little

pointing and clicking. (Note that in Win-

dows Vista, the program may not com-

pletely hide some known folders, such as

Music in the Documents folder.)

Free Hide Folders is password protected,

so you’re safe even if the bad guys know

you’re using the product. It also lets you

back up your folders’ hidden states in

case you have a system problem. And as

the name says, it’s free.

WINDOWS TOOLBOX

Get a Cloak of Invisibility With Free Hide Folders


HERE’S HOW

windows vista clearly ups the ante on PC graphics power. No matter how basic or advanced your machine, chances are you can upgrade its graphics hardware to run Vista’s Aero interface—or improve XP—for viewing online videos, playing games, and using other graphics-heavy apps.

Find the connection: If the video con-nector on the back of your PC is next to the USB, PS/2, and other ports that are attached directly to the motherboard, your system has integrated graphics. Make sure your com-puter has an open AGP or PCI Express x16 slot.

If your PC does not automati-cally disable the old graphics processor when a new card is in -stalled, enter your system’s BIOS (watch for the key to press when your system starts but before Windows loads) and disable the setting for integrated graphics.

Get the right card for your PC:

High-end graphics cards typically need their own power connector. They also generate lots of heat, and often are so big they require the space of two expansion slots. Make sure your case has plenty of room inside.

Upgrade DirectX: Fast-action games and other graphics-intensive programs re -quire a recent version of DirectX. Win-dows XP supports versions up to DirectX 9c, but to use the improvements in the

Help Your PC’s Graphics Make Vista and XP Sparkle

H A R D W A R E T I P S latest, DirectX 10, you’ll need Windows Vista—and compatible graphics hard-ware that won’t be mainstream until late this year. To check your Di rectX version in XP, click Start•Run and type dxdiag; in Vista, click Start and type dxdiag in the Start Search box. Y our DirectX version is listed under the System tab. The Display tab shows graphics RAM and other data on your video subsystem (see FIGURE 1).

Go to http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=179113 to see instructions on

downloading and installing the latest ver-sion of DirectX.

Do driver diligence: Download the latest version of your card’s driver from the vendor’s Web site. Before you swap out the cards, however, remove the old card’s

driver to avoid problems. In XP, choose Start•Control Panel•Add or Remove Pro-grams, select the current graphics driver, and click Remove (see FIGURE 2) . In Vista,

click Start• Control Panel•Uninstall a program (Programs and Featuresin the Classic View). What if you don’t see your driver listed? Right-click My Computer (Computer in Vista) and select Manage• Device Manager. Under ‘Display adapters’, right-click the graphics driver and select Uninstall.

Upgrade on the inside: If you’re not quite ready for a new graph-ics board, you can squeeze more performance out of your system’s current graphics hardware by overclocking it. Both of the lead-ing graphics card makers—ATI and nVidia—include an over-clocking utility with many of their cards. Using ATI’s Over-

drive utility doesn’t invalidate the card’s warranty, but using nVidia’s Coolbits overclocking program does. Overheat-ing is probably this trick’s biggest risk. While ATI’s Overdrive utility monitors a graphics card’s temperature and pre-vents overheating, most other over-clocking utilities don’t. Rigging an inexpensive thermal sensor like High-Speed PC’s Rs. 675 Digital Thermal Probe (www.highspeedpc.com/Mer-c h a n t 2 / m e r c h a n t .m v ? S c r e e n = P R O D & P r o d u c t _C o d e = T e m p 1 & C a t e g o r y _Code=Overclocking) to monitor your graphics card temperature could save you the cost of a replacement.

— Kirk Steers

FIGURE 1: FIND ALL KINDS of useful data about your

graphics hardware in Windows XP’s DirectX Diagnostic Tool.

DOWNLOAD A FREE NETWORK KNOW-IT-ALLFOR THOSE OF us who’d prefer to think

of “IT” as a third-person singular pro-

noun, the thought of setting up and

maintaining a network’s various hard-

ware devices is about as appealing as

oral surgery without the anesthesia.

Finding an IP address, a gateway ad -

dress, or other setting often requires a

hunt through many Windows screens.

Pure Networks’ free Network Magic

vastly simplifi es network maintenance

by consolidating data for all of a net-

work’s devices on one screen. Go to

www.networkmagic.com/nmlp/home-

networking.php?src=google&kw=pure%

20networks for the download (a Premi-

um version adds features like fi le shar-

ing and remote access).

FIGURE 2: MAKE SURE YOU remove your

old drive before replacing it with a new one.


HERE’S HOW

off, give other users permission to set this option for themselves, read Microsoft’s privacy statement, and list programs whose errors should not be reported (see FIGURE 1). Click OK twice and close the Problem Reports and Solutions applet once you’ve made your changes.

TRIM OFFICE MENUS

HOW DO I remove an item from a

Microsoft Word menu?

removing items you don’t use makes the menus easier to navigate. The following trick will work in Word, Excel, and other programs in Microsoft Offi ce versions 2000, 2002, and 2003:

In the program with the unwanted menu item, select Tools•Customize. With the Cus-tomize dialog box open, click the menu at the top of the program window that holds the item you want to remove, right-click the item, and select Delete (see FIGURE 2); then click the dialog box’s Close button.

Offi ce 2007 doesn’t have menus, so there’s nothing to customize. Removing items from the ribbon isn’t an option. However, you can customize the Quick Access Toolbar and keyboard shortcuts in Offi ce 2007 applica-tions: Click the Office icon in the top-left corner, choose the options button for the program at the bottom of the drop-down list, and select Customize in the left pane.

SOMETIMES AN ERROR message

tells me that one of my programs

has “encountered a problem,”

and asks to send Microsoft a report.

What’s the best procedure to follow?

this error message, added to the XP version of Windows, tells you the operat-ing system halted a program that, had it been allowed to continue, might have crashed Windows. Microsoft insists it doesn’t use the information to track you, and the report could well help prevent such program failures in the future.

Still, there is some security risk: Tests by the U.S. Department of Energy Com-puter Incident Advisory Capability found that the “memory dump” sent to Microsoft sometimes contained information from the user’s document (browse to www.ciac.org/ciac/bulletins/m-005.shtml for more). In any event, the message probably

doesn’t leave you in a chari-table mood, and clicking the Don’t Send button will get you back to work a few sec-onds sooner. But you don’t have to make that decision with each crash. You can tell Windows ahead of time when it should, and should not, report such problems to Microsoft.

In XP, select Start•Run, type sysdm.cpl, and press <Enter>. Click the Advancedtab in the System Properties dialog box, and then choose the Error Reporting but-ton that appears down on the lower right.

You can disable all error reporting, or have errors re ported for the operating system only, for programs only, or for both. If you enable reporting, click the Choose Programsbutton to select the apps whose failures you

wish to have reported. When you’re done, click OK twice.

Vis ta’ s e r ror message doesn’t ask about sending information. Instead, the OS just sends it—unless you instruct it not to do so before-hand. Select Start, and in the Start Search box, type problem reports and solutions. Press <Enter>, and click Change settings•Advanced settings. In the ‘Ad vanced settings for problem reporting’ dialog box, you can turn reporting

Should I Report Program Problems to Microsoft?

A N S W E R L I N E

Answer Line is anchored by contributing

editor Lincoln Spector. Send in your queries

to [email protected] .

FIGURE 1: DECIDE FOR YOURSELF which Vista program crashes

you encounter should be reported back to Microsoft.

PERSONALIZE YOUR WINDOWS EXPLORER SHORTCUTS

THE SIMPLEST WAY to open Explorer to

a specifi c fi le or folder is to right-click

and drag its icon out of Explorer and

onto the desktop (or the Start menu,

quick-launch toolbar, or other location),

release the button, and select Create

Shortcuts Here. To open Explorer with

the folder tree visible in the left pane,

right-click the shortcut and choose

Properties. Position the cursor in the

Shortcut tab’s Target fi eld, press <Home>, and type explorer.exe /e, (don’t forget

the space before the slash or the comma

at the end). For example, to open Explor-

er to your D drive, type explorer.exe /e, D:\. When you’re done, press <Enter>.

(Note that Vista displays folders by de -

fault, so no change for it is needed.)

FIGURE 2: REMOVING UNWANTED MENU items from

Microsoft Word makes the menus easier to navigate.


tired of popping in various CDs and DVDs to install all the various software? Ever wished for a single DVD that has most, if not all of the common, soft-ware you’d require? How con-venient it’d be to choose and install all Microsoft updates in a few easy steps?

Our PC World Super Suite has been designed keeping these in mind, and is updated to the latest versions of these software. It will take many more pages than what we have here to explain every software contained in our 1.7GB bundle, but here is a preview of some of the softwares.

GAIMlong before MSN and Yahoo ! o f fe red uni f i ed messenger service (add MSN contacts to Yahoo! messenger and vice versa) several clients existed that could connect simultaneously to different

INSIDE

PC World Super SuiteA LOOK AT SOME OF THE GOODIES THAT MAKE UP OUR SUPER SUITE.

messenger services and show all contacts in a single list – much easier and efficient than having three or four different software running for instant messaging alone! Gaim has been a favorite amongst the multi-protocol

IM clients for long and for a good reason. It is light on system resources, has hardly any stability issues, nice interface that is easy to use, customizabi l i ty, and importantly, supports Yahoo!, MSN, ICQ and few

others that you may not have heard of. This is a must have software for an IM buff. You will find this open source and free software in the Messengers section in the Super Suite.

IRFANVIEWthere are image viewers and then there is IrfanView. Merely browsing through images can be done in XP’s very own Picture and Fax Viewer, but if you want a software that is more powerful, easy on system resources and just as easy, if not easier to use, then IrfanView is perhaps your best bet. What more, you can even view videos in IrfanView with the help of plugins!

If you have a bunch of large high res images from your camera that you wish to convert , there is the handy batch conversion feature (press ‘B’ or File > Batch Convert). IrfanView

D U M M Y E D I T E D BY K A L PA N A E T T E N S O N & R A M O NH A N D P I C K E D G O O D I E S F R O M T H E D V D

SOFTWARE SOFTWARE REVIEWSREVIEWS

ILL

US

TR

AT

ION

: A

NIL

T

97 PREVIEW

■ East-Tec Backup Lite ■ Mandriva Linux Free 2007 99 WHAT’S ON DVD 8GB of fun, freebies and

power tools


can acquire images from scanners that are TWAIN compliant (most scanner are) and does this in batch mode as well! If you wish to add simple effects to an image wi thout straining your PC and yourself with the likes of Photoshop, just use Effects (Image > Effects). There are several more features that you will find useful in this free software. Again, a must have if you don’t want to buy image management software like ACDSee which can be sluggish on older PCs.

WINRARwinRAR, a worthy competitor to the all too common WinZip supports various compression

formats such as TAR, Z, ZIP, BZ2, etc. You can set a password for your archive (compressed) fi le, split a large fi le into parts, assign priority levels to WinRAR (so that other programs are not affected) and test archive for integrity amongst other things. WinRAR allows you to save an archive as

a ZIP such that it can be opened in systems that do not have WinRAR installed (Windows XP and above. For older MS OS, you need the WinZip program). Many files on the Internet are compressed in the RAR format, making this program a handy one to have around.

ABIWORDif all you want for creating documents is a word proc-essor that is easy to use, has all basic formatting options and looks similar to Micro-soft’s Word, AbiWord is what you are looking for. On fi rst glance it looks like an old version of Word, thus not making you feel lost. AbiWord is an open-source program and free to use. AbiWord for Windows takes just about 20MB on

your hard disk and is com-patible with all Windows ver-sions from 95 to XP.

AbiWord has a spe l l checker, can track document history, supports tables and headers / footers. By using plugins you can enhance the functionality of AbiWord.

SOFTWARE FREE STUFF

ABIWORD IS AN extremely easy to use word processor and it is free.

east-Tec Backup Lite is a software to back up and pro-tect the fi les and data on your hard disk. East-Tec Backup Lite is very easy to use and features intuitive wizards, data compression (using the widely popular ZIP open format, a non-proprietary format, giving you full con-trol over your backup), the ability to backup to any local locations, and more. Other features include backing up without the need to close running programs, file fil-tering (include or exclude certain fi le types from your backup), the ability to run programs/commands before or after the backup, and detailed backup logs.

When you open East-Tec Backup, click on the Task menu and then New Task. In the set-tings that show up, you can choose the source (the fi les and folders that you want to back up) and the destination (the place you want to back up to – like a

network drive or a different hard disk). Just click the ‘Scheduler’ tab to set the time and date when this back up task should run.

You can choose to archive your fi les in ZIP format which not only saves space but also enables you to add a password to your backups. Similar to WinZip, you can also split the archive at selected file sizes that will make it easier for you to span your backups over CDs or DVDs. A warning can also be issued when an error occurs during backup, so you’ll be able to attend to the problem.

East-Tec Backup Lite can be used for free. A registration win-dow is displayed the fi rst time the user runs the program, but it is optional. For more features, users can upgrade to East-Tec Backup 2007 from www.east-tec.com/offers/pcworldin/

East-Tec Backup LiteF U L L P R O D U C T

THIS SOFTWARE MAKES the

important task of backing up

data easy.

System Requirements:

■ 300 MHz or higher CPU

■ 128 MB RAM

■ 10MB free space

■ 500 MHz or higher CPU

■ 250 MB RAM or higher for

Windows XP

Installation Details

You can upgrade to East-Tec Backup 2007 and be able to backup registry keys, mails and user settings, backup to local area network, remov-able disk, CD/DVD, FTP, Encrypt your backup using AES, create incremental and differential backup tasks, automate your backup tasks using a powerful schedulersend email notifi cations when backups are made.


FREE STUFF SOFTWARE

mandriva Linux Free

2007 is the free version o f Ma n d r i v a (f o r m e r l y Mandrake) Linux 2007. The PC World May 2007 DVD is bootable with Mandriva Linux Free 2007 for both 32 bit as well as 64 bit CPUs – and hence you do not need to transfer ISOs on DVDs or CDs. The installation is graphical and offers effi cient hardware detection. Once you boot from the DVD, just click on ‘Installation’ to start the installation.

Commerc ia l p roduc ts from Mandriva such as Mandriva Linux Powerpack Edition include more fea-tures than the Download Edition such as commercial add-ons and third-party soft-ware. Commercial products also provide documentation and access to Mandriva serv-ices such as support. The download editions such as this free distribution may be freely downloaded from www.mandrivalinux.com/en/ftp.php3.

Both KDE and GNOME desktop environments are included in Mandriva Free 2007 along with an exciting 3D Desktop. The drak3D configuration tool chooses the best 3D solution for your hardware on either KDE or GNOME. System administration can be done completely via GUI without the need to get into the command console (knowing the commands of course helps). The Mandriva Linux Control Center allows a user to resort to a single panel

to administer the entire system. This must help first time users who might be wary of making changes to the system. Mandriva Linux a lso offers severa l pre -configured levels of security that a user can choose for his computer.

T h e K - m e n u o n t h e default KDE desktop is at the traditional bottom left of the screen and looks deceptively like a Windows OS. It feels better organised on closer observation – applications are sorted depending on their type – office, Internet, multimedia and system. Like other newer Linux distros, the various storage devices get mounted automatically, so you only need to click on ‘Devices’ on the desktop to access other partitions.

The equivalent of a Control Panel is in the form of the Control Center that you can find under K-menu> C o n f i g u r a t i o n , w h i c h allows you to make system administer level changes as well as changes to appearance

a n d t h e m e s . To access some of these settings you need to be logged in as a root user.

Some of the appli-cations included in Mandriva Linux Free 2007 are OpenOf-fice.org, KOffice, Abiword, Gnumeric, C/C++ / Java , etc. Package manage-ment done by the all new RPMDrake gives you a quick view of what you have, what you can install, what Man-

Mandriva Linux Free 2007L I N U X

driva recommends, which updates are available and much more. The commercial versions of Mandriva include additional features and func-tions that improve operability with certain network adapt-ers and graphic cards.

Furthermore, Mandriva’s commercial products often include support options (such as Mandriva Expert), d o c u m e n t a t i o n , a n d premium online services such as Mandriva Club and Mandrivaonline.

THIS MANDRIVA INSTALLER

includes both 32 and 64

bit versions.

System Requirements:

■ 128 MB RAM; 256 MB

preffered

■ For 3D environment, a P3

or higher CPU with a 3D

graphic card

Installation Details

THE K-MENU SEEMS Windows-like and won’t leave a new user lost.

LIKE ALL LINUX dis-

tributions, Mandriva can

be installed on a PC that

already has a Windows

installed. During the instal-

lation, Mandriva detects

the presence of Windows

and gives you a dual boot

option. You need to choose

the partition from which

Mandriva can take space

for its own installation and

you are all set. The proc-

ess is user friendly, but if

you are not familiar with

this operation, we suggest

backing up of important

data on a CD / DVD. Instal-

lation is very fast – it took

us about 15 minutes to

install Mandriva Free 2007

with all packages chosen.

Installation Notes

IN BRIEF


FULL PRODUCTS

East-Tec Backup LiteAn easy to use backup software that can schedule backups to a network drive or a secondary hard disk. You can also use the ZIP format to archive your fi les which not only uses less space but also gives you the option of password protecting it.

Themes, Screensavers, WallpapersThe themes mentioned in our Dress Up Your Desktop feature (see page xx) are included on our DVD. We also have wallpapers contributed by our readers who are photography enthusiasts and illustrations created by our design team.

DESKTOP ENHANCEMENTS

M A Y 2 0 0 7

VIDEOS

5 Tech VideosGlimpse the technology of today and tomorrow with our exclusive tech videos.

Creative Suite 3 from Adobe PC World’s review of Apple TV RFID in use in Germany’s supermarket Fuel Cell laptop prototype from Toshiba Acer at CEBIT 2007

The first space ship to VenusA sci-fi movie from the 60s to – The First Space Ship to Venus. Join a team of astronauts as they set out to the planet Venus in search of life. Trailers from the Fantastic 4 and Ratatouille are also included.

ENTERTAINMENT

5 video tutorials for XP Enable hibernation Hide taskbar icons Disable autorun for CD / DVD drives Use magnifi er tool Open event viewer

TUTORIAL

PC World Super SuiteOur Super Suite includes software for almost all tasks. Right from browsers, offi ce tools, codecs to system tools and patches, you will fi nd them all here. This time we have included Autopatcher for Windows Vista as well.

ESSENTIALS

Mandriva Linux Free 2007Mandriva Linux Free 2007 is the free version of Mandriva (formerly Mandrake) Linux 2007. This DVD is bootable with Mandriva Linux Free 2007 for both 32 bit as well as 64 bit CPUs.

Red OceanGet into an underwater station in the fi rst person shooter

GAMES

101 M A R C H 2 0 0 7 W W W. P C W O R L D . I N

By Rob Griffiths | Illustrations by Jack Gallagher

When Apple introduced

its first Intel powered

Macs in early 2006,

the company did

more than just launch OS X on a new

platform. It also gave Mac users a

brand-new way to run Windows apps.

Eighteen months ago, Mac users who

had to run Windows software used

Virtual PC—and nobody really liked it.

Today, we have a bunch of alternatives,

with four that really rise to the top:

Parallels Desktop for Mac and VMWare

Fusion, which both let you install and run

a copy of Windows from within OS X;

CodeWeavers’ CrossOver Mac, which tricks

Windows apps into thinking you’ve got

Windows installed when you really don’t;

and Apple’s own Boot Camp, which lets

you choose to boot into Windows or OS X

when you start your Mac.

But those four choices lead to one big

question: which one is right for you? What

follows is a comparison of the four, as well

as a critical look at how easy each one

is to install and configure, how well each

runs Windows software, and how well each

supports hardware peripherals.

Find the best software for running Windows on your Mac

Waysto

Windows4



SAMPLE ARTICLE

Resize Partitions On-the-Fly

Also on


FEATURE 4 Ways to Windows

As you read, bear in mind that this market is constantly evolving. During our evalua-tion, both Apple’s Boot Camp and MWare’s Fusion were still in public beta, Parallels’ latest release had just emerged from beta, and CrossOver had only recently been released. I used the most up-to-date version of each program available at the time I was testing, but some of the details may be out of date by the time you read this.

Also keep in mind that it’d be impossi-ble for us to do full compatibility testing for every version of Windows, every appli-cation, and every hardware peripheralon the Mac market. I chose to focus our software compatibility assessments on Microsoft Windows XP Pro Service Pack 2 (with all the latest updates) and Offi ce XP Pro (2002). Unless specifi ed otherwise, I tested each product on a 15-inch 2.33GHz MacBook Pro with 2GB of RAM.

Hardware RequirementsTo use any of the following software, you’ll obviously need an Intel-powered Mac; none of these programs run on a PowerPC Mac.

CPU The faster your CPU, the better your performance will be. None of these programs are disappointing in terms of speed. I ran them through some timed

tests (see “How They Compare: Virtualiza-tion Software”) and some less formal eval-uations (using them for everyday comput-ing chores and comparing the feel to native OS X apps). My conclusion: Macs run Windows quite nicely in virtualization mode, and very well when booted natively into Windows. (To be more specifi c, they run Windows XP quite nicely; Vista is another story. For more on that, see “Which Windows?”)

But even on a Core Duo mini, these pro-grams all offer performance that’s worlds better than Virtual PC ever was on a Pow-erPC Mac. For typical Offi ce applications, even a Mac mini will provide performance that’s more than acceptable. The main exception: if you want to use Boot Camp to run Windows games that require 3-D acceleration, you’ll want a more powerful machine; the mini and the MacBook lack the graphics hardware required for 3-D– accelerated video games.

RAM You’ll also want a lot of RAM. In my testing, with Windows loaded and Word and Excel fi les open, CrossOver and Fusion used between 45MB and 60MB of real memory; Parallels used more than 100MB. By comparison, running Win-dows natively in Boot Camp with the same Excel and Word fi les open required almost

200MB. As you open more programs, and especially if you’re using OS X apps at the same time, your RAM requirements will go up. For Windows 2000 and XP, 2GB is a good starting point; you’ll need more if you’re considering running Vista.

Extras You’ll also need to be careful about the kinds of peripherals you have connected to your Mac. These programs can vary widely in their support forFireWire, USB, and Bluetooth. If any of your Windows apps require such peripherals, see “How They Compare: Virtualization Software” to fi nd out about compatibility.

Who They’re Good For So which of these four alternatives is right for you? Not surprisingly, the answer really depends on what you need. For most Mac users, Paral-lels will let you do what you need to do in Windows with the least amount of trouble. Tinkerers and hobbyists will love Fusion’s downloadable appliances. Those who don’t need anything but the occasional Windows Offi ce application can probably get by with CrossOver. For others—gam-ers, people with esoteric hardware needs, and people who pound their CPUs at 100 percent utilization—Boot Camp is the pre-ferred route. The bottom line: we’ve come a long way from Virtual PC.

Parallels Desktop VMWare Fusion CrossOver Mac Boot Camp

Windows versions supported 3.11, 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Vista

3.1, 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, Windows Server

98, 2000, XPD XP, Vista

Other operating systems supported FreeBSD, Linux, MS-DOS,OS/2 , Solaris

FreeBSD, Linux, MS-DOS,Novell Netware, Solaris

none none

64-bit support m 1 m m

Drag and drop files between Windows

and OS X

1 1 m m

Performance: scroll Word document

(seconds)A

9.9 12.6 17.5 14.5

USB support Good Fair Poor Good

Bluetooth support Poor Good Poor Good

FireWire support Poor Poor Fair Good

3-D acceleration m 1C 1 1

Utilizes both cores in Core Duo chips m 1 m 1

Memory usageB 105MB–115MB 50MB–60MB 45MB–55MB 194MB

How They Compare:How They Compare: Virtualization Software

1= yes. m = no. AScrolling through a 3.9MB document with many images in Page Layout mode, using 125 percent zoom; by comparison, running the same test in Mac-native Microsoft Word 2004

on a MacBook Pro took 12.4 seconds. BWith a large Word document and an Excel file open. CExperimental. DApps that run on those operating systems, not the operating systems themselves.


Parallels ( ; macworld.com/ 2598) came out in beta form in April of last year, not long after

Apple released the fi rst Intel Macs. Since then, the software has been greatly improved through a seemingly constant stream of betas, release candidates, and offi cially released updates.(This article is based on build 3170, Release Candidate 3; Parallels says that there are no substantial differ-ences between that build and the offi cial release, beyond some bug fi xes.) Today, this $80 program is the most-refi ned option for running a full Win-dows installation next to OS X on an Intel Mac. (Parallels also supports nearly any non-Apple operating system you can think of, from Windows 3.11 through Vista, Linux, Free- BSD, OS/2, Solaris, and even good old MS-DOS).

InstallationParallels has accomplished something amazing: it’s made it simpler to install Windows inside a virtual machine on a Mac than it is to install Windows on a “real” PC. Using the Windows Express setup assistant, you can install Windows XP or Vista in a couple of mouse clicks. You type your product key, name, and organization on one screen, and then Par-allels takes over. Anywhere you’d typically have to interact with the Windows install-er, Parallels does the job for you.

After installing Windows, you launch your new virtual machine and run the Parallels Tools installer (in the Action menu). Parallels Tools adds a number of features that ease the integration of Windows with OS X, such as the ability to move your mouse seamlessly from Parallels to Mac OS X and back again.

The process is just a bit more complicated if you want to install other operating systems. You use File: New to open the OS Installa-tion Assistant, and tell it to create a Custom virtual machine. On the next screen, you select the type of OS (Linux, OS/2, and so on), as well as the specifi c version (Red Hat Linux, OS/2 Warp 4, and so on) you want to

install. You’ll then have to specify a memory allocation and

drivespace setup for your virtu-al machine, and then start the

installation— you can install from CDs or from a disk image.

Software SupportAssuming that you’re using Par-

allels to run Windows, you’ll want to check out Parallels’

Coherence mode as soon as you can (see “Coherence Mode”). It’s a way of confi gur-ing Parallels so the Windows OS itself is hidden: all you see is an application win-dow—which happens to belong to a Win-dows application—on your OS X desktop. Those apps have their own resizable win-dows, their icons appear in OS X’s Dock,

and the Windows taskbar is present along the bottom of the screen (though you can drag it to any edge, just as you can when running Windows natively). When running Parallels in Coherence mode, it’s easy to forget you’re even running the Windows OS; it’s more like you’re running programs that don’t look like the rest of your OS X apps.

Further easing integration, Parallels sup-ports full drag and drop between the Win-dows and OS X environments. You can copy a folder of fi les from one environment to the other, add items to the taskbar in Coherence mode, and even drop docu-ments onto Windows’ application windows.

At the other extreme, you can make your Mac look like it’s solely a Windows machine simply by switching to full screen mode. In full-screen mode, the Mac OS is completely hidden. When you want to get back to your native OS, just press option-return and you’re back in windowed mode.

In addition to creating this OS transpar-ency, Parallels runs Windows apps amaz-ingly well. It will run nearly any Win-dows program you throw at it, with performance that’s nearly as good as you’d get on a similarly confi gured native Windows box. (You can also run Win-dows XP from a Boot Camp partition— meaning that you need only one copy of

Coherence Mode With Parallels’ new Coherence mode, Internet Explorer 7 and MicrosoftWord (running in Windows) integrate seamlessly with the Finder and Font Book.

ParallelsMulti-OS Powerhouse

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Windows XP.) I say nearly because Paral-lels can’t yet utilize both cores in the Core Duo chips. So if you’re running an appli-cation that’s particularly CPU-intensive, it’ll take a bit of a performance hit. Also, Parallels doesn’t yet offer accelerated graphics, so many games are out of the question. And Parallels won’t run 64- bit Windows, but that’ll be a problem for only a small subset of users.

For everything else, such as Micro-soft Office, Quicken QuickBooks, Adobe Photoshop, and pretty much any other application I tested, Paral-lels works, and works well. Perform-ance is nice and snappy—in fact, it’s the snappiest of the four programs I tested (see “How They Compare: Vir-tualization Software”). Even playing back DVDs works reasonably well. I wasn’t able to get Windows Media

Player to work (it kept telling me I needed an MPEG-2 codec), but I was able to use the free VLC video player (www.videolan.org/vlc) to play Pirates of the Car-ibbean 2 (see “Playing DVDs”). There was some stuttering of the sound and the occa-sional mild picture hic-cup, but overall, the experience was much

better than I was expecting.

Hardware SupportWhen Parallels fi rst came out, its support for USB devices wasn’t great. Things have improved since then. It now supports USB 2.0, and more devices work. I had no trouble getting Windows XP Pro to recog-nize a 1GB memory stick; USB hard drives work, too. I was even able to use my Wacom Intuos 2 graphics tablet. You may still run into problems with things such as USB dongles, which some pro-grams use for copy protection, but most other USB devices should work just fi ne.

Networking support is good; I had no issues printing to a networked laser printer, and I was able to see the other Macs on the household network.

What hardware won’t work with Paral-lels? Pretty much anything that connects

via FireWire, Bluetooth, or ExpressCard. (The main exception is FireWire drives that have been mounted in OS X.) If you have peripherals that rely on these technologies and that need access to them in Windows, you should consider using Boot Camp. Also, Parallels can’t take advantage of both cores on Core Duo chips. In my experi-ence, that didn’t interfere with perform-ance much, but if you have processor-intensive Windows apps, it might.

Who It’s Good ForWith its excellent application support, well-integrated Coherence mode, drag-and- drop capabilities, and overall level of performance, Parallels is a great match for people who need to run the full Windows OS on their Macs— or people who’d like to experiment with other operating systems, such as Linux. But if you need accelerated 3-D graphics support or have FireWire and Bluetooth devices you need to use in Windows, look to Boot Camp.

PARALLELS DESKTOP FOR MACPROS: Coherence mode; drag and drop

files from one OS to another; excellent

performance; very good hardware support.

CONS: Virtually no FireWire or Bluetooth

support; no accelerated graphics; doesn’t

utilize both cores in Core Duo chips; no 64-

bit Windows support.

PRICE: $80

COMPANY: Parallels, www.parallels.com

At one point during my research for this

article, I ran Parallels on my Mac Pro for the

fi rst time in a while. I wanted to tweak the

virtual machine’s settings, which requires

shutting it down. Before I could do so,

Windows XP informed me it was installing a

few updates. (I have the automatic update

enabled.) Eventually, the updates were

applied and the virtual machine shut down. I

tweaked my Parallels settings and restarted

the virtual machine. When XP fi nished

booting up, I was surprised to see Windows’

built-in malware detector pop up on screen.

Somehow, my virtual Windows XP

installation had been infected by a member

of the rbot family of malicious software.

Thankfully, Windows found and removed this

hack all by itself.

I hadn’t done much more than surf the Net

and run some Offi ce applications on that

particular machine. It’s certainly possible

that I visited a malicious Web page. Or

maybe someone had sniffed out my machine

from the Net and attacked it remotely.

But I still have no clue how my Windows XP

installation got infected. I’d turned Windows

sharing off on my virtual machine, and my

home network sits behind a router that uses

network address translation to hide my

machines’ IP addresses from the Net.

From now on, I’m going to need a good

security program for my virtual Windows

machines. (Friends have suggested AVG Free

[free.grisoft.com], for starters.) I’m not too

worried about Windows infections getting to

my OS X installation, at least not yet. But I’m

glad I’m not a fulltime user.

The Security QuestionIs Windows really unsafe?

Playing DVDs You can watch (and burn) DVDs in Parallels—ifyou use VLC and don’t mind a little stuttering. The Windows Media Player complained about a missing codec.


VM Ware (www.vmware.com) has been providing virtualization soft-ware for Windows users for years.

VMWare Fusion, which has been available as a free public beta since late December 2006 (I tested build number 36932), is the company’s fi rst Mac product.

Fusion is still in beta. No ship date for a fi nal version has been announced. Given that, many features are missing or incomplete.

InstallationLike Parallels, Fusion installs with a stand-ard OS X installer. But when it comes to installing Windows, you have to run Win-dows’ installation program yourself. Fusion supports 19 different versions of Windows, from 3.1 through the 64-bit ver-sions of Windows XP and Vista. You can also install Linux systems (including Red Hat and SUSE), Novell’s Netware, Sun’s Solaris, Free- BSD, and MS-DOS.

Fusion’s other key differentiator is its support for what VMWare calls “virtual

appliances”—preconfi gured bundles of operating systems and applications that you can download and install with a few mouse clicks. For example, I downloaded MindTouch Deki, which lets you collabo-rate on documents wiki-style. I expanded the archive and then doubleclicked on the resulting fi le. The appliance booted its operating system, confi gured itself, and was ready to use inabout a minute (see “Virtual Appliance.”)

If you’ve ever want-ed to test-drive Linux, a Fusion virtual appli-ance is far and away the easiest way to do so.

Software SupportRunning Windows apps in Fusion is much like running them in Parallels: for the most part, they just work. I found the speed in both Word and Excel to be more than acceptable; I was able to scroll through a long Word

document from top to bottom in roughly the same amount of time it took me to do so while running Offi ce 2004 in Rosetta on my MacBook Pro. Pirates of the Caribbean 2 played as well as it did in Parallels.

Fusion has a full-screen mode, too, but nothing like Parallels’ Coherence mode. You can move fi les and folders between OS X and Windows via drag and drop, but setting up a shared documents fold-er is much tougher than it is in Parallels.

Hardware SupportFusion’s hardware support is mixed. It supports Bluetooth if you install Apple’s

Boot Camp drivers. Like Paral-lels, Fusion will let you use your Bluetooth mouse within each program; unlike Parallels, Fusion lets you bind new Blue-tooth devices to the virtual machine. And Fusion supports both cores in Intel Core Duo chips. In its latest release, VMWare has added “experimental” support

for accelerated 3-D graphics, which worked just fi ne in my testing. On the downside, Fusion has no Fire- Wire sup-port, except as a source of shared folders on a hard drive. I couldn’t get my Wacom graphics tablet to work.

Who It’s Good ForOverall, given that this is still a beta release, I was impressed with Fusion. It’s got a ways to go before it’s a polished Par-allels competitor, and it isn’t ready for peo-ple who need a stable, fullfeatured Win-dows environment. But it’s a good start.

Virtual Appliance VMWare’s virtual appliances are fully confi gured and ready-to-run software programs—such as MindTouch Deki, shown here—that you can download.

VMWARE FUSION BETA(BUILD 36932)PROS: Prebundled “appliances” let you

quickly install useful preconfigured systems

and applications; uses both cores in Core

Duo chips; can run 64-bit Windows.

CONS: Tricky to set up shared folders;

plenty of beta issues; sketchy USB support; no

FireWire support; no accelerated graphics.

PRICE: free (for beta)

COMPANY: VMWare, www.vmware.com

VMWareNew Kid on the Block

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CodeWeavers’ CrossOver Mac (www.codeweavers.com) is unique among virtualization

programs in that it doesn’t actually require a copy of Windows. That’s right: once you’ve paid CodeWeavers your $60 ($70 for a CD), you’re ready to start installing Windows programs, without paying Microsoft a dime.

How is that possible? CrossOver is a Mac implementation of Wine (www .winehq.com), which provides versions of Windows-native libraries, so it appears to Windows apps that they’re in a real Win-dows operating system.

InstallationInstalling CrossOver couldn’t be much simpler: you just drag its application icon into your Applications folder. You don’t need to run an OS X installer, install Windows, or even reboot before you start using the program. To install a Windows application in CrossOver, you can either insert the program’s installation CD or run CrossOver’s Install Software assistant.

CrossOver uses bottles to organize your installed applications. A bottle is a virtual Windows environment, each with its own C: drive, fonts, and registry. You can install multiple applications in one bottle, or you can create a new bottle for each program you install.

If you’re installing a program that CrossOver knows how to handle, it’ll cre-ate a bottle automatically. If you’re install-ing an unsupported program, you’ll need to specify which Windows it requires. (Your choices are Windows 98, Windows 2000, or Windows XP.)

For most applications, that’s all the con-fi guring you’ll need to do. If you do need

to make some tweaks, you use CrossO-ver’s Bottle Manager, which lets you adjust all sorts of settings (see “Confi gur-ing Bottles”). From then on, you can launch the program from within CrossO-ver or by just double-clicking on the appli-cation in the Finder, as you would do for any other OS X application.

Software SupportOnce it’s installed, how well does CrossO-ver actually work? The answer ranges from “incredibly well” to “not at all.” The compa-

ny has classifi ed more than 2,500 Windows applications for compat-ibility. Ratings run from

gold (perfect compatibili-ty) and silver (runs with some bugs) down through the self-explanatory “Known Not to Work.” Of

those 2,500-plus programs, only 55 get a gold or silver rating; the vast majority are labeled Untested.

In my testing, those ratings proved accu-rate. Older versions of Microsoft Offi ce (97 and 2000, both of which have a gold rating) worked quite well. Offi ce XP (with a silver rating) worked OK, with an occasional graphical glitch and a crash or two. Newer programs can be problematic: you can run Internet Explor-er 5, but you can’t use versions 6 or 7.

Gaming is where CrossOver offers a pleasant surprise. Unlike Parallels, it sup-

ports accelerated 3-D graphics. That means you can run some Windows games directly within OS X.

Hardware SupportCrossOver can see any external hard drives (USB and FireWire) and memory sticks that OS X can see, and you’ll have access to them from the Open and Save dialog boxes in Windows. Other hard-ware is trickier. If your device requires a Windows-specifi c driver, odds are itprobably won’t work in CrossOver.

Who It’s Good ForIf your Windows needs are limited—for example, if you just want to open and edit old Offi ce documents and don’t want to pay for a Windows license, CrossOver is a fi ne alternative. It’s also a viable choice for PC gamers looking to play the occasional Windows game with-out logging out of OS X. But if you need a fuller Windows experience, one of the other programs will be a better fi t.

Confi guring Bottles CrossOver runs Windows apps inside selfcontained mini-Windows environments called bottles.

CROSSOVER MAC 6.0

PROS: No need to purchase Windows; supports

accelerated 3-D graphics; easy to install.

CONS: Limited application compatibility;

no access to the full Windows OS if you need

it; USB devices may not work with games.

PRICE: $60

COMPANY: CodeWeavers,www.codeweavers.com

CrossOverWindows Applications without Windows


Knowing how to run Windows on your Mac is one thing. Knowing which Windows version to run is something else altogether.

There are not only four different versions of Windows Vista on store shelves, but also two different versions of Windows XP still available if you know where to look.

Vista and VirtualizationIf you plan to run Windows through Parallels Desktop for Mac or VMWare Fusion, Micro-soft has made your choice of Windows easy. The end user license agreements (EULAs) that come with Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium versions specifi cally forbid you to operate them under virtualization. I’ve found no technical reason why you can’t run these versions of Windows under virtu-alization, but it’s technically illegal to do so.

The offi cial reason for this restriction is security. Microsoft is happy to let you run Vista Business and Vista Ultimate editions under virtualization, because they include more-robust safety features. Because a Mac running Apple’s Boot Camp is for all intents and purposes a living and breathing Windows PC, Microsoft has no objection to your running any version of Vista on it.

Regardless of which version of Vista you install, Microsoft demands that each installation have its own license. So if you wish to install it in both Boot Camp and a virtualization application, you’ll need two Windows licenses.

What’s the Difference?Roughly speaking, the various Vista edi-tions shake out this way.

Vista Home Basic is just that, a very basic version of Windows that doesn’t include Microsoft’s Aero visual effects and also lacks Windows Media Center, Win-dows Flip 3D Navigation, Scheduled and Network Backup, Windows Meeting Space, and Tablet Technology. It sells for $199 for a full installation.

Vista Home Premium adds the Aero effect as well as the features and pro-

grams missing from Home Basic. Win-dows Media Center, the major selling point for this edition, enables your computer to act as a television and video recorder. The Mac’s hardware doesn’t support many of these fea-tures. Media Center also includes DVD-burning and movie-creation applications, as well as some games. The full installation of Home Premium costs $239.

Vista Business replaces Home’s multime-dia capabilities with security, networking, and sharing features not found in the Home versions. Those features include Domain Join, Group Policy support, Encrypting File System (EFS), Corporate Roaming, and Remote Desktop. Microsoft asks $299 for Vista Business.

Finally, Vista Ultimate includes every-thing found in the three less-expensive ver-sions of Vista plus a few extras—a card game, additional language packs, and more security. Vista Ultimate comes at an ulti-mate price—$399 for a full installation.

Do You Need Vista?Vista is unquestion-ably the future of Microsoft’s operating sys-tem. But even PC users who like Windows have been complaining about Vista’s per-formance. Vista running under Parallels Desktop for Mac is no speed demon and is occasionally unpredictable. It’s better under Boot Camp but still far from perfect.

Windows XP, on the other hand, isn’t half bad, no matter how you run it on your Mac. It’s a more mature version of Windows and therefore less buggy. It’s also less laden with eye candy, so it’s faster than Vista.

XP is also much better than Vista when it comes to virtualization. Because virtuali-zation wasn’t a threat when XP was released many years ago, there’s no provi-sion in the EULA that forbids you to run it under Parallels, Fusion, or whatever else you want to use. And even under virtuali-zation, XP Home, XP Professional, and most Windows applications (save 3-D games and other 3-D–intensive applica-tions, which perform poorly) run at near-native speeds on a modern Intel Mac. Peo-ple running Boot Camp will fi nd that XP is blazingly fast.—CHRISTOPHER BREEN

A fi eld guide to the other OS

Features HomeBasic

HomePremium

Business Ultimate

Backup: Scheduled Backup 1 1 1

Backup: Windows Complete PCBackup and Restore

1 1

Collaboration: Windows Meeting Space 1 1

Data Protection: Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption

1

Eye Candy and Navigation: AeroEffect, Windows Flip 3D, and LiveThumbnails

1 1 1

Media and Entertainment: WindowsMedia Center, Windows DVD Maker,Windows Movie Maker, Chess Titans, Mahjong Titans, Inkball

1 1

Mobile: Windows Mobility Center,Tablet PC Support

1 1 1

Networking: Networking Center,Remote Desktop

1 1

Search and Internet: Instant Search, Windows Internet Explorer 7

1 1 1 1

Security: Windows Defender,Windows Firewall

1 1 1 1

Windows Vista:Windows Vista: What You Get

Which Windows?

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While Parallels, Fusion, and CrossOver are good for running Windows apps from within OS

X, if you want the complete Windows experience, you need Apple’s Boot Camp (www.apple.com/bootcamp).

In free public beta at the time of this writing, and slated for inclusion in Mac OS X 10.5, Boot Camp is unlike the other three programs: it doesn’t let you run Windows apps alongside your OS X apps. Instead, it converts your Mac into a full-blown Windows computer.

InstallationWhen installing Boot Camp, the fi rst thing you do is let the Boot Camp Assist-ant partition your hard drive into two piec-es—one for OS X and another for Win-dows (see “Partitioning for Windows”). The partition size you specify will depend largely on what you plan to do with Win-dows; if you’re installing big apps or you’ll be using big data fi les, you size the parti-tion accordingly. None of your existing data is lost in this process and, if you change your mind later, the Boot Camp Assistant will also merge your split disk back into one, deleting the Windows data while keeping your OS X fi les intact.

The next step is to burn a CD with Mac drivers. This CD is the key to Boot Camp’s great Windows support: it addsspecifi c drivers for your Mac’s hardware to Windows.

Boot Camp Assistant then asks you to insert your Windows CD (XP Service Pack 2, Home or Pro only), and the installer starts. I expect that Boot Camp will also support Vista by the time Apple releases OS X 10.5.

Once Windows is installed and you reboot, you choose which OS you want to use by holding down the option key. You

pick your new Windows partition and then use the Mac drivers CD you burned earlier to install the Windows drivers for all your Mac-specifi c hardware. Once you’ve done that, you’ve got a real, hon-est-to goodness Windows XP computer.

Software SupportPretty much anything that runs on Win-dows will now run on your Mac. Noth-ing is being emulated, nothing is being simulated.

The main downside is that you have to reboot your machine to run your Windows software. So if you’re involved in a project in OS X and want to quickly run a Windows application that Parallels or Fusion can’t handle, you’ll have to save your work, shut down your Mac, reboot, do whatever it is you wanted to do in Win-dows, and then repeat the whole process to get back to OS X. Unfortu-nately, until Fusion, Parallels, or CrossOver supports your program, Boot Camp is your only option.

The other bummer is that it’s trickier to share fi les between Windows and OS X in Boot Camp than in thevirtualization apps. You’ll need a FAT32-formatted drive, or access to a fi le server that both Windows and OS X can connect to. The other alternative is to purchase MacDrive for Windows (macworld.com/2620), which will let Windows read from and write to your Mac partition. MacDrive works quite well but will set you back $50.

Hardware SupportThanks to the Windows driver CD, all your Mac-specifi c hardware—Bluetooth, AirPort, and even the built-in iSight cam-era—will work perfectly in Windows.

Boot Camp is especially great for gam-ers, because it fully supports accelerated 3-D graphics. So stop hoping that all those Windows- only games will get ported to the Mac and start playing; they’ll work well on any Mac that sup-ports advanced 3-D acceleration (which means pretty much any Mac except for the Mac mini and the MacBook).

Who It’s Good For If you want to play 3-D games on your Mac, or if you use hardware that’s not yet supported in Parallels or Fusion, then Boot Camp is for you. It’s also your best bet if you need full access to all your Mac’s hardware.

Senior Editor Rob Griffi ths runs the MacOSX- COM-

PANY: Hints.com Web site (www.macosxhints.com).

BOOT CAMP 1.1.2 BETA

PROS: Runs Windows natively with full

hardware support; 3-D graphics acceleration.CONS: Requires rebooting; hard to share

files between OS X and Windows; supports

only two versions of Windows.

PRICE: free

COMPANY: Apple, www.apple.com

Partitioning for Windows When you run the Boot Camp Assistant, the fi rst thing you have to do is split your hard drive into two pieces—one for OS X and one for Windows.

Boot CampUltimate Compatibility


S T E P H E N M A N E S

ILL

US

TR

AT

ION

: J

OH

N C

UN

EO

Stephen Manes is cohost of a popular US televi-

sion series and a columnist for Forbes. E-mail

him at [email protected] .

Software That Just Won’t Shut Up the mental state that the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls

“fl ow” can be genuinely magical. There is nothing quite like the “deep

enjoyment” of losing yourself in an experience, of becoming one with

your work or hobby or sport or…excuse me, here’s a message from my

antispyware program, proud to grant my machine yet another clean bill of health.

What was I was saying? Oh, yeah, the state of fl ow is…wait a minute, some e-mail here. Only spam. And…hang on, the antivirus program is announcing that it has just updated itself. Glad to hear it.

Flow? All of a sudden every program-mer alive seems to think it’s fine and dandy to interrupt you with news of some trivial incident or meaningless nonevent. Pop-up ads are bad enough; now their equivalents have found their way into stuff that you’ve paid for to work behind the scenes, not dance on the table and proclaim its glory.

In the old days your antivirus pro-gram might have been stupid enough to ask you whether you wanted to eliminate a virus or merely quarantine it—as though you wanted to maintain your own personal collection. Now it brags that it has successfully main-tained itself, repelled an attack, inspected and approved an e-mail at tachment, or discovered that your antivirus subscription will expire in six months—or maybe that it’s standing at the ready in the background. Ex cuse me, but all of that is bus iness as usual. How about interrupt-ing me only when there’s a real problem?

Maybe it’s just the influence of the most fl ow-busting software ever made—

instant messaging, which I have ban-ished from my PC—but feckless inter-ruption is now a way of life. Windows Vista’s User Account Control safeguard nags you every time you do anything that might conceivably in some alternative universe harm your machine but in the real world is almost always be nign. Memo

Trying to focus? With today’s interrupting

apps, good luck!

to Windows and every other program on the planet: Shut up!

If a spyware scan reveals no problems, don’t bother informing me, please. If something like Adobe Acrobat Reader can get updates on its own, have it do pre-

cisely that without bothering me after the fi rst time I click OK. Instead of waiting for my permission to perform some grand act that might slow my computer to a crawl, fi gure out a way to do it when the machine is idle, and don’t force me to reboot—unless doing otherwise would be the fi rst step toward nuclear winter. Simple rule: Don’t pipe up unless it’s really, really important.

If you’re a firewall developer, use a silently updated internal database to fi gure out which programs should be permitted to phone home from my machines and which should not. And at this point, I’d rather not even hear that telltale ping that lets me know a new e-mail message has arrived. I’ll check the inbox on my own schedule, thanks.

The marketing idea behind many such interruptions is no doubt the notion that reminding you of the importance of these ought-to-be-mostly-unseen helpers will keep you shelling out for new versions or

subscriptions. But after the tenth or hundredth annoyance, what it really does is make you wonder whether

there’s a more low-key alternative that can do the same thing. Alas, now that program-mers and marketers have become as bent on unde-served attention as ill-bred fi ve-year-olds, the very con-cept of software quietude

seems to be growing antiquated. Flow? No mo’....

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