How to protect your computer by anti-virus application?

By : Ravesh Goodman

How to get rid of virus? Can you take precautions regarding virus? Learning from the experiences of IT professionals will help to avoid this potential danger.

Just got home a few hours ago from our week on the CB. I will upload some more detailed reviews tomorrow, but I wanted to make some quick comments right away about an outbreak of norovirus on this week's cruise. Several hundred passengers became sick from the virus and had fairly uncomfortable digestive problems and cabin confinement. Captain Kent and the crew never revealed the precise number of stricken passengers, but my guess is that it involved more than 200 based only from my counts of the silver mylar tape placed over the grates of the cabin doors where stricken passengers were confined.

After the outbreak hit, the Captain issued a warning on the P.A., the hand sanitizer stations doubled, passengers were no longer able to serve themselves in any buffet, and crews began spraying public areas and furniture with santizer. Our 15-year old became sick around 3am on Friday, April 6. He threw up several times in his cabin and in the hallway. We called the 911 and medical emergency numbers and got no response. We called the concierge number, "O", and the cabin steward, but no one answered. So, we covered the mess as best we could with Princess Patters, paper towels, and a norovirus warning sheet to try to help other passengers avoid contamination.

At 7 am, the crew noticed the mess themselves and quickly sent what they called a "hit squad" to our son's inside cabin. They sealed the cabin, took his clothes and removed the bed linens from the one bunk for decontamination. At 11am, the ship's nurse showed up with a few days' supply of Cipro and preprinted instructions about what our son could order from room service for the next two days. The nurse did not take a medical history and never asked us or our son about any allergies. Our son was confined to his cabin until 3am this morning. He was pretty grumpy about those rules as he missed a day at sea and the day at Princess Cays. Nevertheless, in the car ride home from the airport, he told us that he really had a great time on the cruise because of all the terrific teenage friends he made this past week.

In several respects, I was impressed with how Princess handled this big problem and in several respects I thought they dropped the ball. Clearly Princess knew it had a big problem and pulled out the stops to spray down the handrails, deck furniture, passengers, etc. with sanitizers. I have no idea about how effective those sprays are against a virus. Princess was also smart to isolate infected folks, even though I know they were very disappointed to have two days of confinement and 2 more days of prohibition from all restaurants. And, Princess did a good job of having a trained hit squad tend to clearning our son's cabin, rather than the assigned cabin steward. On the other hand, I was not dazzled by the medical staff. Perhaps they were overwhelmed. We were also told that our son's clothes would be laundered for free, yet charges showed up on the final bill we received early this morning. I stood in line before disembarkation and was repaid in cash. Princess, however, refused to refund the Princess Cays cabana rental we did not use because our son was sick. Princess also required our son to order exclusively from a "light meals" room service menu, yet telephone hold times were more than 40 minutes and food wasn't delivered for 90 minutes. We ended up serving him ourselves by carrying items down 4 decks from the Horizon Court buffet. He never did see the ship's doctor, but he did recuperate quickly, as did two other passengers in nearby cabins who got an antibiotic shot from the ship's nurse.

The norovirus issue is a big problem for the cruise industry. I sympathize and understand how challenging this is for a ship at sea with 5,000 people onboard. Nevertheless, the virus is nasty enough and common enough on cruises that I expect we will likely opt for resort hotels or condos in the future. If you do cruise, please take the hand sanitizer solution seriously, try to get decent amounts of rest, hydration, and nutrition, and be sensitive to what you touch in public areas. The rest of our family followed these rules and survived without illness.

was on this same cruise and disagree with the OP as to the extent of the "outbreak". The virus began to emerge on Wednesday with 10 cases reported. By Thursday evening, the number had increased to 60 confirmed cases. Because of this jump, the ship went to "Code Red". My daughter was complaning that she felt like she was going to throw up in Wed night, and eventually did. The doctor came to the cabin a few hours later. Because my daughter was sound asleep and only threw up once and showed no other signs of the virus, she was not diagnosed with Noro. The doctor called me at 7:30 AM Thursday to make sure there was no other instances and released her to continue enjoying the cruise. The numbers I quoted above were direct from the doctor's mouth. They went to "Code Red" due to the rapid increase in the number of cases from Wed to Thursday. The last I heard was that the total number of cases never exceeded 100 people, due in large part to the Noro procedures that were put into place Wed night. My daughter's room did get taped over the vents, but the tape was removed within hours. The tape is a precaution they use if you complain of any symptoms, whether you get the virus or not.

Source : www.computeruser.com

Acer Veriton L460

by Jon L. Jacobi

Tiny but powerful, this PC is perfect for small workspaces and kiosks.

About the size of a hardcover novel, the Acer Veritron L460 is a great option if you want to fit a value PC into a tight space (such as behind a desk, under a table, or in a kiosk). It may be small, but this Acer's case is tightly packed with an Intel E4700 CPU, 2GB of 337-MHz DDR2 memory, and a 3.5-inch 160GB (7200-rpm) hard drive.

Despite having all of those components jammed into it, the L460 ran amazingly cool to the touch-an important but often overlooked factor to consider when choosing a PC for tight quarters. The 3.5-inch hard drive surprised us a bit: Though 3.5-inchers are usually faster, they also emit more heat and leave less room for an additional drive than less power-hungry 2.5-inch models.

The L460's styling is nice though hardly spectacular. We appreciated the compact desktop's ability to stand upright or on its side when the included base is screwed on. The base is wide enough to allay any concern that a user might inadvertently tip the unit over; you can keep the L460 on top of your desk to access the DVD-writer slot or USB ports without fear of toppling it.

Speaking of USB ports, we would have liked to see a few more. Two in front and four in back may sound adequate, but you lose two of them right off the bat to the bundled keyboard and mouse. Four ports aren't enough when the only available way to expand the unit's capabilities and storage is via USB. That said, you can overcome the shortage of USB ports by using an external hub.

The system's score of 94 on our WorldBench 6 test suite means that the L460 should have no trouble handling the business chores it's designed to perform. On the other hand, it's not a viable option for gamers; in fact, its gaming frame rates are amongst the lowest we've seen recently, and the unit has no room to hold a graphics card if you're tempted to upgrade. Despite the system's incapacity to deal with action games, its bundled Acer X193W 19-inch wide-screen display had a very nice picture.

We heartily recommend the L460 for any space-challenged environment, especially if its primary duty will be to perform business tasks. It's also a great fit for users who simply don't want a large, ungainly PC hanging around

Source : www.pcworld.com

Polywell Poly I7050

by Richard Jantz

Delivers solid performance for basic tasks but not for fast-action games, and its compact case limits expansion.

If you want a space-saving value desktop computer that's powerful enough for general applications, Web surfing, and other routine tasks, the $729 (as of 2/7/08) Polywell Poly i7050 fills the bill. The i7050 weighs only about 12 pounds, versus 28 pounds for Dell's Inspiron 530. But as with nearly all compact models, the trade-off is that you have fewer expansion options inside.

The configuration we tested was equipped with a 2-GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2180 processor and two sticks of 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 memory (2GB total) mounted on an EVGA NF77 nVidia nForce 630i motherboard with integrated nVidia GeForce 7150 graphics and HDMI output.

Despite the entry-level CPU, the Poly i7050 scored admirably in our productivity application benchmarks. It tied with the Sys Technology Sys Slimline Si200 in earning a WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 77, the best in our roundup. But like all of the other low-priced systems that use integrated graphics instead of a discrete graphics card, the Poly i7050 tested poorly in graphics performance, so it's not a good choice for 3D gaming fans. However, you can add a low-profile (half-height) graphics card in the system's open PCI Express x16 slot if you want to improve graphics performance; Polywell charges $72 for a 256MB nVidia GeForce 8400GS card (which has twice the memory as the one in the Dell Inspiron 530 we tested) and $85 for a 512MB nVidia GeForce 8500GT.

The Poly i7050's components are housed in a small, 13-by-16-inches, black-and-silver case that's barely 4 inches high. (You can get the same Poly i7050 system components in a cube-shaped case, as well.) Numerous vents--sides, top, and rear--helped keep our test unit cool, along with a quiet CPU fan inside.

The unit we tested had a 250GB Seagate hard drive and a DVD/CD combo writer, leaving only one drive bay (an external 3.5-inch one) free; accessing it requires unlocking a large metal cage and tilting it upwards, a somewhat cumbersome procedure.

Our i7050 also included a KDS K-92BW 19-inch LCD (1440 by 900 native resolution) with a VGA analog-only interface and decent image quality, though it wasn't quite as bright as some of the other 19-inch LCDs on competing systems. The i7050's USB-based Logitech RX300 optical mouse and Logitech 350 keyboard are better than the bare-bones input devices bundled with some budget PCs, but they also take up two of the PC's seven total USB ports.

If small size matters most to you, the Poly i7050's strong performance and features make it a good candidate among the budget-priced compact models. Otherwise, the midsize, $689 Dell Inspiron 530 is arguably a better deal, since it costs a bit less and comes with a discrete graphics card.

Source : www.pcworld.com

Micro Express Microflex 82B

by Nick Mediati, PC World

The MicroFlex 82B gives you plenty of horsepower without draining your savings.

A powerful, fully equipped value-oriented system, the MicroFlex 82B sports a 3-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 CPU, 2GB of memory, a 250GB Serial ATA hard drive, and Windows Vista Business. Unlike many budget PCs, the MicroFlex 82B ships with a dedicated graphics card--an nVidia GeForce 8800GT that carries 512MB of video memory. Thanks to its speedy processor and dedicated graphics, the MicroFlex 82B achieved a WorldBench 6 score of 117. While that doesn't quite reach high-end gaming PC territory, it makes this machine ideal for everyday computing tasks and even some gaming, too.

Our test unit's $799 price (as of August 8, 2008) included the cost of a 17-inch Samsung 740BX display. The bundled Microsoft keyboard and mouse are about what you would expect from a budget system: good but not extraordinary. Despite its generic-looking case, the MicroFlex 82B has plenty of features to like, such as a total of eight USB ports, gigabit ethernet, and S/PDIF digital audio input. In addition, the 82B supports up to 7.1 surround sound.

The MicroFlex 82B is very expandable too, with a total of two PCI and five PCI Express slot (four of which are open), plus a good number of open drive bays. This is one budget PC with plenty of growing room. I also found the system to be reasonably quiet.

The documentation left something to be desired, though. Though the PC comes with documentation for various pieces of the system, there is no user's guide for the entire package. A hardware installation guide provides instructions for installing or replacing certain components, but the instructions are somewhat lacking in detail.

All things considered, however, the MicroFlex 82B does enough right for it to be a very good option for anyone needing a budget PC

Source : www.pcworld.com

Apple Unveils New 24-inch LED Cinema Display

By : Philip Michaels, Macworld.com

Apple didn't just unveil remodeled laptops at Tuesday's press event on its Cupertino, Calif., campus. The company also added a 24-inch LED monitor to its Cinema Display offerings, though the new display is geared specifically for Apple's revamped MacBook and MacBook Pro lines.

The 24-inch LED Cinema Display offers 1,920-by-1,200-pixel resolution, along with a built-in iSight camera and microphone, stereo speakers, and three-port USB 2.0 hub. It features an aluminum and glass enclosure, giving the LCD monitor a striking resemblance to Apple's current iMac design.

"It's gorgeous," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said as he unveiled the new LED Cinema Display. "Really, really nice. Thin."

But Apple is touting this monitor for laptop users--specifically for its redesigned MacBook offerings. The LED Cinema Display features an integrated MagSafe charger that allows laptop users to plug in and power their notebooks. MacBook users can also connect to the monitor via its Mini DisplayPort, which Apple says is 10 percent the size of a full DVI connector.

In keeping with Apple's push to release more environmentally friendly products, the 24-inch Cinema Display is an LED-backlit monitor. LED backlights improve upon the cold-cathode florescent lamp technology common in older displays by consuming less power, lasting longer, and containing no mercury. Apple says the glass on the display is arsenic free and that the monitor contains no brominated flame retardents. Apple also said that all internal cables and components are PVC-free.

Source : www.pcworld.com

Nero 9

by Jon L. Jacobi, PC World

Though Nero 9 is a full-featured burning suite, it offers no compelling reasons to upgrade from previous versions.

Nero 9 is an extremely competent suite for burning CDs and DVDs of all types, as well as for playing, importing, and manipulating video and audio, including HD. But Nero 8 was competent, too, and while the improvements in the new suite are most welcome, they're probably not enough to warrant upgrading from the previous version.

The most noticeable changes are the elimination of "Ultra" from the title, the replacement of the circular while-you-wait animation with Bezier waves, and the decision to make BackItUp a separate, optional install. Regrettably, the multimedia-networking MediaHome 4 module is now sold separately.

Other Nero 9 changes are meatier. The Nero StartSmart application launch center sports added entries for playing files (audio and video), as well as for the new AutoBackup background backup function. Both modules are integrated into the launch center itself, which eliminates the need to start up separate applications. AutoBackup (the reason BackItUp is now optional) can back up locally or to Nero's new online service, which costs $1 per 1GB per month or slightly less depending on the plan you choose. Nero has also revamped its ShowTime DVD playback module so that the interface is less obtuse. Other tweaks are in the help, and more help is available online. Overall, however, Nero 9 does not provide the sweeping redesign I've been hoping to see for this application; the interface, which could benefit from a face-lift, remains largely unchanged.

One convenient new feature is the ability to save audio tracks from videos to MP3. Also appealing are the use of Gracenote instead of CDDB for track, artist, and album information; a TV gadget for the Vista Sidebar; Ad Spotter, which helps you find and delete commercials in video recordings; and Pre-scan, for previewing and chaptering video straight from DV cameras.

Nero 9 is definitely a better product than version 8, and for new users it's a great tool. But considering that the upgrade is $60, I suggest saving your pennies for version 10. Versus the similarly priced Roxio Creator 2009, the story remains largely the same: Nero is less friendly, slightly more powerful in audio and encoding, and decidedly faster. Roxio still provides better templates. Both suites support Blu-ray BD-MV authoring with menus through additional plug-ins.

Source : www.pcworld.com

Google Chrome

by Nick Mediati, PC World

Google's streamlined and speedy browser offers strong integrated search and an intriguing alternative to Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Update: Now that Chrome is no longer in beta, we have updated our review to reflect changes made since we took our first look at it.

Google takes aim squarely at Microsoft with the release of its new Web browser, Chrome. Even though it isn't jam-packed with features, Chrome lives up to its hype by rethinking the Web browser in clever and convenient ways that make using the Web a more organic experience than you'd get with either Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 or Mozilla's Firefox 3.

Initially available for download for Windows Vista and XP, Google plans to expand its Chrome offerings to the Mac and Linux platforms as well. The company doesn't offer any timeline for these versions, though. (For additional PCWorld.com coverage of Google's new browser, see "Chrome vs. the World" and "Google's Chrome: 7 Reasons for It and 7 Reasons Against It.")

Chrome automatically detects the Web browser you're using and prompts you through the process of installation (right down to telling you how to access downloaded files within Firefox, for example). When you first run the application, Chrome imports your bookmarks, passwords, and settings from Firefox or Internet Explorer. It even can grab username and password data, and it automatically populates those fields for you when you use Chrome for the first time to visit a particular site.

After running through a quick import checklist, Chrome opens on your desktop--and right away you begin to experience the Web in a new way. Chrome's layout is very simple: You'll see a row of tabs running along the top, a Web address bar, and a bookmarks bar that runs beneath the address bar. A separate recent-bookmarks box appears at the right of the screen.

Like its Google stablemates, Chrome has a remarkably minimalist interface. There is no full-scale menu bar and no title bar--and few distractions. All controls are buried beneath two icons to the right of the Omnibar (as Google refers to its address bar): a page icon for managing tabs and using Google Gears to create application-like shortcuts from your desktop to a Web site; and a wrench for history, downloads, and other browser options.

You can set your own home page, or you can use the 'most visited' sites page as your starting point. This page provides thumbnail images of your most frequently visited sites, shows recent bookmarks, and supplies a search field for searching your page history. You can change your default search engine, too: This option is located beneath the wrench icon, under Options .

Chrome's design bridges the gap between desktop and so-called "cloud computing." At the touch of a button, Chrome lets you make a desktop, Start menu, or QuickLaunch shortcut to any Web page or Web application, blurring the line between what's online and what's inside your PC. For example, I created a desktop shortcut for Google Maps. When you create a shortcut for a Web application, Chrome strips away all of the toolbars and tabs from the window, leaving you with something that feels much more like a desktop application than like a Web application or page. The lack of forward and back buttons means that if you browse between pages in a saved Web application you may find yourself a little confused if you want to go back a page. Chrome does let you right-click to navigate backward, however.

This being Google, search is an integral part of Chrome; and Google has added some clever features to make searching easier. Chrome goes beyond its Microsoft and Mozilla competition by searching your browser history's page titles as well page content. The history results show the title of the page, as well as a thumbnail representation of the page (for most sites but not all; it was unclear why some sites were visually represented while others were not), but it doesn't show the actual Web page address. The lack of URL information can make it difficult to identify the specific Web page you're going to, especially if the site's title bar description is not specific (because, say, different sections of the same site have identical title bar descriptors).

For example, earlier today I took a look at our slideshow, Technology for the Obscenely Wealthy. To find the article in my browser history, I simply typed 'obscenely wealthy' in the Omnibar. The resulting list showed every page I had visited that contained the phrase 'obscenely wealthy'. Conveniently, the Omnibar lets you search not just your history, but Google and other sites as well.

The default search engine is Google, as you might expect. However, you can choose from a list of other search engines, or you can manually add your own search engine. Type 'google fish sticks' to search for fish sticks on Google. The same syntax works for Yahoo, Ask, Live Search, and other sites that are already recognized by Google or that you add to Chrome's collection of search engines.

Chrome includes a number of features that appear in other browsers, such as a private browsing mode (dubbed Incognito), tools for Web developers to use in viewing and troubleshooting source code, and the ability to restore all tabs from a previous session. Chrome also features tab isolation: If a Web page causes a problem with Chrome and leads to a crash, the crash will affect only the tab displaying the page and not the whole program. Internet Explorer 8 will offer a similar feature, but Chrome takes the idea a step further by adding a task manager that gives the user an idea of how much memory and CPU use a page is eating up, and by allowing you to kill anything that is causing a problem. Unfortunately, you have to configure this tool manually.

Unlike the original beta, the nonbeta release of Chrome features an actual bookmarks manager (the beta we initially reviewed featured only a drop-down menu on the right-hand side of the bookmarks bar). The bookmarks manager lives in a separate window, and uses a two-pane layout: The left-hand pane displays folders of bookmarks, and the right-hand pane shows the contents of bookmark folders. A search field is in the upper-right corner of the bookmarks manager window, and results appear as you type. If you've ever used Safari, Chrome's bookmark manager will look very familiar.

By default, Chrome will not restore your session; if Chrome crashes, it takes everything with it unless you manually configure the browser to act otherwise (the configuration options are buried under the wrench icon, in the Options/Basics menu). In contrast, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 automatically restore your previous session in the event of a crash.

The sites I visited that rely on JavaScript and Ajax seemed to work fine, but Microsoft's Silverlight does not support Chrome at this time, even though it works with Safari, which uses the same WebKit browser engine as Chrome.

Google has produced an excellent browser that is friendly enough to handle average browsing activities without complicating the tasks, but at the same time is powerful enough to meet the needs of more-advanced users. The search functionality of the Omnibar is one of many innovations that caught my attention. PC World has chosen to rate this beta version of Chrome because of Google's history of leaving products and services in long-term beta and in an ongoing state of evolution. In the past there has been some speculation that Google would develop its own operating system, but I think that Chrome's launch makes one thing is clear: The Web browser is Google's operating system.

Source: www.pcworld.com

MindJet Mindmanager 8

By : Edward N. Albro, PC World




Solid mind-mapping application, but some new features are glitchy.

Mindjet's MindManager 8 adds some interesting new features to this visual brainstorming application; but while some are useful and reliable, others are either glitchy or just don't seem to serve much purpose.

The basic idea behind programs like MindManager is that human thinking doesn't always fit well in a written outline. Mind maps, in contrast, are more visual, with nodes for each topic and subtopics that branch out from those nodes. You can expand or contract each node and look at the map in whatever order you want.

MindManager has done the basics of mind-mapping for a while now, but the new version adds some creative extras: the ability to send an interactive map to non-MindManager users, a built-in way to browse the Web and edit Office documents, and a more automated way to keep track of project deadlines.

I find MindManager helpful, but I've never convinced my coworkers to pay $350 for their own copy. And that's why the idea of Mindjet Player maps for sharing is attractive. You can export a MindManager file as an interactive PDF and send it to a colleague. That coworker can't edit the map, but can expand and contract topics, making viewing the map easier. But the player files seemed to work intermittently--one colleague could open a file, while another couldn't. When I tried opening one on two different machines--a Mac and a PC--I got error messages and couldn't view the files at all. (A Mindjet rep told me that Player files work only on Windows machines and work reliably only in versions 8 and 9 of Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader.)

Another way to share files is through MindManager's Web service. You post a map to an online workspace and can invite coworkers to read or edit it. Their changes show up in the map on your hard drive. This method seems to work more reliably, but it is pricey--$120 per simultaneous user annually.

Mind maps can also be helpful in managing projects, and here MindManager 8 takes a solid step forward. Say you've been able to add task information--deadlines and resources--to a topic for a while. Now you can make the task information in one topic dependent on the deadlines in another. So if you add three days to the deadline for step 1, the deadline for steps 2, 3, and 4 are automatically pushed out three days as well.

The new version of MindManager also offers a built-in application for browsing the Web and editing Microsoft Office documents (assuming you already have Office installed on your PC). The Web browser, which opens in a pane on the right side of the MindManager window, works fine, but I'm not sure how useful it is if you don't have a very large monitor. I found that on a 19-inch LCD, I didn't have enough room to both see the mind map and the page I was browsing. Without a huge monitor, you may find it more useful to simply toggle between the mind map and a separate browser.

The built-in Office file editor was more problematic. While editing worked fine within MindManager, the edits didn't show up in the original file, which could be confusing at best

Web mashups are also part of the new MindManager. You can embed a live Web search within a map. Return to the map a week later, push a button, and the search refreshes. That's useful, but another trick isn't: MindManager connects to Facebook and MySpace to import the names and pictures of your friends in those social networks. What purpose that serves is beyond me.

If you haven't tried mind-mapping software but want to, MindManager is a solid program. If you already have it, however, I'd hold off on upgrading to version 8 until some of the kinks are worked out.

Source : www.pcworld.com

Serif Digital Photo Suite 2009

By : Lisa Cekan

Easy-to-use imaging software holds appeal for home hobbyists and novice users who want to organize their stash of photos and do some light editing.

Serif Software Digital Photo Suite 2009 consists of Serif's latest image organizer and editor package, AlbumPlus X3, bundled with its PanoramaPlus 3 to offer photographers a set of simple and intuitive, if not particularly powerful, tools for organizing and enhancing their photos. At $50, Digital Photo Suite 2009 has some appeal--but only if you have need for its specific set of tools. (You can browse PC World's Downloads library for other image editors; many have specialized capabilities.)

AlbumPlus X3 has more features than its predecessor, X2, including more image editing tools as well as the ability to upload photos to social networking sites. AlbumPlus X3 will not be available as a stand-alone program; instead, Serif is offering it as part of the Digital Photo Suite bundle.

I was pleasantly surprised by how easy and quick it was to pull the almost 2000 photos from my hard drive into AlbumPlus X3. In just a few clicks, I could see thumbnails of all of my photos stacked by the folder where the images reside on my hard drive, ready for me to assign tags I could later search on. (In addition to photos, you can import video and music files from your hard drive, CD/DVD drive, digital camera, scanner, or external storage drive.)

Serif starts with a small group of tags in a Windows-style folder system that you can add to or customize with your own tags. You can choose an icon for each tag from the list Serif provides or add your own, and you can organize and search for photos many different ways, such as by tag, star rating, date, or file size. I generally found it intuitive to assign tags. One counterintuitive point about the process: You assign tags to images by dragging and dropping a photo or group of photos to the tag list rather than dragging tags to the photos. Alternatively, you can right-click and assign a tag from a list; I found myself preferring that approach.

The AlbumPlus X3 software is not intended as a full-bore image editor akin to Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0. However, it does have a small, yet fun set of tools that let you make simple changes to your photos. You can fix blemishes, smooth skin, whiten teeth and the whites of the eyes, and even add a fake tan (albeit one that looks much like many fake tans). You can also choose from a fairly standard set of fixes, such as brightness, sharpness, contrast, and color saturation, and play with a few effects like stained glass and oil painting. Serif provides excellent on-screen explanations along the way, making this software a good choice for photo-editing neophytes. Each time you click to open a particular tool, a small section of the screen is devoted to giving instructions on how to use it and tips for getting the best results.

Once you've sorted your images, AlbumPlus offers several options for sharing photos, including putting them on a CD; creating printed calendars and albums; sending them via e-mail; and uploading them to social networks, including Facebook, Flickr, or YouTube.

Serif makes this package a suite by bundling in its PanoramaPlus 3, a tool for stitching photos and movie frames into a panorama or a 360-degree movie. The Digital Photo Suite has a single installer, but each of the programs within it maintains a separate identity, though there is a button in AlbumPlus X3's main menu that will launch PanoramaPlus 3. Like AlbumPlus, I found PanoramaPlus easy to use and integrated with terrific instructions and tips. But the addition of PanoramaPlus 3 boosts the price of the Digital Photo Suite to $50. That's a big extra cost, given that many casual photographers don't often take panoramas. (The AlbumPlus X2 was available as a stand-alone program for $25.)

For that matter, you can find many of the features in AlbumPlus X3 for free from online image editors such as Picnik, Photoshop Express, and scores of other Web-based image editors (check out our review of free Web-based image editors). That makes Digital Photo Suite's $50 price tag steep.

But for those who don't want their photos online and are willing to pay for a simple, well-integrated program to help them organize and edit their photos, Serif Digital Photo Suite 2009 provides a good balance of features that are tailor-made for home users.

Source : www.pcworld.com

Lenovo ThinkPad W700

By : Cisco Cheng




Mention the word "supercomputer" and the first thing that comes to my mind is the big IBM machine that beat Garry Kasparov in chess. It's ironic that Lenovo, which acquired the IBM ThinkPad brand several years ago, has developed a workstation that isn't far off from the chess-playing Deep Blue, in the sense that it's far from elegant but has some very special capabilities. The ThinkPad W700 is monstrous, and its look may not strike a chord with fashion photographers, but some unheard-of built-in features will instantly make style moot. The Pantone color sensor, for instance, eliminates the need to carry a separate color calibration device; a Wacom digitizer that's traditionally part of the screen is cleverly positioned on the palm rest; and an option for a 10-inch secondary display that slides out from the back of the primary one is an industry first. These features, along with the built-in Intel quad-core technology, earn the W700 an Editors' Choice in the workstation category.

Although the W700's 9-pound footprint and its yawn-inducing black attire may not have the flashiness of a photographer's dream machine, there's a reason why this juggernaut lacks any style. It is a workstation intended for professional use. Its dimensions (12.2 by 16.1 by 1.5 inches), slightly larger than its peers, enable the W700 to house the big screen and all the cool technology built in. There are workstations that place more emphasis on style and are a shade lighter, like the 8.4-pound Sony VAIO VGN-AW190 and the 8.5-pound Dell Precision M6400 (stay tuned for our review), but their feature sets fall well short of the W700's.

Most professional photographers prefer big displays, and the W700's 17-inch widescreen is large enough to keep them from relying on an external monitor. It's not the new 18-inch (16:9 form factor) widescreens that have been popping up in systems like the Sony AW190 and the HP HDX18t. The W700 uses a traditional 16:10 format, which gives content creators room at the top and bottom of the screen but also creates the letterbox effect (black strips above and below) if you use it to view movies. Its 1,920-by-1,200 resolution is the highest that a 17-inch widescreen will go, and it's the one that professionals will want. (There's a 1,440-by-900 option, as well.)

Unlike with traditional laptop displays, the color fidelity and the contrast ratio are enhanced on this screen. Lenovo claims that the screen is capable of showing 72 percent of the Adobe RGB color gamut, whereas typical laptop displays show 45 percent. The AW190 makes no mention of a color-gamut percentage, and the Dell M6400 claims to show 100 percent of this gamut. The screen is devoid of any glare, a characteristic expected of all workstations. Its brightness levels, reported at 400 nits (cd/m2), are slightly lower than the 500-nit screen on the Sony AW190. Indeed, Sony's XBrite screen looks brighter and the colors more vivid. However, the screen differences between the W700 and the AW190 are slight, and either screen is an incredible asset to photographers.

Those familiar with the Pantone color calibrator remember the hassle of using this awkward peripheral as an external attachment. Lenovo did an ingenious thing by integrating its three sensors into the W700. Positioned on the palm rest, the sensors are barely noticeable, but the rewards of building them in are immeasurable. The aim of color calibration is to make sure that colors are accurately portrayed on the screen, so when they're printed out, for instance, there won't be any surprises. The included software that controls the calibrator is X-Rite's huey Pro. Once the software is initiated, a voice prompts you to close the lid, thus flushing out the light (so it's pitch black) for optimal results. With an external calibrator, flushing out lights in a room requires more effort than closing a lid on a laptop. The process takes about a minute, and the same voice will let you know when it's completed. The results show the pre-calibrated screen and the corrected version.

Right below the calibrator is another rare occurrence: A palm-rest Wacom digitizer. Traditionally, you'd find one on the screen itself, as with convertible tablets. But since the W700 doesn't have a rotating screen and the surface area below the keyboard is enormous, putting it on the palm rest made more sense. Writing, annotating, and drawing are similar to the way you'd do them in the Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Tablet. The writing area is substantially smaller (5 by 3.2 inches) but pleasant to work with, nonetheless. It's not touch-enabled, so you needn't worry about brushing your hand against it. The only way to use the digitizer is with the included digitizer pen that you can eject from the right-hand side.. In some ways, having the digitizer away from the screen is actually better, as it makes writing and drawing feel more natural. Our own Michael J. Miller did some hands-on testing himself, and it worked fine for him.

Although the secondary screen didn't come with my configuration, having one that slides out from the primary one (available in early 2009) is an amazing feat. This is basically a 10.2-inch widescreen that slides out into portrait mode and can be used to check e-mails, surf the Web, or multitask without interrupting the operations on the primary screen. Lenovo thought of everything in the feature set. A CompactFlash slot is available for D-SLR cameras that use the format, in addition to a separate SD slot on the bezel. There are three options for video-out, two of which are digital: a DisplayPort connection, which streams both video and audio, and a DVI-D port, which does video only. The Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Dual Graphics) uses a similar DisplayPort technology, whereas the Sony AW190 integrates an HDMI-out port.

Other essential features include five USB ports, a FireWire port, a webcam, and a fingerprint reader. The fabulous keyboard and the dual pointing devices—a pointing stick and a touchpad—are exactly the same as those found on the Lenovo ThinkPad T400. Since it's a large system, the W700 is able to accommodate a numeric keypad as well. Although the dual-layer DVD burner sounds ordinary at this juncture, you can upgrade to a Blu-ray burner. The dual 160GB, 7,200-rpm (320GB total) hard drives not only spin fast but are arranged in RAID 0, which comes in handy for performance testing.

Anything less than a quad-core processor would be a disappointment on a machine this grand. The W700 runs a 2.53-GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 processor. Although the Sony AW190 and the ThinkPad T400 are amazing performers, they top out with dual-core processors. Add to the quad-core the 4GB of DDR3 memory and we have performance scores that are beyond anything I've seen on a laptop. The W700's SYSmark 2007 Overall score didn't paint an accurate picture, though, as it trailed the ThinkPad T400's by 3 percent. The W700's video-encoding and CineBench 10 scores, on the other hand, completely dominated the competition's. Its 44-second score on Windows Media Encoder 9 is 15 seconds less (roughly 35 percent faster) than the T400's. And its CineBench score was nearly double that of the competition.

The Nvidia Quadro FX 3700M is what the industry calls a workstation graphics card, meaning that its biggest selling point is ISV (Independent Software Vendor) certification. This assures customers that the programs a workstation has been certified for (such as the major CAD, DCC, and GIS applications) will run effectively on the W700. In addition to being so certified, the 3700M is also a powerful 3D graphics engine, so you can run hard-core 3D applications and games. Driven by the quad-core processor, its 3DMark 2006 scores at native and low resolutions in some cases doubled those of the MacBook Pro 15-inch (Dual Graphics) and the AW190. Even hard-core games like Crysis and World in Conflict favored the W700 at native resolutions. Battery life, however, is what you would expect from a 9-pound workstation: Its 2-hour, 31-minute score is not terrible, but nothing to write home about either.

Finally, a mobile workstation made for professional photographers! The Lenovo ThinkPad W700 is unlike any other workstation—or laptop, for that matter—breaking ground in areas that once seemed out of reach. It's the first and only laptop with an internal color calibrator. Placing a digitizer on the palm rest is also ingenious, and a secondary display is something that all laptops could use but only Lenovo has accomplished so far. Obviously, at this price, the W700 isn't for everyone. But if time is money in your field, the W700 will save you tons of it.

Source : www.pcmag.com

Acer Aspire 6930G-6723

By : Cisco Cheng

The transition from a 16:10 to 16:9 aspect ratio in widescreen notebook displays is well under way, in part because these panels are becoming cheaper to make and their aspect ratio is more consistent with that of consumer HDTVs. When LCD manufacturers proposed this new screen format to laptop makers, Acer quickly jumped at the opportunity. It launched the Acer Aspire 6920G-6071, a 16-inch media center laptop that instantly won our Editors' Choice award and then was stripped of it because the model ran out of stock as soon as hit the Web. The next iteration, the Aspire 6930G-6723, is out to make amends to those who couldn't get their hands on the last one. Like the previous version, the 6930G brings with it a Blu-ray reader at an unprecedented price and improved 3D game play with an updated Nvidia graphics card. A rich feature set makes it suitable for home theater enthusiasts. Because of these features—and the fact that you can actually buy one today (at TigerDirect.com, for $1,020), the 6930G receives the Editor's Choice for value notebooks.

The 6930G uses the existing Acer chassis, so it looks exactly like the 6920G-6071. Its polished blue exterior (the brand series is dubbed "Gemstone Blue") is attractive and complements the barrel hinge, but doesn't hide its bulk. Its 7.2-pound frame isn't the heaviest in the 16-inch space (the Gateway MC7803u, at 7.7 pounds, earns that distinction), but it could use a slimming lesson from the 6.8-pound HP HDX16t. The solid blue color can use some enhancements, like patterns on the HDX16t or an automotive-inspired design like the MC7803u. But it's easy to forgive the bulk once you add up all the features that Acer packs into the 6930G's chassis.
The 16-inch widescreen is nothing new in the laptop industry. We can expect a huge influx of laptops with a 16:9 aspect ratio by 2009. You're not exactly getting more screen real estate—just a wider screen to mimic the ones founds in consumer HDTVs. Already, you can find the new 16:9 widescreen laptops at prices lower than those of 16:10 widescreens. The 6930G's 1,366-by-768 resolution is considered WXGA, the minimum resolution on this size of screen, and it doesn't showcase a full 1080p HD experience, as the 6930G's bigger sibling, the Aspire 8920G, does. Still, the 720p-resolution screen is perfectly fine for high-definition movies, photos, and any other multimedia task you can toss at it. The keyboard is an absolute pleasure to type on, and it's as comfortable as that of the HDX16t. The 6930G's has slightly the upper hand, though, with its bigger numeric keypad.

The 6930G's feature set shines brighter than its competitors, especially when you consider the system's price. Like the previous version, this configuration has the potential to bring Blu-ray into the mainstream. In addition to playing movies, the integrated Blu-ray drive can burn CDs and DVDs as well. If the laptop's 16-inch screen is too small for you, you can take the movie experience to a larger display via the included HDMI port. There are four USB ports, one of which doubles as an eSATA port, for storage expansion. Though the unit doesn't have a FireWire port, an ExpressCard 34 slot lets you add a FireWire expansion card (or WWAN, extra USB ports, a TV tuner, and the like). The 320GB hard drive is larger (and actually cheaper) than the 250GB one found in the more-expensive HDX16t, and the same capacity as those in the Sony VAIO VGN-FW198UH and the Gateway MC7803u. A good sound system—two speakers and a subwoofer (in base)—is icing on the cake.

You're not going to get a top-tier processor at this price, but the 2.0-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 does the job for many tasks, including video and photo editing, ripping MP3s, and watching HD movies. It helps to have 4GB of memory, which goes well with a 64-bit operating system like Windows Vista Home Premium. For casual gaming, it even comes with an Nvidia GeForce 9600M GS graphics card, which is a smidge faster than the one in the previous version. Its SYSmark 2007 Preview Overall score looked deficient against those of the HDX16t and the Sony FW198U, as it was outscored by a margin of 43 percent and 39 percent, respectively. On video encoding and CineBench R10 tests, it didn't fare much better, trailing both the HP and the Sony by a considerable amount. But the T5800 is a budget processor, so this was expected.

Overall performance testing, though, did show a significant improvement over the 6920G-6071, with battery life the only exception. The performance boost (with its corresponding energy drain), lowered the new model's score to 3 hours 20 minutes, according to MobileMark 2007 tests. The 6920G achieved 3 hours 42 minutes on the battery test.

The only thing that can keep the Acer Aspire 6930G-6723 from outselling its competitors is availability, as it is sold through online stores only. For now, this particular configuration is in stock at TigerDirect.com. Availability is one of the reasons why this media center regained the Editors' Choice in the value category that its predecessor had lost. Because the HDX16t is a far more expensive system and holds the Editors' Choice in the media category, the 6930G doesn't trump it. It's a great deal for anyone who is looking for a multipurpose, Blu-ray–equipped media center.

Source : www.pcmag.com

Webinar: Boosting IT efficiency and business benefits at chip level

By : Joe O'Halloran

As the credit crunch bites, companies are looking ever more closely to their IT departments in order to make them more flexible, efficient and profitable and hence more capable of withstanding whatever the inclement economic times throws at them.

In addition to needing to be able to react to downward financial pressures, IT managers have to do a lot more with less and to make savings across IT estates. Yet these estates are at the same time becoming more widespread as companies support home and mobile workers to expand their reach.

Effective and cost –efficient management of the desktop and laptop devices used by such workers and those back in the office is vital to future business prospects.

Luckily for IT mangers there now exists technologies at chip level that can be applied to desktops and laptops that allow them to manage devices across their estate more efficiently and also get more out of them. That is to say technology that reduces power consumption, reduces maintenance calls, and makes more effective and easier patch management; in short producing tangible business benefits.

This webinar examine such technologies that can bring about such benefits. It will:
-Outline the current landscape for the desktop and laptop environment, identifying the trends and dynamics
-Identify the key technological issues firms face regarding their desktop estates
-Offer strategies that firms can take in order to improve the effectiveness of their desktop and laptop estates’
-Outline the likely challenges that businesses need to overcome in order to make the necessary improvements
-Draw on a case study of an end user that has used advanced strategies – for example virtualisation - in order to bring out measurable efficiencies and to address the challenges of having to increase efficiency and productivity in the datacentre

source : www.computerweekly.com

Komputer hang

Ada beberapa hal yang menyebabkan computer hang di antaranya :
1.Apakah lampu HDD menyala? Kalau menyala mungkin ada program yg baca HDD, missal: scaning virus
2.Kalau lampu HDD mati, mungkin mouse yang bermasalah
3. System BIOS mengaktifkan sesuatu yang tidak kompatibel dengan Windows seperti semacam power saving.
4.Penyebab lainnya umumnya karena driver atau software lain yg kamu install menyebabkan CPU utilization naik, untuk mengeceknya tekan ctrl + alt + del (Windows Task Manager) pilih Performace.
5.Terlalu cepat kita melakukan klik sehingga computer jadi hang dan keluar tamlipan “Out Of Frequency”. Hal ini disebabkan karena VGA tidak sanggup dengan klik mouse yang begitu cepat berganti interface antar window. Untuk mengatasinya: tekan Ctrl+Alt+Del (Windows Task Manager) kemudian tekan F8 maka akan mucul pilihan: Enable VGA Card, Start Windows normally. Pilihlah “Enable VGA Card” dan tekan Enter.hasil komputer dapat masuk ke windows tanpa harus memformat ulang harddisk Anda tentunya. angan pilih start windows normally karena akan muncul kembali tulisan “out of frequency” di layar computer.

Microsoft: IE8 release candidate 'just around the corner'

Urges developers to get ready to test sites, mum on speed gains
By Gregg Keizer
December 16, 2008 (Computerworld) Microsoft Corp. today said that the release candidate for Internet Explorer 8 is "just around the corner" and urged developers to get ready to test their sites with the new browser.
Elsewhere, the TG Daily technology news site leaked screenshots of what it said was the IE8 Release Candidate (RC), and said the build had been passed to Microsoft's closest partners last week.

But Hachamovitch declined to get more specific than that about when Microsoft would unveil IE8 RC, which is expected to be the final build shown to users and developers before the browser wraps up sometime in 2009. Last month, Microsoft committed only to a delivering the release candidate during the first three months of next year.
Because the release candidate is near, Web developers should be prepping for the changes they will need to make to accommodate the new browser as more users download and install it, Hachamovitch said.
Although Microsoft originally said it would stress backward compatibility with its older browsers -- especially IE7 and the sites designed and tweaked to properly display in it -- the company changed its mind last March after complaints mounted. Site designers and developers, tired of spending time writing code around IE's foibles, pushed Microsoft to adopt a Web standards mode in IE by default.
That would let them, they said, design a site just once and have that site correctly display in IE as well as in Mozilla Corp's Firefox, Goole Inc.'s Chrome and other browsers.
Hachamovitch was sympathetic to the work developers would have to do to get their sites and applications ready for IE8, but he stressed that it would be to their benefit in the long run. "I have a lot of respect for those people who build the Internet," said Hachamovitch. "There are so many worthy activities that call on their time. [But while] in the short term there's work they need to do to bridge sites that work with IE8, it will pay off in the long run with the next billion Web pages."
Unlike TG Daily, which spelled out several new features in IE8 RC, Hachamovitch was hesitant to share details of what Microsoft had changed since it offered up Beta 2 in August.
One was a new option that lets users choose to automatically engage IE8's backward-compatibility mode and render sites on a Microsoft-generated list as does IE7. "At first run, users will be able to opt in to a list of sites," said Hachamovitch. "These are sites that are best used with Compatibility View."
source : www.computerworld.com

Opinion: Apple at the Expo: What went wrong?

The show is being treated 'like a piece of garbage,' says Macworld's Jason Snell
By Jason Snell
December 16, 2008 (MacWorld) Tuesday's news that Apple had announced that Steve Jobs wouldn't be appearing at Macworld Expo and that the company would stop exhibiting at the show after 2009 came as a shock. I'm stunned that Apple has taken a 25-year-old event that has been the single best meeting place for the entire community of users and vendors of Apple-related products and treated it like a piece of garbage stuck to the bottom of its shoe. But I'm not really surprised: Apple has been leading up to this moment for a long time now.
(Before I continue, a bit of disclosure. The company that I work for, Mac Publishing, does not run Macworld Expo. The company that runs Macworld Expo is IDG World Expo, a separate company that shares the Macworld brand name with Mac Publishing and shares the same corporate parent--IDG [International Data Group]. IDG's corporate structure splits different businesses into different companies, each with its own budgets and management teams. So while I'm the editor of Macworld, my business doesn't actually receive any money from the operations of Macworld Expo and isn't judged by the financial results of Macworld Expo. However, the owner of my business is the owner of their business, so we're cousins in the same corporate family.)
The timing of the announcement stinks. It's three weeks before the Expo keynote, and now Apple has decided to announce its plans not just for the keynote, but for the 2010 show? Why now? My guess is that the first announcement required the second. Imagine if Apple merely announced that Steve Jobs wouldn't be appearing at Macworld Expo. Immediately the Steve-Jobs-health speculation machine would whip into action. Jobs not appearing at Macworld Expo would be used as fodder to fuel a million different pieces wondering about Apple's CEO.
The announcement of Apple's "final appearance" in 2009 dulls that speculation a little bit. It won't go away--if you picked "three" in the pool to see how many comments it would take for someone in our story thread to speculate about Steve Jobs' health, you win --but in making that second announcement, Apple has changed the story from one about Steve Jobs' non-appearance into one about the death of Macworld Expo.
I don't know anything about Steve Jobs' health. And I really do hate idle speculation about the health of a human being. (Though I do believe that if he's terminally ill the shareholders ought to be informed. Otherwise, it's nobody's business but his own.) Who knows the real reason for the exit of Jobs from the keynote? There are a nearly unlimited number of reasons that don't involve the man's medical history. Maybe there simply weren't any earth-shattering products ready. Maybe someone at IDG offended someone at Apple. Maybe a product that was intended for release at Expo has been delayed, either for technical reasons or because today's economy would make it a bad time to launch a new product.
source : ww.computerworld.com

Microsoft releases free Office-ODF interoperability guides

Five years ago, releasing such information seen as giving away 'competitive advantage,' says Microsoft product manager
By Eric Lai
December 16, 2008 (Computerworld) Microsoft Corp will publish technical documents on Tuesday describing how it built support for the rival Open Document Format (ODF) within Office 2007.
In addition, Microsoft will also give away notes on how it supported its own format, Office Open XML (OOXML).
This information could be helpful for third-party software firms trying to build applications that work with Office 2007 and its documents.
Doug Mahugh, Microsoft's senior product manager for Office interoperability, said the information was valuable enough that it would have been viewed five years ago as giving up "competitive advantage" and thus would not have been released publicly.
Despite Microsoft's long-standing argument that customers benefit from the tight integration between Office 2007, SharePoint and other Microsoft Aplications , Mahugh said the company was sincere about promoting interoperability with other formats and applications, and encouraged other software vendors to be equally "transparent."
OOXML was first ratified by standards body ISO as an open standard in September 2007, but appeals against it were not finally defeated until August .
During that time, Microsoft has taken more steps to appease those who claim it is not being fully open and interoperable.
In May, Microsoft said it would support both ODF and Adobe's PDFs in Office
Microsoft posted its set of interoperability guides in June .
Mahugh said some applications were starting to emerge as a result. For instance, there is an application that allows non-Microsoft Web browsers such as Firefox to view Word 2007's .docx files, Mahugh said.
He said Novell Inc's version of the OpenOffice.org suite supports OOXML well. Apple Inc.'s Mac OSX and iPhone also had "really pretty good" support for OOXML documents.
To further help developers, Microsoft will support the creation of an open-source project to create software that tests that OOXML documents execute properly, Mahugh said.
source : www.computerworld.com

Microsoft preps emergency IE patch for Wednesday release

Second out-of-cycle update in the last two months is imminent
By Gregg Keizer
December 16, 2008 (Computerworld) Microsoft Corp announced today that it will issue an emergency patch tomorrow to quash a critical Internet Explorer bug that attackers have been exploiting for more than a week.
The advance warning came less than a week after Microsoft acknowledged that exploit code had gone public and was being used by hackers to hijack Windows PCs running IE.
Microsoft will deliver the out-of-cycle patch Wednesday at 1 p.m. Eastern time via its normal update mechanisms, including Windows Update, Microsoft Update and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).
The update will be pegged "critical," the most serious ranking in Microsoft's four-step scoring system.
Even as it declared that it would release an emergency fix, Microsoft continued to downplay the threat. "At this time, we are aware only of attacks that attempt to use this vulnerability against Windows Internet Explorer 7," said company spokesman Christopher Budd in an e-mail today.


Initially, Microsoft and other security companies believed that only IE7 was vulnerable to attack, but on review, the company confirmed that all versions of its browser, including IE5.01, IE6 and IE8 Beta 2, contain the bug.
Last weekend, Microsoft researchers said that they had seen a “huge increase” in attacks, and that some were originating from legitimate Web sites. Another researcher added that about 6,000 infected sites were serving up exploits that target the IE vulnerability.
Also today, Microsoft confirmed that attacks could be launched through Outlook Express, a free e-mail client bundled with Windows XP. Because Outlook Express renders HTML-based messages using IE's engine, attackers could exploit the bug by getting users to open or view malicious messages.
This will be the second out-of-cycle patch from Microsoft in the last two months. In late October, it issued an emergency fix for a critical vulnerability in the Windows Server service; like IE's bug, that one had been actively exploited before Microsoft was able to come up with a patch.
According to today's advance notification , Microsoft will provide patches to users of Windows 2000 , XP, Vista, Server 2003 and Server 2008 for IE5.01, IE6 and IE7. A separate patch will apparently be issued tomorrow for IE8 Beta 2, a preview version of Microsoft's next browser that is not officially on the support list.
source : www.computerworld.com

Laser Printers: An Overview

By : Chris Holt, Macworld.com
Laser printers offer great speed and reliability for demanding business and home users. At their best when put to work in a network setting, laser printers allow multiple users to take advantage of the high speeds and duplexing capabilities of the printer.
But how to weigh those advantages? We've got some tips on shopping for a laser printer if you're in the market for one this holiday season. And we've got a trio of recommendations for models that passed muster in our tests.
Laser printer buying advice
Consider the cost Most quality laser printers run in the range of US$400 to $600 and are on the heavy side (around 50 pounds). They are a bigger investment than standard printers and require more room to operate. Most come with longer warranties than typical inkjet printers, however.
Two sides are better than one Printers that offer duplexing can print on both sides of the page--a useful feature for users who want to maximize speed and efficiency. And printing on both sides of a page ultimately saves you money on paper.
On a related note, laser printers cost less per page to print than their inkjet counterparts; they're also more environmentally friendly.
What to look for When judging a laser printer, there are two key factors you should focus on--speed and text quality. Macworld Lab includes both time trials and jury ratings in our laser printer reviews--make sure to look at both when deciding which model to buy.
A quality laser printer typically prints 10 pages in around 30 to 45 seconds. As for our jury tests of printing quality--which also include ratings on the quality of image and graphics output--a quality laser printer score a rating of "very good" or better in our text-quality test.
Ponder Postscript Postscript capability or emulation is an important ability to consider. Postscript is a print description language that enables laser printers to handle high-quality graphics alongside text. No longer an absolute necessity, Postscript printing is still important as it takes the load off your computer's CPU and allows the use of certain types of fonts.
Our favorite laser printers
The Oki C6150dn produces great-looking prints and includes built-in duplexing. It also offers easy network connectivity and quick printing speeds. It's particularly ideal for printing top-quality brochures and handouts with photo elements.
The Brother HL-4070CDW is a color laser printer perfect for a small-to-midsize workgroup and comes packed with a ton of useful features--wireless networking, duplexing capabilities, and PostScript compatibility (via emulation). It also delivers speedy performance, ease of use, and excellent print quality for a relatively low price for laser printers.
The Xerox Phaser 6180/DN is a color laser printer that's also aimed at the small- to midsize-business crowd. It produces clean, crisp copy and features 10/100BaseTX Ethernet networking capability, automatic duplexing, and Adobe PostScript 3 compatibility. Though it's been on the market for a while, the Phaser 6180/DN remains one of the most user-friendly printers out there.
source : www.pcworld.com

Monochrome Multifunction Printers Roundup

By : Roman Loyola, Macworld.com
A monochrome multifunction printer (also called all-in-ones) combines a monochrome laser printer, color scanner, copier, and sometimes a fax machine into a single device. As with a color multifunction printer, having all these functions in one unit not only saves room, but it can also be more affordable than buying separate individual devices.
If you already have a color printer, or if your prints consist of text and some simple graphics, a monochrome printer may be all you need. Here are some tips to keep in mind when shopping for a MFP. Note that some of these tips mirror our buying advice for both color MFPs and color laser printers . Later in the article, we'll share a pair of printers that fared best in our tests of monochrome all-in-ones this past year.
Monochrome MFP buying advice
Better price per page: Laser MFPs are good for medium to large businesses that print documents often. The initial cost of a monochrome laser MFP may seem a bit pricier than a color inkjet MFP, but toner tends to be cheaper than ink in the long run. The price per page for a laser printout is cheaper than ink.
Text specialists: Monochrome laser MFPs are ideal if you print text documents, as well as spreadsheets, basic charts, business graphics, or grayscale artwork.
Speed: Print speeds are usually rated by how many pages per minute (ppm) a printer can produce. But not all manufacturers use the same quality setting or the same type of document when determining their speed rating. Also, the speed rating may be only the amount of time it takes to put toner to paper and output it. It may not include the actual data processing of the job.
Double-sided: A built-in duplexer allows you to print on both sides of a page, which helps saves paper. However, duplexing often significantly increases print time.
Paper capacity: Most base model MFPs hold between 100 and 250 sheets of paper. If you plan to print frequently, consider a MFP with a large paper capacity, or optional additional paper feeders.
Color scanner: Even though they can only produce grayscale prints, monochrome MFPs usually come with a good, general-purpose color scanner that performs 24-bit scans. These scanners can handle business documents, charts, and artwork. They're also suitable for non-professional photos. Obviously, if you want to print your color scans, you'll have to find another printer.
If you plan to scan frequently, look for one-button scanning, which lets you scan an item without using the software interface on your Mac. Just place an item on the scanner, press a button on the MFP, and the scan is automatically saved to your Mac.
Making copies: The scanner on an MFP as does double duty as a copier. Look for an automatic document feeder if you want to be able to copy multi-page documents.
Connectivity: A majority of MFPs have USB for connecting to a single Mac. If you have an AirPort Extreme, AirPort Express, or Time Capsule at home or in a small business, you may be able use USB to connect the MFP to the network device and share the printer over a network.
To connect to a medium of large business, look for Ethernet or wireless connectivity. This may not come as standard equipment, and may be an additional cost. Some MFPs also support Bluetooth for printing from portable devices.
Some MFPs have features that let you perform tasks remotely over a network on a shared MFP. For example, you can scan a document and the MFP distributes the scanned file to computers on the network. In our experience, these features often do not work on a Mac, or they have inconvenient workarounds for Mac compatibility.
Our favorite monochrome MFPs
Budget-conscious users will especially appreciate the Brother MFC-7840W. With an inexpensive cost per print (approximately 3 cents per page), the MFC-7840W is capable of printing very good quality text and business graphics at reasonably fast rates. It's a fine choice for offices that work in a black-and-white world.
Sporting a sleek, black exterior with a glossy finish, the Samsung SCX-4500 looks attractive for a device with a monochrome laser printer, color scanner, and copier. When it comes to image quality, the SCX-4500 doesn't disappoint. This is an ideal MFP for a home office.
source : www.pcworld.com

Eddy Winner: Epson Stylus Photo R1900 Inkjet Printer

By : James Galbraith, Macworld.com

For years, if you wanted the best-possible glossy prints, you had to purchase a dye-based printer. The Epson Stylus Photo R1900 inkjet printer changes all that.
Epson's inkjet produces the best glossy photos we've seen from any printer priced under US$1,000. On Epson's Premium Glossy and Premium Luster papers, images really pop; this printer does a great job on matte and fine-art papers, too. The R1900 uses seven pigment inks--photo black, matte black, cyan, magenta, yellow, red, and orange--to produce long-lasting, borderless photographic prints at sizes up to 13 by 19 inches. (An eighth cartridge contains a special spray called a gloss optimizer, which eliminates the bronzing effect that shows up on pigment-based prints on glossy papers.)
The R1900 is speedy, too, so it's an ideal printer for someone looking to get into archival, pigment-based photo printing. And at $549, it's one of the lowest-priced pigment printers available. If you love the look of glossy photos, there's no better printer on the market right now.

source : www.pcworld.com

The Artisan 800 inkjet MFP gives you plenty of features and capabilities, but it needs special paper for the best results.

by Melissa Riofrio, PC World

Epson's Artisan 800 color inkjet multifunction printer has many tempting photo features. It's expensive--and not quite perfect--but it's still worth considering, especially for serious shutterbugs.
The Artisan 800 boasts a large (7.8-inch), tiltable touch-screen control panel, with a 3.5-inch color LCD. I found navigating the menus easy, but the sheer number of options made me wish for a comprehensive overview (Epson doesn't provide one). Two media slots take CompactFlash, Memory Stick, SD Card, and XD Picture Card; the unit has a PictBridge port too.
This model's star feature is its integrated CD/DVD printing mechanism. The caddy lowers itself automatically from its lair in the open front bay. I like this self-contained design even better than what HP offers on models such as the Photosmart C5280 .
The Artisan 800 has speed to spare. In the PC World Test Center's speed tests, it churned out plain-text pages at an impressive rate of 9.8 pages per minute. Its 5.4-ppm graphics speed topped the charts.
Given this model's photography slant , I probably shouldn't have been surprised that the Artisan 800 performed better on photo paper than on plain. But given that its six separate inks offer a wider color palette, I was disappointed in its results, as all the samples we printed on plain paper looked dull, feathery, or grainy. On Epson's own photo paper, colors occasionally erred on the pinkish side but otherwise looked natural. The ink is reasonably priced: Based on the industry-standard ISO test pages for ink yields, each color costs 1.8 to 2.2 cents per page, while black costs 3.3 cents. Scans were good; copies seemed a bit fuzzy.
The Artisan 800's paper handling wants to be versatile but is sometimes annoying. A 30-sheet photo tray piggybacks atop the 120-sheet, letter/legal main tray. The 50-sheet output tray--a series of telescoping panels--pulls out from the photo-tray area. Loading the main tray is an involved process: You must retract the clumsy output extensions, slide and lift the photo tray, fish for the width adjustment underneath said tray, and then put everything back the way it was before. At least the 30-sheet automatic document feeder ADF is simple.
Most of the manuals are good, but I'll never understand why Epson buries the parts diagram in the troubleshooting section of the HTML-based user guide. A few of the Artisan 800's features aren't covered anywhere. And although automatic duplexing requires a $30 optional accessory, you can choose the feature in the printer driver regardless, which is confusing.
The Artisan 800 offers so much that one might forget its less-friendly aspects. Business-minded users looking in this price range might find a better fit in the Canon Pixma MX7600 , or one of Epson's new Workforce multifunctions (which we have yet to test).

For home or school, the Pixma MP620 inkjet MFP offers impressive features and connectivity for a low price

by Melissa Riofrio, PC World

Canon's Pixma MP620 color inkjet multifunction printer offers connectivity and capacity galore. While its design has a few shortcomings, overall the Pixma MP620 offers a good deal, especially for a busy home or school setting.
A few premium features distinguish the silvery Pixma MP620. The control panel replaces a raft of buttons with a scroll wheel that lets you spin through options shown on the adjacent, tiltable, 2.5-inch color LCD. The remaining buttons are clearly labeled and easy to use. Standard connectivity covers USB, ethernet, and Wi-Fi; you need a $50 extra-cost adapter to enable Bluetooth. It has two media slots that take most kinds of cards, but you'll need to buy a third-party adapter to use the XD Picture Card format. The PictBridge port accepts only Canon-compatible devices.
The 150-sheet output tray automatically unfolds itself from the front panel when you initiate a print job. You get two 150-sheet input trays: one underneath for letter-size plain paper, and a second in the rear for larger or thicker media. Unfortunately, on my test unit, raising the telescoping guides for the rear vertical input involved a lot of tugging and clattering, and I accidentally collapsed them numerous times. Another drawback: The MP620 lacks an automatic document feeder (ADF) and duplexing capabilities; if you need those features, check out the similarly priced Dell 948 All-in-One or Lexmark X6570 .
The MP620 performed fairly well in our tests. It posted average speeds, producing 7.6 pages per minute (ppm) with plain text and 2.2 ppm with graphics. The printer's pigment black ink produced impressively crisp, dark letters.
On color graphics it uses a dye-based second black, plus cyan, magenta, and yellow. We found a bit too much yellow in some of our color graphics samples; flesh tones, in particular, looked orangey on plain paper and a little jaundiced on Canon's own photo paper. Despite that and a slight graininess, images otherwise looked vivid and natural. Scan and copy tests yielded good results as well.
At the time of this writing, Canon had yet to publish yields for the five separate ink cartridges. Other Canon printers with a similar design have had reasonable costs.
Canon's usually solid documentation had one notable problem this time: The printed Setup Guide features a confounding flowchart of installation options that stymie rather than advance the process. Aside from that, Canon's better-than-average rating in our Reliability and Service survey bodes well for your overall experience.
The Pixma MP620 delivers a wide variety of features in a well-designed package. Its connectivity and generous paper handling make it particularly well suited for families or students.

Netbook Market Explodes

By : Eric Lai, Computerworld
The market for netbooks, small notebook PCs with even tinier prices, exploded in the third quarter of this year, according to market researcher DisplaySearch, as vendors aimed their wares at students during the back-to-school season.
The global market for netbooks, also known as mini-notebooks, was 5.61 million in the third quarter, up 160% from the second quarter, according to a statement Tueday from DisplaySearch, the Austin, Texas-based research firm.
Acer Inc. displaced ASUSTeK Computer Inc (Asus) from the top Netbook spot for the first time during the quarter, taking 38.3% of the market versus Asus' 30.3% share.
DisplaySearch expects sales of notebooks , which are lighter-weight, lower-powered and generally cheaper than regular notebook PCs, to hit 14 million by the end of the year. That's a sharp rise from 2007, when just 1 million were sold.
"Worldwide demand for these products is forecast to grow rapidly over the next few years, with demand from a variety of sources, including early adopters, consumer and enterprise PC customers seeking a smaller or secondary notebook PC, as well as new PC customers in emerging markets," John F. Jacobs wrote in the report. "We expect the mini-note PC market to settle at approximately 16% share of the notebook PC market by 2011."
Like Gartner Inc, DisplaySearch sees Netbooks as the one bright spot in the overall laptop PC market, which has shown signs of slipping.
DisplaySearch is revising down its growth forecasts for this year and 2009 due to "the challenging economic climate. Even enterprises that are maintaining or growing are likely to stretch their PC replacement cycles out as long as possible," Jacobs wrote.
In the overall laptop market, HP Inc. leads with 19.7% share, followed by Acer with 17.1%. Acer also sells notebook PCs under the Gateway and Packard Bell brands. Its sales were up 65% year-over-year.
Dell Inc. was third with 13% of the overall notebook market, followed by Toshiba and Asus, each with 8.6% of the market. Apple , which does not sell netbooks but has seen strong laptop sales growth in Nort America , ranked 7th worldwide in notebooks, with a 4.1% share. Sales were up 24% year-over-year, and some analysts have speculated that Apple will release its own netbook in 2009.
Asus, which was a marginal laptop player before introducing its US$400 Eee Netbook PC last October, saiw its notebook sales, including Netbooks, grow 189% year-over-year.
Asus had led the Netbook market by releasing variations on its original Eee in different sizes, prices and operating systems (both Windows and Linux). But driven by strong sales of its popular Aspire One , Acer overtook Asus, shipping 2.15 million Netbooks in Q3.
HP held third place, with 5.8% of the market. Its main model is the Mini-Note 2133 . MSI followed with 5.7% of the market for its Wind Netbook .
In fifth place was Dell, with 2.8% of the market, followed by the One Laptop Per Child, which shipped 130,000 PCs in Q3 for 2.3% of the market. Lenovo was in 9th place , shipping just 40,000 units, followed by Toshiba.
Taiwanese makers such as Acer, Asus and MSI hold three-quarters of the Netbook market today. DisplaySearch expects "the dominant PC brands will continue to gain share in the mini-note PC market due to brand power and recognition, and lower cost structure."

www.pcworl.com

Apple Not Immune from Bad Economy as Mac Sales Drop

By : Jeff Bertolucci
t's no surprise that the recession is hurting sales of tech gear, as retailers report lackluster sales this holiday season. But now it appears that even Apple, which in the recent past has managed to grow sales while its lesser competitors have faltered, is feeling the pain too.

A report in the Wall Street Journal, citing data from research firm NPD Group, states that Mac sales in the U.S. in November fell 1 percent from the same period a year earlier. By comparison, all PC sales were up by 2 percent. NPD analyst Steve Baker lays the blame mostly on the precipitous decline in the sale of Mac desktops, which fell by 35 percent, the Journal reports. Despite the slowdown, sales of Apple laptops are still growing faster than those of competing PC makers, according to NPD.
So if you remove desktop sales from the equation, Apple's November numbers would likely look pretty good. And given the desktop's soon-to-be-extinct status in the consumer PC market, a drop in Mac desktop sales probably isn't Cupertino's biggest concern right now. Then again, it's quite possible that Black Friday fire sales, including deeply discounted full-size notebooks and sub-$500 netbooks, steered customers away from Apple's pricier offerings. And given that the netbook market is expected to explode this year, Apple is wise to play there.
Indeed, a sluggish economy may force Apple to forego its robust product margins and compete more aggressively at the down-and-dirty $500 price point. And if recent rumblings are true, that's exactly what it plans to do. Rumors also have Apple introducing not one, but two, netbook computers at MacWorld in January, as well as an updated Mac mini desktop. Of course, Apple's supposedly launching an iPhone Nano at the show too, so believe what you want.

www.pcworl.com

Latest Mac Rumors: Netbooks and New Mac Minis

By : Scott Nichols

There are a number of rumors circulating about what news Apple might make at next month's Macworld expo. Last year's Macworld brought the announcement of the Macbook Air, and two years ago, it was the iPhone. So what will be the big announcement this year? Depending on who you ask, we may see an Apple netbook, an iPhone Nano, or maybe just an updated Mac Mini.
An update to the Mac Mini line is long overdue, and a Wired report is giving some credence to this rumor. It cites an anonymous Apple corporate employee who said that the Mac Mini would see an update, though gave no specific details as to what those updates may be. The Mac Mini hasn't had an update since mid-2007, despite strong sales (it is currently the number 2 bestselling desktop computer on Amazon.com), so an update with faster specs and an aluminum case seems almost like a no-brainer.
But Wired also notes that the updated Mac Mini is not meant to be the big announcement at the Macworld expo. Technology Business Research analyst Ezra Gottheil might have the answer. In a report today TBR stated that it expects Apple to announce a new line of netbooks to capitalize on the popularity of these smaller, less expensive laptops.
Given Steve Job's statement that Apple doesn't "know how to make a $500 machine that's not a piece of junk," the Apple netbook is predicted to be priced around $599. That would put it on the more expensive side of netbooks, but with the popularity of the Apple brand it would surely still be competitive.
Most interesting about the TBR prediction is that the proposed Apple netbook would make use of the iTunes App store for most of its software. This isn't especially surprising given the tremendous success that the App store has been, but it leads me to wonder about something that the TBR report didn't predict. If the hypothetical Apple netbook makes use of the iTunes App store, it is quite possible that it would implement a multi-touch display. Could an Apple netbook be the first Apple tablet?
It's all still rumors and speculation at this point, but it makes the anticipation of next month's Macworld expo all the more excit
www.pcworl.com

Mac OS X 10.5.6 Update Crashing Users' Systems

Mac OS X 10.5.6 Update Crashing Users' Systems
By : Chole Albanesius
A Monday update to Apple's Leopard operating system is causing a host of problems for users, ranging from broken Bluetooth connections and no sound to large popping noises during boot-up and dead USB ports.
The OS X 10.5.6 update is supposed to improve a number of features, including synching between the address book and the iPhone, roaming capabilities of AirPort connections on Intel-based Macs, an encryption alert that appeared in the chat window of iChat, and improvements to gaming performance.
It is also supposed to prevent Mail from quitting, fix an issue that allows junk mail to remain in the inbox, and improve MobileMe synching time. The update also addresses an issue that prevents parentally-controlled accounts from accessing the iTunes Store, and improves compatibility with Web proxy servers in Safari.
Many users, however, are reporting on the Apple forums that after the initial installation, their Macs remain frozen on "configuring setup." Others who have made it through the installation process found that their devices no longer recognize the mouse, sync with Bluetooth, open Suitcase Version 2, or connect to the AirPort wireless network, among other issues.
"Post 10.5.6 I get a loud pop during the very end of the grey startup screen or right after the time verbose mode goes to a blue screen," one user wrote on the Apple forums.
"The latest version of Leopard (10.5.6) downloaded automatically via Software Update," wrote another user known as Davald. "However, when I attempted to install, the process hangs on 'configuring setup.'"
After 15 minutes, Davald did a forced restart, which returned his MacBook Pro to 10.5.5.
Another user found that after he typed his password, the screen went blue, and then returned him to the login screen.
Some people found workarounds, like installing the regular update instead of the combo update from the Apple download page or removing update files, but there does not seem to be one solution that works for all users. Some users are having no issues with the update at all.
Some lashed out at Apple. "This is why I decided to cross-over to 'The Darkside' and purchase a Dell," wrote someone who identified himself as Gabriel Cobos1. "Once upon a time, nothing was better than an Apple. Then I bought a new [MacBook Pro]... actually two of them, and all of them died, trying to do what I do with simple ease with my homebuilt PC's."

Source : www.pcmag.com