Hot Products > Software

Norton Internet Security 2009 - 1 User 1 Computer (PC)

Norton "make your internet connection work really slow" internet security, 2008-11-20
Well.. I had been warned by a friend that this internet security package would make my internet connection even slower than other internet security packages. I have previously used Norton and although it has made the internet a little slower it was never as slow as it is now. It takes approximately 10 minutes (15minutes today) to just get onto the internet, through google. This is really annoying and I very much regret buying Norton this time around. I have adjusted the settings, but it has made little difference. I use wireless broadband, but when I'm logging into the internet, it reminds me of dial-up, admittedly once I'm logged in and on the internet it is alright, but I certainly would not recommend this product to anyone.

Photoshop Elements 6 (MAC)

A Photographer's Dream!, 2008-08-04
This is by far the best purchase I've made this year. Apart from the lengthy but not too complicated installation, this is a perfect piece of photo editing software for Digital Photographers and people of a creative nature. I use this program on my Macbook with not to much difficulty at all. It did use a lot of the resources on my laptop when I had a 1G memory but after I upgraded my memory (which was in my plans anyway) to 2G it worked even better. It does say in the box that for optimum use, it needs 1G of memory so don't try running anything else at the same time. I've used CS3 and there are probably 90% of the features on this program. Unless you are a serious professional (e.g. High end sports or nature photographer) then I really would advise you save your money and get this. I'm a semi pro photographer who has sold a quite a few pics and this works perfect! One other slight downside is Adobe's lack of putting a manual in the box. I have bought this manual Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac: The Missing Manual and it is the best manual on the market at a great price! Easy to use, in depth explanations. So if you buy this program then I seriously advise this book too!

iWork '08 Family Pack

A great package ! , 2008-05-25
I bought both Office 2008 and iWork a while ago.

The way Office 2008 is a major disappointment, iWork is a great surprise !
The ease of use and elegant design in iWork, makes it a pleasure to work with. Pages and Numbers have more than enough functions for the "ordinary" user - like me.

Before you waste a small fortune on Office 2008 - please, check out this great package from Mac !!

Pinnacle 12 Ultimate (PC)

Top marks for Pinnacle Studio Ultimate12, 2008-09-30
I bought this a few months ago and it has been fab so far not one problem to say about it ,I use the firewire port from my camcorder to my pc,it imports the video perfect no problems at all, edits it ,can add music to it,never crashes can burn it to disc or hard drive not a problem, the finish product is always 100%.I would recommended this software to anyone,I have always had pinnacle to edit my videos as I do weddings in my spare time also events,I believe pinnacle is easy to understand & easy to use,yes over the years some of the Pinnacle software has not been up to standard,but I would say the major problems for people is to use the firewire port not usb port, your computer has to be top spec for taking video footage eg: lots of memory, good graphics card like nvidia & your hard drive has to be at least 7200rpm & over 200GB for taking video footage if you have all of this you should begin making great movies

Windows Vista, Home Premium Edition with Service Pack 1, Upgrade Version (PC)

Decent OS; I have no desire to switch, 2008-10-17
Frankly, I love Vista. While the minimum system requirements are higher than XP, they are by no means unreasonable, and the result is an OS that's easily as fast as Linux or OS X, and one that is much better laid out as well.

Small touches abound. The start menu has been condensed into one box instead of opening a potentially gigantic list of programs, and discrete info and link boxes are peppered throughout, making it infinitely easier to slip from one related task to another. A particularly nice touch is that the address bar showing your folder location includes a drop down arrow for every folder you've had to go through to reach it, with a list of all the folders contained within them, meaning that you can navigate back through into another folder with ease. It is much like the layout of OS X's folders in that respect, yet compresses it into a much more compact and just as functional design.

Functionality is a mixed bag, but usually for good reason; some old programs will find themselves unable to run on Vista's version of their dependencies, but the vast majority of programs can be made to run with compatibility mode. By this point Vista compatible drivers are standard, and shouldn't present a problem at all. Moreover, troubleshooting problems is vastly improved; with wireless problems in particular, XP was notorious for clamming up as to why it was refusing to work, resulting in a protracted search for a solution. At worst Vista is able to angle in on the general area of the problem, and at best will offer a direct fix. It's a hell of a lot better than the previous Windows favourite, 'dump everything and start over'.

Perhaps I'm simply used to the old Windows problems, but Vista hasn't presented any particular problem for me. Viruses have been very rare, crashes infrequent and mysterious errors few and easily solved, usually by Vista itself. The OS hasn't been a barrier to user accessibility as previous Windows versions have been, and the streamlined design works like a dream. And as always, the sheer popularity of Windows means that it comes out top for overall compatibility with the biggest range of file formats, software and hardware, from the most common to the most obscure.

Be warned: User Account Control is the most horrible invention known to man, comprising a 'security feature' that essentially asks you if you want to execute the program you've just clicked on, every single time you open it. You WILL learn to just click through it automatically, rendering it useless, and you WILL hate it. Make sure the first thing you do before anything else is to head into Control Panel and turn it off. Otherwise, I'm happy to say that Vista is an excellent OS, much better than XP and a perfectly acceptable contender to both OS X and Linux. It depends what your want from your machine; nonetheless, it would be a mistake to overlook Vista as being another buggy version of Windows.

Personal Accountz (PC/Mac)

Simple and quick..., 2008-11-20
There's not much to Personal Accountz other than a simple and quick way of entering your personal financial transactions under as many Expenditure & Income categories and sub-categories as you want. Once the categories are set up (which, as with any personal accounting package, needs prior thought and planning) and the transactions for a defined period are entered, you get a straightforward summary of the totals for the period for each category & sub-category plus a separate analysis of the details of the transactions behind them that can be sorted in multiple ways. You also get the option to produce and print-out reports of all transactions by category type or keyword, and you get a basic but effective system to ensure that the underlying transactions reconcile to the relevant bank or credit card statements.

And... that's it. No bells & whistles and limited output options. So why three stars? Well, realistically, if you want true flexibility and power in analysing and managing your personal finances the best way to get it is to set-up a spreadsheet to take the category totals by period from this type of personal accounting package and then to manually transfer the actual figures from the accounting package into the spreadsheet. This way you can use the huge and powerful array of comparison, graphing and trend analysis tools in the spreadsheet to prepare annual budgets and to compare what's actually happening with what you think is happening. Sounds time consuming but, unless your finances are unduly complicated (in which case you probably need a full blown accounting package anyway) it's not, and it's by far the easiest and quickest way to get the additional flexibility that several other personal accounting packages claim to deliver.

The really time consuming part of the exercise isn't in transferring the category totals into the spreadsheet (and, don't be fooled by claims of "automatic CSV transfers" - at this level, manual transfer is usually simpler and more flexible); the real effort is in entering the large numbers of individual (often small value) transactions from your bank and credit card statements that make up these totals. And, to do this quickly and accurately, you need a package that allows you to enter and categorise these transactions with the minimum amount of typing, that produces the necessary category totals for transfer into the spreadsheet, that confirms that everything reconciles to your source statements, and that allows you to to search & query transactions by payee or other keywords for control & checking purposes. Which is exactly what Personal Accountz does. Use it for what is, and what its price fully justifies, and you'll be very happy.

Need for Speed: ProStreet (PS3)

• Get your adrenaline pumping as you race through the streets in the sensational Need For Speed ProStreet! You can satisfy your need for speed in four different game modes (Drag, Grip, Speed challenge and Top Speed Run)
• You can even challenge your friends around the world to a race and be on your way to becoming a world speed champion !

Average, 2008-08-14
So, I was dubious about this game as I wasn't sure about the entire concept of the game, I really enjoyed the original need for speed games with the old style of gameplay. I think I was right to be dubious, the difference in style is amazing, its just not the same playing this game. What with it being legal racing and on track instead of street it doesn't seem the same. The whole style of the game has been lost.

The complicated upgrading of the cars is not something I look for in a racing game. I understand that this is probably interesting to the bigger car enthusiasts but this game really isn't about that and as I don't understand most of these concepts I don't like them in a game and I felt that I lost out by not knowing how to set the cars up.

The game does have good graphics which helps it along a bit and it does have reasonable gameplay overall but it doesn't feel like a need for speed game. If anything it just feels like a badly done version of Gran Turismo so to be honest I would probably just go and get that instead. It will have better gameplay and more realistic driving where Need For Speed feels like its lost in between arcade and simulation.

I think EA need to work out where their going with this game before they bring out another one. If they did this they might be on to a winner again but for the time being they don't seem to know where their going which is a shame because this game could have been great where I believe for now it is just average.

Mac OS X Leopard (1-User) (Mac)

Easy and fault free upgrade to Mini Mac with Tiger, 2008-04-13
I started over a year ago with a Mini Mac with a Tiger operating system and then subsequently added an I-Mac and Notebook with Leopard pre- installed. So I found myself having to accept the need for an upgrade especially with the ability to better network all our domestic computers using Leopard.

The result was a painless and hassle free upgrade unlike one other Review submission - I have also not found the slow running commented on by others which given I am using the lower end of the Apple range, seems to indicate they may possibly have other usage or memory/RAM issues with their specific machines under the upgrade.

The many features and improvements in Leopard are commented on fully under under Reviews - suffice to say it is not 100% perfect but certainly in the high 90s and compared with the universal problems on Windows launch of Vista (one of the key reasons I experimented with Apple in the first place) I am very happy.

The only problem (as with all Apple OS) is that you get little guidance free and so you will need to budget for purchase of the Missing Manual series on Leopard in understanding the many features and timesaving shortcuts and tricks possible.

Pinnacle Dazzle Video Creator Platinum

Does the job but requires careful setting up, 2008-09-18
I'd been thinking of getting one of these for an age but everyone's polarised reviews put me off completely. Then a few weeks ago I took the plunge as I needed it for a business venture as well as recording myself playing games.

All the dazzles appear to be the same device with different software so it doesn't matter too much which one you get - its more down the cables you buy in addition to your dazzle (they sadly don't tell you that when you buy it that you need more cables) which seems to effect the quality.

Depending on what cables you use (generally a double ended RCA cable and 3 Y Splitter AV cables [1 male to 2 female]) depends on how much lag you get. You can plug in camcorders and your TV and literally press "Start Capture" and it will record but if your recording yourself playing games you cannot just connect your console as there is about a seconds delay before you see what's happening on your PC. That's where the additional cables come in.

The software that's bundled with it is great if your looking to go into great detail with video editing but if not, you can use the Dazzle with Windows Movie Maker and the end result is fine.

What the Dazzle does is great (and if you want 60FPS there's a patch I believe) but just remember to set it up properly for what your using it for.

Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9