Fax Software

Dell Business Software & Accessories

Fax Software

Most users will do just fine with the software bundled with their modems, but if you are running a business, you need more advanced fax software.

You might be debating whether you even need to fax on your computer, because you already have a fax machine for your business. Well, using your computer for faxing brings many benefits. If you run a business, chances are most of your documents will be typed up on your computer, printed out, then faxed. Using your computer to fax will take out those last two steps, faxing will be just like sending email. Modems also fax faster than fax machines, cutting down your long distance bill while boosting your productivity.

WinFax Pro is pretty much the complete faxing package, it is targeted towards the small businesses looking for a more compatible alternative to email. Using WinFax Pro for your faxing will greatly simplify the processing of faxing; it even integrates itself into Outlook for more convenience!

This classic product features: Guided Setup Wizard, Laser quality fax transmission, Easy Fax Sending, Backup and Restore, MS Access database support, Pager support, Calling card support, Fax Broadcast, as well Internet Faxing.

Attributes (Minimum): Connections, Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation.

Remote Control Software

pcANYWHERE from Symantec

Control your office machine from home or while on the road. Quickly transfer and sync files. Works over cabled connections, modems, or the Internet.

If you ever needed to access some of your files at home or work while on the road, you know how frustrating it can be trying to get someone at home or work to send you the file through the internet. With pcANYWHERE, that frustration can be diminished by remote access capabilities. Just run pcANYWHERE on both your home/work computer and your laptop, and when you need to access something while on the road, just connect through the internet and to your desktop computer. This software even lets you runs new programs and monitor ones currently running on your desktop. For example if you’re a 3D graphics designer rendering a scene in Lightwave on your desktop, you can check on the status as well as change the settings of that render on the road with your laptop and pcANYWHERE!

Available in versions that only support hosting, only support remote access, or support both. Supports Windows 95/98 and NT. Includes Win 3.X and DOS versions.

Attributes (Minimum): Connection Types, Security, Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation.

Educational Software for Preschoolers

Jump Start Preschool from Knowledge Advanture

Award-winning original software for Preschool aged kids. Ages 2 to 4 years. Great graphics and sound.

Includes fun games and sing-a-long songs. Kids learn colors and shapes, letters and numbers, and quantities and counting. Kids earn tickets with the completion of activities, and tickets allow them to visit virtual kingdoms with songs and dances. Kids will have a passport that gets stamped when they visit a new kingdom.

Compatible with both Macintosh and Windows.

Attributes (Minimum): Graphics, playability, sound, challenge, replay-ability, story line.

Educational Software for Preschoolers

Dr. Seuss Preschool from Mattel Interactive

Product Picture Over 250 lessons for kids ages 2 to 4 years, on 2 CD-ROMs. Great graphics and sound.

Covers math to early reading. Teaches through comical Dr. Seuss Characters and simple activities. Over 250 lessons for preschoolers. There is also a printable progress report for parents to evaluate their kids’ performance.

Compatible with both Macintosh and Windows.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Compatibility, Integration, Manual, Support.

Educational Software for Preschoolers

Seasame Street Elmo's Reading Preschool/Kindergarten from Creative Wonders

Product Picture From the creators of Sesame Street, the most trusted name in education, comes the most comprehensive 2 CD-ROM program designed to develop Preschool & Kindergarten reading skills. Elmo's Reading enables children to build, apply and strengthen their reading abilities, setting the foundation for a life-long love of reading.

This two CD software will pretty much provide a full year of preschool on the computer. The child goes through over 40 activities filled with songs, music, and colorful games.

For Ages 3 to 6.

Compatible with both Macintosh and Windows.

Attributes (Minimum): Graphics, playability, sound, challenge, replay-ability, story line.

Educational Software for Toddlers

Jump Start Toddler from Knowledge Advanture

Well done software for toddler. Ages 18 months to 3 years. Great graphics and sound. There is growing theory that most kids do not need to use the computer until age 5.

Toddler software such as this needs to be very easy to use and very accessible. If a toddler cannot perform a certain activity with no more than one or two clicks, the toddler could become frustrated. It is usually good to read up on toddler software before purchasing. Make sure it is software that catches your toddler’s attention.

Covers beginning vocabulary, cause and effect, songs and rhymes, and much more.

Compatible with both Macintosh and Windows.

Attributes (Minimum): Graphics, playability, sound, challenge, replay-ability, story line.

Home Reference Software

Encarta Encyclopedia from Microsoft

The #1 Best Selling MultiMedia Encyclopedia adds more subject matter in its latest version. 19 million words of text, 36,000 articles, free online updates for a limited time.

Encarta has been Microsoft’s answer to the growing number of computer encyclopedias. Encarta is a multimedia rich alternative to other text encyclopedias on the computer. The interface of Encarta is very clean and simple to use, though it might get a bit slow on earlier computers.

Includes:- Famous speeches
- Historical documents
- Literary excerpts
- Links to related Web sites or discover other sources on the recommended reading list.
- Videos, animation clips, audio clips, and more bring learning to life, turning every report and research project into an interactive presentation.

They also produce a Deluxe version with more content, an Interactive World Atlas, and a World English Dictionary.

Attributes (Minimum): Articles, words, video, pictures, sound clips, quality, size.
Alternates: Online Encyclopedia Brittanica

Graphics Software

Adobe Photoshop Elements from Adobe Systems

Product Picture Targeted towards digital photography. Fix your photos, adjust the tone of the image. Format the image for printing or posting on the web.

This program is a great tool for fixing up your pictures after you have scanned them or taken them with your digital camera. Photoshop Elements is simply a cheaper and more stripped down version of Photoshop for the consumer market. The features of Photoshop are stripped down and made easier to use in Photoshop Elements. Fixing up a photo with Photoshop Elements is much quicker than manual adjusting settings with Photoshop. If you’re a professional photographer, go with Photoshop, you get more control and more tools. If you just need to touch up a photo, Photoshop Elements will do the job at an affordable price.

Features:
- Straight and Crop Photos
- Remove red-eye
- Fix overexposure
- Adjust tones
- Color Correction

Includes both Macintosh and Windows versions.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation.
Alternates: Paintshop Pro
Comments: Rebate for older versions and the competition.

High-end Graphics Software

Adobe Photoshop from Adobe Systems

Product Picture The industry standard in graphics software for digital image editing, photo retouching and image compositing.

Photoshop has held its place as the king of the hill when it comes to graphics software. Photoshop is still nothing but the best. The new interface give you more options on screen, with the added tool bar on the top of the screen, many pop-up dialog boxes are now gone. Photoshop’s new vector capabilities also leave Illustrator in the dust as graphics designers can now draw and edit in the same software. There are still many add-ons and filters available for Photoshop. Some professional ones are expensive and commercially available, but there are just as many free ones for you to enhance your graphics. With Photoshop, any PC can create professional-looking graphics; it’s all up to your creativity.

New in Version 6:
- Vector shape and text support
- Advanced PDF output
- Layer styles
- Image warping
- And more…

Now includes multiple levels of undo, enhanced color management, layers, and automated batching. Latest version includes ImageReady, previously a several hundred dollar add-on program. This program allows you to quickly make images ready for the web.

One of the more expensive programs on the market. Available for both Macintosh and Windows. To save money, purchase an old version and then buy an upgrade.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation.
Comments: Verion 6 ships late 9/2000.

Personal Publishing

The Print Shop Deluxe from Broderbund

Product Picture Now at version 11, includes over 185,000 ClickArt graphics and 10,000+ professionally designed project templates, creating greeting cards, holiday newsletters, and yearly calendars featuring your family photographs that reflect your unique style is easier than ever.

Easy to use interface allows you to create virtually any item your family needs. This program is a good reason to get to purchase a good color inkjet printer.

With software like Print Shop Deluxe, you can now print like a small publishing company. Print flyers, banner, cards, anything you can think of. This is the type of software that puts your creativity to work!

Includes additional programs to edit Photos and design Web Pages.

Keep in mind that this company also owns the PrintMaster product! Talk about monopoly.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Interface, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Templates, Clip Art, Paper, Drawing Tools, Fonts, Support, Documentation. Alternates: PrintMaster Platinum Print Artist Platinum

Software

Publisher from Microsoft

Microsoft Publisher 2002 desktop publishing program gives you the tools to make professional-quality publications for print and the Web. Office style tools and menus, professionally designed templates, and flexible customization make creating professional-quality publications for print and the Web easier than ever.

Publisher used to be the best desktop publishing software around, with so many features back in the Office 95 and 97 days, no one could hardly beat it. Now the competition is more intense, and Publisher still holds on to a small percent of the market. Publisher is not fit for the home user, look to The Print Shop Deluxe for that. Small businesses should find Publisher appealing because it’s packaged with Office Small Business Edition and has many business templates. If you run a home office that need to print ads, flyers, or any other professional documents, Publisher is still a great option. If you’re a home user looking to print some birthday cards, Publisher may be too advanced and too limited.

Included with some versions of Office XP.

Attributes (Minimum): Templates, Fonts, Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation.

Website Creation Software

Microsoft Front Page from Microsoft

The standard in low cost web page design software was much improved in its 2002 version.

New features include better site management, multi user collaboration, easier database connections, multi-lingual interface, improved support for HTML 4's DHTML and CSS, and many more templates and preconfigured designs. Of course this product is fully integrated with Office XP.

Frontpage is a very easy to use and cheap alternative to Macromedia’s Dreamweaver. While Frontpage does not have all the advanced layers used in Dreamweaver, it does have a very clean interface and is very easy to learn and to use. Making a website in Frontpage is much like typing up a Word Document, and publishing a Frontpage site can be done in one mouse click, on to a Frontpage Extension-enabled web server.

Most web hosting firms now support FrontPage extensions.

This product is available standalone or bundled with Office.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation.

Advanced Windows Operating System

Windows 2000 from Microsoft

Product Picture This is the operating system for network servers and for power users requiring more reliability. If you mainly run business applications, there is no reason to run anything else. Gamers should stick to Windows 98/ME until XP. As PC Week puts it, "The question for anyone running Windows NT 4.0 Server is not whether to upgrade to Windows 2000 Server but when to upgrade."

Many will use it because it is much more complicated to install NT 4 and all the requisite Service packs, hotfixes, and option packs. Microsoft has spent a lot of extra time perfecting this long awaited operating system. This is the OS for power users, business machines, and workstations. This is not an Operating System for games or light computer users. Microsoft certifies applications for use with 2000, although non certified applications can also run just fine. Certified applications utilize the new Installer that automatically replaces files that are missing. Check Microsoft's lists for hardware and software compatibility with the products you utilize. Some motherboard BIOS's will need updating to support this operating system.

Installation is much easier than NT 4.0, allowing you to upgrade from Windows 95/98 without reinstalling all your software. This operating system runs faster because its full 32-bit nature, DirectX gaming support, driver validation and error logging architecture, DLL protection mechanism, (to prevent DLL HELL!) kernel memory locking, System Directory protection, an improved SMB redirector, reduced contention on the NT file system log, TCP/IP checksum offloading to NICs, native DVD playback, Improved IIS 5.0 file cache, and improved scalability to multiple CPUs. It also includes built in file encryption and Intellimirror to synchronize applications and data.

For large companies, the main upgrade driver is Active Directory, a security model that integrates everything across the enterprise. We want the more robust driver model, support of Hardware Plug and Play, USB, and 1394 Firewire. Windows 2000 also has better support of Laptops and their power management, so anyone running NT on a laptop really should upgrade right away.

We were pleasantly surprised when we upgraded a NT 4 Server configuration. The upgrade went without a hitch and the machine still runs fine. This drive was running special web server, voice recognition, and SQL server software too. The additional features of Windows 2000 are nice as is the user interface cleanup. The coolest item is the fade in of the Start Menu. (A good enough excuse to upgrade in itself) We cloned our NT4 configuration to a test drive before doing the upgrade of course!

Available is an update for previous owners of Windows 98 and NT. Comes in versions called Professional (upto 2 CPUs), Server (upto 4), Advanced Server (upto 8), and Data Center (upto 32).

Microsoft claims that a Pentium 133 MHz with 64 MB RAM is enough to run Windows 2000, but in our test of a Pentium 133, Windows 2000 performed sluggish and unusable. We recommend at least a Pentium II 450 MHz with 128 MB RAM. It’s not a high requirement considering that 1 GHz+ computers are now around $500.

This PC World article will help you plan your upgrade to Windows 2000.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Installation, Compatibility, Integration, Support, Manual. Comments: Windows XP ships at the end of 2001

Linux Operating System

Red Hat Linux from Red Hat Software

Product Picture It almost makes no sense recommending another PC or Mac operating system as most machines come pre-bundled with them.

Linux gives you the powerful robust open-source operating system at a low price. Please note that this is not for novice users. We feel Linux will have most of its sucess in the corporate market as a server operating system. We recommend Linux for System administrators and Power Users. Version 6.1 lacks plug and play, requiring the user to select every piece of their hardware from a list. Version 7 improves on this and also adds the Red Hat Network that can keep your system up to date on all patches and security updates.. We found the performance of web browsing with Netscape Communicator faster under Windows 98.

Although you can download free versions of Linux, it is much easier to buy this multi CD-ROM version. The Red Hat Package Manager makes installing additional software packages much easier. 90 days of email installation support, 30 days phone installation support.

Deluxe version available with telephone installation support and more sample applications. Professional version adds support for creating secure Web Servers and even more support. If you just plan on using Linux on a workstation configuration, just the standard version enough. If you plan on setting up a server or a cluster, go with the secure server edition. Their automatic update system is a must for commercial installtion of Linux.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation.
Alternates: SuSE Linux Caldera OpenLinux Corel Linux Comments: If you are a pro at Linux order the $2 Red Hat versions at CheapBytes. You will not get any support or any tryout software, but its a hacker system! We have been hearing good things about Corel Linux. It ships with Wordperfect and has a good filemanager. Mac version at < A HREF="http://www.linuxppc.org">LinuxPPC.

Windows Operating System

Windows Millenium Edition from Microsoft

No sense recommending a different mainstream PC operating system as almost all machines come prebundled with them.

The latest version incorporates all the patches needed by Windows 95 and 98, supports Firewire (1394), and adds Internet Connection Sharing. PC World has a nice article cover all the patches you may need to apply to your software.

It eliminates MS-DOS mode for more reliability, has a better hibernation sleep mode, protects system files from inadvertant updating, and has a several nice features for digital camera users. It also rolls in a System Restore utility that lets you roll back the system to an older configuration.

Also included is a Movie Maker program, latest Internet explorer, latest Windows media Player, and much faster system startup and shutdown.

Windows ME can also be considered as Windows 98 Third Edition. It really doesn’t offer much over Windows 98 SE. If you got a new computer with ME on it, great, use it. If you have a computer with 98, this is not that big of an upgrade, and you’re also sacrificing performance for this upgrade. Save up your money for the next major release of Windows – Windows XP.

Current Windows 98 users do not need to upgrade. Beware that many PCs include Operating system restore CDs and not full versions.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Installation, Compatibility, Integration, Support, Manual. Comments: Windows XP will be the OS to upgrade to in late 2001.

Drive Cloning Utility

Drive Image from PowerQuest

Great utility that helped you copy the contents of a drive onto another hard drive, Zip, Jaz, or any other removable media.

Great for instant backups or for creating snapshots of standard installation configurations of software. Compresses data to minimize image file storage sizes. Resizes volumes to make images fix on different sized drives. Supports Windows, Linux, UNIX, and Netware. Latest version 4 supports CDR drives.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, OS Compatibility, Support, Documentation.

Utility Software

Norton Systemworks Professional 2001 from Symantec Corp

All the useful utilities you will probably EVER need! Fix your machine, make it faster, undelete programs, uninstall even problem programs, do faxing, find viruses, fix Y2K issues, clone hard drives, etc.

The normal ones included are Norton Utilities, Norton Antivirus, and Norton Cleansweep. Professional version also includes WinFax Basic, Norton Ghost. Norton Ghost now writes disk images directly to CDR!

Much better value than buying these products separately. Integration is decent. 2001 Version added better one button checkup, Windows 2000 and ME support and shipped Sept. 2000. They removed Crashguard, because it caused more problems than it fixed! Keep in mind that this suite will slow your machine down by about 6-9% and slow computer shutdowns noticeably.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation.

Utility Software

Norton Internet Security 2001 from Symantec Corp

The Internet is now the playground of hackers. Easy to find tools allow hackers to crash or worse yet steal information from you. Gibson Research can scan your machine for openings that allow hackers to break into your machine and steal all your information.

This personal firewall is designed to product all users, especially ones with DSL/Cable modems from malicious Viruses, Java, and ActiveX controls. Actively updated to handle latest attacks. Also includes Parental web site controls and banner ad stripping. Latest version supports Windows 95/98/ME/NT WS/2000 Pro

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation.

Voice Recognition

Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred from Dragon Systems

Here is a product category that will use up every Mhz and MB of RAM you have in your machine. This product helps introduce users to the evolving world of voice recognition without spending a lot of money. This version of the product focuses on allowing you to surf the web with voice commands. Dictate email, make instant messages, and really chat in a chat room.

Higher end versions are designed for continuous speech recognition for creating and editing documents. You are required to spend about 30 minutes reading pre written passages to train the program.

Uses about 300MB of disk space and really requires at least 128 MB of RAM. Includes a decent headset microphone. We recommend you only utilize this on Pentium III or newer machines as it is accelerated for them. Their more expensive USB microphone does not work better, save your money. Make sure you have a high quality sound card. The Naturalweb, Browser control software, is very buggy and has not been patched.

Competitors Viavoice Millennium and Elite Pro just are not as accurate but have better Operating System integration. L&H Voice Xpress Pro is also not as accurate.

This technology has been focused at the impaired, but is now moving mainstream as prices and quality have risen. The next generation of product should be even more mainstream, so unless you have special needs, avoid spending too much. Recognition is now very good with the focus shifting toward better integration with the operating system to control applications and web browsing.

Version 5 shipped in late August 2000. It has some additional features and a better interface. Preferred version includes all modules you need to really use this program.

Attributes (Minimum): Accuracy, Vocabulary, Application Integration, OS control, Internet Control, Text to Speech, Microphone quality Comments: Better recognition engine than IBM and L&H. L&H bought Dragon in March 2000, which promises to make the industry more interesting. Conversa Web is a better standalone program for doing only voice based web browsing.

Development Software

Microsoft Visual Basic 6 Pro from Microsoft Corp

The standard as far as rapid application development environments goes. Native-code compiler, integrated database tools, testing, and deployment tools. Create server-side applications and components. (ASP or Active Server Pages) Whether you hate this software or not, you gotta use it. Lots of 3rd party tools and plug-ins are available.

Visual Basic gives you an easy-to-use software development environment that is very extensible through the use of ActiveX controls and COM objects. VB has the support of the highest number of developers online and offline mainly because it’s easy to learn and use. Full-featured software can be made in less than a day’s work, and code sites such as planetsourcecode.com gives developers a way of sharing their code online. VB is also integrated with Internet technologies such as ODBC database support and the Internet Explorer Platform SDK.

One of the best applications of VB would be designing interfaces. Skinnable interfaces can be coded in a few hours and most designs follow the Windows logo guidelines.

Inexpensive Learning version available for people just getting started. Enterprise version adds SQL Server database support. Pricing is for the competitive/version upgrade.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation.
Comments: We would prefer using Borland Delphi, but Microsoft is king.

Development Software Suite

Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 Pro from Microsoft Corporation

Product Picture Includes Visual Basic 6.0, Visual C++, Visual FoxPro 6.0, Visual InterDev 6.0, Visual J++ 6.0, and MSDN Library Special Edition.

Pretty much Microsoft’s whole arsenal as far as development tools go, you can pretty much develop anything from Java applets to million-dollar database software with this. Mainly for the experienced programmer, use VB if you’re just starting out.

The standard as far as development tools goes. Whether you hate this software or not, you gotta use it. Lots of 3rd party tools and plug-ins are available.

Pricing is for the competitive/version upgrade.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation.

Website Development Software

Dreamweaver from MacroMedia

Simply a great web design tool. Clean page design and layout, a good table editor, site management functions, templates, extensible, and full integration with HTML code editors such as HomeSite or BBEdit. Finally a tool that does not use a proprietary file format and that does not play around with custom tags. It is not perfect, we have caught it adding lots of useless stuff to our pages.

Macromedia’s Dreamweaver has always been one of the best HTML editors out there, mainly for its minimal intrusion into the creation of your code. Dreamweaver also features a great tutorial which can get you started working in Dreamweaver in a few hours. The layer capabilities in Dreamweaver makes it more advanced than the competitors such as Microsoft Frontpage.

Version 3 added many news features including tag editor, improved table support, non-CSS style sheets, and a DOM extensible object model. Version 4 added inlclude code viewing, Javascript debugger, integrated O'reily code reference, and much more. Available for Macintosh and Windows.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation.

Website Development Software

Cold Fusion Studio from Macromedia

Product Picture Simply a great web application server platform. Cold Fusion allows you to create dynamic web sites that use information pulled from databases. Its main competitor is Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP). It is much easier to learn than ASP because of its HTML-like tag based language. It is also more productive.

ColdFusion will pretty much make your website more interactive, as it uses data pulled from databases in your site, all you need to do is update the database. ASP is another good option, but it’s very hard to learn and connection code needs to be rewritten for every platform. PHP is also gaining ground as an open source alternative, making the market of dynamic web pages a three-way battle.

Cold Fusion is scalabe onto Sun hardware and Linux, support load balancing and fail-over. It easily connects to most industrial strength SQL databases.

You can purchse the Studio version, which comes with a single-user version of the server, to author your site and then host the site using a hosting firm. No need to buy server unless you are creating your own server.

Basic version available for download for free.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Compatibility, Integration, Manual, Support. Alternates: Microsoft Active Server Pages, PHP, JSP

Action Entertainment Software

Thief II: The Metal Age from Eidos Interactive

Product Picture The original version evolved the first person shooter genre by putting the player in a large realistic environment and making it more strategic than a kill everything game. This coupled with a sophisticated artificial intelligence system created a rich, immersive game world which supported its core gameplay - stealth, strategy, and suspense. 16-bit color helps make the graphics look better.

You play as a Thief in this game, trying to break into places and loot as much as possible. The main objective throughout the game is to pretty much avoid fights, you are weak and stealthy, and need to sneak from place to place without being seen. This game is not for the impatient, but rather for the strategy gamers looking to add a new dimension in their gaming.

Thief II includes all new missions, new graphics engine, challenging new opponents, Creative Labs EAX 3-D sound support, and joystick support.

Attributes (Minimum): Graphics, playability, sound, challenge, replay-ability, story line, internet play.

Action Game

Half-Life from Sierra Studios

Product Picture Half-Life, a revolutionary game, restored single-player gaming in the first person shooter world. Valve, the makers of Half-Life, licensed the Quake II engine and made a masterpiece, a first person shooter that’s as interactive as any RPG out there and as action-packed as any Quake game that ever existed. Welcome to the world of Half-Life.

Half-Life puts you in the role of Gordon Freeman - a scientist doing research in the government top-secret Black Mesa Laboratory. As you go to work one day and perform an experiment, something went very wrong. There was a big explosion and aliens came to the laboratory, killed many scientists and injuring just as many.

Even though Half-Life got its fame from single-player, it’s also the most popular multiplayer game played on the Internet. With its popular mod Counter-Strike, a realistic terrorist and counter-terrorist mod, the Half-Life engine is the most widely used multiplayer engine. Counter-Strike is a free add-on for Half-Life available at http://www.counter-strike.net.

Team Fortress is also a popular multiplayer mod for Half-Life. Team Fortress allows you to join your buddies and fight against other teams, completing many different missions and ultimately deathmatching the other team.

The Half-Life engine, an enhanced Quake II engine, is one of the only engines to feature skeletal animation, advanced monster AI, and real-time DSP sound.There are many editions of Half-Life, with the new Platinum Edition featuring everything including Counter-Strike and Team Fortress.

Available for Windows. Macintosh version got cancelled.

Attributes (Minimum): Graphics, playability, sound, challenge, replay-ability, story line, internet play.

Action Game

Quake III Arena from Activision

Quake, the name that rings a bell in the mind of almost any gamer out there. Id Software’s latest masterpiece of this series has the speed and bloodiness of DOOM, and the strategic components of Quake I and II. Quake III Arena is a brand new twist in a world of first person shooter games, one that’s multiplayer-only and 3d accelerated-only. If you’ve got the 3D-powered rig and the will to deathmatch, you can hardly go wrong with Quake III Arena.

For starters, Quake III Arena can be played in single player mode, as you fight through arenas filled with computer-driven bots. These bots are not hard to beat, but the accuracy of the computer can give newbies a challenge. For the hardcore 3D gamers, jumping right on a server and duking it out with real humans can be an enjoyable experience. The multiplayer capabilities of Quake III are nothing short of amazing, good fast servers on a broadband connection seems to run faster than single player mode. Quake III makes for a perfect Internet game and can also be used to deathmatch your friends at a LAN party.

Performance wise, an Intel or AMD processor of 450 MHz or more and a Riva TNT video card or faster is all you need to get good performance at normal video settings. To unlock the full potential of the Quake III engine, you’ll probably need a 800 MHz and up CPU and a GeForce and above video card. The Quake III engine is the first ever 3D engine to render rounded edges, allowing for incredible detail in the levels that use it. The engine is fully expandable for people willing to develop levels, models, or mods. There are already several good, free mods which can provide many extra hours of Quake III gaming.

Quake III Arena has redefined the world of first person shooters. Fighting evil aliens in old 3D games have been replaced by the much more intelligent bots in Quake III. The old, lagging multiplayer games must now be revolutionized and retrofited for broadband and the future. Een dial-up connections get a speed boost with the advanced network capabilities. Polygon manipulation in the graphics of games can now allow engines to render smooth, circular surfaces. Finally, Quake III Arena brings us the gameplay as fast as the old DOOM deathmatch and as intelligent and graphical as the latest 3D games.

Available for both Macintosh and Windows.

Action Game

Unreal Tournament from Epic Games

Unreal, the game shook the world with its revolutionary engine. Unreal Tournament, as the multiplayer-only sequel to Unreal and Quake III Arena’s only real competitor, is one of the best in its class. Unreal Tournament is multiplayer-only, with the only single player mode being with computer-controlled bots. Unreal Tournaments advanced bot AI even tops Quake III’s AI, one of the reasons for Unreal Tournament receiving the Game of the Year award.

Unreal Tournament also has a new mod system with a new interface. Unreal Tournament’s mod and interface system in more like a small operating system, software will be able to be coded to run in the UT interface and mods are installed by a special program. Multiplayer gaming is tracked in Unreal Tournament, allowing you to view all your stats online. The level editor for Unreal Tournament is still UnrealEd, giving the familiar interface to veteran level editors. Amking levels is much simpler in the Unreal engine compared to the Quake III engine. Levels don’t need to be compiled, and can run instantly, much like the newer Serious Sam engine. If you would like more information on Unreal Tournament, visit http://www.planetunreal.com for info from the Unreal community.

Available for Macintosh, Linux and Windows.

Attributes (Minimum): Graphics, playability, sound, challenge, replay-ability, story line, internet play.

Adventure Game

Baldur's Gate II from Interplay

An addictive action adventure game that comes on 5 CDs filled with prerendered backgrounds, compelling music, and gameplay. Control a party of 6 to battle 60 different monsters. Uses 16-bit dynamic color for excellent detail.

Baldur’s Gate games are considered among the pioneers of RPG on the PC, being the most popular RPG on the PC, Baldur’s Gate sets the standard for this genre.

Other features:

- Realistic day to night changes in the lighting of the world

- Rain, snow, fog, lightning, all occuring in real-time

- Dynamic changes in character appearance - as you change a character's weapons and armor, you see it on that character.

- Over 300 spells, over 100 subplots.

Attributes (Minimum): Graphics, playability, sound, challenge, replay-ability, story line, internet play.

Adventure Game

Diablo II from Blizzard

The sequel to an addictive action adventure game with prerendered backgrounds, compelling music, and gameplay. Journey across distant lands to fight new villains and discover new treasures. Five new character classes, four different fully populated towns, multiple dungeons and caverns. New quests, weapons, spells, armor. Multiplayer support over Battle.net.

Fully supports 3D accelerator video cards and sound cards for more immersive game play. Graphics are still 640x480 though.

Diablo II’s terrain is randomly generated in multiplayer mode, giving it a high replay value. Multiplayer seems to be the best aspect of this game allowing you to train your character and purchase and trade for items to be a strong character. Characters can then fight with each other to get items from other people, seeking out rare items in multiplayer maps is also an addictive experience. Diablo II comes in 3 CDs giving it a long single player game where you fight computer characters with high AI intelligence.

Attributes (Minimum): Graphics, playability, sound, challenge, replay-ability, story line, internet play.
Comments: Expansion pack enhanced the graphics.

Arcade Entertainment Software

Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed from Electronic Arts

The latest in the Need for Speed series. Drive the world's hottest cars and compete head to head against the computer or friends

19 realistic courses in a variety of exotic locales. Repair and upgrade your car. Night racing, real weather conditions, and traffic. This game really requires a Pentium II with a 3D accelerator card. It has some great music and sound effects.

This latest installment of the Need for Speed series is considered the best installment so far. With the whole arsenal of Porsche luxury sports cars at your disposal, racing is more exciting than ever before. Now you can also race head-to-head against internet opponents on EA’s network.

Attributes (Minimum): Graphics, playability, sound, challenge, replay-ability, story line, internet play.

Combat Simulator Software

http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click?bfmid=37628499&siteid=38570301&bfpage=automerch13

Jane's USAF from Electronic Arts

The experts on the world's military have created a great combat flight simulator. Its small learning curve is due to simple training missions. The game's graphics are simply awesome. The cockpit, terrain, and airfields are very nice. The sound can get annoying, especially the "Yahoos", but you can turn them off.

The game uses a crazy 1.2GB of disk space! Part of this is for the Voice Recognition software that you can use in place of the keyboard, for commands. There are several missions included that make replayability high.

A Pentium II based system with a decent 3D accelerator is a must.

Attributes (Minimum): Graphics, playability, sound, challenge, replay-ability, story line, internet play.

Flight Simulator Game

Microsoft Flight Simulator from Microsoft

The next version of the award-winning, best-selling flight simulator of all time. Have fun flying the Concorde or a Bell helicopter around and not shooting others. Flight Simulator 2000 is more realistic and graphically superior to its previous incarnations.

Nice crisp 16-bit graphics, nice instrument panels, good scenery, decent AI, good music and effects, nice tutorial, and great game play.

Professional Edition adds Editors, more aircraft, and more detailed cities.

Attributes (Minimum): Graphics, playability, sound, challenge, replay-ability, story line, internet play.
Comments: We think Fly! is better, but the name alone will sell this title.

Simulation Game

The Sims from Maxis

Product Picture A great non-violent game for a change. From the SimCity maker, you get to now create and control people.

Build and decorate homes, buy gadgets like TVs and pools, follow your characters through different careers, run or ruin their lives. Compare notes with other players with The Sims Exchange

Available for Windows.

Attributes (Minimum): Graphics, playability, sound, challenge, replay-ability, story line, internet play.

Simulation Game Software

Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear from Red Storm

Product Picture The sequel to the great Tom Clancy company game Rainbox Six. This game puts you in command of a squad of elite troops bent on saving the world. It combines arcade action and tactical planning. It can be as complex as you want it to be or more of an arcade game.

New weapons, new missions, joystick control, sniper support, record and replay missions, and great online multi-player play.

Attributes (Minimum): Graphics, playability, sound, challenge, replay-ability, story line, internet play.

Sports Entertainment Software

Links 2001 from Microsoft

Product Picture Links LS 2001 is the latest version of the best-selling golf simulation game. Now owned by Microsoft, this version has realistic ball travel and very meticulously rendered terrain. 2001 has a new rendering engine for better graphics and physics.

Five new courses, improved foliage graphics, four new golfers, a new one-click swing and commentary from CBS golf analyst rounds out the Links LS experience.

And with full Internet's MSN Gaming Zone support, you can always find someone to play against. This title just kicks Tiger Woods Golf!

Attributes (Minimum): Graphics, playability, sound, challenge, replay-ability, story line.

Sports Game

Madden NFL from Electronic Arts

Product Picture It started over a decade back on the Sega Genesis and continues today. Electronic Arts consistently puts out the best football games.

Great graphics, great playability, good realism, and incredible depth make this a stellar title.

Make sure you have a 3D-acclerated video card and lots of free time. When are these guys going to give rebates to owners of previous versions??

EA is finally porting some of their titles to the Macintosh.

Attributes (Minimum): Graphics, playability, sound, challenge, replay-ability, story line, internet play.
Comments: 2001 version shipping 9/2000.

Sports Games

NBA Live 2001 from Electronic Arts

It started several years back on the Sega Genesis and continues today. Electronic Arts consistently puts out the best sports games.

2001 adds Online communities, enhanced GM mode, and new transitons and inside game.

Great graphics, great playability, good realism, and incredible depth make this a stellar title. You can even paste your face on characters!

Make sure you have a 3D-acclerated video card and lots of free time. When are these guys going to give rebates to owners of previous versions??

Attributes (Minimum): Graphics, playability, sound, challenge, replay-ability, story line

Sports Games

NHL 2001 from Electronic Arts

It started several years back on the Sega Genesis and continues today. Electronic Arts consistently puts the best virtual hockey.

Great graphics, great playability, good realism, and incredible depth make this a stellar title.

Make sure you have a 3D-acclerated video card and lots of free time. When are these guys going to give rebates to owners of previous versions??

Attributes (Minimum): Graphics, playability, sound, challenge, replay-ability, story line, internet play.

Sports Games

FIFA 2001 from Electronic Arts

Product Picture It started several years back on the Sega Genesis and continues today. Electronic Arts consistently puts out the best sports games.

Great graphics, great playability, good realism, and incredible depth make this a stellar title. 50 national teams. 17 leagues.

Make sure you have a 3D-acclerated video card and lots of free time. When are these guys going to give rebates to owners of previous versions??

2001 version makes the game more playable and realistic. 2000 was so fast it was hard to play.

Attributes (Minimum): Graphics, playability, sound, challenge, replay-ability, story line, internet play.

Sports Games

Triple Play from Electronic Arts

It started several years back on the Sega Genesis and continues today. Electronic Arts consistently puts out the best sports games.

Great graphics, great playability, good realism, and incredible depth make this a stellar title.

Make sure you have a 3D-acclerated video card and lots of free time. When are these guys going to give rebates to owners of previous versions??

High Heat Baseball 2001 from 3D0 is also a great title and arguably better.

Attributes (Minimum): Graphics, playability, sound, challenge, replay-ability, story line, internet play.

Strategy Game

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings from Microsoft

Product Picture The sequel to the award-winning, best-selling real-time strategy game Age of Empires. Age of Empires II spans a thousand years, from the fall of Rome through the Middle Ages in which players lead one of 13 civilizations into greatness.

Nice crisp graphics, decent AI, good music and effects, nice tutorial, and great game play. Five campaigns, scenario and campaign editor, and random map skirmish mode. Multiplayer support and MSN Gaming Zone support.

Attributes (Minimum): Graphics, playability, sound, challenge, replay-ability, story line, internet play.

Macintosh Operating System

MacOS 9 from Apple Computer, Inc.

Product Picture The most stable version of the Macintosh System yet. Includes Sherlock, which allows you to search within documents on your drive, or query multiple Internet search engines at one time.

Faster network performance, PowerPC native Applescript, security, multiple user support, and many other small features.

After six months, most major utilities and graphics tools have been updated to be made compatible.

Mac OS X shipped 3/24/2001. New Mach/BSD Unix based back end for memory protection and preemptive multitasking, new Aqua user interface, and access to a large library of Unix programs. Give it 6-12 months for native applications to be released, DVD and CDR to be supported, and bugs to stomped out.

Attributes (Minimum): Ease of use, web support, performance, compatibility, documentation.
Comments: MacOS 9 shipped on 10/23/1999.

Macintosh Productivity Software

Office 2001 for Mac from Microsoft Corp

Product Picture The definitive business suite of applications for the Macintosh. 2001 version has updated modern UI, better support of key Apple technologies, web integration, and more integration between modules. Microsoft did their homework in creating this version. It installs easily, launches quickly, and fully adheres to the Mac interface.

Includes:
-Excel
-Entourage
-Powerpoint
-Word

They have posted many upgrades that should be installed by users.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation.
Alternates: None!

Macintosh Utility Software

Stuffit Deluxe from Aladdin Systems

The standard for compressing and expanding files on the Macintosh. The company claims it stuffs files by an average of 60%. Also supports most of the compression formats out there, including .zip, .tar, .hqx, and MIME.

A free version, Stuffit Expander, that expands downloaded files is available for download.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation.

Macintosh Utility Software

Conflict Catcher from Casady and Greene

This essential utility replaces the standard Extension Manager that Apple provides with System Software. It helps stop crashes and freezes by isolating the cause of System Extension conflicts.

It also has a system merge features that allows users to Clean install a fresh operating system, then merge in the files that are needed. These guys continually update this product.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation.

Macintosh Utility Software

Virtual PC from Connectix

All Mac users need a method of co-existing with PC software. Virtual PC allows you to run almost any PC operating system including Windows ME, 98, NT, DOS, or Linux.

Performance is not great, but it works. VirtualPC is great for casual use of Windows software, but most games will run very slow and some graphic-intensive software won’t run at all.

They recommend a G3 when running Windows ME. DOS, Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Linux versions also available.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation.

Macintosh Utility Software

Norton Systemworks Mac from Symantec

Product Picture Includes Norton AntiVirus, Norton Utilities, Aladdin Spring Cleaning, and Dantz Retrospect Express Backup.

The Macintosh is susceptible to viruses like any other computer. This product is one of the only ones available for the Macintosh that is regularly updated to combat the latest nasties.

Includes features that allow scanning of Internet downloads, email attachments, CDs, floppy disks, shared files, and networks.

Norton Utilities is the essential problem solver for your Macintosh. It protects your valuable data and keeps your computer running smoothly by preventing, repairing, and recovering from the problems you face everyday.

It can repair disk problems, improve performance by defragmenting your disk, and recover deleted files.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation

Desktop Database Management Software

FileMaker Pro from FileMaker, Inc.

Product Picture Available for both the Macintosh and Windows, FileMaker Pro is an easy to use desktop database software package that makes it easy to manage data. In a market dominated by Microsoft's Access, FileMaker continue to hold its own because of its excellent user interface. Even novice users can create powerful databases to handle a variety of tasks.

A variety of pre-made templates are also included. You can instantly publish your databases on Internet, although performance problems will limit this to only small volume sites. Version 5 with its support of advanced HTML CSS, makes web databases look even closer to the original. The product has only recently added some ODBC compatibility, making connecting this database into an enterprise a problem.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Ease of use, templates, web support, performance, import/export capabilities, Documentation. Alternates: Microsoft Access Comments: Filemaker 5.5 shipped in May 2001.

Home Productivity Software Suite

Microsoft Works 2001 Suite from Microsoft

Most users do not need the power of the Microsoft Office suite. Microsoft has finally put together a suite of productivity applications for the rest of us. This suite includes works processing, database, financial management, publishing, and an encyclopedia.

Includes Microsoft Works 6, Word 2000, Money 2001, Expedia Streets and Trips 2001, Picture-It! Publisher 2001, and Encarta 2001.

Beware that this suite takes 785-1400 MB for an installation.

Pricing is for the competitive/version upgrade. You can save a lot of money buy purchasing it with your new machine.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Integration, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation.

Personal Finance Software

Quicken Deluxe from Intuit, Inc.

Balance your checkbook, pay your bills, track investments and plan for the future. The latest version of this venerable product is slightly improved over the previous years product. The investment handling section is pretty strong. Integration with the Quicken.com website is good. Microsoft Money is a fine alternative.

We give the edge to this product because of the product line breath. You can upgrade to Quickbooks if you need small business accounting, and you can easily move between platforms.

Available for both Macintosh and Windows.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation.
Alternates: Microsoft Money

Productivity Software Suite

Microsoft Office XP Standard from Microsoft

Product Picture Includes Microsoft Word 2002, Excel 2002, PowerPoint 2002, Outlook 2002. Major new features include Smart Tags, Application crash recovery, Task panes, Speech Recognition, and no more paper clip!

The next standard as far as office productivity applications goes. Overkill for some users, but a must for users who use these tools daily and need tighter integration. Whether you hate this software or not, you gotta use it. It takes 360 MB for a full installation.

Pricing is for the competitive/version upgrade for older versions of Office 97 and 2000. You can save a lot of money buy purchasing it with your new machine.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation.
Comments: StarOffice from Sun has become a viable free alternative. It does run slow on some PCs and is not easy to learn.

Small Business Accounting Software

Quickbooks 2001 from Intuit, Inc.

QuickBooks accounting and business management features are easy to learn and use, customizable to your business, and provide instant access to your important business information with over 100 reports and graphs.

Handles invoicing, payroll, inventory, payables, receivables, and general ledger. Easy start-up interview makes setup fast. Flow chart navigation makes the product easy to learn.

Pro version is multiuser ready. The network of available local consultants to help you use this product, make its selection a no brainer.

Macintosh users should avoid this product because of the wavering support of it by the company.

2000 version started shipping in January, 2000. It adds nicer UI, e-commerce capabilities including a Site builder and Merchant Account Service that have monthly fees. It also synchronizes contact information with Outlook and Act. We would give it a maintenance release or two before upgrading to it.

2001 version added electronic billing, payments, and estimates.

Attributes (Minimum): Features, Ease of Use, Speed, Expansion Capabilities, Compatibility, Support, Documentation.
Alternates: Peachtree Complete Accounting has a great UI and good help and tutorials.