On our DVD cover disc this month, enjoy full versions of Backup4all 3.3 Lite, Driver Genius Professional Edition 5 and Panda Antivirus 2007. We’ve also got an entire DVD-quality episode of the acclaimed series Ghost in the shell: Stand Alone Complex which will run in your stand-alone DVD player or on PC with a DVD playing application. Alongside that, there’s a full music album sample by Australian artist Nick Murphy, formerly of the Anyones. Additionally, there’s game demos such as the gritty Western action title Call of Juarez, LEGO Star Wars 2 and Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X.
We’ve even got a Microsoft Office 2007 ebook in our editorial section. Finally, we’ve got the usual collection of cutting-edge patches, software updates and video card drivers.
Full Version Software:
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Backup4all 3.3 Lite
After equipping your PC with a firewall, antivirus tool, spam blocker and spyware detector, you might think your most valuable files are safe. But that's not the case. In fact there's one very important source of danger that you've not considered at all: yourself. Your data is far more likely to be trashed by simple operator error than a malicious virus, which is why running regular backups is a vital part of any security regime. And Backup4all is the ideal tool to help. Protect your data from harm with this speedy, award-winning backup software.
AGAVA Antispam Servant
Protect your Inbox from junk with this easy-to-use spam blocker. As the tide of spam rises to a time-wasting 92% of all emails, keeping your Inbox free of junk has never been more vital. But which spam filter is the best for you? We think AGAVA AntispamServant has what it takes to stand out from the crowd. AntispamServant uses a proprietary version of the Bayesian algorithm to statistically analyse messages and identify spam, so there are no complicated filters to maintain. It "just works". Add the names of your regular contacts to the White List and they will never be blocked, reducing the chance of any false spam positives. And if you find AntispamServant is letting some spam through, then you can also train the program to recognise these messages, too, so its accuracy should improve over time.
Ashampoo Photo Commander 3
Launch Ashampoo Photo Commander 3 for the first time, and you could easily be fooled into thinking it's just another image organiser. After all, it has the classic ingredients: Explorer-like window to navigate around your system, another pane displaying photo thumbnails, any of which can be viewed full-screen with a double-click. But there's much more to the program than that. Organise, enhance, edit, archive and share your favourite digital photos, courtesy of this versatile graphics tool.
Driver Genius Professional Edition 5
Easily back up, restore, update and remove Windows device drivers with this time-saving system utility. The program couldn't be much easier to use. It starts by detecting all your third-party drivers (the ones that don't come with Windows), and displaying them in a tree form. You can then choose which ones to back up (or check your PC name to select everything). Finally, click "Start Backup", specify a file name, and your chosen drivers will be saved, no further intervention required.
MAGIX Goya Base
Manage audio, video and image files with this do-everything multimedia suite.
Goya Base Music Manager 2006 works perfectly well as an audio player, for instance. Just browse your system, then double-click on any MP3, OGG or WMA file to hear it. Customise the sound you get with the Equaliser (12 presets are available), then open the Visualiser if you'd like fancy graphic effects along with the music. Music Manager 2006 is a very good MP3 manager, too, with the ability to build playlists, create and edit ID3 tags, and send files too and from MP3 players. And it's just as easy to copy or create audio or MP3 CDs, without requiring any other mastering software.
Panda Antivirus 2007
In a world packed with bloated, resource-hungry, do everything security packages, it's great to see Panda Software take a "back to basics" approach with their new Antivirus 2007 package. You won't find a firewall, spam blocker or parental controls module here, there's just the core malware detection features you need. Panda Antivirus offers comprehensive malware protection in a small, efficient package that's light on your system resources.
Full Video Episode:
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Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex episode 1
The part-robot detectives of the secret Government agency Section 9 must save dignitaries from terrorists and foreign threats in this fascinating animation series from Japan. Half-machine, their amazing physical skills can barely compete with the devilish ingenuity of their opponents. This DVD-quality episode will run in set-top DVD players or can be run on PC with a DVD player application. AVS DVD player is supplied on the disc for your convenience.
Courtesy of Madman Entertainment p/l. © 2002-2004 Shirow Masamune - Production I.G/Kodansha. All rights reserved.
Music Samples:
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Full Album by Nick Murphy: 'Breaking the Light'
After 3 years of touring around Australia and the US on the back of 2 highly acclaimed and successful albums with The Anyones, Nick has come up with a bunch of songs reflecting a more personal and intimate writing style than previously. Mix all this with thoughtful catchy hooks that he’s well known for, and the result is a totally absorbing listen. We provide the entire album on disc as compressed music samples.
Linux:
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Freespire 1.0
Freespire is a community-driven, Linux-based operating system that combines the best that free, open source software has to offer (community driven, freely distributed, open source code, etc.), but also provides users the choice of including proprietary codecs, drivers and applications as they see fit. With Freespire, the choice is yours as to what software is installed on your computer, with no limitations or restrictions placed on that choice. How you choose to maximize the performance of your computer is entirely up to you. This is an ISO image that can be burned to a CD to create a bootable disc. A full tutorial is provided on the disc to achieve this process using free program DeepBurner (also supplied). Freespire is a replacement operating system that may wipe the contents of any computer it is installed on. Always back up all important files on the target computer before replacing the operating system.
Games:
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Flight Simulator X trial
Microsoft® Flight Simulator X is the culmination of nearly 25 years of the landmark Flight Simulator franchise—the most significant addition to date. Gamers and simmers of all ages and skill levels feel firsthand what it’s like to be an aviator traveling the globe solo or online with others.
Call of Juarez demo
Call of Juarez features classic gunslinging action including duels, shootouts and bar room brawls. Players will relive the days of the Wild West experiencing the world of two opposing characters equipped with contrasting weapons and styles.
LEGO Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy demo
Following the runaway success of the original LEGO Star Wars, set in episodes 1, 2 and 3, this game once again fuses the world of plastic bricks and Obi-Wan Kenobi, this time exploring the stories and events of the classic Star Wars trilogy.
Sudden Strike III: Arms for Victory demo
This strategy game simulates the joint operation of ground, naval and air forces in vast environments. A new user interface allows player to control these forces avoiding unnecessary micro-management, while allowing control of individual units.
Sword of the Stars demo
Sword of the Stars is a breakthrough 4X Strategy game brought to you by the core team behind the highly acclaimed title, HomeWorld: Cataclysm. Sword of the Stars returns gamers to the action-packed roots of the 4X genre with some new twists, including a 3D starmap and real-time combat in a fully 3D outer space environment.
Editorial:
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MS Office 2007 ebook
Real World Benchmarks explained
Turorial: Creating a burned CD-R from an ISO image with DeepBurner
Freeware:
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AbiWord
Ambient Design ArtRage
Audacity
DeepBurner
LP Recorder 6
PDFCreator 0.9.3
The GIMP
Windows:
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Ad-aware SE Personal 1.06
Adobe Reader 7.0.8
AVG 7.1.405 Free Edition
EditPad Pro 6.1.0
ExplorerXP 1.07
Google Desktop Search 4
Spybot Search & Destroy 1.4
True Launch Bar 4.0
Tweak UI
WinRAR 3.60
WinZip 10.0
Zone Labs ZoneAlarm Firewall
Internet:
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Classic AOL Instant Messenger 5.9
Crazy Browser 3.0 Beta2
CWShredder 2.19
FileZilla 2.2.27
Google Toolbar 4.0
LeechGet 2006 v201650
Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.6
Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5.0.5
MSN Messenger 7.0 (98/ME)
MSN Messenger 8.0 (XP)
Portable Firefox 1.5.0.6
Remote Administrator 2.2
SpamBayes 1.0.4
Trillian Basic 3.1
Patches/Updates:
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Ad-aware reference file
ATI Catalyst 6.8 Control Center Package (XP)
ATI Catalyst 6.8 driver suite (98/ME)
AVG Free Edition Updates
DirectX 9.0c
Norton AntiVirus definitions update
NVIDIA Forceware drivers 81.98 (95/98/ME)
NVIDIA Forceware drivers 91.47 (2000/XP)
Spybot Search & Destroy Update
VIA HyperionPro drivers 5.09A
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