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PC Authority > Magazine > Issue 108, November, 2006

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Authors
- Nick Ross (22)
- Dave Stephenson (9)
- Tom Arah (4)
- Clive Webster (4)
- Staff Writers (2)
- Logan Booker (2)
- Craig Simms (2)
- Jim Martin (1)
- Davey Winder (1)
- David Kidd (1)

Magazine

Australia's premier computer magazine, PC Authority gives you the facts, opinions and insight to make informed PC and tech purchasing decisions.

What's in this issue

* Graphics cards showdown
* Core 2 notebooks
* RAM comparative test
* Office 2007 walkthrough
* Backup feature

In this month's magazine, we’ve got a labs section packed to the gills with reviews to enjoy. First of all, there’s a shootout between the hottest graphics cards on sale with the latest nVidia and Ati chipsets, then we dive right into testing the latest Core 2 Duo notebooks, which are the fastest we’ve ever seen. We’ve also try cutting-edge virtualisation with Parallels, review Sony’s Blu-Ray drive and bench test some lightning-fast RAM. We’ve even got a fusilade of mobile phone reviews.

Elsewhere, we also have a detailed walkthrough of Microsoft Office 2007, which is a surprising vision of future workplace productivity and our comprehensive backup feature covers the A to Z of safeguarding your precious data and family photos. Hard drive failure can strike at any time! In Advanced Windows, we cover Intel’s new vPro technology, Jon Honeyball examines WinFS and Leigh Dyer covers OpenSolaris, Sun’s Unix-like operating system.

On our DVD cover disc, 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. Opposite that, there’s game demos such as the gritty Western action title Call of Juarez, LEGO Star Wars 2 and Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X. Finally, we’ve got the usual collection of cutting-edge patches, software updates and video card drivers.

If you have any comments or requests for your magazine, PC Authority, go ahead and drop us an email. We're always listening.

Yours,

Ed Dawson
Editor

Articles in this issue

Acer Aspire AS9802WKMi
An impressive attempt at a good-value portable PC, but the ergonomics let it down.

Altech Gameforce X2
Some will prefer it to TI’s system, but a few quirks see it finishing in second place.

Application uninstallers
Take control of your PC with some handy utilities to keep applications in check.

Articulate Presenter 5
PowerPoint’s ease of use, The efficient web delivery of Flash, and a truly professional player.

ASUS EN7600GT HDMI
Nvidia's first HDMI graphics card, complete with HDCP compatibility and decent performance.

Back up Your PC
Your photos, music and data are just a virus or hard disk failure away from oblivion. Build a triple-layer defence using PC Authority's practical guide.

BenQ Joybook R55U v11
Amazingly good value for what you get: a fully-featured, dual-core, ergonomic notebook.

Call in the vProfessionals
When a helpdesk customer is looking for the any ‘key’, it’s best to take control of their system remotely.

Canon DR-1210C
There’s a good range of software and excellent image quality, but you pay a lot for the durability and ADF.

Canon Xeed SX6
Running costs are high, but with a high resolution and superb performance, it’s a groundbreaking product.

Compaq Presario V3020AU
It’s great value and will tempt some people thanks to its size and multimedia abilities.

Corel Painter Essentials 3
A simplified interface, strong photo-to-art Focus and the low price make painter essentials a great buy.

DDR2 RAM
One gigabyte of RAM is enough to get most applications running smoothly, but should you buy the cheapest or the fastest?

Defcon
Risk is blasted from the realm of the board game onto computer screens everywhere.

Dell Latitude D420
Small but perfectly formed, the D420 has hours of battery life and loads of features and great ergonomics.

Edimax 802.11g Wireless LAN signal detector/USB Adapter
Speed up your hotspot searches and then get connected with this thorough Wi-Fi detector.

Eneloop Batteries
Not only the best rechargable batteries ever made - but the most envirinmentally friendly, too. Win/win!

Fujifilm FinePix F30 Zoom
Easy to use and capable of good results, the superb range of manual modes makes this a good choice for enthusiasts.

Gainward Bliss 7900GS PCX 512M
The 512MB makes little difference but the heatsink is quieter than XFX’s.

GeCube Ati Radeon X1650Pro Platinum
Price drops for the X1800 GTO make this new card obsolete from the start.

GTR 2
The pinnacle of racing sims, the game for petrol heads to drop time and effort into.

Here comes the Sun
Leigh Dyer looks at Sun’s attempts to keep Solaris relevant in a Linux world.

Joint Task Force
Take the world's best military forces into Iraq and handle the situation yourself.

LG KG800 Chocolate
Design, feeling and aesthetics combine into a functional beauty.

LG M6100
A slider mobile for music on the go -- until the battery runs dry, that is.

Logitech MX Revolution and VX Revolution
Why be anything less than perfectly comfortable when using your computer?

Nokia N91
Big and heavy but the features this 3G phone sports are phenomenal.

Parallels Desktop for Mac
Windows virtualisation that really works: it isn’t without foibles, but it’s a great way of running Windows from OS X.

Philips VOIP 321
Skype and traditional land lines bridged together. Say a gradual "au revoir" to your phone bill.

Philips VOIP 321
Frequent long distance callers could save a fortune with this.

Pioneer DreamBook Power M57U
A powerful and feature-packed notebook. But it can’t match the quality of Dell’s XPS M1710.

QuarkXPress 7
With its enhanced interface, support for transparency and new collaboration features, it’s the best release in years.

RIM BlackBerry 7130g
Sleeker than the original, this BlackBerry continues the messaging workhorse tradition we've come to expect.

Samsung ML-2510
Fast, cheap to run and offering flawless text quality, this is a great-value option.

Samsung SM244T
A high-quality panel, but it lacks the finishing touches to make it a winner.

Samsung SyncMaster 940BW
A great-quality widescreen panel for a surprisingly low price.

Sapphire Ati Radeon X1300 XT OverClock Edition
A final price will decide the fate of this chipset. It needs to be well under $200 to compete.

Sapphire Ati Radeon X1950 XTX
Potentially Much faster than a X1900 XTX in games with large textures yet it costs the same. At over $100 less than Nvidia’s 7950 GX2, it’s a fine card.

Seasonic S12+ 650W
Why settle for a power supply that doesn't do your system justice?

Seasonic S12+ 650W

Shuttle XPC SN27P2 & SN37P2
Both of these systems offer immense flexibility and decent value for money, although the Intel version wins out.

Sony BWU-100A
The first Blu-ray drive to actually BE available in Australia. The massive price should fall quickly.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T30
An expensive and unusually poor Sony product.

Sony Ericsson Home Audio System MDS-70
A miniature speaker dock for your music playing Sony Ericsson mobile, that can be connected to other sources too.

Sony MicroVault Tiny
Diminutive USB storage at the 1GB mark. Be careful, you may accidentally inhale it.

Sony VAIO VoIP Mouse
Two features step into the ring, and take each other out. It's a nice concept though.

Steinberg WaveLab 6
A comprehensive set of audio-editing tools, but not enough to justify the high price.

Sword of the Stars
Sci-fi strategy with a killer twist. Imagine any creature, make it, and send it into battle.

The PC Authority Guide to Office 2007
Microsoft’s radical redesign promises ‘better results, faster’. Be fully prepared for this world-leading productivity software.

The ten biggest IT blunders
Barry Collins takes a nostalgic look at the biggest mistakes in the recent history of the computing industry.

TI Intel Core 2 Dual Extreme
We’ve had some great competitors knocking on the mid-range A-Listed door, but TI’s all-rounder wins through.

USB 2.0 Media Kit
A media hub that packs a webcam, USB ports 3.5mm audio ports, and does it all badly.

ViewSonic VG2021m
Compromises to resolution and features keep the cost wonderfully low, yet this remains a credible panel.

Wildform WildPresenter
A cheap and cheerful approach to Flash but the sheer power it offers is exceptional, as is the price.

WinFS - operating system to operating table
It was touted as the next big thing from Microsoft. But is Microsoft’s storage strategy in tatters?

XFX Nvidia GeForce 7900 GS
Expensive for a 7900 GS, but the increased clock speed sees it rival a 7900 GT.

ZyXEL ZyAIR G-4100
A simple wireless hotspot kit well suited to small businesses that want to offer an easy, billed Internet access service.

What's on the disc

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:

----------------------------------

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:

----------------------------

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:

-------------------------

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:

-------------------------

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:

---------------------------

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:

-------------------------

MS Office 2007 ebook

Real World Benchmarks explained

Turorial: Creating a burned CD-R from an ISO image with DeepBurner

Freeware:

-------------------------

AbiWord

Ambient Design ArtRage

Audacity

DeepBurner

LP Recorder 6

PDFCreator 0.9.3

The GIMP

Windows:

-----------------------

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:

------------------------

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:

-------------------------

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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