A suite with some nice features but slow startup times made us disappointed with ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 2009

Cleverly extends Photoshop Elements’ appeal to both digital photo novices and the more experienced

We've had a quick play with the new version - and we like what we see. Definitely one to stick in your PC toolkit for 2008.

If you find a scanner bundled with this software, it'll be hard to resist.

Decent OCR performance on automatic settings - but woe betide you if you'd prefer to do the driving.

What you should expect if a cut down version of Omni Page comes bundled with your scanner.

Media management gets a Macromedia-inspired makeover; with export preview facilities for mobile devices.

Built-in tracing and improved drawing, formatting and colour correction make X3 the best CorelDRAW upgrade in years.

McAfee puts out its VirusScan 2004 in two versions - boxed or downloaded and managed from the internet. Whatever way you do it, the installation is simplicity itself with no difficult questions to answer or confusing choices to make.

Encarta Premium Suite claims a base of 130,000+ articles, along with 25,300+ photos and illustrations and 1.8 million map locations. That's more than a bit of bedtime reading, although of course there are really only two reasons why people buy digital encyclopedias these days -- either they've got kids to educate, or they're after some verifiable and quotable facts for a research project. For almost anyone else, of course, there's Google.

Designed for the curious enthusiast or habitual tinkerer looking to push the boundaries of knowledge, PC Toys has projects to suit the interests and skills of readers from all walks of life.

It sets out to create photo-realistic 3D models from 2D photos and illustrations, with the barest of tool sets and minimum user input.

Recognising that the Linux desktop market is only going to grow, and that there's money to made in the corporate arena, Sun's Java Desktop 2003 is squarely aimed at companies looking for a cheap, easy, and compatible alternative to Microsoft's (often expensive) dominance.

Blogging has been a growing online phenomenon for the past few years. Some blogs are funny, some profound and moving, others annoying and petulant: but all blogs are personal outpourings. Many blog authors are people who never considered themselves writers or journalists, yet there's a vast range and amount of high-quality blog content on the internet.

It turns out that Microsoft [I]is[/I] bringing out Windows XP Media Center Edition in Australia, but until such time as it materialises -- and Microsoft Australia is being very sketchy on the dates -- those of us looking to integrate our PC media files with our televisions and hi-fi systems have to turn to bridging solutions.

Absolutely blitzing the competition, Altech takes out our highly coveted Labs Winner Award, just beating IBM to the top spot. Heavy on both the features and quality, this unit was one of only three units in the roundup to feature a 17in TFT display, with the others, the Pluscorp INTEQ V26 and Apple iMac, falling by the wayside on price, hardware spec and performance.

The Techmart SOHO is the only system in this roundup to be supplied with a copy of Windows XP Home rather than XP Professional. This highlights Intermedia's emphasis on the small office, home office environment with this system, where the additional networking features of XP Pro aren't necessary. Even so, it does mean you'll be restricted to using a peer-to-peer network, and you'll need an upgrade if you ever want to set up a client-server system. For the extra $90, it might be worth future-proofing and upgrading to Pro.

While you might not immediately think of Apple when it comes to business workstations, the iMac is a solid self-contained package, and does appeal to this market.

Although falling slightly below par in our quality testing, the IntelliPro 4000GX managed to claw back points with a score 16 percent above the average for value, primarily due to its incredibly low initial purchase price.

Dell has seen considerable success in the consumer PC market, and has drawn on the expertise gained in that market to drive into the business market over the past several years.