The Seagate 200GB External Hard Drive was an average performer on our tests, with neither high scores nor excellent software. If speed matters to you, look to the WiebeTECH Fire800; for software, choose the Iomega HDD 250GB.

At only 200GB, the Seagate drive was the smallest of the seven locally attached drives we tested. We would have preferred a 250GB model, but Seagate makes only 160GB and 200GB external drives. The drive has two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire 400 port, all of which are on the rear, where the power switch is located. On the front are the power light, the activity light, and a one-touch backup button. The drive is formatted in the FAT32 file system and works with Windows and Macintosh computers. It comes with a plastic stand so it can be placed on its side to save space.

On our performance tests, the Seagate drive placed fourth among the locally attached drives, but it was behind the winner by a wide margin. It beat out the Iomega, Maxtor, and Western Digital drives only by a narrow margin; all four performed about the same. The Seagate was slightly faster with FireWire 400 than with USB 2.0.

BounceBack Express software, which at first glance seems like an easy and intuitive way to set backups, is included. Configuring the one-touch button on the front of the Seagate, for example, is simple. But we quickly learned that the application’s advanced functions are available only in the full version; you’ll have to buy it to use versioning, bidirectional syncing (which keeps current versions on both home and office PCs), and automatic restore. At the very least, the automatic restore should be in the package. But we were pleased to find an easy utility for reformatting the drive in NTFS on the Seagate CD.

The only 200GB locally attached drive in our testing, the Seagate is a decent performer, but not a great one. Faster testing times and more fully featured software would raise its score.

The P5K Deluxe WiFi AP Edition is certainly not short of features:

• 800/1066/1333MHz FSB
• 4 DDR2 dimm sockets – official support for 667MHz and 800MHz, 1066MHz and higher may be possible
• Improved Stack Cool 2 heat pipe design – up to 20′C cooler, pure copper
• One PCIe 16x slot for a GPU
• One PCIe 16x form factor, PCIe 4x or 1x signaling slot for peripheral or second GPU
• Two PCIe 1x slots
• Two PCI slots
• Six SATA2 connectors with RAID support
• Two “SATA on the Go” connectors from JMicron PATA/SATA2 controller
• Dual Gigabit Ethernet controllers
• Asus WiFi-AP Solor IEEE 802.11b/g controller and external antenna
• Eight channel AD1988B High Definition audio controller
• Coax and optical S/PDIF outputs
• Next generation eight phase power design
• Six USB 2.0 jacks on the back
• Two external SATA2 connectors
• PS/2 keyboard jack
• Firewire connector on the back
• Six audio connectors
• Six additional USB 2.0 headers
• Additional FireWire header

Radeon X1300 Pro is the fastest graphics chip inside the new low-end graphics chip family from ATI. We’ve got a reference sample for this model from ATI, so in this review we will compare its performance to other low-end graphic chips, especially Radeon X300 and GeForce 6200, and also with some mid-range chips (GeForce 6600 and GeForce 6600 GT) to see how is the performance of this new release by ATI.

ATI three chips on Radeon X1300 family: X1300 Pro, X1300 and X1300 HyperMemory. X1300 Pro, the model that we reviewed, runs at 600 MHz and accesses its memory at 800 MHz (12.8 GB/s) and has a suggested price of USD 149 for the 256 MB model. X1300 runs at 450 MHz and accesses its memory at 500 MHz, with a suggested price of USD 99 for the 128 MB version and USD 129 for the 256 MB version. And X1300 HyperMemory, which runs at 450 MHz and accesses its memory at 1 GHz, with a suggested price of USD 79.

Ease of Use:  

The AVG Control Center (AVGCC) is the main control component of the AVG system. AVGCC runs each time a user logs in and through it you can edit various settings of the AVG system and monitor the status of individual components. The AVGCC system tray icon is multi-colored when all components are working correctly, and turns gray if there is a problem. By clicking the icon, you can open the main the windows of AVGCC.

AVG Anti-Virus also has an Advanced Interface that gives you a nice view of the tests you can run, scheduled tasks, test results and more. This interface is more for advanced users. It takes a little while to get used to, but once you get the hang of it, you will find it logical and easy to maneuver.
Effectiveness:  

The software received the ICSA 2007. AVG Anti-Virus also passed on demand and on access scanning level 1 and level 2 from West Coast Labs but did not recieve or enter the VB100%.

Updates:  

Akamai servers provide free program and virus updates. AVG updates itself automatically whenever updates are available. Alternatively, you can update manually or configure AVG to download updates at a scheduled time that suits you.

Feature Set:  

The Virus Vault is what most anti-virus programs call a “Quarantine” area. When the resident scanners find a virus, you can store the file in the Virus Vault until you have time to heal the file and then restore it to its original location.

AVG Anti-Virus also allows you to create an MS-DOS Rescue Disk from the Control Center.

Scheduling options include alternatives to run tasks even if the schedule is missed. The software can perform tasks even when there is no user logged onto the computer.
Ease of Installation:  

This product is very easy to install-no problems.

Help/Support:  

AVG Anti-Virus has great support with their online support page, Knowledge Base Search, and FAQs page. Our email inquires were answered within 36 hours. You must register to receive the support and they don’t offer support via telephone.

Summary:  

The biggest downside to AVG Anti-Virus is it didn’t pass the West Coast Lab’s level 2 test. For the price, you can find better antivirus software.

All you need to start using Yahoo! Messenger is a free Yahoo! account. Once you register and download the client, you can start interacting with other Yahoo! members at no cost. But though it offers the best possible price and a variety of impressive features, Yahoo! Messenger is best suited to personal use because of its firewall limitations and poor video quality when operating in standard mode.

The main interface is the buddy list, from which you can contact your friends and colleagues or check your stocks, calendar, and address book, plus news and weather, all via the tabs at the bottom. Although the service is free, no banner ads appear in the buddy list; other tabs display small banner ads.

To add a name to your buddy list, you can enter a Yahoo! ID or Yahoo! e-mail address. Alternatively, you can perform searches, using keywords, name, and so on. But finding the correct user this way can be difficult, since Yahoo! has so many users, and the personal info listed for individual users is spotty at best.

You can initiate a voice or videoconference connection directly from your buddy list or while you are already in a standard chat session (two-person text messaging) or conference (multiperson text messaging). Unfortunately, Yahoo! Messenger doesn’t offer a convenient button for launching a video and audio connection; you must start the two streams separately. When initiating a video connection, you can invite the other party to view your Webcam stream, or the one you’re calling can request to see it.

Yahoo! Messenger supports two methods for voice conversation: via the Talk button (as on a walkie-talkie) or using the Hands Free mode, which allows continuous two-way conversation.

Video is handled in one of two ways, depending on your Internet connection. Super Webcam mode creates a peer-to-peer connection between two computers. This method offers good video quality, though it is not on a par with premium services like SightSpeed.

Because Super Webcam requires multiple ports to be open—some of which are typically blocked by corporate firewalls—most business users will be forced to use the standard Webcam mode, which sends data through Yahoo!’s servers. This method is very choppy, and we don’t recommend it for videoconferencing unless there is no other option.

Another point to keep in mind is that Yahoo! Messenger is meant to be a social tool for the Yahoo! community. You have to be careful when setting preferences; otherwise you may accidentally create a videoconference that is open to the public, so any stranger can find and view your meeting.

Nero 7 delivers enormous functionality for the money and boasts one of the slickest and best-integrated interfaces we’ve seen in a digital-media suite. It falls behind Roxio 8 in areas like disc authoring and video editing, but it’s still flexible enough to satisfy the overwhelming majority of both mainstream and advanced users.

As with previous releases, Nero 7’s front end is built around the latest iteration of Nero’s customizable task-oriented StartSmart program launcher. Most suite applications, including the previously buried CD-ripping tool, are now located exactly where you’d expect to find them, and new system configuration tools let you add, remove, repair, and update individual components at any time. Applications now share a polished multipane interface that guides you through each task and lets you quickly switch between related components, such as CD ripping, burning, and labeling applications, without returning to the top-level menu. The package also includes Nero Home, a Media Center Edition–style 10-foot interface that lets you use a wireless remote to manage and play content.

A new background-resident Nero Scout media organizer creates and continuously updates albums of photo, video, and audio files stored on removable and fixed storage and on networked UPnP devices. You can use most of the Nero applications (or Windows Explorer) to browse, search, or open the contents of these albums.

Disc-mastering and copying functions are still performed by the suite’s core Nero Express module, which packs a wealth of data, video, audio, and mixed-mode disc creation capabilities. In addition to support for the Nero Digital MPEG-4 video format, Nero Express also lets you create more exotic disc types such as MP3 and WMA DVDs and Blu-ray data discs.

Nero’s editing, authoring, and slide-show tools, embodied in the Nero Vision module, are fairly well integrated. But all trail Roxio 8’s tools in charm and functionality. For example, Nero Vision offers only one video track, compared with Roxio 8’s two, precluding picture-in-picture and chroma-key effects, or even applying a logo over your video. Though Nero 7 offers manual color correction, which Roxio 8 lacks, you can apply only one effect to a clip at a time, so if you use color correction, you can’t apply any creative effects.

Nero Vision’s titling utility is very basic, with good motion styles and basic controls over font selection, size, and color, but none of the 2D and 3D design controls, background design primitives, or transparency options offered by the Roxio suite. Though Nero 7 can apply random or selected transitions to a project, Roxio 8 can apply transition themes to a project, providing a more cohesive look. And where Roxio 8 provides precise, rubber-band controls over audio volume, Nero 7 enables only one audio volume adjustment per file on the timeline, complicating mixing background music with dialog in the main video track. Nero 7 also has no auto-movie generation feature or even fast- or slow-motion effects.

DVD authoring in Nero Vision is wizard driven, with a good range of options such as video and audio menu backgrounds and animated buttons. You can insert your own images as menu backgrounds, then customize button layout completely to avoid obscuring any critical regions of the image. But Nero 7 can’t match the navigational flexibility offered by the Roxio suite’s MyDVD submenus, and it is generally one step behind MyDVD in usability. For example, in MyDVD, you edit all text in place on the menu; in Nero Vision, you open dialog boxes to modify the text.

Nero Vision lets you create a slide show with transitions, but no pan and zoom. You can apply any single video effect to any image and crop and rotate images, but the slide-show tool has no red-eye reduction. You can insert background music but can’t sync slide duration to that music.

As for still images, Nero 7 provides the basic tools you need to make your images look better, and some of the tools in the suite’s PhotoSnap module are excellent. As you work, the PhotoSnap interface can provide a side-by-side, before-and-after look at your image. The Histogram Correction command lets you adjust a photo’s black and white values incrementally to improve image contrast (though unfortunately, there’s no gamma correction here). Even better, PhotoSnap includes a Curves command for precisely adjusting levels at multiple points throughout an image’s range of brightness. Not even Photoshop Elements 4 offers this high-end tool. PhotoSnap’s Resize command is superior to the comparable tool found in Roxio 8’s PhotoSuite module, as it gives you a choice of several different resampling methods along with the ability to change an image’s resolution without affecting the pixel count.

The Nero suite lacks features that PhotoSuite provides, however, making it much more likely that you’ll outgrow its feature set sooner. The PhotoSnap image editor also suffers by comparison in terms of interface organization. Basic image correction commands are listed down the right side of the interface in no discernable order. Clicking the list’s final Other Effects command reveals a second list that contains mostly special-effects filters. PhotoSnap lacks the touch-up tools, text capabilities, and object layers found in Roxio 8’s PhotoSuite.

Nero 7 includes two other photo-oriented applications. PhotoSnap Viewer is a simple program that does little more than let you browse through a folder of images, one by one. PhotoShow Express installs separately from the Nero 7 suite and has a smattering of image-editing tools (including the ability to add text to images). But PhotoShow Express is more notable for its photo-sharing capabilities. There are links for online ordering of mugs, calendars, and the like, as well as for uploading images to Snapfish and Shutterfly. The program also provides very basic image management tools such as the ability to create albums of related photos. But other vital features such as keyword tagging, rating, and more advanced editing tools are available only by purchasing a $40 upgrade, to PhotoShow Elite.

Other notable components are available in the Nero 7 suite. Nero BackItUp has grown into a powerful backup utility that’s flexible enough to be sold as a standalone product. It boasts flexible compression, logging, security, and scheduling features. You’ll also find a 7.1-channel Nero WaveFile Editor, the Nero SoundBox DJ/mixer program, and a SoundTrax loop-sequencer. And Nero Recode offers a variety of sophisticated video compilation and transcoding tools. Nero 7’s BackItUp and WaveFile Editor are clearly superior to their Roxio 8 counterparts, and the suite offers numerous features not found in Roxio 8, such as Blu-ray video playback, drag-and-drop Blu-ray data recording, and 7.1-channel surround-sound mixing.

Nero also offers more generous support policies that include frequent free upgrades for the life of Nero 7 and ten days of unlimited telephone support.

UltraISO is a powerful and easy-to-use utility that can extract, create, edit, convert, and burn CD/DVD image files. It can directly edit ISO files, make images from CD/DVD-ROMs, or build new one from files and folders on your computer. You have the option to make the newly created image bootable and to specify the boot loader. In addition, UltraISO can convert nearly all known data CD/DVD image formats to ISO, BIN/CUE, Nero (.NRG) or CloneCD (.CCD/.IMG/.SUB) format.

Some features:

Create/Edit Audio CD image
Make bootable ISO file
Directly edit the ISO image file
Can add / delete /create new directory /rename ISO file image content
Supports ISO 9660 Level1/2/3 and Joliet extension
Automatically optimizes the ISO image file structure, saving the CD space

Ease of Use:

TuneUp Utilities is simple to use; navigation is divided into five categories: Customize & Analyze, Clean up & Repair, Optimize & Improve, Administer & Control, File recovery & Destruction. Each section uses icons and brief descriptions, making identifying the tool you need a snap.

We feel a built-in back button would have made navigation even easier.
Ease of Setup:

We had no complications installing TuneUp Utilities.

Maintenance/Diagnostics:

Although TuneUp Utilities doesn’t have as many diagnostic tools as our higher-ranked utility products, it does offer the TuneUp System Information tool, which provides detailed information about system specifications.

On maintenance, TuneUp Utilities comes with a useful process manager, an effective uninstall tool, a frequently used program list (which allows you to easily manage programs used most often) and the ability to automatically delete Internet history as you log off.

You can also manage Windows startup programs with TuneUp Utilities; you can disable, edit, add or delete programs that begin when you logon with the Auto-Start Manager tool. The Startup Guard notifies you whenever a new program is assigned to start with Windows.
Repair/Recovery:

TuneUp’s Registry Cleaner tool is especially helpful, allowing you to pick areas you want cleaned and make a backup copy so you can easily correct an accidental or harmful deletion. This feature also breaks down the errors found into categories; you can select an error for a brief description or double-click it to go to the error right inside the registry.

Optimization:

TuneUp System Control gives you hundreds of Windows customization options in one convenient location. The Icon Manager tool lets you better manage the look an feel of your system’s icons-providing you with some of their own designs and other icon download options.

You can also tweak logon options with TuneUp Utilities. For example, you can switch between the classic logon and the default, increase security, or create a message that displays each time you logon. You can also request a detailed system status when you logon or off your computer.

Although TuneUp Utilities does a fine job optimizing memory (allowing you to load and run programs faster) we found that Advanced System Optimizer and System Mechanic both recovered more memory than it could. You can also optimize Internet connections easily.
Feature Set:

Some additional error features TuneUp Utilities offers are the ability to have an error message appear when it occurs, instead of just being logged, and the ability to keep Internet Explorer separate from the desktop-so if Explorer encounters a problem (as it often does) it will not blank-out or lockup your desktop.

Help/Support:

GmbH provides some support for this product, but it is not up to par. TuneUp Utilities comes with a built-in help manual, searchable content and walkthroughs for all sections of the software.

Summary:

TuneUp Utilities from TuneUp Software GmbH is a substantial PC utility program that will do a decent job maintaining and optimizing your computer, but the program lacks repair and recovery tools and its help and support system needs improvement.