Lavasoft are known throughout the spyware protection industry as a class leader, providing quality software which is reliable and effective. The free version of Ad-Aware is immensely popular with computer users worldwide, but here today we will be looking at what the Game Edition offers over the free or pro editions, and whether it is worth the $24.95 or £15.46 it can be bought for.

What they say…

“Designed for online gamers and entertainment fans, Ad-Aware Game Edition provides complete malware protection, including anti-virus and anti-spyware, while you work and play in full-screen mode – without the interruptions or system impact.”

So what does this mean?

Account stealing and the misuse of login details is on the rise, so increasingly it is becoming important for gamers to be constantly protected, so the importance of a secure anti-malware product is paramount. However, more often than not, security suites are bloated and can cause unparalleled slowing to the system, most gamers opt to leave out the security in preference of an improved gaming experience. This is where Ad-Aware’s Game Edition claims to comes in.

So, with one of the main draw backs being that it ‘won’t get in your way – no interruptions, no breaks in security, and no bogging down of your machine’s resource,’ this will come under scrutiny in the following review, in the hope that also the UI and the experience will not be negatively affected due to these changes.

System Requirements

• Processor: Intel Pentium 600 MHz or better
• RAM: Operating system + min 100 MB
• Free hard disk space: 100 MB recommended
• Operating Systems: Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP (32-bit)

Features

• Anti-virus + anti-spyware
• Ad-Watch Live! Expert real-time protection
• Genotype detection technology
• Behaviour-based heuristics detection
• Rootkit removal system
• TrackSweep
• Do Not Disturb Mode
• The Scheduler
• The Neutralizer malware removal tool
• Minimal strain on resources
• Simple Mode/Advanced Mode
• Customizable profile scans
• Pin–point file scans
• External drive scans
• Lavasoft SmartSet
• Automatic Threat Updates
• Free technical support

Nowadays, not many people know how to really take care of their computer. Some assume that the computer looks after itself and that nothing will go wrong. Well after time, without any love or care your computer will slow down and stop doing the normal things that it used to be able to do without effort.

Fortunately, Driver Genius will take care of your computer now and only takes (at the most) a couple of hours to get your PC back up and running smoothly.

About Avanquest Software

Avanquest Software is a world leading developer and publisher of consumer software and business solutions. The Group markets a wide range of best-selling programs developed both in-house and by developer partners throughout all territories and through all sales channels. Founded 20 years ago Avanquest Software possesses one if the most extensive catalogs in the world, now offering more than 1,500 software titles, with an unparalleled breadth of market appeal.

Features

Driver Genius allows the user to:

• Detect and solve any problems using the Device Diagnostics tool
• Remove invalid drivers to improve system performance and stability
• Upgrade drivers to the most recent versions available in just a few clicks
• Synchronize drivers using Live Update with the daily updated database
• Access the NVIDIA driver control panel to find settings or over clocking, AGP, Fan and Stereo control, Open GL 2.0 support and much more.

Impressions

After reading about what the software does, I was impressed and I knew of some computers in my house which could benefit from this software. This was a great opportunity to see if the product did what it says on the tin.

The ‘Driver’ for a piece of hardware is what enables the device to communicate with the computer so that they can do their job. After time, Computer novices won’t know how to upgrade drivers for different hardware, which means that the devices won’t be performing at optimum speed. This is bad as a new driver may fix bugs and problems that previous drivers may have had.

Installation

The installation, like most of Avanquest’s software, was very straightforward. Upon inserting the CD you are shown an installation menu with gives a couple of options such as ‘Install Driver Genius’ and ‘Support’.

Once you have clicked install, you are again prompted by another instruction where you click next on and you are then asked where you would like Driver Genius to be installed depending on where all your other programs are installed.

A pretty cool feature I noticed whilst installing it was that it came with a NVIDIA tweaking program which could be useful as I have an 8600 GT.

You are also asked if you would like to have a desktop icon for the program, for quicker access. The wizard then tells you that installation is complete and asks if you would like to launch the program.

Testing/Usage

Testing was quite simple, as the UI was very well laid out with all the buttons and information in good places.

When you first load Driver Genius up, you are shown a splash screen which basically says Driver Genius and which version you are using, in our case ‘Professional’.

You also get some tips about the software and how to use it but if these annoy you, they are easily turned off by un-ticking the ‘show tips at start-up’ box.

Once you have closed the tips window you receive a prompt to update the drivers database as it is the first time you have used the software.

If you decide to update the database, it will also check to see you are running the latest version of Driver Genius.

Once it has updated the database, you can click other options such as the back-up option (pictured below) where it will ask you where you would like to place the backed-up drivers. I recommend that if you choose desktop, create a folder called drivers as otherwise you may find yourself with a desktop absolutely jam packed with folders.

This roughly only takes a couple of minutes and displays a completion notification. Now you can get on to updating your drivers.

Once you click on ‘Update Drivers’ you are prompted to choose your operating system and as you can see, the range of operating systems go all the way back to Windows 98, so nearly all computers will be able to run this software – even XP and Vista 64bit versions.

Driver Genius found five drivers on my computer that were out of date which were my display drivers, motherboard drivers, wireless LAN driver and monitor driver.

I chose to update my monitor driver for the review seen as though it was one of the smallest in terms of file size.

There are a few more places to go as well such as the uninstall driver function, maybe if a driver was corrupt and caused the hardware to fail.

In the tools section there is a driver download manager to control when drivers are downloaded and a driver diagnostics program to determine if your drivers are corrupt or damaged.

Conclusion

Driver Genius had certainly impressed me with its ability to download and manage all of your drivers. Also, with the ability to back-up, restore and remove, it is the ultimate program for managing your computer hardware’s problems and fixing them.

As your can specify when it updates the drivers, your computer should stay up-to-date for a very long time.

From the evidence shown, I cannot fault the software. It doesn’t seem to have any bugs or locations that don’t work properly either.

Pros

• Detects and solves driver problems
• Removes invalid drivers
• Synchronizes drivers with database
• Over Clocking and other functions for supported NVIDIA graphics cards
• Reliable
• Easy to use
• Good Price

Cons

• Sometimes drivers may not download properly

For the small price of £19.99, it will be affordable to all buyers and is a definite buy for people trying to revitalize their old slow computer.

Driver Genius deserves the editor’s choice award for its brilliance in speeding up slow computers.

Nearly everyone tries to play air guitar along to their favourite songs but not many people put that air guitar ‘talent’ into practice, this is where eMedia come in. They say that you can become a rock star while sitting at your computer – ideal!

eMedia specialise in music software which can help even the most deaf tone of student. They have various products available to customers such as Piano Method, Rock Guitar Method and of course today’s review, Guitar Method v4, and many more on their website. Click here to visit eMedia

Let’s test it out…

Features

• Past and Present hit songs
• Precision Gauge for effortless automatic tuning
• Over 50 full-motion videos to learn real-time playing techniques
• Audio tracker that highlights music and lyrics as you play
• A 250 chord dictionary
• Learn Basic and simple chord progression and riffs
• Then go on to the ‘Ear splitting chords and riffs’

System Requirements

The Package

Like other Avanquest products, the box is a simple yet effective design. It’s also very informative with a door on the front where inside there is lots of pictures and useful information about the product. This includes pictures of the guitar tuner, digital metronome and the digital recorder so you can save your recordings and play them back to see how you sound.

Inside the box you get the installation disc which comes with some instructions for different operating systems. Also with the CD, I found that there is a red eMedia guitar plectrum which I found to be quite useful as mine has disappeared, heh.

The plectrum is one of the thicker varieties and is designed more towards acoustic guitars as they have thicker strings than electrics, but they can also be used with electrics to get a more heavy sound. It also has the eMedia web address on it.

Impressions

Not to sound too full of myself but, I’m actually quite a good guitar player! [Ha, how can you say that!? - Rhys] This software appealed greatly and seemed to be quite a good product as with all the features included, it could easily improve an intermediate guitar player’s performance and techniques.

With a 250 chord dictionary and an automatic tuner, this is a very good product as tuning a guitar is always a hassle for most players and even I don’t know all of the chords – I doubt many people do – this would be a great help for anyone who wants to find chords that go together well so that they can effectively write their own songs.

This software also has many songs and lessons that you can watch and learn and as they are extremely clear and to-the-point, they’re very quick to learn from. The options to track back through lessons are also there should you happen to miss anything. However, this rewind feature on the videos was missing on some, this was a real nuisance.

Also, with the ability to print any lesson, you can go out and learn them from paper until you can get a song or technique perfect.

Installation

This is just a basic CD installation with nothing else needed (apart from a guitar of course). So first, insert the CD and it will pop up asking you where you want to install Guitar Method. It will then prompt you to accept the licence agreement. If you’re using Vista, a message is shown unique to only Windows Vista users (see below).

After you have finished installing Guitar Method, QuickTime 6.5 also asks to be installed so that the videos will play properly whilst you are using the software.

The whole install took about 1 minute which is quite good seen as though it had to install all of the video files, lessons, songs etc…

Testing/Usage

When you first open Guitar Method, you will be shown the homepage where the beastly song ‘House of the Rising Sun’ plays in the background.

You then just have to click anywhere on the homepage to be taken to the contents page where you can browse any of the many sections.

While Guitar Method is open, you can go to the options menu and go into different settings as you can see below.

Overall, there are 164 lessons to enjoy. Each section is separated into about 10 lessons which gradually get more difficult towards the end of a section.

When you have finished the course, a video pops up of the instructor where he plays a cool blues riff and talks about some other products that eMedia have to offer.

Conclusion

Guitar Method has been a great product to use and has given me some very useful tips and methods that I had not learnt before or covered in as much detail.

At the retail price of £34.99, I would say that this is definitely worth it because if you’re considering learning the guitar, this software is a fraction of the price of lessons and with Guitar Method, it’s very easy and quick to learn from.

Pros

• Easy instructions for people to understand
• Useful recorded chord dictionary
• Fair price for what you are getting
• Easy installation – with no other setup required
• A variety of songs to learn
• Many different techniques including how to play blues, rock etc…

Cons

• Really bad songs
• Unable to rewind some videos

Website design software is useful for many people from massive websites like Google and eBay to the smaller one-man band sites. If you do happen to be a bored housewife breaking out into the wide world of the internet then you probably don’t have much programming knowledge. BHV’s Homepage Maker 6 Express states that you need no programming knowledge to be able to use this software. So let’s put this software to the test and see just how easy it is to use.

Features:

• Unaltered representation: What you see in the editor is what you get on the internet
• State-of-the-art technology: Easy implementing and customising Flash
• Smart management: Files no longer needed can be located and deleted
• Clear arrangement: Each page or sub-page is accessible at any time, simply change by mouse click
• Really easy: Page wizard with step-by-step instructions
• Wide choice: Professional website templates are included

System requirements:

• Pentium 266 MHz (Celeron or AMD Athlon accordingly)
• Windows 2000/XP/Vista
• 64 MB RAM
• Mouse
• Optional: Internet connection as well as internet browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Mozilla, Netscape, etc.).

The Package

The software comes in a large box for just a disc and an instruction manual. However the box is eye-catching in typical bhv white and red styling. The front shows a picture of a woman with a paint pallet and brushes looking cheekily at the camera – a nice touch. At the bottom of the front of the box are the 4 key things that this software offers: creates personalised websites, 50 professional templates, can be used without any programming skills and is easy to use. If you were to see this packet on the shelf in a computer shop it would make you look twice.

The back of the packet shows a central picture of a webpage created using the software with 5 pictures coming off it all with descriptions of various features within the software. This is a nice feature and gives an informative yet not boring idea of the programs capabilities. The information on the back combined with the results that can be seen in the pictures is enough to encourage a buy.

Inside the outer box is a simple brown cardboard box which opens up to show a 64 page instruction manual and a disc in a paper sleeve. The packaging is a bit excessive for a disc and an instruction manual – not very environmentally friendly at all… shame on you bhv. With the excessive amount of space inside the box, the disc can move around freely, so could easily fall out of its pouch and perhaps break. Fortunately though, there were no defects with my copy so I can only assume that the packaging is suitable.

Homepage Maker 6 Express

First things first, I am a reviewer; I have no practical knowledge of building websites and had no part in making this one. Having said that, let’s see if I can make a website using this software that looks half decent and functions well. Like I said, I have no coding knowledge and I mean that… none at all.

Installation

First of all you are asked to fill in a registration form giving a few details about yourself.

Make sure you un-tick the box at the bottom unless you want to be dogged by spam but apart from that it’s fairly straightforward

Installation was standard, click next until the installer does something and hope for the best. At the final screen you are given the option to run the software.

First impressions as I opened the software for the first time were good. The program opened up in internet explorer – not my default browser – however the manual assisted me that it wouldn’t be a problem. The first screen you come to when you install the software states that there are updates available for the software and gives you an option whether you’d like to download them or not. This is quite good and rules out any incompatibility errors that might occur later on if you’ve created a webpage in an older version of the software and then want to upgrade.

Once you’ve downloaded the updates you can choose to install them. A progress bar pops up to show the update progress.

On my fairly aged system, installation of the software and installation of updates took around two minutes.

Testing

To test this program I am going to try and make a lovely website for housewives to sell their homemade pies. This can give a view as to how versatile and simple this software is. The first screen of the software asks you to name a “Projekt”- an obviously German program- but from a bit of use you can understand what to enter into this field. I am going to name my project Patricia’s pies after my local farmers’ wife’s business.

The next screen asks about the type of project you want to create. As this site will be selling pies I am going to choose e-commerce

After clicking on the desired website type a long list of templates shows up in the right hand column.

At this screen you simply choose a suitable template you like the look of and then click next.

After this you are asked to choose what types of pages you want on your website from a list of 14. However, you can also specify to have no structure at all. These can be individually checked or there is a list of preset project templates from which to choose from.

I chose e-commerce 2 as my structure but as I am acting as a single person company I’ll tick about me instead of about us.

Finally you can click finish; a progress bar will then appear and after that has filled up you can start customizing the website to your own specification. All your projects will show up on the main page of the software and you can click open project to work on them.

Once opened you are asked to log into homepage maker, after this the project is shown up in another window of your browser and you can start editing.

Nothing up to now needed the manual as it was all fairly straight forward; however on seeing the first screen I was a bit bewildered by all the buttons and didn’t really know where to start. However the manual provides a very clear view of what to do using lots of pictures to help explain. After reading a bit of the manual I was fairly confident in editing text and found that it was fairly intuitive if you have a slight nudge to start you off. After editing all the text on the site to adhere to stereotypes I needed to change the layout of the pages a bit and jazz up the fairly dreary background with some pictures. Another quick look at the manual and the banners, pictures and decoration came rolling in. All in all the editing part of the software was easy to use and well lay out. The text editor was like a normal word processor and uploading images worked well, especially when used in conjunction with Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop.

One feature that really stood out was the media player and uploads. It allows you to upload your own movies and media files. For a simple program designed for inexperienced web designers this normally advanced ability was a great feature.

When using the software I found nothing wrong with it everything worked as it is supposed to and the finished website didn’t look too bad – even for my poor design skills. The ease of use was a definite bonus.

Conclusion

If you are a housewife looking to sell pies this is definitely a program for you. However you could be just short of a professional web designer and still find this software useful. The finished sites look good and feel like a normal website should. There is a sense of quality to the layout and styling of the program which is also reflected in the finished product.

Retailing at £19.99 in shops and online this is true value for money.

For what this product is it cannot be faulted therefore I am going to award it a 5/5

Introduction

Nearly everyone today has got an iPod or iPhone can be used to watch film and video. However, many people are lost as to how they can transfer video files to their iPod. This is because the complicated procedure of converting video files again and again just looses some people. Luckily, X-OOM have created a new piece of software, ‘Movies on iPod 2’, which has the ability to convert movies from a number of formats straight to iPod format and even download legal TV programmes. Lets delve into this software release and see if it’s actually worth buying.

About X-OOM

X-OOM is a series of software products that empowers the users to enjoy their digital lifestyle without limits.
Aimed at both novice and advanced users, X-OOM offers a variety of tools that enable to edit and manage digital contents for further usage. A continuous cutting edge development effort ensures state-of-the-art products and excellent value for money.

About ‘Movies on iPod 2’

‘Movies on iPod 2’ is able to copy any non copy-righted films, TV programmes and video clips onto your media device so that you can watch them back-to-back. This piece of software converts many formats of video very quickly so adding your media collection to your iPod is a breeze.

Any web-TV show can also be recorded and transferred onto an iPod or iPhone – - to avoid missing favourite programmes.

With a new integrated media library, the software provides a helpful solution for collectively viewing all video files stored on a computer. To make life easier, the library includes customizable pre-defined settings, allowing straightforward transfer and modification of video clips.

Features and specifications

• Conversion of single or multiple files, such as movies, TV programmes and videos clips to an iPod or iPhone specific file format for ease of viewing.
• 5 file conversion settings to customise options such as file size, quality and compression, ensuring films can be effortlessly transferred.
• High speed encoder to enable quick conversion of movies
• Subtitle support
• Expert mode to quickly and automatically complete video cutting and processing.
• Can rip the audios from video files

Packaging

‘Movies on iPod 2’ arrives in an eye catching white box with graphics on the front of the various iPods and a girl listening to an iPod. Also dotted about on the front cover are some short features which the software entails.

Inside the main box there is another box – - brown cardboard box with a lid. Inside the next box is another box – - naaa I’m joking haha – - well actually an installation CD and instructions.

On the back of the box, there is information and screenshots of the product in action which enables the user to have a quick look at what to expect when they purchase this software.

This packaging was fairly suitable and robust meaning the disk will not be damaged or lost.

First Impressions

When I received this product and took a glimpse at its specifications and features, I was amazed by all the video files this can convert from, including ripping straight from DVD to iPod. However after installing the product, I was a little disappointed with its basic user interface – - I’ve seen better from free converters.

However, I’ve never used a converter which can download TV shows from the web and put them straight onto your generation of iPod.

As you can see, it organizes files very well by displaying them in order of name and how the files relate to each other. Also, it shows your computer’s media library and your iPod’s which is very useful as you can easily check to see if you already have a certain media file on your iPod.

Another feature I quite like is the ability to record web-TV and put it onto your media device. As you can see in the image, you can watch many channels from the UK, but there are more countries such as the USA, Spain and Russia that you can connect to and watch programs from. This is very useful as it enables you to watch a wider variety of TV shows. Also with this feature, there is an option to record just the audio from a TV show, however I’m sure most people would prefer watching a TV programme with the video – - so this option can be ignored for most people.

Installation

Installation was very simple – - just like most software – - you load the disk in and you are prompted with which language you would like to install the program in.

Afterwards, you just go through the necessary install options, such as where to install and if you want a desktop icon and a quick launch icon.

After that, you are prompted to finish the installation by clicking finish. That’s it!

Testing/Usage

The configuration of the computer I will be testing this software on is:

• CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+
• Motherboard: Asus M2N32-SLI deluxe
• Memory: 2GB Corsair XMS2 6400
• Storage: 320GB Seagate

My specifications are well above the minimum for this program, so it should handle it fine. However, the minimum specifications to run this software are:

• 700MHz CPU
• At least 800x 600 Resolution
• CD/DVD drive
• 150mb Disk Space

These minimum specifications are very small – - most people should be able to run the program fine.

The first task I gave ‘Movies on iPod 2’ was to convert a video file (about 35mb) to see how quick the job could be done. I also gave the same task to the free ‘Videora iPod converter’ – - for comparison. The results are as follows:

As you can see, just by looking at the table you would think that X-OOM is by far the best, but after comparing both videos from the two converters, I can easily see why Videora took a little longer.Even though both were supposed to be the same quality, the X-OOM was blurry in places and the audio and video were not in sync with each other. To my eyes, I could not see a single out of sync part of Videora’s conversion. This was a slight let down as Videora’s software is free, whereas X-OOM’s costs £19.99.

Even if the converter is not the best, X-OOM still offers more than Videora in their software package. As ‘Movies on iPod 2’ allows you to download videos from the web and also rip straight from a DVD to your iPod. This is unlike other competitor video converters, and is a certain advantage in this software. When downloading a couple of clips from the web, I was surprised how quickly they were synced to my iPhone and the quality was outstanding.

Conclusion

X-OOM have tried their very best to make this converter the best available converter to the public and I have to say, they have done a very good job. There converter may not be the best quality but with the ability to download TV and sync it straight to your iPod, it is much more interesting that just an ordinary converter such as Videora.

With the product costing £19.99, it’s quite expensive, as Videora’s iPod converter is free, so you’re only paying for the couple of extra features which X-OOM’s software.

Pros:

• Supports many file formats
• Quick Conversion
• Converts to small file size
• Organised media library
• Syncs video straight to iTunes

Cons:

• Bad user interface
• Poor quality Video

Introduction

The RadioTracker Platinum 4 is available to anyone and enables the downloading of music through a clever, yet legal technique. All music that is downloaded through RadioTracker comes directly from a radio station of your choice. Radio Tracker v2 and v4 won the Computer Shopper Best Buy Award with 5 out of 5 stars in February 2007 and March 2008.

About Avanquest

Avanquest Software is a world leading developer and publisher of consumer software and business solutions. The Group markets a wide range of best-selling programs developed both in-house and by developer partners throughout all territories and through all sales channels. Founded 20 years ago Avanquest Software possesses one if the most extensive catalogs in the world, now offering more than 1,500 software titles, with an unparalleled breadth of market appeal.

Features and Specifications

• Finds your favourite music for free
• Downloads the latest Podcast entertainment
• Manages your music collection
• Integrated CD burner
• Creates ring tones from downloaded tracks
• Continuously updates podcast database
• Audio Studio for editing MP3 tracks

Installation

Radio Tracker 4 arrives on just one CD in a sleeve. After inserting the CD into my disk drive, I was a little confused as to how the program was only 4MB in file size. Installing RadioTracker was a fairly simple process that even a novice could do! All you have to do is insert the CD and then if auto play is enabled on your computer, your internet browser pops up with an installation guide- prompting you to click ‘Begin Installation’.

Once the installation starts you have to wait around 30 seconds while the installation initializes. Afterwards, you are presented with a normal dialog box reminding you to agree to the contract, you will then be able to select where you’d like the software installed.

Once the software has finished installing, you can open up the program, type in the serial number and then the loading screen will appear in a matter of seconds.

This only appears to happen when you first load the program. After rebooting, the program starts up automatically at login.

Testing/Usage

When I first received the RadioTracker and read the product information I was amazed that such a product existed. I’m curious how software like this can be made legal but I’ve been assured from Avanquest that this is indeed 100% legal.

The concept that the RadioTracker uses is that when you connect to one of the many thousands of available radio stations, the tracker will automatically download music to match your specific interests either by matching band names and artists or matching songs by the genre of music e.g. If you type in Bloc Party, it will show all tracks by Bloc Party.

As well as finding MP3’s, RadioTracker automatically finds album artwork, song lyrics, images and ID3 tags. All songs can be synced with iPods, MP3 players and mobile phones which makes RadioTracker, ‘more than just a computer program’.

Creating ring tones for mobiles phones, PDAs etc…couldn’t be easier! The only knowledge you need for this is how to use your mouse for a few simple clicks, then you’re on your way to making the coolest ring tones on the block.

The MP3 storage system is all automatic. By default, your downloaded music is stored in your ‘My Music’ folder in your personal documents. This is very useful as there is no need to organise your music as the program does it all for you.

Even though you are recording music off the radio, via the internet, the sound quality is still extraordinary. By default the songs have a bit rate of 128kbps which probably won’t need to be changed as I tested all the songs that I have downloaded, through Logitech X590 5.1 surround sound speakers at nearly full volume and there was hardly any difference in the quality at higher bit rates.

As you can probably tell, the user interface is a dark yet sleek looking design; everything is laid out well and is clearly visible to the user. Fonts and buttons are quite large making them easy to navigate around and easy to read- without squinting.

The podcast feature is not one of RadioTrackers strong points as many of the podcasts are quite unknown and there are few English ones. However, Avenquest say that their database is constantly updating so in the future there will be more available.

All the features are very useful, especially the ringtone maker, CD burner and album info.

Conclusion

Overall the product is probably one of the best multimedia software packages I have ever owned. Mainly because of all the features, but the ultimate reason is because of the legal downloading capabilities.

The only thing that I can find wrong with the RadioTracker is the Podcast feature as it cannot find many casts at all. However, I’m comparing the Podcast library to iTunes, which no software will beat in Podcast content.

To sum this review up, its definitely good value for money and is a definite buy for any music lover.

Pros

• Affordable
• Easy to use
• Feature packed
• Quick downloads
• Easy Installation

Cons

• Poor podcast library
• Incorrect ID3 tags for some songs