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Sexy Web Design There's a lot of books out there with titles mentioning web design which are full of CSS and HTML. This isn't one of them. Instead, it really is about design.
The author, Elliot Jay Stocks has an impressive client list and is well known on the speaking circuit so his credentials are good. In Sexy Web Design, he shows how to gain inspiration and get ideas together long before you turn on your PC or Mac.
Antec Performance One P183 Mid-TowerThe P183 is the latest version of Antec's highly rated P180 and P182 enclosures. When released, the P180 was revolutionary with many new features that hadn't been seen before in the PC case market but the competition has now caught up so we now have Antec's response, the P183, not so revolutionary, more evolutionary.
The P183 is actually quite large for a mid tower at around 20 inches high by 20 inches deep. However, the first thing you notice isn't the size but the weight. At 31 pounds (14kg) this is one solid lump of an enclosure.
RootsMagic Platinum v4 For GenealogistsIf you had to point to one particular activity that had leapt in popularity more than any other in recent years it would surely have to be the gathering of family history. TV programs such as 'Who Do You Think You Are' have added to the interest, and now, world wide, there are millions of people using their personal computers to seek and store this information.
The processes of gathering the information, and then collating, storing, and sharing it are inextricably linked, and these days, with many powerful database cum search engines available via the Internet it makes sense to utilise the power of these modern facilities from within the software you use for your personal database.
Belkin N+ Wireless Router, F5D8235While routers such as the Belkin N+, model F5D8235, are primarily intended for adding to a cable setup, connecting to an existing modem/router, not just for its extra networking ports, but also, in this case, for its USB interface and hard drive management capabilities, not to mention its informative lineup of front-mounted LED, may sound like a deal of sense.
This router is ostensibly capable of being added to a computer system by, a) using the printed quick install guide while wiring the devices to the computers, and b) making use of the Setup Assistant that comes on the provided CD if you're a cable user. This CD also brings the software for external drive management as well as a means of manual intervention during installation, should you need it. For our particular setup, we did.
Iomega 500GB Home Media Network DriveThe last time we reviewed an Iomega drive, we discovered in the ScreenPlay Pro HD a device that fairly bristled with connectivity options, but with the new Home Media Network Drive (HMND) we have a more modest affair that's not intended to do what the ScreenPlay could manage. However, it may make up for what it lacks by providing basic Network Attached Storage (NAS) functions, should that be your main aim. It's also substantially cheaper that the ScreenPlay Pro, so let's take a look.
How to Virtualize a PC I have a fairly elderly Windows XP PC that is starting to suffer from an intermittant hardware fault. As I've long since lost the some of the installation CDs and floppy disks (yes, it's that old), the prospect of rebulding it onto a new machine didn't appeal too much. Instead, I decided to virtualize it.
Expert PDF 6.0There can hardly be any computer user who isn't familiar with Adobe's Portable Document Format, files with a .pdf extension which can be opened in a browser or with one of several PDF readers such as Acrobat and Foxit Reader.
It's easy to create PDFs yourself and Avanquest's Expert PDF 6.0 lets you do just that.
Number Shark 4There's a good few software titles that aim to teach basic maths. We've found most to be a little lacking though. They might be very pretty or be based on a favorite cartoon character but they often don't seem to be that good at the core concepts, just at drilling the child with repeated sums hidden in games.
Number Shark 4 is at the other end of the scale. It looks pretty basic graphically but behind that initially lackluster appearance hides a really well thought out system for building a solid understanding of numbers and how to work with them.
Ultimate Windows Tweaker for Vista v1.1There's a range of applications designed to let you adjust settings within Windows without you having to know the location of the Registry keys that govern them. They are generally for Windows XP and Vista, but we have one here that's specifically designed for 32-bit and 64-bit Vista only. Freeware, this program was developed for WinVistaClub by Ramesh Kumar.
Windows Vista is more powerful than XP, but it's reputation for annoying habits, foisted onto the long-suffering public by the virtual monopoly position of Microsoft, means that those with the technical bent have gone to work to enable easy routes to tweaking many of these settings in order to ensure lasting sanity among PC users.
Connecting External IDE/SATA Drives via USBNow's USB 2.0 AdaptorMany PC users will have spare 2.5" and 3.5" hard disks, and perhaps DVD drives, that they would like to test for serviceability, check what's on them, copy some files to or from them, perhaps use as system drive backup devices, or ghost to them working drive images.
There are several options for such connectivity, in addition to actually mounting the drives within the machine of course. There are disk caddies and docking stations, or there's the option for bare cabling with built in interfaces. The latter is what we're looking at here. It may not be a pretty setup, but what this option lacks in sophistication it makes up for in terms of versatility and quick and easy connectivity.
Avanquest System Suite 9 ProfessionalAs sure as there are death and taxes, there are also several sub-species of individual and low-life criminals who will try to attack your computer, control it, take over your life and steal your savings. So you need protection and, unfortunately, Windows itself is not really up to the job.
Avanquest's latest release, System Suite 9 Professional, integrates most of the features you need, not only to keep your computer and data safe, but also to optimize its performance, diagnose and repair problems, too.
Vista - WiFi Signal Strength GadgetsWhile Vista's Network and Sharing Center will show you whether you've established a successful connection to the Internet, and the Notification Area connection pop-up will give you a simple five-band guide to WiFi signal strength at the access point, many will consider these inadequate and want a rather more precise - and maybe more informative - indicator, perhaps for those occasions when they want to position the connected device optimally, or tune their network adapter.
Nessy Tales We recently looked at Nessy, a structured learning system to help children with dyslexia and other reading problems. From the same stable comes this related title, Nessy Tales.
Nessy Tales is aimed at young readers and particularly those with reading difficulties or who have been put off by previous failures. Nessy Tales comprises of five stories of increasing difficulty but done in a way that will hopefully have a better chance of capturing a child's imagination.
Securing PHP Web Applications by Tricia and William Ballad is as the name suggests aimed at PHP developers. Accordingly, all code examples are in PHP but it also provides an excellent primer on general security considerations for all developers.
The book starts off with some general thoughts about application security pointing out that it's not just a case of setting up the server correctly, the application itself can do much to harden itself against attack. More importantly perhaps, the authors note that it is often small apparently unimportant applications that attract hackers as they often provide an easy way in to a system and once in, they can do anything.
Auslogics Registry DefragWe reported some months ago on Australian company Auslogics' Disk Defrag, a fast hard drive defragmentation program that you can use instead of the painfully slow Windows defrag utility.
Recently we've been trying out their Registry Defrag program. Registry defragging is something you might run every two or three months in order to put all sections of the Registry into an appropriate state for optimum loading and running speeds.
Slow System? It could be the Hard Drive!We recently built and set up a Windows Home Server system which so far has worked reasonably well. However, when the client PCs were backing up, the WHS machine seemed very CPU bound - often at 98-100%. The CPU isn't great - an Athlon XP 1800 but it's also more than adequate in theory for the job in hand.
Iomega ScreenPlay Pro HD 500GB Multimedia DriveThere are several ways of playing multimedia files on a television set, but this Iomega device neatly combines most of them into a single package. It's a hard disk (500GB in our case, or 1TB) that adds to the rear of the casing all the different interface types commonly used to play appropriate files on a TV.
A protected menu system is incorporated, so some punters will find that there's no software installation actually required for what they intend to do. All they would need would be to copy their files from the PC to the drive via the USB port, plug the drive into a TV set, select the appropriate AV channel on the TV, and the ScreenPlay Pro menu that's presented would give them all the control they'd need by which to select and play (double-click) the required file, all via a neat little remote control that's included in the pack.
Windows Home Server User's Guide by Andrew Edney is pretty much what should have been included in the box when you buy Windows Home Server. Whether you bought an off the shelf solution like the various HP server models or built your own using the OEM DVD, this book tells you everything you need to know to get up and running as well as some background on what's going on in the behind the scenes.
Belkin N1 Vision Wireless ADSL2+ Modem RouterThe router-only version of the Belkin N1 Vision has been on the market for many months and has been well received. But what the device really needed, for non-cable users at least, was the incorporation of an ADSL2+ modem so that the complete communications job, modem and router, could be achieved within a single unit.
Somewhat surprisingly, with both products currently available, the upgrade retains the same name as the original, ie 'N1 Vision', though the name is subscripted 'wireless modem router'.
The Belkin N1 Vision Wireless ADSL2+ Mocem Router comes complete with a power supply, ADSL filter, RJ11 phone cord, RJ45 Ethernet cable, quick install guide, and a CD bearing the install wizard and full user manual. The brief Quick Start Guide was adequate as far as cabling was concerned as it's hardly possible to make a mistake.
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