Search

This article reviews several computer software designed for searching data files. DtSearch Desktop With Spider is easy to use, even with its wealth of tools. Installation, indexing and search all went off without a hitch. Knownsoft Turbo Searcher tool indexes only by drive, including network drives. It can search for images, videos, music files and other content categories, but default options are limited. Users can manually add other formats to its index. Stata Labs Bloomba Professional is an e-mail tool which imports Outlook data seamlessly. It works as an Outlook replacement. It automatically saves a user's last 20 searches and lets him scroll through their results with a single click. The Professional version syncs with Palm personal digital assistants. Blinkx's keyword function works surprisingly well. Searches are fast and simple, but not especially accurate. Blinkx could make a useful research tool. The program can also perform an old-fashioned keyword search of files in the same locations. With XI Search from XI Technologies, users can search by file name and size or by file extension. Other options let users specify the maximum file size for content indexing, which applies to e-mail attachments as well.

Evaluates several printers. Lexmark's Prin Trio X75; Brother's MFC-4220c; Canon's MultiPass MP730. INSETS: MULTIFUNCITONS AT THE JUNCTION: AS GOOD AS STAND-ALONE DEVICES?;LEXMARK X5150;AS GOOD AS STAND-ALONES?.

Features several personal computer accessories. Mobile connect camera from Veo; Belkin's penlight; Kensington's StudioMouse; Monsoon Audio's ribbon speakers.

Reviews several computer add-ons and accessories to give as gifts. Evaluation of monitors, computer hubs, computer programs and others; Features; Costs of the products, which include the Samsung SyncMaster 171MP monitor, Logitech Cordless Freedom Optical Keyboard and Mouse, and the E-Pen.

Offers advice about building or fixing a Web page. Choosing a host for the Web site; Tips for maintaining a domain; How to adapt JavaScripts to a Web site; Suggestion that using the tips provided, one may successfully maintain a Web site for an indeterminate amount of time. INSETS: A Host of Hosts;Road Map to a Site Upgrade;Your Web Toolbox.

Provides information on a number of computer-related items which may be considered as gifts during the winter holiday season in 2000. Information on the Canon BJC-55 portable printer and other products; Details concerning each item's level of technical complexity.

The article evaluates Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, including the Nuvi 360 from Garmin, the Drive GPS 250 from Pharos and the Blackbird PMD-B00 from Alpine Electronics.

This article discusses preventive-maintenance tips for PC internal and external devices. Few users are as diligent as they should be about backing up system, applications, and data. No backup strategy is 100 percent effective, and most take more time to set up and use than users are willing to spend on them. The very least one can do is to create an image of the hard drive when everything works. That way, when trouble strikes, users merely restore the pristine image, which usually takes less than 45 minutes. Symantec Norton Ghost 9 and Acronis True Image 8 restore Windows XP, Microsoft Office, and an assortment of other applications and utilities in half the time it would take to reinstall Windows, let alone the hours required to reinstall all programs, reload data files manually, and reconfigure system settings to the way one prefers them. The downside: Norton Ghost costs $70 retail, and True Image lists for $50. While saving the image to a second hard drive is far more convenient than placing it on a DVD, it is also more expensive. Incompatibilities between DVD drives and imaging software are common. To make data easier to restore, keep data files on a partition other than the one that holds Windows and applications.

The article provides tips on digital videography. The Service Pack 2 of Windows XP includes the free Movie Maker 2.1 application. The Movie Tasks pane of the program provides a step-by-step process of creating a video. The Premiere Elements of Adobe, a more full-features editing program, offers special effects, titling, and the ability to burn a DVD right from the software, among other features. To move a video from a camcorder to a hard drive, connect the personal computer and camcorder with a FireWire cable, turn the camcorder on, and open the video editing software. The program should recognize the camera automatically. In most video editing programs, the Capture command opens a window containing VCR-like controls for playing, stopping, fast-forwarding, and rewinding. A way to edit a movie is to put the clips into a software's timeline in a preferred order. The timeline shows a movie in frame-by-frame sequence. Once all the clips are displayed on the timeline, select each clip in turn and set the in and out points. Every video editing program allows incorporation of text overlays, titles and credits to a movie. Pictures may be imported from a digital still camera and all them to a movie. INSET: Cinematography 101.

This article evaluates several digital electronic gadgets for automobiles. Most global positioning system devices for cars store their maps on an internal hard drive such as the 5 gigabyte drive in Garmin's StreetPilot 2620 or the 10 gigabyte drive in Thales Navigation's Magellan RoadMate 700. The StreetPilot contains maps and points of interest for all of North America. The RoadMate 700 holds data for the 48 contiguous U.S. states and most Canadian cities. One can obtain a broader view of the road ahead using the 6.5-inch touch screen liquid crystal display that pops out of Pioneer's AVIC-N1 automatically. The device combines a digital video disc-based navigation system with digital video and audio playback and satellite radio. Several MP3 players for cars hold MP3 files on regular desktop or notebook hard drives. Alpine's HDA-5460 in-dash MP3 player contains a removable 16 megabyte hard drive. Another candidate, the PhatNoise Digital Car Audio System, stores recordings on an external hard-drive cartridge that shuttles from the PhatBox player in the trunk of a car to a cradle. The cradle connects the cartridge to the personal computer via a Universal Serial Bus 2.0. One can organize a music collection with the PhatNoise software, and then transfer the recordings to the cartridge.

Offers tips on wireless computer networking. Benefits of wireless networking; Information on the several wireless networking hardware standard developed by the IEEE; Guidelines in buying gadget and equipment for wireless networking; Information on various computer settings needed to complete a wireless setup.

Focuses on suggestions given by the author regarding healthy maintenance of personal computers (PC). Reasons given by the author for limiting the use of 16-bit applications in computer systems; Measures suggested for automation of PC maintenance; Benefits of installing the backup utility feature in PC. INSET: Keep Taps on System Changes With FileWatch.

Provides tips and information in making Windows printing easier. Selection of available from icon and use the controls in setting start to send jobs to printers; Designation of printing time for individual documents in the print queue; Selection of the appropriate icon from the print dialogue box.