The most recent articles from What PC?

Abbyy FineReader Professional 6.0

Cliff Joseph — 2002-08-29T14:00:17.000Z

Cliff Joseph, What PC?, Thursday 29 August 2002 at 14:00:17

Low-cost OCR software that converts printed pages into editable text and graphics files.

Optical character recognition (OCR) software is very much a niche market. Most people will never need to do any OCR work at all.

But if you do find you need to scan documents and convert them into text that can be stored and edited on your PC, a good OCR program is worth its weight in gold.

There are two requirements for an OCR program: accuracy and ease of use. Abbyy's FineReader certainly scores well on accuracy. To put the software through its paces, we scanned a number of pages from newspapers and magazines. We intentionally chose pages with complex layouts and multiple blocks of text and graphics.

FineReader did not achieve 100 per cent accuracy, but its results were impressive. It successfully preserved the page layouts, separated the various text and graphics elements and converted the text into a file that we could check and edit on screen.

The main text on each page was scanned without any errors, and we were impressed that the program managed to pick up formatting details such as the use of bold characters within larger blocks of text.

FineReader also did a good job of dealing with more complex layout details such as text that was printed over a background image, a task that often confuses OCR programs. The one detail that consistently stumped it, though, was coloured text printed on a red background.

Even so, it performed better than we expected, and its level of accuracy was commendable for a program that costs a mere £70.

FineReader's interface is fairly straightforward and is divided into three main areas. A panel on the left-hand edge of the screen displays thumbnails of the pages that you have scanned, and next to this is a larger view of the currently selected page. The final area is an editing window that allows you to check and edit the actual text created by the program.

Possible errors are highlighted in blue, and a spell-checker is also provided. Once you have checked your pages, you can save them in a variety of text and graphics formats. There is even a useful option for converting pages into HTML, allowing you to turn printed pages into web pages in a matter of seconds.

Most of these features were fairly easy to use, but we did encounter one or two rough edges along the way. When we ran FineReader for the first time, its various toolbars were all hidden for some reason, so we were initially unable to locate some of the tools mentioned in the Quick Start guide.

The manual is vague at times, and has some sloppy errors such as incorrectly labelled screenshots. The program also uses imprecise language at times. The 'Save' options refer to saving text, when they actually allow you to save an entire page, complete with text and graphics.

It is sometimes hard to find a particular feature because it is not clearly described in the manual or within a program menu.

Despite these niggling faults, FineReader works well and its combination of accuracy and low price make it a strong rival for more well-known competitors such as OmniPage.

Price: £69.99 (inc. VAT)

Features:

Converts scanned images into a variety of text and graphics file formats
Automatically divides page layouts into separate text and graphics elements
Table-scanning option
Can save pages as HTML or PDF files
Includes word processing tools for editing text
Built-in spell-checker
Scans text in 122 languages.

Minimum requirements: Pentium 200MHz PC; Windows NT 4.0, 2000 or XP; 64MB Ram; 90MB hard disk space; TWAIN-compliant scanner.

Contact: Abbyy UK 01279 323 766

www.abbyy.com

Laplink 11

Scott Colvey — 2002-05-09T11:09:29.000Z

Scott Colvey, What PC?, Thursday 9 May 2002 at 11:09:29

How to hook up your equipment, but seriously overpriced.

From the earliest days of computing, people have had a need to transfer data from one machine to another, and Laplink has served as the go-between. This patriarch of the software world has just reached its eleventh incarnation: what new features have the developers conjured up?

Remarkably, the company boasts of eight key improvements over the previous edition ; though how crucial some of these are is debatable. The 'streamlined user interface', for example, certainly looks good but does nothing to enhance functionality. Of more interest to serious Laplinkers will be support for Windows XP.

A genuinely new feature is Push Install, which prompts the program to install itself onto a second computer attached via the supplied serial cable.

However, it's in the list of existing features where Laplink really shines brightly. Put simply, if you need to get two computers talking any which way, there is no better-equipped program available. Laplink allows you to hook up using direct cable connections, dial-up networking or even from any web browser on any computer.

Even so, there are a couple of things we take issue with. First is Laplink's attitude to USB. You get serial and parallel cables, but if you want a USB cord you have to fork out an extra £19.95. USB is now commonplace and offers faster data-transfer speeds than either of the included connection options. It's either a display of ignorance of market trends, or worse, exploitation of customers.

Secondly - cost. Laplink is a fine piece of software and many PC owners could benefit from it, but the high price marks it out squarely as a niche product.

Specifications

Easy transfer of files between computers
Secure files and folders
Remotely install to other computers
Includes both serial and parallel cables
Windows XP support

Minimum requirements

100MHz 486 PC with 24Mb memory and 25Mb hard disk space

Price

£148.67 (£98.40 download) inc VAT

Contact

Laplink: 0870 241 0983 www.laplink.co.uk

Oracle bolsters E-Business Suite

Mark Street — 2001-09-06T23:00:00.000Z

Mark Street, What PC?, Thursday 6 September 2001 at 23:00:00

Company still fuelling integration costs, say analysts

Oracle has bolstered its E-Business Suite with the launch of a warehouse management system, as analysts accuse the company of fuelling integration costs by encouraging the modular adoption of products.

Oracle Warehouse Manager, the latest addition to the E-Business Suite, embraces many aspects of warehouse resource management, and is supported by the Oracle Mobile Supply Chain Application.

Clive Longbottom, of analyst firm Quocirca, praised the product set but accused the vendor of acting disingenuously by preaching the benefits of a one-stop ebusiness solution while knowing that companies would always need to integrate components with other systems.

"I don't think Oracle will ever stop adding to its E-Business Suite," he said. "Despite what it says, we do not know of any firm that has installed E-Business as a large suite; most opt to install just the components they want and incur integration costs."

Longbottom explained that Oracle wanted customers installing its warehousing and customer relationship management systems to use them across the supply chain. "It is attempting to surround and conquer," he said.

Stephen Millard, director of product marketing for Oracle UK, maintained that, while a number of firms made extensive use of E-Business Suite, Oracle was mindful of the need to improve the integration of its products with other systems.

Oracle Warehouse Manager and Mobile Supply Chain Application are available on a named user basis at £4,927 and £2,110 respectively.

St@rbay promises variety performance

Tewksbury — 2000-11-29T24:00:00.000Z

Tewksbury, What PC?, Wednesday 29 November 2000 at 00:00:00

SCM Microsystems and Microsoft are set to make separate systems for video, music and internet access a thing of the past with the launch of St@rbay.

SCM Microsystems and Microsoft are set to make separate systems for video, music and internet access a thing of the past with the launch of St@rbay.

St@rbay is a series of receiver modules that enables users to access entertainment services from one device. It is claimed to be the first secure broadband access device to make use of the TV features being incorporated into the Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system.

Using one remote control device, consumers can access services including cable, satellite and terrestrial television, streaming video, TV time shifting, video games, internet browsers and downloads.

By adding more St@rbay receivers, manufacturers can provide picture-in-picture and record-one-watch-another services while feeding a range of TV channels over a high-bandwidth home network.

Luc Vantalon, vice president of business development at SCM, said: "The provision of premium TV services on the PC platform is a long-awaited breakthrough."

Encyclopaedia Britannica Deluxe CD 2000

Owen Gibson — 2000-03-01T24:00:00.000Z

Owen Gibson, What PC?, Wednesday 1 March 2000 at 00:00:00

No longer just available in book form, the Encyclopedia Britannica is now on the web and on CD. This deluxe CD version comes on three CDs and has over 83,000 articles.

One of the more visible signs of the digital age is Britannica's decision to focus on its CD-ROM and web incarnations rather than publish its famous Encyclopaedia in book form alone.

This Deluxe version contains the entire updated text of the Britannica, with various other multimedia elements, on three CDs. It is important for any multimedia encyclopaedia to be as comprehensive and easy to use as possible, and Britannica Deluxe scores highly on both counts due to its huge array of entries and intuitive mouse-driven interface.

You'll find the intelligent search engine, and the fact that you can ask questions of it in plain English, an improvement on previous editions. We also liked the sheer depth and breadth of the coverage. Any subject you can think of gets a mention, and there are links to specially selected websites for further research.

The Compass and Analyst features are invaluable. They allow you to compare nations on all kinds of levels, together with graphs, maps and tables. And the beautifully presented Timelines and Spotlights, featuring video clips and sounds, will draw you into the subjects they cover.

Our only gripe is that the choice of multimedia topics seems somewhat random. All are interesting, but the 14 subjects seem to have been chosen arbitrarily and then given the lavish multimedia treatment.

General Features

Entire text of Encyclopaedia Britannica 2000 - over 83,000 articles
One hour of video and animation
Over 6,500 photos and illustrations
Natural language search
Interactive timelines
Links to over 125,000 internet sites
New Oxford Dictionary of English

Contact Britannica 0808 100 7100

Symantec Norton Systemworks 2000 Professional Edition

J Mark Lytle — 2000-01-01T24:00:00.000Z

J Mark Lytle, What PC?, Saturday 1 January 2000 at 00:00:00

This useful collection of utilities will sort out all your PC's needs - from saving it from crashes to creating a full copy of your hard disk.

Everyone knows that Windows can be a cantankerous beast, with crashes and data loss left, right and centre - and that's on a good day.

Perhaps we're exaggerating slightly, but few Windows users can claim to have never lost patience with the unpredictable nature of the ubiquitous operating system.

Luckily for us, Symantec has bundled seven diagnostic tools to make life that little bit easier.

It may be disparaging to suggest that Norton Systemworks 2000 is a bundle, because one of its most impressive aspects is the almost seamless integration between its disparate elements. The manufacturer calls this Norton Symmetry. Essentially the products look, feel and act the same to give an impression of continuity when switching from one to another. Appearances are all very, but how well does each application perform?

The heavyweight from the Symantec stable is clearly Norton Utilities 2000 (an updated version of the separately available product) and its array of 14 so-called fix-it tools, each of which can be launched individually and configured through the central Systemworks control panel.

The thrust of Utilities is pretty obvious from the name of each constituent: System Check, Speed Disk and WinDoctor. What's more, each does what it says on the box. Speed Disk in particular is a useful tool for beefing up hard disk performance, because it does in 10 minutes what Windows' Disk Defragmenter dawdles over all day. The Optimization Wizard is also noteworthy and produced clear performance improvements on our test system.

Norton Antivirus is one of our long-term favourites and the latest version adds extra virus utilities and also enables the user to create rescue disks - a simple, yet powerful feature. Cleansweep and the Millennium Bug test application, Norton 2000, also perform as well as claimed.

However, we do have reservations about the accuracy of the Year 2000 diagnostic reports, although this is a notoriously tricky area.

The last of the major features of the Norton package is Crashguard 2000 - a program that has been around for a while. The AntiFreeze element of Crashguard is useful for dealing with programs that have already committed hara-kiri, disposing of the evidence with a quick Ctrl+Alt+Del without forcing the whole system to nosedive. Unfortunately, Crashguard itself seems a little arrogant, jumping in to warn of impending doom in applications that were, and always had been, functioning perfectly.

Of the other bits and pieces rattling around in the box, by far the most useful are the set of emergency disks designed to resurrect any busted and battered PC, Norton Ghost 2000. Ghost creates perfect clones of hard disks. It might not sound like much, but just try upgrading to a new 20Gb hard disk without a cloning utility and you'll see why we rate it so highly.

Finally, Norton Web Services is a feature that might come in useful in the event of a new virus doing the rounds. The alternative - automatic downloads of the latest software and hardware drivers - isn't quite so appealing.

The main elements of Norton Systemworks 2000 - particularly Antivirus and Utilities - make the package worth having but, unless you need every application, you may prefer to stick to buying individual products.

Specifications

----------------------

Utilities - solves hardware and software problems
Antivirus 2000 - kills all known viruses and trojans
Cleansweep 2000 - clears disk clutter
Norton 2000 - Y2K testing and solutions
Crashguard - intercepts crashes and safeguards data
Ghost - clones an entire hard disk
Web Services - keeps your PC up to date

Contact Symantec 020 7616 5600

Microsoft prompted to produce patch

What PC and Software — 1999-11-02T24:00:00.000Z

What PC and Software, What PC?, Tuesday 2 November 1999 at 00:00:00

Microsoft is working on a patch for a new security flaw in Office 97, which could allow hackers to delete files or manipulate data.

Microsoft is working on a patch for a new security flaw in Office 97, which could allow hackers to delete files or manipulate data.

The problem involves the ODBC driver, which handles database queries in Excel and means a spreadsheet sent by e-mail or opened from a Web site could exploit a weak point in the driver and trigger commands on the user's computer.

While virus checkers can check for macro viruses they do not look for database queries, leaving computers vulnerable.

It is reported that the bug was discovered in July by Juan Carlos Cuartango, a Spanish Web developer, who reported the problem to the NTBugTraq mailing list.

Microsoft says although an updated driver is available, it does not recommend this to solve the problem and is working on a solution which will be posted on its Web site. The bug does not affect Office 2000 or recent editions of Office 97.

Adobe sharpens up its Web operation

newmedia newmedia — 1999-08-31T23:00:00.000Z

newmedia newmedia, What PC?, Tuesday 31 August 1999 at 23:00:00

Hot on the heels of its InDesign page layout software, Adobe has announced an update of its Photoshop image-editing software. It also previewed ActiveShare, a software and Web-based solution that allows users to import and share digital images.

Adobe hopes Photoshop 5.5 (see Close-up next month) will allow the software to take the lead in image editing for Web publishing. To this end its ImageReady 2.0 Web design tool is bundled as standard. It ships in August for both Mac and PC and is priced at $647, or $199 for an upgrade from Photoshop 5 or ImageReady 1.0. UK pricing is yet to be set.

ActiveShare is a mix of software and a Web site at www.activeshare.com.

The software allows you to do one-click imports of digital images and provides basic image-editing tools. The Web site will be an information resource on digital imaging and a forum for images to be shared online.

ActiveShare is due for launch in October.

Adobe: 0181 606 4001

SHORT STORIES - Microsoft Office 2000

newmedia newmedia — 1999-08-31T23:00:00.000Z

newmedia newmedia, What PC?, Tuesday 31 August 1999 at 23:00:00

Microsoft Office 2000 has finally hit the shelves in UK stores. Reviewed in Close-up (June 99), this next-generation software suite comes in no less than five versions. The Standard edition comprises Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook and IE5, while Small Business adds Publisher and financial tools. Professional includes database functions with Access, and Premium brings FrontPage and PhotoDraw to the party. Finally, Developer is the same as Premium but also includes special tools to customise the applications. Prices start at £439.

Microsoft: 0345 002000

www.microsoft.com/uk

SHORT STORIES - OmniForm

newmedia newmedia — 1999-08-31T23:00:00.000Z

newmedia newmedia, What PC?, Tuesday 31 August 1999 at 23:00:00

Caere has released version 4.0 of its popular form-generating application, OmniForm. Among the new features is the Proofreader Wizard, a step-by-step form-design checker.

Selling for £99, OmniForm 4.0 also has the ability to scan colour graphics, giving users the option of using them to beautify forms.

Caere: 0171 233 6677

www.caere.com

New Windows 98

newmedia newmedia — 1999-07-30T23:00:00.000Z

newmedia newmedia, What PC?, Friday 30 July 1999 at 23:00:00

Microsoft is set to release a new, enhanced version of its Windows 98 operating system later this year. The company has also announced a service pack to fix bugs in the current edition.

As with previous updates, the service pack for existing users will be downloadable for free from Microsoft's Web site at:

www.windowsupdate.com.

The patch is designed to fix bugs, including remaining Year 2000 issues, and contains Internet Explorer version 4.01.

Windows 98 Second Edition should provide more of an upgrade. This new version of the operating system will incorporate items such as Internet Explorer 5, NetMeeting 3.0, and DirectX 6.1.

There will be additional modem drivers and increased support for USB modems, an update for Web TV and networking and security enhancements.

The new version is expected to arrive in the autumn and will retail for $89 (no UK price has been set). However, as several major parts of the update can already be downloaded for free, it's unclear as to how many users will rush to buy it.

Microsoft CEO Bill Gates also revealed at the recent WinHEC conference in Los Angeles that a 'consumer-oriented' follow-up to Windows 98 is planned for 2000.

The product has not been named but it will be centred around an Intel-Microsoft initiative called Easy PC, which focuses on making PCs less complex, pushing USB, FireWire and encouraging innovative designs.

Microsoft: 0345 002000