E scan Internet 2003 Security Suite is yet another soldier to help you strengthen your defense stratagem against viruses and spam. It has introduced a new layer, called Micro World Win sock Layer (MWL), which sits between the default WinSock2 layer and the applications layer. MWL analyzes and filters traffic between the mail server and the web.

E Scan ISS has a simple installation process, complete with a background score of music to put you in just the right ‘fight to the finish’ mood! However, the interface lacks finish and takes a bit getting used to. The Help files could be more comprehensive. That apart, eScan offers the usual options such as disk scanning and kernel driver-the latter checks every EXE file.

The parental control option provided helps in keeping your children away from unsavory sites, but a word of caution here: do remember to turn off the auto-update blocked site list option, as it often ends up adding many harmless sites to the blocked list. It blocked Google in our case!

E-mail-scanning and spam-blocking is achieved using a standard linguistic control approach which provides a list of keywords in the block list but it is not enough to combat intelligent spammers.

Some other features worth mentioning are Heuristics scanning, NETBIOS firewall, remote access file rights and automated updates.

For: Heuristics scanning, pop-u p blocking and MicroWorld WinsockLayer which analyzes and filters the traffic between the mail server and the Internet. Against: Insufficient help files, needs a more sophisticated approach for advanced spam control.

Sonic’s Record Now! Deluxe edition is a powerful and easy-to-use tool for CD and DVD recording. It comes bundled with Cine Player, My DVD, Record Now and a quick file archiving tool. Sonic has made very interesting changes; for instance the whole application is given a Wizard-based feel and \ a pleasant interface.

Getting started is a simple matter of choosing one of the four iconic project tabs-Audio, Data, Copy, or VCD-from below the main player window. Record Now will launch one of these categories; these in turn come with their own sub-categories.

Next is music compilation, which comes with the familiar drag-and-drop options placed in a lucid two-window interface. Peculiarly, when you drag and drop tracks, the last track always ends up first, thus completely changing the order! How annoying is that? A CD-labeling application also forms a part of Record Now- it will directly import track information onto your label. Unfortunately it lacks advanced options.

My DVD, is a longtime front-runner in the entry-level DVD authoring field and comes with stunning motion backgrounds. Although the program doesn’t allow you to freely place menu buttons or text, its ease of use and professional-looking results go a long way. Cine Player sports a very uncluttered interface and gives Open DVD support as a major feature, beneficial for authoring DVDs using Open DVD-compliant authoring programs. Lastly, Quick Archiving features allow quick backup and disk copy options. For: Easy to use, provides Cine Player with Open DVD and good DVD authoring. Against: Changes track order, lacks advanced CD-labeling features.

CrazyTalk is 3D morphing software from Reallusion which allows morphing your photos and syncing them with audio to help you create talking pictures, complete with animated emotions. The software allows you to pick any photo, resize it and place wire-frame points, simulating the facial muscle points in orderto edit them.

It lets you add facial gestures to every word or sound from within a bank of 20 different expressions. We added fake eyeballs to our photos and then played around with their color and size. Although they did add zing to the pictures, they looked quite unnatural.

You can breathe your pictures to life using the audio-sync option; use their Text-To-Speech technology to speak a written text message with a synthesized voice; or better still, you can record your own voice using its built-in audio studio. The preset sound filters lack advanced voice manipulation features and the output sounds a bit tinny at certain times.

CrazyTalk has both Home and Web editions. The trial versions are available for download on its site-hefty downloads of 17 MB or 24 MB respectively. The evaluation period is just 7 days, after the expiry of which you must buy the full version for a huge $49.95.

For: Commendable picture morphing and audio-sync features.

Against: The software lacks advanced audio and video editing features. Besides, it also proves to be a tad expensive.

Among the things we didn’t like was the fact that ScopeWare does not work on non-Microsoft e-mail clients; that is a significant deficiency. The other thing is the price itself. While $30 (approximately Rs 1,324) for a personal edition may be affordable in the American context, it is not the kind of money the average Indian desktop user normally shells out-unless one is a power user. On the other hand, if this tool is to be deployed across a network, $80 (approximately Rs 3,600). this is a terrific investment. Look at it this way-the way ScopeWare delivers results, it is as good as any Knowledge Management System. How many KMSs do you know of, that come for this price?

Having said that, we wish it had one more feature built into it-the ability to search the web-like Grokker-which is probably ScopeWare’s closest competitor.

For: Terrific search capabilities. This file cataloging software can dig up anything and is rather addictive!

Against: Does not support non­Microsoft e-mail clients. Besides, it may be too expensive for individual users

In our tests, ScopeWare performed incredibly well and managed to locate documents that were stored in the most obscure locations. The results are fairly stunning and it is difficu It not to be infatuated by its capabilities.

Search results are thrown up on your screen in the form of neatly indexed, transl ucent cards. As you move your mouse over these cards, the card on which you have placed your cursor, pops up to the front. If that’s the file you want, simply double­click on it, and it invokes the corresponding application that allows you to view the file. If it isn’t, simply move on to the next one.

After having used this piece of software for over two weeks now, we’re pretty sure that there is not a chance in hell that we’re going to go back to using Windows Explorer­particularly while trying to search the network.

As a concept, this isn’t a new one. But ScopeWare’s predecessors simply fizzled out because the indexing engines hogged system resources and slowed machines down considerably. ScopeWare scores on this count by employing two features. For one, it integrates with Microsoft’s inbuilt indexing function. That means it doesn’t have to rebuild a database of files that exists on your machine.

On another front, a user can specify that the indexing engine should start work only if the machine’s processing capacities are idling. Between both of these features, ScopeWare manages to keep system resources free.

Most people nowadays have huge hard disks. Which is why everybody stores all kinds of documents on their machines and routinely forget what they’ve stored and where. That is precisely where software like ScopeWare Vision comes in handy. It’s like having a search engine for your hard disk-and if you choose to activate it, for all the external disks that you use.

The 17 MB installation takes a while. But that’s because the software can’t work until it indexes what exists on your computer. Having indexed it, Scopeware creates snapshots of every file on the machine. With that done, you can get away without remembering file names or managing your data in neatfiles.

Simply type a keyword or phrase that you’re looking forfrom your machine and ScopeWare will locate all documents for you in barely a few seconds. This includes PDF files or even images for that matter. While the personal edition was created for a single machine, the professional edition, which we reviewed, does the job across a network.