The pricey Ultra version of this venerable player adds support for HD DVD, BD (Blu-ray Disc), VC-1, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTSHD, among other things. However, my enthusiasm is tempered by limitations in the very hardware that would compel you to buy PowerDVD Ultra in the first place.

CyberLink provides technologies to sharpen video, enhance audio, fit a movie into a mobile device’s remaining battery time, and even to make subtitles movable. However, many of these features don’t work with BD. PowerDVD’s interface isn’t as easy to use and intuitive as WinDVD 8’s, but it’s skinnable. The app did play some BDAV home video WinDVD wouldn’t, although both apps can be updated. I tested BD playback with a Sony BWU-100A.

On a Windows XP Pro system with an Athlon X2 4800+, 2GB, a GeForce 8800 GTS, and a standard (not widescreen) 19-inch analog VGA 1,600 x 1,200 CRT PowerDVD played DVDs and SVCDs just fine. However, it couldn’t scale BD movies to the screen, instead showing only the upper-left quadrant of the films.

On a Vista system with an FX-55, 1GB, and an analog VGA 1,280 x 1,024 LCD, a Radeon X850 XT wouldn’t display any BD video at all. Then again, neither this card nor the FX-55 meet PowerDVD 7’s system requirements (!). An 8800 GTS card showed BD movies without cropping, albeit at 720p. This system tuttered during the VC-1 “Corpse Bride,” and froze often during the MPEG-4 “X3: The Last Stand.”

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Tripower Software throws out some impressive numbers to entice you to tap into Tripower’s power. Though the 90-day free trial is best for judging the file manager, the numbers are noteworthy, as Tripower Software claims the app can access, organize, and control up to 35 trillion files (including across networked drives) in only three clicks. That Tripower does this from one window may be better.

To organize files, the app uses three panes: Projects, Topics, and Files. Projects are analogous to filing cabinets that store manila folders (Topics), which store individual papers (Files). Click a Project and its related Topics display in the next pane. Click a Topic and related files appear in the Files pane with names you assign. Click a file, and its host app launches it from within Tripower. Nice. Tripower can store 33,000 Projects, 33,000 Topics for each Project, and 33,000 Files for each Topic.

An NFL Football Teams Project is bundled to illustrate the process. For example, click the Official Sites Topic and all NFL team names display in the Files pane, with each name doubling as a URL to the team’s site.

Renaming and editing files is easy, and you can use the same file for various Topics, clean up files no longer belonging to a Project, and include mixed file types within a Topic (email addresses, Web sites, etc.). A built-in search engine helps locate files, otherwise you’ll add them to Projects from the File menu, toolbar, or right-click menu. Unfortunately, inputting multiple files is time-consuming using the Add File To File List option. Although the ability exists, the company disabled it in favor of overall ease of use. For now, when you add a file, the app assigns it a default name, which the file displays as in the File pane. You can add multiple files at once using the Global File Search option, but you’ll still need to name and accept files individually. The
company plans to add automation options in future versions.

Tripower was quick and stable in my testing, and its ability to manage even a dozen or so Projects is stellar. The program supports WinMe and up, with Vista support expected soon.

WinZip stuck 11.0’s best new features in the Pro version, a leap from the Standard flavor. Both include new thumbnail viewers (no need to extract images), a new algorithm for shrinking lossless WAV files, and new support for extracting BZR and RAR files. Pro gives you a full-image viewer, FTP uploading, CD/DVD burning abilities, command line support (albeit via an addon), and improved backup and automated tools (email notifications, automatic sending of ZIP files, FTP folder searches, etc.) via the Job Wizard.

Best Compression essentially extends WinZip’s inclusion of PPMd and bzip2 compression options in recent versions to let 11.0 auto-select the best option based on the files you provide. (A caveat of using Best Compression is that extracting its resulting ZIP files requires a compatible archiver, such as WinZip 10.0 or newer.) Among my various tests, Win-Zip compressed a 301MB test folder of mixed files to 110MB at its Legacy (Zip 2.0) setting. With Best Compression on, the same folder archived to 83.6MB. WinRAR archived the folder to 94.9MB (RAR) at normal and 94.3MB (RAR) at best. 7-Zip (free) shrank the folder to 84.5MB (PPMd) at normal and 84MB (PPMd) at its maximum setting.

Elsewhere, WinZip’s Windows Explorer-like navigation is wonderful, and being able to associate alternative extensions to WinZip to work around email filters is a nice touch. Still, power users who argue their archivers equal or better WinZip’s tools and security (11.0 includes up to 256-bit AES encryption) for fewer bones than 11.0 Pro have a strong case, even if registered users get a 50% price break upgrading to 11.0

More and more TV stations around the world are streaming feeds via the Internet, but locating these feeds and playing them can be a chore for users. Now it’s easier to find numerous TV channels on the ’Net in one place with the help of JLC’s (Joakim L. Christiansen’s) Internet TV.

JLC’s Internet TV is fairly straightforward: All you have to do is install the latest version of Windows Media Player or RealPlayer and then run JLCIT. Once you download the program, hundreds of available TV feeds will appear on a list on the right side of the program’s window. You can sort these TV channels by name, country of origin, category (such as News, Education, General, and so forth), bit rate, and comments by clicking the column headers.

To play a TV channel’s Internet feed directly in the JLCIT window, just doubleclick the station in the list. The volume and playback controls will appear directly under video. If you want to change channels, just double-click a new channel from the list.

The latest beta essentially adds more features, including an improved Help file and a new way to update the station list that is more server-friendly. There are also a lot of improvements under the hood to help with future versions.

Official product name: JLC’s Internet TV
Version: previewed: 1.0 Beta 5b
Publisher: Joakim L. Christiansen
Developer and URL: Joakim L. Christiansen; www.jlc-software.com
ETA: Q2 2007

There’s no shortage of note-taking applications for Windows, but most programs aren’t suitable for all users. For instance, some programs are very hierarchical, requiring the user to place every note in a folder, but some folks find this constraining. Others are totally free-form but offer virtually no useful searching, sorting, and categorizing functionality. Some are clearly intended for transient thoughts and look like yellow sticky notes, while others look like miniature databases and make you fill out forms to manage long-term storage. EverNote, however, manages to straddle the fence of almost all these descriptions and even offers free and portable versions, potentially making it the best note keeper for all users.

EverNote organizes notes into a scrollable list called “tape.” Notes can contain text and graphics, and there are other note formats, as well, such as shopping list, phone message, and others. EverNote stamps each note with a date and category, and you can assign multiple categories to any note and even create your own.

The central pane contains your roll of notes you can scroll up and down until you see what you need. To find a note by date, click the Time Band button on the right side of the window and type in a date, or click any month or year in the Time Band to see the notes you’ve saved. Expand the Category pane to filter all notes in whatever categories you select. The beauty of categories vs. folders is that you can apply multiple categories to a note when appropriate.

EverNote also comes with Web Clipper, which makes capturing parts of Web pages and emails into a note a one-click task. You can password-protect note files and encrypt any text you select within a note with a unique password.

The latest beta works smoothly and looks totally gorgeous. What’s more, even the Help file is complete and, well, helpful, making EverNote well worth a look.

Spyware is one of the fastest-growing internet threats. According to the National Cyber Security Alliance, spyware infects more than 90% of all PCs today. These unobtrusive, malicious programs are designed to silently bypass firewalls and anti-virus software without the user’s knowledge. Once embedded in a computer, it can wreak havoc on the system’s performance while gathering your personal information. Fortunately, unlike viruses and worms, spyware programs do not usually self-replicate.

Where does Spyware come from?
Typically, spyware originates in three ways.

The first and most common way is when the user installs it. In this scenario, spyware is embedded, attached, or bundled with a freeware or shareware program without the user’s knowledge. The user downloads the program to their computer. Once downloaded, the spyware program goes to work collecting data for the spyware author’s personal use or to sell to a third-party. Beware of many P2P file-sharing programs. They are notorious for downloads that posses spyware programs.

The user of a downloadable program should pay extra attention to the accompanying licensing agreement. Often the software publisher will warn the user that a spyware program will be installed along with the requested program. Unfortunately, we do not always take the time to read the fine print. Some agreements may provide special opt-out boxes that the user can click to stop the spyware from being included in the download. Be sure to review the document before signing off on the download.

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Malware
An odd sounding word created to lump all malicious software programs, including viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, adware, and other malevolent codes into one cause your computer serious hurt category.

In 2006, Computer Economics released a report on malware. The good news was that for the first time since 2002, the total worldwide financial losses from malware actually declined to a mere $14.2 billion. The bad news was that the nature of malware was changing from overt threats to more focused, covert attacks. This definitely is not great news for the average computer user just trying to keep up with the hundreds of malware programs that bombard us daily.

It’s not an easy task keeping malware out of your computer system. In order to accomplish this, you need a strong antivirus program. One such program that can deliver the goods is ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 7 from Zone Labs. Zone Labs is one of the most trusted brands in Internet Security for good reason. Their product, simply put, kicks serious malware gluteus maximus.

ZoneAlarm has received more review recommendations that any other Internet-security software suite because of its superb firewall and antivirus protection. It blocks pop-up ads, protects against identify theft and provides adequate spam filters that are flexible. It even beats the market leader, Norton Internet Security, which is often criticized for excessive system drag.

Its newest version includes these additional features:

• Triple Defense Firewall to prevent spyware from sending your information across the Internet. It also makes your computer invisible to anyone on the Net.
• Smart Defense Advisor which can automatically adjust your security settings for maximum protection against the latest virus and spyware outbreaks.
• Advanced Identify and Privacy Protection to prevent your personal data from leaving your computer without your approval.

The bonus for the average user who cringes at the idea of setting-up one of these systems is that the interface is easier to understand and use in comparison to most if its competitors. If you choose to venture beyond the out-of-the-box default settings, and install a more elaborate filtering, know that this will require some additional time to set up on your part

Overall, ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite is a user-friendly, comprehensive security solution that will have your computer safe from Internet hazards and cyber criminals within minutes of installation.

Tags: ZoneAlarm Internet Security