No-sweat Deleting
Newcastle Herald
Monday July 27, 1998
THESE days, loading software onto a PC is the easy part.
Mostly it's simply a matter of dropping in the CD and closing the drive. With AutoPlay CDs, the machine does the rest.
Getting software off the machine can be a different ballgame.
Wholesale slash-and-burn operations through the hard drive, while tempting, can be fraught with danger because you never know what application is sharing files with the program in your sights.
WinDelete Deluxe is a package incorporating WinDelete, the popular uninstaller from IMSI, and six PC utilities including virus protection, crash protection, security protection, file compression, disaster recovery and system optimisation.
WinDelete can uninstall, archive, move and transport Windows applications to free hard-disk space and optimise performance.
It can also help Internet users manage their browser cache and remove unwanted downloads that can clutter up the works. The program has an automated `Cleanup Wizard' that helps users tidy up their hard drives.
Disk cleanups can also be scheduled to occur automatically.
The scary thing about deleting strange files, however, is the prospect of trashing that single file that will cause the system to come crashing down around your ears.
That's why I like the idea of WinDelete's undo feature. Make a mistake and it is possible to recall files from a buffer.
WinDelete Deluxe needs at least Windows 95 or NT 4.0. Windows 95 users will need a 486 with 8Mb of RAM and 5Mb of disk space. NT users will need a 486 with 16Mb of RAM and 5Mb of disk space.
The package sells for $99.95. * PROFESSOR Teaches Netscape Communicator is a package designed to shed light on what can be an impenetrable subject: the Internet.
To navigate the Internet with confidence it helps to know a bit about your browser. This package aims to unravel some of the mysteries of Netscape Communicator.
It features step-by-step lessons, tips and techniques and covers subjects including e-mail, Usenet newsgroups, FTP and Gopher sites and searching.
Professor Teaches Netscape Communicator needs at least a 486 running Windows 95 or 3.x with 8Mb of RAM and 9Mb of hard disk space. It sells for $29.95. * MICROSOFT has stepped up its efforts to fight software piracy with its latest operating system, Windows 98.
New anti-piracy features for versions of Windows 98 that come pre-installed on computers include a 3D hologram on the inner circle of every Windows 98 CD, a certificate of authenticity integrated into the manual and a heat-sensitive strip woven across the top of each manual that shows the word `genuine' when touched.
Windows 98 upgrades get the hologram and a new certificate of authenticity on the box.
If your copy of Windows 98 is missing any of these features, chances are you have a fake. * WORLD Book 98 Speech allows users to control the encyclopedia package using voice commands.
The program contains all the articles from the print edition of the encyclopedia and connections to `Best of the Web' research sites on the Internet.
The package sells for $189.95. * COMING soon.
Riven, the best-selling sequel to Myst, will be out soon on digital versatile disk (DVD).
Its distributor, Dataflow, reports that the new release will be a single-disk version of the game enhanced to take advantage of the new format.
Dataflow has also warned gamers to be on the lookout for the latest instalment in the Warlords conquest and strategy series.
Warlords III: Darklords Rising, will have 30 new campaigns, new heroes, new units and enhanced artificial intelligence. It should hit the shelves around August.
Another title to watch out for will be Extreme Warfare, due later this year.
Dataflow describes it as a `fully 3D, real-time game where war is waged on a scale never before seen'. ? Rod Quinn
© 1998 Newcastle Herald
