Office
Word Processing Wonder
AbiWord
While Microsoft's Word grows fatter with seldom-used features,
AbiSource's
AbiWord
holds appeal as a trim yet capable, no-cost program. It's nimble, installs
quickly, and sports a simple menu. You can import Word, HTML, and Palm (.pdb)
files and edit them in AbiWord (Word documents maintain formatting features
such as columns). You can even save your work as a Web page. The application is
strong on basic text-editing functions--complete with a word counter, headers
and footers, multiple undo/redo, and squiggly red lines under misspelled
words--but it's relatively light on graphics support.
--James E. Powell| SUMMARY |  |
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Got Mail?
EPrompter
The person with the most e-mail accounts wins, right?
EPrompter 1.04
SR8 from Tiburon Technology checks your accounts at regular
intervals while running in the background, makes dial-up connections as
needed--and doesn't cost a dime. View up to eight password-protected e-mail
accounts, including America Online, EarthLink, Juno, Yahoo, and POP3 accounts.
Or to save time, read just the header. Listen for new-mail alerts, or check the
color-coded tray icon to see the number of new messages. A wizard helps you set
up accounts for reading and deleting mail, but it can't automatically convert
settings (such as user name and password) from other clients, such as Outlook
Express.
--J.E.P. | SUMMARY | |
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Uncharted Territory
Flow LT 4
Punch up even the driest text with IMSI's
Flow LT 4,
a free program that lets you create simple flowcharts by dragging and dropping
any of 25 symbols to a diagram and then linking them with lines that stay
connected even if you later rearrange the items on the page. Add text, color,
shadows, and rounded corners to shapes; and align objects vertically or
horizontally. The lines don't have arrowheads built in, but Flow LT offers lots
of arrow symbols. With context-sensitive pop-up help, you'll be up and running
in minutes.
--J.E.P.| SUMMARY | |
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Days of Our Lives
Happy Calendar
Forget your troubling schedule and get Happy--
Happy
Calendar, that is. This free tool from Jimjams has day, week,
month, and year views, plus a time line with busy times shown in red. You can
display the current lunar phase, the saint of the day, or the zodiac sign.
Enter recurring entries, set alarms, and search for appointments. Keep a record
of your daily accomplishments or goals using the notes field, with subjects
arranged hierarchically. The program even has a simple database for phone
numbers and addresses.
--J.E.P.| SUMMARY | |
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Project Management 101
ProjeX 97
Need a project time line but don't have the hours required to grapple
with Microsoft Project? You'll love WAA's
ProjeX 97.
The program downloads and installs nearly instantaneously, and its intuitive
design and six-tab setup window get you started quickly. Building a new project
is simple, and you can compare snapshots (views of a project's progress at
specific points in time) with your current plan. The $20 registered version
sets you up with time lines in days, weeks, months, and quarters (the freeware
is limited to days), plus additional planning features. With ProjeX, you'll
always know whether you're on track.
--J.E.P.| SUMMARY | |
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Desktop Publishing Made Easy
Publish-It
Do you find creating a newsletter or brochure tedious? Poster
Software's Publish-It makes the task fun, with text effects, color support,
templates, and printing options (posters up to 5 feet square tiled over
multiple pages). From its simple installation to its helpful tutorial, this $22
program packs other features: page backgrounds, gradients, and a spelling
checker. Pages with flowing text, tables, or free-form shapes are easy to
design, too.
--J.E.P.| SUMMARY | |
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Track Your Portfolio
StockVue 2001
For richer, for poorer--now you'll know instantly how the twists and
turns of Wall Street affect your portfolio. With NQL's gratis but ad-supported
StockVue,
you can record your stock and mutual fund purchases, sales, and splits; view
delayed data on highs and lows, bid and ask prices, and price/earnings ratios;
set alerts for price and volume changes; and read company news and filings.
Look at Quote.com analyst views; peruse analysts' consensus estimates; and get
daily, weekly, or monthly charts (you can specify the number of days for the
moving average). Drawback: The program asks for lots of personal information
when you register.
--J.E.P.| SUMMARY | |
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Words Are Cheap
WordSmith
Though there are plenty of document viewers for Palm handhelds and
even a few apps with a small amount of editing capability, none are as
full-featured as Blue Nomad's
WordSmith
2.01. It has paragraph, page, and tabular formatting; find and
replace; bulleted lists; and many other functions. It integrates with Microsoft
Word, right down to an icon on the toolbar. WordSmith's FineType lets you
import and display the previously unviewable-on-a-PDA TrueType fonts. And at
$30, it's a bargain to boot.
--Michael S. Lasky| SUMMARY | |
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What a Way With Words
WordWeb
When only the right word will do, there's
WordWeb, a
free combination dictionary and thesaurus that lets you explore words and their
relationships. Enter
auto, and the tabbed interface provides a definition and
synonyms, as well as vehicle components in the Parts tab (
accelerator, bumper) and types of cars in the Types tab (
coupe, cruiser). WordWeb is easy to use and a far cry from
your word processor's thesaurus. The $18 Pro version adds word searches with
pattern matching ("?elp" finds help, kelp, and so on), an anagram maker, and
customization options. .
--J.E.P| SUMMARY | |
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