Software compression tools have been around for donkeys' years, going back to the early PKWare ARC files, and even earlier on some systems, before the ZIP format was widely accepted ourside the Unix world (where TAR-GZip ...

Virtual CD performs just one task, but it does it extremely well. It creates and maintains copies of CDs and DVDs as image files on a hard disk. This means that, once a Virtual CD image ...

One of the most useful disk utility tools ever made has been tweaked and updated this year. Drive Image 2002 has the same core disk partition management abilities of previous versions, but there are some user-friendly ...

Slightly more (ahem) mature readers may remember the vast number of DOS shell programs that used to be available. One of these was EasyDOS, very similar to Quikmenu. EasyDOS is still going strong in the days ...

It sometimes seems that rate of change of operating systems is much much higher than the applications that run under them. This applies as much to Linux as it does to Windows, though there is considerably ...

LapLink has been around for more than a decade in various forms (we reviewed an earlier version here). This latest version supports all 32-bit versions of Windows (i.e. 95/98/ME/2000/NT/XP) and is a powerful tool for accessing ...

As you'll see from our previous reviews (starting here), we've been using PartitionMagic and its ilk for several years. Tools such as this are handy for manipulating your hard drive so that you can, for example, ...

Utilities that effectively 'turn back time' on PC configurations can be useful. They can be used to recover from malicious damage, virus attacks, ill-advised software installation and user errors. GoBack 3 Deluxe is the latest package ...

It's surprisingly simple to lose the data on a CD-R. Even with the widespread use of BURN-proof drives, huge data buffers, increasingly clever software and ever-cheaper discs, errors can be made quite easily. The big problem ...

One of the hassles of working in software/hardware development or product support is running multiple operating systems to check that what works under, say, Windows ME, will also work under Windows 2000. You can do it ...

The new versions of the Retrospect Express and Server backup tools add 'roll-back' functionality to the backup process, allowing IT managers and end-users to restore the 'last good' state of one or more PCs with very ...

Adaptec has recently spun off some of its titles under the Roxio banner, among them Easy CD Creator. For years now this has been one of the two leading CD creation packages (the other being Nero ...

We reviewed an earlier version of AMIDiag (a DOS-only version) here. Although the actual product revision number has only moved on a little bit, from 6.0 to 6.11, this package contains some revolutionary changes. But first, ...

Some computer users, particularly those involved in design and publishing work, can have hundreds or even thousands of different fonts installed on their PCs. Fonts can place a significant drain on resources, because each one is ...

Software utility packages are very popular in the consumer market, providing as they do a wealth of additional tools and features that could collectively be grouped under the heading 'the features that Windows forgot'. McAfee Office ...

PC remote control packages are hardly big news these days, with the likes of PCAnywhere and LapLink having long established themselves as the key players in a crowded market. However VNC (which stands for Virtual Network ...

As you'll have gathered from our previous reviews (here and here for the Pro version), we use Drive Image quite a lot. It's handy for backing up hard drive partitions before installing new review software, then ...

What's the most destructive, hostile environment for any computer? Is the laptop-using sales bod's car boot? Or a publishing house where the keyboards are used as ashtrays? Not even close. Obviously it's a school. Nothing comes ...

We've reviewed a previous version of ZipMagic here (a year ago to the day, bizarrely). But now that all the millennium product-naming nonsense has disappeared, we can go back to the old-fashioned version numbers. This is ...

Ooops, you've accidentally deleted a file and emptied the recycle bin. How clumsy. Expert use of complicated disk tools might enable you to recover the file, but wouldn't it be nicer to be able to turn ...