When it finds internet access, it makes a short connection to the manufacturer’s server, which detects the location of the computer and records it in a Monitoring Report that is made available online or emailed to you. This process cannot be detected by the user or by current antivirus products.

If the computer is not connected to the internet for five days, Absolute Protect uses a modem to silently dial the phone number(s) you specified during installation. You can then use Caller ID to detect the phone number from which the call was made. In many cases, the program can even survive hard-drive reformatting.

www.absolute-protect.com

AxMan 3.12

Most PCs nowadays have Zip drives and CD burners. But if you find yourself on a dinosaur of a machine that can’t handle removable media, you’re stuck with whatever fits on a floppy. AxMan is designed for just this type of situation. This utility breaks files into pieces small enough to fit in an email message or on to a 1.4MB floppy.

AxMan splits any file, regardless of type, size or filename length. Of course, it also restores the file back to its original state. AxMan can also zip files for you during the split process and automatically unzip them during the restore process. The program fits the pieces on to any disks you have lying around. The disk does not have to be empty; AxMan will simply size each piece so that it fits as much as possible on to the disk.

AxMan lets you recreate any single piece of a split set. If one piece becomes corrupted, there is no need to resplit the original file; just recreate the bad file portion. You can also split files into pieces of any size – bytes, kilobytes or

Calendarscope 1.2.1

For all of our mental evolution, a great deal of us still can’t remember a birthday or an appointment. Calendarscope is a program for planning, managing and scheduling appointments, meetings, holidays and special events. It allows you to see all your events in a daily, weekly or monthly view.

You can create single or recurring events, colour-code different event types and set reminders for upcoming events. Reschedule an event or change its duration by dragging and dropping. Reminders have customisable fonts, colours and sounds, and can contain email addresses and live URLs.

You can also print your calendar or save it in HTML to publish it to the web or to a company intranet. Holidays for more than 30 countries are available. Strong encryption algorithms prevent unauthorised access to your data.

www.cooltoolawards.com/software/utilities/calendarscope.htm

Emergency Recovery System

Computer crashes can do more than just destroy your applications and documents – they can also trash crucial Registry and system settings. Emergency Recovery System lets you schedule or manually execute backups of your files. This utility creates batch files that back up your Registry, DAT files, profiles and other important system files.

If your system is corrupted after a crash or after a program is installed, you boot into DOS, run ERS, choose the backup settings that you want to restore and ERS returns your computer to its healthy state. You can also schedule and compress your backups.

www.backtec.com

EZ Install Boot Disk

Do you feel chained to your computer when installing an operating system, spending most of the time waiting for a prompt just so you can then wait some more? EZ Install Boot Disk lets you automate the installation of Microsoft Windows XP Home and Pro, plus Windows 98, Me and 2000, freeing you up to go and make that cup of tea.

You provide the installation with all the necessary information up front so you don’t have to babysit the process (name, company name, computer name and certificate of authorisation number). Then insert the operating system’s CD and walk away.

EZ Install Boot Disk even checks your C drive and will create, modify and make a partition that will work with your hard disk and new OS.

Among the additional tasks you can perform with this program are ScanDisk, Chkdsk, and Fdisk. Another included program, EZ Reg, is a handy utility which allows backup and restoration of the Registry. Windows 98 and Me have Scanreg/ Restore features but both are somewhat limited not to mention less us

FireEyes 1.0

It is next to impossible to keep up with the different ways intruders use to gain access to a PC. What you need is some vigilant software that takes the onus off you. A package like FireEyes, for instance, which lets you know exactly when your PC is being accessed – and by whom. It doesn’t protect your PC from intrusion, but it gives you the chance to make up your own mind as to whether a connection is legitimate or suspect.

FireEyes displays all your PC’s connections and listening ports. You can then watch the ports and be alerted when someone connects to one. When connections are established, FireEyes lists the accessor’s IP address which you can then research. You can also have FireEyes alert you when specific IP addresses connect to your PC, as well as when connections are made to specific ports.

www.webcruizer.com

Keyboard Manager Deluxe 2.7

Save yourself time and keep repetitive motion ailments at bay by using hotkeys and keystroke combinations to complete your computing tasks. Keyboard Manager Deluxe lets you assign shortcuts, text and objects to more than 350 keyboard hotkeys or combinations. You can use hotkeys to run programs, launch applications such as Calculator, open files or folders such as the Documents folder, or to access web pages.

You can also assign files, folders, images, sounds, formatted text and other objects to key combinations for pasting then press hotkeys to paste these objects into active windows. For example, you can press key combinations to paste assigned images into other images within photo-editing programs.

www.polyphonysoftware.com/products/keybdmgr/keybdmgr.htm

ReadyToPrint Organizer 4.50

Your computer is better suited for editing your schedule and keeping your contact information neater than a pen-and-ink date book. The only problem is that you probably won’t always have your computer in front of you to keep on top of your appointments, tasks, birthdays and contacts.

ReadyToPrint Organizer lets you combine the data on your hard-copy organiser with the data on your computer, then print the information as calendars and address books. RTPO can also be used to create expense forms, labels and envelopes. Data can be sorted based on type, date and group association.

Create yearly, monthly, weekly or daily calendars, with 15 different styles to choose from. You can even decorate your printouts with Jpeg images and change fonts and colours. You can also synchronise your computer clock with the atomic clock at Nist.

www.nsnsoftware.com

RedBox Organizer 4.2

Organisation is the key to success, or so the pundits say. This well-muscled planner helps you organise with ease. Good for home or business use, it has all the tools you need to organise your daily activities in a customisable interface. It contains the usual calendar, reminders, to-do lists and sticky notes, plus easy-to-make reports.

You also get an expense tracker, a phone dialler and email/web-browsing capabilities. If you need to share any of your plans with others, the Web Publishing Wizard lets you quickly transform your calendar, to-do items, planner and address book into professional-looking web pages for the internet or an intranet. The address book even lets you attach an image to each entry.

www.inklineglobal.com/products/rbo

SmartSentry

SmartSentry is motion-detector software designed to operate with an unattended digital camera for extended periods of time. You can set rules to capture varying degrees of movement or activity.

You view output using the standard Windows Media Player or Active Movie Player. The dedicated viewer (which is included) displays the date and time for every frame recorded and provides hotkey support for rapid stop/start and single-frame advance/reverse. The program produces a text log file that contains information about the settings chosen when the recording was made and the time that each frame was recorded.

www.smartsentry.co.uk

Total Recorder 4.0

Have you ever wanted to record sounds from your favourite video game, or perhaps internet broadcasts from programs like RealPlayer? Total Recorder can capture sound being played by other sound players, either from a file or from the internet. It can also record conventional audio from CDs, microphones and other input lines on a sound card.

Captured sound files can be stored on your hard drive in plain/compressed WAV or MP3 format and burned on to a CD-ROM. You can also schedule recordings and playbacks, or use Total Recorder’s command-line options with an external scheduler such as Microsoft Task Scheduler.

www.highcriteria.com

TrayIcon Pro 1.2.74

Is your PC so cluttered that you have to hunt around for the icon you’re looking for? TrayIcon Pro lets you launch applications, documents and folders from the System Tray.

You can add items to your System Tray by using the program’s tabbed interface, or right-click any program, document or folder and click the ‘Add to TrayIcon Pro’ link. Create multilayered menus containing an unlimited number of icons.

In addition to running normal programs from TrayIcon Pro, the program also supports system folders such as Desktop, Favorites, My Computer, and the Recycle Bin. Adding the Dial-Up Networking icon to TrayIcon Pro gives you a listing of all your dialup network connections, which allow you to get online with just two clicks. Adding the Control Panel icon gives you instant access to all of the programs in the Start menu’s Control Panel window. You can even add an icon to quickly open the status window for any printer on your system.

www.metaproducts.com

WinDates 4.24

Did you miss Mother’s Day again because you couldn’t figure out the day that it fell on this year? WinDates calculates dates for holidays like Easter and Mother’s Day. It provides a calendar, event list, and alarms and can calculate birthday ages as well. You can use this software on a network and print your schedules. WinDates supports many customisable event types including one-time, weekly, monthly and yearly events as well as custom events such as the last Sunday in May.

www.rockinsoftware.com/windates.htm

www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/download.html

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