retrieval

Without a decent program to manage it, doing payroll can be a serious pain. Unfortunately, Payroll 5 could not by any stretch be called a "decent program." Although there's nothing functionally wrong with it, it has some serious deficiencies when it comes to basic features.

We knew we were in trouble when we first saw the program's logo, which consists of a dopey-looking cartoon guy with a goatee. This graphic is more befitting of an avatar generator aimed at tweens than a professional payroll application, and every time we look at it we're a little … Read more

When my kids were teens, my wife and I would occasionally walk into the room when they were on the Internet. We wouldn't stand there for long, but we would glance at the screen to make sure what they were doing was appropriate. The rule was that they had to use a computer in a public area of the house with the door open. We didn't spy on them, but we did check in now and then.

Now there's a software program that will let you do the same thing but from a different part of the … Read more

Data Rescue can help you retrieve lost files, whether they were destroyed in a hard-drive crash or just accidentally deleted by some overzealous trash-emptying.

This app has an easy--and even kind of fun--interface, with 3D animations that show available drives and your options for diagnosis and recovery. Once you've chosen a drive to examine, Data Rescue prompts you for an additional drive to use as "workspace" and gives you six choices: a Quick Scan or Deep Scan to find recoverable files; a Deleted Files Scan (good for an accidental deletion on an otherwise healthy drive); Clone, which … Read more

Passwords are perhaps the weakest links in the cyber-security chain; if they're complex enough to be secure, you probably won't be able to remember them. Add the fact that every other site seems to require a password, and it's easy to see why far too many people end up using one or two simple passwords that are easy to remember, and easy to crack, too. You can write your passwords down on a piece of paper that you can look for and fail to find when you need it, or you can download and install G&… Read more

Even those of us who back up files religiously sometimes lose things, and it's safe to say that a lot of us don't back up quite as religiously as we should. ParetoLogic Data Recovery can help you recover files that have been lost due to accidental deletion, hard drive corruption, or other causes. Note, however, that we said that it can, not that it will.

The program's interface is well-designed and intuitive, with its major features arranged in four sections. Users can choose between a quick scan, full scan, or guided scan, as well as an advanced … Read more

Sales Leads Info Tracker Express Edition claims to help sales professionals track their leads. Although it works--mostly--there's nothing particularly impressive or notable about it. We have trouble imagining that any serious salesperson would find it very useful.

The program's interface is plain, comprising a series of text boxes and a handful of buttons. For each lead, users enter the product, company name, contact information, sales strategy, and so on. The saved records are displayed in a separate pane, labeled by company name. Users simply click on each individual entry to view its details. We like the fact that … Read more

Lading Manager Lite allows users to create professional-looking bills of lading (shipping). It's not the most sophisticated program we've ever seen, but it does serve its purpose.

The program's interface is perhaps its most unattractive feature; it's not entirely unintuitive, but it does look very dated. The built-in Help file is quite comprehensive, but most users who have any familiarity with creating bills of lading should be able to figure the program out quickly on their own. Users must first enter information for their company, carriers, origins, consignees, and equipment. Once these are in the database, … Read more

Movie Label 2010 is a multifeatured database program that allows users to organize their movie collections. Although we liked the program's many options and sleek interface, it didn't always run as well as it should have.

The program's interface will look familiar to users of Office 2007 products. Everything is fairly intuitive, although given the number of features, sometimes users will have to do a bit of poking around to find what they're looking for. There are several ways for people to enter movie titles; Movie Label can search for and download information from IMDb, gather … Read more

Teleport Pro allows users to download and view all the elements of a Web site. While this program provides offline browsing, it is not without some flaws that might turn users off.

This program's layout is initially intimidating, offering tons of white space and not much direction. Fortunately, there is a wizard that walks users through every step of the process. Utilizing the command icons after downloading a Web site may require a visit to the Help file, as it also provides no direction for the user. Working through the wizard was simple enough for every level to utilize. … Read more