COMPUTER SOFTWARE REVIEWS

COMPUTER SOFTWARE REVIEWS

Learn to Type

If you are trying to learn how to type, you'll love the software program

- Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. It's available for $34.95 from

Global Software (1-800-8-GLOBAL). This program is well worth the

money because it actually making typing fun. I tried this out on my

friend Laurie, who had never sat down at a computer in her life. She

was labeled as the "typical" hunt-and- peck typist. However, she

even loved this program.

Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing is menu driven and the more you use

it the more it adapts to your particular strengths and weaknesses.

(Aren't computers smarter than ever now?) It also entertains you

while you learn by providing 2D and 3D graphics, lifelike keyboard

and "guide hands" to show you the perfect technique for added

convenience. We especially liked the Racing Game, where the

faster you type the faster your race car travels.

Help For Dot-Matrix Printer Owners

Emulaser, exclusively available from TigerSoftware (1-800-888-

4437) for $69.95 is worth every penny! It's the best thing I've seen -

especially if you own a dot matrix printer. Emulaser enables you to

print Postscript smooth, typeset-quality type, Postscript graphics,

halftones - even spectacular color images. Emulaser gives you the

power to also scale type for optimum quality from 1 to 1000 points!

A friend used this on his 9-pin printer and it almost matched the

same print-out from my Hewlett Packard LaserJet. When used on

my LaserJet _ the output was close to LinoTronic (the best

available). You'll love Emulaser _ especially if you are on a tight

budget and cannot afford to upgrade your printer at the

present.

Emulaser also comes with 24 professionally designed borders and

over 70 premium fonts including a host of symbols and graphic

images! (The only problem you may encounter is if you have one of

the older IBM- compatible computers, such as an XT or 8086.

Emulser may not properly print within the designated margins due to

the restrictions of this older machine. It's probably safe to assume

you need a minimum 286-based system with 1 megabyte of RAM

for Emulaser to run properly. 520K and 640K RAM systems just

won't cut it. Sorry.)

Thumbs Down on This One

CardsNOW is a software program for designing business cards. It's

available from Global Software (1-800-8-GLOBAL) for $39.95. First

of all, business cards are normally printed with a raised print.

Anything less makes you look unprofessional and amateurish. In

addition, people will normally use a color ink for their logo or

company name. Both of these options are NOT available with this

program, which degrades the quality look of your business cards

considerably. So why spend $39.95 for a program and $10.95 for

25 sheets of perforated business card paper, when you can send a

camera-ready master to any mail order printer and have 1,000

professional business cards printed in RAISED lettering as well as

2-color for around $30? How long does 1,000 business cards last

you? That's about a 6-month supply for us, which would not warrant

the extra money to spend on this software program.

A Low-Cost Graphics Library

Lotus SmartPics, exclusively available from TPC Connection (800)

800- 5555 for $75. No _ you don't need Lotus software to take

advantage of this magnificent package of graphics. This is an

excellent way for any desktop publisher to add to their collection!

Over 2,000 high-quality and professional graphics to enhance all

your documents, flyers, memos, reports, bulletins, presentations and

other business communications. And they're flexible too. Choose a

vector format to size, rotate and edit images or choose bitmap for

editing in paint programs. And as an ADDED BONUS, when you

order Lotus SmartPics you get FREE Bitstream L'il Bits Winter

Holiday Font Pack. These fonts are also a designer's dream. You

get unique ones like SnowCap, the ornate Cloister Black, the

elegant Shelly, Allegro, or the ghostly FreeForm 721.

Now all you have to add are turkeys, snowflakes, bells, sleds and

candy canes to name a few. Grab this package today!