All Software

The Bottom Line: Eset NOD32 3.0 finally gets its interface right and, along with high-rated performance among independent testing labs, deserves consideration on your desktop.

The Bottom Line: The Corel WordPerfect Office X4 suite best fits those who prefer traditional interfaces for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations. We found the features rich, but the execution sometimes clumsy.

Specs: 1 user, Complete package, Microsoft Windows Vista Business, Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate, Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium, Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition, 466 MHz, CD-ROM, SVGA monitor, Mouse or compatible device, 466 MHz, Windows, Internet Explorer 6.0 or later

The Bottom Line: Mozilla Thunderbird 2 is a fine, free, extensible e-mail client and a solid alternative to pricey Microsoft Outlook 2007 or the free Windows Live Mail.

The Bottom Line: Though there's a lot to like about Adobe's first stab at online photo editing and sharing, however, you probably want to wait until the company fixes a few problems with the beta before uploading scads of photographs to Adobe Photoshop Express.

The Bottom Line: AVG Anti-Virus 8 is solid at finding and removing viruses and spyware as well as blocking Web threats, but could be lighter on system resources and provide more technical support options.

The Bottom Line: Haute Secure 2.0 blocks malicious content on the Web and is a worthy alternative to Linkscanner and Finjan SecureBrowsing.

The Bottom Line: AVG Internet Security 8.0 provides strong protection against malicious Web sites, but its full-system scans sometimes tax system resources and produce false positives.

Specs: Complete package, 1 GHz Intel Pentium, 2 GHz Intel Pentium, 8, 1 GHz Intel Pentium, 2 GHz Intel Pentium

The Bottom Line: A near-perfect all-in-one solution for brand new PCs, Norton 360 v2 may be hard to install and run on legacy machines. However, don't count on Symantec's time-consuming and expensive technical support for help.

Specs: 3 PC in one household, Complete package, Microsoft Windows Vista / XP, 300 MHz, 2.0, CD-ROM, 300 MHz, Windows, Internet Explorer 6.0 or later