All Disk management and compression

The Bottom Line: If you need to partition your live hard drive, Norton PartitionMagic 8 is still the application to beat.

Specs: 1 user, Complete package, Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition, Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition, Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0, 150 MHz, 233 MHz, 8.0, CD-ROM, 150 MHz, 233 MHz, Windows

The Bottom Line: Lycos's HotBot Desktop provides a glimpse of the future, combining desktop and Internet searches, but other apps actually deliver these features now.

The Bottom Line: This standalone desktop search tool, X1 Search, is blazingly fast but costs about $100 more than the nearest competitor. In our opinion, the free apps perform just as well.

The Bottom Line: Regular Outlook fans will find this desktop search tool easy to use, but the rest of us may be frustrated.

The Bottom Line: Blinkx offers only a three-line summary of a file, not a preview. Wait for the next version of this desktop search tool.

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, 300 MHz, 14.0, CD-ROM, 300 MHz, Windows, Internet Explorer 6.0

Specs: 1 user, Complete package, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows Vista, 11, Windows

Specs: 1 user, Complete package, Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition, Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition, CD-ROM, Windows

Specs: 1 user, Complete package, Windows

Specs: 1 user, Subscription package, 3.0, MacOS, Safari 1.0 or later, Netscape 7.0 or later, Internet Explorer 5.0 or later