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ie8 fix

2.4

Netgear ships high-end dual-band wireless router

Since my CES blog on Netgear's WNDR3700, I have received a numerous e-mails asking about the availability of the product. Today, I can provide readers with a definitive answer.

Netgear announced Tuesday the immediate availability of what it calls "the ultimate networking machine for gamers, media enthusiasts, and small businesses," the RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit router WNDR3700.

This is Netgear's highest-end draft-N router that offers true dual-band (concurrent signals in both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands), as well as other features such as ReadyShare for high-speed access to a USB hard drive from any … Read more

Graph maker

Engineers and math professionals will appreciate DPlot more than the layperson, but it has features that are useful for all users. Need to create a graph for your PowerPoint presentation or annual report? DPlot can handle this for you. It will create two- and three-dimensional graphs from data inputted into the program.

DPlot is not a program that is understandable without a visit to the Help file. Users who are familiar with engineering and calculation programs may not have the same difficulty using the program as we did, but we needed to read the instructions. The Help file is extensive … Read more

Organized karaoke files

If karaoke is your thing, this program will ensure that your music files are labeled and organized so you'll never have to worry about missing out on your favorite songs.

KJ File Manager has a very streamlined, easy-to-use interface that will appeal to all user levels. Getting started was easy: all we had to do was add our music files, and select the title display format. Once our files were uploaded, drop-down commands along the top of the display window let us customize how we wanted to organize our music files. For example, we could opt to include or … Read more

System-wide shutdowns

RemShutdown provides system administrators or other authorized users with a way to shut down all or select computers on a network. It's easy to operate, but system experience is a must.

This program has a very simple interface with quick buttons to add or delete computers from the list. All that's required to set up a computer is its IP address. This screen also lets you enter a delay time before computers shut down, but it's only in seconds, and we would have liked the ability to delay in increments of hours or days. A small field … Read more

Not novice friendly

Allkeys Macro provides users with an opportunity to customize their computer functions and possibly eliminate the need for a mouse. While this sounds like a dream come true, the reality may be far too complicated for novice users.

A macro is a shortcut to help eliminate steps between tasks. For example, many people use the Control+C command to copy something. Allkeys Macro provides users with the ability to set up a macro for any command imaginable. The 30-day free trial allows users to choose their own keystrokes to perform the task and map out what will happen when those … Read more

Functional screensaver

This free desktop clock takes shapes as a screensaver. We didn't particularly care for the numerous desktop and taskbar icons that came with it, but 7art Crystal Clock performed its job well.

Once installed, 7art Crystal Clock appears in your screensaver menu. Like your other screensavers, you can set the time intervals for it to appear. While that was straightforward, we weren't happy that it also managed to install five other icons to our desktop that pushed other products. Also installed was a taskbar icon that really served no real purpose other than to provide contact information for … Read more

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A program worth learning

David Nash's Startup Manager is a free utility that lets you choose the programs you want to run at start-up. We had to visit the Help feature to make sure we were on the right track, but in the end it worked well for us.

The program's user interface uses a tree menu to locate the different start-up sections--StartUp, Registry, and WinINI. Depending on what you select, the individual files appear in the main panel. All of the command buttons were within quick reach at the top of the window. But even though the interface appeared to be … Read more

Netgear adds DSL modem to dual-band router

If you sign up for a DSL Internet service, chances are you will be offered a router and modem combo device.

I would normally recommend against this kind of combo deal, as it doesn't provide the flexibility of choosing the right router for the network. That's not to mention that the combo router offered by the service provider tends to be subpar, in both performance and features. It's much more flexible to get just the modem and add a separate wireless router later.

Now I am about to change that mentality with what Netgear introduced at CES … Read more