Acronis OS Selector 5.0 (Deluxe)

Interest in alternative operating systems such as Linux is on the rise, but PC users don't have to kiss goodbye to a friendly Windows installation to investigate life without Microsoft.

OS Selector 5 makes sampling a different operating system a real possibility, without wiping Windows. It is also a comprehensive disk partitioning tool offering the ability to convert, merge, move, resize and label sections of the hard disk.

In other words, you can create a number of 'virtual hard disks' by dividing up your hard disk into portions. These then appear in My Computer complete with their own letters and are treated as separate hard disks.

Finally, if you share a PC with children who regularly wreak havoc with game installations, the chance to create a backup copy of Windows may prove invaluable.

Installation and Disk Administrator

Installation is easy and you are subsequently presented with the OS Selector boot menu each time you turn on your PC. At this point you can either choose an installed operating system to load, view system information and help files, or start the Disk Administrator.

This part of the program lets you visually manage your hard disk partitions via intuitive proportional slider bars and simple menus, as well as offering a Wizard to assist should you decide to install an additional operating system.

Predictably, this asks whether you want to supplant your existing version of Windows or leave it alone and install another operating system as a separate entity. If you select the latter option, OS Selector will duplicate the contents of your hard drive - including Windows - and place them into a partition. You can then upgrade this 'clone', safe in the knowledge that your original installation is unaffected, should things not go to plan.

Serious stuff

The inclusion of mouse support in OS Selector 5 is a nice touch and the interface has a pretty Windows XP look about it that is far nicer than functional utility software usually manages. However, all the hand-shaped pointers in the world can't disguise the fact that this is a serious program.

The accompanying manual is a dire, poorly-translated affair which offers little in the way of real help and means inexperienced users should steer clear.

Contact
Interactive Ideas 020 8805 1000 www.interactiveideas.com

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