The most recent articles from Computeract!ve

All-in-one Driving Test 2008/2009 software review

Anthony Dhanendran — 2008-12-02T15:23:00.000Z

Anthony Dhanendran, Computeract!ve, Tuesday 2 December 2008 at 15:23:00

Learning to drive? Let the computer take the strain

Learning to drive is an activity that works particularly well in conjunction with a computer. Obviously you can't learn the practicalities very well, but for the theory test, interactive learning works very well.

GSP's All-in-one Driving Test software covers all parts of the test from the Highway Code onwards. The code sections aren't great – reading chunks of text from a screen is harder than doing it from a book, and although the program can read the text aloud for you it doesn’t add much. It can send some of the read-aloud sections to your portable music player for learning on the move, though.

It includes the full theory test question bank, so learners who go through all of them should be in good shape.

In our opinion, the most useful part of these programs is the hazard perception test. Something alien to anyone who learned to drive more than 10 years ago, this tests the driver's ability to recognise dangers in the road. It's quite tricky and the official guidance is poor at best. This software includes very good guidance for the hazard test as well as several practice tests.

The least useful part is generally practical – it's hard to learn to drive while sat at a computer. But All-in-One Driving Test offers good guidance for the technicalities of cars and driving, as well as explanations of what the examiner will test for. There's also a mock driving test, after which you're asked questions about where the learner driver got things wrong.

The early practical information is nothing a good driving instructor won't give, but it might help to boost confidence before getting behind the wheel. It certainly wouldn't hurt to give this software a spin before getting out on the road.

It's easy to use and to set up, and everything is clearly and colourfully laid out. Given the expense of learning to drive ten pounds is not a great extra cost, and GSP All-in-One Driving Test, with its guidance for all aspects of driving, represents an excellent investment for all beginners and even intermediate students of driving.

Review: Fluenz language learning software

Paul Lester — 2008-11-10T10:00:00.000Z

Paul Lester, Computeract!ve, Monday 10 November 2008 at 10:00:00

A new approach to language learning

If you’re serious about learning a new language, you’ll find that phrasebooks and limited learning tools will only get you so far.

A complete language course is a far better choice that, while relatively expensive, will allow for a better approach to mastery of a foreign tongue.

Fluenz is a new system that takes a different approach to most language software, making use of the fact that adults learn in a different way to children, so it uses a range of methods to help the user understand and remember foreign words and phrases.

The courses are currently available in Spanish, French, Italian and Mandarin and are available as either a half or full course, with the latter comprising two computer DVDs and two audio CDs. The set is available for PCs and Macs – you can choose which when buying – but it won't play on set-top box DVD players. The programme is split up into lessons, which each combine a range of methods to help master not only speaking skills, but pronunciation, writing and spelling.

Typically a lesson will involve a brief introduction followed by a list of key words and phrases. These words and phrases are then explained by a teacher in video clips before it moves on to a series of workshops to help with using or recognising them in a real-world environment.

Workshops combine exercises such as word and phrase association, image association, text entry and speech, and each focuses on a specific situation such as meeting and greeting people or ordering food and drink in a coffee shop.

The accompanying audio CDs are split into chapters that correspond to the lessons on the interactive DVD, and are intended as a refresher to help users practice what they’ve already learnt in their own time.

It’s worth mentioning that there are 150 hours' worth of interactive video on the full course and this isn’t even taking into account the additional exercises and audio content, so there really is a lot to learn here. Despite this, the course is well organised, so that you’re unlikely to feel daunted by the volume of information.

We were impressed by how much it's possible to learn from one lesson without having to strain to remember reams of words and phrases, which is a tribute to the variety of approaches Fluenz takes. At no point did the learning feel like a chore, and the structure of the lessons on the DVD and audio CD makes it very easy to skip back and forth to brush up on subjects that are more difficult to master.

We can see Fluenz being a very effective program for both beginners and those with some experience with a foreign language, and as such it's recommended to anyone serious about learning.

Good points

Well organised

Variety of interactive lessons

Accompanying audio CDs

Focuses on what user really needs to know

Bad points

Can be slow to load

Quite expensive

Review: Retro Granny's Garden education software

Anthony Dhanendran — 2008-08-03T10:00:00.000Z

Anthony Dhanendran, Computeract!ve, Sunday 3 August 2008 at 10:00:00

Computer learning, 1980s style

It could be said that it's an indictment of current games that a 20-year-old title could still sell today.

That's exactly what Granny's Garden is – launched back in the 1980s, it was the first piece of software to convince teachers that there was a point to computers in schools.

In addition to being fun for young children, it also taught problem solving as well as general computer use, sending players on a quest to rescue the king and queen of the mountains from where they've been imprisoned by an evil witch.

The game, originally available for BBC computers and here recreated for Windows PCs, is essentially a text adventure. Although there are basic graphics and animations all the players' moves are made by typing in commands in response to prompts. The commands required are very basic, meaning that even younger children can respond and play along.

If you're one of those who managed to complete it back in the day, the new edition, which is exactly the same in terms of play, will provide a nice nostalgia hit, while current parents of young children, as long as they're not already spoilt by the spectacular graphics of current games, may find this a pleasant diversion that even results in a little learning.

The same company also has a remade version for teachers that ties into current National Curriculum targets and levels – look out for a Computeractive review shortly.

Review: Driving Test Success: All Tests 2008/09 education software

Anthony Dhanendran — 2008-07-30T15:05:00.000Z

Anthony Dhanendran, Computeract!ve, Wednesday 30 July 2008 at 15:05:00

Improve your chances of passing the test

Passing a driving test can be a stressful business, not to mention an expensive one.

Nowadays it comes in three parts – in addition to the multiple choice theory test and the traditional practical test, there's also the computer-based hazard perception test, in which the learner has to click on a video screen to show when hazards are approaching.

Driving Test Success can help a great deal with the first two parts of the process (theory and hazard perception).

The new 2008/09 edition comes with the updated set of questions for the year (bear in mind that they only come into effect on 1 September, but realistically there's not much variation from year to year).

It comes with reams of guides to good driving, and there's the full set of questions, so if you do enough practice tests you should come across most, if not all, of the questions you'll see in the real thing.

There's even a money-back guarantee if you fail the theory test (but the conditions for this are pernickety – you have to print off various things before sitting the test, so read the small print tucked away on the reverse of the DVD liner).

The hazard test is where this software really comes into its own – the actual test is annoyingly vague about where and when you should click and how it's scored, so getting practice in for this is vital, and there's plenty here, in simulated versions of the real thing.

The practical element is not so well done – while there's information on general driving, safe driving and the 'show me, tell me' part of the test (questions such as "how do you check whether the power steering is working?") the only video guidance that pertains directly to the driving test itself is a film following someone taking a mock test. This is useful but nowhere near as comprehensive as the rest of the package.

The video and audio content in the rest of the package is good, though, and much of it can be downloaded to portable devices to learn on the move. In all, it's worth the £10 just to get the practice on the hazard test, but we can't fault the thoroughness of Driving Test Success.

Review: Emedia Guitar Method 4

Martin James — 2008-03-22T00:00:00.000Z

Martin James, Computeract!ve, Saturday 22 March 2008 at 00:00:00

A complete resource for any aspiring guitarist

Learning to play a musical instrument is a painstaking process, so any piece of software that makes it easier is a valuable resource.

The formula behind Guitar Method 4 and similar programs is largely just an evolution from traditional printed guides. As such, the core material is a set of lessons that aim to take you from bumbling beginner to musical master. Where this kind of software lives or dies, however, is in how well it utilises sound and video, and here Guitar Method does its job well.

As you would expect, all practical examples provided in the lessons can be listened to by clicking on a button next to the text. These are numerous, and the quality and clarity of playback is good. Then there’s the chord dictionary, with images and audio to support each chord. There are also 50 videos to illustrate technique and styles in ways that text and static images can’t.

More impressive is the ability to record and listen to your own playing within the program and tune your guitar (provided you connect a microphone to the computer). Other worthy features include the choice between three audio playback speeds and the ability to view and learn songs in either traditional musical notation or guitar tablature.

In essence, then, there’s nothing sensational here, but this is a program focused on doing the simple things well. A total of 160 lessons is about as methodical as you could hope for, and the multimedia elements don’t come across as tack-on extras to support the printed lessons, but rather as the basis for the lessons themselves.

At every turn, features are rich and generous, and there’s little evidence of corner-cutting. Our only criticism is aimed at the program’s interface and navigation, which feel about 10 years out of date despite claims that it has been improved. A slick and crisp redesign, and a move towards a more browser-style navigation system, would do this program wonders.

As it is, though, this is a criticism of style, not substance, and we’re under no illusions as to which is more crucial. Overall, then, Guitar Method 4 is a highly recommended guitar instruction package.

Review: Linguatec Personal Translator 2008 Home World Edition

Andrew Zarkesh — 2008-02-07T00:00:00.000Z

Andrew Zarkesh, Computeract!ve, Thursday 7 February 2008 at 00:00:00

Get the point, in seven languages

There are plenty of programs to help learn a new language but pure translation programs are rare.

This is because this type of software is still very much in its infancy.

Enter Linguatec Personal Translator 2008 Home Edition, a reasonably priced package that integrates with a word processor for instant translation of words, sentences or entire documents between English, German, French, Portugese, Spanish, Italian and Chinese.

The program has a logical, friendly layout. The screen can be divided into two areas, vertically or horizontally. One area displays text to be translated, the other shows the results of the translation. We found it easier to split the screen vertically on our widescreen notebook, but the results box can be totally collapsed, leaving what is essentially a text-editor similar to a basic word processor.

Firstly, select the pair of languages to use, type or paste the source text into the first language box, click on translate and, pretty quickly, the translation appears in the result box. We found the results to be accurate enough to get the gist of the text, but certainly not a flowing translation. The program attempts to automatically detect the subject matter but to improve accuracy you can select this yourself.

We were able to save our documents in rich text format which could be easily exported into Word. If you prefer to use your regular word processor, simply hover the cursor over the word to be translated and the program displays the dictionary entry in a small permanently visible window. You can also jump to the word's Wikipedia entry in a single click.

For those who want to translate web pages, the web address can be typed into the address bar of Personal Translator and it will load the page directly into the translation area - from here it can be translated as any other document. We found this to be quite a slow process, though. Despite that, Personal Tran slator will be invaluable for students or anyone who needs to work in different languages.

Vista compatibility: Yes

Review: Rosetta Stone 3 education software

Simon Williams — 2007-12-31T00:00:00.000Z

Simon Williams, Computeract!ve, Monday 31 December 2007 at 00:00:00

Rosetta Stone claims total immersion in a language, but is that just jumping in at the deep end?

Language tutorial software tries to do more than teach by rote as its audio cassette predecessors did.

Rosetta Stone, in that vein, is supposed to be fully interactive, taking input from mouse, keyboard and the supplied headset and using speech recognition to assess your attempts at pronunciation.

Now in version 3, Rosetta Stone can teach any of 30 languages, from French and Russian to Tagalog and Welsh. They’re available in three different levels, starting with individual words and progressing up to a good conversation. We tested a pack which combines levels 1 and 2.

The teaching technique is heavily based around pictures, showing people, places and situations. To these are attached words or phrases, used in a variety of ways. You may have to select the correct caption for a picture, or pick a picture which fits a foreign language phrase. The screens are very clearly designed and the words and phrases are spoken by native speakers.

A headset is provided and this comes into play in the pronunciation sections, where the user repeats what’s said. We were suspicious of the accuracy of speech recognition for learning a language and tried some pretty ropey Franglais pronunciations, several of which were accepted without question, but it can pick out some mispronunciations.

There are no instructions in English - in fact, no instructions at all - so you have to work out the logic of what the program wants you to do at each stage. While Rosetta Stone does well to slowly increase complexity, there are a few places where its not clear what you should do next. It’s frustrating to be penalised for not understanding the program’s method rather than for making a language mistake.

There’s some repetition between screens from the main module in a unit and those in the individual grammar, pronunciation and writing modules. While we can see the advantage of emphasising aspects of sentence structure or speech, it does mean you can get a high score simply by remembering which answers went with which questions from before. The program swaps the pictures round to try to stop this, but the repetition doesn’t always help improve understanding.

The idea of offering no translations during teaching is commonly used in face-to-face language tuition, but you get much more feedback from a human tutor.

Rosetta Stone is generally well thought-out, but we have a few reservations about the level of intuition required to learn a fresh language from scratch.

Vista compatible: Yes

Review: Create your own Family Tree Genealogy Suite genealogy software

Tim Smith — 2007-05-30T00:00:00.000Z

Tim Smith, Computeract!ve, Wednesday 30 May 2007 at 00:00:00

Research and record your family history

Creating a family tree can be a lot of work, especially with large amounts of information to organise.

Create your own Family Tree Genealogy Suite includes Family Tree Legends Deluxe edition as well as plenty of other genealogical resources.

The software is easy enough to use with an interface that strikes a good balance between simplicity and power.

Images, photos and videos can be linked to family individuals along with a generic attachment option for non-media files. Photos can be edited but there is no way to mark out specific areas pertaining to certain family members, in the way that some other family tree software does.

Every change you make is automatically saved and there's an undo option to reverse mistakes. Your tree can also be backed up to a Family Tree Legends website over the internet. It's encrypted to prevent information from being stolen and there's an option to share your ancestry findings with other online genealogists.

Family Tree Legends can import and export GEDCOM files, which work across most genealogy software programs.

Additional resources included advice for planning effective research and a 30-day trial to the UK Census records. There Internet Research Centre contains a useful collection of well organised web links to browse through, too.

It may not include the advanced options found in software such as Family Historian, but for a tenner, this is a great place to start planting your digital roots.

Vista compatible: Yes

Review: Starry Night Complete Space and Astronomy Pack 2006

Simon Williams — 2007-04-11T00:00:00.000Z

Simon Williams, Computeract!ve, Wednesday 11 April 2007 at 00:00:00

Backyard and back room astronomers will find plenty of scope with Starry Night education software

Starry Night is a combination of three pieces of software. There’s a DVD movie giving an overview of our solar system, its planets and their moons.

There’s a CD-based PDF book detailing the basics of astronomy and what to look for in the night sky.

Then there's Starry Night itself; an interactive program that aims to teach better understanding of astronomy.

The star map is the most impressive part of Starry Night Complete Space and Astronomy Pack 2006; it can be viewed from anywhere on earth.

Your viewing point can be set at just about any point in the galactic ‘locality’ and there's also a photographic horizon to give you celestial perspective. The 3D star image is very free moving, it’s a bit like moving through a starscape in an early Star Wars game, except that all the stars hold their correct positions and name tags pop up, when the mouse pointer moves over them.

Smart Find is used for locating particular planets, stars and other objects such as asteroids and comets. If the object isn’t visible in the night sky for your selected location, Starry Night will jump to a time when it last was, or will be.

You can move freely in time, as well as space, and set the night sky for any point in history, to see how it has changed over the centuries and millennia. There’s plenty of guidance throughout, with helpful program tutorials, as well as what to look for on any given evening.

Useful tips are also offered, such as measuring the degrees of arc (distance) between objects, and using parts of your hand stretched at arm’s length as a rough and ready measure.

Starry Night is automatically updated as and when new star catalogues are refreshed or the results of observations broaden our knowledge of what’s out there - the controversy over whether Pluto is a planet or not, for example.

In all, this is an excellent piece of software for beginner and enthusiast alike.

Vista compatible: No

Review: Colorelli education software

Tim Smith — 2007-02-15T00:00:00.000Z

Tim Smith, Computeract!ve, Thursday 15 February 2007 at 00:00:00

Learn to use a graphics tablet with this fun game

Despite its widespread use, the humble mouse is not the only way to control the cursor in Windows.

Graphics tablets use a pen on a special mat to replace the mouse and Colorelli is an educational game to teach people how to use this tool.

Colorelli is made by Wacom and the excellent quality of the tablet reflects this. No battery is needed for the pen and it is light and comfortable to use. A holder prevents the pen from getting lost or 'borrowed' by mistake.

The game is well written without the slightly tacky feel that can mar educational titles. Granted, it's not action-packed, but there should be enough to keep children interested. Using the pen quickly becomes second nature but some tasks, such as driving, are still a challenge.

Being a 3D game, there are fairly high computer requirements. The graphics card should have at least 64MB of memory and be compatible with DirectX 9.0c. It also requires a whopping 2GB of hard disk space to install.

Although expensive by game standards, this is a very good value pack, not least because a Wacom graphics tablet will set you back £40.

Also consider

Wacom Volito

A viable alternative to using a mouse

All tablet reviews

Review: Learn German Intermediate

Emil Larsen — 2006-11-27T00:00:00.000Z

Emil Larsen, Computeract!ve, Monday 27 November 2006 at 00:00:00

Pick up where your school language lessons left off

One of the most important aspects of the digital age was supposed to be digital learning. After a long wait, language learning for holidays abroad, or as a hobby, is also making the big step up from audio cassettes.

Learn German is billed as an intermediate CD. Its offer of interactive learning is a cost-effective option, since it doesn't require a teacher. It is designed for people wanting to improve their basic listening and speaking skills, and we’d say the questions are at a good GCSE level.

The CD includes 11 quizzes, consisting of 120 aural questions. Typically, the user has to listen to the question and select an image that corresponds to the answer. A program to record spoken German is a little basic, as it doesn't offer any analysis or guidance on your speaking skills, but a head-to-head program, where you try and outwit a fellow pupil, is a lot more fun.

Native German speakers guide the learner through the course and an English speech bubble is always available to explain what's going on. The quiz questions and answers are never translated, however. This was disappointing because even when we chose the right answer, we didn’t necessarily understand the entire phrase.

There is only one section dedicated to written content and it's necessary to self-mark again, using a pen and paper to write down the answers, and comparing them with the program's answers on screen.

Although the graphics and the program overall feel dated, a small splattering of interactive graphics does keep things interesting.

It's probably possible to work through all of the CD in a couple of hours and this reflects the lack of original content. This shouldn’t matter too much since you will want to redo many of the tasks to get to grips with the language. Because you have to continually interact with the software, it's necessary to pay full attention to the task at hand.

The software allows you to have different profiles, which means several people can use the same program and compare each other's progress.

This CD will help with comprehension but the program won’t improve your written skills and, annoyingly, it ignores all aspects of grammar. The price is fair and reflects the fact that the CD is just one small part of a much bigger road to effective learning.

Also consider

Rosetta Stone

An alternative but more expensive way to try language learning

Translution Pro

If learning a language is too much work, use this program to translate for you

Review: Lego Mindstorms NXT education software

Anthony Dhanendran — 2006-11-02T00:00:00.000Z

Anthony Dhanendran, Computeract!ve, Thursday 2 November 2006 at 00:00:00

Turn your kids into robot engineers with Lego’s new kit

For many people who were children in the 1980s, the first experience of computer programming was in a language called Logo. This, in conjunction with a mechanical 'turtle', allowed kids to get to grips with the concept of instructing a real-world machine what to do.

Jump forward to 1998 and Lego is getting in on the act with Mindstorms, a Lego kit that includes a programmable robot module.

Lego Mindstorms NXT is the 2006 version, with all the bells and whistles to keep modern robot-building children occupied. Not only is it connectable to a PC via USB, it also comes with built-in Bluetooth and can be controlled by mobile phone.

The kit includes the main control module, various Lego bricks for building, and a pack of sensors. These allow the robot to react to changes in light, sound, movement and touch.

The kit is easy to build, with bold and clear pictorial instructions provided in the manual. The basic robot incorporates only a couple of the sensors, while another diagram shows how to expand this into a more interesting robot. There are 577 pieces in total, meaning that there’s much that can be built straight out of the box.

There is plenty of information on the web, both official and from Lego enthusiasts, on how to turn the kit into all sorts of fascinating machines. Putting these fantastic creations together will, of course, be down to the individual’s ability and skill.

The kit can be used by kids as young as 10, although smaller children might have difficulty figuring out how everything fits together. As a learning tool, the Mindstorms NXT kit is extremely good, however. It's possible to start small, with just the control unit and one sensor, learning how best to connect the pieces, and then work up to larger creations.

The software side of things is also fairly intuitive – programming the control unit is based around a simple system of dropping icons into place on a grid and connecting them up to perform tasks. Anyone familiar with flow charts should be able to get to grips with it instantly, while even those with no experience shouldn’t find it too taxing. The process of loading programs onto the control unit, using the USB connection, is also trivial.

The obvious criticism is the price. At £180, it’s certainly not a cheap toy – in fact, four of the control units can be linked up, but that would push the price up to over £500. But the fact that it can educate as well as entertain means that for mechanically minded youngsters it will be worth the cost.

Also consider

Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy

Overall: With brilliant arcade gameplay and some of the coolest graphics around, Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy is one of the most entertaining games you’ll play this year.

Rating: 5

Price: £35

All education software reviews

Review: Family Tree Maker v16 software

James Taylor — 2006-10-02T00:00:00.000Z

James Taylor, Computeract!ve, Monday 2 October 2006 at 00:00:00

The best-selling genealogy software just got better

Coming as a two-CD International Edition that will upgrade all previous versions, Family Tree Maker (FTM) v16 is the latest version of the tree-making software.

Already feature-packed, the list of new features in this edition is fairly short. There's a FastFill feature, the ability to filter source usage reports to show only the sources for selected individuals and it's possible to directly copy and paste an image from a web search.

These are not earth-shattering, must-have essentials and will mostly benefit those with large numbers of entries in their family trees.

Also included with v16 is a companion program, GenSmarts, which analyses the FTM genealogy file, then suggests suitable avenues of further research, including promising web pages. It’s a full program worth around £16 on its own.

The box also includes a 14-day trial membership of Ancestry’s online databases, although this involves giving a credit card number – just remember to cancel it before the trial period ends. There’s another CD as well: Our History in Images (where ‘Our’ refers to American history) with over 3,000 historical photos and maps that can be saved to FTM’s Scrapbook.

Otherwise, FTM retains the same features as the previous v2006 edition. The default Family View shows husband and wife with their children and parents, plus buttons to summon up the editing screen, extra spouses, media scrapbook (with graphics, sound, video, and text files), and an web search for ancestors, in addition to the GenSmarts facility. Almost every field allows the user to edit it.

There’s no provision for photographs in this view, which is something that some of Family Tree Maker's competitors can do. Unfortunately the spell checker for text notes is American, but it's possible also to buy the FTM UK 2006 UK Del uxe Edition (including spellchecking using British English and searching of UK databases), which, although it's older, comes complete with a free download upgrade to v16.

Family Tree Maker pioneered the creation of Family Books, where various reports are combined into a single 'book’ complete with a table of contents and an index, and to which it's possible to add charts, photographs, maps, timelines and paginated, cross-referenced, drop-line trees of descendants. Users can output all reports as PDF files, complete with photos, maps, and graphics.

To use FTM to the full you’ll need an Internet connection, without which you will be unable to register the program or use the web search facility. Users can share their family trees with others by uploading them to MyFamily.com’s collection of user-submitted trees.

However, this comes with certain caveats such as relinquishing control of your tree to the website and allowing it to do with it what it likes.

Overall, although the new version doesn't add much, version 16 of Family Tree Maker remains a good buy.

Also consider:

Legacy v6 Deluxe

£39

More reports including the innovative lines of multiple descent, full printed manual

5/5

Review: Parallax Interactive Guides: North Dartmoor education software

Simon Williams — 2006-06-26T00:00:00.000Z

Simon Williams, Computeract!ve, Monday 26 June 2006 at 00:00:00

Parallax will guide you on enjoyable walks in England’s most beautiful wild places

If you enjoy walking; from a gentle afternoon stroll to a more vigorous trek across the countryside, you may well find Dartmoor and the other English national parks a draw.

These wilder, less densely-occupied parts of the country need to be treated with respect, though, and a good guide, showing tried-and-tested routes, is a sensible way to plan a trip.

There are plenty of printed guides, of course, but this new CD-ROM from Parallax Interactive Guides adds several features unique to its interactive medium.

For a start, virtual pages are much cheaper than paper ones, so there's little to restrict the number of photos that can be used to illustrate a walk.

That's certainly the case here, with up to 25 screens - each with three well-composed photographs - following one of 10 routes. And of course, pages can be printed out and taken on the ramble.

The breadth of coverage enables details such as local plants and animals, some of the archaeology and certainly the lie of the land, to be very well illustrated. Add to this the inclusion of a full 360-degree video from a key vantage point in each walk and you get a very good feel for what you’re likely to see.

As well as details of the walks themselves, there are pointers to local pubs and restaurants where you might want to have a drink or a meal at the end of your expedition. Details of campsites, equipment shops and even a page on each main town and city in Devon are also included.

The product reviewed here is a single CD, produced in Adobe Acrobat with QuickTime videos, but there's also a downloadable version which will run on an iPod Video, with another for smart phones in the pipeline.

North Dartmoor is the first in a series of guides that Parallax will be releasing, with the intention of covering most of the main national parks and some key foreign locations, too.

By the end of the year, we should see the companion South Dartmoor as well as a tour of Mt Blanc. The guides are a very viable alternative to a printed guidebook, with some unique extras not available from print.

Price: £16.50 for CD £10 for iPod download

Related reviews

Navicore Personal 2006/1

Verdict: A GPS device designed for walking, cycling and driving that will work on any SmartPhone and PDA.

Rating: 3/5

Price: £199

Review: Teaching You Office XP/2000 education software

Martin James — 2006-05-04T00:00:00.000Z

Martin James, Computeract!ve, Thursday 4 May 2006 at 00:00:00

Find your way around Microsoft Office and Windows with this handy interactive guide

The six-disc package of Teaching You Office covers tutorials for Microsoft’s Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Access programs, as well as Windows itself.

Both Office 2000 and 2002 (also known as Office XP) are catered for, while the Windows disc deals with XP, 2000 and 98.

Each disc is divided into three levels of difficulty. The course material itself is divided into sections, and these are clearly shown in tree form down the left-hand side of the screen.

Each topic is covered in the main window, and there is the option to practise actions or see them demonstrated. There are multiple choice tests, helping to reinforce the course material, and completed topics will appear with a tick next to them in the tree view.

The programs do not need to be installed, which preserves hard-disk space. At times the interface can seem a bit stale, but this package is about education rather than aesthetics.

We were impressed that more than one version of the Microsoft programs are covered, although the Windows disc loses some points for not dealing with some of the enhancements introduced with XP’s Service Packs.

Still, Teaching you Office is a good all-round package, whether for the serious learner or the accomplished PC user who needs the occasional refresher.

Also consider

GSP Office Tutorials Compendium Pack

Verdict: Great for beginners and good value

Rating: 3/5

Price: £30

or

Computeractive tips on Hidden Office Extras