Microsoft Student 2006

A year’s subscription to MSN Encarta Premium is also included with Student 2006. This huge encyclopedia, which includes videos, images and audio, is just as useful to adults as it is to children.

A one-year subscription to Encarta Premium currently costs £19.99, which you’ll have to cough up in a year’s time. You’ll still be able to use the reference library on your PC, but without a subscription, but you won’t be able to receive any new updates via the Internet.

Before you rush out and buy Student 2006, be aware that if you don’t already have a copy of Microsoft Office 2003 or Office XP, you’ll have to purchase one in order to use the Learning Essentials element of the package. The Student Edition of Microsoft Office 2003 (a slightly cut-down version of the standard Office 2003) is available for around £115.

It’s a shame you can’t use it with other office-style products but, in fairness to Microsoft, there’s no way it could develop a similar package to integrate with the likes of Open Office and Ability Office.

As expected, the Internet plays a large part in Student 2006 dial-up is manageable, but we’d certainly recommend at least a 512K broadband connection to make full use of the online components.

It’s also worth pointing out that it’s only available on DVD, so those with just a CD drive will need to upgrade.

Student 2006 won’t perform miracles and is only there to aid homework ­ it will not act as a substitute for teaching. However, with features such as the Learning Essentials tools and access to everything Microsoft Encarta has to offer, Student 2006 serves as a great platform for homework assignments and comes thoroughly recommended.

System Requirements:

• 500MHz processor
• 430MB hard disk
• 256MB of RAM
• DVD-Rom drive
• Windows 2000/XP
• Office XP/2003 (for Learning Essentials tool)