Review: AVG Internet Security 2011
AVG is best known for its free antivirus, but this commercial version offers more than a few reasons to upgrade, including identity protection and a built-in firewall. Still, install it and you could be forgiven for thinking it's still trying to upsell you on a later version, because it's more than a little eager to make sure you know everything it's doing.
It adds a Gadget to the Windows Sidebar, its firewall is very noticeable, and it can feel like the smart kid at the front of the class going "Sir! Sir! I know, sir!" Still, it performs well enough for a pat on the head.
In tests, it was easily the fastest of the tools here on first scan, and an excellent performer on subsequent scans. It demands fairly high CPU usage, but barely affected rebooting times at all.
On the all-important virus test, it was a clean sweep for both actual malware and false-positives.
The only real weaknesses are the Link Scanner, which protects you from malicious sites and sending out dodgy links via Facebook, but only in internet Explorer and Firefox, and it's not always clear exactly what its options will do for you – the Identity Protection component being particularly vague.
AVG is a strong contender, although for personal use, it must be noted that if it's only the antivirus side of the package that you're interested in, you can still download it for free. (For professional/corporate use, you need to pay up for the full package.)
The main things you miss out on if you opt for the free version are the firewall, anti-spam (which you probably won't use since it's clientside only), IM conversation scanning, and the Identity Protection component.
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Tutorial: How to improve your timing with GarageBand
Timing is important in music; in many cases, it makes the difference between a great track and a cacophony. Most people aren't perfect when it comes to playing guitars and keyboards, no matter how much they practice.
You might be surprised that's even the case for professional musicians – what you hear on albums and singles is very rarely live-recorded output; instead, you get the end result of countless hours of studio tweaking.
In recent years, tools that once cost thousands of pounds have filtered down to the consumer level, and GarageBand provides plenty of power under the hood. Previous versions of the application enabled you to tidy timing to a certain extent, largely with forced quantising; however, that's far easier to apply to MIDI instruments and can mess up live audio such as guitars.
In GarageBand '11, Apple addressed this shortcoming with two new features that enable you to improve a multi-track live recording in less time than it takes to boil a kettle. The two new features are Groove Matching and Flex Time.
Groove Matching enables you to define a key track referred to as the 'groove track'; GarageBand analyses other tracks and aims to make their timing and rhythm conform to the groove track, but in a 'human' manner. Therefore, if your groove track is a shuffly drumbeat, the other tracks will be looser than if your groove track is a metronomic electronic dance beat.
In contrast to 'global' Groove Matching, Flex Time provides the means to amend the timing and duration of single notes by dragging parts of audio waveforms. The tutorial assumes you have a keyboard and guitar connected to your Mac.
How To - Fine-tune your timing in GarageBand
1. Set things up: Open GarageBand and select Keyboard Collection from the New Project menu. This creates a project with keyboard tracks. Open the loops browser, select All Drums and drag Club Dance Beat 50 to the timeline – a Beats track is created. Loop the sample four times.
2. Record some keyboard: Turn on the cycle region (C) and drag the yellow bar to match the four-bar Beats content. When you record tracks, this area will loop. Select Electric Piano, hit record (or R) and record a repeating four-note loop. If you record multiple takes, click the loop and select one.
3. Record some bass: Select Smokey Clav and record a baseline with octaves (A2/A3 repeating, say). Don't worry about tight timing. If you lack a MIDI keyboard, you can record your own parts by using Musical Typing (Window > Musical Typing).
4. Select a groove track: Hold the mouse cursor over the left edge of the Beats track and click the star that appears. This defines the drums as the groove track. You may need to click Continue to enable GarageBand to analyse and fix the other tracks. Note: you can only define a single groove track.
5. Toggle matched tracks: On selecting a groove track, you'll see that every other track now has a checkbox to its left. When checked, this means the track follows the groove track. With the keyboard tracks, play them through, uncheck the checkbox, then play again to compare them.
6. Custom quantise: Because Groove Matching is a form of quantising, it overrides existing settings. If you need to override, uncheck the track's checkbox, open the track editor and define a value for Quantize Note Timing. With Groove Matching on, this will display 'Groove Matching'.
7. Groove-match guitars: Load the tutorial.band file from your disc. Select the Sixties Basic Blues track and uncheck the track's checkbox. Solo and play it; it's pretty bad. Now check the checkbox and play it again. As you can see, timing errors in the live guitars are fixed by Groove Matching.
8. Use Flex Time: Mute Sixties Basic Blues but no other tracks. You'll notice Memphis Clean's guitar in bar three stops short. Double-click the waveform to open it in the editor. Click slightly to the left of the gap and drag to the right. The waveform is stretched – improving the track.
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Review: VueScan 9.0
The principal selling point for VueScan is the fact it works with hundreds of scanner models, even those long abandoned by the manufacturer. That makes it an essential purchase if it's the only way to get your trusty model working in Snow Leopard, potentially extending the life of your scanner for years to come (but only if you purchase the Pro version; the Standard edition only offers free updates for a year).
But that's not all. This isn't some belt-and-braces fix solely for older scanners. VueScan trumps the options found in Snow Leopard or low-end scanning software with a powerful feature set wrapped up in a user-friendly interface.
Version 9 has overhauled this further to create a larger preview window, allowing you to view your potential scan up close. Any adjustments you make are also instantly shown here, giving you an accurate preview of what's to come the moment you hit Scan, ensuring you get better results more quickly.
And don't be fooled by the frankly simplistic scanning wizard provided. A powerful feature set is revealed in a series of tabs, including a set of colour-correction options to die for.
There's even basic OCR functionality, while Pro users get to create raw scan files and work with ICC profiles, making VueScan worth checking out if you're frustrated by the limitations of your existing software too.
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Review: McAfee Internet Security 2011
The antivirus world's other heavy hitter doesn't put in quite as good a performance as this year's Norton, but still serves up a very respectable performance across the board. It suffered from the one of the longest boot-up times and the absolute highest CPU load during scans, but compensated by being by far the least memory-hungry program on test.
You might not want to play games while it's running – and there's no gaming mode provided – but for most apps it'll be just fine.
In other areas, Internet Security proved a mid-level package. Its initial scan took a lengthy 17 minutes, which dropped down to just four minutes on a subsequent runthrough – roughly the same as Norton.
It caught 100 per cent of the malware on our test system without falling prey to any false positives, and on a purely aesthetic level, it features a much better interface that makes it easy to access exactly the features you want.
As with all major internet security suites, a capable software firewall is built in, and can be activated and then generally ignored until it spots something you should know about.
Bonus features on offer here include parental controls, file shredding, antispam and a gigabyte of free space (the Norton equivalent is only available in the 360 edition). The upgraded version, Total Protection, offers all these features, plus an encrypted vault to store files, home network defense and a more advanced version of McAfee's SiteAdvisor for spotting bad links.
For most however, Internet Security will be all you need, and while it may not have come out the winner this year, it remains a strong performer.
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First shots of Nokia Windows Phone 7 concepts emerge
Photos of the concept handsets, believed to be the work of the new Microsoft and Nokia partnership, have emerged less than 24 hours after the deal was rubber-stamped.Engadget is touting a pair of images which its claiming to be early mock-ups of a Nokia-manufactured handset running the Windows Phone 7 operating system.
The brightly-coloured phones boast full touchscreens with some Nokia design hallmarks and would add credence to Steve Balmer's claim that both companies have already been working together on devices.
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The leaked pictures follow the announcement on Friday morning, revealing that Nokia would make Windows Phone 7 its go-to OS, freeing itself from the sinking ship of Symbian and MeeGo.
Windows Phones will now use Nokia Maps and bring its smartphone camera expertise to Windows 7 Phones, which has seen market-leading Carl Zeiss lenses and Xenon flashes deployed in recent years.
Meanwhile, Bing will now be Nokia's default search client and apps from the Windows App Marketplace will supersede the Nokia Ovi Store.
So what do you make of the concept? Is this the shape of things to come, or just the handywork of an avid enthusiast?
Source: Engadget
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