POINTLESS UPGRADES

The constantly increasing rate of change in technology has created a difficult time for consumers. It is very difficult to decide what trend is meaningful and what is trivial; difficult to learn what products work and what products are poorly designed or buggy;...

SYMANTEC HIKES NORTON RENEWAL PRICES

Yesterday Symantec announced increases in the price of renewals for its Norton products, as much as a 33% hike to renew the annual virus deinition subscription for Norton Antivirus, Norton Internet Security, and others.Symantec says the reason it is defying the trend...

YAHOO AND MICROSOFT INSTANT MESSENGERS TO INTERACT

It’s not confirmed yet but rumor has it that Microsoft and Yahoo will announce a deal on Wednesday for their respective instant messenger programs to exchange messages with each other.If you’re under 25, that might be a big deal – running AIM, Yahoo,...

ANTIVIRUS PROTECTION FROM MICROSOFT

Norton’s products are steadily deteriorating – I’ve written about some of my frustration with Norton Internet Security for single PCs and Symantec Antivirus for server-based networks. Last week I installed Norton Antivirus 2005 on a typical desktop...

HOW CHEAP IS TOO CHEAP?

Price should no longer be the factor that drives your technology purchases.Technology is cheap. Printers are best described as disposable cartridge holders – for many, many models the printer’s cost is roughly identical to the cost of replacement ink...

QUICKBOOKS 2006 vs. MICROSOFT SMALL BUSINESS ACCOUNTING

The stage is set for a showdown in the next few months.Intuit will release Quickbooks 2006 this fall with an extensive facelift, the first significant changes in the program in several years. The early screenshots look promising. There will be more editions for...