I’ve been using TurboTax for something like 25 years now, since the good old days of printing on a dot matrix printer in graphics mode to keep the IRS happy. I tried switching to a competing program for two years some time back, but I begrudgingly paid the extra money to switch back to TurboTax. I have not found another consumer tax preparation product which is as complete and accurate as is TurboTax.

There are many competitors in the very crowded market for video editing software. This one has a good feature set and is pretty easy to do the basics with, but learning the more advanced features is time consuming. If you have used previous versions of competing products, I wouldn’t switch at upgrade time because of the extra learning curve. If, however, this is you first purchase of this class of software, this product will do the job for you if you have patience to learn it.

I got this for my granddaughter’s (she’s five) LeapPad2. The game is touted to explore physical science, technology and engineering, simple machines, magnetism, problem solving and logic and reasoning, or essentially what’s referred to as STEM. I think this game would be great for preschoolers. It teaches kids about STEM-like topics without them thinking they are being taught…it is really well done and ends up being a fun game for them using familiar characters.

This is a great concept and use of technology. I gave this to my 7 year old granddaughter. She was delighted with the gift and eager to begin. What you get is an ultra eBook which is essentially an immersive and interactive way to learn reading using the LeapFrog Explorer learning tablet. The story has three reading levels which auto-adjust the sentences to match your child. There are modes: Read to Me (LeapFrog reads the story), Read with Me (LeapFrog pauses on each page for learning activities) and Read on My Own (self-explanatory).

I got Live OneCare after years of being a loyal Norton Systemworks follower. But…Symantec let me down by continuing to get more bloated and less stable with lower performance. Also, with the price of the Symantec subscriptions increasing, I decided to jump ship. I’m glad I did. Live OneCare, despite its odd name, is an unobstrusive addition to the Windows shell - it sort of hangs out on the system tray.

I used Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing many, many years ago on a Commodore 64 when I was a teen. I remember reading about it in either Compute! or Ahoy! magazine. Back then, the Dvorak keyboard layout was a popular alternative but I got the product back then to improve my typing skills. It did work back then…so when I saw this product I thought I would continue the tradition of improving typing with my own family.

I got this because I had three PCs that all needed their AV software updated. With this product, one user gets three licenses. I used to use Norton products a lot but I had some bad experiences a few years back, especially with uninstalling Norton products. Ive had to reinstall an OS more than once due to Nortons shenanigans. So I approached this product with hesitation. Fortunately it installed quickly and cleanly and I was up and running in minutes.

I have tried so many photo and video software editing packages. There was nothing terribly special about this one, and I found the video editing clunky and difficult to use. You can find better photo editing package, too, in Microsoft or Adobe products. All in all, this one was a clunker.

I have always had good luck with McAfee products, and although the founder of the company is now being sought as a murder suspect, it doesn’t mean his software is not solid. This was easy to install, ran well, and did the job. As one of the standard-bearers of the anti-virus software franchises, you can’t go wrong with McAfee. I have two home computers, and the multi-user feature worked well. I was able to install and run auto-updates no problem.

I have been a loyal TurboTax user since 2003. It is easy, as thorough as you need it to be for at home use, and affordable compared to professional tax return services. I have never had a problem installing this software for 8 years now, and it has always performed reliably, preparing flawless tax returns, and ensuring quick and easy refunds. I’ve used the relevant versions to report Schedule C self-employment income (the program quickly and easily calculates the self-employment tax, ensures you get social security credit for your self employment, and gives you next year’s estimated tax payments) as well as investment income.