For keeping track of many different members from any side of the family, a genealogy program like Family Tree Maker can be an invaluable and time-saving tool. While family history fanatics will likely still get a lot out of it, this particular program is unfortunately bogged down by an unwieldy interface and complicated design. There are simply too many screens to navigate through to get to any given option, and frequently they are arranged in odd ways.

When putting together a family trip, whether across the state or even across the country, a map planning tool can save you a lot of headaches ahead of time and ensure you are fully prepared. Microsoft Streets and Trips is a comprehensive map program that lets you check routes between cities or drill down to a street-by-street view to see what an area in any given town has to offer.

By now we’ve all heard about the horrors of Windows 8 and I’d have never bought it. But… I got a chance at a free copy so I jumped on it. It took a while for me to warm to Windows 7, I thought maybe the same would apply to Windows 8. I first played with Win8 on a Microsoft Surface tablet PC. It seemed like Windows reworked for a tablet form factor.

Prior to getting this software, my pdf file processing solution was to use acrobat reader, CutePDF writer (installs as a printer to print documents to a pdf file), and my regular word processing and drawing tools. This works pretty well except that I can’t combine pdf files into a single document or add mark-up to an existing pdf file. So, I decided to test out this Corel product. Quite simply, it has saved my butt a few times when my only other option was to print things out and go the old scissors and tape route.

I have some windows 8 devices, but they occasionally annoy me because of all the lame defaults that are hard to change. It’s easier to repair Windows 7 to get away from the spurious default settings and attempts to do unwanted favors.

OK, it does what I bought it for, mostly, eventually. I got out of the quicken habit many years ago when I didn’t upgrade. My previous experience was that the the software was fine but that intuit was annoying in that they never lost an opportunity to market to me or install unwanted crap on my computer. Well, my new experience is that they did manage to miss a few annoyance opportunities but have addressed those problems.

After doing a clean installation, I found that was no longer there. I was unable to buy it at Apple. That’s being there in a pinch.

In some ways, iWork is better than MS Office and other ways it isn’t. The spreadsheet templates are great. I like experimenting with them, making my own formulas.

Windows 7 was purchased to repair a failing operating system.

In some ways, iWork is better than MS Office and other ways it isn’t. The spreadsheet templates are great. I like experimenting with them, making my own formulas.