Software

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NIS 2009 CD 1U 3PC MM

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Mass Effect: Windows

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the present, i have to tediously unscrew my laptop, remove the new hard drive, insert the old hard drive, then screw everything back in before i can start up the game. And of course when im done playing, i have to do it all over again to get back to the better hard drive where everything else is installed.

Unless you -really- want this game, spend your cash elsewhere, on a game you can install whenever you want to play it.

I'll give this game a better review if they give me my activations back when i uninstall or remove activation limits altogether.

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Roxio Creator 2009 - Windows

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creation
I hear youtube may have to take down videos with copyrighted music from Warner so I'm now happy to see a custom music program.

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NIS 2009 CD 1U 3PC MM

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poorly designed. It also slowed down my computer.

After careful consideration of other available security softwares, I decided on Norton because of some additional features over McAfee and I am very glad that I did. It is a very efficient and effective all around anti-virus, security software. It is very fast, doesn't slow down the computer. And one of the additional features, I love, are password cards: which ever websites you visit, it offers you to create a card profile (user name + password) specific to that website. When you are online, you enter one password at the beginning in Norton and it remembers the rest. You can also create address and credit card cards, too. So if you like shopping online, you don't have to write the address/password/credit card info all the time. I visit so many sites, forums etc that need passwords that this feature was very convenient for me. I 100% recommend this product, I am a happy customer.

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Crayola Art Studio - Windows

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poorly designed. It also slowed down my computer.



After careful consideration of other available security softwares, I decided on Norton because of some additional features over McAfee and I am very glad that I did. It is a very efficient and effective all around anti-virus, security software. It is very fast, doesn't slow down the computer. And one of the additional features, I love, are password cards: which ever websites you visit, it offers you to create a card profile (user name + password) specific to that website. When you are online, you enter one password at the beginning in Norton and it remembers the rest. You can also create address and credit card cards, too. So if you like shopping online, you don't have to write the address/password/credit card info all the time. I visit so many sites, forums etc that need passwords that this feature was very convenient for me. I 100% recommend this product, I am a happy customer.

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Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3

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poorly designed. It also slowed down my computer.





After careful consideration of other available security softwares, I decided on Norton because of some additional features over McAfee and I am very glad that I did. It is a very efficient and effective all around anti-virus, security software. It is very fast, doesn't slow down the computer. And one of the additional features, I love, are password cards: which ever websites you visit, it offers you to create a card profile (user name + password) specific to that website. When you are online, you enter one password at the beginning in Norton and it remembers the rest. You can also create address and credit card cards, too. So if you like shopping online, you don't have to write the address/password/credit card info all the time. I visit so many sites, forums etc that need passwords that this feature was very convenient for me. I 100% recommend this product, I am a happy customer.

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Roxio Creator 2009 Ultimate - Windows

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poorly designed. It also slowed down my computer.







After careful consideration of other available security softwares, I decided on Norton because of some additional features over McAfee and I am very glad that I did. It is a very efficient and effective all around anti-virus, security software. It is very fast, doesn't slow down the computer. And one of the additional features, I love, are password cards: which ever websites you visit, it offers you to create a card profile (user name + password) specific to that website. When you are online, you enter one password at the beginning in Norton and it remembers the rest. You can also create address and credit card cards, too. So if you like shopping online, you don't have to write the address/password/credit card info all the time. I visit so many sites, forums etc that need passwords that this feature was very convenient for me. I 100% recommend this product, I am a happy customer.

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Crysis Warhead: Windows

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EA! You just stole $30 from me! Thats what I get for being honest. So from now on I will be forced to either pirate games using this DRM, or just boycott those games all together. Either way, not another penny of my money will go toward anything with "activations" based DRM. It only seems fair to steal a game from EA now that they have stolen $30 from me for a game I cannot play.

So what was the game like? Well, the menus looked nice, and the first 20 mins of the game was fun. Very nice looking, but I cant really say much. I didnt get to experience much of it. I recommend EVERYONE STAY AWAY FROM THIS TITLE at least until a patch is released to remove the DRM, if that ever happens.

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Internet Security Suite 2008 - Complete package - 3 users - CD ( mini-box )

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EA! You just stole $30 from me! Thats what I get for being honest. So from now on I will be forced to either pirate games using this DRM, or just boycott those games all together. Either way, not another penny of my money will go toward anything with "activations" based DRM. It only seems fair to steal a game from EA now that they have stolen $30 from me for a game I cannot play.



So what was the game like? Well, the menus looked nice, and the first 20 mins of the game was fun. Very nice looking, but I cant really say much. I didnt get to experience much of it. I recommend EVERYONE STAY AWAY FROM THIS TITLE at least until a patch is released to remove the DRM, if that ever happens.

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Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3

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EA! You just stole $30 from me! Thats what I get for being honest. So from now on I will be forced to either pirate games using this DRM, or just boycott those games all together. Either way, not another penny of my money will go toward anything with "activations" based DRM. It only seems fair to steal a game from EA now that they have stolen $30 from me for a game I cannot play.





So what was the game like? Well, the menus looked nice, and the first 20 mins of the game was fun. Very nice looking, but I cant really say much. I didnt get to experience much of it. I recommend EVERYONE STAY AWAY FROM THIS TITLE at least until a patch is released to remove the DRM, if that ever happens.

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Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3

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EA! You just stole $30 from me! Thats what I get for being honest. So from now on I will be forced to either pirate games using this DRM, or just boycott those games all together. Either way, not another penny of my money will go toward anything with "activations" based DRM. It only seems fair to steal a game from EA now that they have stolen $30 from me for a game I cannot play.







So what was the game like? Well, the menus looked nice, and the first 20 mins of the game was fun. Very nice looking, but I cant really say much. I didnt get to experience much of it. I recommend EVERYONE STAY AWAY FROM THIS TITLE at least until a patch is released to remove the DRM, if that ever happens.

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PC - Prince of Persia

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not usually my thing. POP might make me venture into more platformers if POP is the standard. For a while I felt nervous about leaping off the platforms but once you got the hang of the moves, the traveling became a lot of fun and hunting down some of the more difficult to reach light-seeds became almost an obsession. :) The animations of the different motions flow together beautifully. It's almost visual poetry when you traverse a series of obstacles flawlessly.

Combat was very different than in an RPG. There's a lot less of it, for one thing. I really enjoyed the combat system, although I still consider myself quite bad at it. But when you string together some combination moves the animations are great and the result very satisfying.

The characters of the prince and Elika were great, IMO. I loved the banter and chemistry between them. The voice acting was superb: maybe the best I've come across in any game so far. I've heard some folks disliked the prince's 'attitude'. Personally, I found him to be pretty damned funny. The only thing I didn't like about the conversations was that you don't actually get to choose how to direct the conversation. But the quality of the acting was worth the trade-off for me.

The story was interesting: not everything is as it seemed in the beginning.

Ok, so what about the bad points?

The most obvious issue for me was that on some occasions...maybe half a dozen through the game....the camera angle was fixed and it would have been better to have had some freedom to move the camera to better see where you needed to go. A bit annoying but nothing too major.

Game difficulty. I can see how people might feel that the game was too easy because Elika is always present to save your backside, both from badly timed jumps or during combat. Personally, I was bloody glad of it. I'm not a masochist. But for people who play platformers obsessively, I think Ubisoft should have allowed them to have some kind of progressive difficulty rating that capped the number of saves that Elika could make during the game (easy level being unlimited, medium capped at 150 saves, and hard being 75 saves?). Or better yet, some kind of online scoreboard for gamers who complete the game with the fewest rescues by Elika.

My final quibble is due to be being an rpg gamer at heart. As much as I loved POP, it would have been even better if there were more NPC's and side quests to explore in addition to the main story line.

So, thank you again to Ubisoft for making this game DRM free. Not only did it give me an opportunity to support your work by purchasing it, but it was a bloody enjoyable game and I'll keep a weather eye open for any DRM-free (or disk check only) sequels you might produce. I'd love to know what happens next!

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Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3

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nation, the Empire of the Rising Sun, and forged a vast and powerful war machine which it has now unleashed on both the Allies and Soviets. With no nuclear weapons to hold them at bay, the Empire seems poised to take control of the entire globe.

Red Alert 3 is a throwback to the good old days of the earlier Red Alert games, throwing out the tighter narrative focus and sequential campaigns that Tiberium Wars brought in and reverting to having each of the three campaigns in the game take place in an alternate history to the others. For example, one of the Japanese missions has you racing to defend the Empire's colony at Pearl Harbour from a surprise Allied naval assault (irony!), an event not mentioned or replicated in the Allied or Soviet campaigns, which is a bit odd. However, those used to the prior Red Alert games are used to this by now, so it is not a major issue.

Unfortunately, whilst Tiberium Wars proved to be the best Command and Conquer game to date, with a tight storyline, fast-paced combat and doing a sterling job of updating the geriatric SAGE engine, Red Alert 3 is not as successful. The game engine is looking increasingly ancient these days, especially when compared even to the two-year-old Company of Heroes, and the bright, primary colour scheme of Red Alert 3 doesn't play to it as well as the darker, muted C&C3 aesthetic. The exception is the new water system, which is fantastic but also system-intensive, with even more powerful machines likely to stutter during busy naval battles. There is also disappointment with the unit roster: the Allied and Soviet unit selection is mostly just copied over from Red Alert 2, with a few new units thrown in.

On the plus side of things, the new Japanese faction is innovative, with many units lifted directly from anime, such as the mecha which can transform from a ground robot to a fighter, which seems to directly inspired by the Valkyrie from Macross (aka the Veritech from Robotech). In addition, several of the Japanese cut scenes use music cues which seem to be heavily inspired by Ghost in the Shell's soundtrack. This new faction requires a totally different approach from the Allies and Soviets, and their part of the campaign proves to be the most challenging and interesting.

The campaign itself is delivered through the familiar mix of briefings and FMV. An all-star cast leads the way, with Tim Curry as the Soviet Premier, Jonathan Pryce as the Allied Field Marshal Bingham and George Takei as the Japanese Emperor Yoshiro. The higher quality of acting means the FMV side of things is not quite as ludicrously camp as Red Alert 2, but the story is still extremely daft, filled with plot holes, military impossibilities (how the hell did the Japanese get to Stalingrad?) and, for some reason, an apparent reliance by all three sides on attractive young female military advisers. None of this is exactly new to seasoned Red Alert vets, however. Suffice to say that the tradition of silliness in the spirit of the prior Red Alert games is carried on here.

All in all, Red Alert 3 (***) is fun and fast-paced, but it seems a bit too contrived compared to its forebears. The game isn't quite as intense and furious as C&C3 gets in multiplayer, and the storyline isn't far off from being a comedy, meaning you don't get as much emotional investment in it, the games or the characters. For knockabout entertainment, Red Alert 3 suffices but it won't be dragging RTS fans away from Company of Heroes multiplayer for very long. The game is out now on PC (UK, USA) and X-Box 360 (UK, USA).

A Note on DRM: The PC version of Red Alert 3 is protected by SecuROM, the same digital-rights-management software that previously blighted Spore and Mass Effect. It requires an internet connection for the game to work even in single-player and the game is limited to five 'activations'. EA has not been forthcoming on what constitutes an 'activation' but experiments by players have shown that even simply changing a graphics card can use up an activation. After a chorus of complaints, the latest patch allows the game owner to de-authorize the game prior to carrying out any modifications to their PC, so they don't use up an activation, but it is still a hassle for players. Naturally, all of this proved totally unnecessary as the game was hacked and leaked onto the Internet a week before its official release date.

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Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3

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Think uninstalling the game will get rid of it? Think again. Only a very detailed and tech skill intensive process can completely remove it. Unless editing your computer registry is something your very comfortable with, it is NOT easy.

2. Gives EA control over when and how often you can install the game. Requires your computer to 'phone home' to the EA authentication server each time you want to install. If EA ever decides that they're done supporting that server and you want to install, well guess what? You're SOL.

3. Stomps all over your consumer rights. You think you own that game you just bought? Nope. You just own the right to play it for as long as EA thinks you should, and only install it as many times as they want you to. Like renting movies? Well get used to it if you want to play EA games, because from now on, and with every Securom 7x game in the future, that is what you will be doing. Renting.

Securom 7x is just about the worst thing to ever happen to gaming. EA are morons, and better start listening to their core audience of gamers. they've all ready taken a massive hit in stock price after the epic failure that was the Spore release.

So what can you or I do about this? The answer is simple. Don't buy anything from EA until they get rid of Securom 7x once and for all. I won't be buying this game, or Crysis Warhead, or Dead Space, or any number of other games that I otherwise would because I refuse to let EA treat me like a criminal. I am not a pirate, never will be, nor am I into letting EA (big brother) have root access to my computer. If enough of us choose to spend our money on other games (Witcher for example) that don't come infested with this DRM crap, maybe just maybe EA will change its ways. And if not, at least we've contributed to independent game makers who understand that we want to pay for great games, but not let them put a DRM ring in our computer's noses.

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Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords Game of the Year Edition: Windows

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defenders and frigates, there are no limits in what one can build in your dockyard. Want something that looks like STAR TREK's Enterprise or BATTLESHIP GALACTICA's falcons? Easily done - the sky is the limit.
Research will not only keep you solvent and your people happy but it will also make it possible to better equip your ships. Stronger engines, more effective armor, more destructive weapons.

And, on top of all that, this being a STARDOCK release, it comes free of any intrusive DRM scheme. These days, that alone deserves gamers' support. How much more so that GALACTIC CIVILIZATIONS II is a great game.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

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Roxio Creator 2009 - Windows

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defenders and frigates, there are no limits in what one can build in your dockyard. Want something that looks like STAR TREK's Enterprise or BATTLESHIP GALACTICA's falcons? Easily done - the sky is the limit.

Research will not only keep you solvent and your people happy but it will also make it possible to better equip your ships. Stronger engines, more effective armor, more destructive weapons.



And, on top of all that, this being a STARDOCK release, it comes free of any intrusive DRM scheme. These days, that alone deserves gamers' support. How much more so that GALACTIC CIVILIZATIONS II is a great game.



HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

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Far Cry 2: Windows

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better than mine, since the rapport from long distance AI shots attenuates quickly for me. They can shoot you from insane distances which, when combined with foliage and lack of noise, leaves you dying in ignorance.

- Checkpoint AI spawning has already been covered by other reviewers, but in town, the AI are "belt fed" too. Assigned to assassinate someone in town, I machetted him alone in an alley, and this quiet dispatch still brought down the entire town's AI on me. Out of curiosity I turned on "God mode" and let the bodies pile. After 10-15 minutes of this, I gave up and just walked out of town.

- Weapons are "gamefied". Aside from thrown weapons, ballistics are as flat as a Nebraska horizon. Accuracy and damage performance are all over the chart, even for weapons that in real life take the same ammo (G3 and M-16, for example). The MAC-10 is more accurate than the G3? If such tweaks are going to be made for game balance, just save the licensing fees and model the weapons after ray guns or stuffed bunnies or something. Don't worry about keeping track of ammo of different calibers either. AK-47 ammo is the same as G3 ammo in this game. Weapons from fallen AI can be used, but in the players hands they jam frequently (funny, they were ventilating me fine a minute ago...). This is another gamification to force the player back to the weapons dealer to buy weapons that don't jam. Because that's the only way to get a reliable Kalashnikov in Africa...

- Gamified upgrades. The player can buy additional ammo capacity, weapons, repair and accuracy upgrades, from weapons dealers. But you don't know what any of these actually do until you buy them (no browsing the news stand, apparently). Light assault ammo vest is available long before you can "unlock" the corresponding MAC-10 or Uzi, while the Assault ammo vest for the G3 you've been toting since the start isn't available for quite a while. "Unlocking" weapons instead of finding them as part of the game, is another jarring gamification. Stealth kit isn't available at first, defaulting the player to "run and gun" gameplay.

- Bus stops in the middle of nowhere. Another good idea, poorly executed. Remaking this game as "Futurama: The Shooter" and calling them "tube stations" would have made more sense. Fast travel in Fallout 3 is implemented much better.

- Malaria. I guess they included this feature to provide tension, but like so many other "gamifications" in Far Cry 2, this one just adds annoyance, and further reduces open gameplay.

- No dangerous wildlife. Lions, crocodiles, hippos, rhinos, elephants all could have added interest (and creative ways to deal with opponents.) I don't know why they weren't included. Maybe PETA made a stink.

- "Buddies" are a potentially good idea for cooperative NPC's, reduced to a tacked-on feature to give the player another "life". They don't accompany you, though with the omnipresent hostile AI, you'll be seeing your buddies a lot anyway.

- "Angry drivers" make LA freeways utopian by comparison. These were probably added to keep the Red Bull crowd from being bored while traveling, but they're too stupid to be challenging, and numerous enough to become boring and annoying, quickly. Between these and the respawning guard posts, travel becomes a non-stop firefight against numerous, omnipotent, unintelligent AI gunmen.

Bottom line: If all you're looking for is a lite "run and gun" game against lots of lethal (but stupid) opponents, in a graphically pretty setting, this is the game for you. If you're looking for immersion, open gameplay, multiple ways to solve (or avoid) threats, and any semblance of logic, you'll be either bored or frustrated with Far Cry 2.

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Dead Space: Windows

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better than mine, since the rapport from long distance AI shots attenuates quickly for me. They can shoot you from insane distances which, when combined with foliage and lack of noise, leaves you dying in ignorance.



- Checkpoint AI spawning has already been covered by other reviewers, but in town, the AI are "belt fed" too. Assigned to assassinate someone in town, I machetted him alone in an alley, and this quiet dispatch still brought down the entire town's AI on me. Out of curiosity I turned on "God mode" and let the bodies pile. After 10-15 minutes of this, I gave up and just walked out of town.



- Weapons are "gamefied". Aside from thrown weapons, ballistics are as flat as a Nebraska horizon. Accuracy and damage performance are all over the chart, even for weapons that in real life take the same ammo (G3 and M-16, for example). The MAC-10 is more accurate than the G3? If such tweaks are going to be made for game balance, just save the licensing fees and model the weapons after ray guns or stuffed bunnies or something. Don't worry about keeping track of ammo of different calibers either. AK-47 ammo is the same as G3 ammo in this game. Weapons from fallen AI can be used, but in the players hands they jam frequently (funny, they were ventilating me fine a minute ago...). This is another gamification to force the player back to the weapons dealer to buy weapons that don't jam. Because that's the only way to get a reliable Kalashnikov in Africa...



- Gamified upgrades. The player can buy additional ammo capacity, weapons, repair and accuracy upgrades, from weapons dealers. But you don't know what any of these actually do until you buy them (no browsing the news stand, apparently). Light assault ammo vest is available long before you can "unlock" the corresponding MAC-10 or Uzi, while the Assault ammo vest for the G3 you've been toting since the start isn't available for quite a while. "Unlocking" weapons instead of finding them as part of the game, is another jarring gamification. Stealth kit isn't available at first, defaulting the player to "run and gun" gameplay.



- Bus stops in the middle of nowhere. Another good idea, poorly executed. Remaking this game as "Futurama: The Shooter" and calling them "tube stations" would have made more sense. Fast travel in Fallout 3 is implemented much better.



- Malaria. I guess they included this feature to provide tension, but like so many other "gamifications" in Far Cry 2, this one just adds annoyance, and further reduces open gameplay.



- No dangerous wildlife. Lions, crocodiles, hippos, rhinos, elephants all could have added interest (and creative ways to deal with opponents.) I don't know why they weren't included. Maybe PETA made a stink.



- "Buddies" are a potentially good idea for cooperative NPC's, reduced to a tacked-on feature to give the player another "life". They don't accompany you, though with the omnipresent hostile AI, you'll be seeing your buddies a lot anyway.



- "Angry drivers" make LA freeways utopian by comparison. These were probably added to keep the Red Bull crowd from being bored while traveling, but they're too stupid to be challenging, and numerous enough to become boring and annoying, quickly. Between these and the respawning guard posts, travel becomes a non-stop firefight against numerous, omnipotent, unintelligent AI gunmen.



Bottom line: If all you're looking for is a lite "run and gun" game against lots of lethal (but stupid) opponents, in a graphically pretty setting, this is the game for you. If you're looking for immersion, open gameplay, multiple ways to solve (or avoid) threats, and any semblance of logic, you'll be either bored or frustrated with Far Cry 2.

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Acronis True Image Home Volume-11.0 - Windows

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that runs all the time, slowing down and clogging up your machine (and perhaps conflicting with a program you really need). Yet another program by programmers who apparently believe that your only purpose in having a computer is running their "wonderful" software.

My son has a previous version of this software that I've used on his machine, and although I didn't like it much, at least it was functional. I can't say the same about 2009.

I've uninstalled it, I haven't decided whether to throw it away or donate it. It's certainly not something I'm willing to use.

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Shaun White Snowboarding: Windows

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that runs all the time, slowing down and clogging up your machine (and perhaps conflicting with a program you really need). Yet another program by programmers who apparently believe that your only purpose in having a computer is running their "wonderful" software.



My son has a previous version of this software that I've used on his machine, and although I didn't like it much, at least it was functional. I can't say the same about 2009.



I've uninstalled it, I haven't decided whether to throw it away or donate it. It's certainly not something I'm willing to use.