YouOS

YouOS is a very interesting thing… It lets you run an operating system whilst online. So if you are going on a business trip where you need data, yet do not have a laptop, you can store and share your data with whomever.

I find this very helpful when I need to write an essay, so I can have a spare copy. There are literally thousands of mini-programs you can easily add to your YouOS machine, such as YouMSN which lets you talk to your MSN buddies with YouOS.

I cannot say that YouOS is without its faults though. It is slow and takes up alot of CPU %. YouOS also can crash your web browser sometimes if you are doing to much at once. And I had trouble changing my long, confusing, and annoying password (the equivalent of 643uvg24895m72)

Other than the problems it has, I think that YouOS really shows off Web 2.0 with this remarkable achievement!

Speed 3/5

Design 4/5

Bitty Browser speed 5/5

Overall 4/5

Gabe Morris

Belarc Advisor Review

Belarc Advisor produces an indepth report about what is on your computer in extreme detail, for example, not only does it list all of the hardware and software but it also tells you serial numbers and licence codes.

The data is exported into a html document so can be viewed in any web browser and can be printed. It tells you everything you need to know including:

• Operating System
• System Model
• Processor
• Main Circuit Board
• Drives
• Memory (Including what is installed in each slot)
• Locak Drive Volumes
• Network Drives
• Users
• Printers
• Controllers
• Display
• Bus Adapters
• Multimedia
• Comminucations
• Virus Protection
• Other Devices
• Hotfixes
• Software Licences
• Software Versions (A list of all the software installed on your system and the version)

So, as you can see you get a lot of information about your system that can help massively. If you have lost your Office or Windows code or whatever other software that uses a serial code, you can retrieve it with this program, you can also find out your IP address, default gateway etc. It tells you how much space you have left on your drives as well as telling you what your bios is and even how the computer is enclosed (desktop or tower). Impressive, you can download it now from: http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html, and best of all it is 100% free.

Overall score: 8/10

It isn’t the most attractive program and did stop presponding whilst checking the computer.

 

Simon North, 28th February 2007

Zoho Project

Zoho Project is a web based application that runs in almost any web browser and can be accessed from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. It works by adding users to a project then adding milestones and tasks which can be given start dates, durations, and an owner to that task, you can then send an email notification of that task to the owner.

You can also store documents on Zoho Project, this includes a versions option which means you can upload a new version of the same file, so it becomes version 1.2, 1.3 etc. You can also manage your documents into folders and add tags so that you can search for a document.

Meetings can be scheduled, and you can choose which recipients you want there and all recipients will receive an email confirming it. You can also add notes to a meeting and the meeting will appear on the attendee’s dashboard when they log in. Not only that but you can set a reminder time so that they will receive an email before the meeting (between 1 day and 15 minutes).

A forum allows you to ask other colleagues questions or post any problems so other team members can help. This is included in Zoho Project. And when a forum post is posted, an email is received by everyone giving details of the post including the post itself.

There is also a calendar so you can easily see what task deadlines and meetings are ahead, this is also shown on the dashboard for the week ahead.

I am currently using this to manage my A level ICT Project Management unit and have had no problems, it allows me to everything I need, and with upgrade options it is perfect for businesses with the real advantage of been able to collaborate with your colleagues anywhere in the world. It is worth a try, signing up is free for the free account here http://projects.zoho.com/jsp/home.jsp, you can even sign in as a demo user so you don’t even have to sign up to test drive it.

 

Simon North, 26th February 2007