Digital Photos For Dummies
Internet Cleanup 4.0
TrackMania

July 21, 2004

Digital Photos For Dummies (**** out of four) combines the best of both worlds for the novice digital photographer: a printed 116-page reference book leading you through the array of terms and options available for a digital camera, and a CD-ROM providing a simple but useful photo editor, organizer and sharing options such as printing, e-mail, Web page creation, scrapbook pages, slide shows and more. The program also includes a wealth of tips and tricks for taking the best pictures.

The printed reference book is written in the casual easy-to-understand ". . .for Dummies" style and covers composition and focusing, lighting, flash, resolution and compression, printing options and more. The book also includes ten ways to improve your digital images, such as "the unexpected angle, choosing the right paper and read the manual" (gasp!). Also included are ten great uses for digital images, such as "putting pictures on name tags, make an old-fashion scrapbook and designing more exciting Web pages."

The CD-ROM installs easily, and the program shows you how to build photo albums by selecting pictures stored on your computer, camera or scanner and how to save the album (you can create as many as you want) for archiving or sharing. Also included is a straight-forward photo editor that you can use to re-size or crop your digital images, correct color or brightness, do red-eye removal and more.

Digital Photos For Dummies is a useful introduction to digital photography, with all the information and tools needed to get you started in the right direction.

Internet Cleanup 4.0 (***) provides several tools to clean up and/or protect a variety of "stuff" accumulated on your computer. The "stuff" can be spyware, cookies, ActiveX controls, caches, history files, plugins, lists and more. Some may be harmless, but others may monitor your computer and your activities on the Internet and send information to whomever requests it.

The program gives you a complete Intelligence Report containing specific items in the categories of cache, cookies, history, ActiveX controls, plug-ins, recent lists, spyware and instant messengers. You select which items you want removed. In many instances you can remove the items to a protected folder in case you need to restore the item later. Unfortunately, the program depends on you to know which items can be safely removed. Many warnings pop up stating you can "break" your computer if you remove items needed for proper operation but there’s no help or guidelines for what can be safely removed and what shouldn’t be removed. For example, on our computer, the program tagged for removal several components of a printing program and a movie editing program.

The NetBlockade feature of the program blocks specific information from being sent over the Internet, such as phone numbers, addresses, banking and credit card info and the like. But you have to enter all this information so the program knows what to block. Likewise you need to specify which sites to permit cookies from, all others would be blocked.

The information provided by the program is interesting, and in the hands of a knowledgeable user can be helpful in removing Internet clutter, removing and blocking spyware and blocking unintended release of personal information.

Build It, Race It

TrackMania (****) gives you the chance build your own race course, as simple or crazy or complex as you want it. Then race the course, alone or multiplayer on your computer, over a LAN or the Internet. Or you can race solo against the clock on a series of pre-made courses or race against computer controlled cars.

In the Solo racing mode there are three variations: Race, in which you race a course against time; Puzzle, in which you are given a challenge to build and race on a race course with a fixed start and finish spots and a fixed number of track pieces; and Survival, in which you race against other cars. Being successful in any of these unlocks other race courses, and gains you coppers to buy additional track pieces for your track construction.

Using the track editor you build your own race course. It’s easy to use once you get the hang of it, and if you have enough coppers you can buy additional track pieces--some pretty wild, such as a spiral. You begin track construction by choosing your environment (snow, desert or forest) and then start laying out the pieces, rotating them as necessary. Some decorative items, such as trees, are also available to add to the interest. Go ahead and test your track. Save it and/or share it with others on the Internet.

Racing is very arcade-like and forgiving. For example, if you go flying off a jump and miss the landing, your car, without damage, rights itself, and you have to drive your way back to the track. Still it’s a lot of fun, especially as you get better and are allowed access to the more complex courses, complete with wild jumps, loops, spirals and more.

The program is rated "E" for everyone, and between the track building and car racing, there is something for everyone. Fun.

From Enlight, Minimum Requirements: Windows 98/2000/Me/XP with Pentium II and 3D graphics card; Recommended Requirements: 900MHz Pentium II 32MB 3D graphics card, $29.99.

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