Labs blog - V3.co.uk

Heads up: IE8 to be pushed out to enterprise users

2009-07-02T11:33:39Z

Microsoft is set to make Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) available as an update rollup for Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) from August 25.

The move means that IT departments using WSUS to control deployment of updates across their network need to be ready ahead of this date.

Microsoft announced the move in a recent posting on its IEBlog site, explaining that organisations which have configured WSUS to auto-approve update rollup packages will have IE8 automatically installed onto all compatible systems unless they take action to forestall this.

IE8 is generally regarded as a great improvement over earlier releases of the browser, offering better security and greater compliance with published web standards. It also comes with a slew of new group policy settings to allow administrators to control settings and behaviour via Active Directory.

However, it is possible that IE8 may prove incompatible with some web-based enterprise applications, or that IT departments may not yet be ready to roll out the new browser.

Microsoft's IEBlog site has instructions for companies that use WSUS, but who wish to have control over when IE8 gets deployed on their network.

IE8 is compatible with Windows XP systems with Service Pack 2, XP Professional x64 Edition, 32bit and 64bit versions of Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008.

Wolfram Alpha Google tool boosts search

2009-06-26T12:28:15Z

A new tool launched today could give Firefox users more options when searching for key items, boosting the likelihood of them finding what they're looking for.

The free Wolfram Alpha Google add-on for Firefox allows users to view search results from both Google and new computational knowledge engine Wolfram Alpha side-by-side.

An icon at the bottom right of the screen allows easy toggling between on and off, and buttons labeled 'Original' and 'Wolfram|Alpha' near the top-right of the search page allow users to switch between a Google-only or combined view. Users can also open Wolfram Alpha results in a new tab if they wish.

However, Wolfram Alpha does not compare favourably with Google, at least in the speed stakes. Its results load an average of five to six full seconds slower than Google when viewed side-by-side, which can be frustrating for the user.

It is also came up blank when asked the fairly straightforward question, "what is the tallest building in London".

The tool is more useful at answering mathematical questions however, and users could find it serves as a useful tool when used in combination with Google, with this add-on, rather than to replace it.

Google readies Flipper

2009-06-19T11:32:46Z

According to various sources Google is readying a new look for its News service, offering a visual look at the headlines.

Screenshots surfacing on the web show an alternative display on the Google News pages displaying the news much like it does images, for example screenshots show thumbnail versions of the news pages in question rather than a list of links and short description.

A search for 'Flipper' on the Google Labs pages returns no results, however screenshots of the service, as well as hints as to what it hopes to achieve, have appeared on the internet suggesting that a beta release cannot be far behind.

The name Flipper can be traced back to the idea that the user is able to 'flip' through news, a method of selecting search options that far exceeds the capabilities of currently available filters. Sadly it has nothing to do with dolphins.

As a plus this means that you will be able to search for tuna-based products in an entirely guilt-free manner.

Plantronics 995 wireless headset

2009-06-12T16:01:31Z

Plantronics has a long history of making good quality headsets primarily for office users, so it was with some pleasure that I was looking forward to the latest addition to the stable, the .Audio 995 wireless headset.

The package includes a plug-and-play wireless USB connector that operates at 2.4GHz - in other words it's not Bluetooth - so while this provides better range and reception, those hoping to avoid using another USB port will need to look elsewhere.

The headset is quite bulky, compared to some other wired headsets out there, but the 995 is quite light and does have a comfortable padded headband and swivel-mounted ear cushions covering 40mm speakers, so I had no discomfort wearing them for several hours at a time.

The microphone boom is adjustable, both telescoping a little as well as bendable, and it folds up nicely out of the way when not in use. As an added bonus the mike automatically mutes when stowed, so you don't have to worry about manually muting and un-muting during a call or if you use speech recognition software. I tried it out with Skype and Dragon Naturally Speaking and found the microphone works very well in both video calls and for dictation.

The speakers are good, but not an audiophile's dream, in particular heavy bass feels a little washed out, but the range is quite impressive and should be fine for the majority of users. Most importantly, voices are crisp and clear so using the 995 for VoIP calls works very nicely.

I was also impressed with the reception on the 995 headset. Plantronics reckons the headphones have a range of 40 feet from the transceiver, but this seems to require that the intervening space is unobstructed as I found the signal started getting a bit erratic after about 30 feet, although that was with walls in the way. Judging by my experience, unless you're hoping to be able to wander around your entire house or office with these on, you should be fine.

Streaming music constantly I got a little over six hours of life from a single charge, slightly less than the seven hours touted by Plantronics, but still more than enough to ensure that you don't have to lose the wireless benefits by constantly having to charge them. Another nice feature is that the headset charges over mini-USB rather than some proprietary connector.

The 995 also includes some handy media controls on the side of the headset making it easy to control the volume as well as pause, play and skip music tracks, but it takes a little bit of practice to remember which button does what by feel alone. I found this feature works in Windows Media Player, iTunes and WinAmp. According to Plantronics it should work for most media players, although some will require the application to be selected rather than just running in the background.

Possibly my biggest gripe with the headset is that unplugging the USB connector doesn't automatically restore sound to the speakers, meaning you have to manually enter the speaker settings and reset them every time you want to switch back and forth between speakers and headphones.

At a retail price of around £80, the Plantronics .audio 995 wireless headset is not exactly cheap, but if you find yourself constantly tangling yourself up in your headset or like to pace about while dictating to your PC or listening to music (and don't want to disturb those around you) I reckon the 995 is a worthwhile investment.

Google Squared gives all the wrong answers

2009-06-05T15:50:05Z

Generally people search to find the right answers or to deepen their knowledge on a subject. Not on Google Squared.

People using the new search tool should be prepared to be misinformed. Google should be prepared for a few complaints.

Google Squared was launched on Thursday with the product's manager, Alex Komoroske, admitting the technology "is by no means perfect", which some testing the tool would say is an understatement. So far the technology looks like it will cause users more trouble than its worth.

Google Squared is designed to allow users to research a subject without visiting many different web sites. Search results are delivered in a table, which users can then compare side by side.

However, so far the tool has pronounced both Prince William and Prince Charles dead.

A search for 'UK national papers' lists the Guardian as a tabloid while the Times maintains its status as a broadsheet. The Express is apparently a mix of student books, audio tapes and CDs. The Metro is a movie.

A search for 'Social Network' lists the MySpace owner as Facebook Will Win for Now while Facebook is owned by mario. Luckily Google knows that it owns YouTube and the tool correctly lists Flickr as Yahoo's.

A search for Good Camera Phones prices the Motorola Razr V3 at a bargain price of $3.45.

Symbian demos multi-core handset

2009-06-04T17:03:19Z

The Symbian Foundation has revealed it now has the Symbian OS running in a test symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) configuration on an evaluation handset.

In a post on the Symbian Foundation blog, executive director Lee Williams wrote that "a team at ST-Ericsson, and ARM have the operating system now running on a highly capable SMP configuration."

The test platform is apparently a reference smart phone built around a ST-Ericsson U8500 chip, one of the first silicon implementations of ARM's Cortex-A9 MPCore, a multi-core version of the ARM architecture found in almost all today's smartphones.

Williams said that multi-core handsets can accommodate features such as high-definition video and hardware accelerated 3D Graphics supporting OpenGL.

Symbian said it intended to support the Cortex-A9 MPCore architecture when it was announced in 2007, but that multiple core processing is only likely to be used when required, to preserve battery life on handsets.

Hands on: Microsoft Bing versus Google search

2009-06-01T16:24:31Z

Microsoft's latest search innovation has been switched on in the UK today and I've been having a play around with Bing to see if it does what is promised.

When it finally unveiled Bing last week - code-named Kumo - Microsoft described the online application as a "decision engine", rather than search engine, which has been developed to help users "make faster, more informed decisions". The search tool will initially focus on four key vertical areas, according to Microsoft: shopping online, travel arrangements, medical information and a local business search.

I tested each of these four areas, all set to only look at pages from the UK.

I ran a search for 'flights to crete' to test the travel component and found the results were very similar to those returned by Google. I liked the information boxes that popped up alongside the Bing results to give extra detail on each of the sites being linked to.

However, Google scored an extra point in the sponsored links section, where its top three results were Thomas Cook, EasyJet and Flydeals, all sites I'm familiar with. Bing's top three sponsored links were for Flydeals, Directline Holidays and an aggregator site called iReviewed, which includes links to lots of other travel web sites, surely a service Bing is supposed to be offering anyway? EasyJet doesn't appear anywhere on the first page of results, even though it's one of the most competitive airlines for direct flights between London and Crete.

To test the medical information section, I ran a search for 'root canal' as it's an area close to my heart at present as unfortunately I have to go for dental treatment soon.

Again I found the Bing pop-up information boxes really helpful, giving a much better idea of what the site will contain rather than having to click through to each search result. But Google had a better mix of results overall.

Bing's results were a series of standard web site links, with Cosmetic Dentistry Guide as the top result, and the top sponsored link was a dental and healthcare insurance provider. On Google, the top result was the British Dental Health Foundation, while the top sponsored link was for an emergency dentist, again just edging Microsoft on the relevance and usefulness of the results. And the fourth result on the Google front page was for root canal images, with four pictures helpfully displaying exactly what treatment involves, not for the squeamish like me but a useful feature of search results.

Carrying on the dental theme, I ran a search for 'dentist e11' to test out the local business search feature. In this category, Google beat Microsoft hands down. Clicking the link at the top of the Bing search results for 'top local listings for dentist near E11' took me through to a separate page full of links to dentists located in either the E1 or EC2M areas of London, miles away from me. The main page of search results included links to dentists in other areas of East London, and a site for salaried dentists, while the sponsored links had also got mixed up with the number of '1's in my postcode and were instead focused on the E111 European health insurance programme.

Google fared much better, listing several dentists all within walking distance of my house right at the top of the page, along with their phone numbers and a map showing their location.

Microsoft was also shown up by Google in its online shopping provisions. I ran a search across both search engines for 'Netbooks'. Although I thought Bing, which is powered by the Ciao shopping comparison tool Microsoft acquired last year, returned a better mix of results with netbooks from a wider range of vendors on display on the first page, the presentation was a real letdown.

The top section of the page contained a lot of white space and a bare-looking list of sponsored links, with many of the results missing either pictures or any pricing information, instead providing an 'Offers by Ebay' link. In terms of price comparison functionality, the Asus EEE PC 901 had the biggest number of retailers selling the same product. According to the results front page, the netbook was available at nine online stores with prices ranging from an incredibly cheap £39.13 through to a more realistic-sounding £335.12.

However, when I clicked on the 'Compare prices' button, it turned out several of the results were duplicated and there were only six different retailers in the list. Meanwhile, the bargain £39.13 price tag was actually for a laptop battery and the most expensive product was only £272.99 not £335.12 as listed on the front page.

Google returned a smaller selection of netbooks and vendors on its first page of results, but it kept the sponsored links to the right-hand side of the results. Presentation was much cleaner, and Google included pricing details and an image for each result.

So while Microsoft has made a big song and dance of the fact that Bing isn't just any old search engine and has moved to distance itself from Google et al, the decision to brand Bing as a 'decision engine' seems to have backfired on the firm. My early tests instead serve to highlight how Google has moved on from being a provider of links to a provider of relevant, location-based, contextual information, and how Bing appears to sit much more comfortably under the traditional definition of a search engine. I'm sure Microsoft would be quick to point out this is only a beta version, but it faces a steep climb to reach Google's level, let alone surpass its rival.

Photos: Packard Bell's new line-up

2009-05-27T16:17:46Z

Here are some images of the new PCs on show by Packard Bell at its big re-launch event today. These were snapped by camera phone, so apologies for the blurry quality of some of the images.

First up are the new netbooks, with two examples of the dot s model with a 10.6in display nearest to the camera, while the third is the dot m with a larger 11.6in screen.

The dot s is available in both black and red colour schemes, the latter shown in the second shot.

White is also a colour that Packard Bell is keen on, with a nod to Apple's influential MacBook models. This shot shows one of the new EasyNote models, while the shot alongside shows three more on display at the event.

This rather indistinct shot of a desktop shows Packard Bell's compact iMedia chassis design, which brings out many of the ports users will need to access to the top front of the case. There is also a recess on top to hold external drives, as you can see.

The final image is of Packard Bell's iPower system aimed at gamers.

These systems will be available from June in retail outlets only.

Virgin.com goes social with new site

2009-05-15T08:00:00Z

Virgin has been showing off its new Virgin.com web site. The firm has jumped firmly on the social media bandwagon with a host of new functionality designed to create a more two way relationship between the firm and its customers, and facilitate customer-to-customer dialogue.

At the Thinking Digital Conference in Gateshead, Virgin's head of online marketing, Alex Hunter, told attendees all about it. Although, sadly, we did not get the chance to play around with the site first hand, the emphasis appears to be very firmly on creating "a content and community platform" to put power back in the hands of the customers. Now the idea of a company allowing its customers to have conversations with itself and its other customers terrifies some firms and is usually botched by others, so it will be interesting to see the finished result from Virgin when it launches in a few weeks.

But from what we saw, they're ticking most social media boxes fairly reasonably. There are capabilities for users to upload content, there is a social currency engine, which awards users points according to their level of participation on the site (which presumably will be redeemable for goodies), and there is a recommendations engine, which calculates which pages people are saying good things about and makes appropriate suggestions.

Virgin is also extending the platform via Facebook Connect, allowing users to send information in real-time back to their Facebook profiles, and it is also talking to the Open ID guys. But the site will definitely seek to "augment not replace" users' favourite social networking sites, said Hunter. Interestingly, one semi-disgruntled spectator asked Virgin whether it was a good idea to make the site so obviously yoof-oriented.

"When you give people the opportunity to interact with a brand they will take it," said Hunter. We shall see.

Working with PDF the easy way

2009-05-14T15:07:38Z

There are numerous alternatives to Acrobat for creating files in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF), but most of these tend to focus on simply converting a file to PDF from some other format, such as Microsoft Word.

What happens if you're not an expert, but you want to change something inside a PDF or add a page from a separate document?

I've been trying out gDoc Fusion, a recently launched tool that is designed with this in mind.

The user interface presents just four main options, selected by dragging a Word, Excel, PS, PDF or PowerPoint document onto them.

Drag the file to Quick Convert, and you can change it to PDF, XPS or Word format. Drag it to Page View, and you can change the text by highlighting it and typing replacement text into a dialog box, then saving it to any of the formats just listed.

Document View lets you open several documents at once and simply drag-and-drop pages to re-order them or insert them from one document into another. Yet again, you can save the final result as PDF, XPS or a Word document.

The final option is Flick View, designed to let you quickly skim through a file visually to find the information you are looking for.

As usual, it also puts an option on the menu bar of applications such as Word to let you save the file you're working on as PDF or XPS as well.

While gDoc Fusion isn't free, it does seem to make creating PDF documents much easier than getting to grips with Acrobat.

Hands on: Using Windows XP Mode in Windows 7

2009-05-06T14:28:48Z

The Windows XP Mode that Microsoft is planning for Windows 7 does allow you to access applications straight from the Start menu as promised, and it also enables you to save files straight to the hard drive of the Windows 7 host, I can confirm.

However, in my tests at least, performance was not entirely impressive, with a distinct lag between keys being pressed and the application inside the virtual machine responding.

Windows XP Mode, for those that don't know, is a tool designed to help users moving to Windows 7 if they have any compatibility issues with applications they are currently running.

Still currently in beta, it sets up a virtual Windows XP environment using Microsoft's Virtual PC software.

Users can then install applications inside the virtual machine, which will be available from the Start menu of Windows 7 afterwards.

The first hurdle a prospective user faces is hardware requirements. Not only does Windows XP Mode require at least 1.25GB of memory (2GB preferred), but it will only run on systems with hardware acceleration for virtualisation. This means you must have an Intel processor with VT-x extensions or AMD processor with AMD-V technology. These must also be enabled in the system's Bios firmware.

I tested Windows XP Mode on a Lenovo ThinkPad X300, which was already being used as a testbed for the Windows 7 Beta. This has a Core 2 Duo L7100 processor that supports Intel's VT-x, but I had to enable this in the Bios.

After installing the new Windows 7 Release Candidate, I downloaded and installed the Windows XP Mode installer, which turned out to be about 445MB in size. Users can also now download it here.

After installation, a new Virtual PC folder appeared in the Start menu, but clicking on the 'Virtual Windows XP' option revealed that Virtual PC itself had yet to be installed. Fortunately, this was automatically downloaded, and a short while later I was fixed up with a pre-configured XP environment.

At this stage, the virtual machine has no applications other than those that come with Windows XP. To install applications, you need to fire up the virtual machine in its normal mode, where the XP screen appears as a window on the Windows 7 desktop (see screenshot).

As you can see, the XP machine automatically maps to the drives available on the Windows 7 machine, allowing you to install software by DVD or hard disk, or by downloading from the Internet.

For test purposes, I downloaded and installed the latest version of the OpenOffice.org suite in my virtual machine, then closed it down. As you can see from the screenshot alongside, the applications now appear in a sub menu on the Windows 7 Start menu.

Clicking an application name starts the virtual machine in the background, but all you will see is the application itself, as if it was running natively on Windows 7. The giveaway is that the application window retains the look and feel of XP, as you can see in the final screenshot below.

The good part about Windows XP Mode is that you can create a document, as I did in OpenOffice Writer, and save it to the My Documents folder on the Windows 7 machine along with all my other files.

The downside is the virtual machine's performance. I found that as I typed text into Writer, nothing would happen for several seconds, whereupon all the characters I had typed suddenly splurged across the screen in one go. This is quite off-putting, and I would hope that Microsoft will address this before the final release is made available.

If you have an application that just won't run under Windows 7, then this solution will get you by, although I personally have found very few applications that don't work with the new platform. However, it remains to be seen whether end users will be satisfied with this. Waiting for an updated version of your application is still likely to be the best option.

Windows XP Mode - useful or not?

2009-04-30T14:15:41Z

Will the Windows XP Mode compatibility tool Microsoft plans to provide for Windows 7 prove a boon to those worried about application compatibility, or is it just a half-hearted kludge to try and convince XP die-hards to upgrade, as some observers believe?

For those not up to speed, Windows XP Mode will be a tool that users can download for Windows 7 that basically provides a pre-configured instance of XP inside a virtual machine. Any software not compatible with Windows 7 can instead be run in this.

A lot will depend upon how XP Mode is implemented, but getting a straight answer from Microsoft is not always an easy matter, as it turns out in this case.

When I met with the company, one question I wanted to know is where document files ended up if you hit the save button in an application running in XP Mode. Would it just go onto the hard drive inside the virtual machine, or has Microsoft been clever and allowed XP Mode applications to map to folders on the host machine?

This is something that Parallels has already implemented in its Desktop for Mac product, which lets Mac users run Windows applications. It means that users don't have to worry about moving documents into the virtual machine in order to edit them with Windows applications.

Has Microsoft done the same with XP Mode? Here is the response I finally got from the company;

"Windows XP Mode is the combination of two features. The first part is a pre-packaged virtual Windows XP environment. The second is Windows Virtual PC, which is used to run the virtual Windows XP environment. Customers can install their applications into Windows XP Mode using typical installation processes such as downloading from the Web or using the product CD. Once installed, the applications are automatically available on the Windows 7 Start Menu and can be launched just like any Windows 7 program. Optionally, these Windows XP applications can be pinned to the Windows 7 Task Bar and launched using just a single click from the Windows 7 desktop."

Like a response during Prime Minister's Question Time in Parliament, this carefully avoids addressing the issue in hand. However, other sources on the web seem to suggest that Microsoft hasn't gone this far, meaning that XP Mode is likely to have a separate file system from the host system. If so, this would be a shame and renders it much less useful than it otherwise would be as a compatibility tool.

I hope to soon have the answer - either by clarification from Microsoft, or by testing the beta of Windows XP Mode and finding out for myself.

Intel: Netbooks not for business

2009-04-24T15:38:22Z

Intel executives started a lively debate on netbooks during a briefing for press and analysts this week.

Firstly, EMEA vice president Gordon Graylish stated that netbooks - the mini laptops popularised by Asus with its Eee PC range - have not dented sales of other types of laptops, and are in fact additional sales making up a new sector of the market.

This might come as a surprise to readers who have seen various headlines recently proclaiming that netbooks are "cannibalising" or "gouging" sales of more traditional laptop designs.

In Intel's view, netbooks are a new category of device used for simple tasks such as web browsing and messaging, rather than running any serious applications. This was despite the fact that several of the journalists covering the event were in fact using netbooks.

The subject of netbooks caused an esteemed colleague of mine to treat one of the Intel executives to a rant. The sudden rise of netbooks took the chipmaker by surprise, he opined, because Intel spends too much time listening to executives in large corporations and so it had been blind to the demand elsewhere for low-cost, lightweight laptops.

Rob Sheppard, Intel's Business Client marketing manager, said that netbooks are not suitable for business use because they have no support for Intel's vPro technology, are not validated for operating systems used in business, and are not part of Intel's Stable Image Platform Programme.

These, however, are largely marketing issues. I put it to Sheppard that Intel could build vPro into netbooks if it chose to. His response is too lengthy to be repeated in full, but seemed to boil down to the fact that netbooks do not have vPro because Intel does not regard them as a business platform.

Likewise, netbooks typically have at least 1GB memory and can easily run Windows XP Professional rather than the Home edition of the platform they almost all ship with.

Of course, many business professionals are likely to prefer a laptop with a larger display than the 10in screen of a typical netbook for everyday use, but given the choice between embarking on a business trip with a bulky corporate laptop or a netbook, which would you choose?

Changes coming to Office

2009-04-21T13:35:43Z

The Service Pack 2 (SP2) update for Office 2007 that Microsoft is set to release on 28 April will introduce a number of changes, with the most significant of these affecting file format support.

For customers concerned about file interoperability, SP2 will add support for version 1.1 of the OpenDocument Format (ODF) specifications, enabling users to open and edit word processor, spreadsheet and presentation documents distributed in the latest version of these open standard formats.

However, perhaps more important is the addition of the 'Save As PDF' function in SP2, which means that users no longer have to install this separately in order to output documents as an Acrobat file. This is widely used for distributing documents because it is a cross-platform standard. Microsoft is also adding support for XPS, its own rival for PDF, enabling Office users to output in both these formats.

According to Microsoft, users can also expect to see some performance improvements, such as faster startup of Outlook, improved fidelity when printing and in PDF and XPS documents, and better handling of graphic-heavy documents.

However, SP2 will also include updates to some of the server-based products included in Microsoft's broader Office System. For example, SharePoint Services and Excel Services will be updated to make them compatible with a broader range of web browsers, while the usual slew of bug fixes will address issues such as reliability of large searches in Search Server.

As usual, the number of changes that will be introduced in this update runs to a very long list, and Microsoft said it will have full details when SP2 is available.

Hands on with Easeus Partition Master 3.5

2009-04-17T15:08:50Z

In days gone past, when Windows contained panes of glass and a mouse was furry and ate cheese, hard drive partitions were something you only messed with if you were pretty technical and usually could only be altered by formatting the drive completely and starting again, wiping all the data in the process.

Over time a few tools have arisen to help more easily deal with partitions, Partition Magic being one of the most well known. Another player in this field is Easeus, a data recovery specialist who developed Partition Master.

Currently on version 3.5, the Home Edition is free to download and use; perfect for my requirements.

For some reason many laptop manufacturers split the hard drive into two logical, equal sized partitions when setting up the machine, ideally to try and keep the data and the applications separate. Of course most users don't realise this and especially with the Windows My Documents folder set on the C: Drive, you invariably end up with one partition bursting at the seams and the other emptier than Paris Hilton's head.

This is precisely the situation my dad recently found himself in, and being 'the tech guy' in my family I was asked to sort it out.

Getting up and running with Easeus Partition Master was a simple process of downloading the 8.81MB install file, available on a number of popular download sites, and running through the run-of-the-mill installation process.

Once you fire up the application you are presented with a simple graphical interface showing the status of the various drives and their associated partitions connected to the PC. One thing we couldn't find was any kind of refresh option, so if you make any changes such as copying files around or adding or removing another drive you have to exit and restart the program for the changes to be reflected.

From here you are given a number of different possibilities on a drive and a partition level.

At the top level you can obtain data about the drives and there are options to copy the entire drive or delete all the partitions on a particular hard drive.

On a partition level there are options to Resize or Move, Copy, Create, Delete, Explore, Label or Format the data in that partition. There are also some advanced options to change the drive letter, convert the file system, hide the partition, check it for errors or set it as the active partition. Where appropriate Partition Master allows you to create bootable disks as well, ideal when changing primary hard drives or creating a bootable external disk.

In this particular case, what I wanted to do was essentially merge the two partitions. The best way to do this is to empty the D: Drive of any data, copy it off to the C: Drive or to another source if the that doesn't have enough space, and then delete the D: Drive and resize the C: Drive to take up the entire hard drive space.

Incidentally, when deleting the partition, Partition Master provides the option of destroying the data as well, which wipes the partition sectors as well - while this is probably overkill for many users, this is good for businesses trying to make sure the data is unrecoverable.

One particularly nice feature is that Partition doesn't perform these actions straight away, instead it queues them up and then executes them in a batch process. This allows you to experiment with various options before committing yourself. In my particular case here, it also allowed me to queue up the partition deletion and resize it as a single process, saving time and extra reboots of the PC.

Even with a straightforward and simple interface like Partition Magic, messing about with a hard drive at this level can possibly mean the loss of all the data should something go wrong, so it is advised to back up information when performing these tasks.

These sorts of changes can't be done with Windows running, so once hitting the 'Apply' button, the laptop rebooted and the requested actions got underway.

Deleting the partition took no time at all, but expanding the primary logical drive from 17GB to 35GB took around four minutes to complete the process. Pretty quick in this case, but if you have a very large drive that you're resizing this is probably a good time to go do something else.

Once completed, the machine rebooted itself again and Windows booted perfectly happily, with just a single much larger C: Drive and no D: Drive remaining. After an operation like this I would recommend defragmenting the drive in order to help optimise the new layout and get the data in order.

I only looked at a slice of what Partition Master can do, but this is going to be one of the most common uses of the program, along with doing a full copy of data between drives or partitions for cloning or backup.

For our purposes, Partition Magic worked perfectly with the entire process taking less than an hour. The interface was simple and easy to understand, the graphics gave a good visual impression of the state of the various drives and the associated partitions, and there was plenty of help at hand to explain most of the features.

It would have been great if there was some kind of 'partition merge' option, however even if it could be done it would almost certainly be a very long process as essentially the system would have to incrementally shrink one partition, grow the other one, copy some data between the two, wash, rinse and repeat. Depending on how full both partitions are, this would be not only very complex, but the probability of some or all of the data being lost or corrupted is very high.

The convert option may also prove very useful to some who wish to upgrade from the old FAT32 file system to the more reliable and compatible NTFS.

Our only other real gripe is that the home edition should ideally be a standalone program. Given that the majority of users are going to be in a similar to position where they need it to perform one particular task and then nothing else - rather than having to install it, perform the needed operation and then have to uninstall it, if Easeus made Partition Master able to simply run without having to be installed it would make more sense. This would also allow engineers or 'the tech guy' in the family to keep a copy on a flash drive and use it to easily fix several PCs.

Author: Ian Williams