Utility Book/CD Reviews by Sue McAfee Anti-Virus for Beginners - Author Brian Howard Abacus book / CD-ROM œ18.99 As long as there are sad people about with nothing better to do with their time than create computer viruses, we will need virus checkers and killers for our computer systems. No matter how careful you are, as soon as you insert a floppy disk or CD, or download a file from a BBS or the Internet, you are laying yourself open to potential infection. Forewarned is forearmed, and it's as well to have an anti-virus program on your PC that will alert you if the need arises. There are several well-known anti-virus systems about and one of the first that I came across when I bought my first PC was produced by McAfee (originally released in 1989) which is distributed as shareware. This book, and its accompanying CD, are aimed at those without any real knowledge of viruses; in fact the cover is emblazoned with the magic words "no experience required". The CD contains an evaluation (ie unregistered) version of McAfee Anti-Virus, plus WinZip 6.2, EZ Download and Adobe's Acrobat Reader which is needed to read two PDF files on the CD. WinZip is an excellent program for unarchiving compressed files and can be configured to link to virus protection software. EZ Download makes Internet and WWW file downloading much easier, even installing programs automatically on download if you choose - you can also link a web-enabled scanner to it to stop any infection before it hits your system. Han-dy! Remember you are required to register shareware if you use the programs after their evaluation period (usually 30 days). The book looks in moderate detail at viruses. What is a virus? How does it work? How does my system catch one? How do I get rid of one? All these topics and more are covered in its 160-odd pages. Viruses can attack boot sectors of a floppy disk, or attach themselves to executable files or macro data files such as those used by Word or Excel. Once in your system, they need to be detected. In some cases, this infection is obvious as, for example, a smiley face flashes on your screen, letters tumble from an open word processor document to lie in a heap at the bottom of the screen, or you're told that your PC is "alive". Others are more subtle and dangerous. You may notice a drop in speed when a program is run, strange system crashes or unclear error messages. Suggestions are given to protect your system against infection, whether using disks or CDs, or downloading files from the Internet. The book also gives ideas for preventing infection specifically from boot sector, program file or macro viruses. These suggestions are simple, sensible and easily carried out. But since the aim of most virus programmers is to sneak onto your PC without detection, you'll need a method of getting rid of them too. The benefits of a start-up disk are explained and, of course, the workings of anti-virus software to detect, protect and disinfect your PC. From Chapter 4, not surprisingly, the book becomes very orientated towards the McAfee Anti-Virus software. Topics covered include its installation, use and features specific to Windows 3.1x and 95. VirusScan detects over 96% of known viruses - currently there are more than 6500 of them. VShield looks out for viruses as you insert disks and run programs whereas Scan is deliberately run to check your system and remove any viruses it finds, while Validate ensures any VirusScan updates are genuine and unaltered. Scan results can be logged and saved, and the different parts of the program can be tailored to your own needs eg how you want to target a scan, how to be notified of virus detection, memory options and so forth. Chapter 7 looks in detail at some of the better-known viruses, and those of which it is worth being aware such as Coup2052, Dark Avenger, Alameda, Michelangelo, Form (responsible for over 17% of reported world-wide infections) and Alien. It also mentions hoax viruses such as those which are purported to be passed by email (as opposed to attachments) and ones which were designed as pranks but caused panic (eg the Ghost "virus"). The final two chapters contain a FAQ and glossary of terms. This is an informative book which will make you very aware of the power of viruses and the importance of anti-virus software. McAfee is certainly an efficient and easy program to use. Some viruses are harmless, causing no more than minor annoyance as they display a message or graphic on your screen; others will show no remorse as they casually trash your hard drive. Back-ups are one way of insuring your data, but to be fully protected, you NEED anti-virus software. Don't learn the hard way! ------------------------------------------------------------------ Adobe Photoshop Classroom in a Book - Authored by the staff of Adobe Adobe Press (includes CD for Mac and Windows) RRP œ41.50 This is described as "the official training workbook developed by the staff of Adobe". All I can say is, who better!? It comes complete with a CD to run on the Mac or through Windows and is aimed at anyone who wants to learn about Photoshop 4.0, whether a new user who wants to know the basics, or a more experienced user who would like to learn advanced techniques. Needless to say, you will also need Photoshop! The book, which contains over 270 pages, consists of a series of lessons, each covering a different aspect of Photoshop. There are 13 lessons in all and 4 associated projects (labelled A through D). The first lesson covers the Photoshop Work Area (opening files, working with palettes, viewing and scrolling images etc), the second deals with Image Basics (vector and raster images, resolution and so on). By later lessons, the topics are much more advanced, such as colour separation, Web images, image correction and pen tool techniques. Each lesson is very clearly laid out with much use of screenshots and graphics (some in colour), and ends with a review of what's been covered in the form of a series of questions. If you can answer these, you'll know that the information has sunk in. The projects will show you how to, for example, create a CD cover (eg use the info palette to measure a selection, use the marquee tool to make selections, apply colour effects). In each case you will be building on techniques learned in previous chapters and be shown some new ones. The other projects cover special effects, photo retouching and creating duotones. Outside the projects, during the lessons, you'll be entertained while testing a wide range of techniques from start to finish, learning about the many features of Photoshop and usually working on one particular image with an end result in mind. Let me tell you briefly about just one lesson, Lesson 7. This covers painting and editing existing artwork. The original drawing is line art of a coyote and cactus against a desert background. During the course of the lesson you will learn how to use the paintbrush, airbrush and line tools, change brush opacity, switch from foreground to background colours, paint a defined selection, use layers, sample colours, create gradients, fade paint, use watercolour effects, use custom brushes and even make your own brush. These, in turn, lead on to minor topics - brush spacing, using the colour picker and swatches, and smudging colours. The lesson took maybe an hour to complete and I was very pleased with the final result. The disk doesn't need to be installed on the PC. All you need to do is make a subdirectory and copy the Lessons folder into it. You then run Photoshop and load files from the folder as needed. If you are short of disk space (the full folder takes 19 meg) you can just copy over the lesson you are currently using. The best way to learn is to "do" and this type of book and CD combination is ideal for the purpose. Adobe Photoshop is a very powerful program but I wouldn't have realised exactly HOW powerful it was without this package. @~These books are available through Computer Manuals who provided @~review copies. They can be contacted on 0121 706 6000 or at @~http://www.compman.co.uk - o -