First Impressions (click image to enlarge)

Much more aesthetically pleasing than previous versions of the program. Rather than looking its usual dated and cluttered self, IE9 has taken a huge leap into the 21st century having previously drastically needing an injection of botox and a tummy tuck. This has lead to a cool, calm, simplistic finish which appears to be much more user friendly. The overall speed of the web browser also seems considerably improved.

Want to read the rest of this post? Head over to Brandstar.co.uk

PowerPoint and Publisher again are commonly used pieces of software but it is rare that the ‘typical’ home user requires them for their general computer usage.  Whereas Access is a far more specialist application for those who need to create/manage a database system.

Office 2010 is set to be released in June (2010).  Many companies are doing a deal whereby you purchase Office 2007 and can download 2010 for free when it comes out so have a look around on the internet for such deals! For example…Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Student from Amazon (PC)

Free features include rotate, crop, flip, re-size, exposure options (including exposure, contrast, highlight, shadow and brightness adjustments), colour options (including saturation and temperature adjustments), sharpening options (including sharpness, radius and strength options) and red-eye adjustments for humans and animals.  All you need to do is register with the site and then you’re ready to start editing!

If you want to use more features you can sign up to their premium package from just $2.08 (£1.30 at time of writing).

A feature explained…

Rotate

1. Select rotate from the features panel (click image to enlarge)
   
2. You can then press left or right to rotate the image anti-clockwise or clockwise respectively (click image to enlarge)
   
3. The image can also be angled by moving the ‘Straighten’ slider adjustment (click image to enlarge)
   
4. Finally, the image can be ‘flipped’ by clicking either of the two buttons to the right of ‘flip’ (click image to enlarge)
   

Want to find out more? Check out picnik.com

Wireless Networks – In Vista I always found the connect to a network icon down by the clock a bit annoying, sometimes it would bring things straight up, other times it wouldn’t.  In Windows 7 you click it and immediately get a list of available networks along with the one you may be connected to.  From here you can easily connect to another one.  Nothing revolutionary, just something that worked made to work better!

Icons – Again this nice and simple touch is related to the task bar, the little icons that appear you install so many applications these days are now grouped in one area.  All you have to do to view them is click the arrow and a box appears with them in, see the image on the right to see what I mean.

Tile Windows – If you’re anything like me then you will often want to have two windows open at one time and be able to see some or all of them.  Commonly I use this for transferring files from one folder to another.  Arranging the windows like shown in the picture below can take time and if you are not used to using the mouse to do this it could be a fiddly process.  Now all you do is drag the windows to the left and then the right respectively and they align themselves as shown in that picture..nice and easy!

And on a similar note, if you drag a window that is not fully maximised to the top of the screen and let go…it maximises it!

Windows 7 really has been designed to make mundane tasks so much easier, it’s great!

See Also:

Windows 7 Beta – First Glance

• Buzzword
• Share
• ConnectNow
• Create PDF
• My Files

To use the website’s services you need to Create an Acrobat Account which is completely free!  To do this just go to the Acrobat Website then select the services you would like to use then click ‘Begin’ and then select ‘Sign Up’.

Buzzword:

Buzzword is in my opinion brilliant!  It is a web based word processor.  You may now be thinking “but I bet it has like none of the features that Word etc has”, but you are wrong!  All the features you could possibly want are there!  E.G. Spell Checker, Table, Picture, Fonts, Colours, Paragraph Align, Spacing, Indent, Check List, Images etc.  You can even upload documents from programs such as Microsoft Word.

Buzzword saves your work whilst you are working so your work is always kept safe and secure.  Another cool thing about it is that all the documents are saved to Acrobat servers so it can almost be used as a back up tool.  This will help your files stay safe from any viruses.  Also you can log on to the site from anywhere and view your documents so there is no need to use a USB Stick etc.  You also have the option to share your Buzzword files with the Share application.  Click to find out more about Buzzword!

Share:

Share allows you to share files with friends on the Acrobat Network.  You can either upload your own files or use your files from the Buzzword and PDF Applications.  To ensure that the receiver knows that you are sharing a file with them you can also send them a notification on the Application.  It’s a great easy way to share files with people all around the world.  Click to find out more about Share!

ConnectNow:

ConnectNow is an application which allows you to Connect with any member and talk to them whether it be through Acrobat.com using either video conferencing, a microphone, a telephone, instant messaging or the white board white board.  ConnectNow could be used for having meetings with colleagues around the world with the ability to use the features previously mentioned as well as being able to host your own meetings, be invited to meetings, share notes, share files, share your computer screen and access the application anywhere assuming you are registered and have an Internet connection.

We tried ConnectNow out in the office and it is a little confusing at first but still a great feature which has loads of potential to become big!  One thing that we did notice was that you occasionally had to download small files which allowed you to use each feature.

ConnectNow is well worth a look, click to find out more about ConnectNow!

Create PDF:

Create PDF is simply a PDF converter.  To use it all you do is upload the file you wish to convert to PDF then click ‘Create PDF’.  Easy Peasy.  You can also convert files which you have created on Buzzword etc just by selecting the file.  However, there are some file formats which you cannot convert, for example; files from Microsoft Office 2007 unless you save the file as a 1997-2003 file.  Click for a list of all the file formats and more on Create PDF.

One thing that is important to remember about Create PDF is that you can only create 5 PDF’s before you must buy the physical software, Acrobat 9, which isn’t cheap.  There are several PDF Software packages which are free to use/download and work perfectly fine.  Two that we can recommend are Primo PDF and Cute PDF.

My Files:

My Files is basically where all your files which you have either uploaded to or created on Acrobat.com are stored.  Its an easy way to store and manage your files and you can ass files from your computer too.  By storing the files online you aren’t taking up as much space on your hard drive.  Click for more info on My Files.

Like the idea of Acrobat.com?  Want to find out more?  If so the Adobe information on Acrobat.com is worth a read!  Also there is a useful video on the site which shows you Acrobat.com in action.

Free Space

• Live Mail/Hotmail provide at this moment in time 5GB of storage space.
• The basic Yahoo! Mail package you receive unlimited storage space!
• Gmail claim that their storage space is always increasing and at time of writing the storage space is around 6.75GB.
• The winner of the ‘Free Space’ award must be Yahoo! Mail simply because the space is unlimited!

Is there a paid for upgrade?

• Gmail provide two upgrades, one that you must pay for (Premier Edition) and the other which is free (Education Edition). The Premier Edition is aimed at Small Businesses and Enterprises. It costs £25 a year.
• Live Mail/Hotmail have no upgrades which is a huge shame.
• Yahoo! Mail have 3 upgrades, Yahoo! Mail Plus, Yahoo! Mail Personal Address and Yahoo! Business Email. Yahoo! Mail Plus is around £10 a year (under £1 per month). Yahoo! Mail Personal Address is around £17.50 per year (under £1.50 per month). Yahoo! Business Email costs just under £5 a month plus a month of set up fee of £12.50.
• I personally haven’t used any of the upgrades because the basic packages are perfectly adequate for me, however from looking at all the details of the packages I think that Gmail provides the best upgrade packages. Therefore Gmail wins the ‘Upgrade’ award!

Features-There are hundreds of features that all of the free packages provide and if I was to write about all of them you’d be here for hours, so click on the following applicable link for each provider to find out more about the features of, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail and Live Mail/Hotmail.

• My favourite feature of Yahoo! Mail is that on the main screen you have tabs for the different folders/messages etc that you have open. Also there is a home tab which has the latest news/sport/entertainment and finance news.
• My favourite feature of Gmail is the fact that you can use so many applications with just one account. It’s worth getting an account just to use the applications!
• And finally my favourite feature of Live Mail/Hotmail is how easy it is to connect with Microsoft Office Outlook.

Easy to use/Stylish interface -

• In my opinion Windows Live Mail/Hotmail has a very easy to use interface and it is quite stylish too! You can change the colour of your account to your own preference.
• Yahoo! Mail is easy to use too and since its recent face lift is far more stylish but you don’t have the option to personalize it like Live Mail/Hotmail.
• I feel that Gmail is easy to use but is in need of a redesign to keep up with the trends as some people judge things on looks and Gmail certainly would not win!
• The winner of the ‘Easy to use/Stylish Interface’ Award is Windows Live Mail/Hotmail!

Is it cluttered with Ad’s? – So often you go into an email account you get annoying.

• Gmail has no adverts at all which is very good.
• Yahoo! Mail has one large advert and two very small adverts, none of them are in the way but they’re still there!
• Live Mail/Hotmail has on very large advert going across the screen which is distracting.
• Therefore Gmail wins the ‘Ad’ Award!

Are there many addresses free? -

• Yahoo! Mail and Gmail have a limited number of addresses left compared to Live Mail/Hotmail.
• Live Mail has recently been released so there are loads of address names still free!
• Live Mail/Hotmail has to win the ‘Addresses Free’ award!

Can you access your mail from your mobile?

• With a Gmail account you can access your mail very easily. You can also access other Google applications, for example: Search, Maps, Picasa, You Tube, Calender and News. If you’re interested visit ‘Google Mobile‘.
• You can get Live Mail/Hotmail on your mobile, however it costs you to send emails on top of your mobile Internet providers charges (£1 for 8 Emails). If you’re interested visit ‘Mobile Hotmail‘. You can also get MSN Messenger on your mobile phone.
• Yahoo! Mail also is available via your mobile. It looks very similar to the web based version which you’re used to. Like Gmail and Live Mail/Hotmail you can also get many applications on the internet too. For example, Messenger, Flickr, News, Sports and Entertainment. For more info visit ‘Yahoo! Mobile‘.
• I think that it is a joint win for Gmail and Yahoo! Mail for the ‘Mobile Access’ award.

In conclusion, it all comes down to personal choice and what you really need. If your computer skills are very limited and need something simple go for Gmail. If you want something stylish and also very simple to use go for Live Mail/Hotmail. If you want an account which is easy to use and you feel in the future you may want to upgrade go for Yahoo! Mail.

If there are anymore areas that you’d like us to compare please let us know!

You can upgrade Yahoo Mail from the basic free version to ‘Yahoo! Mail Plus‘, ‘Yahoo! Business Mail‘ and you can also purchase a package called ‘Yahoo! Mail Personal Address‘.

The Basic Free Yahoo! Mail has many features for example:

• Yahoo! Mail will automatically check for new messages.
• You can drag and drop items into folders which makes organisation easier than ever!
• Access your email on your mobile phone
• Also, recently Yahoo! have developed and integrated a way to send/receive Instant Messages, to friends that are online, straight from your Yahoo! Mail account.
• 10MB Message Size
• 15 Spam Filters
• SpamGuard (Spam Protection)
• There is also a features page which you can visit to see more!

Yahoo! Mail Plus has the features above, plus the following:

• 20MB Message Size instead of 10MB.
• 50 Filters instead of 15.
• SpamGuard Plus(Spam Protection) instead of just Spam Guard
• No account expiration
• However…this all does come at a price! On the website it is down as $19.99 a year which is just under $2.00 per month. This works out at the current exchange rate to be around £10.00 a year which is under £1.00 per month!
• For more info click here

Yahoo! Mail Personal Address basically lets you majorly personalize your email account,

• It includes 5 email addresses
• You can personalize your email address in the format ‘name@your-name.com’.
• The service also has an advanced anti-virus protection.
• To find out more click here.
• All this is for $35 a year which is less than $3 a month! At today’s current exchange rate that works out at around £17.50 a year and less than £1.50 a month!

Finally Yahoo! Business Email has pretty much all of the previously names features and more:

• Award-winning spam and security protection
• Easy-to-use and powerful main interface
• 24/7 Free Customer Support
• For info click here.
• At today’s current exchange rate this will cost you for the basic package just under £5 a month. However you will need to pay a set up fee of around £12.50.

From looking at all the Yahoo! Mail products I have discovered that they provide a package that can suit most people’s needs, however the downside of it all is that some of it comes at a price. It’s just down to the user to decide if they really need all the extras or not, as the basic package is adequate for most people.