Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security 2012

Trend Micro’s Titanium Maximum Security 2012 does a lot more than just protect your system against malware.

Running an anti-malware application is vital, but it’s not your last line of defense when it comes to protecting your PC. Full-featured security suites, such as Trend Micro’s Titanium Maximum Security 2012 ($79.99; www.trendmicro.com), provides all the tools you need to secure your PC, lock down your wireless network, protect mobile devices, make your online shopping sessions safer, scour downloads, inoculate your Web browser, and more.

As a security suite, Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security includes an anti-malware component that protects your system from viruses and spyware, so there’s no need for a redundant program such as Microsoft Security Essentials.

Trend Micro’s offering also protects your system from spam, includes a fake antivirus program removal tool, provides identity theft protection, secures your social networking profiles, and lets you remotely lock sensitive files if your computer is ever stolen.

The new System Tuner automatically clears out unnecessary browser histories, cookies, temporary files, registries, and the start-up manager to make sure your system stays fast and responsive for a good long while.

HP Envy 110 Printer Review

When you have been doing product reviews for a while, you develop the idea that you have things more or less pegged. See, surprises do come along from time to time, but for the most part the changes that one sees while doing this job are the kind of things that evolve from previous ideas.

This is particularly applicable in terms of design. It seems that people like to stick to what they know, more or less, when it comes the aesthetics. One of the companies we thought we had pegged was HP, whose printers always look more or less like a variation of a strong theme running through the product line. Oh, boy, were we in for a surprise when we opened the HP Envy 110 box.

Where HP generally produce printers that are fairly tall, a bit boxy and almost always black or grey, the Envy is the exact opposite: low, sleek, curvaceous and light, finished in creams and whites. It is, as far as modern printers go, visually striking. If you are of the opinion that this one is almost directly aimed at the Apple crowd, you’re probably right. It looks like it would fit into an Apple setup beautifully. Of course, that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t look great next to a PC either... after all, IBM derivative users aren’t snobs; as long as the product works, looks aren’t everything. Different strokes...

Aside from a striking appearance, the Envy 110 is a dependable printer, offering the kind of performance one would expect from an HP device. It offers printing, faxing, scanning and copying capabilities, as well as wireless connectivity and ePrint facilities. It uses a two cartridge system, which is not ideal, with a delivery of around 200 pages from a standard black and 160 pages from a standard colour cartridge.

The unusual build of the printer means that it might surprise you when operating. Prints, for example, are delivered via a port just below the scanner lid, and the interior of the device can only be accessed by lifting the entire scanner bed. No train smash... it just takes a little getting used to. Controlling the device takes place by way of a touch screen built into the printer’s front panel. This panel can be tilted for maximum convenience, too.

In the end, choosing the Envy 110 over another printer will really come down to whether you want to take advantage of its aesthetic. Simply put, it performs almost exactly like any other HP printer. It is a bit smaller, too, offering a more compact solution to some of the other models, and its online connectivity does bring some fun and funky applications to the table. But while things like that and the integrated card reader are great, they are not essential. So, in short, once again, it comes down to looks. If you like what you see, then it is the right printer for you.

Verdict:

With performance similar to any other HP printer, the Envy is really all about its unique appearance.

PROS:

• Looks great

• Nice size

• Good performance

CONS:

• All about the Looks

TECH SPECS:

• Two cartridge system

• Printer

• Scanner

• Copier

• Fax

• Touch screen

Manufacturer: HP

Distributor: HP

Online: www.hp.com

Who says violent games can’t redeem themselves? Well...

If violent games encourage real world atrocities, why am I not making handbrake turns into old grannies, wheel spinning in their chest cavities only to shoot forward and send a cop splattered across my windscreen? Well, for one, the damage to my car would be catastrophic. I do not know what the Eagle, Hawk and other vehicles from Carmageddon are made of, but it ain’t from Kansas. And being able to repair damage on the fly - that is just pretty sweet.

Those sucking off the teat of nostalgia might often muse how things aren’t made like they used to. But there is no sentimentalism when declaring as much about Carmageddon. With the exception of its two sequels nobody has ever made a game like this road rage simulator - before or since. I recall that even the developers, writing in the CD booklet, refused to dedicate the game to their friends and family. They felt the game was just too disgusting. It’s a tongue-in-cheek commentary - I’m sure they were very happy to show people this gem. But Carma was special. Set in a presumably post-apocalyptic future (a theme the series took on from the second game onwards), you take part in street races, tearing around corners and trying to win. Typically arcade, a series of checkpoints made sure you stayed on the straight and narrow. Except, thanks to one of gaming’s first sandbox worlds, you didn’t need to. The only real loss condition was to run out of time.

How did one get time? Ram into your opponents and mow down pedestrians. To win you have to complete all the checkpoints, destroy all the other racers or take out all the pedestrians (which is pretty much impossible). Such actions also gain you cash, used to buy one of the three upgrades available. Depth is not Carmageddon’s strong suit: the upgrades are shallow, the driving mechanics infantile and the track designs pretty counter-intuitive (racing tracks, that is, not the fantastic Fear Factory soundtrack). The AI is retarded and forget the other racers catching up to you - they are sometimes just randomly transported to be somewhere nearby.

None of that is bad, since Carma is not out to endear you with racing. Insanity is the order of the day here - plowing into people, bouncing off walls, electrocuting the hell out of athletes on the football pitch... This is not a serious game: low-brow wordplay offer level names like ‘I Scream In the Sun’ and point-enhancing actions like the ‘Cunning Stunt Bonus’. Yes, you read right (and reread if you didn’t). Other bonuses include Piledriver (ram something into a wall) and my favourite, the “Nice Shot, Sir”, where you send an object flying into a pedestrian.

Carmageddon was insane fun in multiplayer (on the defunct IPX protocol) and ought to make a reappearance on Live and Steam. But maybe it isn’t possible to return to this kind of game, forged in the same era as when Doom and the original Grand Theft Autos were sowing even more insanity. God, I miss gaming in the Nineties. They really don’t make them like they used to. Suckle.