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DevPlanner is designed to facilitate project management. You can keep track of your project's schedule with the built-in calendar and customize the program by adding your own categories and tasks.

We like the idea of managing our to-do list with DevPlanner. However, it's not user friendly. The interface is somewhat crowded when all of the areas are open at once, and it's not immediately obvious what some of them do. We tried to create new tasks by clicking on the calendar section, but the program wouldn't let us type there. We created a new task item using the drop-down menus but couldn't add it to our calendar. There are Import and Export buttons in the File menu, so presumably it's possible to export parts of this program to PDFs or spreadsheets, but that option was grayed out, and we couldn't get it to work no matter what buttons we pushed. There's a Help file and a tutorial, and users can probably get up and running if they have the time to wade through those, but busy people will be inconvenienced by this software's steep learning curve. A program that is supposed to help users with time management should be more intuitive to use.

This is a 30-day trial version of the program. DevPlanner installs and uninstalls with no problems. This planning software aims to tame your schedule but falls short. Unless you have time to read through the tutorial, it will end up being just another item on your to-do list.

Estimate Master is designed to generate estimates for small businesses based upon information about a company and its services. Enter information about your company and customers and details about the goods or services your company provides, and Estimate Master does the rest. Estimate Master is set up with general contracting companies and other construction and repair companies in mind, but the program can be configured to prepare bids for any type of company that offers a service for its customers.

Estimate Master's interface is easy to navigate. It's organized with tabs so users can easily move back and forth between different sections of the program. There are sections where you can calculate costs for labor and parts, and you can print or export estimates. You can sort estimates by date, description, or estimator. If your company offers multiple services or has a team of estimators, Estimate Master will help you organize your dispersed team. There's a built-in backup tool to help safeguard your data. We thought this program was easy to use and didn't need to consult the instructions before getting started with it, but there's a good tutorial and a Help file that you can access if you need some help.

This is a 30-day trial version of the software. Estimate Master creates a desktop icon upon installation without asking, but installs and uninstalls with no problems. This is a good, versatile program that can help companies large and small save money with shrewd estimates for contracts and bids.

Create diagrams and charts for presentations with Diagram Studio. This program has many of the same capabilities that complicated graphics and engineering programs have, but with an interface that anyone can use. Files created with this application can be saved as JPEGs, PDFs, or HTML documents that you can insert into other programs or share via e-mail or on the Internet.

Diagram Studio is intuitive to use. Anyone familiar with graphics or engineering programs will have no trouble navigating it, but there's a Help file as well as an extensive tutorial for those who need more guidance. The tutorial explains how to use Diagram Studio effectively and efficiently. We created a new document and experimented by inserting shapes and text into it. You can choose from a variety of shapes or you can draw your own. Text is added to your document by inserting a Text Box. There are many fonts from which to choose, and you can change the color and shapes of your text. You can insert objects like pictures and even change the size of each object you drop into the document. The variety of file formats that you have to choose from when saving your document makes it useful for many purposes.

This is an unlimited trial version of the software. Diagram Studio installs easily. It puts an icon on your desktop without asking, but that's a minor annoyance. It uninstalls without leaving anything behind. This is an easy-to-use tool for making attractive diagrams and charts.

Create photo slideshows using Flash technology with Fortop Album Creator. Choose a template, select your photos, and Fortop Album Creator will create a slideshow. You can upload MP3 files for background music, too.

The interface is attractive, with a good variety of templates to choose from. A Help file is there when more assistance is needed. Creating a slideshow is easy, but saving the file is tricky. It's important to select "create loading HTML file" when saving your slideshow. Choosing that option lets you view your slideshow in your computer's browser. Fortop Album Creator's native file is an SWF, a Flash file, and you'll need Flash software to view it. Fortop Album Creator was designed for sharing photos over the Internet, but some photo-sharing sites don't support Flash files. You can also post Fortop Album Creator's slideshows on your own Web site. We created a blank HTML page with Dreamweaver and inserted the SWF file. The code displayed in Dreamweaver's Code View, and the new slideshow worked in our Web browser.

This 30-day trial version of the program is limited to 30 photos per album. A watermark with Fortop Album Creator's logo appears on all photos created with the trial version. Fortop Album Creator installs with no problems, but it leaves a 924KB folder behind when you uninstall it. This is a serviceable program, but users without the appropriate software or graphics knowledge may find it a bit challenging to use.

Sometimes in the workplace it's necessary to copy text or images from one source or another to different formats and destinations, such as HTML and PDF documents. PDFs are versatile, but it's time consuming to edit them when you don't have access to the original documents. Grab Text is a handy utility that lets you "grab" text and images from HTML documents and PDF files. Grab Text will copy text in both Plain Text and Rich Text formats. It can copy large amounts of hypertext from Web pages with few transcription errors.

Grab Text is easy to use, but there's a Help file that opens when you right-click the Grab Text icon in the Quick Launch tray, if you need further instruction. The program works best when opened from your computer's Quick Launch pad. We tried Grab Text on both Web pages and PDFs, and it was able to capture text and images from both types of documents with no problems. Simply open a Web page or PDF file, activate Grab Text, highlight the text and images that you want to copy with Grab Text's cursor, select Copy, and then paste the selected items into a word-processing program. Grab Text does everything else for you.

This is a 21-day trial version of the software. Grab Text is a useful tool, and the ability to capture both images and text makes it doubly handy, especially for users who create documents and presentations from content gathered from the Internet and PDFs.

Spyware Doctor with Antivirus 7 offers users a superb collection of malware prevention and removal tools, but its infamously strict trial restrictions makes it difficult to evaluate. With quick scanning and multiple tools for stopping malware before it infects your computer, the paid version is a solid spyware remover. This version differs from Spyware Doctor in that it offers antivirus protection, as well as anti-malware.

Installing the program annoyingly requires you to reboot the computer, but as soon as Windows finishes loading, the program will start scanning for malware. Impressively, the scan took only about 5 minutes, which is much faster than competing programs, and properly categorized problems such as tracking cookies as low-level threats. Once you remove the threats, which requires purchasing a license, the Start Scan tab will offer an Intelli-Scan, which is the Quick Scan rebranded, a Full Scan, and a Custom Scan. The Intelli-Scan shouldn't be confused with the IntelliGuard tab that provides access to the 10 subguards that the program offers. These are largely self-explanatory: Behavior, Browser, Cookie, Email, File, Immunizer, Network, Process, Site, and Startup. Behavior Guard, for example, is powered by PC Tools' ThreatFire engine for protecting against zero-day threats and malicious behavior.

Spyware Doctor with Antivirus comes with some useful settings options, too, including a gaming mode and the option to run a scan at start-up. However, its default setting for rootkit scanning is off. This version of Spyware Doctor with Antivirus is most comparable to the entry-level security suites offered by competitors such as Norton and Kaspersky, with its combined antivirus and anti-malware toolsets. However, whereas those programs offer unencumbered 30-day trials, Spyware Doctor with Antivirus retains the harsh restrictions of its better-known sibling, which make it harder to evaluate before purchasing.

Are your calendars, to-do lists, and databases disorganized? Corral all of your schedules and lists with All-in-1 Personal Information Manager.

All-in-1 Personal Information Manager (A-PIM) is based around a calendar that shows the day and month and task lists for each day at a glance. A-PIM has other handy tools, such as a contact manager, and sections where you can create databases of your CD, DVD, and book collections. You can create sticky notes, agendas, and journal entries, and you can manage your expenses with A-PIM's Money section. A-PIM will even keep a list of your favorite URLs in hyperlink format, and you can access them directly from A-PIM, too. Viewing all the information A-PIM manages at once is a bit overwhelming. Luckily, you can customize the interface and select which toolbars to show. You can choose how the program displays your information: calendar view, tree view, or table view. The Find Records tab allows you to search the program for specific entries, which is a nice feature. The Print tab exports information to Wordpad. You can import CSV files into A-PIM, or you can export the program's information as a CSV file for use in another database program.

A-PIM has a Help file with exhaustive information about the program's functions as well as tips on hot keys and other tricks. This is a 30-day trial version of the software. A-PIM is a handy application for busy people who need to keep track of their important information on their computers.

Manage your graphic files with Alteros 3D. This digital asset management program displays thumbnails of your 2D and 3D graphic files within a versatile interface.

Alteros 3D is jam packed with features. You can crop and edit your photos or display them in a slideshow. It will play DVDs and other media, and you can even use it as a file browser. You can view files in small, medium, or large thumbnails, customize the arrangement of the panels, and change the skin of the viewer, too. The slideshow feature is an easy way to share photos with viewers, and Alteros 3D works well as a media player. You can use Alteros 3D to quickly rotate, crop, or adjust graphic files or downsample files for Web or screen usage. Alteros 3D is easy to use, but it does have a Help file, though it's a little hard to find. Go to: File > Options. When the Options window opens, the Help button is on the bottom right.

For all that it does, we most enjoyed using Alteros 3D as a file browser. Since graphic files are typically pretty large, it's great to have a way to view a folder of images or other media files as thumbnails that you can easily sift through. This is a 30-day trial version of the software. Upon installation, the program adds a Desktop icon without asking, but it installs and uninstalls with no problems.

Ashampoo Photo Optimizer Free is the perfect tool for fixing underexposed photos quickly and easily. Open one picture or a whole folder full of images, and it will lighten all of the files with a single click.

Ashampoo Photo Optimizer Free is a one-trick pony, but it does its one trick well. The program lightens photos that are too dark. You can also rotate your images left or right. When we tested this utility, we found it did a good job with underexposed files, but it doesn't improve overexposed files, reduce digital noise, or make any other adjustments. Clicking on the "Internet" menu calls up an option to upgrade to Ashampoo Photo Optimizer 3, which has more controls and options for editing photos. The upgrade is inexpensive, but it's not free. Professional photographers and hobbyists wanting to seriously tweak their images will find this program lacking. However, those who are frustrated or intimidated by photo-editing software programs and looking for something friendlier will love this program. The interface is bright, colorful, and easy to read. The program is easy and enjoyable to use, and most users will be able to navigate it with no problems.

Ashampoo Photo Optimizer Free is freeware. There's a Help file and links to product support and the manufacturer's Web site, should users want more information. We encountered no problems installing and uninstalling the program. For a free application, this is a well-designed imaging tool that should make anyone's photo-editing experiences much easier.