- Quick specs
- Price: Free to try (3-use trial); $39.99 to buy
- Operating system: Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98
- Date added: September 30, 2005
- Total Downloads: 725,043
- Downloads last week: 5,230
- See full specifications
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 140 votes
See all user reviews
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: CNET Staff
The multimedia-rich Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing 17 Deluxe can turn even the most recalcitrant hunt-and-peck artist into a skillful touch typist. But first you'll have to download the behemoth 400MB installer and suffer through the sluggish setup process. Persevere. Once you get it running, Mavis Bacon is memory-intensive but quite fast. The unusual interface depicts a classroom; you click on various objects to select tasks (for instance, a computer to enter the Lesson Area). Mavis Bacon provides not only lessons and drills, but also videos and text advice on proper typing posture. It also allows you to build custom lessons, play special typing games, and check the ergonomics at your workplace. All in all, it's a feature-rich typing tutor with a good-looking interface and lots of useful extras.Publisher's description
From Broderbund :Let Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing guide your typing tutorials. Mavis Beacon will monitor your progress, flag your weak spots and offer challenging lessons to help you continue improving your keyboarding skills. Exercise your typing fingers with more than 221 practice lessons and 103 custom lessons. Enjoy 14 entertaining arcade-style games that make practicing fun.
Enhanced user interface is compatible with wide screen laptops and leaves the desktop more accessible even while the program is running. Make your learning even more efficient by customizing lessons to fit your needs. Download lessons to your Palm Pilot for easy portable practice sessions. Jazz up your lessons by importing your own MP3 files to listen to while you practice. Straighten up your keyboarding skills by correcting your posture and physical alignment with ergonomic evaluation videos.
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User reviews
- Average user rating: 3.6 stars out of 140 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 99 user reviewsSee all 99 user reviews
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5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
Version: Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing 17 Deluxe 17
"OK...but if you need this kind of training better go to school"
Pros: The program was fine enough. However if you need this amount of training your better off seeing a pro. The lessons get boring quick. Honestly, I have seen more people make quicker progress typing novels from the web.
Cons: It would have been nice to import my own literature into the practice area. Some of the games are not that explanatory. The sound effects they use get annoying real quick. I found myself reverting back to Senselang (free) that I could import stories into....much more enjoyable.
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6 out of 8 people found this review helpful
Version: Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing 17 Deluxe 17
"Buggy, frustrating, old, difficult to use, did I say FRUSTRATING??"
Pros: It's a typing program.
Cons: 1. Games are not customized to the level of the user. Try typing a M when you don't know where it is!!
2. It is VERY difficult to navigate.
3. The program does not tell you where you are in the lesson plan!!
4. It's buggy! One minute you're typing and the next second you are somewhere else!@#$?!
5. It looks old. Wonder why the download is 400mb? It becuase of the OLD programming - it is v17 and the origional code is still there!!
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2 out of 3 people found this review helpful
Version: Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing 17 Deluxe 17
"Excellent! I learned typing with this program!"
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9 out of 10 people found this review helpful
Version: Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing 17 Deluxe 17
"This program is excellent! It's showing me steps by steps and easy to use."
Pros: It's showing me steps by steps about how to type, because of this program, my typing skill is now excellent.
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6 out of 6 people found this review helpful
Version: Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing 17 Deluxe 17
"Poorly written software, and no customer support"
Cons: I reformated and re-installed windows xp, just to try to get this thing to work. Their website says you should shut off all startup programs or start in safe mode just to install. I can understand shutting down running programs, or even anti-virus software, but when they want you to mess with your system just to get the thing to work, you know it's a bad sign.
I finnaly got it to work-- in safe mode! I've been trying to shut down services one at a time to try and find the conflict. All my other software and hardware is legal and updated.
Their customer support is a joke. Trying to find real contact information just sends you in a repeating circle. I'll never buy a product from Broderbund again.
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