Tips, tricks, tools, and techniques for Microsoft Office

It's time to update you on some of the best software we've reviewed in previous issues. All the products caught our eye when we first looked at them -- they offer something special that impressed us. So do their latest versions.

THE LOGO CREATOR

The Logo Creator ($69.95) is one of our favorite business graphics utilities. If you're a small business owner looking for a new logo, you probably already know how expensive it is to have one designed for you. The Logo Creator is a do-it-yourself tool for business owners like me whose talents are not in the graphic arts.

Version 2.6 was good (see the original review at http://www.officeletter.com/blink/logo.html), but the just-released version 3.5 is even more impressive. To start with, many of the annoyances of the first version (like not remembering file folders) have been eliminated. The user interface is better looking and easier to use, reason alone to justify the jump in version numbers. (In fact, it's so good you really don't need a user manual -- and for a graphics program that's saying a lot.) A long-overdue undo feature (up to 64 levels) has been added. Performance is improved; especially noticeable is faster text rendering, and you can now rotate text or put it on a curve. You can apply gradients to text. Among the time-saving features: the ability to group objects, then make changes to multiple elements at once.

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I've found creating output easier and faster, and you can specify the preferred DPI output setting. Version 3 lets you import your own image files and apply the same effects as with the program's predefined objects.

The only drawback: designs created in version 2.6 aren't compatible with version 3.0. Given how quickly you can create even complex logos with the program, that may not be a problem for upgraders.

Also released just a couple of weeks ago was a new set of logo templates called The ValuePak ($49.95). It includes 30 new designs, many with images of people.

There are plenty of examples of the quality and variety of logos you can produce at the company's Web site, or you can look at the logo we created for our new site, techletters.com (where you can sign up for multiple tech e-newsletters at once).

The free downloadable demo comes with 11 customizable logo templates, so you can play before you pay. Highly recommended. Information at http://www.thelogocreator.com/index.html

XARA WEBSTYLE 4.0

Xara Webstyle ($69 download; $79 boxed version; $29/$39 to upgrade from version 3.x) has always been is a terrific tool for creating navigation bars, DHTML menus (multi-level cascading menu structures are easy to build), buttons, bullets, backgrounds, dividers, headings (including 3D text), and animated banners (though, oddly, there are no skyscraper (vertical) banner layouts). Our original review of Webstyle 3 is available at http://www.officeletter.com/blink/webgraphics.html.

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Version 4.0 introduces a brand new Web Page type -- perfect for creating small sites -- and you can copy elements (a menu structure, for example) from one page to another for consistency. We took a look at several of the page designs, which were attractive and easy to update. Webstyle has integrated the menus and nav bars (which you can build separately) into these page templates, and editing any element is painless. If only all Web design were this easy!

Version 4 also includes a photo editor for making changes to graphic images (simple changes to contrast or brightness, for example), and it's easier now to copy the color from one set of objects to another set. There's also a photo-album-building tool (yawn). The logo-building tool is no match for The Logo Creator, but it may suffice in a pinch.

Webstyle 4.0 integrates with FrontPage 2003 as well as Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004.

The creative options are extensive -- from color and size to textures and fonts. It's simple to use, and if you have little graphic skill (and especially if you have no time to learn a complex graphics application), Webstyle is perfect. There are plenty of examples of the quality and variety of the output at the company's Web page, where you'll also find a demo version available: http://www.xara.com/products/webstyle/.

DISKEEPER 8.0, UNDELETE 4.0

Adding memory or updating your processor isn't the only way to speed up your system. Diskeeper 8.0, released last month from Executive Software, claims it can cut anti-virus scan times in half when your disk is defragmented on a regular basis. Not only that, the latest version offers a new Performance Index so you can see an estimate of how much speed you're losing from fragmentation. (Our review of version 7.0 Second Edition is at http://www.officeletter.com/blink/diskeeper7se.html.)

The program comes in several flavors. The Home edition ($29.95, $19.95 upgrade) works on Windows 95 through XP Home; Professional ($44.95, upgrade $29.95) supports those O/Ss plus Windows NT4, 2000, and XP Pro.

Other new features include an improved defragmentation engine that's faster than previous versions and will run in the background. For mobile users, Version 8 will pause defragmentation when your laptop's battery is on.

The company has also upgrades for its Undelete utility ($29.95 for home edition). Version 4's new features are in the Pro version aimed at network administrators -- users can now recover their own files directly from server Recovery Bins without administrator intervention, and a new installer remotely installs the utility on desktop PCs. (Our original review is at http://www.officeletter.com/blink/undelete.html.)

Why not just use the built-in undelete in Windows? Mostly because it doesn't catch all your file deletes. For example, Undelete 4.0 can "save" files deleted within applications, File Manager, and at the command prompt, all conditions that the Recycle Bin misses.

There are 30-day trial versions of both products at the company's Web site: http://www.execsoft.com.

-- James E. Powell

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