Compatibles
Tandy's 1000EX, 3000HL: DOS for Home, Business
Pepper
Jon
6
01
33
First Look: Tandy 1000EX & 3000HL computers: well-priced compatibles from Radio Shack.
TANDY RADIO SHACK 1000 1000EX
DBASE II & III
Quicksilver Does DBASE Applications Compiling
Hart
Glenn
54
First Look: Quicksilver: competent dBASE III Plus-compatible compiler reviewed.
DBASE COMPILER QUICKSILVER DATABASE
R&R: A Shortcut to Creating dBASE Reports
38
First Look: R&R Relational Report Writer: flexible dBASE report generator.
DBASE DATABASE REPORTS R&R CONCENTRIC SOFTWARE
Ergonomics
Whatever Happened to Ergonomics?
Manes
Stephen
91
Ergonomics: user confort, once a hot topic has become a dead issue.
ERGONOMICS
Graphics
CAD at Any Price
189
CAD (Computer-Aided Design) packages: AutoSketch, EasyCAD, CADWrite and MicroCadam reviewed.
CAD
ColorMagic Dresses Up EGA Screens
48
First Look: ColorMagic utility program gives you total control of EGA colors.
EGA GRAPHICS COLOR
Freeform: Simple CGA Graphics
Sagman
Steve
First Look: Freeform: paint program let you draw on-screen with a mouse and paint 3D.
CGA GRAPHICS FREEFORM
Stretching the Standard: Seven New EGA Boards
Petzold
Charles
165
Enhanced graphics adapter boards: seven new EGA boards reviewed.
EGA BOARDS HARDWARE
Hardware
Drawing a Bead on Bernoulli
Rosch
Winn
217
Cartridge-based hard disk systems act as both mass storage and backup devices.
BERNOULLI BOX MAS STORAGE HARD DISK
Sony's Multiscan Monitor Challenges NEC MultiSynch
Stafford
Paul
First Look: Multiscan monitor from Sony: high resolution monitor reviewed.
NEC MULTISCAN MONITOR HARDWARE
IBM
AT Clone from IBM, The
155
IBM PC-XT Model 286: can out-perform an AT but has slow hard disk and high price.
AT HARDWARE IBM
Integrated Packages
Words & Figures Puts 1-2-3 Inside a Text Editor
Barr
Chris
First Look: Words & Figures: incorporates a 1-2-3 clone and a word processor.
1-2-3 123 LOTUS WORDS & FIGURES SPREADSHEET
Marketplace
Abort, Retry, Ignore
Howard
Bill
152
Bugs, bombs and backward moves of 1986: PC Magazine looks at industry mistakes.
INDUSTRY TRENDS
Best of 1986 (And Some of the Worst), The
PC Magazine Staff
115
New PC products of 1986: the best & worst (Editor's Choice).
REVIEWS BEST WORST EDITOR
Power Desk, The
Alsop
Stewart
107
Tongue-in-cheek proposal about building a desk/computer combination.
EDITOR
Software Revolution (Part 1), The
Norton
Peter
75
Significant developments in the computer industry (like HAL and programming aids).
REVIEW SOFTWARE
Mathematics
MathCAD Solves Equations On Free-form Scratch Pad
Sklaver
Ellen
36
First Look: MathCAD: equation editor/electronic scratch pad for the engineer reviewed.
CAD MATHCAD MATHEMATICS
Micro/Mainframe
Mainframes--Here to Stay
Dvorak
John
67
Micro/mainframe myths: imaginary conflict between micro and mainframe people.
MAINFRAME CONNECTIVITY HARDWARE
Networks
Making Connections: The IBM Token-Ring Network
Derfler
Frank
227
IBM Token-Ring Network: could be industry standard but lacks diagnostic tools.
IBM TOKEN RING LAN LANS
Tops Links Mac and PC Files
Marks
46
First Look: Tops:low-cost LAN lets PCs and Macs share files/PhoneNet protocol adapter.
LAN LANS HARDWARE CONNECTIVITY
Programming
PC Lab Notes: A Quick Look at QuickBASIC
Winer
Ethan
285
QuickBASIC: new functions & features of Microsoft's QuickBASIC 2.0 examined.
PROGRAMMING COMPILER BASIC MICROSOFT
Programming/Utilitie
Files Fly with DIREX
Holzner
295
DIREX: utility for speeding up your file copying, deleting and protecting chores.
FILE UTILITY SOFTWARE DIRECTORY BATCH
Publishing
Desktop Publishing: Myths and Realities
Seymour
Jim
85
Desktop publishing: the problems and promise of this newly emerging field.
DESKTOP PUBLISHING WORD PROCESSING
Services
MSR: A New Approach to Software Support
Krasnoff
Barbara
259
MSR: hot-line software support brings technical help close at hand.
MSR SOFTWARE
Software Aids
Hotshot Annotates Text-Only Screens
First Look: Hotshot: RAM-resident screen annotating program reviewed.
HOTSHOT SOFTWARE REVIEW
Super PC-Kwik Gives Lightning a Good Run for Money
Davis
43
First Look: Super PC-Kwik program speeds file accessing time by caching memory.
SUPER PC-KWIK REVIEW SOFTWARE
Spreadsheets
Multidimensional Spreadsheets:Giving Depth to Data
Bryan
Marvin
243
3D spreadsheets give a deeper dimension to spreadsheet data analysis.
SPREADSHEETS SOFTWARE REVIEW 3D
Word Processing
Electronic Thesauri: 4 Ways to Find Perfect Word
Raskin
Robin
275
Thesaurus: find synonyms fast and easy with four electronic thesauri.
WORD PROCESSING SOFTWARE THESAURUS DICTIONARY
ForComment Tracks Text Revisions
Johnston
First Look: ForComment: a document-review utility for reviewing group word processing projects.
FORCOMMENT SOFTWARE REVIEW
Tandy 1000SX: A Slight Improvement
02
52
First Look: Tandy 1000SX compatible reviewed--just a tad faster than the Tandy 1000.
TANDY 1000 1000SX REVIEW HARDWARE COMPATIBLE
Victor Champion: Well-Built Bargain
First Look: Victor Champion--a well-built PC with many features and a low price.
VICTOR CHAMPION HARDWARE REVIEW COMPATIBLE
dBASE on Video: A Basic Primer
Jones
Mitt
First Look: dBASE III Plus Learning System video tutorial reviewed.
DBASE TRAINING VIDEO TUTORIAL
Database Management
Database Power Puts on an Easy Interface
Poor
Alfred
109
Database managers: powerful & easy-to-use--dBASE III+, R:base System V and DataEase.
DATABASE MANAGER SOFTWARE REVIEW RBASE DBASE
File Managers Gets a Face-lift
Desposito
Joe
119
File managers getting easier and powerful: Q&A, Powerbase and PFS:Profession File.
DATABASE REVIEW Q&A PFS POWERBASE SOFTWARE
Entrepreneurs
Awards for Technical Excellence
Machrone, Bill
164
PC Magazine's 3rd annual awards for Technical Excellence in software/hardware development.
BUSINESS HARDWARE REVIEW EDITORS
Two Keys to the PC Graphics Explosion
83
Products that quietly become industry standards (NEC's MultiSync color monitor).
GRAPHICS REVIEW HARDWARE MONITORS
AT Multifunction Boards: Put More Memory to Work
237
Multifunction boards for the PC AT expand memory: six boards reviewed.
HARDWARE MULTIFUNCTION BOARDS REVIEW
New Drives for Downsized Disks
First Look: Maynard Model 80310 and Toshiba Model ND-354A: 3 1/2" floppy disk drives reviewed.
HARDWARE REVIEW FLOPPY DRIVES DISKS DISKETTES 3.5"
PC Mouse Bus Plus: A Port Saver
Machrone
First Look: Mice, PC Mouse Bus Plus: new PC mouse with 1/2 length card.
HARDWARE REVIEW MOUSE PC MOUSE
Pocketful of Mice, A
Wiswell
Phil
207
Mice: seven new mice, four with three-button design, reviewed.
HARDWARE REVIEW MICE MOUSE
Languages
Clarion: Fourth-Generation Programming
Aarons
Richard
153
Clarion: a significant new programming language geared towards the programmer.
CLARION SOFTWARE REVIEW 4GL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
High-Tech PR: A New Animal
PR firms shun the press and pursue research company analysts to promote products.
BUSINESS INDUSTRY RESEARCH
Software Revolution (Part 2), The
Significant developments in the computer industry (like improved programming languages).
INDUSTRY REVIEW SOFTWARE LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Making Connections: Tallgrass's LanCourier
225
Tallgrass Technologies LanCourier TG-800 with VINES networking software reviewed.
TALLGRASS HARDWARE REVIEW TG-800 VINES NETWORK
PC AT Alternatives
Competing at the Top: High Performance ATs
193
PC AT alternatives: four AT compatibles from companies with reputations for quality.
AT HARDWARE REVIEW COMPATIBLE
ITT XTRA/286 ATW: 10-MHz AT Compatible with EGA
First Look: XTRA/286 ATW: a high-performance AT compatible reviewed.
Portables
NEC MultiSpeed: Speedy, Feature-Packed Laptop
Somerson
First Look: NEC MultiSpeed laptop: superb portable enters market.
LAPTOP HARDWARE REVIEW COMPATIBLE
Perfect Portable, The
101
Laptops: opinion that the perfect laptop meets size, weight and price criteria.
LAPTOP PORTABLE REVIEW EDITORS
386 Assembler & C Compiler Break 64K Segment Limit
First Look: 386/ASM 80386 assembler, and High C Compiler 386:80386 C compiler reviewed.
386 80386 C LANGUAGE PROGRAMMING COMPILER
Command You Can Count On, A
Mefford
Michael
273
PARSE.COM utility counts characters, words and sentences in ASCII text files.
DOS UTILITIY ASCII
PC Lab Notes: Making DIR Do Double Duty
Petzold, Charles
251
DIR made powerful: utility for comparing two directory listings simultaneously.
DIR UTILITY DOS SOFTWARE
Spreading Doom
Tongue-in-cheek look at how spreadsheet technology can affect business.
SPREADSHEET REVIEW BUSINESS
SuperCalc4: A Great Contender
Brown
Bruce
135
SuperCalc4--latest version adds features to make it a serious 1-2-3 contender.
SUPERCALC 4 SPREADSHEET REVIEW LOTUS 1-2-3
Telecommunications
Communications Classic in the Making:ProComm 2.4.2
Venditto
Gus
First Look: ProComm, Ver.2.4.2: low-cost telecommunications package competes with PC-Talk III.
PROCOMM TELECOMMUNICATIONS MODEM SOFTWARE REVIEW
GammaFax Links Dedicated Fax Machines with PCs
First Look: GammaFax board enables PC-to-Fax machine communication.
FAX COMMUNICATIONS HARDWARE REVIEW
Travel
Map Software: To Live and Drive in L.A.
Matzkin
Jonathan
First Look: Streets on a Disk: gives travel directions, time, and distance for L.A. only.
MAP SOFTWARE REVIEW MAPPING
Electric Pencil PC: A $50 Text Editor
First Look: Electric Pencil PC: easy-to-use professional word processor reviewed.
WORD PROCESSOR ELECTRIC PENCIL SOFTWARE REVIEW
WordPerfect 4.2 Improves
First Look: WordPerfect 4.2: latest version of feature-packed, professional quality word processor.
WORD PROCESSING WORD PERFECT SOFTWARE REVIEW
80386
CCI ST/386: Mail-Order Prices for 32-Bit Computing
03
First Look: CCI ST/386 PC: an 80386-based computer at a comparably low price.
386 HARDWARE 80386 COMPATIBLE REVIEW
A*Star II: 12-MHz Speed for $2,690
First Look: A*Star II PC:receives good marks for engineering and performance.
AT HARDWARE 80286 COMPATIBLE REVIEW
Consumer Complaints
Back to the Stone Age
103
Technical developments that confuse the consumer and render good programs useless.
CONSUMER TRENDS TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENTS
Quickcode Plus Generates Versatile dBASE Programs
First Look: Quickcode Plus:excellent dBASE program generator reviewed.
DBASE SOFTWARE REVIEW QUICKCODE PLUS DATABASE
Education
Demonstration, The
Misadventures of an educational presentation to high school students.
EDUCATION REVIEW TRENDS
Finance
Managing Your Money: Best Personal Financial Tool
Amsden
Loren
34
First Look: Andrew Tobias' Managing Your Money Ver.3.0:personal financial management software.
FINANCE MANAGING YOUR MONEY SOFTWARE REVIEW
MoneyMate: For the Game of Life
First Look: MoneyMate:personal financial management software reviewed.
FINANCE MONEYMATE SOFTWARE REVIEW
Games
Star Trek Game: Frustrated in Space
First Look: Star Trek, The Promethean Prophecy: a text-based game with little AI.
GAMES SOFTWARE REVIEW STAR TREK SPACE
EGA Wonder: One-Card Solution for Graphics?
First Look: EGA Wonder: a video adapter that lets you use any monitor with any video standard.
EGA HARDWARE REVIEW EGA WONDER MONITOR GRAPHICS
ImageMaker Film Recorder for PC Text Slides
First Look: ImageMaker: novel film recorder uses daisy wheel to produce text slides.
GRAPHICS REVIEW HARDWARE FILM IMAGE PROCESSING
Cruise Control: Speed at Hand
First Look: Cruise Control: well-thought-out keyboard accelerator reviewed.
HARDWARE REVIEW KEYBOARD
PC-Sprint: $100 PC and XT Racing Kit
First Look: PC-Sprint: a no-slot accelerator board that boosts PC and PC XT speed.
HARDWARE REVIEW ACCELERATOR TURBO BOARD
Sliding in Memory: 14 Hard Disk Cards
195
Hard disk cards: 14 memory-expanding cards reviewed.
HARDWARE REVIEW MASS STORAGE HARD DISK CARDS
IBM PC II: Fiasco in Wonderland, The
Marketing mistakes by IBM in releasing PC-XT Model 286.
BUSINESS ANALYSIS TRENDS MARKET INDUSTRY
Stalking the Low-End Integrated Solution
267
Integrated packages for under $200: four low-cost and easy to learn packages reviewed.
SOFTWARE REVIEW INTEGRATED PACKAGAGES
Industrial-Strength Programming
Programming languages: the difficulty faced in switching from BASIC to C.
PROGRAMMING REVIEW LANGUAGES SOFTWARE
Making Connections: Fox Research's 10-NET
223
Fox Research's 10-NET: this all-inclusive network package reviewed.
FOX RESEARCH NET 10-NET NETWORK HARDWARE REVIEW
AT Alternatives: Extra Features and Cheaper, Too
Puglia,V., Teets,C.
241
PC AT alternatives: nine low-cost AT compatibles tested and reviewed.
AT HARDWARE REVIEW COMPATIBLES
Printers
Iprint Adds Graphics Tricks to Laser Printer
First Look: Iprint: graphics software utility for the laser printer reviewed.
PRINTERS HARDWARE REVIEW
Adding Power to Batch Programs
Prosise
Jeff
299
CHECK.COM utility tests parameters of batch files for intelligent branching.
UTILITY FILE DOS PROGRAM
Playing the Dating Game
323
TIMEKEY utility inserts date and time-stamps into spreadsheets, text files, etc.
UTILITY DOS PROGRAM
Bestinfo's Superpage II: Beyond Desktop Publishing
Burns
Diane
Venit, S.
174
Superpage II: $7000 heavy-duty typesetting tool--desktop publishing of the future.
DESKTOP PUBLISHING SOFTWARE REVIEW
Desktop Publishing Without Hype
110
Desktop publishing: the promise and pitfalls of this burgeoning industry.
Muscling In on the Mac: PC-Based Page Composition
Desktop publishing: five new under $1000 page composition parograms reviewed.
Putting Text and Graphics in Their Place
Rosenthal
181
Desktop publishing: page description languages--a look at state of the art PDLs.
Stacking Up to the Mac
159
Desktop publishing: sample newletter produced with each of five page compostion packages.
Corefast: Easy File Backup with Error Check
First Look: Corefast: high-speed, menu- and command-driven backup system reviewed.
SOFTWARE BACKUP REVIEW COREFAST
Pdisk: A Grab Bag of Hard Disk Utilities
First Look: Pdisk: a collection of basic DOS utilities that are missing from DOS.
SOFTWARE REVIEW UTILITY DOS PDISK
First Hayes-Compatible Modem for PC Convertible
First Look: EasyTalk 1200: Hayes-compatible internal modem for the IBM PC Convertible.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE REVIEW EASYTALK MODEM
Manuscript Whips Large Documents into Shape
First Look: Manuscript from Lotus: word processor for the well-structured document.
WORD PROCESSING LOTUS SOFTARE REVIEW
Manuscript: Something Old, Something New
Manuscript from Lotus: merges word processing with text editing and formatting.
WORD PROCESSING LOTUS SOFTWARE REVIEW
Inset Integrates Any Graphics Screen
04
First Look: Inset-produces professional-looking hard-copy text/graphics combinations.
GRAPHICS SOFTWARE REVIEW INSET
PC Paintbrush Expands Drawing Area
Kunkel
Gerard
First Look: PC Paintbrush Plus introduces larger virtual page.
SOFTWARE REVIEW PC PAINTBRUSH PLUS GRAPHICS
Polaroid Palette Mertis a Plus
First Look: Polaroid Palette Plus image recorder makes photos/graphics from the screen.
HARDWARE REVIEW IMAGE PROCESSING POLAROID PALETTE
Cheetah Plugs In 386 Processing for $495
35
First Look: Adapter/386 circuit board allows 80386 compatibility and multitasking.
HARDWARE REVIEW 80386 COMPATIBLE BOARD TURBO
Silencer Offers Cool, Quiet Power
Mendelson
Edward
First Look: Silencer 150-replacement power supply and fan adds ample wattage and cooling power.
HARDWARE REVIEW POWER SUPPLY SILENCER
Surprise! Boosts PC, XT Processor Speed
First Look: Surprise!-an easy-to-install, no-slot accelerator board.
HARDWARE REVIEW TURBO BOARD
Lotus 1-2-3
And Here Comes HAL
HAL: Lotus's revolutionary English language 1-2-3 interface reviewed.
SOFTWARE REVIEW HAL LOTUS 1-2-3
Eggciting Way to Buy Software, An
Egghead Discount Software stores' winning formula for retail success.
INDUSTRY REVIEW BUSINESS EGGHEAD
Oven of the Half-Baked Idea, The
93
Simulations: Steven Job's next step in computer simulations examined.
INDUSTRY REVIEW STEVEN JOB COMPUTER
Space Aliens Running Major Software Firms
65
Tongue-in-cheek report of abduction by software-selling aliens.
INDUSTRY REVIEW EDITORS
Where are the Other Lotuses?
Absence of dominance in database management, graphics, and word processing categories examined.
INDUSTRY SOFTWARE REVIEW TRENDS
Making Connections: Orchid Technology's PCnet
253
Orchid Technology's PCnet--local area network reviewed.
NETWORKING ORCHID PCNET LANS REVIEW
Operating Systems
DOS Shells Get Smarter
Puglia
Vincent
Pepper, Jon
175
DOS shells: DOS-enhancing utilities make file tracking and manipulation easier.
OPERATING SYSTEMS DOS SHELLS REVIEW UTILITY
PC Lab Notes: Digging Deeper into DOS(Part 1)
277
DOS tutorial of less familiar commands and options: increase your DOS productivity.
OPERATING SYSTEMS REVIEW DOS
Epson Does It Again
265
Epson Equity III Plus: worthy PC AT alternatives reviewed.
AT COMPATIBLE HARDWARE REVIEW EPSON EQUITY III
PC-XT Competitors
In-Between Machines:80286-Based XT Compatibles,The
PC-XT compatibles: four 80286-based XTs reviewed.
AT COMPATIBLES 80286 HARDWARE REVIEWS
Olympia's $649 NP136: A Competent Performer
Rose, Phil
First Look: Olympia NP136 dot matrix printer--steady, fast performer.
HARDWARE REVIEW OLYMPIA NP136 DOT MATRIX PRINTER
Panasonic 9-Pin Printers Are a Dot Matrix Bargain
First Look: Panasonic KX-P1080i and KX-P1091i printers: outstanding quality for the price.
HARDWARE REVIEW PANASONIC KX-P1091I DOT MATRIX
Software Revolution (Part 3), The
Debugging advances: software debugging tools, like Microsoft's CodeView, examined.
PROGRAMMING SOFTWARE TOOLS REVIEW CODEVIEW
turboMagic Manages the Interface for Turbo Pascal
Rubenking
Neil
First Look: turboMagic--code generator for Turbo Pascal reviewed.
BORLAND SOFTWARE REVIEW TURBO PASCAL
Very Savvy Search Utility, A
287
SEARCH.COM utility: combines file search and string search functions.
FILE UTILITY DOS SEARCH
Move Over SideKick, $85 Lotus Metro Does It All
First Look: Metro from Lotus Devel. Corp. vies for memory-resident disk management market.
SOFTWARE REVIEW UTILITY LOTUS METRO
Squish Puts a Squeeze on Files
First Look: Squish--RAM-resident utility that compresses data files before they're stored.
RAM RESIDENT SOFTWARE REVIEW UTILTIY
Tax Preparation
TurboTax Simplifies Tax Season
Meadows
Laura
First Look: TurboTax, Ver.4.0: still among the best and easiest individual tax preparation software.
SOFTWARE REVIEW TURBOTAX TAX PREPARATION
ComcoModem 2400PC: Best bps/Dollar Ratio
Stone
David
First Look: ComcoModem offers low price, high performance 2,400bps modem.
HARDWARE REVIEW TELECOMMUNICATIONS MODEM COMCO
For Your Ears Only: PC Security Modems
Modems to protect your data: Cermetek Security Modem & Anderson Jacobson 2412-AD3H.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS CEREMETEK MODEM SECURITY
OfficeWriter's Enhancements for the Printed Page
Miller
Catherine
First Look: OfficeWriter, Ver.5.0: adds enhancements including some desktop publishing features.
WORD PROCESSING SOFTWARE REVIEW OFFICEWRITER
Whoops! Catches Typos, Has Thesaurus
First Look: Whoops!--spelling checker and thesaurus reviewed.
WORD PROCESSING SOFTWARE REVIEW SPELLING THESAURUS
Word Processors: More Power for the Money
127
Word processing programs: 18 low-cost packages reviewed.
WORD PROCESSING SOFTWARE REVIEW COMPARISONS