Stories by: Jon L. Jacobi

Though Nero 9 is a full-featured burning suite, it offers no compelling reasons to upgrade from previous versions.

Like its predecessors (which bore the name Easy Media Creator), Roxio Creator 2009 is a massive suite of applications that covers nearly everything you can do with or to CDs and DVDs and their photo, audio, data, or video contents.

Saving files on your hard drive is the easy part; choosing how to back up those files can be more difficult.

Iolo System Mechanic backs up, repairs, and compacts the Windows Registry; protects against spyware; optimises startup files and system memory; and tweaks Internet connection settings.

Mainstream and boutique PC vendors are having a field day releasing new systems with next-generation Intel Penryn and AMD Phenom processors. We found Intel Penryn-based desktops to be substantially faster than the one similarly priced AMD Phenom system we tested, but in general not much faster than systems configured with Intel's previous-generation processors.

Ultimate Backup is a super handy way to keep your files remotely backed up.

Our look at AMD's Spider desktop platform reveals impressive technology but disappointing results. Can AMD compete if its high-end chip is slower than a $US230 Intel CPU?

Looking to buy a new Vista PC but don't want to leave your carefully honed Windows XP software image behind? A PC migration application such as Laplink's PCmover 3.0 can -- usually -- help ease your transition.

Paragon Drive Backup 8.5 is the best inexpensive drive-imaging and backup program we've seen.

Video-transfer device is a quick, convenient way to get content onto DVD without firing up a PC.

The ever-increasing capacity of USB flash drives lets you bring along not only your files but also the applications that open them. Windows Vista makes it easy to set programs on USB thumb drives to run automatically when you insert the drive: Put the program you want to run in the device's root directory, and create a two-line autorun.inf file (see below for instructions) that points to the program. With the drive inserted, check Always do this for software and games, and select the Run This Program option. From now on, that program will run whenever you insert the drive.