INTERNET! FOUR EASY WAYS TO CUT ON-LINE COSTS – PAGE 127 / $3.95 MARCH 1995 THE BESTNEW 10 th PRODUCTS Annual Editors’ Choice Awards PLUS Laser Printers Should Your Next One Be Color? Top-Notch Charts 7 Packages That Can Make Your Data Sizzle Get Rich Quicker! Which Tax Software Delivers the Best Return — page 40 CONTENTS MARCH 1995 / VOLUME 11 NUMBER 3 REVIEWS & QUICK CLICKS MacTools Pro and Norton Utilities for Aquazone and Macintosh Two diagnosis and repair El-Fish Digital programs that promise to keep your hard desktop drive humming. / 37 aquariums are almost as much MacInTax and TaxCut Which tax software fun as the real 27 / Optical storage gives you the best return for your dollar? thing. / 63 double-hitter. / 40 HouseCall Take charge of your health Radius PhotoEngine The newest way to with this electronic medical-reference NEW ON THE MENU make Photoshop run faster — on Quadras program. / 63 and Power Macs. / 42 Power Macs Special Delivery 2.0 This entry-level More bang for the buck. / LaserMaster 64-MB SIMMs multimedia tool needs work. / 64 8100 RAM heaven. / DisplayMaker Technöggin PowerBook battery Professional recall. / Zmac Utility of the Month VirtualDisk Catalog your disks. / 65 Large-format SoundSmith. / Plus Macintosh price printer Living Album Virtual photo album lets you index. / 27 produces display electronic pictures and movies. stunning / 65 COLUMNS professional- quality signs, SAM Administrator Now net managers Letters The Word 6.0 debate rages, posters, and banners in a variety of sizes. can more easily distribute and update kids and MSTies speak out, and / 46 antivirus software. / 66 readers challenge Dr. Power Mac. / 11 Metrowerks CodeWarrior The premier Maggie Canon And the winner is . Power Mac development environment is a / 17 godsend for Power Mac developers. / 47 Andy Ihnatko Word 6: Time to ClarisDraw Targeted for beginners, switch. / 21 ClarisDraw 1.0 is versatile and easy to use. / 48 John C. Dvorak Speed is not enough. / 190 MovieWorks Making QuickTime-based Product Index / 153 presentations shouldn’t be this awkward. / 52 67 / Thai one on with all the right ingredients. Advertiser Index 156 / WordPerfect Envoy Portable-document Marketplace / 162 software features good support for Four Paws of Crab More than just annotating. / 54 delicious Thai recipes, this image-rich CD-ROM features a look at Thai culture. Agfa StudioScan II and UMAX Vista-S6 / 67 INTERNET! FOUR EASY WAYS TO CUT ON-LINE COSTS – PAGE 127 On the cover / More for less: two flatbed color scanners / $3.95 Hardware Product MARCH 1995 priced at under 1,000 bucks. / 56 Autoscore Pitch-to-MIDI converter THE of the Year: the transforms notes you sing or play into BESTNEW Power Mac 6100. 10 th PRODUCTS MIDI events. / 67 Annual Editors’ Choice Awards Cover photo / PLUS Laser Printers Should Your Next Giampiero Benvenuti One Be Color? Top-Notch Charts 7 Packages That Can Make Your Data Sizzle Get Rich Quicker! Which Tax Software Delivers the Best Return — page 40 SPECIAL REPORT DESKTOP The 10th Annual PUBLISHING / 106 Clip Art A collector’s guide to quirky clip- art and digital-photo Editors’ Choice Awards collections. / 109 MacUser’s annual salute to Graphics How-To the year’s best and brightest Unmasking mask Mac products and to the techniques. / 112 people behind them. Expert Tips Using OPI for swapping hi-res DESPITE SUCH MONUMENTAL CHALLENGES files. / 113 as a switch in CPUs, a dearth of development tools, and maturing markets, third-party NETWORKING / 114 developers pulled through once again with GRAPHICS OpenDoc a slew of spectacular products. Here are file The Internet Turn the finest achievements of 1994, and the CHARTS TEXT your Mac into an promising contenders for 1995. Internet server. / 117 BY THE EDITORS OF MACUSER / 71 Mac to PC Software bloat has got to go, and OpenDoc is paving the way. / 119 HANDS ON / 122 FEATURES Smart Money Mac Managing your money The Color-Laser Promise is easy with the right application. / 122 ZD Finally! Color laser Mobile Mac Workarounds for the LABS printers have arrived — PowerBook 500 series. but do they measure up? MacUser / 125 Labs puts three of the latest entrants Net Traveler Four through their paces to find out. ways to cut BY TONY BOJORQUEZ / 91 Internet costs. / 127 Help Folder Bob and Andy answer all of your questions. Plus Top of the Charts hot tips on your favorite programs. / 128 ZD Make your 125 / Open LABS numbers talk up and say “ahhh.” with a charting program. There are several to choose from, offering varying levels of complexity. Here we review seven. BY JOSEPH SCHORR / 98 How to Reach Us Subscription problems? Call 800-627-2247. THE EDITORS of MacUser want to hear from MacUser, P.O. Box 56986, Boulder, CO 80322- you. Send questions, tips, complaints, or com- 6986. Second-class postage paid at New York, pliments to MacUser, 950 Tower Lane, 18th NY 10016, and at other mailing offices. Floor, Foster City, CA 94404. Send electronic mail to [email protected] (Internet) or ZiffNet/Mac: MacUser On-Line 72511,422 (CIS). MacUser’s general number is ZIFFNET/MAC IS A commercial on-line ser- 415-378-5600. We are unable to look up stories vice that provides selected articles, reviews, from past issues, recommend products, or di- and electronic supplements to MacUser. In ad- agnose Mac problems by phone. Call Apple toll- dition, you will find original content and thou- free at 800-538-9696, ext. 500, for information sands of reviewed shareware files and have a on local user groups. By submitting a tip to chance to interact with MacUser’s editors. To MacUser, either directly or through ZiffNet/Mac, order a free starter kit to access ZiffNet/Mac you agree that Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, hosted on CompuServe, call 800-848-8199. On L.P., and its affiliates and licensees can repro- CompuServe, just type in GO ZMC:MACUSER. duce, publish, display, and distribute your tip On eWorld, use Shortcut:MACUSER. Mac- worldwide in all print and electronic media and User’s home on the World Wide Web is http:// in all other forms, manner, and media now www.macuser.ziff.com/~macuser/. known or hereinafter devised. MacUser on CD-ROM Subscription Inquiries/Change of Address MACUSER IS AVAILABLE on Computer Select, IF YOU WANT TO SUBSCRIBE to MacUser, a CD-ROM published by Computer Library. For have a question regarding a subscription, or subscription information, call 800-827-7889, wish to request that your name be excluded ext. 708. If you’re calling from Canada, 212- from mailing lists, call 800-627-2247 (U.S. and 503-4400; from Europe, 44-344-710091; or from Canada only) or 303-447-9330 (all other coun- anywhere else, 212-503-4425. tries); fax 303-443-5080 (international sub- scribers only); or write to MacUser, P.O. Box Complaints About Advertisers 56986, Boulder, CO 80322-6986. New subscrip- MACUSER’S EDITORS are not responsible for tions and address changes take six to eight the contents of the ads in the magazine. How- weeks. For back issues (subject to availability), ever, if you bought a product advertised in send $7 per issue, $8 outside the U.S., to Back MacUser, are dissatisfied, and can’t resolve the Issues Dept., Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, problem, write Ad Department, MacUser, 950 L.P., P.O. Box 53131, Boulder, CO 80322-3131. Tower Lane, 18th Floor, Foster City, CA 94404. MacUser (ISSN 0884-0997) is published monthly Include copies of relevant correspondence. by Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, L.P., One Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016. Editorial Permissions and Reprints Offices: 950 Tower Lane, 18th Floor, Foster City, MATERIAL IN THIS PUBLICATION may not CA 94404. Telephone: 415-378-5600. U.S. sub- be reproduced in any form without permission. scription rates are $27 for 12 issues, $45 for 24 Send permission requests to Chantal Tucker issues, and $62 for 36 issues. Additional post- and reprint requests to Carol Peters at Ziff- age for Canada: Add $16 per year to the U.S. Davis Publishing Company, L.P., One Park rates for surface mail. Single-copy price is $3.95. Avenue, New York, NY 10016. Canadian GST registration #R-123669673. Canada Post International Publications Mail Product Announcements and Updates Product (Canadian Distribution) Sales Agree- SEND PRESS RELEASES to Kristin M. Balleisen, ment No. 278521. MacUser, 950 Tower Lane, 18th Floor, Foster POSTMASTER: Send address changes to City, CA 94404. 4 MacUser / MARCH 1995 Group Publisher ZIFF-DAVIS PUBLISHING COMPANY David J. Ezequelle Chairman and CEO Eric Hippeau Editor-in-Chief Business Media Group Maggie Canon President Ronni Sonnenberg Group Vice President Jeff Ballowe Editorial Group Vice President Claude P. Sheer Editor James S. Bradbury Vice President, Magazine Networks Joseph Gillespie Managing Editor Nancy Groth Vice President, Central Advertising Sales Bob Bader Technical Director Henry Bortman Vice Presidents Don Byrnes, Al DiGuido, Dan Farber, Executive Editor Rik Myslewski J. Samuel Huey, Michael Miller, Paul Somerson, Jim Stafford Senior Editors Cheryl England, Mark Frost, Susan Janus, Executive Director, Ziff-Davis Magazine Networks Anna Zornosa Karen J. Ohlson, Pamela Pfiffner Director of Corporate Marketing Susan Delman Technical Editor John Rizzo Director of Public Relations Brenda Wheeler Senior Associate Managing Editor Claire H. Breen Director of Training Ellen Atkinson Chief Copy Editor Eva Langfeldt Director of Ziff-Davis Preferred Customer Program (ZDPC) Associate Technical Editor Rhoda Simmons Celia Canfield Associate Editors Carolyn Bickford, Shelly Brisbin, Directors, Ziff-Davis Magazine Networks Anne Fitzpatrick, Nancy Peterson, Sean J. Safreed, Jim Shatz-Akin Mark Glasner, Michael Krieger, Jeff Lehman, Scott Murphy Copy Editor Jon Zobenica Sales Development Director, Ziff-Davis Magazine Networks/ZDPC Assistant Editors Patty Ames, Kristin M.