Product Reviews

Want to write a letter to the bank, track the progress of your diet with a spreadsheet, or create a database of your CDs? Thenyou need a suite of office programs. Our Best Buy budget office suite is Microsoft Works Suite 2004. But it's 2005 now, and Microsoft has released a successor, the aptly named Microsoft Works Suite 2005.

Microsoft Works is a budget office suite with cut-down versions of Microsoft Word, Excel and Access, as well as a calendar and diary. Works Suite includes basic Works, but instead of the basic word processor you get a full version of Microsoft Word 2002. This is the same version that was bundled as part of Works Suite 2004, one version older than you get with a full version of Office. Don't let this put you off; Word 2002 will do everything you want, right up to simple desktop publishing.

So what is new? Well, there's a new version of Picture-It, Microsoft's image-editing software. The new version comes with a good image organiser that lets you assign keywords to your photos, organise images by their attributes, and so on. The image organiser still has a non-standard layout - annoying if you're used to working in other programs. If you're a beginner, however, Microsoft's

There are also the latest versions of the Encarta encyclopedia, the finance program Microsoft Money and the routefinder AutoRoute. Encarta is the standard version, but you still get more than 30 video clips and lots of audio clips and other multimedia content. The content of the Standard edition is more or less the same as that of the Premium edition, except it doesn't have the student and children's additions. Unless you have very young children this shouldn't be a problem. The articles are well written and easy to understand.

AutoRoute provides a comprehensive database of maps for the UK and Europe. Once you've found the map you want you can zoom right in on a specific street, or right out to look at the whole of the country, or Europe if you like. More importantly, it lets you plan journeys. We used it to plan a journey we know well, from the village of Aberfeldy in Perthshire to Edinburgh, Scotland's capital. AutoRoute took us over the hills to the A9 - not the quickest route, but otherwise the directions were fine. Microsoft Money is a useful, easy-to-use personal finance planner that can download statements directly from your bank if you want it to.

Finally, there have been some improvements to Works itself. The spreadsheet now has an autosave function, making it easier to recover files after a crash. You can also swap and share calendar appointments with Outlook for the first time.

Microsoft Works Suite is still the best value, and easiest to use, home office suite on the market. If you need productivity programs for your home then it's the best deal around.