ACCOUNTING

Checkbook offers users a chance to keep their finances in order with this simple program. Utilizing a familiar design and garnering fantastic results, this may be a dream come true for those who dread balancing their checkbooks each month.

The program's interface is reminiscent of the inside of a checkbook. The entry fields are intuitive and should not be a problem to navigate. There is also an excellent step-by-step Help file to guide anyone who is not perfectly comfortable with the program. Balancing our books was delightfully simple. All we had to do was fill in the appropriate fields … Read more

Avignon Concept provides is a fantastic tool for organizing practically every aspect of life. With simple layout and fantastic results, users will love having their entire lives coordinated into one program.

The program's interface was surprisingly simple, considering all of the elements it attempts to combine. With large icons for organizing media, contacts, and calendars, users can easily navigate through the program. Customization was equally simple, with intuitive fields to fill in and easily retrievable data. Users can most likely skip the Help file. The program divides itself into categories for books, music, movies, contacts, finance, documents, to-do, and … Read more

PayPal on Tuesday is introducing a new service for parents with kids who are in high school or college. Called Student Accounts, it centers on the use of a special PayPal-branded Mastercard debit card that's tied to a parent's PayPal accounts. The parent acts as the provider and can funnel money in whenever they feel like it at predetermined dates, or--at what will most-frequently happen--the behest of their kids.

Some of the perks include no overdraft fees and the use of a debit card that's not tied to a particular bank account, meaning the balance can come … Read more

Express Accounts represents free software at its best. This accounting program is well designed, both in form and in function.

In addition to being easy to navigate, the interface for Express Accounts is visually appealing, mimicking the look of Microsoft Windows Vista. The menus are organized in a way that makes sense and makes it easy to find what you need. When we opened the program for the first time, it prompted us to enter in our company information, which is a nice way to make the user's experience personal from the get-go. We also liked that Express Accounts … Read more

A reader named Eric found himself locked out of his Vista administrator accounts:

"Somehow, my account and my son's accounts were downgraded to standard user on his new computer using Vista Home 32-bit. I cannot seem to log in to make any changes to the accounts now. It prompts me to enter a password but no password box is available to type it in. How can I log in to change my account back to administrator?"

In a post last year, I described how to enable Vista's hidden administrator account and password-protect XP's default administrator … Read more

While some programs focus only on passwords or account information, eWallet promises to help keep all of your important numbers together in one secure place.

This program's colorful, busy interface looks overwhelming at first, but there's an excellent Wizard to guide you through the process. The interface has a large central screen to view a selected record. Along the left side is a file tree that is dedicated to your virtual wallet and all the records it will contain. The top of the screen houses the commands that allow you to develop this wallet. Adding an item is … Read more

They're here--sort of. Twitter has launched the early beta phase of its "verified accounts" program, a background-check for celebrities and other prominent users of the service to weed out impersonators and fake accounts. If they pass the test, they get a graphic "badge" much like a PayPal verified account's.

"We're starting with well-known accounts that have had problems with impersonation or identity confusion," an explanation from Twitter read. "We may verify more accounts in the future, but because of the cost and time required, we're only testing this feature … Read more

Send to Gmail offers users an opportunity to quickly and easily save important documents and utilize Gmail's enormous capacity for storing info. The program was a breeze to use and even managed to exceed our expectations with its added features.

While not much to look at, Send to Gmail's interface is enhanced by its simplicity. It offered a screen to input your Gmail information and then a simple instruction on how to operate the program using your mouse. The Options Menu had a little more flair, utilizing big icons that perfectly showcased its features. Overall, the entire program … Read more

Account Xpress does what many programs--in particular, home budget programs--fail to achieve. Namely, the program manages to be both extremely powerful and easy to use. Account Xpress is a great fit for users who merely want to track their expenses and those who desire a detailed analysis of their monthly finances.

At first glance it's not entirely obvious where users should begin, but the Help file offers a very well-written Getting Started section that should have users up and running within minutes. The interface is divided into six sections, which are explained in detail in the Help file and … Read more