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Don't waste your time with Splendid Desktop Helper

Although screensavers are no longer a necessity, many people still like to use them to customize their desktops. There's a screensaver for every taste, whether you like sports cars, nature, outer space, or slideshows utilizing your own images. And then there's Splendid Desktop Helper. We can't imagine that this train wreck of a program would appeal to anyone.

You'll want to pay close attention while installing Splendid Desktop Helper--should you, for some reason, choose to do so--because if you don't you'll also end up installing something called RebateRobot. Once we had the program installed, … Read more

Basic downloader

You don't have to have an Internet connection to enjoy your favorite online videos; there are plenty of ways to download files from YouTube and many other popular video sites. IE DownloadHelper is an Internet Explorer extension that makes the downloading process easy, although it doesn't have quite as many features as some similar programs we've encountered.

Once IE DownloadHelper is installed, it appears as a small blue arrow icon in the browser's status bar. When a downloadable video is detected on a Web page the arrow turns green. To download the video, simply right-click on … Read more

Tooth tutorial

Dental Helper is a basic tool that can help users become more familiar with dental instruments, procedures, and anatomy. When we say basic, we mean basic--there's nothing here that could be considered in-depth--but it's a good choice for users who are just beginning to learn about dentistry.

The program's interface is plain and intuitive, just an image of a tooth with eight buttons representing the program's features. Users can view photos and descriptions of common dental tools, learn which tools belong on specific trays, and get the basics of dental charting. A simple labeled diagram shows … Read more

Typing word helper

Typing Assistant provides the ability to autocomplete words and save time. With a minimum of frills and an impressively large dictionary, this program will shave minutes off writing.

This program's interface reminded us of the word-completing software present in text messaging, but still required a visit to the Help file's simple instructions for the basics. While its functionality proved to be initially distracting, we quickly grew to anticipate it. Once we wrote a few letters (for example, "Arr") a small screen popped up, providing a list of possible solutions (this example ranged from Arrack, Arrange, Array, … Read more

Robot as 'intelligent companion'

Where robots are concerned, it's always seemed to make sense that tasks would become increasingly specific. Whether it be detecting smoke or taking patients' temperatures, researchers have traditionally worked to refine their skills to make them more valuable.

In Japan, however, we've detected a trend toward bots geared toward more everyday tasks, such as washing dishes--perhaps to help that country's rapidly aging population. To that end, Japan's Raytron has developed a small "intelligent companion" that can help with such basic things as flipping light switches or turning on the telly, according to Akihabara … Read more