At first glance, DiskImage 2 seems like a simple and rapid imaging application. It takes just a few clicks to make an image and mount it virtually, and the PE CD is easier than creating a boot disk.

Although most anti-virus and anti-spyware tools use heuristic techniques to try to block malware based on its behaviour, Norton's new product goes one step further in basing its diagnosis solely on what an app does, rather than what it is

Two of the most important tools for a hard drive are a decent back-up tool and a partitioning tool. Paragon's Hard Disk Manager is an amalgam of its Drive Backup and Partition Manager programs (available separately), so it offers all this functionality in spades.

Optimising hard disks and cleaning them up is an essential PC process. Why Windows' native products are so poor is anyone's guess, but a dedicated solution is always better.

For almost a year and a half, Parallels had the Mac virtualisation sector to itself. But now it has competition from the biggest name in the market: VMware

This is a duplicate file finder with a customisable range of ways to search out redundant duplicate files. It's especially good at handling the files once found. We put it to work on a heavily used PowerBook G4 with 64GB of files

Webroot added Sophos anti-virus to its package in version 5.2 and now the version 5.5 update includes email scanning. You may well think that such a feature should have been included from the start but in some respects this seems to show Webroot's thinking about computer security.

We approached Norton 360 with some trepidation, as previous Symantec products have been large intrusive suites that take over your laptop without so much as a by-your-leave, but we were in for a pleasant surprise.

McAfee wheels out the big guns with its Total Protection 2007 suite that lists a total of ten different features that include the usual anti-virus and anti-spymare/malware, but which goes on to 'improve performance' by giving your laptop a spring clean.

iolo technologies is so achingly cool that it doesn't use capital letters in its name. Its System Shield 3 is similarly pared down as the software contains only the bare essentials of anti-virus, anti-spyware and a firewall for online protection.

AVG has an interesting take on the pricing for its Internet Security 7.5 suite as the default price of £42 (inc. VAT) covers you for two years. If you choose, you can pay £32 to keep one laptop updated for one year and there are discounted rates for two, three or five laptops for one and two years.

It's hard to argue with Parallels' might. It's the leading VM on OS X by a long shot, and the features just keep rolling in. Perhaps the most significant is 3D graphics support, which would theoretically let you play your Windows games under virtualisation

Yosemite Backup isn't an established name in the home market - traditionally, it's aimed at businesses. Yet since the company's acquisition of FileKeeper's software, a home and small business product is available

In a perfect world Windows would back up your entire PC automatically, and restoring it to a working state would take no more than a few clicks when required.

Genie Backup Manager has been up there with the best for years. Its wizard-based approach, support for a range of back-up media and expandability thanks to hundreds of plug-ins has always made it worth considering, but there have been question marks

Obvious gimmicks wear off pretty quickly. Indie band Keane thought they were going to change the face of music by releasing a single on a USB drive rather than CD, but it never really caught on. It's much the same with PC security.

Most people use one of three browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox or (for Mac users) Safari. However, there are a few browsers with small market shares but devoted audiences

If you have owned your laptop for a time, it is likely you've noticed it runs slower than it did. This is due to the nature of computers - scattered programs and extra Registry entries all aim to slow you down.

Latest statistics put wireless adoption in laptops at 95 per cent. So even if you don't intend on using the technology, you're likely to find it in your laptop. And setting up a network at home has never been easier

We admit that we had high expectations for the latest release of Spyware Doctor, version 5.0. Our expectations were tempered prior to testing, however, by the fact that things change quickly in the anti-spyware sector

They might have tiny screens, but 5G iPods and Sony PSPs are commonly used for watching video. Even mobile phones can be used to watch video on the go. With so many formats around, getting videos to work on your portable device can be tricky

Over the past few years Webroot's Spy Sweeper product has established itself as one of the leaders in the battle to keep PCs free and clear of spyware threats. The product has performed amazingly well when we've looked at it in the past

Anti-Spyware 3.5 is the latest version of the program originally born of the once popular Intermute Spy Subtract product. Boasting a simple, clean interface and solid real-time protection facilities, the program offers a number of cool add-ons.

Back in the day, one of the biggest problems with creating an effective back-up routine was finding enough space to put everything. With the advent of big, fast and ever cheaper USB2 external hard drives, that's no longer a problem.

Spybot S&D has been around since the dawn of spyware, and today's version looks virtually identical to the original major release. Yet whatever Spybot S&D lacks in style, it more than makes up for in performance.