ACCOUNTING

M.Y.O.B. Small Business Accounting 6.0
M.Y.O.B.'s versatile business accounting program adds a visual flair to your number-crunching with graphics touches like financial flowcharts. This package is designed for businesses that need to track inventory and issue recurring bills. The latest version adds a report customizer, job-management functions, better payroll tracking and helpful pop-up cue cards. It also lets you design your own forms or customize the more than 100 included templates. M.Y.O.B. with Payroll, a companion product, features a complete payroll management system, as well as standard accounting features. $79.95; M.Y.O.B. with Payroll, $124.95 BestWare, 800-322-MYOB, 201-586-2200. Winfo #618. Go To Full Review

Microsoft Small Business Financial Manager
Microsoft's Small Business Financial Manager deftly intertwines an accounting system's information with a spreadsheet's capabilities. An Excel add-in, Analysis Pack adds Accounting to Excel's main menu and offers wizards to get you rolling. The Import Wizard asks you to locate your accounting data, then creates a mirrored version in an Excel file. A Report Wizard offers a complete set of standard financial reports that let you choose from several subreports in each category as well as Financial Ratio and Sales Analysis reports. $99.95 Microsoft Corp., 800-426-9400, 206-882-8080. Winfo #617. Go To Full Review

Peachtree Complete Accounting
Peachtree Complete Accounting can help a small-to-medium-sized business streamline its accounting chores. In addition to standard accounting features, Peachtree handles complex details that used to be the purview of mainframes, especially for sales and receivables. You can ship and track partial quantities against a sales order, or follow drop shipments (products to your customer's customer). The program prints pick lists or packing slips and can add freight charges. Peachtree Complete Accounting can be networked right out of the box, so it's easy to distribute accounting responsibilities. $199; upgrade, $139 Peachtree Software, 800-428-9987, 770-724-4000. Winfo #620. Go To Full Review

QuickBooks Pro 5.0
QuickBooks Pro 5.0's new Navigator offers a graphics flowchart of major processes (Sales and Customers, Purchases and Vendors, and so forth). Click on part of the diagram, and QuickBooks goes to the appropriate data-entry form. Improved customization features include a Layout Designer for building customized invoices, cash sales forms, statements, credit memos and purchase orders. QuickBooks Pro provides specialized features, such as project billing based on milestones, dates or completion percentage. Online bill payment (for a monthly fee) and electronic banking (if your bank participates) are available. QuickBooks 5.0, $99; QuickBooks Pro 5.0, $199 Intuit, 800-4-INTUIT, 415-944-6000. Winfo #621. Go To Full Review

Quicken ExpensAble 2.0
ExpensAble makes travel expense reporting easy with trip envelopes into which you "stuff" your receipts. Type in each expense item using smart pull-down menus that remember past entries. The Trip Genie steps you through the entire expense report process, prompting for each expenditure and offering point-and-click menus for quick entries. The program's Hotel Genie makes it easy to sort and allocate hotel bill charges, such as room, phone calls and meals. Analytical reports show expenses by type, merchant and payment method, and can be customized. $49.95 Intuit, 800-816-8025, 415-944-6000. Winfo #622. Go To Full Review

TurboTax for Business
A small business' best friend, TurboTax for Business on CD-ROM lets you install one of four versions: the regular 1040 (for a small business that uses Schedule C), Form 1120 (corporations), Form 1120S (subchapter S corporations) or Form 1065 (partnerships). Use the EasyStep interview method or the brute-force, fill-in-the-form method. Either way, TurboTax does all the complex arithmetic and fills in all related forms. TurboTax includes online reference books as well as its own tax tips and complete IRS publications. $69.95 Intuit, 800-446-8848, 619-784-4400. Winfo #623. Go To Full Review

CONTACT MANAGERS

ACT 3.0
The granddaddy of contact managers, ACT offers updated features with a new, two-pane interface. The top pane offers standard contact management fields. The bottom window's tabs let you switch among pages that include contact notes, history, group information and more. Use the e-mail address field and a simple command to create mail-merged Internet messages via Microsoft Exchange, or use e-mail to send contact information to colleagues, who can merge it into their own ACT databases. $199.95 Symantec Corp., 800-441-7234, 408-253-9600. Winfo #624. Go To Full Review

GoldMine 3.2
This 24-carat contact manager is a must for corporate teams that need to share client and prospect information. The program's e-mail engine makes it easy to send messages and create mail-merge documents with Microsoft Word. You can capture information from a form on your Web site and import it as an activity directly into the program. The form's Submit button executes an included CGI script, then sends the data as an e-mail attachment. Single user, $295; five users, $895; free upgrades GoldMine Software Corp., 800-654-3526, 310-454-6800. Winfo #625. Go To Full Review

Janna Contact Personal 1.0
This frill-free PIM still has many leading-edge features. Contact Personal is fast, with features that let you perform speedy lookups using a wide variety of search criteria. Its well-designed layout is easy to use; import and export options are exceptional. You can include unlimited telephone fields and assign multiple categories to a contact. Contact Personal automatically opens a note when you place a call and then enters the start time. $49 Janna Systems, 800-268-6107, 408-356-6647. Winfo #626. Go To Full Review

WinSales 3.2
This version of WinSales adds powerful tools for handling contact data at any point in the sales process. You can build a quote for a client or branch through a telemarketing script. Wizards assist you through operations, and the NetSync feature lets you synchronize your files using the Internet. WinSales has become an adept sales automation program, handling so many tasks automatically that you'll think you're running a mainframe app. Single user, $495; five users, $1,495; NetSync, $99 per remote user; Trigger Development Kit, $995 per seat WinSales, 206-453-9050, fax 206-453-9020. Winfo #627. Go To Full Review

DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT

OmniForm 2.0
With OmniForm 2.0, function follows forms. OmniForm accepts paper-form images--either from a scanner or a fax machine--then analyzes the images' content and develops an electronic version, with live data for each page. It adds data-entry fields and builds a database to store responses. You can also build calculations into a form and reduce the amount of human intervention required to process form-based data. OLE support lets you fill forms with data in other formats, such as Excel spreadsheets. OmniForm's wizards clearly explain your options, starting with the first scan or fax. $149 Caere Corp., 800-535-SCAN, 408-395-7000. Winfo #628. Go To Full Review

OmniPage Pro 7.0
Turning printed pages into digital text has never been easier--or more accurate. OmniPage Pro 7.0's four-step process to turn hard copy into editable text is straightforward. First, acquire the page image, then view the document, select the area for OCR conversion and perform the conversion. After recognition, check for questionable text. OmniPage does a good job of autodetection, making it faster and easier to scan only selected areas of documents. $499; upgrade, $129 Caere Corp., 800-535-SCAN x110, 408-395-7000. Go To Full Review

Xerox Pagis Pro 97
Xerox Pagis Pro 97 combines its PerfectScan imaging technology, TextBridge Pro OCR software and Verity's Topic search engine into a document management package. Pagis Pro 97 captures, enhances and saves scanned documents in a portable file that shows up in an Explorer window. Use Topic to locate any scanned document or file. View and annotate your scanned documents with text notes, arrows and a highlighter. When you drag and drop scanned documents into a word processor, Pagis Pro 97 will OCR and reformat them. $169 Xerox Corp., 888-99-PAGIS, 508-977-2000. Winfo #630. Go To Full Review

HUMAN RESOURCES

HR Task Counselor 2.3
This program is an in-depth human resources management tool. Switchboard, the main screen, offers buttons (Application Counselor, Hiring Counselor and so forth) to open specialized sections, each with a subset of topics. Application Counselor organizes applicant and job data, and Hiring Counselor provides a new-hire checklist. Employee Counselor works with current employees and provides performance and progress reviews, and a performance log to track employee activities. Task Counselor will help keep your company in compliance with employment regulations. $495 JamLogic Designs, 800-750-8113, 303-690-8113. Winfo #631. Go To Full Review

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

SureTrak Project Manager 1.5
SureTrak Project Manager 1.5 includes tools for budgeting both labor and material resources, capabilities rarely found in such an easy-to-use project manager. The interface has industry-specific templates and wizards to steer you through a sea of activity codes and data dictionaries. SureTrak was one of the first project managers to include workgroup capabilities. This version improves upon its predecessor's e-mail update features with direct-mail addressing, which broadcasts multiple messages simultaneously. $399; upgrade, $99 Primavera Systems, 800-973-1335, 610-667-8600. Winfo #632. Go To Full Review

TIME MANAGEMENT

OnTime Enterprise for NetWare 3.0
OnTime's client/server architecture offers enterprise-worthy time management features. OnTime Enterprise for NetWare 3.0 takes full advantage of the existing network user database to make adding new users to this scheduling system a snap. The intuitive client interface lets you set everything related to an appointment in one place. Set a date by picking it directly from a calendar, or use the VCR-like controls that make finding a particular date simple. Use the timeline control to adjust an appointment's time and duration. Three users, $427; 10 users, $994; 100 users, $5,616 Campbell Services, 800-559-5955, 810-559-5955. Winfo #633. Go To Full Review

Personal Productivity: Introduction