Software Reviews

Quicken Lawyer 2002 Personal Deluxe

Quicken

Suggested Retail Price: $69.95 or as low as $25.00 from Amazon.com!

Intuit (the Quicken people) has selected Nolo Press to distribute this updated legal software for ordinary folks like us. You do not have to be a computer genius to run the program which will take you through various and essential information that your family should be aware of. You can write your will and customize it to comply with the laws of your state. You can also make a new will whenever you change your mind.

A Living Trust is another programs that are available and it is easy to set up this sensible legal form. Also a Power of Attorney is in the program.

So many things that we forget should be done before we need it among which is a Living Will which will direct information and appoint someone you trust to pull or not to pull that plug. If you are incapacitated you will need someone who can make the health decisions for you. It's easy to produce this document. Then there is information that you should have for executor of your will. All this is included with the many legal forms that you might need for daily use.

In this deluxe edition you can find legal information on screen and in print. Among the special information that you will want to know about is to find out about the new estate tax law and how they affect you.

There is so much for so little. You will get the book that accompanies this software. The user's manual is by Ely Newman and a Legal Manual written by several attorneys. One Compact Disk will take you all through these programs. It also needs to be repeated that everything is written clearly and the program works very well.

Toy Story Print Studio

Disney Interactive

Suggested Retail Price: $19.95 or as low as $9.99 from Amazon.com!

Here's a rarity in software - a package that costs under ten bucks that does everything you could expect it to do! That's what you get with Disney's Toy Story 2 Print Studio. The program lets you make all sorts of printed items decorated with your favorite characters from Toy Story 2, including Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie, and the Three-eyed Alien.

The program takes you through a guided step-by-step process. First you choose the project - say, a party invitation or a picture frame. The screen fills with a blank template of the item with a palatte of clip art along the left-hand side. You simply drag and drop the picture elements onto the project. You can easily add text with selectable typeface, color, size, and style, background designs with a Toy Story theme, and lots more. I've had a blast making signs, posters, and envelopes with this program. Its the best thing I've bought for my computer in several years!