.KEYWORD utilities
.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT REVIEW
.TITLE Expand your functionality with this collection of useful programs
.FEATURE
.SUMMARY Adriana Rausch reviews Power Utilities from On Hand Software, a comprehensive assortment of 27 programs including financial tools, system utilities, calculators, and organizational databases.
.AUTHOR Adriana Rausch
Power Utilities from On Hand Software (at http://www.onhandsoftware.com), offers a comprehensive assortment of programs for beginning and intermediate Palm OS handheld users. With 27 programs to choose from, it’s easy to find at least half a dozen programs that will make you more organized and productive when you’re on-the-go.
The programs fall into four categories: financial tools, system utilities, calculators, and organizational databases. A few programs from each category are described below.
.H1 Financial tools
You can use AccounTrak to organize and manage your financial account information. With a few taps, you can enter transactions in an unlimited number of accounts and always have an updated balance. It’s pictured in Figure A.
.FIG A AccounTrak organizes your financial account information.
ConsulTrak, meanwhile, enables consultants to track their billed hours, clients, and earnings.
.H1 Calculators
CalcMetric converts amounts to and from metric measurements. You can calculate monthly loan payments with CalcLoan, and you can calculate a tip and tax and/or split the bill among several people with CalcTip. The CalcLoan application is pictured in Figure B.
.FIG B CalcLoan calculates monthly loan payments.
.H1 System utilities
Cut&Paste is a cut, copy, and paste utility for your Palm handheld that includes a clipboard. TimeTrak turns your handheld into a stopwatch with countdown capability. For security, you can secure your Palm computer with a password using PalmLoc or encrypt and decrypt memos with MemoCrypt, pictured in Figure C.
.FIG C Encrypt and decrypt memos with MemoCrypt.
.H1 Databases
You can organize your shopping trips with ShopTrak (a shopping list that you can sort by store) and GiftTrak (a list of gift recipients and due dates. Both programs have checkbox features for quick updating. Students and teachers can record their schedules, assignments, class notes, and grades using SchoolTrak.
Health-related databases include FitTrak, RxTrak, and FoodTrak, which allow you to record your eating and exercise habits as well as organize your prescriptions, refills, and dosage information. RxTrak is pictured in Figure D.
.FIG D Track your prescriptions with RxTrak.
AutoTrak is where you store fuel, maintenance, and repair information for your vehicles. You can record game scores using ScoreTrak while CodeTrak keeps all your passwords and codes in one easily accessible place.
.H1 Final analysis
The main weakness of the programs in Power Utilities lies in the simplicity of their interfaces. There are no fancy or colorful features to take advantage of the graphics capabilities found on some of the newer machines. But with simplicity comes less memory required to run the programs and compatibility with older machines.
Also, programs such as PortfolioTrak and InvenTrak are not for professional traders with huge portfolios or business owners with thousands of inventory items. These programs are geared more towards everyday users who want a quick and easy way to track their IRA stocks or media collection, for example.
I purchased Power Utilities for the loan calculator and the expense-tracking feature of ConsulTrak. As a consultant, ConsulTrak helps me sort my work-related expenses by whether or not reimbursements have been billed and/or paid. But I have also used the metric converter frequently when traveling, as well as the password vault to store information about all my online accounts with their corresponding passwords.
Overall, Power Utilities offers you a wide variety of useful tools for your handheld. Unlike similar "collection" programs currently available, there’s no shareware or useless freeware fluff in Power Utilities. While not the most comprehensive and powerful programs in and of themselves, they’re easy to use and the collection is a well-rounded introduction to the possibilities of the Palm OS.
I bought Power Utilities for $19.99 at Office Depot, but according to the publisher, it’s also available from http://www.handango.com, http://www.amazon.com, and from the publisher’s Web site at http://www.onhandsoftware.com. It works with all Palm OS handhelds using Palm OS 3.0 or higher.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on Power Utilities, visit http://www.onhandsoftware.com.
For more information on Palm handhelds, visit http://www.palm.com.
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.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO Adriana Rausch is a free-lance writer and editor/agent. She can be reached at arausch00@yahoo.com.
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?50@@.ee700a6
