Product Snapshots

When I am looking for the latest computer games, I often find new and interesting products. Product Snapshots gives you a quick overview of the most useful products I have found during the last month. (Please note that these are first-look reviews; I have not conducted exhaustive testing.)

NETROAD NEWSSERVER

NetRoad NewsServer from Ukiah Software Inc. is a NetWare Loadable Module (NLM) that you can use to configure an IntranetWare, NetWare 4, or NetWare 3 server as a fully functional Network News Transport Protocol (NNTP) server. With NetRoad NewsServer, you can create public and private newsgroups on your NNTP server and perform other newsgroup-related tasks.

For example, if many users frequently access a particular newsgroup on the Internet, you can host this newsgroup on your NNTP server. The external NNTP server on which the newsgroup resides keeps this newsgroup up-to-date by transmitting news feeds, which contain new messages. Users can then access these messages on your NNTP server, and they can post their own messages. You, in turn, can transfer users' messages to the external NNTP server according to a schedule you specify, such as every night at 12:00 a.m. This solution saves bandwidth because users do not have to access the Internet to read or post messages.

To configure an NNTP server, you can use the Windows-based management utility that comes with NetRoad NewsServer. With this utility, you can add and remove newsgroups from your NNTP server, and you can set an expiration date so that messages are automatically deleted after a particular period of time. Because NetRoad NewsServer is integrated with Novell Directory Services (NDS), you can also use this utility to grant NDS users and groups rights to access the newsgroups on your NNTP server. However, you can grant rights through NDS only if you are running IntranetWare or NetWare 4. If you are running NetWare 3, you can grant rights through the bindery.

The management utility that comes with NetRoad NewsServer supports Windows 95, Windows NT Workstation 4.0, and Windows NT Server 4.0. In addition, NetRoad NewsServer supports all NNTP client software, such as Netscape Navigator, Netscape Communicator, Trumpet Newsreader, and Microsoft News.

You can purchase NetRoad NewsServer through retail channels beginning at the suggested retail price of U.S. $695, and you can download a 30-day trial version from http://www.ukiahsoft.com/eval.html. For more information about NetRoad NewsServer, visit Ukiah Software's World-Wide Web site (http://www.ukiahsoft.com). You can also call 1-800-988-5424 or 1-408-369-2890.

DRIVE IMAGE 1.01

Drive Image 1.01 from PowerQuest Corp. is a simple and extremely useful utility that allows you to create an image file of your hard drive. This image file records every configuration setting and keeps every byte of data in place. As a result, you can use the image file to back up and partition your hard drive. You can also use this image file if you want to move the information stored on your hard drive to a larger hard drive or if you want to install an operating system with the same configuration on multiple workstations across the network.

Drive Image 1.01 uses a patent-pending technology called SmartSector, which copies only the sectors that have been used on your hard drive. This technology makes the image file as small as possible, thus speeding up the imaging process and saving hard drive space. In addition, Drive Image 1.01 can perform diagnostic tasks, such as searching for bad sectors and checking the integrity of a hard drive.

Drive Image 1.01 supports DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows NT Workstation 3.51 and 4.0, and OS/2. You can purchase Drive Image 1.01 through retail channels at the suggested retail price of U.S. $69.95.

For more information about Drive Image 1.01, visit PowerQuest's web site (http://www.powerquest.com). You can also call 1-800-379-2566 or 1-801-437-8900.