BIOS: Technology Means Business

Microsoft has updated its popular Works Suite. Version 2006 includes six software titles in one affordable package to help consumers get more out of the home PC. The suite comes with Works 8, Word 2002, Encarta Encyclopedia Standard 2006, Digital Image Standard 2006, Money 2006 Standard, and Streets & Trips Essentials 2006.

Nearly half of all Americans say they turn to their PC to achieve personal goals, such as getting more organised, staying in touch with friends and family, and being more productive. With Microsoft Works Suite 2006, families should be able to easily organise hectic schedules, plan hassle-free road trips, pay household bills, enjoy digital photos, explore the world and more.

'Whether you're a multitasking mom or dad, your time is precious,' said Kim Schaefer, product manager for Works Suite at Microsoft. 'Microsoft Works Suite 2006 offers families the best tools to quickly accomplish the things they need to do so they can spend more time enjoying the things they want to do.'

Works Suite 2006 provides tools to accomplish everyday tasks and long-term goals. Digital Image Standard 2006 has been improved to make digital photography fun and easy. New features include video support, hierarchical keywords and labels for organising photos and video clips, hover thumbnail for browsing through photos, and a sharing disc function for burning CDs to share with friends and family.

Money 2006 Standard helps you to see where the money is going and keep track of your day-to-day finances. New to Money is the Multiple Bill Payment tool that provides the option to pay multiple bills from numerous accounts all at once directly from the Bill Calendar. The enhanced Spending Tracker enables you to set up your budget your way with common and customisable spending categories.

Encarta Encyclopedia Standard 2006, the world's leading encyclopaedia brand, sports a new look and feel to find the content you are looking for more quickly. With a new sorting tool, you can now sort information by relevancy or group results by type, such as article or medium.

Streets & Trips Essentials 2006 provides maps to more than 1.7 million points of interest in the US and Canada (expect a Europe version soon), making it a neat tool for planning family vacations or just running errands around town. New and enhanced features include updated data for both the US and Canada, new Locate Me technology for lost travellers, and Night Map Style for easy reading when travelling at night.

Works 8 offers 'essential' productivity tools including word processing, spreadsheet, database, calendar, e-mail, Internet tools and more. You can also manage schedules and share personal appointments with iCalendar Format Support, and use the View Together feature that combines or overlies any grouping of calendars, making it easy to manage multiple schedules displayed in different colours. Finally, Word 2002 lets you create professional-quality documents and is an ideal word processing program for home, school or work.

Microsoft Works Suite 2006 is available in stores for $99.95, before a $20 (US) ($40 CAN) mail-in rebate. More information about Microsoft Works Suite 2006 can be found here