NowFUN!: The ''feel good'' enhancer of the year



Author: Jijnes Patel

Date: February, 1994

Keywords: Now Software utility program software review screen saver
clickchange

Text:
Now FUN! by Now Software is the latest in desktop enhancement. The
package comes complete with five different enhancers: FunScreenSaver,
FunCursors, FunColors, FunPictures, and FunSounds. With these five
combined your desktop can be customized to your needs.
     First things first; the installation of these five control panels
is the easiest thing possible. Just click on whatever you want to
install and it will do it for you. When you want to remove some or all
of the control panels just use the Installer to remove them. Note:
Total installation will take up about 9 megs of hard drive space and
about 150-300K RAM. The Installer keeps track of how much RAM and HD
space each control panel takes. The manual is 186 pages. Included is a
"quick and dirty" three page reference guide that will explain
everything you need to know.
     FunScreenSaver is an everyday screensaver that accepts all
AfterDark modules except the Star Trek modules (Sorry, Trekie fans). It
also takes up less RAM for those low RAM machines. Most of the modules
are "string type" modules, which don't take up much hard drive space. I
give this enhancer a C+. 
     FunColors allows you to change the colors of your windows, menus,
control panel, text color, and even the background. This control panel
does take up RAM though (about 60-70K). I give this enhancer a B,
mostly because there are shareware programs that do the same thing that
are less costly.
     FunPictures allows you to take an ordinary PICT file and paste it
in as your desktop background. It includes a randomizer to change the
background, from every minute to every hour. FunPictures has a unique
feature. You can load the PICT either into RAM [which takes a couple of
seconds to load (100K RAM)] or as a disk-based PICT [which loads the
PICT from the hard drive (6K RAM)]. This enhancer deserves a B+.
     FunCursors lets you customize your cursors; ranging from colors to
cursor animation. This is the coolest enhancer of them all. The cursors
are fun to look at and allow you to find the cursor a little easier
than the pre-set black arrow cursor. This enhancer deserves an A-.
     The final enhancer is FunSounds. This is exactly like the
share-ware program SoundMaster. You can assign a specific sound to
certain keys or actions. This control panel comes with 200 sound files!
I give this enhancer a well deserved A.
     Now FUN! has had problems with my extensions and these conflicts
can cause errors during startup. FunPictures patches into the system,
so if you install a program like F.A.S.T. you may have major problems. 
     The Now FUN! control panels that I liked the best and will be
keeping on my hard drive are FunCursors and FunPictures. The other
control panels have shareware versions which take up less space and
RAM.
     Now FUN! is available from Now Software listing for $69.00; or
through mail-order catalogs for about $45.00.      
     Now Software, Inc.
     319 S.W. Washington, 11th Floor
     Portland, OR 97204   Tele: (503) 274-2800   Fax: (503) 274-0670
     

Copyright © february, 1994 by Jijnes Patel