Free PDF To Word Doc Converter 1.1

Converting PDFs to Word-compatible formats while not paying for the privilege nor getting scammed can feel a bit like herding cats. Free PDF to Word Doc Converter gets a few things wrong, but eventually will land you the DOC output you want.
Impressively, it offers one of the cleanest and most accurate free PDF-to-DOC conversions around. Users can change the output path and name, convert an entire document or just specific pages, and ditch images in the source PDF if need be. From there, it goes a bit downhill. The option to open the output DOC in WordPad didn't function when we tested it, nor did the All Pages button. The program autodetects the number of pages in the PDF, though, so when you choose Page Number you're presented with essentially the same feature as All Pages.
The other big frustration is that while the program is free, after five conversions you're asked to answer a math question a bit harder than the average human-input detecting security feature. There's also no support for batch conversion, nor for PDFs locked behind passwords. These frustrations are not minor, but neither was the pitch-perfect conversion that the program put out. If you're planning on using Free PDF to Word Doc Converter, prepare for a bumpy ride but a smooth landing.

PDF to Excel Converter 2.4

PDF to Excel Converter 2.4 Phoenix Word Recovery works in Vista and Windows 7 and supports Word versions from 2000 to 2007. It has a fully indexed Help file as well as online support and a knowledge base. The registered version is available in a variety of licensing options. If you depend on Word, it's worth it to check out Stellar Phoenix Word Recovery.
Convert PDF document to excel document. Render text, images to one or more excel worksheets. Choice what you wand to transfer (text, image, or both). No needed third party components.You can select fontname and fontsize to fill cells.
Version 2.4 is a bug-fixing release.
What's new in this version:
Version 2.4 is a bug-fixing release.

Stellar Phoenix Word Recovery 3.1

Stellar Phoenix Word Recovery 3.1 This program's job is to find Word docs gone on walkabout in your system and, if they're damaged or corrupted, restore them to a previous state, including all links, OLE objects, and document information. The clean but very basic interface opens with quick-start instructions in the main display and a small pop-up for adding files to the left-hand tree view. Tabs display full documents as well as Filtered and Raw text. The program won't do its thing if Word is running, a minor annoyance. Clicking the Repair button almost instantly prepared our Word doc for saving, though a pop-up in the trial version noted that we'd need to register the program to save the recovered document. A log view recorded the action, a helpful feature when recovering multiple documents.

ESET's NOD32

ESET's NOD32 is practically unimpeachable. Version 4 of the popular and effective antivirus and antispyware builds on that rep, emphasizing its community-sourced ThreatSense for preventing attacks before they occur, a slick interface, and some of the highest independently-tested detection rates married to low rates of false positives.
Installation is clean and straightforward. Greatly improved from its humble beginnings as separate scanners that once littered the desktop, NOD32 can be toggled between standard features and more advanced options. Scans were neither blazingly fast nor excruciatingly slow, but the real-time defenses produced no noticeable drags on system performance. NOD32 has consistently scored near the top of several independent antivirus testing organization ratings for finding the most malware. An uninstallation option is available, requiring a reboot. However, we found residual system files and Registry settings that had to be deleted by hand.
If you're confident in your clicking habits, you might not necessarily miss the firewall and spam filter that ESET built into its Smart Security suite that's based on NOD32. Even without them, though, NOD32's speed, accuracy, and lack of impact on resources make it a must.
Microsoft Word documents are susceptible to corruption and loss from a variety of causes, including viruses and other attacks, system crashes, software incompatibility, and even media read errors and other inexplicable events. Stellar Information Systems' Phoenix Word Recovery Software can help users recover and repair damaged Word documents. It doesn't promise to recover every lost document, but it can undo a wide range of damage.

Norton AntiVirus 2010 version

In the Norton AntiVirus 2010 version of its well-known antivirus program, Symantec continues to build on the unexpected progress it made last year. In addition to maintaining the quick load and scan times, and significantly smaller system footprint, Norton 2010 includes a behavioral detection engine based on both behavior and reputation.
Called Quorum, this new engine doesn't adversely affect Norton's performance--a major concern after years of system-crippling sluggishness. It works in concert with Norton Insight, introduced last year as a whitelist-style guard for ''trusted'' files. By examining your files and how they behave--both locally and when trying to access the Internet--and comparing them with other Norton users, Symantec claims that it offers better protection than its competitors. Like its competitors who also have behavioral detection systems, however, Norton allows you to opt out of anonymously submitting your data without sacrificing the protection that Quorum provides. Third-party detection and removal ratings are not available for this new version, but last year's results placed Norton in the upper echelon for efficacy.
Norton AntiVirus lacks the premium services offered in Norton Internet Security. These include a firewall, parental controls, Wi-Fi protection for unsecured hot spots, and identity protection including antiphishing tools and browser search result authentication for Internet Explorer and Firefox. Norton AntiVirus also offers only one license, instead of the three that come with its bigger brother. It does offer the same support network, lacking a searchable knowledge base but including e-mail, IM, phone support and the Symantec forums. The trial has been doubled from 15 days to 30. Norton's recent approach to performance and its continued efficacy make Norton AntiVirus 2010 a must-consider program for its class.

Avast Free 5

Avast Free 5, an A-list freeware antivirus app, provides the same steadfast protection of well-known, pricier antivirus programs. Avast is remarkable for both its effectiveness and arguably providing the most complete free antivirus on the market.
Avast Free 5, formerly known as the Home Edition, protects you with multiple guards. The antivirus, antispyware, and heuristics engines form a security core that also includes multiple real-time shields. The adjustable mail and file system shields join the pre-existing behavior, network, instant messaging, peer-to-peer, and Web shields. The behavioral shield is a common-sense feature, as security software publishers leverage their large user bases to detect threats early and warn others. Other new features include a silent-gaming mode and an "intelligent scanner" that only looks at changed files after establishing a baseline. The biggest change in Avast 5, though, is the interface. Gone is the music player default look, which was skinnable but confusing. In its place is a sleek UI that new users should find far more manageable. It's also Aero-friendly, with Explorer-style navigation buttons in case you can't remember where you tweaked a particular setting.
Avast's recent independent third-party testing has been notably solid, able to hold its own against better-known programs from Symantec and Microsoft. Avast 5 Free lacks features in the paid upgrade including antispam measures, a testing sandbox, a Script shield, and a firewall. Even without those, Avast Free 5 is probably the strongest, free antivirus currently available.
What's new in this version:
• Scanning and virus chest features now accessible even from Windows Safe Mode;
• Enhanced compatibility with various Winsock LSPs;
• Various improvements in the avast! sandbox;
• Improved cleaning of file infecting viruses;
• Added compatibility with screen readers;
• avast! should now be reasonably accessible to visually impaired users;
• Minor improvements in the installer, especially when upgrading from avast v4.8;
• avast! Screen saver

Avira's AntiVir

• Avira's AntiVir has been a player in the security world for some time; however, in 2008 its status boomed because of its remarkably strong detection rates. It still remains near the top of independent antivirus efficacy tests, but while the 2009 version more or less kept pace with the competition, the 2010 edition isn't quite as good as it could be.
• Both longtime and new users alike will note the pop-up ad that appears whenever a program update is downloading; it has been the unaddressed focus of critical and user dislike for several years. While the occasional ad that interferes with a user's work flow used to be considered tolerable for effective free security, that's no longer the case. Avira's lack of a silent-running entertainment-gaming mode is also noticeable, since so many free and paid competitors now offer the mode.
• Except for the most cosmetic of changes, the app's interface is unchanged from version 8. There are new icons on the program's toolbar, a new static image background, and that's about it. The main window offers a left-side navigation menu with drop-down menus and a central pane to see more detailed information. AntiVir opens to the Status menu, informing you of your last scan, your last definition file update, whether the real-time guard is active; however, Avira removed the premium upgrade link in this version. The Events screen logs changes to the program and the Reports tab keeps a history of threats--information from both sections can be exported.
• New features are a bit thin in the free version of Avira 10, too. A new generic-repair mode really just takes the choice out of how Avira tells you about the threats it has discovered. In version 9, you could be informed about them in the middle of a scan or at the end; however, now only the latter is available. Windows 7 users now have the capability to run a scan as an administrator directly from the interface, which is a smart, but minor improvement. Avira's installation sequence has been revamped, and now only takes users through five windows. Theoretically, this means it's a five-click installation, but new users will have to complete the registration form. However, its installation file unpacking process appears faster, and you no longer have to reboot after the install.
• This isn't to say that AntiVir Free 10 isn't stuffed with robust features. The program offers a wide selection of scan customization, letting users fully scan both internal and external hard drives, run a preloaded scan--for rootkits, for example--or customize a scan. On a real-world computer, the full scan took about 1 hour and 12 minutes, which is average. Avira includes antispyware protections, scanning tech that can crack open "locked" files, improved internal security to prevent AntiVir's files from being maliciously altered, and one-click threat removal--baby-sitting was taken out in the last version.
• The Local Protection and Administration navigation options reveal the Scanner, Guard, Quarantine, and Scheduler features. Combined with the Configuration button located at the top of the central pane, users can customize scans as necessary. When Avira quarantines a file, its information is on display along with options to scan it again, restore, delete, and e-mail the file to Avira. The apps rebuilt heuristic engine retains the same choices from the previous version had, and it can be turned on or off in part or in full and offers three intensity levels. Not counting the lively user forums, Avira's included help features are good for a free antivirus app, with mouse-over information on each feature. The scheduler, once a major Avira selling point because it was light-years ahead of other free security suites, has now been caught up to by its competitors.
• AntiVir 10 doesn't require a special uninstallation tool, unlike many competitors do. In the end, Avira's free suite makes for an excellent backup suite, but its competitors have since caught up with or surpassed what it can do.