Good, but not like it used to be (PC Plus)

Name: Borat

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Product:	PC Plus
Date:	08/08/01 (81 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: HelpDesk section - the finest problem pages in any UK magazine!, Useful cover software

Disadvantages: Tutorials have gones down in quality, Not as useful for "techys" as it once was

I have been reading PCP ever since I got my first PC in 1992. Back then it was very much a techies mag, delving into subjects almost unheard of today, such as assembly language programming. Looking back at the help pages now is quite amusing, one reader wrote in asking why his screen kept flickering on his laptop "oh, just write a simple program in C. That'll fix it" was the reply. Fortunately using computers has become much simpler since then, and they have become more mainstream - you don't need two degrees to do anything more than type a letter! The magazine has therefore become less technical than it once was through necessity, but over the last couple of years the quality has dropped quite considerably. The magaizine has tried to become more accessible for everyone, and while it is still a serious user's mag, it has certainly been "dumbed down". There are more adverts and the technical pages have gradually diminished in volume. One of my favourite sections Paul Stephen's "web workshop", which practically got me into designing web pages and using DHTML has been changed from an advanced section to yet another beginner's tutorial on how to start creating web pages. This is fine as far as it goes, but so many of the other programming sections have gone the same way - do beginners tutorials really have a place in what is meant to be a more advanced user's magazine?

Now that I've finished having my little rant about the demise of what was once the daddy of all computer magazines, I'll take a more general look at it. Compared to the rest of the PC magazines on the market, it's still good, and better than most of the competition, which are full of adverts and short on content. While not what they were, the articles in PCP are still of a high standard and the reviews are very informative. There isn't an excessive amount of advertising (look at Computer Shopper if you want that!) and the mag a
lso covers hot topics in the computing world like no one else, such as "what does your software license actully mean?". One section that has avoided the editorial axe is the marvellous HelpScreen (now called HelpDesk, though no one really knows why) written by Ian Sharpe, who has been writing it ever since I can remember. It is one of the finest problem pages in any magazine (though PC Answers comes close) and just about every computing dilemma is covered from how to install four operating systems on one hard drive to adding a hotkey to menu options in Notepad (why you can't save files using Ctrl+S as standard I'll never know). It is always the first section I turn to and almost worth buying the magazine for on its own! It can solve problems you don't even know you've got.

The cover CDs (I've never looked at one of the DVDs yet) again, aren't what they were, but they still have more useful software on than any other UK mag that i've ever seen. If you are into programming they reqularly have compilers for most common languages, and are one of the few magazines that do this. They also have a very easy to use and fast HTML interface which runs in your web browser (IE4+ only though) unlike the pondorous and slow Macromedia interfaces used by pretty much everyone else. The CDs also contain useful tutorials as well as software, although sadly the brilliant web workshop section is no more!

Overall, though PCP has gone down in quality over the past eight years it is still one of the best computer magazines for the serious user, and well worth a read.

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