The whole process may need to be repeated hundreds of times over to finish a single photograph...even then, results often leave much to be desired, and rarely resemble 'real life colours' that we are used to seeing in colour photographs Even with all professional care and sophistication, it is common to get results depicting improper colour matches, over saturated colours, dull/ faded colours, or over-emphasized/ blurred edges.

The BlackMagic Difference

BlackMagic resolves all of above problems associated with colourizing black & white photos, and more. The system uses state-of-the-art Neural Net algorithms to provide dynamic parameterization. This means that user is not required to pick specific colour hues or associated values/ parameters - she/ he works by simply identifying 'type of object' to be coloured. BlackMagic then automatically performs needed calculations to continuously vary all required parameters, based on content of photograph/ region being colourized - all done in background transparent to user. This process ensures consistent as well as optimal selection of hue, brightness, saturation, opacity, etc. for colourizing any object/ region of image, without guess work that would otherwise have been required.

BlackMagic provides several tools, to most expeditiously apply RealLifeColour palettes to a monochromatic image. It is available in several versions, to suit every budget and need.

See software in action at http://www.black-and-white-to-color.com

Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta Although still in its beta version, Microsoft have done a good job with this software and for moment at least it is available for free download. Unfortunately, it will only work with Windows XP, 2000 or 2003 Server along with Internet Explorer 6. The software is easy to install, has an automated update feature, scheduling and also comes with some useful advanced tools such as Hijacker removal and a start-up editor. Typically of Microsoft, Hijacker removal tool resets your settings to Microsoft preferred settings i.e. MSN as your home page, MSN search as your preferred search engine and Internet Explorer as your browser but lets not be churlish. The software does a good job of seeking out both Spyware and Adware and will painlessly remove them.

Spybot Search and Destroy 1.3

Spybot is another free program and will work with all versions of windows and also does an excellent job of finding both Spyware and Adware on your hard drive. Free updates are available for download. We advise users to read through on-line tutorial provided. This gives good guidance as to using program but also is quite educational for those new to Spyware and Adware.

Lavasoft Ad-Aware Personal SE

Ad-Aware comes in both a free version (Personal SE) and a Pro version. It is well thought of in computer circles and seems to be a little quicker at scanning hard drives than both Microsoft Anti-Spyware and Spybot. Not all of programs that Ad-Aware finds are malicious in nature and it provides a grading structure of any likely threats that it finds.

In practice, it is probably wise to to use two of above programs to make sure that you have covered all possibilities. We would strongly advise that you make scanning of your hard drive for both Spyware and Adware part of your routine PC maintenance. The impact of either on PC performance can be quite marked and as build-up of this type of software on your hard drive usually occurs over a period of time the loss of performance is not always immediately apparent.

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