Microsoft Works Suite 2006 review: Microsoft Works Suite 2006

Microsoft Works Suite 2006

If you like Microsoft software and have light home-computing needs, you should enjoy Microsoft's Works Suite 2006. Its six bundled programs can help you organize photos, plan trips, inventory household items, and manage your finances, among other things. It's easy to zip between these tasks, though the initial layout of the suite is neither inviting nor intuitive, and you'll need to sacrifice vast chunks of PC memory at installation time. For more advanced tasks, you'll need to upgrade to the premium version of Works or to more recent versions of each app in the suite. Works Suite will fill the bill, though, for many household users who have basic computing needs and want to buy a bunch of tools at once.

The family-oriented Microsoft Works Suite 2006 is six programs in one: Digital Image Suite Standard 2006, Word 2002, Streets and Trips Essentials 2006, Money Standard 2006, Works 8, and Encarta 2006 Standard. The recommended Express Full installation took about an hour on our Windows XP test machine; you can also install the program on Windows 98 (Second Edition), Me, 2000 (SP4), or XP (Home or Professional). A typical installation consumes 1,520MB, but the complete installation requires a whopping 3.1GB minimum of disk space.

Works Suite 2006 displays icons for its apps alongside your calendar. The layout is clean, though we wish we could fill the white space with a personal image.

Once you open Works 2006, the Calendar tab dominates the screen with white space; we'd appreciate if you could import a picture of your own here. Five big buttons (Home, Templates, Programs, Projects, and History) line the top of the page, but these definitions can be fuzzy. For example, why do Birthday Card templates appear under the Programs button in the Word section and under the Templates button in the Card and Crafts section? A handy Quick Launch sidebar displays icons for five of the bundled programs and two Works 8 features: the faux-Excel spreadsheet and the database. To access the suite on the go, you can synchronize Works Suite with your Palm or Windows CE device.

Since Microsoft doesn't offer an upgrade discount, users of Works 2005 will probably want to pass on an upgrade--especially since the versions of Microsoft Works and Word remain the same. Still, the $99.95 Works 2006 is a bargain if you don't already have its programs, and a $20 mail-in rebate sweetens the price. Works Suite users can also receive a discounted upgrade to various flavors of Office--$239, for example, to upgrade to Office Standard.

Microsoft Works Suite 2006 features Digital Image Suite Standard 2006, which replaces last year's Picture It Platinum 10. Works also includes the 2006 versions of Money Standard, Encarta Standard, and Streets and Trips Essentials. Works Suite 2006 also contains the same Works and Word software as last year's suite.

Most of the programs bundled in Works Suite 2006 are solid but lightweight takes on their premium editions. If you wanted to burn images onto a DVD and browse Encarta Kids, for example, you would need to upgrade to the premium versions of Digital Image and Encarta.

Works Suite 2006 links exclusively to other Microsoft properties. For example, the "Explore the World Wide Web" link opens the Internet Explorer browser.

If you like Microsoft products and services, you'll appreciate the seamless integration of programs and Web sites within Works Suite 2006. However, if you frequent a range of Web sites, and your computer contains a mishmash of programs from different vendors, Works Suite is less efficient. To start, the Templates button covers a wealth of topics, such as Research and Education, but Web links go only to Microsoft sites or partners. The Home Loan Finder button, for example, takes you to the MSN Real Estate page. Finding resources outside Microsoft properties is up to you. You need to use Microsoft Outlook to e-mail people on your contacts list, and you need Outlook Express, Microsoft Hotmail, or AOL to e-mail digital images.

Within the suite, Works 8 is a lightweight home-organization tool. The Works database has a limited number of templates, but you can create your own. The Works spreadsheet doesn't have all of Excel's functionality, but it's fine for simple home tasks, such as adding up numbers in a column of expenses. Works Projects are essentially checklists of what to do when you plan a vacation, organize the household, and so on. Much of the information in Works 8 is available at various Web sites (the PowerPoint Viewer, for example, is free online), but Works 8 conveniently puts it all in one place, encouraging your inner organizer.

While the competing Corel WordPerfect Office 12 Home Edition offers the latest version of Corel's word processing and spreadsheet programs, Microsoft Works Suite 2006 makes you settle for Word 2002. Even if you have a newer version of Word on your computer, you can't link to it from within Works Suite, which can be annoying. Nor does Works Suite 2006 include any security software, unlike Corel Home Edition. Considering Works Suite's reliance on oft-hacked Outlook Express, perhaps it should.

Toll-free technical support for Microsoft Works Suite 2006 is available by phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which is a good deal. A knowledgeable technician promptly answered our call. Chat, e-mail support, and an online knowledge base are available online. After the first year, most e-mail and phone support costs $35 per request unless you have an existing support contract. For more help with the individual programs in Works Suite, each desktop program comes with a searchable help file. Microsoft also provides a user manual for Digital Image 2006, which would have been handy for the other apps in the suite too.