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Show Locating programs is seek-and-find mission jyjBusiness Computer by Franklynn Peterson and Jud.v K-Turkel Do you have a drudge job you know a computer ought to be able to handle but nobody's been able to point you to the right program? Don't give up without a search! If you know where to look, you can find a program to do darn near anything. We've got a library shelf full of thick directories that list and describe thousands of programs for computers small and large. Many public and university libraries stock the same volumes. Without leaving home, you can search two computerized software directories carried by Dialog on-line database (1-800-227-1927 outside California, 1-800-982-5838 within). If you still can't find what you need, write to us. Here are some specialized programs we helped other readers find. ZylNDEX is great for anyone who needs to make an index of important words in a manuscript. It reads through just one file, or many at a time, and alphabetically lists all but "noise" words like "the" and "and." Once you've got the index, you can use it to search your files as easily as you search a professional electric library like Dialog. Ask ZylNDEX to look for key words "microcomputer" plus "software" and it will name all files that contain both words (or display the text if you like). Typing "microcomputer software" pulls out just the files that have the two key words side by side. ZylNDEX knows enough to recognize recog-nize various combinations and permutations as being the same word, for instance, data base, database, data-base and databases. Tts maker offers several versions (for computer accounting software. j: When PlusPlan sold for $1,500, company controllers, CPAs and financial speculators bought it like j hotcakes. Now that it's down to $695, j it's an accounting steal! ! A financial analysis tool on the ' j order of the electronic spreadsheets, SuperCalc3 and 1-2-3, PlusPlan includes a built-in programming ' ' language that automates financial ' : chores such as consolidations, " : projections and currency conversion. ' For simple jobs, it includes preprogrammed routines. The big plus in PlusPlan is this: J Written by accountants, it was designed to keep users from doing i anything that's not in strict accounting balance. Not so with i: j 1-2-3 or SuperCalc3; if you're not careful with formulas, these other programs crank out misleading results. (DH & S, 1114 Ave. of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10036. : 212-790-0670.) The authors will answer questions and send a checklist of available back issues. Send a stamped, self-addressed self-addressed envelope. : Comparative details on computer ; price and performance are found in a new 4,000-word special report, "Your Personal Computer Buying Guide." For your copy, send $3 for Report FP02, in care of the Park Record, P.O. Box 3688, Park City, UT 84060. Make checks payable to Newspaperbooks. ' You can read back issues of these ' columns on NewsNet's on-line data base: for details, 1-800-345-1301. 1985 PK Associates, Inc. Distributed by Tribune Media Services, Inc. 1 I $145, $295 and $695), depending on how many files you want to index at a time, and says it'll soon sell an even more versatile version. (ZyLAB Corp., 233 E. Erie St., Chicago, HI. 60611. 312-642-2201.) Total Project Manager (TPM), from Harvard Software, is a computerized Girl or Guy Friday. But it doesn't just remember important dates and remind you of deadlines. It's the ideal tool for managers who need to track the combined progress or lack thereof of several departments of personnel, person-nel, whether in construction, software soft-ware writing or curriculum develop-. develop-. ment. You enter such things as budget breakdown, projected milestones, dates for completion of subprojects and all other data you need for long-range supervision and planning. plan-ning. TPM organizes it all and graphically maps each project. When you install the program, it asks you to fill in holidays and special days off on what it calls a "wall calendar," and it takes those dates into account in its planning. If you designate a subproject as being "critical" something that will slow everything else down if finished late TPM assigns it a "critical" path and flags it for you. Yon ran see why, with minimum advertising but lots of word-of-mouth, it has become a top seller among specialized business software. soft-ware. $495. (Harvard Software Inc., 521 Great Road, Littleton, Mass. 01460. 617-486-8431.) VCN Execuvision (EV) turns small computers into grandiose commercial commer-cial artists. Unlike so many draw-it-yourself graphics programs we've seen and rejected, Execu-Vision's Execu-Vision's results avoid amateurism because its on-disk libraries of images are drawn by professional commercial artists. The program works like this: You scan through a picture library and select an image to illustrate your report, newsletter or presentation. You can modify its shapes or colors if you like, and add headline or caption type. That done, you can photograph the screen to make a slide or print it using a plotter or graphics printer. EV includes an impressive variety of type faces, and each image library comes with a catalog showing black-and-white renditions. $395 for the program, $95 for each of 19 image libraries. (Visual Communications Communica-tions Network Inc., 238 Main St., suite 324, Cambridge, Mass. 02142. 617-497-4000.) PlusPlan was written by the Big-8 accounting firm, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, to fill a hole it saw in small |