The ordinary computer home user, who might prefer to do as little as possible keeping the innards of their machine healthy, will still find it useful to pick up the latest (March 24) issue of PC Magazine.

It's the issue with magazine's annual Utility Guide, an index of software tools to help your machine work a little easier. Macintosh users will cynically say some of the utilities are interfaces which bring the Windows operating system up to scratch, but that's not true in the case of many of them.

The magazine has listed and reviewed over 225 utilities you can put on your machine. But watch out, you'll pack up your hard drive and drain your bank account.

What's more the magazine is very readable in rating different utilities and explaining what they do. It's a fascinating read for the non-technical computer user, as I'm sure it is for those who are.

First off, you'll find Windows already has some utility tools provided with the operating system, such as an uninstaller to get rid of programs you no longer want on your computer.

The magazine recommends users get an essential utility toolkit made up of five types of software in the categories of antivirus, troubleshooting, uninstaller, personal backup, and file compression.

While the reviewers describe all the main competitors in each category, the magazine's top pick among antivirus software is Symantec Corp.'s Norton AntiVirus 4.0 ($70 in the US).

Antivirus utilities scan your computer to protect your system from destructive programs created by thugs who want to beat up on it for fun. You may inadvertently download a vicious virus through the Internet or through an infected disk you got from someone who unwittingly had it on their computer.

In the troubleshooting category the `Editors Picks` are Cybermedia Inc.'s First Aid 98 ($40), and Network Associates Inc.'s Nuts & Bolts ($50). First Aid is for the novice user "who rarely make changes to their systems'', while Nuts & Bolts is for the "power users''. But for $10 more why not get what the magazine describes as the "most comprehensive troubleshooting utility currently available''? Troubleshooting utilities help you prevent or fix problems on your computer and may speed up its performance. Such a utility is a diagnostic tool which also reveals all sorts of information about your computer, allowing you to talk the talk at the best parties.

My favourite software category is the uninstaller, a key tool to save the packrat in all of us. My laptop is four months old and is already a mess with bits of programs all over the place. I'm afraid to trash anything for fear it might actually be important, or it might turn out to be useful in the future, or worse, I'll get rid of the wrong thing and screw up my computer. However the useless bits clog up the hard disk space, slow down the system, and might eventually cause conflicts with other software.

An uninstaller utility lets you safely get rid of unwanted files and old applications. PC Magazine picks Quarterdeck Corp.'s CleanSweep Deluxe ($60).

The program won't let you trash files essential to the system and creates links between all files in a program, according to the magazine's reviewer. A key feature in the age of the Internet is the program's ability to remove browser plug-ins, cookie files, cashe files and other unwanted stuff that latched on to your computer while you were surfing.

Now I only wish someone would invent such a utility for cleaning up the accumulated contents of my apartment.

In the personal backup utility category the magazine picks Seagate Software's Backup Exec ($99), or the company's Direct Tape Access ($79). A backup utility will save you time and money when your hard drive self-destructs, or if your computer gets stolen. The utility simple helps you create a mirror version of what's stored on your computer, and saves it on a set of floppy disks, on a tape drive, or another computer.

It's also useful to know that businesses which need to back up every day and don't have the time or space can now turn to Internet services which will do the hard work online for them. The price ranges from about $10 to $20 a month per machine -- rent for space on a storage computer in the US, or elsewhere.

You simply do the download using the Internet. And if you need the backup information, you retrieve it through the Internet.

PKZip 2.60 ($50) was the magazine's top choice in the file compression category. Such utilities allow users to compress files so they don't take up much memory space. A compression utility lets you put a huge file which wouldn't ordinarily fit on a floppy disk on to one. The utility also allows you to send large files over the Internet much faster, since they are smaller.

PC Magazine is similar to the Consumer Reports buying guides, which are put out by a nonprofit independent testing organisation. But while PC Magazine is a commercial operation it does aim at following the same principles of independence in testing and reviewing products. If you're thinking of buying a computer, printer, or other computer-related produce it's one of the better publications to look at before popping out the bucks.

You can go to the magazine's site at www.pcmag.com/features/utilities98/ for reviews of the utilities. For demos and free software go to www.pcmag.com/download. At the www.pcmag.com you'll also find the `Best of the Best`, the magazine's top picks in every product category, with explanations.

Don't forget to pay a visit to The Computer and Communications Expo 98, April 1 and 2 at Number 1 Shed.

Tech Tattle is a column which focuses on technology and other related issues.

Contact Ahmed at 295-5881 ext. 248 or 238-3854 if you have any ideas for topics.