For many business managers who are making their first foray into researching ERP software, the subject can see daunting. Search the internet for "ERP software" and you’ll be inundated with dozens of pages of information and opinion; it’s a big subject and there is no shortage of commentators, experts and marketers, all vying for your attention and, of course, a share of your IT budget.

The good news is that despite the technical acronym, the basic principles of ERP software are easily defined and once understood, a business manager is in a solid position to begin considering the different options available to their company.

Exportizer is a simple tool for viewing, editing and converting databases.

The program has a freeware build which works with simple file-based database tables, including .db, .dbf, .txt, .csv, and .xml. The $29 commercial build adds support for multi-table database files and sources, including XLS, XLSX, XLSM, XLSB, MDB, ACCDB, HTML, GDB, IB, FDB, UDL, ODBC data sources and more.

Veteran drive monitor Hard Disk Sentinel has just been updated to version 5.0, the first major release in more than a year.

The Professional build gets a new "Repair disk drive" method which scans for weak sectors and forces the hard drive to stabilize problems, or reallocate sectors if necessary.

When it comes to taking notes on your computer or mobile, what platform do you choose? The bells, whistles and expense of Evernote or the pared back simplicity (and no subscription fee) of Simplenote?

If you’re a Mac or iOS user, the answer may lie somewhere in the middle. With that in mind, take a look at Bear 1.0.6, the self-titled "writing app for crafting notes and prose." It shares Simplenote’s "less is more" approach, but still manages to provide a richer array of tools than simple plain text notes.

It may be hard to believe, but many companies still rely on spreadsheets to manage their business. In fact, according to a survey, one in five businesses use them to communicate and track data internally. With big data, cloud and SaaS technologies at our fingertips (literally), why are companies still using them to get important work done?

A new TrackVia survey sheds some light on this phenomenon. It reveals that business and IT executives feel that current enterprise software is too expensive and inflexible, overly time-consuming, or excessively complicated to adopt. Due to this reality, employees have no other choice than to resort to emailing spreadsheets around to get their work done.

To make it easier for enterprises to install Windows 10 updates and perform maintenance tasks during off-hours, Microsoft has introduced Wake on LAN support on Surface devices connected to wired networks through a Surface Dock, Surface Docking Station or Surface Ethernet Adapter.

The Wake on LAN support can be leveraged through device management tools like System Center Configuration Manager, and is available for the Surface 3, Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book, paired with any of the aforementioned accessories.

O&O Software GmbH has unveiled O&O AutoBackup 6.0, a major new version of its file-based backup and sync tool for Windows.

Version 6.0 adds support for advanced job management, restructures the user interface and backup process, plus includes further minor improvements to make backing up data easier and safer.

Binary Nights has released ForkLift 3.0 for macOS. The dual-pane file manager and file transfer client has been two years (and six months of beta testing) in the making, and has been completely rewritten from the ground up in Swift.

The app is designed to be used as an alternative to Finder for specific operations -- it’s not a direct Finder replacement (although can be set as the default file viewer); instead, open the app from the Applications menu to open its main window.

Windows ransomware may make all the headlines, but other platforms are vulnerable too. The first Mac ransomware was uncovered last year, and it’s only a matter of time before the next one strikes.

Little Flocker ($19.95) protects your Mac with a firewall-like file system monitor, enabling you to decide which apps have access to confidential files and system resources.

Painnt is a Prisma-type app for Windows 10, Android and iOS which transforms your favorite photos into works of art.

Yes, yet another one. But wait -- the app has some interesting extra touches which could make it worth your time.

Duality Software has released Calendarscope 9.0, a major update for its flagship scheduling application.

New Outlook support enables importing calendars and tasks directly from an Outlook .pst file.

Free-for-personal-use partition manager MiniTool Partition Wizard 10 has shipped with extended GPT and exFAT support.

The new build adds handy migration features, including the ability to convert system disks from MBR to GPT, or copy an MBR disk to GPT.

Veteran security vendor Lavasoft has announced that it is rebranding to adaware.

The flagship adaware antivirus was just updated to version 12, gaining a redesigned interface, enhanced protection and faster scans.

These days, the threats posed to your PC have never been greater. It’s no longer enough to rely on simple basic anti-malware protection and the built-in Windows firewall. If you want to really close the door to hackers, Trojans and other threats, you need to add multiple layers of security to your computer.

That’s the bad news. Here’s the good news: thanks to the Downloadcrew Software Store, there’s never been a better time to beef up your protection, with great deals for the latest software, from Malwarebytes 3 to Emsisoft Anti-Malware 2017.

Optical media is in a weird place right now. Thanks to cloud storage and flash drives, fewer folks are backing up data to CD, DVD, and Blu-ray. Because of streaming media -- from services like Netflix and Hulu -- fewer consumers are buying movies and music on optical media. Does this mean that optical media is totally dead? Hardly.

As burning/mastering products such as Nero and Ashampoo become more and more bloated, however, it is getting harder for PC users to find a simple and rewarding solution. BurnAware is one such program that remains lightweight while offering a lot of useful functionality. The software recently hit version 10, and I have been trying the "Pro" version on my Windows 10 machine with great success.