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Chrome River Expense review
11:48 pm | October 21, 2020

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software & Services | Comments: Off

Chrome River Expense is just one of several productivity software packages available from this provider. In fact, Chrome River offers a wide range of business-focused options that cover everything from invoicing and corporate credit cards through to travel management and analytics software. Chrome River Expense is, unsurprisingly, tasked with helping your business make better use of the time spent on handling expenses.

Being a SaaS based solution means that Chrome River is easily scaled if you need to use it more as your business grows. At the same time, it offers plenty of convenience for both administrators and managers, as well as employees. Indeed, the latter will find that the mobile edition of the software will allow them to stay on top of expenses no matter where they happen to be.

Other expense trackers in this marketplace include QuickBooks, Expensify, Hurdlr and Zoho Expense all of which are worthy of investigation.



Chrome River Expense

Chrome River Expense can be used alongside other products in the portfolio (Image credit: Chrome River Expense)

Pricing

Anyone looking to move over to Chrome River Expense can get a guided tour of the package thanks to a demo option. Pricing, meanwhile, comes in three different variations currently, with something to suit any kind of business. It’s possible to base your costings on the volume of monthly expense reports that you expect to need, or the number of employees submitting expenses within your company. 

Larger businesses, however, will probably want to make use of the unlimited volume option that gives them the freedom to process as much as they want when it comes to expense admin. Whichever option appeals you’ll need to contact them and talk through the options after getting the demo as specific pricing details are not revealed until you do.

Chrome River Expense

There's a Chrome River Expense app for iOS and Android (Image credit: Chrome River Expense)

Features

There’s everything you need to get on top of expenses within the Chrome River Expense software framework. It features automated spend control, in-application feature training and assistance, plus automated approval routing too. You get embedded OCR technology, which means faster scanning of receipts, plus credit card integration for a more streamlined workflow. 

Another benefit with Chrome River Expense is that it can be integrated to work with other popular financial systems, which will be a bonus for businesses that ideally want a seamless transition if they sign up for it. The SaaS package can also work in harmony with other products in the portfolio, thanks to its modular system that enables the integration of purchase orders and so on. 

Employees can carry out the majority of expense-related tasks from their mobiles, and there’s the ability to get approvals on the go. Meanwhile, administrators can also authorise the likes of cash advances and personal expenses from anywhere while the whole system can be configured to suit individual business needs. There’s international appeal too, as the system can also support 173 different currencies.

Chrome River Expense

Chrome River Expense offers secure access from any location (Image credit: Chrome River Expense)

Performance

The Chrome River Expense experience has been designed to be as smooth and seamless as possible, with a cloud-based SaaS philosophy that also includes excellent mobile appeal. 

In fact, the designers have made sure that you get the same experience no matter what device you’re using to access the system. For anyone going down the mobile app route there’s the option of using biometric authentication to log in to accounts. 

Better still, there’s no real crossover between using the desktop edition and the mobile app, so employees get the same experience with the system when they're out in the field. Being cloud-based also means that updates are automatic and can be applied company wide, so everyone is on the same page.

Chrome River Expense

Chrome River Expense's mobile functionality means quick and easy scanning of receipts (Image credit: Chrome River Expense)

Ease of use

Employees who need to stay on top of their expenses invariably want convenience and the Chrome River Expense app takes a lot of hassle out of the equation. The software allows anyone within a company to carry out the same tasks and duties on the road in the same manner as they’d do it back in the office. 

Administrators can set everything up in advance, so the configurable business rules features allow employees to just get on with the job without having to worry about spending limits and so on. 

Chrome River Expense is certainly focused on speed and efficiency, with the Snap application for example allowing employees to get receipts digitized and into the system within seconds. In addition, much of the day-to-day work involved in filing expenses is done by the system itself, which makes it a very efficient all-rounder.

Chrome River Expense

There are also plenty of analytics options within the Chrome River Expense package (Image credit: Chrome River Expense)

Support

Subscribers to Chrome River Expense will get all of the usual levels of support, including teams who are able to respond to queries via the phone and email. The package also comes with a large collection of instructional videos and other supporting literature aimed at getting business owners, administrators and staff alike familiarized with the workings of this cloud-based package.

Final verdict

Chrome River Expense is one of numerous products that sit under the Emburse umbrella, and what that gets business owners is consistency. It’s possible to run all of their cloud-based packages in tandem, which helps join up a lot of the dots when it comes to things like expenses, travel and reporting too. 

There’s also the benefit of being able to integrate the system with Emburse Cards, which allow businesses to roll all of their outlay into one place and make sure that spending limits and other company policies are all adhered to. 

However, there’s also card reconciliation for the likes of Visa, Mastercard, Diners Club, American Express and more. Another appealing aspect is the powerful reporting capabilities of Chrome River Expense, which allows finance departs and business owners alike to really drill down into company expenditure.

SalesTrip expense tracker review
9:29 pm | October 19, 2020

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software & Services | Comments: Off

SalesTrip is a popular expense management and travel booking system that, despite the ongoing coronivirus crisis, will have a place in the workflow needs of many businesses. The big benefit, as is the case with many expense trackers, is that it can minimize the amount of manual effort needed to keep on top of claims, and process them and other administrative tasks with ease.

Better still, SalesTrip is listed on the Salesforce appexchange platform, and that brings it in line with other practical business software tools found there. Indeed, it might make sense in many cases to mate SalesTrip with the Salesforce CRM for a nicely rounded system. The bonus is that it provides a comprehensive experience for both employees, who need to file travel expenses, and administrators who have to make travel arrangements and more besides.

Variations on the expense tracking software theme include Certify, ExpensePath, ReceiptBank, Abacus, ExpensePoint, Pleo, Declaree, Spendesk, QuickBooks, Rydoo, Expensify, Hurdlr, Zoho Expense and Pocketguard



SalesTrip

SalesTrip is available for both the UK and US markets with prices to suit (Image credit: SalesTrip)

Pricing

It’s currently possible to experience SalesTrip for yourself without actually signing on the dotted line. They offer 15 days of unlimited access to the service, which gives you time to experience every facet of the software. Or you can request a demo. 

If you feel SalesTrip is a good fit for your business then its subscription-based pricing starts out at $5 (£4) per user, per month. There’s actually a handy savings calculator on the Pricing page that lets you explore just how much you could potentially save by using a system that combines travel booking, ticketing and expense management all into one. 

In fact, it’s easy to see just how much time you can save if you explore the Opportunities tab within the system, that effectively allows you to work out travel arrangements, flights and all the rest of it, and pay within the space of a few minutes. As a timesaver it provides great value as a business can bypass using a standalone travel agency.

SalesTrip

Users can interact with SalesTrip using a web dashboard and their mobile device too (Image credit: SalesTrip)

Features

There’s plenty to be impressed with as you pick through the feature set of SalesTrip, with a very well-rounded selection of options that could be useful. There is, of course, the full expense management setup, that’s native on Salesforce, which will be useful if you already use their systems. 

Employees can therefore submit and review their expense claims, while administrators can approve them. The benefit here is that the data can be analysed alongside your existing Salesforce information, although the service also integrates with the likes of Quickbooks and FinancialForce. 

In addition, you get corporate card reconciliation and import options plus automatic tax reclaim while the system is also GDPR/PCI compliant too. Employees will obviously find the unlimited receipt scanning functionality beneficial while there’s also the option of searching for travel and booking it when needed. Topping it all out is real-time reporting and lots of analytics.

SalesTrip

SalesTrip is particularly efficient at helping you book travel including flights (Image credit: SalesTrip)

Performance

Businesses that are already using the Salesforce appexchange platform should find that there’s a real benefit of running the SalesTrip system in that it can be combined with other packages in the collection. The added benefit is that the cloud-based platform that SalesTrip runs on is also native to Salesforce, so you can be confident that it comes with a good level of security and all of the other expectations that are a given for this brand. 

Adding to the appealing nature of SalesTrip is that it’s intuitive, both for administrators working back at headquarters and employees who have to dip into the mobile application when they’re out in the field.

SalesTrip

Administrators can approve expenses via the dashboard once they've been submitted by employees (Image credit: SalesTrip)

Ease of use

Using SalesTrip offers a similar experience to many other expense trackers in this burgeoning marketplace. For the desktop, browser-based edition you’ll find that the dashboard is clean, simple and has all of the obvious features and functions right to hand. The main menu within the interface carries one-click access to the likes of Accounts, Trips, Expense and Bulk Expenses, which are all areas that are commonly accessed by administrators. 

The mobile aspect, meanwhile, allows employees to file expense claims on the move, with another clean and simple environment that makes uploading scanned receipts and the associated claim a quick and easy procedure. As for the bigger picture, business owners can easily use the analytics provided by the cloud-based solution to keep firm tabs on travel expenditure, which is more critical than ever given the current economic climate.

SalesTrip

SalesTrip is well equipped to cope with high volumes of expense claims making it suited to larger companies (Image credit: SalesTrip)

Support

The SalesTrip support hub follows a similar theme to many other systems in the expense tracker arena. It comes with an exhaustive collection of information that can talk you through all of the features and functions found in the system. You can also use this area to find out what’s new. 

Being a pretty dynamic operation as part of the Salesforce appexchange portfolio you can be pretty sure that there’ll be new improvements appearing here before long. That aside, users with other queries can submit a ticket to the support team if the issue isn’t covered by any of the topics contained in the online support hub.

SalesTrip

The SalesTrip dashboard has a wealth of useful information that businesses can use for forecasting purposes (Image credit: SalesTrip)

Final verdict

SalesTrip might be finding demand for this kind of software service might have slumped during the coronavirus crisis, but this is a package that still has its place. The really useful thing is that SalesTrip can be used to combine a raft of business tasks including expense tracking, and using the data from what’s in the system can also be used to accurately forecast company spend moving forwards. 

Despite the fact that these are unpredictable times, and travel and expenses might be less of a concern for companies, this is a valuable aspect of SalesTrip. Of course, there are the day-to-day convenience trimmings too, such as OCR receipt scanning, integration with corporate and personal cards along with the ability to use the Salesforce hierarchy to maintain consistency for expense approvals and other common business tasks.

Solarwinds Service Desk review
6:30 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Comments: Off

Solarwinds Service Desk is a software solution for IT service management (ITSM) aimed at supporting a company’s own employees. It can be used for incident and asset management, cataloging and fulfillment, and as a single portal for the submission of tickets and requests.

Even though the focus of a service desk is more internal, it still has the same end-user focus as all the best help desk software solutions. In this Solarwinds Service Desk review we help you decide whether it could be useful for your business as we take a look at its pricing, features, support, and ease of use.

SolarWinds pricing

Solarwinds Service Desk has a choice of four plans (Image credit: SolarWinds)

Solarwinds: Plans and pricing

SolarWinds offers a very simple pricing structure, offering a choice of three plans. The 'Essentials' plan is designed for 'growing teams' and is priced at $39 per month, per technician. There's an additional charge of $0.30 per month per device.

This includes features like Incident Management, as well as your own Knowledge Base and a Service Portal where teams can collaborate on work. SolarWinds 'Essentials' plan also makes it easy for you to respond to user feedback, offering both Satisfaction Surveys and Real Time Agent Feedback.

There's also a helpful Service Catalog for users, as well as a 'Service Request' feature which allows you to capture all service requests along with any relevant details. The plan also supports SLAs (Service Level Agreements) and management of requests and approvals.

The 'Advanced' Plan starts at $79 per month per technician, with an additional fee of $0.50 per month per device. It includes all the features of the 'Essentials' Plan plus superior features such as custom fields and forms, contract management, license compliance, scheduled reports and API access. Crucially the 'Advanced' Plan also supports automation of work flows as well as benchmarking.

The 'Premier' plan is touted by SolarWinds as being for 'full customizability'. Subscriptions cost $99 per month, per technician plus $0.70 per device. It includes all the features bundled with the 'Essentials' and 'Advanced' plans plus a visual CMDB (Configuration Management Database) with Automatic Dependency Mapping. Other perks include a 'Premier' Virtual Agent, up to 1500 API calls per user, per minute and automated runbooks

The pricing plans are clearly laid out. Our only complaint is the higher charge per device for more expensive plans, as it would be more intuitive to offer greater discounts to customers who are paying a higher charge per user.

All plans support an unlimited number of users and can be tried out free of charge for 30 days.

Solarwinds: Features

Solarwinds Service Desk has a large selection of features including tools for incident, IT asset and problem management, an employee service portal, and a knowledge base.

Incident management software is used for streamlining ticket submissions, with tickets able to be submitted by email, phone, the service portal, live chat, or in person. The software also includes the ability to automate simple tasks and route tickets to the right people so that incidents are resolved more quickly. Built-in artificial intelligence can also speed up ticket resolution by recommending solutions.

Solarwinds ServiceDesk review

A sample of some of the features available from Solarwinds Service Desk (Image credit: Solarwinds)

Problem management functionality allows your agents to easily group similar incidents together to avoid multiple agents working on the same issues and prevent redundancy. Automation features mean that tickets can be categorized and routed to the correct technician without manual involvement.

The employee service portal is a web app that employees can use to submit and track service requests or find answers to questions that may have been asked before via the integrated knowledge base and other resources. Not only is the service portal helpful for employees, but it gives technicians all the data they might need to resolve incidents quickly in one place.

Solarwinds: Interface and in use

Solarwinds Service Desk has a very clean interface that we found easy to navigate. Access to all of the main sections of the dashboard is hidden behind a hamburger menu icon in the top left corner of the window, but the menu itself is very responsive, and it’s easy to find what you’re looking for.

Solarwinds Service Desk review

The Solarwinds Service Desk dashboard can be customized with widgets (Image credit: Solarwinds)

The dashboard comes with a pre-selected group of widgets displaying your organization’s data, but you can add new ones or edit or remove the existing ones. You can also create completely new dashboards if you don’t want to add too many widgets to a single page.

When viewing a list of incidents, you have a lot of control over how the data is filtered and sorted, and you can customize the columns that are displayed. Once you’ve selected an individual incident to view, you again have a lot of control over its settings, and the user interface makes it easy for even novice users to figure out how to update and add to an incident.

For those that do need a little extra help, every page you visit has a text and video tutorial that can be accessed by clicking on the ‘?’ button near the top right of the window.

We were impressed at how easy Solarwinds Service Desk was to use but did find that sometimes pages, or parts of pages that displayed data, were a bit slow to load. In particular, we found building reports to be very slow, even at the very beginning of our testing, when we only had a handful of sample issues.

Solarwinds support page

Support for Solarwinds Service Desk is offered on a separate site (Image credit: Solarwinds)

Solarwinds: Support

SolarWinds offers varying levels of support to customers based on their subscription plan. If you choose the lowest 'Essentials' tier you benefit from 'Community Support', where other SolarWinds users can offer advice and assistance via a dedicated forum. 

If you don't want to trust your business to other customers' goodwill, you'll be pleased to hear that both e-mail and chat support are available via Service Desk 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you've signed up for either the 'Advanced' or 'Premier' plans then you'll also benefit from phone support, which is also available round the clock, 365 days a year. Advanced and Premier users can also avail themselves of a CSM (Customer Success Manager) ℅ Service Desk, who apparently can answer any question your company has about "using the solution". It's unclear what a CSM would offer over and above a regular Service Desk query but presumably it's safer to have a dedicated Success Manager and not need one than need one and not have one.

We were blown away by SolarWinds free online Resource Center, which includes brochures, white papers, helpful videos, datasheets and demos to name just a few. The pages are easy to navigate as you can filter down by subject category and/or resource type.  

Solarwinds Service Desk review

Solarwinds takes a rigorous approach to secure its web applications (Image credit: Solarwinds)

Solarwinds: Security

As with most providers of helpdesk software, Solarwinds takes a rigorous approach to security, which applies to the various layers that go into developing web apps. 

Employees sign confidentiality agreements and undergo specific security training. World-class data centers are used, protected by fire suppression systems and security guards. All changes are logged and regular audits are carried out. Networks are protected by firewalls and malicious code protection, and disaster recovery systems are in place. 

SolarWinds confirm all of the above on their dedicated 'Information Security' page, which includes a link to their 'Security Statement'. In this they confirm that they follow the voluntary NIST Cybersecurity Framework, which is designed for companies that form part of the critical infrastructure of the USA. 

Unfortunately if you're looking for specific examples of how data is encrypted during transmission and in transit e.g. TLS and AES, then you'll need to contact SolarWinds directly to ask how this is being done.

On the plus side, if you're an administrator configuring the SolarWinds platform, there's an extensive 'best practices' guide on how to secure it, including:

- A recommendation to use at least 2048 Bit RSA encryption for SSL certificates.

- Confirmation that SolarWinds supports encrypted database connections via SSL.

- Support for TLS cipher suites and certificate validation. 

- Lockout of accounts after 10 failed login attempts.

SolarWinds also has an extensive policy on data protection requirements for their vendors and affiliates, which include provisions banning shared user accounts and requiring encryption of customer data in transit and at rest.  

Solarwinds: The competition

The ITSM market is smaller than the overall helpdesk software market, but there are still some competitors worth considering, like Freshservice by Freshworks and Jira Service Desk by Atlassian.

FreshService has a very similar feature list to Solarwinds Service Desk and also has a choice of four plans that go from $19/month/agent up to $119/month/agent if you're willing to pay annually. There's even a 21-day free trial period and you can book a live demo of the service if you want to try before subscribing.  

Jira Service Desk has a different (and rather more complicated) pricing structure, including a free plan, and offers both cloud and self-managed versions of its software. 

The free plan is for up to three agents. The Standard plan is $21 per month per agent.

You can also pay $600/year for up to three agents but then increases to $1050 per year for up to 5 agents. 

After 15 agents, the price starts to come down slightly. The Premium plan starts at $47/agent/month but you can also make some savings if you have multiple agents and want to pay annually. The paid plans support up to 10,000 agents if you're able and willing to pay for them. All plans also support an unlimited number of customers but only one site, unless you sign up to a bespoke 'Enterprise' plan. 

Solarwinds: Final verdict

Solarwinds Service Desk is ideally suited to companies with large IT departments that are looking to provide high levels of service for their own employees and internal customers. It is reasonably priced and comes with a generous free trial so you have enough time to evaluate its capabilities.

While we did find the web app to be a bit slow sometimes, in general, we were impressed by how easy Solarwinds Service Desk is to use and the level of control offered over how data was presented and updated. 

The Resource Center is magnificent and we were impressed to see that even customers on the lowest pricing tier can benefit from 24/7 e-mail and chat support. The forum also contains some excellent resources on getting started and customizing the platform for your needs. For the most part other documentation is extremely helpful and detailed. The one exception to this is SolarWinds 'Security Statement', where we would have appreciated more specific information on the type of protections in place, such as how data in transit is secured.

There is no 'free' tier but as we said, it's not likely an SME would need to sign up for so extensive an ITSM, as the range of resources and data customization is better suited to larger organizations.  

We've also highlighted the best live chat software.

Yordex expense tracker review
2:13 pm | October 16, 2020

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software & Services | Comments: Off

Yordex is a London-based business that only launched three years ago, but it has already built up a solid reputation with a portfolio of options designed to make your business more efficient. While Yordex can provide you with a service that can tackle expense management, it also offers services that cover purchase order approvals, invoicing and spend tracking. What's more, it’s particularly adept at helping you with spend forecasting. 

Add it all together and Yordex looks like a great solution. Better still, it has several different packages all with different sizes of business operations in mind. Ultimately, Yordex could help streamline your businesses workflow and cut down on that frustrating admin that can stifle many operations.

Variations on the expense tracking software theme include Certify, ExpensePath, ReceiptBank, Abacus, ExpensePoint, Pleo, Declaree, Spendesk, QuickBooks, Rydoo, Expensify, Hurdlr, Zoho Expense and Pocketguard. All are worth considering during the ongoing coronavirus crisis.



Yordex

Yordex has a range of package options for businesses of different sizes (Image credit: Yordex)

Pricing

There are currently four different plans in the Yordex product portfolio to choose from. The cheapest and perhaps most basic is the Starter option, which does at least allow you to explore what Yordex has to offer and starts at $4 (£3). 

Next up is the Plus edition, which is aimed primarily at small businesses and that costs from $3 (£2.30). Larger businesses in the mid-sized bracket are encouraged to head for the Growth bundle from $2.60 (£1.99), which is able to cope with more transactional volume. 

Rounding it out is the Premium edition for $2.25 (£1.75), which is focused on larger businesses with more suppliers to contend with. According to the company, the pricing above works out as the effective per card/per month cost and monthly plan fees are therefore $45 (£35) for the Starter edition, $89 (£69) for Plus, $192 (£149) for Growth and $450 (£349) for Premium. 

All these are based on annual 12-month plans. Yordex does offer monthly pricing, though you’ll need to add on 20% for the as-you-go nature of this option.

Yordex

Employees can make use of the Yordex app to carry out a lot of everyday tasks (Image credit: Yordex)

Features

Alongside the flexible range of packages Yordex comes with a dazzling array of features. One of the big benefits of this service it that it’s possible to have either physical or virtual cards. For physical cards company employees can be issued with prepaid Mastercards. Virtual cards, meanwhile, can be used for things like online purchases and administrators can put limits on their spending capabilities. 

You get different allowances depending on which package you plump for, so Starter comes with 5 physical and 10 virtual cards. Premium, at the other end of the spectrum, offers 100 of each. You can therefore see the big difference between package options and costs actually seem to come down based on the volume of usage as outlined in the pricing section. 

Elsewhere, expenses are unlimited in all of the packages, plus there’s an iOS and Android app that can be used by staff for recording scans of receipts and tackling day-to-day expenditure. 

Extra convenience is provided by the ability of Yordex to produce OCR copies of invoices and receipts, which is free of charge and unlimited. Meanwhile, businesses that need it can also make use the automated payment run option. Not available for Starter, it can be added on for a fee to the other editions.

Yordex

The Yordex app for Android works to similar standards as the iOS edition (Image credit: Yordex)

Performance

No matter where you happen to be within the Yordex framework the structure of this software service appears to be very robust. Considering that some of the beefier packages will doubtless have to deal with high volumes of data the Yordex engineers seem to have done a great job with making it resilient enough to cope with the demands of lots of users. All in all the Yordex system seems to do everything that’s expected of it and, perhaps, a little more besides.

Yordex

It's easy to get to grips with the Yordex system thanks to a wealth of instructional videos (Image credit: Yordex)

Ease of use

Full marks has to go to Yordex and the UX designers for developing a system that’s definitely easy to master. The layout is fresh, functional and should make light work of all the tasks outlined in our opening paragraph. In the case of expenses, by way of an example, the layout is fuss free and lets you get the job done without any headaches. 

As for the day-to-day use factor, Yordex works so well because of its smart approval rules. These have been design to let you manage all those frequent tasks such as handling company cards, managing expenses, sending invoices and administering budgets with specific rules that help automate regular chores. Add on the modular construction of Yordex and you’ve got a system that is simple to learn and even more straightforward to operate.

Yordex

Yordex support starts off with a help hub on the web but there are staff on hand for queries too (Image credit: Yordex)

Support

As you’d expect, Yordex comes with a solid support hub, which can be accessed from within the main site itself. This features a wealth of great do-it-yourself training, with a whole host of instructional videos, which can also be found on YouTube. Frankly, there’s not much left to learn about Yordex once you’ve picked your way through this exhaustive selection. 

Credit should go to Yordex for producing such a bumper crop of helpful guidance. Nevertheless, it is still possible you’ll want to contact support so there’s an option to submit a request to support team members via the site too. Lookout for the Community option in the website menu, which is another great way to get the inside deal on how Yordex works.

Final verdict

Yordex is in a very active marketplace with expense management tools sitting alongside billing and invoicing software, which is also alongside payroll and accounting packages. Yordex is therefore great as it does a little bit of everything from the above selection and certainly helps to streamline workflow, no matter if you’re a small concern or a larger business venture with multiple employees. 

Like many others in this arena, it’s easy to book a demo and see just how Yordex ticks. From there you have a good cross-section of packages too, with one to suit any kind of budget. All in all, Yordex is another one to add to your business wishlist.

Webexpenses expense tracker review
11:11 pm | October 15, 2020

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software & Services | Comments: Off

Webexpenses is another expense tracker package that aims to do away with much of the drudgery involved in managing company costs. It’s been designed and built to help automate many of the expense management tasks involved with employees ongoing overheads. 

However, it's also a practical solution for tackling invoices too, and covers a lot of bases not normally associated with straightforward expense trackers. Headquartered in the UK, Webexpenses has expanded its Software as a Service (SaaS) operation so that it now has a global reach. With a growing team, the objective of Webexpenses is to help improve business efficiency and remove many of the tired manual processes involved in handling company expenses.

Variations on the expense tracking software theme include QuickBooks, Rydoo, Expensify, Hurdlr, Zoho Expense and Pocketguard. All are worth considering during the ongoing coronavirus crisis.



Webexpenses

Webexpenses advises you to contact them for a custom quote (Image credit: Webexpenses)

Pricing

To ensure that your business can enjoy best value from its products and services, Webexpenses advises using its website to work out the value specific options can deliver. If you head to the pricing page there’s the option for requesting a custom quote, along with tools for calculating what Webexpenses can do for your business. There’s a return on investment calculator for example, which lets you work out potential benefits. 

Meanwhile, the value calculator is another option for working out what the SaaS can do for your business, with simple tools for getting a better idea of just how much use Webexpenses will be. There aren't any off-the-shelf packages on offer, although this custom route does seem to be a way of better tailoring the service to suit individual requirements.

Webexpenses

The Webexpenses app is workmanlike but able to handle a multitude of tasks (Image credit: Webexpenses)

Features

As you’d expect from a package like Webexpenses, it’s been designed to cover many different bases, not just expenses management. In terms of what employees get to experience then the app delivers everything needed to manage overheads when they’re out and about. This includes the ability to import receipt data as well as manage credit card transactions and all of the other day-to-day admin stuff. 

Employees also have the option of submitting their expense claims through any web browser while office administrators can process them with a high degree of automation. Indeed, Webexpenses uses its cloud-based system to handle everything such as mileage expenses, credit card expenditure, petty cash and mobile expenses. 

On top of that the Webexpenses system can also deliver sophisticated reporting and tracking options as and when they’re needed.

Webexpenses

The system lets you scan and digitise conventional paper receipts (Image credit: Webexpenses)

Performance

Webexpenses offers solid performance due to the software as a service package being accessible via any web browser on Windows or Mac. With the app also being available for either iOS or Android Webexpenses performs as you’d expect, just as long as you have a connection to the internet of course.

Webexpenses

The Webexpenses dashboard makes it easy to manage multiple employee accounts (Image credit: Webexpenses)

Ease of use

With Webexpenses being aimed at larger businesses there is a solid level of help available to get staff trained up to use this expense tracking system. However, the Webexpenses design team have also done a great job on the nuts and bolts of the interface, with a dashboard that is relatively easy to find your way around plus a supporting app for both iOS and Android that really impresses. 

However, like every other app out there, it’s something of a work in progress and some of the useability could perhaps be tweaked over time. While the Webexpenses app clearly works, there are some minor UX issues that could do with being improved to simplify its use. 

On the plus side, for employees who need to get lots of receipts digitized the Automatic Character Recognition feature means it’s both quick and easy to process higher volumes of paperwork.

Webexpenses

Webexpenses is to be commended for its level of training including a wealth of videos (Image credit: Webexpenses)

Support

Webexpenses has a full suite of support options available to customers of all sizes. There’s a very good support hub online that packs a real punch thanks to a stack of tutorials on video, along with documentation and other training resources to boot. 

You can naturally contact them directly to talk to a member of support staff, with chat tools, email and phone access all being available to subscribers. The support hub is also useful in that it gives you all the latest news on any relevant software updates that occur during the year, with a calendar that outlines them all in one place.

Webexpenses

There's a comprehensive selection of support options available from Webexpenses (Image credit: Webexpenses)

Final verdict

Webexpenses ideally needs to be trialled in order to see if it’s a good match for your business as it might be more than a small or even mid-sized operation needs. The tools on the pricing page prove to be a great starting place to get an idea if the outlay for Webexpenses is going to be worth it. 

However, if your business needs a muscular expense tracking system that does a lot of other things as well, such as covering corporate travel, processing invoices, auditing and carrying out complex reporting, then it might be the perfect solution. 

Being able to integrate Webexpenses with other software tools and systems within your business is also a bonus. Ultimately though, you’ll need to get a custom quote from them to check if it’ll deliver a sufficient return on investment.

PrivateMail review
6:30 pm | October 12, 2020

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Comments: Off

Most popular email services that we use are free. But, you’ll be right to discern that nothing is really free. “If you’re not paying, then you’re the product” is a quote that applies to most digital services. In exchange for using these free email platforms, you give the owners access to your data, which they can sell or use to enhance advertising algorithms.

Many people don’t want to give up their data to third parties and, thus, seek alternative, secure email services. PrivateMail is one of the best secure email providers you can choose. It offers sophisticated encryption to guarantee your privacy and security.

PrivateMail was founded in 2019 by entrepreneur Benjamin Van Pelt. The company is based in Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.

PrivateMail: Plans and pricing

PrivateMail doesn’t offer a free plan, which we consider a disadvantage. It offers different premium plans for individuals and businesses. Individuals can choose either the Standard or Pro plan.

The Standard plan costs $8.95 monthly and gives you 10 GB of encrypted mail storage plus an extra 10 GB for file storage. This plan lets you create up to 5 email aliases.

The Pro plan costs $15.95 monthly and gives you 20 GB of encrypted email storage plus 20 GB of extra file storage. You can create up to 20 email aliases on this plan.

Businesses can choose either the Pro or GroupShare plan. The Pro plan costs $64.95 per month and unlocks 100 GB of email storage plus an extra 100 GB of file storage. 

The GroupShare plan costs the same as the Pro plan and offers the same features save for supporting shared file storage, shared contacts/calendars, and account collaboration. 

PrivateMail in use 1.

(Image credit: PrivateMail)

PrivateMail: Features

PrivateMail offers many beneficial features, including

End-to-end email encryption

End-to-end encryption is a security protocol guaranteeing that no third party accesses data while it’s being transmitted. When you hit the send button, your email is encrypted on PrivateMail’s servers and can only be decrypted on the recipient’s server via a unique private key. If anyone intercepts the information in transit, it’ll be useless to them because they don’t have the required private key to decrypt it.

PrivateMail uses the OpenPGP encryption standard. This is the most popular encryption protocol that emails providers use and guarantees that only an intended email recipient will be able to read its contents. 

Cloud storage

PrivateMail offers cloud storage for your files. You can keep photos, videos, audio, and any type of document. Your files will be encrypted just like your emails, so you’re sure that unauthorized third parties can not access them. You can share your files with other PrivateMail users via a secure link. 

Mobile and desktop apps

A good thing about PrivateMail is that it offers native mobile and desktop apps, unlike most secure email competitors. You can download the iOS app from the Apple App Store or the Android app from the Google Play Store. You can also sideload the Android app by downloading the APK directly and installing it on your smartphone.

PrivateMail in use 2.

(Image credit: PrivateMail )

PrivateMail has desktop apps for Windows, macOS, and Linux. A page on the official website gives you the download links for all operating systems.

These apps make it easier to use PrivateMail and send encrypted messages. You can simply open the app on your smartphone or desktop whenever you want to use it instead of opening a web browser over and over again.

Alias addresses

An alias is an extra email address that forwards to your main address. The purpose is to interact with people or online platforms without giving out your main address. For instance, if your main address is jill@privatemail.com, you can create an alias called jill+edu@privatemail.com for educational messages, jill+games@privatemail.com for your gaming apps, and jill+work@privatemail.com for work-related emails.

PrivateMail lets you create up to 20 aliases depending on the plan you’re subscribed to. 

Custom domains

Many individuals and businesses need emails with a custom domain name because it makes them look more professional. The good thing is that PrivateMail lets you create an email with your own domain. You just have to adjust your domain’s MX records to point to PrivateMail’s mail servers, and you’re good to go.

Self-destructing mail

PrivateMail lets you send emails that delete themselves after a specific period. Self-destructing emails provide an extra layer of security and privacy if you’re sending sensitive information.

Contacts/calendar

PrivateMail offers a tool for creating and managing contacts. You can also access a tool for creating calendars and planning your schedule. You can create multiple calendars for different purposes, e.g., one for weekends and another for weekdays. You can share your contacts and calendars securely with other PrivateMail users.

PrivateMail in use 3.

(Image credit: PrivateMail)

PrivateMail: Interface and in use

PrivateMail offers a broad range of features, but its interface isn’t too intuitive. The platform’s interface looks more like something you’ll find in the earlier days of the internet. A glance at the website and the way the text and images are arranged shows that the interface needs improvement. 

PrivateMail: Support

PrivateMail offers support through email. You can message the company's support email directly and wait for a response. The Standard plan subscribers should expect a response within 48 hours, while users on the Pro and GroupShare should expect a response within 24 hours because of the priority support they paid for. 

PrivateMail: The competition

Proton Mail is the main competitor to PrivateMail we’ll highlight. This platform offers similar features and sophisticated encryption to PrivateMail. You can also access ProtonMail via an iOS or Android mobile app. But Proton Mail outshines PrivateMail in user-friendliness and ease of use. 

PrivateMail: Final verdict

PrivateMail is an ideal platform for people seeking to send emails without any third party harvesting their data. It provides very solid encryption that you can trust. The main drawbacks are its outdated interface and being a relatively expensive tool.   

We've also highlighted the best email services.

VPN.ac review
5:39 pm | October 9, 2020

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Tags: | Comments: Off

VPN.ac is among the less well-known VPNs, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have helpful features. Created back in 2009, VPN.ac is a Romania-based VPN owned by Netsec Interactive Solutions. Romania is a secure location for VPN services, because data retention in Romania is prohibited by law and the country is not subject to the 5 Eyes alliances' surveillance authority. 

With a modest network of 100+ servers in 20 countries and 117+ IP addresses, VPN.ac is quite small - especially compared to top competitors who provide thousands of servers. However, VPN.ac does use an obfuscation technology that allows it to operate in China. 

Pricing & plans 

VPN.AC in use

(Image credit: VPN.AC)

Unlike other VPNs, VPN.ac doesn’t offer a free trial. This means you unfortunately aren’t given the opportunity to test the software before using it. There are three subscription plans available: 

1 Month: $9.00

1 Year: $57.6 ($4.80 per month)

2 Years: $90.00 ($3.75 per month)

All subscriptions involve 6 simultaneous connections, a VPN kill switch, P2P servers, cross-platform software, protocol support, OVPN configuration files, and no speed limit.

It’s also worth mentioning that although VPN.ac offers a 7-day money-back guarantee, the terms of service state explicitly that requesting a refund is not a simple process. The VPN does have a wide selection of payment plans to choose from, including credit and debit cards, PayPal, bitcoin, gift cards, UnionPay, Webmoney, and CashU. 

If you're working to a budget, see our round-up of the best free VPNs.

Privacy & encryption 

In its privacy policy, VPN.ac is open enough to acknowledge that it records information about your session, including your real IP address, in order to find ways to perform better. This includes the amount of data transferred as well as the start/stop times of your connection, however, It does not collect any data concerning your online activities, and all data collected is encrypted and removed at the end of each session. VPN.ac claims that the logs help them combat man-in-the-middle and brute-force attacks. It should be noted that as of the time of this review, the company has not had a VPN audit, which means there’s no independent verification of their claims. 

Remember that the headquarters of VPN.ac are in Romania, a nation that is not covered by the surveillance of the Five, Nine, and Fourteen Eyes alliances, this is good news as far as privacy is concerned.

VPN.ac uses AES-GCM 256-bit encryption along with 4096-bit RSA authentication for encryption, and uses SHA512 HMAC and PFS for added security. Top-notch VPN protocols like PPTP, OpenVPN, L2TP/IPsec, IKEv2, and WireGuard are used, offering impressive security. Torrenting is supported on all VPN.ac servers, however do keep in mind that your torrent activities may be exposed and it is illegal to torrent in some countries. 

VPN.AC in use

(Image credit: VPN.AC)

Streaming 

One of the advantages we found when evaluating this service was its effectiveness as a streaming VPN. During our testing, we were able to stream HD content from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and HBO Max. 

Speed & experience 

When we tested the software, we were somewhat surprised by the speed of the VPN.acserver. Prior to using the VPN, our internet speed was around 94 Mbps, and when we connected to a distant server in Germany, we received an amazing speed of 87.41 Mbps. The UK also performed remarkably well in our test, achieving 88.92Mbps. VPN.acmakes big claims about their performance and speed, and they keep them! 

Apps 

VPN.ac is compatible with Windows, macOS and Linux, as well as plug-ins for Chrome, Firefox, and Opera and a mobile VPN app for Android. There is also a kill switch available, although you have to turn it on manually. The apps are simple to use and well-built and can be configured to work with routers and even on Linux systems by following the tutorials on their website.

There is a multi-hop configuration that allows you to encrypt your data across two or more servers and a DNS filtering system that filters trackers, advertisements, and malware.

VPN.AC in use

(Image credit: VPN.AC)

Customer support 

VPN.ac can be contacted via email, ticket system, or by sending a message via Skype. You can also look through the website's knowledge base and frequently asked questions to learn more. The knowledge base contains more complex questions, like how to install it on your router, while the FAQ is useful for basic and technical questions. 

VPN.AC alternatives 

NordVPN

Over ten years have passed since the launch of NordVPN. You have unrestricted entry to your favorite websites and can benefit from online security that meets military standards. It also doesn't retain any data from your activities due to its rigid no-log policy, allows connections from 6 devices at once, and offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Read our full NordVPN review

Surfshark

The service unblocks all of the streaming platforms, is extremely fast and packed with sophisticated easy-to-use features, has a user-friendly app, and offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Read our full Surfshark review

ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN is quick, safe, unblocks major streaming platforms, supports torrents, doesn't log your data, and is simple to use. It also has a 3-month free trial and offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Read our full ExpressVPN review

Windscribe

This VPN has a feature that stops trackers from following you, a “distraction-free” mode to help you concentrate when you need to, and a strict no-login policy that keeps your online activities private. This app is among our favorites.

Read our full Windscribe review 

VPN.AC in use

(Image credit: VPN.AC)

Verdict 

VPN.ac may be the ideal VPN provider for you, depending on your particular needs. They have great apps and excellent security, and the price is fair. The service is also quick, compatible with streaming services, and works well in China. 

USAIP VPN review
5:37 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Comments: Off

First impressions count - and USAIP VPN left us seriously unimpressed. The company website needs some work, feeling like an outdated mess. But what caught our eye was the assertion that the VPN promises ‘full and strong anonymity’. Nearly all VPNs make this claim, then either fail to have an independent party run a VPN audit to check the companies live up to their claims. So, how does USAIP VPN stack up in the privacy and security stakes? 

The service was founded in 2017, with 35 servers spread across 20 different countries around the world in regions like Pakistan, China, Russia, Estonia, Luxembourg, and the USA. This is significantly fewer than the industry average, and tiny compared to big-name VPNs like CyberGhost VPN, which boasts over 8,100 servers in 90 countries. 

USAIP VPN: Pricing & plans 

USAIP VPN in action

(Image credit: USAIP)

The VPN service offers a single plan - so everyone gets the same features and benefits. However, it does have different pricing based on subscription length. 24 hours for $1.49, $3.99 a week, and $7.99 a month. An annual subscription costs $74.99. 

There’s no free VPN option here - but the VPN provider offers a free trial that includes unlimited access but requires you to reconnect every 7 minutes. You can request a refund during the first 3 days of your subscription if you're extremely dissatisfied with the service. 

USAIP VPN accepts credit cards, PayPal, Webmoney, Skrill, Perfect Money, and Ukash, as payment options.

USAIP VPN: Privacy & encryption 

USAIP VPN in action

(Image credit: USAIP)

According to USAIP, the service does not collect sensitive user information; however, in their privacy policy they state that “any mild information may be shared with 3rd parties or law enforcement officials.” This indicates the company logs data, even though it's vague about the kind of data collected.

Our primary concern with the USAIP logging policy is the absence of a recent external audit, which would support the company's assertions regarding the types of logs maintained.

It is imperative to keep in mind that this VPN is based in the US, which is a member of a 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance (a group of countries that share surveillance data with each other). Your privacy might be jeopardized as a result of USAIP's obligation to give your data to the government upon demand. We suggest using VPNs like Express VPN instead, which are transparent and have had their software openly audited to prove their privacy claims. If you still want to proceed with getting this virtual private network, proceed with caution.

USAIP uses military-grade 256-bit encryption, which is unbreakable even by anyone or a computer, along with the PPTP, L2TP, IPSec, SSTP, and OpenVPN protocols. To break it, you would need to try a gazillion of different combinations, which hasn't been done yet. This isn’t a VPN for torrenting though, or a VPN for China for that matter, due to a lack of obfuscation tools. 

USAIP VPN: Streaming 

USAIP VPN is touted to be a streaming VPN, its website promising to grant access to well-known geo-restricted streaming services - we found out otherwise. We couldn't access any of its servers, so there was no way we could test it to see if it would unblock any streaming channels. If you’re looking for a Netflix VPN to access content on streaming platforms, you can try USAIP, but you may need to look for a more reliable alternative.  

USAIP VPN: Speed & experience 

Despite the VPN's assertions that its service increases internet speed, tests for USAIP’s VPN servers were not possible because we were unable to make the service function no matter how hard we tried. It's highly likely that the service in now wholly inactive - a statement that, if true, should've been made clear on its outmoded website. 

USAIP VPN: Apps 

(Image credit: Future)

The tool runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, with mobile VPN apps for Android, iOS, and iPad. Routers are also supported. For each of them, the website offers comprehensive setup instructions and configuration files to make installation easier, as well as a list of possible error codes and their solutions. 

USAIP VPN: Customer support 

Customer support for USAIP subscribers appears to be defunct, or at least ignored. As we do with all VPN providers, to test their response time, we emailed USAIP VPN's support team. We never received a response.  

USAIP VPN: Alternatives 

Since during our review, USAIP appeared almost entirely inoperative, we strongly recommend investing in a more reliable alternative. After extensive testing, top tools we recommend trying include:

ExpressVPN which is one of the best VPN services available that enables five concurrent connections on devices and unblocks all major streaming platforms. 

NordVPN has over 5,200 servers scattered across 60 countries. 

Proton VPN does not monitor your actions or utilize any of your personal information. 

PureVPN has an encrypted VPN tunnel that allows you to access prohibited websites and browse around the world at speeds up to 1,000 times faster than normal. 

Verdict

USAIP VPN in action

(Image credit: USAIP)

Despite all those big promises on its website, our devices simply wouldn't connect to USAIP's VPN.  And our requests for support from the company appear to have been ignored. This is unfortunate because we think it would have been a really good VPN with support for Netflix and Hulu. In the end, there is absolutely no situation under which we would suggest this VPN for use, as there are plenty of other VPNs out there that can give what USAIP VPN promises, and more. 

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 review
1:47 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Computing Gadgets Laptops Windows Laptops | Tags: , | Comments: Off

Editor's Note

• Original review date: October 2020
• Launch price: Starts at $500 / £499 / AU$1,239
• Target price now: No longer available

Update – August 2024: Sad news for fans of Flexing (ahem), but it looks like Lenovo has decided that two separate convertible IdeaPad lines was one too many - the original IdeaPad Flex 5 is effectively dead. In fact, no IdeaPad Flex models are currently available from Lenovo's website in the UK and AU, with only two Flex laptops (the 5i and 5i Chromebook Plus) still available on the US site.

While you may be able to pick up this laptop from third-party retailers, you'll be better suited looking at the current offerings from the standard IdeaPad 2-in-1 range from Lenovo, which are available with either 14- or 16-inch displays and come with the latest Intel and AMD processors.

These start at $519.88 / £549 / $1,009, placing them close in price to the Flex 5 we reviewed here back in 2020 - but with significantly newer and more powerful processors, they're a solid choice of entry-level laptop. You can even configure each model on the Lenovo website to get the perfect system for your needs.

Original review follows.

Two-minute review

Lenovo’s ‘Flex’ series of laptops are affordable 2-in-1 convertible systems that offer claimed all-day battery life. That’s a simple and appealing proposition.

In practice, it’s all a bit more complicated. You see, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5, to give it its full name, is available in both 14-inch and 15-inch variants and with both AMD and Intel CPUs. And with various iterations of those CPUs.

It’s all a bit baffling if you’re buying, but the specific model showcased here is the 15-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 powered by Intel’s latest 10th Gen processors, in this case an Intel Core i3-1005G1 chip. 

Arguably, AMD’s laptop CPUs offer both better value and more performance right now. But given the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 remains pretty keenly priced and isn’t being pitched primarily on performance, that needn’t be an automatic deal-breaker.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5

(Image credit: Future)

Indeed, this laptop offers a very compelling all-round proposition. Along with that Intel CPU, the highlights kick off with a 15.6-inch touchscreen. It offers a FullHD 1,920 by 1,080 pixel resolution and IPS panel technology. As a ‘Flex’ model, that screen is hooked up to the IdeaPad’s chassis via a full 360-degree hinge and thus supports operation in full Tablet mode. Next up is a 128GB SSD. OK, that’s not a huge amount of storage, but it is a M.2 drive supporting the latest NVMe control protocol.

Other details include a decent 65 watt charger and claimed battery life of over 10 hours. That you get all this in an attractive chassis with a high quality feel from one of the biggest brands in the business for around $500 / £500 is impressive. But inevitably, it’s not the whole story.

At this price point something inevitably has to give and as reviewed the most obvious weakness is the meagre 4GB of RAM. It doesn’t have a huge impact on your benchmark numbers. But if you're partial, say, to running loads of browser tabs while you edit images - or some other typical multitasking scenario - you’ll quickly run out of system memory with only 4GB at your disposal, especially as some of that is pinched by the integrated graphics.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5

(Image credit: Future)

That’s a pity because in most other regards, this is a pretty nice portable. It’s good for that 10 hours-plus of claimed battery life, for instance. And the screen is accurate and pleasant to use, if a little dim. The keyboard is firm, crisp and pleasant to use and it mostly looks like a much more expensive laptop than it really is.

Yes, there are a few tell tales of corning curing beyond the 4GB of RAM. The trackpad is a little small for this class of portable. The sound quality from the integrated speakers is fairly poor. The supplied charger is a barrel type rather than USB-C despite the fact that the Flex 5 has a USB-C port that supports charging (further connectivity includes two USB-A ports, HDMI and a full-size SD card reader). That’s sort of both a plus and a minus, but you get the broader point. This is a nice machine for the money.

Spec Sheet

Here is the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
CPU: 1.2GHz Intel Core i3-1005G1 (dual-core, 4MB cache, up to 3.5GHz with Turbo Boost)
Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics
RAM: 4GB DDR4
Screen: 15.6-inch, 1,920 x 1,080, IPS, touch
Storage: 128GB M.2 NVMe SSD
Ports: USB-C, 2x USB-A, HDMI, SD Card
Connectivity: Lenovo AC Wifi, Bluetooth
Camera: 720p webcam
Weight: 4.4 pounds (2 kg)
Size: 14.08 x 9.37 x 0.7-0.8 inches (357.6 x 237.9 x 17.9-20.35 mm; W x D x H)

Price and availability

At around $500 (£499, AU$1,239), Lenovo is going for pretty punchy positioning for the IdeaPad Flex 5. You’ll struggle to find a similar laptop for less money. 

The HP Pavilion x360, for instance, costs around 15% more, but only offers a 14-inch panel, albeit aided by 8GB of RAM. Indeed, it’s the Flex 5’s 4GB of memory in this entry-level configuration that is our main reservation.

The other snag is that if you’re willing to forgo the tablet convertible functionality, you can have a 15-inch laptop at around this price point with almost no serious compromises, such as the Asus VivoBook.

Design and features

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5

(Image credit: Future)

Entry-level systems from the bigger brands have stepped up their game in design and quality terms in recent years and the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 is no exception. Granted, it’s not going to put the frighteners on an Apple MacBook Pro for sheer material class. But it absolutely, positively doesn’t look or feel cheap.

The 15.6-inch 1080p touch-enabled display, for instance, sports IPS panel technology and is housed in a high-quality metal enclosure with slim side bezels and a shuttered 720p webcam up top. 

Image 1 of 2

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5

(Image credit: Future)
Image 2 of 2

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5

(Image credit: Future)

OK, the main chassis is plastic. But it feels rigid and has an unusual and not at all unpleasant textured finish. The 360-degree hinge feels robust and the keyboard is stable and firm with only traces of flex and bounce.

Image 1 of 2

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5

(Image credit: Future)
Image 2 of 2

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5

(Image credit: Future)

Ports wise, Lenovo likewise has you well covered. On the left side of the chassis, you’ll find a full-sized HDMI socket, a barrel-type power connector, headphone jack and a USB-C port. The latter supports charging the laptop itself, mitigating the slight disappointment of the barrel connector. While we’d prefer the Flex 5 came bundled with a USB-C charger, support for USB-C charging at least means you can carry a single charger to keep multiple devices juiced up.

On the right, a pair of USB-A ports and situated next to a 4-in-1 card reader that supports full sized SD cards, plus MMC, SDHC and SDXC cards. That’s one less plug-in adapter you’ll need to carry, in other words. Other features worthy of mention are the 720p webcam located on the top bezel and complete with a physical shutter and support for an optional digital input pen.

It’s also worth noting that the Flex 5 ships as standard configured with Windows 10 Home in S Mode. The sales pitch for S Mode is that it boosts performance and improves security. The latter is almost certainly true given it only allows software from the Microsoft app store to be installed. The downside, of course, is that it only allows software from the app store to be installed, excluding the vast majority of the huge ecosystem of Windows compatible apps and software that’s accrued over the years. That includes no Adobe software, no Apple apps, no non-Microsoft video conferencing apps, none of those handy little legacy apps.

S Mode is also streamlined to reduce CPU and memory usage, the latter being especially relevant for a laptop with just 4GB. Long story short, S Mode can make a lot of sense for schools and businesses, but is probably too restrictive for more general home and business users. However, it is the work of around five minutes to turn S Mode off via the Microsoft Store, so it shouldn’t be an impediment to anyone considering this system.

Performance

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5

(Image credit: Future)
Benchmarks

Here's how the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
3DMark: Sky Diver: 3,761; Fire Strike: 919; Time Spy: N/A
Cinebench CPU:  743 points
GeekBench 5: 1,058 (single-core); 2097 (multi-core)
PCMark 10 (Home Test): 3237 points
PCMark 10 Battery Life: 9 hours and 43 minutes
Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 11 hours and 50 minutes

As a content consumption device, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 usually gets the job done. The combination of the dual-core Intel Core i3-1005G1 chip, 128GB M.2 SSD and 4GB of RAM delivers a responsive experience within certain confines. With a few tabs open in a browser and editing a text document, for instance, all is well.

Up the tab count and run some image editing in parallel, however, and you can run out of memory and into relative trouble. Of course, having a modern M.2 SSD helps enormously when that happens and files are being swapped to main storage. But we’d still prefer to have 8GB in this class of device.

By other metrics, performance is about as mixed as you might expect given the market positioning. The 15.6-inch 1080p IPS display has good colours and viewing angles, but lacks brightness. The dual 2 watt Dolby-powered speakers, meanwhile, deliver weak, thin audio lacking in much by way of dynamic range. And for the record, don’t expect to go gaming with the entry-level Intel integrated graphics.

Battery life

At this price point, battery life can often fall victim of cost cutting. Happily, the Flex 5 is configured with a fairly hefty 52.5Wh battery. 

That translates into nearly 12 hours of video playback and nearly 10 hours in the more demanding PCMark battery test. That’s enough for all-day operation at school or the office or plenty of movies on a long-haul flight. Support for charging via USB-C also makes it easy to ‘borrow’ some power should you find yourself running low.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5

(Image credit: Future)

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

VPN.cc review
4:41 pm | October 7, 2020

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Tags: | Comments: Off

A virtual private network, or VPN for short, enables users to access video and music that are only available in specific countries by allowing them to conceal their real location and also shield their identity from cyber threats and prevent surveillance by concealing their IP address. 

One option comes from Malta based company Pandora Web, the maker of VPN.cc. For those looking for a reliable VPN server, VPN.cc offers more than 20,000 IP addresses worldwide and over 4000 servers. These are spread across 59 different nations, including Mexico, Croatia, Russia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Kyrgyzstan, Costa Rica, Egypt, and China. Since more servers typically equate to faster speeds, this server coverage is excellent. 

Pricing & plans 

VPN.cc in action

(Image credit: VPN.cc)

To begin, Vpn.cc offers a 7-day free trial for those willing to leave their credit card information – but you must cancel the trial within the seven-day period to avoid being charged for the full service. If you’re not interested in leaving your payment information, the VPN offers a 3-day free trial to anyone who wants to try out the service. VPN.cc does not provide a long-term free VPN option.

The VPN offers 4 subscription plans:

1-month plan: $9.99 per month

3-month option: $26.97 ($8.99 per month)

6-month plan: $47.94 ($7.99 per month)

12-month plan: 83.88 ($6.99 per month)

All of the plans include access to their mobile VPN apps, all the servers, high-speed data, a 14-day money-back guarantee, and the option to connect two devices simultaneously. 

Payment options include credit and debit cards, as well as cryptocurrencies or PayPal for higher security.

Privacy & encryption 

VPN.cc in action

(Image credit: VPN.cc)

The fact that VPN.cc has a privacy policy on its website but doesn't provide any information about its logging or no-logging policies is a cause for serious concern. Additionally, it lacks premium features like a VPN kill switch, which is now a given with the top VPNs.

The PPTP, L2TP, and OpenVPN protocols are used by VPN.cc to secure your traffic. We don't know if it uses a 128-bit or 256-bit encryption algorithm due to the lack of information available, and we also couldn’t confirm whether it supports torrenting.  

Streaming

When it came time to test the streaming capabilities of the service, we discovered that VPN.cc had been discontinued and that there was no way to get in touch with the provider. This was very disappointing because they stated that they could block any platform that was geo-restricted. 

Although we anticipate them starting up again soon, in the meantime it will be best to look elsewhere for a streaming VPN that can support sites like Netflix. 

Speed & experience 

Many people are hunting for the fastest VPN. When using a VPN for torrenting or streaming you need the speed to be roughly equivalent to your regular internet speed because this determines how quickly you can upload or download content. Having said that, we were unable to test the speed of VPN.cc because it is not currently active. 

Customer support  

VPN.cc has an email and a support form that can be used to get in touch with customer service. However, when we attempted to contact customer service for more information, no one got back to us. 

Apps 

(Image credit: Future)

The website claims that VPN.cc offers applications for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android. The apps are still available for download, but due to the VPN's inactivity, they won't function if you do so.

Alternatives 

VPN.cc in action

(Image credit: VPN.cc)

Because VPN.cc is no longer in operation at the time of this review, you should invest in an alternative VPN that has been used successfully.

NordVPN

For a VPN that has been active for more than ten years, it is among the best. You have unrestricted access to your favorite websites and can benefit from excellent privacy tools and online security that satisfies military requirements. It doesn't log your data, offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, and supports multiple concurrent device connections.

Read our full NordVPN review

Windscribe

Windscribe uses a Block Trackers feature to stop trackers from following your activity, a distraction-free mode to help you focus when you need it, and a strict no-log-in policy to keep your online activities private. It also has a protocol for circumventing Internet censorship.

Read our full Windscribe review

Surfshark 

The service has a user-friendly app, a generous unlimited devices policy, unblocks all streaming services, is lightning-fast, and is loaded with cutting-edge features that are simple to use. Additionally, unlike most VPN providers today, it has permitted an independent VPN audit to test its software.

Read our full Surfshark review

ExpressVPN 

There are lots of good reasons to choose ExpressVPN. It’s quick and secure, unblocks popular streaming services, supports torrents and doesn't keep any records of your data. It also has thousands of servers spread out around the globe, and is quick and easy to use. Best of all, there’s a three-month free trial to make sure you’re satisfied before paying up. 

Read our full ExpressVPN review

CyberGhost

CyberGhost offers a variety of useful VPN features on a user-friendly platform. The software is free, simple to use, and never makes your computer run slowly. You can access more than 1200 servers located in more than 50 countries, and it offers extensive P2P and torrent functionality. Features include remote access, DNS leak protection, anonymous browsing, and more. Last but not least, one account can support up to five devices operating at once - meaning you can protect your home computers and mobile devices.

Read our full CyberGhost review 

Verdict

There are several reasons why a VPN with a stable foundation and a large number of servers and IP addresses would be inactive. We tried contacting the service provider to get more details as to why their service is inactive at the moment, but we could not reach them. We hope that they will be able to get back on their feet in the future. 

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