Panda Internet Security 2009 is vastly improved in speed and effectiveness over last year, but could use a little more work on specific features and technical support.

Eset Smart Security 3 offers best of breed antimalicious software protection without a lot of extras.

AntiVir Personal 8 provides more than adequate malicious-software protection, but for the price, we expected more features and polish.

The CS4 Master Collection contains every application in the Adobe Creative Suite. Although priced for serious professionals, it's a relative bargain compared with buying each ingredient piecemeal.

Adobe CS4 Design Premium contains nearly every tool for editing digital images and layouts for print and the Web, as well as for crafting interactive animation and desktop apps. If you don't need video editing, pick this over the Master Collection and save $700.

Adobe CS4 Web Premium is a good deal for interactive designers who don't need tools for video editing and sophisticated print layouts.

Adobe CS4 Design Standard serves designers who edit digital images and layouts for print, but many will find Design Premium a better deal for bundling the interactive potential of Flash, Dreamweaver, and Fireworks for $400 more.

Adobe CS4 Web Standard serves interactive designers who don't have to edit images, but many will find Web Premium a better deal for bundling Photoshop and Illustrator for $500 more.

While Adobe Illustrator CS4's most compelling new feature--pseudo-multipage support--can be frustrating to use, overall it makes CS4 a worthwhile upgrade for current users.

If you work with 3D, Photoshop Extended is a must-have upgrade; ditto if you think you'd use more of Standard's tools if the interface were less opaque, if you need to upgrade other suite applications, or if you qualify for an academic discount. All things considered, while Adobe Photoshop CS4 makes some improvements over CS3, it might be worth skipping this generation and waiting for the next.