GuruNet is a fantastic information tool that just about every type of computer user will find extremely beneficial. Click on any word in any program while pressing the alt-key, and up pops a window with information about the chosen word. Click on city and instant information about the city is on your screen. There will also be a city map, weather forecast, telephone dialing code, geographic information, and more. Click on a famous person’s name and you access his or her biography, links, picture, and other pertinent information. Click on a company name and see company information, current company news, the company’s stock price, stock chart, and other information.
GuruNet is amazingly intelligent. It scans words on either side of the look-up word for clues to the word’s context. For example, it knows whether you want the meaning of the word “record” (noun) or “record” (verb). It even recognizes capitalization. As a result it defines china as a type of dishware and China as a country.
The meaning(s) show up on the Dictionary tab. Click on the microphone icon and you can hear the pronunciation. The Encyclopedia tab gives a deeper explanation. The translation tab will translate the word into twelve different languages. Other tabs give you images related to the word and current news stories that are related to that word. Even more tabs appear when there is other pertinent information like medical, legal, etc. The GuruNet Tools menu even has an Options choice that allows you to customize your own tabs including search preferences and language translation choices.
GuruNet offers a ton of information! The best part is that you don’t have to open any other programs or click onto any Web pages, everything is easily accessible in the GuruNet window, and you haven’t even left the original document or Web page that you were working on. This is the genius of GuruNet! It is extremely informative, yet it is very low profile and completely unobtrusive.
After installation when you start your computer, GuruNet will pop up the GuruNet Today page which has a word of the day and other interesting topics. This can easily be turned off if you don’t like it, but I keep mine on because I find it very informative. GuruNet also has a TopicBar that appears at the right side of the screen. A simple click will expand the bar to allow you to enter a word or phrase. I especially like the fact that the TopicBar in its contracted state takes up very little space. Yet the green TopicBar tab is easy to find and you can locate it any place on the right side of your screen.
An icon on the GuruNet toolbar will show and/or hide the GuruNet library. The library allows you to click on a topic and have access to a wealth of information. It is a unique encyclopedia-type of resource where information is truly at your fingertips. The library makes everything easy to find without getting lost in an encyclopedic web. The library gives you information in a wide variety of subjects including everything from science to religion and government to sports. There is a legal dictionary, including listings of laws and court cases. The business area includes company information like stock symbols, officers, location, and other pertinent information. It also covers currency, economics, finance, and investments. The library offers the complete text of the bible, a bible dictionary, an Islamic dictionary, as well as information on Judaism, and other religions. It has a baseball library as well as listings of tennis, golf, and football teams and players. Although I did not find the shopping area too useful, I did enjoy the listing on online catalogues. Other interesting areas include people and places like authors, columnists, personalities, statistics, dialing codes, and city maps. Whether you are looking for specific information or just browsing, the GuruNet library is a great place to spend a little time.
GuruNet is also a quick reference tool that can keep your correspondence free of misspelled words and phrases used out of context. I thought spell check and dictionary.com were the ultimate until I met GuruNet. This little program can make you look, feel, and actually become smarter.
Downloading the free version of GuruNet will give you full use of all the features for seven days. The program is very easy to use and the detailed tutorial gives you an overview of the programs many features. After seven days GuruNet will still give you access to GuruNet Today, the dictionary, thesaurus, spell-checker, word translator and ALT-click anywhere feature or you can easily uninstall the entire program. To keep all the useful features of GuruNet after seven days costs only $39.95 – what other program will make you look and feel smarter for that price?
