Address Book Standard

We know you’re not supposed to look a gift horse in the mouth, but sometimes you should. While this freeware application offers a functional database for organizing addresses, its lack of features and poor design don’t place it high on our list. Address Book Standard appears as a very small program window that unfortunately can’t be resized. Once you’ve “signed in” to your own book, you have the option to add entries or search through your list. Entries appear as a single list; there is no option to organize the items into folders. Thankfully the search function works fairly well, allowing you to search by any keyword in any field. That said, if your term appears in more than one entry, you have to scroll through the windows by pressing the F3 button repeatedly. Address entries are poorly designed, with only eight fields and no options to change or remove fields. “Name” appears as one single field, with no separation for first or last name; “Address” appears as one line as well, forcing you to type street address, city, state, and zip code all on the same line. There doesn’t seem to be any character limitations, however. While this program is reliable, it’s not exactly robust–and given the number of Web-based, free organizers, it’s hard to speak highly of Address Book Standard. For only the most undemanding users who aren’t comfortable keeping their information online, this program may suffice.