This software offers a free 30-day trial so I tried it out on my MacBook Pro 2.4g Intel Core 2 Duo with Lion.

The good:

Comprehensive suite of antivirus, antiphishing, and antispyware services plus an easy-to-use firewall. Frequent virus definition updates enable rapid response to new threats. Options to search for Mac viruses, Windows viruses, and/or 'nix viruses. Options to declare certain files or domains as "safe." Monitors inbound and outbound network traffic. Simple to use with clear (if not robust) downloadable documentation. Graphics panels show network usage, virus engine activity, and other key data. Comprehensive activity logging with optional export to Console.

The bad:

During my trial, the virus engine process periodically exited in the background unexpectedly, requiring system restarts to re-enable Virus Barrier. Depending upon the Virus Barrier options that I had selected (e.g., scan memory and live file activity), Virus Barrier processing could slow my system noticeably. One option that I apparently had enabled (I never determined which one) caused pages to fail to load in Chrome (these pages always reloaded just fine).

If you are looking for antivirus software, it is worth participating in a free trial to see if Virus Barrier meets you needs. I ultimately determined that Virus Barrier was a bit more heavy weight and resource intensive than I need at the moment. The installer provided on the Intego site apparently removed the software swiftly and without incident.

Very good Google Reader app. Fairly stable, easy to use, and with a robust suite of social network sharing capabilities built in, which NetNewsWire lacks (NNW only supports a handful).

This app could benefit from a feature similar to NetNewsWire's smart folders to sort incoming articles into folders by keywords.

SpamSieve is a terrific spam filter--i couldn't live without it! ... which is a problem, because version 2.7.7 generates the following message with Apple Mail:

"Mail has disabled the following plug-ins:

SpamSieve

Contact the makers of these plug-ins for versions that are compatible with Mail 4.1 and Message 4.1."

Pear Note does what it claims it does and does that very well: You record video or audio presentations and take notes in a text field. Later, when you replay the rich media, a cursor highlights the relevant portion of your text notes. Alternatively, you can click anywhere in the text notes to immediately jump to the spot in the AV recording at which the notes were taken, enabling you to review the lecture for things you may have missed. Incredibly handy for taking notes on classes or for conducting interviews.

The text editor enables notes, lists, tables, and links. The text is spotlight searchable. (It would be superb if you could search for text in spotlight and immediately jump from that to the corresponding AV, or if Pear Note could use speech recognition to take notes for you, but those are not features at this point).

The program allows you to import audio and video and to add imports to existing Pear Note recordings.

The downsides?

* If you use this software often and fail to use its export functions to later decouple text from AV (text is separately exportable as RTF or text and video is exportable as QuickTime or AAC), you'll collect lengthy AV files on your hard drive, potentially taking up significant amounts of space. This is not a problem with the program--it's simply a function of the concept.

* If you record with your Mac's internal microphone rather than with an external microphone, your recording will inevitably pick up the sound of your typing, which somewhat limits the value of any AV export.

* The price is a bit steep for an app if you only use this occasionally so you'll want to try the program out thoroughly first to see if it makes a useful addition to your workflow.

To set the record straight, my problem with the plugin not loading in Apple Mail under SpamSieve 2.7.7. has been fixed. It appears to have been associated with my use of Xslimmer, not with any fault in the plug-in. I should note that the developer responded to my inquiry in less than 15 minutes. Great program, great support.