Haven't you wished at some time that you could click on ANY word you came across while reading a webpage so that you could find out what the heck it meant? Well now there is something that serves that purpose and more so! Atomica formerly known as GuruNet is a free program that you can download from http://www.atomica.com. Indubitably you will find Atomica an indispensable program for your computer, provided its running on of Microsoft's operating systems.

How it works
Let me explain what this versatile program can do for you. It allows you to look up the dictionary definition of any word you see on your computer screen, provided that the word is not embedded in a picture of course. To do this you simply position your cursor over the word in question, hold down the alt key and click on it using the mouse. A window will pop-up and it will contain the definition or multiple definitions if that is the case along with a pronunciation guide. And best of all it is very fast!

An Example using the word bush
1. A low shrub with many branches.
2. A thick growth of shrubs; a thicket.
a. Land covered with dense vegetation or undergrowth.
b. Land remote from settlement: the Australian bush.
3. A shaggy mass, as of hair.
4. A fox's tail.
a. Archaic. A clump of ivy hung outside a tavern to indicate the availability of wine inside.
b. Obsolete. A tavern.

its Intelligent too
its pretty neat that you can click on bush and get the definition. What blew me away is how it looks at the words around the word you clicked on and tailors its reply. For example if I click on 'bush' in the phrase "George W. Bush still awaiting news on election" the program doesn't come back and tell me about a shrub, it tells me about governor Bush. This is also useful when you click on a word that is part of a popular phrase such as 'hatchet' as in bury the hatchet.

But that's not all!
Atomica would be great if it only showed you the definition of the word, but it does so much more. If the word is found in a thesaurus the display window that pops up will have a thesaurus icon that you can click on to get alternative words.

If the word is uniquely associated with computers or the Internet a tab labeled technology will be visible to give you the technical meaning. In addition if the word has a meaning particular to medicine you get the medical tab. Some other tabs that might be present depending on the word are Did you mean?, Biography, Web Search, Books, Internet Keywords, Encyclopedia, Science, Idioms and Translation The design of the Atomica software is very smart. If the tab wouldn't contain information it doesn't even show up. Most of the tabs are self-explanatory so I won't spend time on each one of them. Here is a list of a few of the most useful ones. I am putting a complete list at the bottom of this review if you're interested.

maps/directions
Click on a zip code or a city name and you will have a little map pop-up that allows you to zoom in or out and will also provide you with driving directions.

quote
Get the latest stock quote on the company by just clicking on it in a headline!

translation tab
The translation tab shows the French, German, Spanish, and Italian translations of the word you clicked on. These are the default. If you wish you could also set the program up to provide translations into Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Greek, and Russian. Unfortunately you can not click on a foreign language word and get the English translation yet. Looks like Babelfish is still needed.

weather
Click on a city name and get the current weather along with a five day forecast.

Alternative ways of entering words
Maybe you're reading a book or just heard a word on the TV that you didn't know. Well you can't click on that, but Atomica allows you to type in the word and get your answer. After you've installed the program a little icon will be present in your system tray that you can double click on to bring up an input window. This is also useful when you're in certain programs that have already defined the alt-click function to be something unique to that program. To get around this you are allowed to change the keystroke and mouse click needed to indicate the word to something of your own choosing.

Installation
Point your browser to http://www.atomica.com/solutions_products_pc.html to download the software. They currently have versions for Microsoft windows and Palm computers. No indication if they are going to support Apples or Linux. Installation is easy. After downloading the setup file, which is 945KB, simply execute it and the familiar blue 'wise installation wizard' will pop-up and lead you thru the steps. You don't need to reboot your machine after installation but you should close down and restart your browser. That's all there is to it.

Summary
Atomica is an extremely useful piece of software. I would suggest you download it now and give it a try. I find that it is a great aid to me while I am composing my reviews or just writing a comment. After all, how many people do you know can spell 'indubitably'?


complete list of possible tabs
Acronyms
Albums
Artists
Associations
Bible
Biographies
Books
City Information
Companies
Computer Terms
Dictionaries
Embassies
Encyclopedia
Flags
Finance
Geography
Health
History
Idioms
Internet Keywords
Law
Legal Case
Legal Dictionary
Literature
Maps/Directions
Medical Terms
Movies
Mythology
News
News Analysis
On-line Courses
Pictures
Politics
Quotes
Science
Songs
Spell Check
Sports Bios, Stats, News
Thesaurus
Translations
Weather




Recommended: Yes