"Stuff" is a general term used to describe piles of items in various shapes and sizes that are crowding you out of your office.

That being the case, here's some "stuff" you may be interested in:

PCmover from Laplink ($49.95) can transfer everything (including registration numbers) from that old clunker sitting in the corner to a new machine using a parallel or USB cable or over a wireless or Ethernet network.

This means you can safely migrate everything from your old machine to a new desktop or notebook computer without having to go through stacks of CDs and digging out old registration numbers. For more information, go to www.laplink.com.

Spare Backup ($4.99 per month) is a safe and easy way to back up all your data to what the company calls a Class A data center (I call it a server), eliminating the need to maintain piles of CDs or taking up tons of space on external drives.

After downloading the product from the company's Web site (www.sparebackup.com), you simply let the program examine your hard drive(s), and it will determine what files need to be backed up. It then continues to monitor your system, backing up files automatically without any input from you. Of course, you can also choose which files you want backed up.

All the data is encrypted and stored on company servers via the Internet.

If you insist on having more control over your backups, there's Paragon Drive Backup 8.0 (ranging in price from $49.95 for the Personal Edition to $999 for an Enterprise Server Edition).

Basically, the software creates a backup image of everything on your hard drive, including your operating system and all files and settings, allowing you to restore your whole system or specific files with a minimum of effort. The backup is performed without you having to close windows or reboot your system.

For more information, go to www.drive-backup.com.

The Steelpad 5L ($39.95) is a multilayered, oversized mouse pad that you may actually WANT to use. Although it takes up a lot more space on your desk than the mouse pads we usually toss into the trash, this one is actually a pleasure to use. It's made up of five layers _ rubber backing, hard plastic, soft polyisoprene, cloth and a tough plastic coating. This is a lot more durable than conventional pads, and your mouse seems to glide over the surface. More information is available at www.steelseries.com.

For gamers who want to get the most out of their mice, Razer has developed the Mantis mouse pads ($24.99) --- one with a surface giving you more control, and another built for speed. And, believe it or not, there is a difference, with the surface of one pad being a lot smoother than the other's.

Like the Steelpad, these are also "oversized," but that's where the similarity ends. These are cloth pads featuring a Fibertek surface designed for precision gaming. More information can be found at www.razerzone.com.

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