ROGUE OPS. Format: PS2. Publisher: Kemco. Price: £39.99. Out now.: WE'VE had Lara, Buffy and now Nikki Connors.

After a decade or so of ignoring them, it appears game developers have finally woken up to the importance of women as something more than mere decoration for adolescent boys.

Ms Connors, the female star of Rogue Ops, is typical of the new breed of kick-ass heroines pioneered by the Tomb Raider adventures. An ex-Green Beret well versed in the art of killing, the game begins with her husband and daughter being killed in a car bomb. Desperate for revenge, she elects to join a covert operations group called Phoenix, dedicated to hunting down terrorists by whatever means necessary.

Rogue Ops uses the typical revenge riff to hang a pacey action-adventure on. In fact, when the story begins, it's non-stop mayhem, with Nikki using every weapon in her extensive arsenal to take out the bad guys.

The control system is rather unusual - Kemco reckon it is a simplified version of the usual "press a button and hold down a trigger" system - but I soon found myself aching for the original.

Basically, you point Nikki at something and an icon appears telling you what she will do if you press the "action" button. Sounds good, but your timing has to be spot on or the icon won't appear, leading to precious time being wasted pacing back and forth looking for the right activation icon.

Nikki also packs night vision goggles that you need for night time stealth missions and spotting baddies hiding behind walls (er yes, really). They come in useful - indeed, they prove crucial at times - but they would have been even better if your character could run while she was wearing them.

The stealth mode is innovative and successful. Creep up behind a bad guy and another icon appears, tap the button and follow an on-screen prompt to move your joystick in a certain direction to perform the kill. Get it right and the game switches to a cool cut scene showing Nikki dispatching her foe.

If you mess it up, don't worry; enemies in Rogue Ops are pretty thick. They can't hit a barn door with a banjo and often stand around reloading their weapons in full view so you can pick 'em off easily.

Rogue Ops is a good looking game. Nikki is well animated and has a wide repertoire of moves. Likewise, the levels are neatly drawn and suitably expansive. Some of the darker areas could do with a bit more light to avoid the frustration of blundering about in a most un-covert ops like way, though.

You need to pay careful attention to sound effects, too, as the earliest warning of danger is often the noise of footsteps or the report from a silenced pistol.

So is it any good? Generally, yes. The mixture of sneaking about, running like hell and shooting to kill remains an effective formula for fast paced fun.

Anyone who has enjoyed Metal Gear or last week's 007 romp will find plenty of fun in Rogue Ops.

F-Secure Internet Security Suite. Publisher: F-Secure. Price: £35. On sale now.

IF you've bought a new PC, chances are it came pre-loaded with anti-virus software. That may have been enough to protect your precious investment the day it left the shop but the software was probably out-of-date within a month.

At a conservative estimate, more than 1,000 new viruses are released every month. Protecting your PC from that kind of threat requires an anti-virus package that can be up-dated.

All the big names come with an up-date feature but pre-loaded software on a PC usually has a time limited license. This used to be 12 months but many cheaper PCs nowadays come with a free period of just three months.

Added to the virus problem is the growing preponderance of "hack attacks" - crooks who break into your PC when it is on-line, probing for personal information or leaving viruses behind.

Windows Xp comes with software to stop this, known as a firewall, but for some bizarre reason, Microsoft configured the default to "off" so many machines don't even have the most basic form of protection.

The F-Secure Internet Security Suite 2004 claims to offer an all-in-one solution by combining a top-of-the-line anti-virus scanner with cast iron firewall protection.

Your cash also buys you free updates for a year, after which a new year-long licence can be bought for a small fee.

Installation is so simple even a child could get the basic level of protection up and running in no time. If you do need to tweak your settings, it's a simple matter to call up the F-Secure control panel.

F-Secure automatically updates itself via the Internet and checks for new updates whenever you are online, so you don't need to worry about your software becoming out of date.

When a virus is discovered, the programme takes over, cleaning your system and stamping out the nasty bug. It's all done in a fuss-free, straightforward manner.

Security software may seem like a bore - especially when there are so many great PC games out there competing for your cash - but ask anyone who has ever suffered a virus infection whether or not an effective package is worth the money.

My advice? Simple: if your anti-virus package is out-of-date or, worse still, you don't have any form of protection at all, get this. Now.

Published: 12/03/2004