JohnCorliss

Software Reviews by JohnCorliss

The reviews and opinions below are posted by SnapFiles visitors. They do not necessarily reflect our opinion, and they are solely based upon the experience of individual users.

NAPS2 (Not Another PDF Scanner)

Shuts down twain module after 1 scan

I updated to W10 and discovered that my Canoscan 8600F would no longer work. This was because Microsoft, in all its wisdom, decided that it didn't want me using Twain modules anymore and that I should buy another scanner. This program bypassed MS's nonsense and allowed me to use my scanner again. Unfortunately, NAPS2 shuts down the twain module after I only do one scan. I have file folders of documents that I need to batch scan and that limitation prevents me from doing so. Because of this limitation, I can only recommend this program as a last resort. If you want to do batch scanning, download Irfanview which does allow batch scanning. It even autosaves the scans. Price: Free

review details

Adobe Photoshop Express

A typically wretched program from adobe

I installed this thing as an "app" on my Windows 10 laptop. Then I tried using it. After having to click through some pointless feature screens, Adobe tried to bully me into creating an account with them in order to use the app. When I attempted to do so, they then demanded far more personal information about me than I am willing to provide. As a result, I then "uinstalled" the app. Since M will only allow you to disable an "app" in reality, I will have to open the hidden app folder and delete the subfolder Adobe created for the app. My advice is to not waste your time on this one. Price: Free

review details

AOMEI Backupper Standard

W7 boot problem due to driver

I was using an older version of this program and it was working well. Then I updated the program and my Windos 7 computer began hanging during startup. Of course, it freaked me out not to be able to start up my system. Luckily for me, I have another (Windows 10) computer and I was able to use it to research the problem. It was very difficult for me to correct the issue, but I was able to do so without using a Windows 7 WinPE Boot Disk as the instructions at the link above say to do. I was able to contact their support and discuss the problem with them, but was told that they have no intention of correcting the issue. Based on this problem, I absolutely can not recommend this program. Price: Free

review details

Prey

Program might be free, but the service isn't.

This is a great idea, but the service the program provides isn't free. For personal use, it's 5 a month at the least. Personally, I wouldn't have listed this program as freeware. At best, I would consider the program to be trialware. Price: Free

review details

Can I Run Win11

Gives wrong results

The program told me that my video card wouldn't support DirectX12. It most emphatically DOES support Directx12. There were other errors as well (can't remember them all off the top of my head though.) I removed the program and will probably use the official Microsoft "PC Health Check" application instead. Price: Free

review details

HDCleaner

Locks up and is very slow.

I actually had to use the Task Manager to shut this program down after it locked up when I simply opened the program and clicked on the "Home" button. At that point it started going nuts on my hard drive, making the drive light come on, flickering steadily. It only did this when I was online. I deleted the program (I was using the portable version) and will not be using it again. Price: Free

review details

WatchMe

Version 2.5.6 locks up and won't run.

I'm running Windows 7 Home version (64bit) and when I try to start this program, the hourglass comes on and the program locks up. You might have better luck than me, but just be aware that this kind of thing has happened. I was never able to get it to run. Price: Free

review details

Windows versions

Current version is Windows 8 and higher only. Also, according to the privacy policy you must have a cell phone and "You provide your mobile phone number to create a WhatsApp account." Price: Free

review details

XMedia Recode

Over-the-top difficult to use

The user interface is ludicrously difficult to figure out and interact with. Without any warning, changing one setting will remove another. Nonetheless, I tried to get to a point where I believed I understood what was going on. I carefully set the program to convert a large dimension video down to a smaller resolution version. I waited for over a half hour for the processing to be done only to discover that the program had completely ignored my settings and the resulting video had its original dimensions. And I had double checked that the settings were in place before I proceeded with the processing. I will NEVER use this program again and am in the process of finding a replacement. Price: Free

review details

Video Combiner

Adds a huge watermark to the output file

Right after you click the button to start the file merge process, the program informs you that it's going to add a watermark to the output file and urges you to upgrade to the "pro" version. The watermark that is added is a huge, ugly, white one that completely ruins any video that you produce by combining others when you use this program. Steer clear of this one! Price: Free

review details

TidyTabs

This program is crippleware.

Go to the program's home page and click on the "Get Tidy Tabs" button. You'll go to a feature comparison chart which shows that the "free" version limits you to only three tabs. This is by far not the only limitation either. This program is so limited it's not of any use. Don't waste your time installing it. Price: Free

review details

Calibre

Clunky interface, bad setting control

I've been using this program because there's almost literally nothing else out there for what it does. I don't like the way that the program makes a copy of a file you only want to briefly look at, then stores it in its "library". I've been unable to find a way to turn this "feature" off. The interface is poorly designed and difficult to understand, the program itself is unnecessarily huge (165mb currently for an e-book reader? Really?) and is updated far too often. The updates are a pain to continuously implement. I've moved on to other programs. Price: Free

review details

Bandizip

Now (as of version 7) with ads.

This program works and does what it's supposed to do, but no that it's full blown adware I will only use 7-Zip instead. Price: Free

review details

LosslessCut

The best there is for what it does

This great little program allows me to remove commercials from recorded TV. I only wish that it was possible to select multiple portions for removal at a time rather than only being able to select one portion at a time to be saved without the rest. Price: Free

review details

TheSage

This program is nagware

It's a good program with lots of info, but every once in a while when I start the program it nags me to buy the "Pro" version. Price: Free

review details

FileTypesMan

Yes, you can make changes to file types

This great little Nirsoft utility is an enhanced replacement for Windows Explorer's ToolsFolder OptionsFile Types. You can double click on a file type and make changes to its settings. NOTE though, that you have to scroll down past the peceived types and application entries (neither of which you can make changes to) to reach the file types (which you CAN make changes to.) As usual, the program is portable and requires no installation. It creates a configuration file for its settings within in the folder you expand the utility into. Price: Free

review details

PDF24 PDF Creator

Requires ghostscript

Unlike doPDF (which now requires .net 4), this program requires Ghostscript. It works fine, but just be aware of this requirement. Price: Free

review details

Firefox Browser

Firefox 29 with the Australis interface

Although Mozilla claims that version 29 is more configurable than previous versions, my experience is that the opposite is true unless you use the "Classic Theme Restorer" extension. The extension will put back features which the developers removed (eg. the Addons Toolbar), unlock things they made unmovable (eg. the tab bar location) and do other changes (eg. make background tabs not fade out so completely.) Using the extension, I was able to make Firefox look just the way it did before updating to version 29. I have to admit that I do like the rounded tabs, which really don't waste space after all. There actually are a few new features in version 29, but frankly, I only use a couple of them. If the "Classic Theme Restorer" extension ever stops being developed, I will be very unhappy to have to use the new "Australis" interface. Price: Free

review details

PortableApps.com Platform

Clunky, difficult to configure

You should be able to right click on a listing in the menu and then edit its location. This is not possible AFAIK. In fact, the entire menu program is clunky and non-standard to set up. There's a button next to the one for shutting down the menu, and if you click on it your thumb drive is disconnected. There is no warning that this will happen, no popup alerting you to what the button does. Others may like this menu program but I, for one, will keep looking for something better. Price: Free

review details

Adobe Acrobat Reader

Bloated and slow

If I could give this program an overall rating here, it would be a one based simply on the fact that it's so unnecessarily huge. The interface and features are good, but the program is far too large for what it does. Also, it's very slow at opening .pdf files. I finally gave up on it and went with another .pdf reader program. Price: Free

review details

Radio? Sure!

Can't resize program window

Great program functionally, but it's impossible to resize the program windows and there isn't a horizontal scrollbar as far as I can tell. I contacted the author about this, but he refuses to change things, said it would cause problems with skins. Regardless, this is my favorite internet radio program. Price: Free

review details

Google Maps Saver

Actually, not that bad at all.

The program seems to load Google maps faster than Firefox. It also shows more map at once from what I can tell. Since it's a no-install program, it's nice in that regard. A keeper IMO. Price: Free

review details

DivX for Windows

Bundled with trial versions

This program is bundled with two 15 day trialware programs (DivX Converter 6.5 and DivX Pro Codec 6.8). It's also bundled with that miserable Yahoo toolbar, so if you install this garbage despite my warnings, be sure to uncheck that option during setup. Finally, this whole mess is WAY more than you need, contains too many modules and you can't select which of them to leave out during setup. You have to uninstall what you don't like after installation is complete and that uninstallation does a very poor job. Leaves garbage all over your hard drive which you have to manually delete. Overall, I give this bundleware (it's not freeware, IMO) a 2 out of 10. Price: Free

review details

Celestia

Most amazing program available for free.

This program provides a virtual, correctly scaled solar system on your computer. To say it's amazing is far short of the reality! Please give it a try so that it will keep being developed. Price: Free

review details

Software Reviews by JohnCorliss

Check out these featured downloads...