objective

Software Reviews by objective

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.

Gimp

Unrefined

Huge installation -- takes a few hundred MB. Terrible UI, especially under Windows. Difficult to use. Current version crashes on me when I simply try opening two files at once. Price: Free

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I've used Snagit for years, at home and at work. I've spent a fortune on it, but I'm done. I just can't take the bugs anymore. And whenever I report bugs, TechSmith support tells me they can't reproduce it. Oh, I'll be able to reproduce it (1) On my home PC; (2) On my work PC; and (2) On my VDI instance, but oh man, it's just not reproducible. Then you have the fact that it randomly un-licenses itself, and refuses to work unless you log into the website and reactivate. I've had this happen after using System Restore as well. Usually, when I install the new annual version, what happens is that it lets me install it without uttering a peep, everything works as before, and I begin using the updated version and think nothing of it. Then, a month later, it tells me my trial has expired. This is because it never prompted me to activate the new license. I have the license; I just haven't fed it into Snagit. It's an awful way of handling licensing. I'm sick of it. Snagit is constantly connecting out to various hosts, ostensibly to continuously verify its activation, and you can't prevent it from doing so without it refusing to work. I'm sick of this as well. There are too many other good alternatives that work better for me to continue overpaying for Snagit. Price: Free Trial ($49.95)

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Calibre

The best software evah!

Calibre is by far the best software in the world. Not just e-book manager, but software--the best ever. I nearly broke my forefinger clicking the "YES!" radio button for "Would you recommend Calibre to others?" The interface is perfect, it is 100 bug-free, and it cures cancer. I mean none of this, but my honest review was censored, so I'm lying to be censored again, because this site is so righteous. Best. Evah! Price: Free

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EasyNetMonitor

Great way to monitor remote hosts

EasyNetMonitor is just what I wanted--a quick, easy way to tell if my VPN, cable provider, or web host are having issues. I had been using GUI Ping Monitor, but I like having the tray icons constantly visible. It's easy to find a handful of really stable IP addresses and/or host names, and ping them regularly. Use both, and you can tell if you have connectivity but are having DNS resolution issues (i.e. if the host name targets become inaccessible but the IP addresses do not). Nice little utility. Price: Free

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Password Tech

Excellent password generator

Those who have used the password generator in KeePass Password Safe will find PWGen familiar. This is a powerful password generator, but is quite easy to use. PWGen gives you full control over the type of password(s) you create, including which character types to include. It gathers entropy automatically, which is something most password generators do not do. PWGen is thoughtfully designed in that its windows can all be resized, and they remember their sizeposition. (I won't go on about this because in the past, I have been ridiculed on this site for addressing interface concerns.) My one complaint is a minor one, which is that the only way to remove character sets requires editing the .INI file directly. Price: Free

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HDD Guardian

Buggy

I like the fact that HDD Guardian allows you to avoid waking drives to check their S.M.A.R.T. status. This is something CrystalDiskInfo does not have. However, I found problem after problem with HDD Guardian. I lost track of all the exceptions I encountered. One of them was because the application requires elevation, but does not request it (the author says they will fix this). But others were not so easy to figure out. I also found that despite being configured to update every 5 minutes, it never did--or at least, the main window and tray icons never updated, unless I forced an update in the main window. This makes me wonder if it is updating and just not updating the interface, or if it's just not updating at all. Another issue is that you can't really configure it to warn you about high temperatures. If you enable temperature warnings, it will put up a notification for EVERY little temperature change--even if the temp goes DOWN 1 degree and is well below the threshold! Why? I have no idea. It doesn't make any sense. Back to CrystalDiskInfo I go. Price: Free

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GlassWire

Lousy interface

I know I will be assailed for dissenting, as always, but I don't care. I like the feature set, but I hate the interface. I hate the style over substance. The grey-on-lighter-grey text which is hard to read; the tiny fonts; the non-sizable columns; the scattered design of the overall interface; the constant needless disk writing. Price: Free

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EMCO Ping Monitor (Free Version)

Decent solution

This software works and provides a fair set of options. I used to use the paid version of this software (EMCO Ping Monitor Professional). I paid good money for it. But then I got prompted to install an upgrade, and I made the mistake of allowing it to install. Then I found out my license would not work for the upgrade. Revert? The old download was no longer available. Support? No. Price: Free

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Moffsoft FreeCalc

Very good free calculator

I can't stand the Win10 calculator, so I was looking for a replacement. This one does the job, has a nice tape feature, and looks just fine. You can make the face all black and make the buttons flat if you like. I was surprised to learn that this software was put out in 2004. Price: Free

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XYplorer

My favorite, by far

I have used all the others, and now I swear by XYplorer. I used Directory Opus for a couple years, but as full-featured as it is, it's loaded with limitations and nonsensical design features. XYplorer lets me preview files, change attributes, and navigate the entire file system in the easiest manner. Price: Free Trial ($40.00)

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SoftActivity Monitor

Excellent, and easy to use

Activity monitoring software isn't the easiest genre of software to test. There are so many different approaches used, it can be confusing. Activity Monitor was a breath of fresh air (pardon the cliche, but it's true!). Installation is straightforward. And once you launch the client (which they erroneously call the "server" in the readme.txt of version 3.92), you'll find a very straightforward, easy-to-use interface. You won't be aggravated by a complex, confusing, cluttered interface. The look and usability is very polished and professional. The two things that disappointed me were the price (although there are some that are much more expensive), and the fact that there is no option to lock the server PC. You can log a user off, or invoke their screen saver, but those are not good alternatives (the former can be too harsh, the latter easily defeated). Price: Free Trial ($189.95)

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SmartSniff

Excellent and easy to use

I used CommView and Ethereal/Wireshark, but their complicated interfaces and options always confused me and slowed me down. SmartSniff doesn't provide all the advanced features of those heavyweights, but it is vastly easier to use if you simply want to check what a certain program is doing. I rate the interface only "Good" because the display and capture filters require you to manually type strings into a text box--an inconvenient and error-prone way of doing things. Price: Free

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DriveSitter

The best I`ve found

I have now tried a slew of S.M.A.R.T. utilities, freeware and shareware alike, and I've found none better than DriveSitter. The interface is very, very nice--windows remember their size and positions, columns auto-adjust, context sensitive help abounds, tooltips provide helpful advice, and so on. There is an option to avoid querying drives while they are in sleep mode, which is an option I found mysteriously lacking in competing software. You can configure DriveSitter to monitor only overall S.M.A.R.T. status, individual S.M.A.R.T. metrics (with the ability to exclude individual metrics; an important feature), or both--and you can do this on a per-drive basis. Nice stuff. I did find it a bit hard to swallow having to buy a "family license", but given that I have a laptop and a desktop, each with two hard drives, I'll take the plunge. To me, it's worth it to have the best, and to potentially prevent a real hassle. Price: Free Trial ($24.95)

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Software Reviews by objective

Gimp

SnagIt

Calibre

EasyNetMonitor

Password Tech

HDD Guardian

GlassWire

EMCO Ping Monitor (Free Version)

Moffsoft FreeCalc

XYplorer

SoftActivity Monitor

SmartSniff

DriveSitter

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