gusimio

Software Reviews by gusimio

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.

CDBurnerXP

Not what I expected...

Do not install before reading my plight! I installed the program (and .Net Framework) to replace my aging Nereo 6.6 program for making a simple data DVD. Well, guess what? Nero is still the king of freeware because this program (CDBurnerXP) did not fill the bill! In fact, after attempting a basic backup to a data DVD, this program (and XP) could not even read the DVD data disc. So, I went to their website and searched for an answer and found '0' resolutions! Moreover, when I searched the internet, I found numerous complaints similar to mine and the response from the vendor was "You should have burned the data DVD as a video-DVD" and that would have worked. Hmmm, so if I see a menu selection for "burn data dvd" I should ignore it and select "burn video dvd" right? In summary, there are a multitude of programs, available for free, that are targeted to creating DVD videos, so why should one install this program and get misdirection cues that are cryptic at best. If you want to make DVD videos, get on that has a menu maker included and if you want to burn a DVD data disc, ignore this one completely! Price: Free

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Freemake Video Downloader

It works and is easy to use!

This is the best downloader program I have used to date. Price: Free Trial ($9.00)

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Freemake Video Converter

This is one nice piece of freeware!

Simple and effective! I use it primarily for converting movie files and making DVDs. The resulting picture quality is excellent. Now, some say it is a bit slow; I say the extra time is well worth the wait. However, you can speed up the processing time by either adjusting the codec (not recommended) or creating a DVD menu "without motion" (there is a box you can tic during the process). For simple conversion and burning of movie files to DVD, this is the best software I have ever used. Price: Free Trial ($19.95)

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TakeStock

A great little stock tracking program!

I tried many freebies but this one is the best of the lot; period! However, please be aware that some of the information it pulls from the Yahoo database may not be up to date. Specifically, sometimes the "dividend per share" is inaccurate on selected stocks. Otherwise, I use it every day and it gives me a clear picture of how my investments are doing! Price: Free

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DVD Flick

Beware of audio/video sync problems

I tried several converts and burn to DVD and each time the audio and video were slightly out-of-sync on the DVD. Upon further internet research, I found out that others are having a similar problem. Price: Free

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Audacity

Get this one!

The best free audio editor in my humble opinion. Price: Free

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OpenOffice

I agree with all previous reviewers

You can't beat the features and the price for sure; however, there is a moderate learning curve associated with this software, so just be patient and read the help section if/when you get stuck. Price: Free

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Stickies

Works as intended

My wife uses it to remind me of things that need to be done. Caution: Installing the "global hooks" option activates the hot key functionality and changes the way some key combinations work. Price: Free

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PhotoFiltre

One of the two best freebies

Photofiltre and Photoscape are in a virtual tie for best free photo editors; however, each program does offer slightly different options in the area of "effects", so I have installed both and "use one or the other" as needed. You really can't beat this combination so get both! Price: Free

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Photoscape

One of the two best freebies

Photoscape and Photofiltre are in a virtual tie for best free photo editors; however, each program does offer slightly different options in the area of "effects", so I have installed both and "use one or the other" as needed. You really can't beat this combination so get both! Price: Free

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RegSeeker

Pros, cons, and general recommendations

PROS: Nice feature set, displays each entry as either possibly safe (green) or possibly unsafe (red) to delete. CONS: Dangerous to use (as are all registry cleaners), benefits are negligible, not for novice use. GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS: Avoid registry cleaners in general as they will not (noticeably) increase your PC performance. More often, excessive startup entries, a full or fragmented hard drive, and/or inadequate memory resources (eg, not enough RAM) are the root cause of your problem. Speaking from experience, I have deleted thousands of "invalid" registry entries over time (using 5 different registry cleaners on a regular basis) and I have never been able to see a noticeable difference in my PC performance that was directly attributable to the deletion of those entries. In fact, my PC ran just as well when my registry size was 29,000KB as it does today (with a registry size of 14,500KB). So, I would look elsewhere to solve a PC slowdown problem. Price: Free

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Wireshark

Perfect but intended for private networks

Do not use this (or any other tool) to monitor your network adapter that is connected to a "public" network or you will create a security breach that will leave your PC open to attack by malicious probes because it records all incoming probe/traffic messages (to a temp file), essentially bypassing the protection of your firewall. In my case, I almost became infected with the Win32.Slammer virus/trojan when I simply went to terminate the program after running it for about two hours; however, my Avast AV detected and blocked the infection (thank goodness). In summary, this program does it's job perfectly and my rating will reflect the program's functionality accordingly but, again, do not use it to monitor your incoming traffic from the internet. Price: Free

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BitMeter 2

Nice bandwidth monitoring package

This utility monitors upload and download bandwidth usage separately. It also provides daily, weekly, and monthly stats and includes an ISP restriction trigger (user settable). There is too much more to mention so if you need a capable bandwidth monitor, then get this one! Price: Free

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ShaPlus Bandwidth Meter

Didn't work for my purposes

This utility does not differentiate between upload and download bandwidth usage... only the total bandwidth usage is provided. Also, I noticed the IE Flash option is turned "off" by default so I went to Adobe and my Flash installation wasn't recognized. After that, I uninstalled this utility and reinstalled Adobe Flash. Obviously, I cannot recommend this product for the reasons stated. Price: Free

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Convert

One of the most useful programs

One of the most useful programs you'll ever find... and free to boot! Price: Free

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Spell Checker For OE

An essential add-on for OE

Even the best spellers mistype quite frequently and this little program will help you to catch most errors. I say most errors because the associated spell check dictionary is not always 100% accurate but neither is the one from MS Office. Price: Free

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Rainlendar Lite

What a nifty little calendar program

Too many goodies to describe, so my suggestion is to download it and try it for yourself. There is a slight learning curve required to learn all the things you can do with this little gem, so be patient and explore it thoroughly. The only caution I have about this program is to make sure you exit the program before playing any intensive games and/or running a video benchmark program. Price: Free

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PDF-XChange Viewer

Tried it and i like it!

This is now my PDF reader of choice and, in my opinion, v1.00 (initial release) is the best because later versions progressively find a way to remind you about upgrades. Price: Free

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7-Zip

Simple, reliable, and uncomplicated

No bells and whistles to complicate a simple task. It just does what it is supposed to do and it does it well. Price: Free

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AIDA32

The best sys info tool available

If you've tried WinAudit and were satisfied, then you'll absolutely love this utility! Check out the memory (RAM) and hard disk benchmarks that WinAudit lacks and you'll see why. Price: Free

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Comodo Internet Security

The best firewall out there bar none

This firewall package does it all when installed with the associated defense software (also included in the download); however, it comes with a fairly steep learning curve. This program has an auto-learning cycle, where it asks you a bunch of questions (over time) and you have to answer them correctly. So, if you are not technically inclined, I would just install the firewall (and skip the defense software). However, if you are looking for maximum protection, you must install the complete package. Once done (w/auto-learning completed), your PC will be fully protected against incoming intrusions and outgoing exploits (e.g. leaks). Of course, you must also have a good antivirus program installed as well. However, if you don't have one yet, my recommendation would be to download the free Avast AV software which I personally have been using for over two years without instance. Right now, I would stay away from the Comodo AV because it is still in Beta. Price: Free

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MediaMonkey

A little busy to be my default media player

An overall great product; however, the interface offers too many options for my taste. I just want to create a simple playlist and play it with a compact player (such as ALSong or Media Player Classic). The real benefit of this program lies in the utilities it offers. I use it primarily to extract mp3 files from any CD (using the highest quality extraction option) and then I transfer the resultant folder of MP3s to ALSong where I create my final playlists. If you like to be able to search your music collection by title, artist, year, genre, and much more, then this is the all-in-one program for you! Price: Free

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JPGVideo

A rare find

This is the only freeware program I could find that will actually (and successfully) combine a series of jpegs into an AVI movie. Cons: No provision to sync/add sound and user cannot apply a 29.97 fractional framerate. After use, a correction to the whole number framerate can be adjusted by several freeware programs such as AviDemux, Internet Video Converter, and/or Super Video Converter. Once the proper framerate is achieved, a sound file can simply be added by using Windows Movie Maker to merge the audio and video. Price: Free

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ALSong

Nice interface and it does the job!

This program had more than enough options for me to catalog and play my meager mp3 collection. The interface looks slick and the options are adequate (at least for me). The only knock I could find against this program is the music starts playing as soon as you open a playlist. In my case, this is slightly annoying because I like to prioritize songs in the playlist "BEFORE" I start listening to the music. However, I created a workaround by placing a "silent (dummy) MP3 file" at the top of the playlist to keep the program busy (repeating) until I am ready to click on the first real song. Does this annoyance sound trivial; it really is, so ignore it and download the program! You'll be glad you did. Price: Free

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The software developer responded to this review on Sep 11, 2007: Hello, For that, press F4 to display the preferences then uncheck "Autoplay when started". ALSong can either automatically start playing music for you, or not. The preferences give you quite a few nice options for how ALSong should behave. Putting in a few minutes to become familiar with them will really increase your satisfaction with it. The Global Shortcut Keys are a great thing to check out as you can control ALSong then without looking at it. As always, if anyone ever needs help, it s available for free at the ALTools.net web site. Regards, Your ALTools Evangelist

MyDefrag

It does the job that others won't do

This little gem moves all of your programs to the front of the disk (which the XP default defrag program can't/won't do) for faster access and it also uses an optimization strategy when doing so. It also offers many command line parameters but I've found it works great just by clicking the executable and letting it run. Also, please read the associated documentation for a better understanding of the total process... and finally, it doesn't have to be installed to work. Highly recommended! Price: Free

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IE Privacy Keeper

Does exactly what it is supposed to do!

Beware of those "all-in-one" cleaners. This utility works like a charm and is highly configurable too! Price: Free

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Avast Free Antivirus

So far so good...

Very nice for the price! Price: Free

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Software Reviews by gusimio

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