jackfrost

Software Reviews by jackfrost

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.

RBTray

Unobtrusive and handy

I have been looking for a "The Wonderful Icon" replacement for x64 W7 (there are none as all-inclusive & elegant)- i found none, but I've found some that reproduce some if it's functions such as DM2, RBtray & a hack that lets me hide my desktop icons with hotkey action. I like this window minimizer-hider because it helps keep the taskbar clean when that is what i need. I rarely use virtual desktops because i don't find them practical, and some are resource hungry... so this accomplishes some of what virtual desktops aim for in keeping windows-tasks open yet out of the way. I couple it with Yodm3D to achieve very lightweight & functional control for what my intended purposes are. programs like this are a matter of taste, and i go back & forth between this and DM2- but both work with Yodm3D & should work most any other program like it. Price: Free

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Hardlink Shell Extension

Handy

If you have a program, or many programs, that have jumped on the bandwagon of hijacking your 'my documents' folder, then this program is extremely useful. in my case, i partition my harddrives, and on a windows box, my docs is MY DOCS, laff. it is not a space i take invasion into lightly. some programs do allow you to reconfigure, but some don't. a good example would be The Sims 2. not only does it hijack that folder, it can clog it with several gigabytes of things taking up YOUR space. this program comes in at this point. move the original to wherever you need it to go, but then hard link it back to the original location so that the offending program still functions. for all intents and purposes, the folder is in the original spot as far as the intruder is concerned. there are a number of scenarios where this is useful, but that is common one for you to consider. nice program and thank you for putting it out there. Price: Free

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WinDirStat

Another vote of confidence

Decided to chime in on this nice free program and express my gratitude to the developer for making a really useful cross platform app that builds off of tree mapping better than others do. some of the others are mere curiosities, but this one has functional value and i thank them for providing it at snap-files. Price: Free

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vSubst

An elegant solution

This is the original that many for-pay programs have based their disk emulation off of when mounting ISOs and so forth. it still is a very relevant program all these years later in light of more complicated software that one might come across. Price: Free

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ZoneAlarm Free

Needs a rollback

I am very satisfied with the older product versions, and found them to be more than adequate and quite feature rich and designed with thoughtful simplicity. i cannot say this about any version above 5.5 however and strongly urge that one dig into their own personal archive and replace any new version with an older one or to find a suitable replacement elsewhere, like (rip) sygate, etc. this is an excellent example of flagrant abuse of the word "upgrade" when applied to a newer product revision, as this is nothing more than bloated buggy nonsense and can cripple some machines. it is *not* an upgrade. it is a downgrade. look elsewhere if you don't have the pockets for a hardware firewall, etc. avoid this. Price: Free

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PeerBlock

Top notch all the way

Use it to white list or black list single IP's or entire ranges. make your own lists or download via the preconfigured servers in the List Manager (button). it's way simple and THE essential companion to a firewall and other security suites. it blocks on the kernel level, is extremely fast, has virtually *no footprint* worth mentioning even on a K6 rig with 98SE on it and it not only has an extremely active forum, but an entire cluster of online networked websites to form a community that is second to none. there is no reason not to use this. i load it on any pc i use myself or am asked to tighten security on. it is as essential as a mouse and a monitor. Price: Free

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Steganos LockNote

Handy for on the fly

Text does not need formating for our purposes. text needs security and the info contained therein. multiple copies are part of the design, so no problem there. we use it for certain types of exchanges from here to there via sneaker-net and it does the job for these exchanges :) Price: Free

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Dariks Boot and Nuke (DBAN)

Does what it says it does

And it is included as is with Eraser (Sami's program) Price: Free

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Eraser

The standard.

Widely imitated, this program has not been exceeded by any other and it has truly replaced all that preceeded it. not only does it surpass DoD spec wiping, it includes Dr. Gutmans method as well. It can even take in YOUR method, if you take the time to input it. it can also work from commandline and a boot floppy or cd-dvd. this is the first and last word in free disc space wiping, scheduled maintenance, single file wiping and disc wiping. i have many intelligence community clients who test the quality of my services, especially when using this utility, and they are more than satisfied. not only can you specify your wipes, there is drag and drop as well as contextual access and an EXCELLENT help file that will educate you more than you ever care to be educated on the subject. Sami Tolvanen, you are indeed a legend in my neck of the woods, and i thank you for your thoughtful authorship. Eraser is a work of art. Price: Free

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Spybot Search and Destroy (Free)

Essential

Never depend on just ONE spyware tool. get this one and select one or two more to form a suite of non-conflicting tools. only use ONE memory resident shield out of your suite and disable the others. don't mess with advanced features you don't understand. if you don't like the default look, find a skin you do like or design one on your own. update as often as possible and make donations if and when you can. You are a good man Patrick, and you seem tireless. Keep up the wonderful work and don't be a sell out. Price: Free

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MyUninstaller

Thanks nir

Used this dandy for a while. it is vastly superior to the built in one for windows users. Mucho faster. Price: Free

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SpywareBlaster

Superior

Essential tool for INNOCULATING a pc against known and constantly changing evil-wares. it is NOT a scanner. one uses a scanner AFTER THE FACT. one uses Spyware Blaster BEFORE THE FACT. it is a PREVENTATIVE, NOT a treatment. it is NOT memory resident and uses NO resources. if you read the authors documentation, it clearly states the intent and purpose of the code. but in a world rife with malware it is no wonder some just don't "get it". malware counts on the idiocy of the ever lazy internet using public to just click click click and never read a damn thing. that's how it gets on your machine in some cases, of course it is stealthed in most of the time, but other times it comes into your rig through the front door. the point? READ and you will know what you are getting. highly recommended. Price: Free

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Ad-Aware Free Antivirus

Good back-up

It can never be a primary tool for anti-spyware, but it is still an essential tool and a good second or third in any arsenal against the scum of the earth. and as far as automatic updating goes, don't want it, don't need it. it is never good for any program ever to have that sort of unacceptable behavior. nothing beats manually initiating every action on your pc. so kudos to them for leaving an annoyance out of their code. Price: Free

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RegSeeker

Not for the click and go crowd

One can NEVER simply have contact with the registry without being prepared to set aside some time to do the task at hand and it would also behoove you to spend some time educating yourself about it as much as your learning curve can stand. there is not a registry cleaner in all of the world where it is ever safe to simply haphazardly click for a scan then click for a clean. not one. you must read each finding with sobriety and know what you are doing. if you don't, well then, exit the program and call a professional to do the job for you. that said, this is a great scanner for any IT pro. i can't give it a total 5 star since the interface needs to be cleaned up a bit and the selection method - contextual menus need more work, but with a cleaner this thorough, that is only minor. Price: Free

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Stickies

Smiles

Have used this proggy for more than a couple of years and it is a dandy. very helpful! thanks for coding it up and making it available! Price: Free

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icon sushi

Exceptional

Great tool for customizing the Aston shell, which makes big use of PNG format. thanks for this one. Price: Free

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NirExt

Utterly handy in every way

Need one say more? it is so small and unobtrusive, you will take it for granted and even forget where you got it. yet you will use it everyday. ah yes, it's the little things that count... Price: Free

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ShellExView

So wonderful i take it for granted

Why this is not part of the management console snap-ins for administrative tools, i will never know. but it is a critical tool and a wonderful one at that. Nir Sofers little tools are truly a way to build a better mouse trap. you are a good man Mr. Sofer. Price: Free

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Autoplay Repair

Indispensible!

Should be a default part of any windows operating system. but since it is not, i make sure it is a default tool on my tech discs. total elegance in form and function. Price: Free

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IrfanView

The best. bar none

I have used this for about 10 years. it is the first thing i put on any pc after the o.s. and patches. i use it frequently all through out the day from movie viewing, mp3 listening and advanced photo editing. i do not give a rats ass about thumbnails, in fact, i hate them and find them incredibly annoying, so i could care less about that particular area of the program. it is incredibly easy to just go to Irfans website and get the plugins. there is nothing hard about that. it is easy as going to any other website, like this one for example. i always keep my plugins folder backed up so i can just copy-paste when building a new rig, and all one has to do is tell the program where the Photoshop filters are and you can use them too. it is indispensable, so much in fact i will never consider another image viewer, not ever (unless Irfan goes bonkers and screws the code up bad... in which case, i'll just use one of the many older versions i have archived). hey, it works portably also! Price: Free

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XP-AntiSpy

Essential

If you use or work on machines that contain the infamous windows operating system, this program will put at your fingertips the core annoyances of that operating system and the remedy to fix them with a few simple clicks without having to do all the digging yourself. when one tech has to set up many machines in just one day, this cuts the time down to nothing and it is a real timesaver while it helps to tame the intrusiveness of a rather rogue operating system. thumbs up. Price: Free

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AM-DeadLink

Very good

This gets a great rating for me because it was able to work with every browser on the test boxes, from Opera to Firefox and even IE. It would be nice if you could export bookmarks from one to the other, as i know many clients who use 2 or more browsers and want to integrate their bookmarks in a tidy way, but still, i liked it enough to put it on my on box ;) Price: Free

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USBDeview

Perfect

Even if you have an app that shows usb dev connects already, some (like game controllers or mp3 players or cell phones) don't trigger that app when the port makes a call. so we have Nir's cool app that does the looking for you. and it does it portably too, so if you are a sys admin in the field, it can be handy. Price: Free

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1by1

Super!

I love it a lot as a portable app. it simply can't be beat in that regard for all that it does. the interface messes with my eyes a bit, but other than that it is a great way to demonstrate to other newbie coders how to program without bloat, without intrusion into the operating system (registry, context menus, etc). it supports plugins, so what more can one ask? well since it supports plugins, i ask that the eq get up to at least a 7 band with an appropriate range so my band can truly see if our mix good without having to use a more bloated software, and since it strains the eyes more than a bit, perhaps simple skins (for the toolbar icons) or something to natively live in the plugin folder perhaps. a lot of musicians have a use for a small spectrum analyzer, so maybe support for that type of plugin would be nice... perhaps a fourier transform. also... for some odd reason, it crashes occasionally on us, but still, it is a 5 star ware through and through. Price: Free

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mp3DirectCut

Wonderful

I have used this program a long time, and it is very elegant with its foundation and function. what a beautiful piece of non-bloated code. like others, i have an extensive vinyl collection and make my own soundbites for ring tones for broadcasting purposes, and this program has filled the bill wonderfully because i can use it as a PORTABLE. keep up the good work~! Price: Free

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SIW

Outstanding

This is a must have. For a hierarchal tree-view type system auditor, it beats all others of this type, and it actually includes some very useful shortcuts within its menu structure for items integrated into the Microsoft operating systems, as well as its very own integrated tools, such as a MAC address changer. Is that not a functional and unique tool or what? and how about the great feature of its BIN CUE ISO RAW conversion? sweet indeed. For generating reports, i generally use Belarc, but Belarc falls short in report generating because it does it in html, which is not a good idea. I would ask that the programmer do two things: when an integrated tool is launched, i would like to have the choice to have it minimize the program interface or not. A simple tic box in the preferences could do this. and i would like to be able to generate reports in pdf format. Price: Free Trial ($19.99)

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PhotoFiltre

Superior

My digital cameras have their own software, so i don't see this program as lacking just because it doesn't interface with my cameras. I have Photoshop and rarely use it because of it's antiquated backward design, so i use Photodeluxe to perform my edits quickly with no learning curve when Irfanview won't do (which is rare since it supports Photoshop plugs). For some reason or the other though, both versions i have of Photodeluxe do not work anymore. Photofiltre to the rescue! it would be a total 5 star program if it supported layers, but since it doesn't, i have to give it a 4. still, it is a top-notch program that does what it says it does. Price: Free

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POP Peeper

Practical

This is a gem of a program. i have used version 2.4.3 for over a year and i find it indispensable. Price: Free

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Opera

Needs a lot of work

In modern computing speed is not an issue on any system i make and sell to my clients. everything is fast on a modern system with a modern ISP. one can cry how fast one thing is to another and it means nothing to those of us in the 21st century with modern machines that do not use old 32 bit processing or dial-up. it's all fast now. so the important thing in a modern age of 64 bit broadband computing is never speed or resource usage. modern machines have on average 2 gigs of memory and dual core processing. if you are a gamer or a multimedia editor then speed and resource usage is an issue but not web browsing. the critical issue with web browsing is security. modern web connections are very fast and always on. one needs a browsing engine that is no way tied to the operating system. Firefox is the one for me and my customers. Opera is ok but its adblocking is terrible and its widgets are terrible. Firefox 1st Opera 2d ie and its ilk = 0. Price: Free

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Software Reviews by jackfrost

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