brothergabriel

Software Reviews by brothergabriel

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.

BezierDraw

Neat applet but not a full application

This is a Java Application that comes as a .jar file, not a regular Windows executable. It's highlight is that it can easily create geometric shapes and export them as .png and .svg files. And since it is vector, you can manipulate all of the numbers. If you have trouble running it, right-click on the .jar file and choose "open." It has an "under construction" paint palette that is supposed to allow you to colour the object. I played with this for a few minutes and exported a png file. The application lacks some features necessary to make this useful. You cannot choose the export path or filename, for example. I created two beziers in the window and exported them and they do not save their colours nor line thicknesses; there are a few other bugs like that, and my attemptz to export .svg files (on Windows 7 x64) were unsuccessful and it takes a really long time and has no status indicator. However, it I say it is neat because you can manipulate the shapes and see how they make their spiralgraph effects. I recommend this program to someone so they can play with it, although I don't find it particularly useful or Price: Free

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Expresso

The easiest of all the Regexers

This application has my recommendation! I have used all sorts of regex helpers and regex buddies, both online and offline, but this one is the easiest of all to use. One of the biggest problems with regex is that you can't remember all the tokens. Expresso has a built in tester, validator AND visual builder, the combination of which is rare to find in a single application. It also has a library of regexpressions, and you can save your sessions. It has a local help file! This regexer gets a score of "Very Good" for "Ease of Use" - because I think it is the easiest to use of all the regexers. You can visually see all the tokens and all the options. No regexer is really "easy" to use, but I couldn't imagine how to do it better than Expresso. Cons: it does not do regex for Perl, as it is designed for .net, but I use it to test and design regex strings for JavaScript all the time. Also, it does not have any syntax colouring. Also, note that you DO have to register the program, but as of the time of this review, the registration is free. Price: Free

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Photoscape

Has a lot of nice features, but...

Wanting an alternative to Photoshop (something smaller and faster, with more convenient tools), I tried Photoscape. Although it has a lot of nice features, I won't stick with it. The interface is the problem. It is not so intuitive, IMHO, and lacks many common interface features. For example, it has no File Menu bar! I hate that. Second, there are very few user-manageable settings (such as startup directory for the viewer, default save path, etc.). If you open a picture in the editor, there isn't any way to "close" it. There is no way to find the open file in the viewer window. You get no context menu when you right-click on the picture in the editor. However, I will say I was surprised at how fast the viewer displays thumbnails of a directory. This is nice. It is also nice to have all those tools handy in one package. I wish XnView had the editor! All in all, I find the interface clumsy and lacking. I probably won't use this program. Price: Free

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Mouse Without Borders

Didn't work on XP

I tried this program, attempting to connect a Windows 7 computer to an XP SP3 computer. The Win7 could control the mouse perfectly on the XP computer, but the XP computer had issues controlling the mouse on the Win7 computer - the mouse was trapped in the taskbar area. The program installs very quickly, is easy to understand, and has great features. If you are using all Windows 7 computers, this is a wonderful app to add, especially if you are using multiple computers at your workstation or are in a computer lab where you can see your neighbors' desktop. Price: Free

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Toolbar Paint

Nice, quick, easy editor for toolbar bmps

Tbpaint is just for editing toolbar bitmaps. I have used it alot, and it makes very short work of adding new buttons to any toolbar bitmap. It will even export to 32 bit bmp. The interface is compact, but a bit clunky, and there seem to be any way to edit color or alpha channels. However, you CAN import a 32bit image, which also imports the alpha channel attached to that image. I say this program is good for small, quickie jobs, but if you are going to do something top-notch, you might look for something else. Still, it is worth having on hand for those tiny jobs when you don't want to re-wrap your mind around some forgotten project. Price: Free

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WinSplit Revolution

Wonderful!

I have been using this program for several years now, and I like it twice as much now on account of the new widescreen monitor. You can set your hotkeys however you like - even the win key! You can move windows from one monitor to the other in a snap. It has a feature also where you can size two windows together vertically, but you have to dig for that one in the menu. As you can see I give it 5 stars. It is excellent. Price: Free

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SIW

A must-have.

This is a must have program. It tells you everything about a computer. The only thing I wish is that it had options to *edit* settings and info instead of just to view them. Also, there is an annoying splash screen and a slight delay while the program loads, but it isn't too slow. Finally, it is PORTABLE so you can keep it on your USB key! Thank you, Mr. Topala! Price: Free Trial ($19.99)

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Metapad

Perfect fast notepad replacement

Do it now! Replace Micro$oft Notepad with Metapad right away! Metapad is super fast and super simple. It has a toolbar with its own "always on top" button (very important), and wordwrap button. It can switch between two fonts, and has a hotkey "insert string" function. You can set it to remember its last size and position. And it looks nice. If what you are looking for is a very simple and fast notpad, this is it. There are directions on the Metapad site on how to replace Micro$oft's notepad completely with metapad. It is one of the first things I will do on any new computer. If there were one con I would think of, it is that it doesn't do tabs. But there are other programs for that. This is fast and simple text viewing. Price: Free

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NoteTab Light

A must-have

This is a must have for anybody who likes to manipulate text. If you like GREP, *this* is *THE* program for you! I took a plain text bible and turned it into a linked html website in notime. Just write the script and NoteTab will do all the work. You can customize EVERYTHING. And there are VERY MANY cliplibraries that are free to download. There are also 3 or 4 related active Yahoo Groups with instant and willing support (!!!!!). Really, this is a winner. I purchased the Pro version because it had even more power for manipulating text. Thank you, Mr. Fookes! Price: Free

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Photoshop SpeedUp

Skip it.

There is only one other photoshop plug-in organizer or switch out there for free (Plug-in Commander Lite), so I have installed this SpeedUP twice and both times hated it and removed it. It renames your psd extensions so they are not recognized (pretty standard method), but you have to choose which plugins *to RUN*, not *to disable*. So you have an extensive (no pun intended) list of plugins to sort through. I use FreeCommander file manager (using an extension filter) and rename the plugin extensions myself. Maybe I just don't understand it right. Price: Free

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Unlocker

A dandy!

This is a must-have! It hides most of the time, you can turn it on and off if you like, or just set it to work whenever you want to unlock something. The icon shows in the system tray. It does *just what it is supposed to do*. Wonderful! Price: Free

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Bulk Rename Utility

Really nice.

This program is a dandy. At first sight, however, it is overly complicated and confusing with too many boxes and fields. But once you get used to that and realize what is going on, you see just how *powerful* that program is! I love it. Thanks a bushel! Price: Free

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Taskbar Shuffle

Awesome!

This is a must have. I have used it for over a year. The *only* drawback is that it uses 3000k of RAM memory - but that isn't a problem, because if you really need that pittance, you can just close the program from the system tray. It starts with windows. Really, this should have been included in windows in the first place. Price: Free

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FolderViewer

Decent - has a sound effect previewer!

This is one of those "does-too-much" programs. But you can't complain too much since it is absolutely free! It has a FolderCommander that remembers its place when you quit. I prefer XnView to its photo viewer, and FreeCommander to its folderviewer. BUT, you can browse through sound effects quickly, but there are a few quirks that will cause it to not work until you restart the program. The interface is cluttered and complicated, but it is worth trying out. Price: Free

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FreeCommander XE

Explorer free!

FreeCommander is, like it says, free! I give it five stars = it doesn't embed explorer.exe like other programs! That means you can use it even if explorer is crashed. It is easy to use, and you get features like compare folder and synchronize that you would only get in a shareware if you paid. Great job! Price: Free

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Software Reviews by brothergabriel

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