Henry8

Software Reviews by Henry8

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.

TeraCopy

A perfect improvement to windows basics

With ever improving speed of computers, like the introduction of SSD and ever faster memories, with multiple core processors, I don't see the speed to be the most crucial part. For most users Windows is fast enough. The most crucial part is in safety of copying, and the possible detection of problems flaws in copies. In this, Teracopy acts well, like CD DVD programs do, while checking the burnt product. Anyways, it's fast, reliable, through the years I've come to trust it, and I sure think it's worth a recommendation. One commentator noted that it "Prompts to replace files" - all I can say is that any proper copying program will do that if they recognize an attempt to copy a file with the same name. You need to rename? Price: Free

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Alarm

My friend for quite a while

It's not the perfect calendar program, but it was never meant to be? A very nice and user friendly alarm for simple tasks like
when does the film start on TV
boiling eggs, potatoes or rice or whatever
remember to check... whatever
doing janitor job I am: remember to lock the outdoor. Its simplicity vastly excels its lack of further qualities. If you need an alarm like the old mechanical "screw it to the amount of minutes you need" which usually ended at one hour, I recommend you try this. Easy to caliber, it is. The best recommendation may be: I use it. Price: Free

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Secunia PSI

Quite clever, I'd say

The problem with various update programs I have used has been that they either alarm for nothing, or leave crying "Wolf!" when it would be needed. Or, then you have to go deep water fishing for those updates... The updates aren't easily found, making one wonder "Why don't I go to the pages of manufacturers and makers myself?" I was highly skeptic when I tried Secunia PSI, but it certainly surprised me, and did it in a good, good way. 1. No false alarms, really. 2. The interface is extremely clear, nothing unnecessary, nothing needed is left out - at least for a layman. 3. Updates were found immediately, and it even gave me Microsoft security updates in .NET Framework, ones MS never offered. 3. Whilst looking for updates, the program followed all the way and, like an Adobe update turned finally out to be unnecessary, it knew it before I did. It seemed to pick up the info from Adobe page faster than I could "Google Chrome will automatically update this..." So the urge disappeared from the list before I could say "Coffee". If I ever recommended something, this may be the BINGO! Price: Free

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Wise Disk Cleaner Free

Yeah but no but...

A good program, and it did a nice job... But, it seems to miss the Recycle Bin, or have I missed that? If I have, I apologize. I would think the Recycle Bin to be the easiest target? Another thing I would like, is more thorough cleansing of temp files, concerning installations, and such. This program seems to go halfway, it doesn't clean the basic Recycle Bin, but it doesn't go as far as it should, in order to be profound. As good a promise it seems to make, I can't recommend it. Don't use it myself, eh? Price: Free

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The software developer responded to this review on Sep 24, 2012: Thank you for your feedback. We have already fixed this issue. If you have any questions or suggestion in future, please don t hesitate to contact us.

Puran Defrag

A great piece of software

As far as I understand, defrag is not the biggest problem when it comes to software. I've tried several programs, and they all worked more or less well. Speed is one thing, sure, but if you use the program once or twice a month, what does 10 or 15 minutes really mean? The thing I like about Puran is, it gives you the option of automatic defrag, with almost endless settings. If you're a wild installer uninstaller, you might want to defrag more often, but if you're a more common user, you might choose to save your disk, and not defrag that much. I have my settings at "every 6 days", and checking things with two other programs I've always received the comment "no need to defrag" --- meaning this one does the job. It really works in the background, even with optimization. Never noticed any CPU usage peaks, or anything. Shortly: recommendable. Price: Free

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BlueScreenView

Very nice and simple tool

One of those incredibly small programs, 51kb, that provide essential information and help. It couldn't be easier: just start it, and look what the problem was. It doesn't give an exhaustive diagnosis, though, so there's some work remaining to be done. And, like I've noticed after installing a new game mod that causes blue screens: it's not necessarily your Windows system that causes things to happen? Altogether, everyone should have this, or something like it. Price: Free

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Auslogics Disk Defrag

A highly respectable achievement

It's fast, it's very reliable, it gives an auto defrag option, it starts flawlessly with Windows, it's highly adjustable with one's wishes... this is a Bingo, no doubt. I've been using it for probably two years now, never had any problems with the auto defrag. It works smoothly in the background. And just today, after uninstalling some major programs ~2Gb, I ran a a total "optimize and defrag" tour, while at the same time watching TV, surfing the net, and going on and off with several programs... no problems. In my opinion, you can forget about leaving your pc to defrag in the silent hours of the night. This one does it while you're all awake. And a nice word to AMD too: their Cool and Quiet was running, so my CPU was running from 800 to 2700MHz like a roller coaster... with temperatures not very significantly higher than the ones in the room, and a noice level hardly to be heard. What will these engineers produce in the future? Price: Free

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HWiNFO

Very reliable

I've tried all free system monitoring programs I've found, as well as a few only-to-buy ones, and I've ended with this one. I mainly use it to monitor temperatures, and compared with others it excels in accuracy - the temperature readings are practically the same as BIOS gives. As everything else works fine too, I can warmly recommend it. The only wishes I have in further development is that the program would automatically go minimized in the tray, with options chosen by user, and that you could copy text by one's own choice, not the whole line... the latter is a minor detail :). The former seems to be in configs, but for some reason it doesn't quite work... it may be me, of course? But a piece of good work, this is. Price: Free

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Vista Start Menu

Surely recommendable

I've been using this for about a year now, it's been slow occasionally... but so is the original XP start menu too. Compared with that one, this looks fabulous, and has a lot of new features. I upgraded to v. 3.6, and it seems to be faster. No reason whatsoever not to recommend - and don't forget, it's free. Price: Free

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jv16 PowerTools Lite

Good and safe - a bit too safe...

I've hoped to find a program that would clean my registry and my temp/unnecessary files, so I wouldn't need several programs. My hopes were high here, but unfortunately no... Comparing my old programs with jv16, the result on the registry side was that my old program showed 179 faults, whereas jv16 had 130 - not a big difference... but on the unnecessary files side the result was, with default values, 2223 vs. 104 for jv16 - that rose to 2211, when I used the most aggressive level. It might be ok for me but with the sinister, almost apocalyptic warnings they give, no ordinary people dare to use that level. What's the use of a vacuum cleaner sucking 100 out of 2200 grains of sand on your floor? ... and just because the salesman told you not to use more than 20% effect? A dummy salesman, I would say. Otherwise, a very good program. Price: Free

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Rename Us

Glad I found it!

I've been using ReNamer, but I came upon a problem with my screen captures. The time during which they were taken included a few Windows reinstallations, as well as trying several programs to take the captures with. Thus, they were named and numbered in a pretty chaotic way. The only way to get them in order was by date. This is the only Renamer I have found so far that was capable of organizing the files that way. After that it was a piece of cake to get them renamed, and now they all stand in a nice, proper queue. It's a very nice and clear program. The only complaint I have is, the numbering of files should be possible to start from something else than 1. But otherwise... what can I say? I have a few thousand renamed files! Price: Free

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The software developer responded to this review on May 21, 2009: It is possible to enumerate the files starting from custom number. Just specify that number in the enumeration schema. Another way is to use expression like + 100 , for example.

Taskbar Shuffle

My heart`s desire!

I guess I'm like most people, and have the same programs running day after day. However, even if I've tried to develop a practice to open them in a certain order... guess what... it doesn't always work out that way. The whole mess leads to the fact that what should be first is third, and the third one is the fifth... and go figure! So I have to go dingle-dangle looking for the first... Well, that seems to be the past, at least if this nice freebie keeps on working as well as it has. I just move them like I want to. A highly usable program. Price: Free

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Transform XP to Vista

It works...

It looks good, and basically: it installed without problems (even if it goes to the heart of the system). It even uninstalled well... I had to do that too, due to another package I installed. Afterwards it reinstalled nicely... I'll probably stick to this, mostly because of its outrageously good look, but also because the Vista start menu is superb to XP`s. I think this is a goodie. Price: Free

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Advanced Launcher

Very handy

If you work with several programs and more than one project, this may well be a precious tool to divide programs into groups. You can make "I don't know how many" groups of toolbars / buttons, each with their own icons in the tray, etc. Very good, I recommend it. You can probably build just about everything around it! Price: Free

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SearchMyFiles

Nickname turtle

I was thrilled to see the size of this program (it was like a breeze from 1980's), and when it had a quite normal outlook and all necessary options, my hopes were high. My enthusiasm didn't fall when I noticed this program used more processor capacity than other search programs tend to do - it "should" mean high speed processing... but no; SMF turned out to be slow, slow and slow. XP`s own search function did the work in 32 seconds, while SearchMyFiles took 3 minutes 40 seconds. Considering the unbelievably small size of the program, the maker must be something of a genius and thus, I stand in awe waiting what he / she may produce by adding some mass to this product. It found everything, yes, but it just did the work incredibly slow. Price: Free

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WatchMe

... a stopwatch you get.

I was looking for a simple program that measures time, in order to compare the speed of various programs. This one does the job, period. The only thing I perhaps would want, is a possibility to start and stop the watch with a key. Otherwise, a pleasant experience: simple and straight forward. Price: Free

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Cropper

If it only remembered you...

A good screen capturer, it took all pictures as commanded - not so obvious, as I'm working with a game mod, and many programs seem to miss half of the pictures: you get blanks. But the hopeless thing is, Cropper doesn't remember your settings... every day and time you have to change the default .bmp and, what's worse, your saving folder. If those don't bother you, go ahead: it's a good program otherwise. The captures come out with good quality etc. Price: Free

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uTorrent

This might be the best

I'm not a heavy user / provider of torrents, but now and then I find myself there. I've been using Azureus, but when I got wild about downloading Battlestar Galactica, I started to wonder if it all had to be that heavy and slow. Azureus gave me 10-50, 150kb/s, at most, but with uTorrent I got up to 400 or, momentarily, even 800kb/s... it was unbelievable for an older program with quite few seeders - and it just kept the speed! This is a highly recommendable program; the only problem I've had is some stalling with my firewall, a thing they admit in uTorrent's FAQ. It caused some slowdown in other Internet activity but then, I was getting down some 30 files, and you can't expect to get everything done in all circumstances, can you? All in all, an awesome product. And to consider: it's free. Having tried this and that, I'd claim this might be the best. Price: Free

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Unlocker

A valuable tool

This program is like having a spare key hidden somewhere, for the inevitable day you forget your prime key on the wrong side of the door. My use for this helper has been, when I can't install a new version of some software, because there's an old file in the way - and it can't be deleted. Unlocker has always helped me out. Big deeds are sometimes done by small programs. Price: Free

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ReNamer Lite

Worth its weight in gold

I had the need to rename over a thousand files. This free helper did it in some blinks of the eye, and I haven't noticed any errors. Ease of use of this program made me wish the maker would come out with an office pack - one can even understand the help file! Very good work. Price: Free

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TextCrawler

Amazing!

I'm currently working with a game mod, and was forced to change some values in my files. Handmade it would have been an almost impossible task, so I started to look for help. TextCrawler made more than 1500 changes in 1460 files... trust me, I WAS skeptical if it all would work. But it did, and the whole rewriting took only a minute or two, the first time I used this program. If you need to change content in files, try this one. Price: Free

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Filseclab Personal Firewall

If you need a firewall, a firewall you get

I told my friend I had a chinese firewall, and his reaction was "I wouldn't trust the Chinese, for their government or anything". Well, I consider it more like his problem. I've tested the program with, as far as I know, all test programs like Shields Up!, and they all show I'm stealth on the Internet. The sign of a good firewall is that you can't really see or hear anything. If it works, everything works. In fact, I liked it much enough as to install Filseclabs' Twister Antivirus. It works well too, inside Zips and Rars as well, and I have even cleaned viruses / trojans out of them, yet keeping the program installable, and functional. The program is light, easy and logical to maneuver. The only problem is the Chinese English. They could improve that part. But all in all, they sure seem to have something to contribute with. Price: Free

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Free Window Registry Repair

In some way quite remarkable

I've tried a lot of registry cleaners and fixers, and it's interesting to see how they give different results. This one shows more problems than any other reg. cleaner, but I've always used the simple "fix problems" button, and I haven't had any problems. Never needed the "restore" button. I use it together with NT Registry Optimizer, and all has just been well. In fact, my XP SP3, with an Athlon 64 3500+, works like a Win95 did with a Pentium... in the "good old days". Fast, that is. It's like a flash! I would be utterly astonished, if you get anything but benefit out of this program. Just try it, to make up your mind. Probably needless to say but: I recommend it, warmly. Price: Free

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Zoom Player Free

Still going strong

Feels like a step into history: the other two reviews this far are 3 years old. My issue was, I couldn't get Windows Media Player 11 to work, and I didn't even find any uninstall for it! Talk about monopoly... But this one worked, well and all. Makes one wonder about the necessity of frequent updates and everything, like with codec packs. If you want to watch and listen, this will probably do it. At least it did it with me. Price: Free

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CamStudio

Good if it suits you

This is a good program if you want to record things happening on your desktop. I would imagine it's almost perfect for that. You can get your mouse moves and clicks captured, and the quality is quite fine. But if you want to record something that takes your complete screen, like a scene from a game, this doesn't work. I was looking for something, able to record my work on a mod for a game... total nill. Like most recording programs, this doesn't work that way. It can't get past the game, so to say. But otherwise, an excellent program. Somewhat modest in interface, but then, was it ever meant to be Ms. Universe? Price: Free

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PDF-XChange Viewer

A nice surprise

It's funny how you get grabbed by habits and presumptions about how things are. Pdf was always Adobe to me, and I didn't even think it could be otherwise. There was no way to edit a pdf, but by buying Adobes program... this marvelous freeware changes that. It works like a drawing program, you can change and edit, and perhaps the best is: when you reopen the file, you can select and remake your former changes. Amazing, really. Besides, it's fast in opening files - faster than Adobe 8 speeded up with AR Speedup; for one file, Adobe ~4.5 sec, this one ~3 sec. Of course, 1.5 secs... don't know how existential that is, but anyway: I definitely switched camp. I suggest you at least give it a try! Price: Free

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Swiff Player

As easy as it can be

This is like some old Windows Media Player. It doesn't take much space on your HD, it doesn't require gigs of memory, or some sort of codec packs. Just download it, install it, and watch Flashes. It can't get any easier. If you want to play golf, just hit the ball! Price: Free

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Free Registry Defrag

A nice goodie

Not knowing a lot ( = practically anything ) about the registry, I took a blind trust in people saying, it needs fixing, and even defragging. It made sense to me. I've never needed to regret that sense: working with my registry has kept my computer's speed up. In my view, defragging seems to be the edge of the sword: a remarkably small procedure, yet does a significant difference. I've never had any problems with this program, even if it goes to the heart of the OS. Anything but recommending would be false. Price: Free

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CCleaner

Not my choice

Everybody seems to be crazy about this one - not me. It's easy to use, yes - it's quite reliable, yes? But why pick this program, when more efficient ones are available? Having used CCleaner, I checked with Iobit's Adv. Windows Care, and Toni's Easy Cleaner. With Easy Cleaner I got almost 100 registry correct ups, and even more temp files. Iobit's program was somewhere between these two. Thus, if you really want to clean up, use Easy Cleaner (and I'm not getting any money for this!). And, sadly, a nasty thing that hasn't happened to me when using "the other two": after CCleaner, my computer wouldn't boot normally. It gut stuck - a phenomenon always causing shivers of horror in one's spine. If Snapfiles had categories for Function and Efficiency, they would be rather low. The program works, sure, but since I get better results with others, I don't choose this one. Price: Free

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doPDF

My choice

The thing I have been searching for is a program that can 1. Produce good quality when you need it, 2. Create a small pdf-file when you need that say, for e-mailing. Having tried all programs I found, I finally settled for doPDF. It has a very clear setup of resolutions, where you can choose the one appropriate for your present need. Even the smallest resolution is of quite high quality. Out of a 1365Kb Word document I made a 153Kb pdf. Even the pictures were quite sharp, and had tones. And if you allow bigger files - you get better ones. Very good program, this is. Price: Free

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Advanced SystemCare Free

Developing but yet in want

I was thrilled when I got it. It had everything from spyware to defrag and registry fix. And optimization, a loveable word for an economist like me! But it doesn't quite work: the restoration of your system is a complete failure, and it gave me some false alarms: seems like it's hooked to some mechanisms causing them. But all in all, I recommend it: it sure works efficiently with your registry, and the optimization is good. Use it with some caution, and don't believe everything it tells. Looking forward, Iobit are on a good path: the package is indeed awesome! I like it, I use it, but... Price: Free

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Defraggler

High speed reliability

Defraggler changed my view of defragging the HD. I was used to wait for hours for it to happen, or even leaving my computer on when going to bed. I tried at least half a dozen programs, and found this is definitely the fastest one. I just used it, the analyze took about half a minute, and showed a total of 3.6GB of fragm. files - pretty much, since I have less than 10GB altogether. This was defragmented in 19 minutes! This truly is a defrag program you can run every day, because it's so fast. One more excellent thing: I've never had problems with rebooting after defrag. The whole system has always started normally, no need for extra boots. I love it, and recommend it! It doesn't gather your files in one end of HD, but that's hardly an issue, since you will have new frags as soon as you do something. Your HD isn't static like a bookshelf. It's a "living" thing. This is one of the foremost programs I recommend. Price: Free

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ThreatFire

I trust it`s reliable

I've had a few problems in the last six months, the worst being a hacker attack of some kind. So I got curious about security matters, and started trying various virus and malware programs. I soon came to realize, they give various outcomes: one told me persistently I have a Trojan, whereas more than a dozen others showed nothing! I got confused... I trust ThreatFire's approach is a very sound one: to secure program's function in the original way. If something changes there, that something is wrong - or, at least, worth a notice. I just used RockXP4 to copy my Windows Activation Code, and ThreatFire stopped it completely. I would consider that to be an act of a friend. What if it wasn't I who was messing with the Activation Code? With a good antivirus program, a good firewall, and ThreatFire, I assume I can make it. I recommend it, but if some wanted programs get stopped, just turn it off. Not as nearly difficult as your life may be otherwise! Price: Free

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Windows Essentials Codec Pack

I need no more!

The title should tell it... I don't know what the problem really was, but my audio and video just didn't work like they should have - at least in my opinion. I downloaded various packs from various locations, but not being an expert, I never really knew what it was. My problems vanished when I, reinstalling Windows one day, decided to only install this pack of codecs. No problems since! I see, I hear. What more would I need? I heartily recommend. Price: Free

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SysInfoMyWork

Small and nice, with potential.

It delivers what it promises: you can see your memory and cpu usage in a clear way, without need to click or anything. Nice to have different colors to choose between - there should be enough for most of us. Personally, I don't need the option to free memory, I have enough of it for my use, but it may come handy for many. If you need that, here you have it! All in all, a good help. If it came with temperature readings for the cpu, it would be just perfect. I recommend it. Price: Free

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Software Reviews by Henry8

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