SeSorrow

Software Reviews by SeSorrow

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.

Gizmo Drive

No ease of use

I saw the previous review and thought I would give it a look-see. Holy cow, what a waste of my time! The thing is bundled with a suite where you MUST install a core package to run. Everything runs from the suite interface and it's "toolbar" which is actually a large tool-tip not a tool bar. Finding the Gizmo drive in all that...MESS was a pain. You have to add an icon to the "toolbar" to make it easy, but even that info is hard to find. After I got that far I just refused to deal with the pain of it any more. If you want something intuitive and easy to use try another program, try this if you want a complete suite of applications and no quick and easy way of getting it done. Price: Free

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7-Zip

Still the best

Keep trying to find alternatives to this one and keep coming back. You can always guarantee this one to be stable and quick. Price: Free

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FreeFileSync

Must-have

A must-have if you have folders that you keep copied on an external HD. Clean, simple, and easy to use. Performs precisely and quickly. I have never had data corruption with this one, and it doesn't takes half a day to do a sync either. Price: Free

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CDBurnerXP

Good for simple needs only

Decent little program if you have simple burning needs, like music or data CDs. Never had much luck with ISO, DVD, or anything else. Price: Free

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AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

Only as a last resort

I used to use AVG years ago when it was a decent product. Now it is useless to me. AVG is bloated, has WAY too many false positives (flags my Windows update process as a virus), and has a poor scan engine. 95 of the time there are one of two AV products on any machine that I have to clean up: AVG or Norton's. I know some users have had a great experience, but for me those days are long gone. I think there needs to be a rating category for "Effectiveness". Price: Free

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Eraser

Eraser does it's job

Never knew I needed this, til I found it. Does a great job of erasing on demand with a high level of destruction. You won't be able to recover files with this one. Interface is beautiful and couldn't be easier to use and understand. Can be set on a schedule to delete files/folders automatically which is great for me. I use to it delete the recycle bin on a schedule. Price: Free

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Yawcam

Great freebie

Downloaded and used this one after a string of break-ins in my neighborhood. Installed quick, found my webcam, and was up and running in no time. I set it to email me the snapshots of any changes and it performed flawlessly. Price: Free

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PC Services Optimizer

If you must use Vista...

Then you really need this utility. VSO is great for freeing up resources in Vista to help it run faster and smoother, decreased boot times, less lockups. I noticed greatly improved performance when I installed this on my old Vista machine. Price: Free Trial ($19.95)

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RegSeeker

Excellent little tool

Love using this one to clean up start-up entries from any system. I always used to use this one to help remove program entries when uninstalling applications, but am using Revo Uninstaller now so that isn't a problem anymore. But this one is always a useful utility to have with you in emergencies. Price: Free

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PDF-XChange Viewer

Great Adobe replacement

As I often work on computers that are not quite as modern and powerful as some of the software we need to use, I am always looking for a lighter alternative. For PDF viewing, PDFX is a must. Starts faster, smoother operation, allows some minor editing, and hosts a few special tools. Works great with older computers with less RAM or older video chipsets. Price: Free

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Ashampoo Burning Studio Free

Great free tool

Great little burner! Lovely interface and has most of the functions you need for everyday burning. Supports Blu-ray. The only downside for me is that it doesn't seem to like ISO images as well as some other programs. Price: Free

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WirelessKeyView

Another simple and easy solution

Simple and easy to use. Works like it claims. Price: Free

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RarZilla

Simple

Just tried version 3.30 and it did everything it claims. Installed in a snap, and quickly opened the first archive I tried to open. I opened a large archive, over 700mb, and it performed quickly and precisely with no corruption. The interface is acceptable, if not very attractive. There are some tabs with advertising the author's other interests, but they are not really obtrusive, after all you don't have to click on that tab if you don't want. As a matter of fact, this is only on the main interface, which you don't see unless you specifically open it. It does not show on the extraction interface. It does not claim to create RAR archives, so I did not rate it for that. Additionally, I do not like the fact that it automatically takes over your RAR file associations without a means to prevent it from doing so. The context menu entry is poor, it just says "Extract!" without referring which program it is, which is a problem for me as I have multiple archive tools. All in all a decent little tool for doing exactly what it says and no more, and no frills. Price: Free

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ImgBurn

Best image burner around

This is the best image burner around. I have not once burned a coaster with this one. Price: Free

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FastStone Image Viewer

Perfect for my needs

I do not perform much in the way of image editing or other manipulation, I just need a good viewer with a few extras. FastStone does the trick flawlessly. Works fabulous on both my PC and laptop, with little resource usage. Beautiful interface that seems very intuitive to me. Price: Free

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SpywareBlaster

Doesn't consume resources continually

This software does not run continually, it is a preventative rather than a scanner. Once you install it, you just have to run it occasionally to update it and enable the new updates. That's it. The perfect accessory to your active AV program. I install this on every computer I work on. Price: Free

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Free Download Manager

Best download manager ever

This is simply the best I have ever used. Historically I have not had a great internet connection and download managers were a necessity, but recently they laid cable in my neighborhood and I have as great connection. I still use a download manager because the built-in browser downloader is terrible. Free Download Manager has all the necessary features without bloat, and as a plus supports torrents. The main reason I select it over others is that FDM is open source. Price: Free

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VLC Media Player

The go-to media player

VLC plays so many differing types of media, with quality and ease. I install this on all my computers, both Windows and Linux. I have only two complaints: it crashes on me occasionally when playing DVDs, and the interface is terrible unless you are just simply playing media. As a side note, this software supports network streaming and skins, and has some advanced features. Price: Free

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K-Lite Codec Pack (Full)

A must-have!

This is literally the second program I install on any computer I ever work on, after my AV. Others have already said it all, this utility allows your media player to play pretty much everything you can find. Price: Free

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DVDVideoSoft Free Studio

Excellent converter, easy and versatile

This program has the most comprehensive set of tools for a freeware conversion application that I have seen. Pretty much, if you want to convert it, this one has the means to do it. The functions are separated into different modules that are tied to the make screen. When you click on your desired function, it brings up the required module while keeping the main interface up. This makes it a bit easier on resources. Additionally, each module has the ability to update individually so you don't have to download the whole suite over again, and each module will be kept updated without having to wait for the whole suite to be updated. The only down side for me is that the burning function is limited to a set number of hours of burn. Price: Free Trial ($39.00)

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Any Video Converter Free

Excellent converter wunlimited dvd burning

This freeware is an excellent converter. Has many of the same features as other applications but provides unlimited DVD burning, whereas most others limit burning to a set number of burns or hours of burning. It also provides clipping and cropping of videos, video merging, online downloading/converting, batch conversion, and supports writing to blu-ray! Price: Free

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PrintFolder

Great little tool

Especially useful for printing a list of songs in a folder. Unfortunately does not print subfolders. Price: Free

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jetAudio Basic

Solid media player

I am not going to compare it to other players, I will rate it as is. It is a very good, solid, feature-packed media player. Plays many formats, even DVDs. The only draw-back is that the interface is sometimes overwhelming, making it a little difficult to get where you need and do what you need. Price: Free

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Comodo Internet Security

An old favorite

Been using this one for years. Rock solid. Has a nice application monitoring feature that works well with my AV of choice and Threatfire. In this suite however, I wouldn't install the AV, it's not a mature product in my mind just yet. Price: Free

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ThreatFire

Part of a great tag team

I personally use Threatfire alongside my current AV program. I have never had any issues with false positives or slow downs. It simply works for me. Price: Free

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Avast Free Antivirus

The only one to use

This is the only AV to use. I have installed this program on over 50 computers. These are the ones that get brought to me because their commercial product, or their other free antivirus couldn't keep out the virus'. After I installed Avast, there were NO more problems. And there has been no slow down, freezing, or any other problems on any of these PC's, ranging from a 2.4ghz dual-core with 3gb of ram to a 550mhz Pentium III with 256 mb of ram. Avast is the first thing I install when people bring me their problems. My college even used Avast when their classroom PCs on a limited network got infected and their previous AV couldn't get the job done. Price: Free

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Spybot Search and Destroy (Free)

Very good product - a must have

This product has been around for a VERY long time. I have used it myself for over 8 years. And I am still using it to this day on all my PCs. This program has a decent interface, nothing too flashy, and pretty well laid out for the most part. My only gripe here is that some of the features you have to dig for by changing into the advanced mode, like the scheduler and the real-time shield. The program cleans pretty well, although it MUST be kept up to date. The option to update during install should be done differently, because if you are not careful, you may have more than one instance of Spybot running. Has some "extras" like IE tweaks, file shredder, and a startup manager. Another reviewer stated that the updates were getting too big. My entire Spybot program file is less than 70 mb after all updates. This program is a must have to complement any other anti-malware program you have. And it DOES have a real-time shield. Price: Free

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Revo Uninstaller

Essential

Other reviews have covered the essential power of this app. I can verify it works. I have used this for a while now and have NEVER had an issue with uninstalling a program, or reboot issues. I have it on all of my PCs and my laptop. I have compiled a list of the best freeware and open source applications I have found and this is on the top 10. I have distributed this list to friends, fellow students, and instructors at school, so it must be good if I put my "seal of approval" on it. This tool DOES delete those nasty toolbar leftovers, the spyware/adware remnants, those programs with uninstallers that don't delete files/folders. It simply works. Price: Free

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Puran Defrag

Excellent

Excellent program. Has plenty of features, including an attractive, well-designed GUI; the ability to schedule defrags that will only occur when system is idle, not interrupting your work; auto restart when done; selective optimization; and command line tools. The defrag itself seems to work pretty fast, unlike some other freeware apps that seem to take forever. Price: Free

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Software Reviews by SeSorrow

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