rkd108428

Software Reviews by rkd108428

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.

Everything

Bugsy malone

This replaces my previous positive review of 22413, posted when I hadn't yet used Everything enough. Yes, the program is fast and the interface is clean, but it's filled with bugs e.g. search results showing single files in duplicate, results that don't match search criteria, deleted files still appearing in search results, etc. Just visit the "Bug report" forum at the developer's site; there seems no end to problem issues. Granted, the developer works to improve and update the program, but as of now it isn't ready for primetime. A program plagued with bugs and functional issues negates the value of speed; a program must work properly and accurately before appreciating speed or convenience advantages. The amount of time and frustration in tweaking program options and going to the forum to report bugs or get help has far offset the slower performance of Windows Search Companion. Price: Free

review details

WebSite-Watcher

There is no equal

If you're looking for software to monitor changes on various types of web pages, your search is over. I evaluated about a half-dozen other web monitoring programs and none of them hold a candle to Website-Watcher, nothing else out there matches the power, features, and flexibility of this program in terms of detecting any or specific (keyword-based) webpage changes, the filtering capabilities to block extraneous changes (e.g. ads, timedate displays, banners, etc.), special options to deal with complex problematic web pages, and customizing things with built-in scripting. The only thing I didn't give 5 stars to is Ease of Use, because a program of this type with many useful features and options requires some tinkering before realizing its capabilities. And if there were a rating for Customer Support, it would get 6 stars. Price: Free Trial ($56.00)

review details

User Profile Hive Cleanup Service

Works every time

This little gem fixed my frequent shutdown problems where the pc would take minutes to shutdown or hang and not shutdown at all. The software ratings (except price/value) don't apply here because you don't personally use this program. You run the installation once and from then on the system runs a background process (uphclean.exe) which is very light on resources, only about 1.5 MB. The "problem" with this program is that its name gives no idea as to what it does, so it's hard to find. I recall stumbling across it while digging through Microsoft's site. Who would think of "User Profile Hive" for a shutdown issue? More importantly, it works consistently. I have never had a delayed shutdown ever since installing it, and no glitches or issues related to the uphclean process, and I've used it at least a couple years now. Price: Free

review details

IE New Window Maximizer

A real annoyance nicely eliminated

It might be hard to believe that IE windows opening up a few millimeters short of fully maximized could be such an annoyance.... BUT IT IS!!! Having a bunch of IE windows open, each just a tad less than maximized, is like a gnat flying around the monitor, not bad enough to prevent getting things done, but aggravating like all get out. I gotta assume that MS has SOME reason why something so obvious and seemingly easily fixable has not been fixed. For those who don't want to ponder the reasons, just get IE NWM. Price: Free

review details

EaseUS Todo Backup Free

Great product, no frills, works every time

Reliability and simplicity are the only things I care about in a backup or disk cloning utility, and EaseUS Todo Backup provides both. It goes without saying that you need reliability and assurance that there won't be a crash or glitch when you're doing backups or especially when moving large amounts of data during a disk clone. Likewise, you don't want a cluttered complex interface increasing the risk of user screwups, like getting source and target drives interchanged. Although I've only used EaseUS for disk cloning, it has never failed me. With its big buttons and simple interface I could do disk clones blindfolded, I love it. Price: Free

review details

Magnifier

Simple, no bloat, does what it should

Ease of use and basic unobtrusive functionality are the main things I care about in a magnifier utility. This one offers magnification from 2X to 50X, a conveniently and infinitely resizable window, and a "Hi-Lite" option that shows the exact pixel that the pointer is on, which is important if you're doing work that requires pixel-level resolution. The only other things I wish this program had are a display of the current pixel coordinate and color. I already have these things in another utility, so it's not a big deal, 1 star deducted. Price: Free

review details

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free

Best post-infection killer

I've had at least a couple malware incidents that no other program or method was able to resolve. Naturally this depends largely on how often and well the signatures are updated, but Malwarebytes has supported this product admirably and its reputation for eliminating tough infections is well deserved. Price: Free

review details

Password Generator XP

Solid, no frills, does what it should

I went through about a dozen password generators before settling on this one. Let's face it, password generators are pretty much all the same, but for some reason this one just stood out as subjectively better. The interface is clean and uncluttered, no bugs, works as it should. It's trivially simple to use, and has the same options as the others, namely creating passwords in any combination of: upper/lowercase, alphanumeric, special symbols, your own special characters, password length up to 99 characters, and creating a bunch of passwords all at once. I'd have to brainstorm to conjure up something else that I'd need in a program like this. Just a straightforward good program. Price: Free

review details

SpywareBlaster

Extra protection, no resource issues

Provides peace of mind and an up-front layer of added security with no resource burden, a good adjunct to anti-malware scanner programs. Price: Free

review details

Revo Uninstaller

The end of the rainbow

Revo is the end of the rainbow as far as free uninstallers go. It is great peace of mind to see a big tree of registry values and remnant subfolders and junk getting purged after a program's native uninstaller has run. The program has a clean icon-based interface, various uninstall levels (although I've never used anything but the deepest "Advanced" uninstall option), and is trivially simple to use. Goes without saying that an uninstaller must be bug-free and Revo has never glitched on me. The only thing missing is the ability to do forced uninstalls, but that's what the paid version is for. Price: Free

review details

Second Copy

Full featured, simple, reliable

I use the old v6.2 version of this program but I presume not much has changed - as far as features go, a backup program is a backup program. My main concern is reliability; the last thing you want in a backup program is bugginess and the risk of a crash while copyingmoving data. I've used this program essentially daily for over ten years now and it has never glitched. Provides various backup types and many options along with a log of everything copied. Price: Free Trial ($29.95)

review details

SUPERAntiSpyware Free

Solid program, fast, catches lots of junk

SAS has caught junk that other programs have missed. It has gotten faster over the years, offers lots of run options. This and Malwarebytes are my staple anti-malware programs. Price: Free

review details

Wallpaper Master

Reliable, nice features, simple

Simple and straightforward, does what I need (user-defined time interval and image size, change on startup, random sequential options) plus some. The only thing missing is the ability to change the sizing of all images, for example everything to "Stretched," in one shot. Price: Free

review details

Auslogics Disk Defrag

Does everything it should do

Clean, simple interface. Easy as dirt to use, nothing to figure out. Enables several levels of defrag. Very fast. Reliable. Price: Free

review details

Macro Express

Best in its class - bar none!

I've looked at several macro programs, and have seen nothing in this price range (under 100) that beats Macro Express for its ease of use, range of commands, program options, and trouble-free reliability. Unless you've got a really heavy duty application involving obscure functions, this gem will handle it. I've used Macro Express for about 1-12 years now, where it is always running in the background. Besides special and advanced applications, I've set it up to handle my pc's startup routine, twice-daily backups, twice-weekly mail checks, task list, break and lunch reminders, etc. ME is reliable and fairly light on resources (about 10M if you have it always active), and has a wonderful clearly written contextual help file that gets to the point with just the right amount of detail and no fluff. The only features that I ever wished it had are: 1) keyboard/mouse locking, and 2) a GoTo command for Repeat loops, but these situations aren't common for me and can be worked around. 5 stars because I can't give it 6. Price: Free Trial ($39.95)

review details

WinLock

Great program, clean interface, many features

This program provides all the system security features I can think of plus more. One of the most powerful features is the ability to block any program, dialog window, or popup box based on keywords applied to the window title. This method enables blocking any program or utility regardless of file nameformat or folder location and no matter how it's launched. This is useful for disabling system utilities that may not be reliably blocked using other methods such as restricting the executable file. Window title filtering is also useful for blocking specific webpages at sites like YouTube, without blocking the whole site, where there's a lot of mixed content and where the URL is not indicative of the content. The program is rock solid, no bugs, I've never had it crash after several months of daily (always on) usage now. The internet filter enables blocking EVERYTHING EXCEPT trusted sites, exactly what I want. Both the window and URL filters allow wildcards. The URL filter is insensitive to prefixes (http, https, wwww, etc) so you don't need to worry about URL formats. A long (80 character) password is great if you want to use WinLock to discourage yourself from going to time-wasting websites. A system setting prevents WinLock's background process from being killed with Task Manager, or Task Manager can be blocked completely. The only feature I wish WinLock had is the ability to block pc usage during a certain time period, not worth deducting a star. Price: Free Trial ($24.95)

review details

KidKeyLock

Simple, no bloat, does all that's needed.

Not much to say about a keymouse lock. Does everything I need, not going to look around any more. Features: Simple as dirt, variable levels of mouse and key locking, dual passwords (to quit locking and to access settings) essential if you lock both mouse and keyboard to prevent getting locked out of system, launches instantly, free. The only things I can think of that would make this even better are: 1) a user-defined time interval for locking to take place, and 2) locking of individually selectable keys. Both of these niceties would probably add more complexity than the entire program as it is, so I won't deduct any stars, still gets 5. Price: Free

review details

Software Reviews by rkd108428

Check out these featured downloads...