Review Chairman's Industry Comments (09/02)
The Computer Buffet
by Herb Goldstein, Review Editor
E-mail comments, suggestions, etc. to Herb Goldstein at:
revieweditor@spcug.org
BAD HYPERLINK?? Occasionally for reasons beyond our control, a
hyperlink provided here will not work. After carefully checking your
typing (needs to be 100% accurate), the only suggestion we can offer is
that you go to Google and enter the name of the software. If a more
current hyperlink is available, this is the best place to look for it.
Please also note: Most of the software mentioned below is
freeware. It is gathered through researching usually reliable sources. I
do not personally try most references, time being the obvious factor.
AN EDITORIAL
If this is to be truly your Monitor, it needs
greater participation from you! Help resolve the problem by
offering some of your own writing to this publication. How about a
review of some software or hardware that you particularly enjoy?. How
about any words of wisdom you have discovered in your experience with
computers? Let’s get some materials from you, our readers, so
that this becomes truly your Monitor!
As well as smaller articles, I would be happy to
entertain a regular full column (complete with your photo) such as Vinny
LaBash and Brian Lewis have been generously offering to you for a long
time now. I know for sure that there are many of you out there that can
help. There are no special requirements. Just email your contribution to
me and barring obscenity or political vituperation it will appear in a
forthcoming issue. How about it?? :
Yes folks...it’s time for something new and universally
useful to spice up the Computer Buffet. As you are aware, 99.9% of what
you read about in this column is freeware. Much of it is at least as
good, and some of it considerably better than what you have been
spending your hard earned bucks on.
In forthcoming Monitor issues I will be offering to you my own
freebie favorites. They are exceptionally impressive, useful and free
software gems that I actually use myself and can personally vouch for.
It’s a real winner that you will find featured in no special order of
preference. I’ll bet you will find them as useful as I have.
DESKTOP RESTORE. There are times when all you need do to your
desktop is look at it with a daunting eye, and your icons turn into
scrambled eggs. Sometimes a trip into Safe Mode will do it, other times
who knows what. It is very disconcerting to have arranged all your icons
into a display most meaningful to yourself, and to see that arrangement
torn asunder by some cyber quirk.
Fear not dear friends...there is a solution to the problem called
Desktop Restore. Quickly and painlessly install this tiny
application and every time you right-click on your desktop yoy can
choose to either save the positions of your icons as you then see them,
or you can restore them to what previously existed before they were
rearranged.
It’s quick, free, and available at
www.midiox.com/desktoprestore.htm.
Computer Buffet
JD VOICEMAIL. Operating Systems: Windows Vista,
Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows 9.x Sometimes
the simplest ideas are the best; Take JD VoiceMail for example. The
program is basically a sound recorder that can invoke your default
e-mail client’s new message function, automatically attaches a
recording, and fills in the subject and message with notes of your
choice. JD VoiceMail is useful, spot-on, and not mucked up with a lot of
marginally useful, secondary functionality.
www.jdvoicemail.altervista.org/
MINIMEM. Does your PC slow to a crawl when you’re
running certain programs? Minimem can help you put memory hogs—and only
memory hogs—in their place. Unlike most memory-freeing utilities,
Minimem lets you select which programs to optimize and which to leave
alone. Some programs—notably Web browsers, and especially Firefox 2.0,
for which Minimem was designed—"leak" memory as they stay open. Minimem
was designed to stop the leaks by removing unneeded memory pages. In
theory, it would also help with programs with very large memory
footprints.
http://minimem.kerkia.net/
OMZIFF. To encrypt a single file, it doesn’t get
much more straightforward than Omziff. Point it at a text file, choose
an encryption type, and tell it what to call the resultant encrypted
file. Choose a password if you want, then click the Encrypt button. To
decrypt the file, you’ll need to reverse the process. Point it at the
encrypted file and click the Decrypt button. It’s a basic process that
could benefit from a small frill or two, such as remembering the
original filename and auto-filling that name when you want to decrypt a
file (you have to provide a name for the decrypted file). But the
utility doesn’t even require installation—just double-click the .exe
file—and it can easily run from a USB drive.
www.xtort.net/xtort-software/omziff/
MEMORISER is a utility to help you remember phone
numbers, account numbers, passwords, birthdays, and anything that is
important for you to remember but you haven’t actually taken the time or
effort to do so. Define a question with an answer and let Memoriser quiz
you until you remember this question’s answer without even thinking but
just knowing the answer! Memoriser uses a scoring system to make sure
that you focus more on questions answered incorrectly. Answering a
question correctly increments the score. Correct answers will be asked
less frequently than wrong answers.
www.skynergy.com/memoriser.html
WALLCOOLER VPN. If you ever need remote access to
your work or small office network and the PCs on it, you’ll find this
free solution an excellent way to do it. Anyone who has ever had to try
and get remote access to a work knows about the difficulties when for
example, getting access to a remote PC when you’re at a public hot spot.
WallCooler VPN makes it a snap, and claims to do it securely.
www.vedivi.com/
GOOD INFORMATION ON BAD ILLNESSES. Facing a serious
illness is never easy. It can be scary to both patients and loved ones.
You’re sure to have questions about treatment options and side effects.
This makes it difficult to decide what course to take. Nothing can
replace the advice of a physician. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t
do your research. Diligent research will help you understand the
information your doctor gives you. It can also help you decide what
questions to ask your doctor. The Physician’s Desk Reference has put
together a number of tools to help patients and family. At its site,
you’ll find profiles on specific illnesses and diseases. They’re
designed to help you make informed decisions about treatment. The
personalized reports are particularly valuable. They will help you
communicate effectively with your physician about the specifics of your
illness. If you have a friend who is dealing with a serious illness,
forward this Cool Site to them now. They’ll appreciate your help!
www.pdrhealth.com
REAL ALTERNATIVE will allow you to play RealMedia
files without having to install RealPlayer or RealOne Player from Real
Networks. Supported are: RealAudio (.ra .rpm), RealMedia (.rm .ram .rmvb
.rpx .smi .smil), RealText (.rt) and ReadPix (.rp). It also supports
RealMedia content that is embedded in Web pages. The very user-friendly
installation is fully customizable, which means that you can install
only those components that you want.
http://codecpackguide.com/realalt.htm
K-LITE CODEC PACK FULL. Tired of hunting around for
some codec or other to watch some movie or other? K-Lite Codec Pack Full
Version contains almost all the codecs you need to watch almost any
movie or hear almost any sound file. It also includes encoding support
for some formats.
Download and install K-Lite Codec Pack, which has almost
every codec known to humankind (13 gazillion at least); this freebie
comes with a handy video viewer, too.
www.codecguide.com/about_kl.htm
YOUTUBE.REG. Any number of things can block Youtube
audio, but this is one of the fixes that will probably do the trick. It
applies to situations in which you never hear audio with Youtube videos.
A certain registry string value may be missing or pointing to the wrong
file. Rather than walking you through fixing this problem manually, I’ve
simply created a .reg file that will fix it for you. Download and run
fix youtube.reg, and give it permission to alter your Registry.
www.thelinkinspector.com/
CLEARCHECKBOOK is free online personal finance
software that securely tracks accounts and spending in one place,
accessible where ever you can use the Internet. How can ClearCheckbook
really be free? ClearCheckbook really is free personal finance software,
although you can make a donation by clicking on the Donate icon on the
ClearCheckbook site. What about personal financial account security? You
do not enter account numbers or other personal account data into
ClearCheckbook, and you can delete all data and accounts at any time.
http://financialsoft.about.com/od/onlinesoftware/p/ClearCheckbook.htm
GNUCASH free personal finance software download
tracks bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses and has small business
accounting features. GnuCash is based on professional accounting
principles to ensure balanced books and accurate reports. GnuCash is
actively and consistently developed, so this free software is improving
all the time. GnuCash supports QIF imports and OFX downloads. GnuCash is
free software.
http://financialsoft.about.com/od/reviewsfinancesoftware/p/GnuCash_Profile.htm
FINANCIAL FATE PERSONAL FINANCIAL PLANNING SOFTWARE.
Financial Fate - Trademark of Financial Modeling Solutions, Inc.
Designed to be used with no formal financial planning training,
Financial Fate tells you at a glance if your money management practices
will lead you to being financially solvent for life or if you need to
make some changes to avoid bankruptcy. Financial Fate is financial
planning software designed for use by the general public. Financial
Fate, now a free download, walks you through preparing a realistic
financial plan for yourself and requires no special training, yet is
detailed enough for financial planners to use to prepare financial
analysis for clients. Financial Fate tells you at a glance if your money
management practices will lead you to being financially solvent for life
or if you need to make some changes to avoid bankruptcy.
http://financialsoft.about.com/od/reviewsfinancesoftware/p/Financial_Fate.htm
MINT.COM is free award-winning online personal
finance software that manages most personal finance account types,
provides budgeting tools and generates personalized money-saving ideas.
Mint automates many personal finance tracking tasks, and sends out
account alerts so you do not forget to pay bills. Mint does not have
advanced personal finance tools, but the available features are
excellent.
http://financialsoft.about.com/od/onlinesoftware/gr/Mint_Review.htm
EASEUS PARTITION MANAGER HOME EDITION. So what if
Easeus Partition Manager Home Edition has a window-wide banner ad trying
to sell you more of the company’s products? We’re talking free drive
partitioning here, and for most users that’s worth a little bit of what
Madison Ave. calls "noise." It’s especially welcome for XP users, who
don’t have Vista’s new and more capable Disk Management application.
(XP’s will only create, delete, and format.)
www.easeus.com/
EVERYTHING is a search engine for Windows that
replaces the normal Windows search with a much faster one. Unlike
Windows search, Everything initially displays every file and folder on
your computer. You can type in a search filter to limit what files and
folders are displayed. Everything only uses file and folder names and
generally takes a few seconds to build its database. 1,000,000 files
will take about 1 minute.
www.download.com/Everything/3000-2379_4-10890746.html?tag=mncol;txt
RECUVA is a freeware Windows utility to restore
files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This
includes files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as images and other
files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory
cards or MP3 players. It will even bring back files that have been
deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses!
www.recuva.com/
ENVy is a stunningly useful program for anyone who
has to code, debug, or install software across multiple machines. It
provides a detailed breakdown and comparison of all environment and
system variables, allowing you to very quickly locate differences
between configurations, differences which might cause all manner of
unexpected bugs. (I once had a system crash due to the installation of
invalid fonts. Go figure.)
ENVy is mostly of use to developers or network
administrators who need to compare machines. However, it can also be a
useful tool if you ever need to send your settings to a third party to
aid in their troubleshooting of a problem on your system.
http://home.san.rr.com/zorinss/default.aspx
ALZIP. If you’re looking for one tool that can
handle a myriad of compression methods, from RAR and ZIP to TAR and TGZ
and nearly 30 other formats, ALZip just might be for you. In fact,
archive format support is ALZip’s forte. It’ll even open ISO and other
CD images. All the usual archive application options are here, as well:
context menu additions, password protections, virus scanner integration,
and assistance in creating self-extracting archives.
The interface looks modern and is well-designed, with
archive contents displayed as icons, in a list, or in a detailed
spreadsheet-style grid.
There are 14 criteria by which you can sort files, the
program supports 21 languages, there’s a test function to make sure the
archive works, and you can save in eight formats. Some people will most
likely not be impressed by the bird-egg icons, but I thought they were a
subtle way to differentiate the app from its competitors. This program
leaves a slightly larger footprint than WinZip, but since we’re talking
about a difference of 2MB I think it’s worth giving ALZip a chance to
fly.
www.altools.com/Downloads/ALZip.aspx
BITCOMET is a fast and easy-to-use BitTorrent/HTTP/FTP
download client. It is P2P file-sharing freeware and one of the most
popular P2P protocols designed for high-speed distribution. BitComet
supports simultaneous downloads, DHT networks (trackerless), a download
queue, selected downloads in the Torrent package, fast-resume, disk
caching, speed limits, auto port mapping, proxies, and IP filtering.
www.bitcomet.com
QUUXPLAYER STANDARD EDITION. When was the last time
you actually enjoyed fiddling around with the audio player you use on
your PC? QuuxPlayer delivers a clean, well-organized and almost
infinitely customizable audio player interface, in a small, no-nonsense
package for people who just want to listen to music. Quux has done away
with the emphasis on skins, visualizations, and other irrelevant
features and stressed playback quality and ease-of-use over visual bling.
www.quuxplayer.com/
MOVIENIZER. One of the big trends lately is
leveraging the data on the Internet, taking a bit from Column A and a
bit from Column B. Movienizer is a powerful program which leverages the
Net to give you a leg up in documenting your movie collection. This
program connects to online databases to download information about a
movie. You enter the title (Star Wars, for example), and it shows
possible matches—pick the one you really want (the original, where Han
shot first!), and it then gets all the pertinent data. And some
pictures. And a whole lot more. Movienizer isn’t limited to one
database, though. It comes with a huge built-in list of movie sites, and
for those of you with eclectic tastes who enjoy watching grainy six-hour
black-and-white films about people dying slowly of consumption, it
includes many foreign language sites as well.
www.movienizer.com/
SHRINK PIC. Send smaller email or IM photo
attachments without having to open up your photo editor. Shrink Pic is a
Taskbar application that runs in the background and detects when you’re
trying to send a photo as an email or IM attachment. When that happens,
it intercepts the image and reduces its size (and optionally compresses
the file) to speed up the transmission of the attachment. It’s a useful
accompaniment if you often send images taken with modern multi-megapixel
cameras, and don’t want the hassle of opening your photo editor to
manually resize the image.
www.onthegosoft.com/shrink_pic.htm
iCLONE EX. If you haven’t seen any state-of-the-art
games recently, you should know that real-time animation has come a long
way. iClone EX is a animation editor that employs these real-time
capabilities and lets you construct your own movies. While the results
won’t look as fantastic as DirectX 10 games (iClone is DirectX 9),
they’re pretty darn slick. iClone isn’t the only real-time animation
program out there, but it’s certainly one of the most affordable and
easiest to use. Note that I said easiest, not easy. Animation is a
painstaking process, even with predefined characters and templates—so if
you’re not willing to spend some time with the program, don’t bother.
iClone EX’s interface is effective, considering all the facets of a
movie production that have to be controlled.
www.reallusion.com/
USE YOUR WINDOWS KEY. Windows-D - Minimizes all open
windows so you can see the desktop. A second tap restores them.
Windows-E - Opens Windows Explorer (the file-management tool, not the
browser). This is much quicker than right-clicking the Start button and
then Explore, or trying to find Explorer in the Start menu. Windows-F -
Launches Windows’ search tool (remember "F" for "find").
QUICK ZIP. This file-compression tool offers all the
bells and whistles required by power users, while keeping the program
easy enough for novices. Quick Zip’s button and pull-down menu helps
users by ghosting unavailable commands until they’re applicable. The
multipane interface makes it easy to see files, folders, and archive
properties. An extensive Help manual should give inexperienced users
everything needed to be program power users.
Numerous options and methods to use this application
means a steep learning curve for those who want to master every feature.
However, operating Quick Zip can be as easy as dragging files to the
interface for quick compression. In a testament to the program’s
flexibility, power users could play select multimedia files still stored
in archive files.
Quick Zip compresses well and fast, and offers much to
advnaced users. Newbies should appreciate the default drag-and-drop
operation, making Quick Zip practically a no-brainer.
www.download.com/Quick-Zip/3000-2250_4-10065678.html?tag=mncol;txt
MY SECURE NOTEPAD. Got some information—some very
specific information—you don’t want anyone to see? Download My Secure
Notepad, a delightfully minimalist program. It uses AES encryption to
encrypt a text file. A text file. Run it the first time, and enter a
password. You get a blank text edit window—no menu bar, no nothin’. You
enter text. You save text. To view your text, run the program again, and
enter the password you entered the first time. There’s your text.
http://bouchez.info/delphi-securenotepad.html
JUNKAROO. If you’ve got a spam problem (and who
hasn’t?), this freebie may well give you some help. Junkanoo checks your
inboxes for spam, lets you delete it, and so helps unjunk your inbox.
Unlike some other spam killers, it doesn’t integrate directly with your
e-mail software. Instead, it runs as a separate program, and so deletes
the spam before it ever reaches your e-mail client.
Junkaoo is easy to configure, and it works with multiple
inboxes. It’s configurable, letting you set how aggressively it should
check for spam. In addition, you can add white lists and entire domains
that won’t be marked as spam, for fewer false positives. The software is
also a kind of mini e-mail client, so you can read and respond to mail
and create new mail as well.
www.kidmoses.com/junkanoo/index.html
TRILLIAN BASIC. Sometimes it seems that instant
messaging drives people further apart rather than bringing them closer.
If you use AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), you can’t communicate with MSN
Messenger or Yahoo Messenger, for example, and vice versa. Trillian
solves the problem.
From one single interface, you can communicate with all
the popular instant messengers, including AIM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo
Messenger, ICQ, and IRC. And it takes advantage of the unique features
of each program, including file transfers and audio chats. It also keeps
a message.
www.ceruleanstudios.com
EPROMPTER. There are so many free Web-based e-mail
programs available—-Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and others—that many people use
multiple ones. That’s certainly useful, but it can be painful as well.
It means manually checking each account multiple times throughout the
day—a productivity-killer, if there ever was one. EPrompter solves the
problem neatly. It automatically checks all of your Web-based e-mail
automatically every 15 minutes, and alerts you when any has new mail.
You’ll be able to do this for up to 16 different accounts. In addition,
you don’t even have to log into the different Web-based mail systems in
order to see your inbox, read your messages, and respond to them—you can
do all of that from directly within the program. You can also delete
mail as well. www.eprompter.com
SCOUR. When you want to search the Internet
for something, what do you do? Do you only use one search engine or do
you look for results on multiple search engines? Various approaches have
different results, but in most cases, you’re trusting machines to tell
you what’s best. These machines really do a great job, but they’re not
perfect. Social intervention can dramatically enhance the results
produced by computers, and Scour encourages all of us to search
socially.
The nice thing about Scour is that it doesn’t completely
discount search results from the traditional search engines, but
instead, it builds upon them. For instance, you can view results from
Google, Yahoo, and MSN, plus the results can be voted up and down and
commented on so that Scour users can get perspectives on them from
fellow users. After all, some human beings have at least a little more
common sense than computers. Scour has also developed a points system
that rewards you with Visa gift cards when you use the site to the
fullest extent and invite your friends, but the amount of points that
you have to accumulate is so high and will take so long to reach that
you’re better off using what works best for you without settling if you
don’t like what Scour has to offer.
http://scour.com/
gATTACH. Because Gmail is Web-based, it suffers from
one very annoying problem: It doesn’t integrate with Windows. So you
can’t just right-click a file to send it via Gmail, as you can with most
desktop e-mail clients. gAttach solves the problem. Install the
software, and from then on, whenever you right click a file an choose
Send To —>Mail Recipient, it will create an e-mail in Gmail and attach
the file to it. You then open Gmail (if you haven’t already done so),
finish creating the message, and send it on its way. You can set the
program up to either log you in automatically whenever you attach a
file, or instead have you log in yourself manually via your browser.
It’s much easier and convenient to have the program log you in
automatically.
www.gattach.net/index.html
SYNCMYCAL. If you use Outlook’s calendar for your
personal calendar, but Google Calendar for a work calendar or group
calendar with others, you’re in trouble. You need to check both
calendars regularly, and you’ll have to copy events back and forth
between them—a very time-consuming task, and one that’s very prone to
error. This little utility solves the problem. It synchronizes your
Google and Outlook calendars, and offers many options for synchronizing
the two. You can fully synchronize both in both directions, or only
synchronize your Google calendar to your Outlook calendar, or only
synchronize your Outlook calendar to Google. There are other options as
well, including selecting how many days, weeks or months of your
calendar to synchronize.
www.syncmycal.com/
CAMFROG. If you’re interested in not just instant
messaging, but participating in group video chats, then you’ll want to
give Camfrog a try. It connects you to video-chat rooms around the
world, where you can talk via your video camera, microphone and
keyboard. There are thousands of video chat rooms available, and at this
writing, nearly 140,000 people have registered to use the program, so
there are plenty of people available for chatting. If you don’t have a
Webcam, you can still use the program, because it lets you view video
chat rooms. And you’ll also be able to talk in the chat rooms via
microphone and keyboard, even without a webcam.
www.camfrog.com/
SMARTen UP YOUR PC’S HARD DRIVE. Most people don’t
know their hard drive feels bad until it crashes. But LSoft
Technologies’ free Active@ Hard Disk Monitor might provide some warning.
It uses SMART (for Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology),
which is built into most hard drives to keep tabs on such key attributes
as disk errors and suspect patterns.
Active@ Hard Disk Monitor shows SMART’s findings in an
easy-to-read interface, with simple interpretations. A clean report
doesn’t guarantee that your hard drive is healthy, but a warning might
alert you to trouble in time to make backups or repairs. The free
version of the monitor will suffice for most of us, but business users
may find that the $20 Pro version’s ability to monitor drives over
networks is worth the price.
www.disk-monitor.com/
Financial Fate Planning. Your financial future is one of
the most important things you can do—and it’s very complicated. Bottom
line: Most of us don’t really understand how the decisions we make now
will affect our retirement, our long-term care, and our estates. Enter
Financial Fate, a free program that calculates all the little details to
show you the future you’re buying for yourself. :
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Copyright 2009. This article is from the February issue of the
Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota
Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL
34277-1889. Permission to reprint is granted only to other non-profit
computer user groups, provided proper credit is given to the author and
our publication. We would appreciate receiving a copy of the publication
the reprint appears in, please send to above address, Attn: Editor. For
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The Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc. has 1,100+ members
and was established in 1982. We are members of the Assoc. of PC User
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