Software Reviews

by HotShot

The reviews and opinions below are posted by SnapFiles visitors. They do not necessarily reflect our opinion, and are solely based on the experience of individual users.

Freeware
2000/XP/2003/Vista

Great - podcast to psp

Ziepod version 1.0

Interface: 5
Features: 5
Ease of use: 5
Value: 5
Overall:

Remarkably good - very professional - just awesome!. I wanted to get podcasts, videos and music onto my PSP. PSP users only do the following. Create 3 directories C:PSPideo, C:PSPMusic, C:PSPImages. After some learning in Ziepod you will understand the next part. a) When building a new subscription specify the download location as one of the directories above. or b) To fix up a subscription. Click on Subscription at the top. Right click on a podcast choose properties. Select Download. Select checkbox 4. Go to the bottom paste in C:PSPudio for mp3 podcasts. In MAX Media for PSP the 3 directories above will correspond with 3 tabs and things are easy. Everyone: I can't figure out if I can get any podcasts that are not on Feedzie, but the selection is as good as iTunes anyway. I can use feedback to recommend a feed.

Review date: Jan 01, 2008

Freeware
2000/XP/2003/Vista

Confusing for beginner

PSP Video 9 version 1.74

Interface: 2
Features: 2
Ease of use: 1
Value: 3
Overall:

I wanted to use this to get podcasts and music onto my PSP so I could listen on my way to work. You need to configure 3 programs; Videora Bitcomet and PSPv9. It is a lot of work to figure out how to make it work. Documentation was good, but not good enough for a beginner. Videora, was a trial and it seemed like most of the features weren't turned on. I didn't want to buy it when I didn't know if the 3 programs would do the job. These programs can do the job, but how do I get the podcasts. It wasn't easy like Itunes. It was awkward and I just couldn't get anywhere. It would work for an experienced person I bet. I switched to using Ziepod, with the software that comes with the PSP, see my Ziepod review. PSP V9 - the interface switched to Chinese when I restarted it. PSP V9 - it was using 100% CPU on 2 CPUs and it wasn't doing anything. I think the guy is great for making these programs up. I suggest he look at Ziepod for interface ease of use ideas.

Review date: Jan 01, 2008

Freeware
Win (All)

Orgainizes tasks and gives alarms

TaskPrompt version 2.3.2.0

Interface: 5
Features: 5
Ease of use: 4
Value: 5
Overall:

I have tried a few, this one helps you to list all your tasks easily and fires up prompts to remind you when you need to do something. It is extremely efficient for organizing your work. Other similar programs are awkward in comparison. It opens in a second and works great. Thank You.

Review date: Nov 21, 2007

Freeware
98/ME/2000/XP/Vista

This is great for all my reminders

Talking Alarm Clock version 1.4

Interface: 4
Features: 5
Ease of use: 4
Value: 5
Overall:

This thing really works. I never miss anything important. Outlook reminders do not jump out enough. For important meetings I need this. I am a power user,and a mensa member, and I say this is the best.

Review date: Sep 22, 2007

Freeware
98/ME/2000/XP/Vista

Great mail client

Thunderbird version 2.0.0.6

Interface: 5
Features: 4
Ease of use: 4
Value: 5
Overall:

1 great feature - 1 annoying feature Unlike OE, You can't split your address book into folders, that would help me as my address book has 330 entries. The one great feature is, more flexible email filtering rules that OE. Lets not forget the key feature, it's safer to use the preview pane that OE. I still haven't found an excellent email client. Combine OE and Thunderbird best features and you would have it.

Review date: Sep 17, 2007

Freeware
98/ME/2000/XP/2003

Works fast and effectively

DeepBurner version 1.8

Interface: 4
Features: 5
Ease of use: 5
Value: 5
Overall:

I have never had a problem, as I did with the software that came with my CD Writer. I took advantage of the autostart, again not available with my CDW Software. Works every time. Works far faster than before. Interface was easy, drag and drop. I recommend this strongly.

Review date: Sep 25, 2006

Freeware
Win (All)

Negative for xp - good for win 98

AnalogX FastCache version 1.01

Interface: 2
Features: 3
Ease of use: 2
Value: 2
Overall:

One reviewer had a stinging indictment of all analogX software. For this product, I agree as far as win XP is concerned. It failed often and needed to be restarted. The product failed to operate, on startup, or after putting the computer in standby mode. The setup instructions for XP didn't apply. I had to guess until it worked. The uninstall left an invalid startup entry that starts the program at machine startup time, even though the program is uninstalled. Also one other registry leftover. The other reviewer says that they included an extra DNS in their machine in case the cache wasn't working. Well that could be most of the time, since he's basically got a failsafe in place. On W98 everything was correct and no problems yet. In summary you have two no votes and one spoiled ballot for XP. On W98 is could be worth a try, it's probably made for that. AnalogX makes niche products, not do everything software, so that's all I expect. Not for Beginners.

Review date: Sep 11, 2005

Freeware
Win (All)

Uses little memory - it's great

AM Browser version 2.01

Interface: 5
Features: 4
Ease of use: 4
Value: 5
Overall:

Memory usage: Firefox With 5 open Windows 28 meg, IE 6 one window 26 meg, AMBrowser 5 tabs 2-3 meg with the occasional blip to 8.5 meg. The things generally uses 1/10 the memory. It also remembers where I left off yesterday. I don't like to use IE type browsers because of all the spyware and virus risks. But for the non Firefox compliant sites it's outstanding. I look at the same 4 sites everyday and everyday it opens them automatically for me.

Review date: Sep 08, 2005

Freeware
XP/Vista

Great features - confusing interface

XP-AntiSpy version 3.94-2

Interface: 1
Features: 5
Ease of use: 3
Value: 4
Overall:

The Application allows you to record the settings that you have before you start, via profiles. It has some existing profiles, and you can add as many of your own profiles as you like. The profile operation may be different depending on which profiles, you select and that is not completely clear in the help. As a result I would not use the provided profiles. The use of colors and checkmarks in the status field is very confusing. However once you hit apply the confusing colors are gone, and your settings can be verified. The explanations of what the fields do is very short and additional investigation should be done in some cases to make sure you don't cause yourself a problem. The help is brief, and more information is required for inexperienced users. I would only recommend this software for advanced users.

Review date: Sep 05, 2005

Freeware
98/ME/2000/XP/Vista

Best of the free

avast! Home Edition version 4.6.623

Interface: 5
Features: 4
Ease of use: 5
Value: 5
Overall:

While Avast seems to be the best of the free. I have installed and run Avast, AVG, and AntiVir on W98. For W98 64K memory AntiVir is the only one that is small enough. On XP Avast found Netsky virus in my email, AVG 6 & 7 did not. AVG has trouble with it's downloads, they have become a real pain under the new version. Avast updates are done in the background and you get an icon tray message saying it is done. Very smooth. If you are truly scared and want the best protection. You can pay for Nod32. It has the best long term record on the "Virus Bulletin" site.

Review date: Mar 29, 2005

Freeware
2000/XP/Vista

Small memory & cpu foot print

Avira AntiVir Personal version 6.30.00.17

Interface: 3
Features: 5
Ease of use: 3
Value: 3
Overall:

While Avast seems to be the best of the free. I have installed and run Avast, AVG, and AntiVir on W98. For my W98 machine 200mh and only 64K AntiVir is the only one that is small enough. Virus definiton download is slow. No email scanning. If you are resticted in terms of memory AntiVir is for you. With AntiVir Machine boots much faster and has much more memory available for regular programs. Also get RamBoost for W98 machines. For xcanning I set the scan to run at low priority, it finished in relatively little time, while I was able to do other work. AVG updates failed on W98 and XP. On XP Avast found Netsky virus in my email, AVG did not.

Review date: Mar 29, 2005

Freeware
Win (All)

Show promise, but is painful

G-Lock Temp Cleaner version 2.0

Interface: 1
Features: 3
Ease of use: 1
Value: 3
Overall:

I don't recommend it for the following reason. If it runs into a file that is in use it will not delete anything that has been selected for deletion at the same time, but they disappear from the list of files. You think you have deleted everything but if you run the program again it is all still there. Here are other issues with it. The interface is confusing, making it weird to use. I can hardly figure out how zip file deletion works. It seems to take so long to get the job done. The exclusions list is crazy, I add something to it, but it doesn't dissappear from the found list. If the interface was changed and it acrually deleted like it should then great. I prefer "disk cleaner" it is really simple to use, really fast and deletes "in use" files on reboot instead of aborting everything.

Review date: Feb 22, 2005

Freeware
Win (All)

It's working pretty well

Wink version 1.5

Interface: 3
Features: 5
Ease of use: 3
Value: 5
Overall:

I ran into problems with tutorials that were too long. The tutorial would just freeze. I was able to get around the problems by changing my frame size , but this lead to a lot of rework. The better solution was to just shorten the tutorial and have more of them. I really can't complain, the results are amazing.

Review date: Jan 31, 2005

Freeware
98/ME/2000/XP

Requires active x

Powerbullet Presenter version 1.44

Interface: 2
Features: 2
Ease of use: 1
Value: 3
Overall:

Since I turned of Active X - to stop spyware, the tool will not function properly. I used wink to build flash tutorials. I don't recommend the use of any tool that requires active X.

Review date: Jan 30, 2005

Freeware
Win (All)

I tried a few zip programs

TUGZip version 3.1.0.2

Interface: 5
Features: 5
Ease of use: 4
Value: 5
Overall:

This one is the best. Faster and simpler than winzip. It works everytime for me.

Review date: Jan 10, 2005

Freeware
98/ME/2000/XP

It was using up too much cpu time

Fast Defrag Standard version 2.25

Interface: 2
Features: 1
Ease of use: 2
Value: 1
Overall:

My machine XP was running slow after I installed this and faster the moment I took it out. It's gone from my machine now.

Review date: Dec 14, 2004

Freeware
98/ME/2000/XP

Good on xp, but not on my win98 machine

SpywareGuard version 2.2

Interface: 3
Features: 5
Ease of use: 4
Value: 5
Overall:

For XP: I have so much protection already I had never seen this even catch anything for 8 months. But finally it caught 2 (BHOs) Browser Helper Objects as soon as they tried to get installed. Contrary to the guy who doesn't like it, I've never seen it use more that 1% cpu, and it is currently up for 24 hours and it is using only 7,000k. For W98: My machine only has 64k, I uninstalled it, and used their other product spywareblaster. Both are set it and forget it applications. They aren't updating it lately, but since SpywareGuard is guarding certain places on all computers, it lets you decide if things it finds are good or bad, when it detects anything trying to setting itself up. It's not difficult to decide what to do. If you didn't ask for something, it must be spyware. I recommend it if you have more than 64k.

Review date: Dec 12, 2004

Freeware
Win (All)

I'm using xp - it keeps abending

ZipGenius version 5.5.1.468a

Interface: 2
Features: 1
Ease of use: 1
Value: 1
Overall:

It's unreliable, it abended 4 times in two days. I need something better. When using the command line. It doesn't report anything. It takes a long time to load. So it does seem like bloatware. I've looked at several comments, and don't want to try anything that crashes. Tugzip, has a really excellent interface. It loads in a flash. The command line interface, is more of a scripting interface so inexperienced people will find it confusing. However this tool comes with it's own script editor. Tugzip reeks of perfection. The Tugzip author has forums and you can get prompt help. Any program can have problems on certain computers, so we will see.

Review date: Dec 05, 2004

Free Trial ($139.95)
2000/XP/2003/Vista

Subscription is not a free plugin

GroupMail version 3.4.210

Interface: 5
Features: 1
Ease of use: 5
Value: 2
Overall:

Disappointed as the discription is a little misleading. I wanted a subscription manager for auto subscribe, but it doesn't do it unless you pay for the pro version.

Review date: Oct 05, 2004

Freeware
Win (All)

Doesn't protect you at all.

Starter version 5.6.1.38

Interface: 3
Features: 1
Ease of use: 3
Value: 4
Overall:

While this product is better than winpatrol because it provided more information on each process. It doesn't provide any protection when an unwanted process tries to register itself at startup time. Winpatrol will pop up a box and prevent unwanted items from getting into the startup areas. Once you have things under control, they never have a chance to get out of control again. Winpatrol displays browser helper objects also monitors against any new ones getting into your machine. It again pops up a box to warn you when a new one has been entered so you can stop it if you don't think it is essential. You can lock your host file and monitor it against changes. In this way you can prevent a lot of virus and worm problems, rather that detecting and removing them later. I recommend WinPatrol, because of it's monitoring capability. You can only use one program to disable startup items, all progs of this nature will conflict with each other. Pick one never change!!!

Review date: Sep 07, 2004

Freeware
Win (All)

This program is amazing - total greatness

MWSnap version 3.0.0.74

Interface: 5
Features: 5
Ease of use: 5
Value: 5
Overall:

This tool was created by an absolute genius. In some situations it will not capture the cursor, that's only because it is impossible, but after capture on the preview pane I can add one of 20 cursors or other handy objects like hands or not signs, etc, and I can add as many as I want to the picture. There is a bonus feature. It's integrated but not part of the screen capturing. This program provides a color picker that you can use on any window to find out what the RGB Hex color is. Handy for the web. Also a pixel ruler, that you can use on any window to measure. The size of any object horizontally or vertically. I tried Hover snap and MWsnap - only this one is good enough to capture the active window and put a cursor in it. The two web tools are a major bonuses to me. I needed them many times. The ruler is a totally new concept. Absolute Genius, they really know what a person needs for screen capture, and they covered bases that noone but them even knew existed.

Review date: Aug 21, 2004

Freeware
Win (All)

Capture active window - errors

Gadwin PrintScreen version 2.6

Interface: 3
Features: 2
Ease of use: 3
Value: 2
Overall:

It doesn't capture the active window, it captures whatever the mouse is on. I want it to capture the mouse pointing at something in the window and it capture only part of the active window. That is a critical problem for me, tool is practically useless to me.

Review date: Aug 21, 2004

Freeware
98/ME/2000/XP

It doesn't catch the mouse

HoverSnap version 0.8 beta

Interface: 4
Features: 3
Ease of use: 5
Value: 2
Overall:

The utility is very good except it isn't able to include the mouse with the capture. The mouse it very useful for pointing to something on the screen like the button you want someone to press on.

Review date: Aug 21, 2004

Freeware
Win (All)

Didn't open zip files the winzip can open

BigSpeed Zipper version 4.0

Interface: 5
Features: 1
Ease of use: 1
Value: 1
Overall:

The files it couldn't open ended with .zip. That's it uninstall.

Review date: Aug 20, 2004

Freeware
98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista

Protection from startup issues

WinPatrol version 7.0.1.0

Interface: 3
Features: 3
Ease of use: 4
Value: 5
Overall:

Within 3 minutes of my installing this program it caught a Mcafee executable for a product I uninstalled trying to reinsert itself into my startup. After I clean things up I don't want them coming back. This is the only product that can do this for me. I'll take that for free. While sitting in the system tray it doesn't use much CPU but it uses 8-9 k of memory. On the Weak side - I can't easily access critical information on what any process is or does, and whether it is dangerous or not without signing up for the plus product. In that case it's not worth it. If you have to pay to find out what each process is the ultimate troubleshooter gives more detail without running off to the web to find it and has a color coded interface. For Free - you need it to keep things out of your registry startup area.

Review date: Aug 20, 2004