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Software Reviews

by Menard

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.

Acoo Browser
  • Freeware
  • Win98/ME/2000/XP/Vista

qleft  Small feature-packed work in progress  qright

Acoo Browser version 1.07
  • Interface: 4
  • Features: 4
  • Ease of use: 3
  • Value: 4
  • Overall: 3

I really like the Acoo Browser (if they had just added an 'h'). The default ad blocking works very well to remove ads from web pages and thusly speed up surfing. The pop-up blocker is a little aggressive out of the box, so you may want to reset it. A good looking browser too. It is a work in progress by obviously dedicated designers as it has been updated 3 times since I first downloaded it four weeks ago. I am looking forward to more updates as it presently crashes under Windows 98SE, but runs perfectly on Windows 2000. I would also like to see them take advantage of the skins feature, which presently is empty. Be forewarned that the Acoo Browser takes a while to start up. If you double clicked on it and think nothing is happening, give it a minute, depending on your computer. I am looking forward to more improvements to the Acoo Browser and especially being able to run it on my Windows 98 machine without it crashing. An excellent job though as it is.

    Review date: Feb 24, 2005

IrfanView
  • Freeware
  • WinWin (All)

qleft  My little addiction  qright

IrfanView version 3.95
  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

Although I have Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro, I find myself using IrfanView more than either of them. Of course if I am editing an image file for professional use, I will use them, but most of what I end up editing images for is my own fun. IrfanView is fast and full featured for this purpose. It allows me to resize, rotate, and flip the images; as well I can convert or reduce the color, apply filter effects, and use Photoshop plug-ins with it. I can also crop, trace, cut and paste. I have an anaglyph conversion program which produces files that neither Photoshop nor Paint Shop Pro can open, but IrfanView can. I can save those images in IrfanView so they can be opened in the other programs. IrfanView is light on resource usage, as I have even used it on an old 486 machine (it has run on any version of Windows from 95 up). IrfanView is small, fast, full featured, easy on resources, and has become my little addiction among image editors/viewers.

    Review date: Feb 24, 2005

B/Works
  • Freeware
  • Win98/ME/2000/XP

qleft  Easy to use fun tool  qright

B/Works version 1.0
  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 4
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

B/Works is an easy to use self-contained (not a plug-in) tool for converting images to black & white or sepia, and variations thereof. It operates on preset filters, but has many selections for different contrasts and tonal effects. As such it does not offer the abilty to specify your own parameters, but, then, that is not the point. It offers the ability to load an image, select a filter, and preview the effect. You can try different effects at your leisure and save the image if you are satisfied. B/Works is great for novices for its simplicity as well for pros when you would like to just do a simple conversion in a short time. It does create large files as it saves JPEGs at full image quality. I do really like this tool as well the other image tools made available by Mediachance. This is my favorite of the ones they make available.

    Review date: Feb 23, 2005

WinPatrol
  • Freeware
  • Win98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista

qleft  The first line of defense  qright

WinPatrol version 9.0
  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

WinPatrol is simply the first line of defense in protecting your computer. It will monitor startup programs, your restart file, your hosts file, IE homepage, and restoration file, allowing you to prevent changes to any of these. It also permits you to remove programs from the start menu (those annoying programs you installed that automatically put themselves in the startup menu without an option to take them out) and active tasks with the option to kill the task. It will list any IE helpers installed, any scheduled tasks, and file associations with the option to remove an item or revert a change. It additionally will list the cookies in your system and allow you to remove them or block specific cookies. All this in a stable program for free. There is a plus option available for a one time fee, irregardless how many times the program is updated.

    Review date: Feb 23, 2005

DiamondCS RegistryProt
  • Freeware
  • WinNT/2000/XP

qleft  Crash happy little program  qright

DiamondCS RegistryProt version 2.0
  • Interface: 3
  • Features: 2
  • Ease of use: 3
  • Value: 3
  • Overall: 2

I have tried to use this program on several different computers running Windows 9x. Everytime the program itself would cause problems usually resulting in a crash, usually of the program, but sometimes Windows itself. Considering that this is supposed to be a line of defense against trojans, it does not help if your line of defense keeps crashing. I would recommend WinPatrol instead, which does what this does plus so much more.

    Review date: Feb 23, 2005

ScripTrap
  • Freeware
  • WinWin (All)

qleft  Highly recommended protection  qright

ScripTrap version 1.03
  • Interface: 4
  • Features: 4
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

ScriptTrap is a simple program that is easy to install and runs in the background without using any system resources, as such it is also great for older systems. I have run ScriptTrap on Windows 95,98,ME,2000 without a problem (Sorry, I don't have XP). ScriptTrap is great for someone who wants to increase their protection without having to make decisions about which scripts to intercept. If you want more control over which scripts to intercept, you may want to look at AnalogX's Script Defender which gives you more options. For myself, I prefer ScriptTrap for its simplicity and stability as it has never ever crashed on any system on which I have had it installed. What a super deal!

    Review date: Feb 22, 2005

McAfee AVERT Stinger
  • Freeware
  • WinWin (All)

qleft  Covers current threats very well  qright

McAfee AVERT Stinger version 2.5.2
  • Interface: 4
  • Features: 4
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

Homeflash seriously missed the point of McAfee's AVERT Stinger. It is a FREE scanner/repair utility that covers the most current virus/worm/trojan threats on the internet. It is updated frequently and is a lot handier than downloading a tool for each individual threat, or trying to download if you are infected. Stinger has a simple interface and gives you options for which drive to scan, archive scan, boot scan, etc. It does not require installation, just download and run. I use it as a handy secondary to my regular anti-virus as it does not conflict. As a bonus, for someone with an older computer, this will run fine on older systems, as I have run it on early Pentiums (like 133Mhz), as will AntiVir if you are looking for a full-featured anti-virus.

    Review date: Feb 21, 2005

Tanida Quiz Builder

Tanida Quiz Builder

Create educational quizzes in Flash format that can be distributed online or as standalone .EXE file.

Spytech SpyAgent

Spytech SpyAgent

A powerful monitoring solution to record PC activity, including keystrokes, email and more.

Demo Builder

Demo Builder

Create interactive Flash movies and tutorials to show how applications and systems work.