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Software Reviews

by Wastrel

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.

Folder Marker
  • Freeware
  • WinWin (All)

qleft  Very good  qright

Folder Marker version 1.4
  • Interface: 4
  • Features: 4
  • Ease of use: 4
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 4

Works well and is easy to use; the icons are very well done. The only thing I dislike about the Free version is that the folder color settings aren't "portable" (what the author calls "distributable", the icon is located in the folder), which isn't a problem if you don't move your folders around (on the same machine or onto other machines)--you need the Home (shareware) version for that.

    Review date: Jul 01, 2009

Rainbow Folders
  • Freeware
  • Win98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista

qleft  Pretty good mostly  qright

Rainbow Folders version 2.05
  • Interface: 3
  • Features: 3
  • Ease of use: 4
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 3

The program itself is pretty good. The only place it really comes up short is with the icons themselves for the larger/tile icons--no transparency (ragged edges). A more precise color picker might be nice. All in all, if you want "prettier" folder icons with different colors, then you can download icon sets or create them yourself (and create your own desktop.ini file for each folder). If you want a simple, free process for colorizing folder icons and you use the list/detail views instead of large/tile views, then you should like this program well enough. Otherwise, I'd suggest Folder Marker (shareware) or "roll your own" icons.

    Review date: Jul 01, 2009

Miro
  • Freeware
  • Win2000/XP/Vista

qleft  New but excellent  qright

Miro version 1.1
  • Interface: 4
  • Features: 4
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

Before Miro I used Firefox to download and VLC to play videocasts (Tekzilla et al). Miro has a Mozilla base and uses VLC components for playing, but now I have RSS to keep me up-to-date auto-magically. Options and features are sparse still, but it has all you need to get the job done. Layout is typical for an aggregator; H.264 hi-def looks great. Interface needs some finishing touches. Well worth using.

    Review date: Mar 15, 2008

foobar2000
  • Freeware
  • Win2000/XP/Vista

qleft  Nothing better  qright

foobar2000 version 0.9.4.5
  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

A music player is about managing and playing your music files. No program does this better than fb2k. If you want a fancy interface, then throw in some foo components, and you can make it look like anything you want it to. fb2k is "bare bones" in the same sense that Firefox is bare-bones: the user can make it almost anything he/she wants it to be simply by installing some addons. Totally extensible. Highest audio quality.

    Review date: Oct 14, 2007

Rainlendar Lite
  • Freeware
  • Win2000/XP/Vista

qleft  Everything i need in a desktop calendar  qright

Rainlendar Lite version 2.0.2
  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

I wanted a small calendar to put on the desktop above the system tray that's easy to navigate. Rainlendar is easy to read and blends well with the desktop. I like the default skin except for the large "Today" circle that obliterates the double-digit dates, but no problem--I just created my own rectangular border and replaced the default one with mine. (So if you're into skinning, then you can go crazy with Rainlendar.) The only negative thing I have to say about it at all is that since the author lives in Finland, which is one of the places in the world that follows the ISO 8601 standard for week dates, the numbering is usually wrong based on a "standard" US calendar; but this is easy to adjust in the options, or you can just turn them off if you don't need them. The negative of this, though, is that the last time I checked, the Rainlendar Help didn't cover this "anomaly" clearly enough for a typical user (or maybe just me).

    Review date: Aug 12, 2007

FreeCommander
  • Freeware
  • Win2000/XP/2003/Vista

qleft  It just keeps getting better  qright

FreeCommander version 2007.05a
  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

FreeCommander has always been a solid and stable product. With the latest release the interface has been updated with support for ClearType (making it easier to read) and even more user-customizable functions to speed up access to the things you do most often. You can go to the FreeCommander site to get a portable version (for USB install) as well as a Zip version for manual install (and to see images of the new release--the images here at SnapFiles are for the older releases). Love it!

    Review date: Jul 08, 2007

Ziepod
  • Freeware
  • Win2000/XP/2003/Vista

qleft  The future of podcast management?  qright

Ziepod version 0.99.9 Build4 beta
  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

It's still in beta, though likely not for much longer. It's partially based on IE, but IE does have excellent support for feeds now. Ziepod gives you an all-in-one solution for finding (tied to feedzie) and managing your podcast feeds. There are still some display quirks to be ironed out, but it's fun to use and way more helpful and complete than all of the alternatives that I've seen. The only real competition I see for it right now is Songbird, which is likely years away from offering even the partial solution for podcast management which it has planned. If you want a podcast helper app, then, for now, Ziepod is it.

    Review date: Jul 01, 2007

SymmTime
  • Freeware
  • Win2000/XP/2003/Vista

qleft  Excellent ntp client and more  qright

SymmTime version 2006
  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

While it does offer a clock, several in fact, SymmTime is first and foremost an NTP client for time synchronization. I've used a few over the past 20 years, and this has been one of the most reliable and solid. It offers a lot of configuration options for appearance and function--maybe too many for some, but it will keep your PC "on time".

    Review date: Apr 02, 2006

Axialis IconWorkshop
  • Free Trial ($49.95)
  • WinWin (All)

qleft  Better than the others i've tried  qright

Axialis IconWorkshop version 5.03
  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

I've tried a few icon editors/environments. They all have something to recommend them. IconWorkshop, however, has everything I need and the interface makes it easy to locate everything. It also responds faster than the others--very clean. Try it.

    Review date: Mar 07, 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.