Home > User Reviews >
Software Reviews
by balkaster
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
98/ME/2000/XP/2003
Confusing, full of poor design choices 
FolderViewer version 4.8
- Interface: 2
- Features: 4
- Ease of use: 2
- Value: 3
- Overall:
Ambitious, but too many design failures. Tooltips required to learn your way around, but instead of having fixed colours, they adopt colours from the current Windows scheme, freq. resulting in invisible text. The various panes are not well laid out, and use two completely different idioms to suggest controls to show, hide, or expand the various panes. One such is a bar w/ mouseover effects, but the arrows on the bar, meant to suggest the direction of the resultant action, are not consistently or correctly used. The drive bar is useless unless the *correct* pane is *already shown*. Some panes can be instantly maximized with a menu command (but not one of the two conflicting barstyles), while others can't be hidden at all. It all feels so random. It is heavily tied to Internet Explorer (w/ perm. toolbar links to services I never use), all other browser users are OOL. Impressive functionality, but awkward to use due to poor design, and not customizable.
Review date: Jun 27, 2009
- Freeware
- NT/2000/XP
Nicer than some, but limited
ExplorerXP version 1.07
- Interface: 4
- Features: 3
- Ease of use: 4
- Value: 4
- Overall:
This is nicer and more feature-rich than some other freeware file managers, but it's lacking in more modern features and not terribly powerful. It's slow to move files and to change the sorting order of files, and the powerful Groups feature can't be sorted, defaulting to the order in which the Groups were created. It only supports Windows Explorer's Details file view (lacking List, Large and Small Icons, etc.). Upside: the tabs can also be tiled, and customizable keyboard shortcuts. Unfortunately, it doesn't work on newer versions of Windows, hasn't been developed since 2005, and the user forums have been locked since 2007. Dead project. I would recommend over Pablo Explorer on features, but Explorer XP has no FTP feature and Pablo is still in development. If you don't mind a legacy app that will eventually have to be abandoned, this is a nice lightweight Explorer replacement.
Review date: Jun 19, 2009
- Freeware
- Win (All)
Very unreliable product
ClipMagic version 3.2.5
- Interface: 2
- Features: 3
- Ease of use: 1
- Value: 1
- Overall:
I have tried ClipMagic several times over the years on several different computers (all Windows PCs), and I have never understood why it gets such high ratings. I have always found it to be a very unreliable product, and I always end up uninstalling it within a couple of days. It does not reliably capture anything from the clipboard. It begins corrupting image clips almost immediately, either by inexplicably reducing the file size to nothing or by selecting one clip seemingly at random and making ALL other image clips duplicates of it. Text clips mysteriously disappear. Trash is not reliably disposed of. The screen capture utility does not seem to work at all. And it's always been like this. I'm astonished these guys are still in business. Don't waste your time with ClipMagic.
Review date: Feb 01, 2009
- Freeware
- Win (All)
Keep looking
ClocX version 1.4
- Interface: 4
- Features: 2
- Ease of use: 4
- Value: 1
- Overall:
Okay, so the bitmap backgrounds are pretty, the anti-aliased hands move well and don't gulp resources, the config dialog is thoughtfully well laid out and doesn't suffer from the egregious spelling errors, invented terminology and misplaced buttons that are so common in freeware these days. But the "transparency" doesn't work in all versions of Windows, and unless you have XP you're probably getting a red grid instead of a transparent background on non-rectangular bitmaps or a bloody red splotch where a drop shadow is supposed to be. There are so many freeware clocks out there that do everything else well AND get the transparency right. Try Beatnik, Rainmeter, The Clock, QuickClock or any of the others out there; they're all free, all do the basics and some of them do much more. And they all got the transparency right.
Review date: Sep 17, 2006
- Freeware
- 98/ME/2000/XP
Indispensible
PopTray version 3.03
- Interface: 5
- Features: 5
- Ease of use: 5
- Value: 5
- Overall:
Been using this for years, and I don't know how I got along without it. Provides an extra layer of security against known and suspected spammers and potential viruses/trojans/worms by allowing you to see messages before you download them (it can't see attachments or parse scripts or markup language, so you can view message content without fear of launching malware). Well-designed, well-thought out, fast and reliable. It does tend to be a bit of a resource hog if you leave it always open to check many accounts (as in "more than three"), but that's a minor complaint. Stands in in a pinch when I don't want to load my full-fledged mail client. I tried three or four mail checkers before this, and this is the best. Everyone should give this a try.
Review date: Jan 08, 2006
- Freeware
- 98/ME/2000/XP
Dangerous
SmartBar XP version 0.990 (BETA 4.9)
- Interface: 4
- Features: 4
- Ease of use: 1
- Value: 1
- Overall:
Load Smartbar XP and see all the cool functionality it has! Watch your GDI resources shrink from 91 to zero in twenty seconds! Thrill as your system freezes forcing you to turn the machine off because ctrl+alt+delete doesn't even respond! Smartbar crashed eight times in the hour after I had it installed. It looks nice but the name says it all: it's designed for XP, and if you're using an earlier version of Windows you're out of luck. Thanks to the authors for thinking of the rest of us (none of the other Longhorn/Vista style sidebars will even load in non-XP Windows), but this doesn't work. If you really need this kind of functionality (it's cool looking, but none of it is necessary), wait for Vista and upgrade.
Review date: Jan 08, 2006
- Freeware
- Win (All)
Can't recommend
MediaMenu version 1.40
- Interface: 1
- Features: 3
- Ease of use: 2
- Value: 1
- Overall:
MediaMenu produces a nice LOOKING configurable menu that simply doesn't work as described. Documentation is poor, and implies that files linked to the menu will launch in the system default viewer for the file type, but apparently this is not true. An ancient and obsolete version of Windows Media Player is included, and apparently that is the only way that media files linked to the menu can be run, although there is nothing in the documentation to indicate this and sending files to this player requires different syntax. Upon burning the result to a CD with an autorun.inf file, the program failed to autorun and none of the links worked except the additional and exit links. A second attempt produced the same result. I now have two CDs with a bunch of useless padding thanks to MediaMenu.
Review date: Jan 02, 2006
- Freeware
- Win (All)
Fast, reliable, but interface needs work
Cascade DTP version 4.0.20
- Interface: 1
- Features: 3
- Ease of use: 4
- Value: 3
- Overall:
Cascade is quick, light on resource use, and reliable, but the GUI violates a number of common usability rules that users will find confusing and frustrating. Menu bars should produce menus of actions, toolbars should display buttons for frequently used actions. There is what appears to be a menu bar, but there are no menus; selecting an item produces an action. The items in the bar are randomly placed, forcing the user to scan the whole thing to find what she wants (ex: where we expect to find a File menu, we instead see "Exit"). Numerical values in some dialogs can only be set using spin controls; it would be faster and easier to enter the value into a text box. Image boxes cannot be deleted despite tooltips and Help stating otherwise. A dialog prompts you to save a file before closing even if you have just saved it. Most changes are automatically applied, but text changes are applied by a button hidden among a disorganized mass of buttons. Otherwise nice, but too basic.
Review date: Dec 14, 2005
- Freeware
- 98/ME/2000/XP
Interesting but needs futher development
evolvEd Text Editor version 1.12
- Interface: 3
- Features: 3
- Ease of use: 4
- Value: 1
- Overall:
I agree with the previous reviewer's comments. EvolvEd is nice looking and has great keyboard support for entering HTML tags. The feature to add your own menu items is also very nice. It's great looking as well. Unfortunately, it has a few major bugs that haven't been addressed in the last three updates. Selecting "New Document" from the File menu opens a new instance instead of replacing the current window. The new instance has no toolbar or line numbering even though these are on by default in the Preferences dialog. Opening the Preferences dialog to turn these back on in the new instance causes the original instance to fail to respond to further activity. Attempting to open any document in EvolvEd via the "Send To" context menu causes the editor to crash if already open and fail to launch (with error messages) if not already open. After such a crash, EvolveEd cannot be relaunched, it must be uninstalled and reinstalled.
Review date: Dec 10, 2005
- Freeware
- 98/ME/2000/XP
Useless
Sound Capture version 1.0
- Interface: 3
- Features: 1
- Ease of use: 1
- Value: 1
- Overall:
I'm sure this would be a great little app if the end user had exactly the same hardware and settings as the author. Unfortunately, I don't, and all I get are tiny MP3s containing single tracks of zero seconds length. There are instructions for using command line switches to view and change the settings, but these simply cause the DOS window to close after a second or scroll by in a flash -- far too short a time for the human eye to read anything. Not only can't I see the current settings, I have no hope of changing them. Complete waste of time.
Review date: Jan 26, 2005
- Freeware
- 98/2000/XP/2003/Vista/7
Very nice
FastStone Image Viewer version 1.0
- Interface: 4
- Features: 4
- Ease of use: 5
- Value: 4
- Overall:
I was looking for a replacement for ... ACDSee that I had been using. This is it. Very similar in layout, it doesn't have quite the features of ACDSee (file move/copy and renaming tools and bookmarks are noticeably absent, and it can't handle multimedia files), but its editing tools are much more robust. Very useful as a viewing/editing/file management suite. Contrary to another user's opinion, it will never replace IrfanView: FastStone is simply not as fast as IrfanView, and uses considerably more system resources; IrfanView can use most common graphics filters and FastStone cannot.
Review date: Oct 15, 2004
- Freeware
- 98/ME/2000/XP
Beautiful.
Keynote version 1.6.5
- Interface: 5
- Features: 5
- Ease of use: 5
- Value: 5
- Overall:
I've used a number of info managers/notetaking databases/PIMs over the years (including HJ Treepad, GoldenSection Notes, ShadowNotes, NetPad), and although all were useful they were all lacking in some respect. All such products tend to have unique features and strengths, requiring that you have a couple in your system to handle different tasks. But as an all-around workhorse, Keynote is the one. I've now been using Keynote for about three years. The option to organize notes in a tree hierarchy, in a tabbed interface, or BOTH (how powerful is that!) provides incredible flexibility. I'm still impressed with the plugin architecture, and the text styles and whiteboard features. The only negative thing I can think to say about it is it doesn't capture web pages accurately, but then no product I've tried does (minor gripe).
Review date: Oct 02, 2004
- Freeware
- 98/ME/2000/XP/2003
Get this.
DeepBurner version 1.1.4.143
- Interface: 3
- Features: 4
- Ease of use: 5
- Value: 5
- Overall:
I grabbed this as an emergency replacement for CDBurner XP Pro (see my comments there) and I love it. The interface feels a little unprofessional, but it's easy to navigate (eye candy isn't everything). I had been using commercial products before this, and while DeepBurner doesn't have quite as many features it does have all the important ones. Dialogs and feedback during the burning process are more useful and provide more (and better) information than the major commercial burners. The only cons are that it's difficult to navigate between the various panes when all are maximized, the large project icons take up a little too much room, and the numbers in the info pane of the disk capacity meter aren't explained (probably something to do with true data size and slack space, and the bar graph is more than sufficient anyway). Very nice.
Review date: Oct 02, 2004
- Freeware
- Win (All)
Needs a little more development
KlipFolio version 2.5
- Interface: 5
- Features: 4
- Ease of use: 3
- Value: 2
- Overall:
It's very handy and attractive, and doesn't use an inordinate amount of resources. The compact and customizable interface is its biggest plus. But it doesn't use standard RSS/XML feeds, instead using a proprietary format in the form of plugins available only from the developer's website. The database of these plugins is poorly organized, requiring page after page of scrolling to find what you want. The search engine doesn't work properly, failing to return results for plugins that are actually present. KlipFolio itself breaks frequently (failing to update some or all of the feeds, losing feed histories, launching with errors or failing to launch), requiring a complete uninstall and reinstall followed by a reinstall of all feeds (if you can find them again). As pretty as it is, the poor database organization and frequent breaking aren't worth it IMO.
Review date: Oct 02, 2004
- Freeware
- 2000/XP/2003/Vista
Move along, nothing to see here
CDBurnerXP version 2.2.9
- Interface: 2
- Features: 2
- Ease of use: 1
- Value: 1
- Overall:
I chose to install this as a replacement for Roxio, which has become a disaster in its later versions. After install, attempting to access the preferences dialog caused CDBurnerXP Pro to crash. The author told me to upgrade to solve the problem, although I was using the latest version at the time. It then refused to recognize the presence of my burner until I REINSTALLED ROXIO. After I finally got it working, it incorrectly determined that 286 Mb of files exceeded the capacity of a 700 Mb disk. Then it claimed write errors with every disk in a 50 disk spindle. It's a huge resource hog, driving available system resources down to less than 10%, and using over 90% of 384 Mb RAM. I won't even go into the confusingly similar toolbar buttons and missing (or invisible) titlebar. I have since replaced it with another software product. And there wasn't anything wrong with any of those 50 disks.
Review date: Sep 14, 2004
Create educational quizzes in Flash format that can be distributed online or as standalone .EXE file.
A powerful monitoring solution to record PC activity, including keystrokes, email and more.
Create interactive Flash movies and tutorials to show how applications and systems work.
