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Software Reviews

by robinbk

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.

ClocX
  • Freeware
  • WinWin (All)

qleft  Looks beautiful, works well, but...  qright

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

Did I miss the option to change the size? Or are you stuck with the default 64-pixel monster? It looks absolutely tremendous, just too obtrusive for me.

    Review date: Oct 31, 2005

DoubleDesktop
  • Freeware
  • Win98/ME/2000/XP

qleft  Works, but needs tweaking for xp  qright

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

At first, I didn't check the 'start with Windows' button, assuming this would be possible in any sensible options menu. DD looked good and worked well, so I thought, 'yeah, start with Windows'. No option to change this in the options (tsk tsk), so uninstall and reinstall, this time checking the button on install. Except that on uninstall all my previously hidden desktop icons reappeared, and wouldn't go away. Even when I had reinstalled and checked the 'hide desktop icons' option - and this made all the icon text backgrounds black, and the normal desktop option to hide the icons was grayed out! Nightmare! By this time I was extremely fed up with Double Desktop. Thank Microsoft for System Restore! Oh well, Double Desktop will work fine for you if you have a standard boring unmodified Windows desktop.

    Review date: Oct 31, 2005

cPicture
  • Free Trial ($19.95)
  • Win98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista

qleft  Very fast and powerful - it grows on you  qright

cPicture version 1.5.11
  • Interface: 4
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 3
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

Lots and lots and lots of hidden power - there's an interface learning curve which might put you off. But once you spot the (tiny) tabs at the bottom, it hangs together beautifully. Fast as they come, and needs no install, so it will go on the thumbdrive (or the office PC!). Some killer features, like the histogram, the auto-preview, the binary view and the folder pie chart. If I'm being picky, I'd like to be able to customise the visible commands, though you can resize the 'I Want To' window to hide it - and the interface font is a bit small. But if you're serious about your digital photos, this is actually a blindingly fast and frighteningly comprehensive must-have app. It's a lot more powerful than it first looks.

    Review date: Jul 22, 2005

Media Purveyor
  • Free Trial ($34.95)
  • WinNT/2000/XP

qleft  Reminded me of an adware infection  qright

Media Purveyor version 1.2.4
  • Interface: 1
  • Features: 2
  • Ease of use: 1
  • Value: 2
  • Overall: 1

I'm sure that MP is very powerful, and that the writers are very nice people who put a lot of work into it. Unfortunately, when you run it, apart from the very annoying splash screen and multicoloured scan bars, it starts this undefeatable all-singing all-dancing full screen 'scanning for media' routine with an eye-scorching bright blue user interface that makes it feel like your PC is being taken over by adware - and this is in 'non-novice' mode or whatever they call it. (The clunky 'Media Purveyor' name is a clue to its peculiar phraseology). The interface is completely counterintuitive. I never got as far as trying to resize the windows or sort the folders, or even trying to configure it at all. It's ugly and overengineered, and I like my own colour scheme, fonts and scrollbars, not someone else's. And on uninstallation, you get scary, meaningless warning messages about folders you didn't know existed. Sorry guys, I hated it.

    Review date: Jul 22, 2005

Picasa
  • Freeware
  • WinXP/Vista/7

qleft  Easy but bloated and unconfigurable  qright

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

The first time you run Picasa, you will be impressed with its speed and range of features. The rotate and enhance features are very good, and the slideshow is very slick. Then you will want - and fail - to add a new folder, or change the date or order of a folder. Then you will wonder why nearly every folder on your hard drive has 'Picasa.ini' in it. Then you will uninstall it and go back to Irfanview or jpegger or whatever.

    Review date: Jul 22, 2005

IrfanView
  • Freeware
  • WinWin (All)

qleft  The one for power users  qright

IrfanView version 3.97
  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

IrfanView must be the number one image viewer for PC, though the extensive other functions - batch conversion, thumbnailing, renaming, etc. are maybe not as well implemented as the viewing interface. IView also has issues with .MOV files which can crash it (might be my codecs), and the mpeg/avi viewing system is a bit clunky. That said, I use it all the time as a sort of browser conduit between image folders and pro editing software; the crop, rotate and zoom functions, all with keyboard shortcuts, give it the edge over other freeware and a lot of paid-for apps. If you have any picture files at all you should get it, no question.

    Review date: Jul 22, 2005

Vallen Jpegger
  • Freeware
  • WinWin (All)

qleft  Does one great thing no other viewer does...  qright

Vallen Jpegger version 4.74
  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 4
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

...and that's print what it calls 'postcards' or preset numbers of images per page. You pick them in the viewer and then choose the number per page to print, from 1 to 128. The layout is done for you, like a cigarette card album. This excellent function is a bit hard to find at first, and the ctrl+click function for picking out separate files is a bit iffy, but NO other graphics viewer does this so easily and quickly, not even the mighty IrfanView. Another plus, you can just carry jpegger on a USB thumbdrive - it doesn't need installation. Essential freeware.

    Review date: Jul 13, 2005

Xentient Thumbnails
  • Freeware
  • Win98/ME/2000/XP

qleft  One of those must-have freewares  qright

Xentient Thumbnails version 1.01
  • Interface: 3
  • Features: 4
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

I needn't have worried that it might slow down Explorer, interfere with Corel thumb display or IrfanView, and I have folders full of 5Mpx photos. It does what it says, transparently and without any fuss. Do your desktop a big favour and install it. There may be a way through he registry to alter the thumbnail size; it would be nice to have that in the interface - but that's nitpicking. Kudos to Xentient, it actually improves Windows!!

    Review date: Jul 10, 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.