Swan Reviews (Almost!) Everything

Update ....

2007-11-07T18:41:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! ;)

Well the bad news is; after paying over at Wordpress AND upgrading so that I'd be 'permitted' to edit my own CSS, I'm back here at Blogger. Not only that, but Wordpress is not nearly as configurable as Blogger. And their internal navigation was driving me crazy!

The good news is; that over the months, this web site has morphed into something much more professional, and I thought I owed it to my current clients (and the the ones yet to come!) to mirror that image in a brand new appearance. :)

Introducing ...!!

PREMIER SOFTWARE REVIEWS

http://premreviews.blogspot.com

It's still going to be a few more days till I can get everything over there, so please bear with me. Once this has all been completed, I promise we'll get back to our regular reviews!
~ Swan

Moved ....

2007-10-29T15:04:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

Well I've finally moved my web site to Wordpress.

You can catch me at:

Premier Software Reviews
http://premreviews.wordpress.com/

ZSoft Uninstaller 2.4.1

2007-10-22T16:08:00.000-07:00

.
Good afternoon everyone,

Once again, I apologize for my absence due to ill health. However I'm back on track, and have been thinking about paying homage to a few free programs over the next week or so, including open source, which I do support wholeheartedly.

Today's review is about an uninstaller I've been using for about 6 months, with great success. The software is called Zsoft Installer 2.4.1 and it saves a wealth of time by avoiding the Control Panel to uninstall programs, among other things.

Publisher: I couldn't find who they are anywhere!

Supported Languages: English; Danish; Dutch; French; German; Hungarian; Italian; Portuguese; Russian; Spanish; Valencian.

System Requirements: Windows XP; Vista.

Additional Requirements: None

Tested on: Windows XP Pro.

You'll be amazed at how fast this small application locates all your installed programs. You have to wonder why Windows takes SO long to do the same thing. This uninstaller also has a rather unique feature that lets you analyze your drive/s both before and after installing a program.

This process ensures that when you decide to uninstall a program, ZSoft Uninstaller will make sure that every last file of an application is removed - something that Windows does not do well at all. This is a major boon for people in my profession, who are constantly downloading; testing and uninstalling various software.

GUI (Graphical user interface:)

The interface is easy to navigate and understand; it's mostly intuitive and has a toolbar and a buttonbar. The toolbar comprises File; Functions; Filters; Settings; Language and Help.

The buttonbar has four buttons which are: Uninstall; Analyze; Temp File Finder and Help.

To the right of the interface, is a search box to quickly locate any installed program.

The main list has three tabs:

Installed programs;

Analyzed programs;

Hidden Programs.

Settings:

Uninstall Priority: Set to high; normal or low;

Show Icons: This shows small icons to the left of the program listing;

Big icons: Which will show the the main program list in the same way as changing a normal folder to 'show icons', instead of showing a detailed file listing etc.

Sort List After: This setting allows you to sort your list in two four different ways:

Name; ascending or descending;

Time; ascending or descending.

This option allows you to sort your list in the order you installed your software. I tend to use this (descending) option, since it's unlikely I'll want to locate any early installations after I had to reformat my C: drive. I'm basically only interested in software I've installed from then on.

Change the Background Color: Here you can change various backgrounds within the program to suit your own tastes.

Show Grid Lines: Toggle on or off.

Edit Hide Filter: Since the only programs that I hide in the uninstaller are Windows updates, my filter is empty. However, you may choose to hide certain programs for your own reasons. You can always locate them here and edit them as you wish.

Choose Font: Brings up your normal Windows font selection dialog box.

As many settings as there seems to be, quite a few of them deal only with aesthetics, rather than actual program functionality – and therefore incredibly easy to manipulate. It also indicates the true simplicity of the software.

So let's go through the basics first:

First: Analyze the drive where you want to install the new software by clicking the Analyze button and choosing “Analyze an Installation.”

Second: Install the new software. When you return to Zsoft Uninstaller you will see that the program now appears under the 2nd tab “Analyzed Programs.” If you ever want to uninstall the program in the future, you would return to this tab, click the relevant program and then the large Uninstall button.

At first, the program attempts to use the programs own uninstaller. This would often leave trace files, folders or shortcuts behind - and this is where ZSoft Uninstaller steps up to the pace by deleting them all for you as well. This has really been one of the most useful and functional uninstallers that I've ever used.

Filters:

Given that some unethical programs like to install programs without your knowledge, these filters are especially useful for determining which “kind” of files you'd like to see displayed, in order to perform some other command, such as 'delete.'

Dead links:

These are defined by ZSoft Uninstaller, which will have determined won't work because the .exe file that the uninstall string points to - doesn't exist. If a program exists or if the string points to msiexec.exe, rundll32; regsvr32 or rundll.exe it will not be considered a dead link. Dead links are safe to delete, as there's no good reason for them to stay in the registry.

Crapware:

These are programs like the Alexa Toolbar; Gator; BonziBuddy; Purity Scan; Internet Optimizer etc, that are known to install files other than the obvious. However, this is one filter that doesn't work 100% - generic names like the latter crapware I mentioned, might easily come up on the list if it happens to be Swan's Internet Optimizer Pro., as well. Make sure you apply logic and good sense before uninstalling anything.

There are several other filters that don't need any explanation.

Help File:

The help file explains all the functions and features of the software well, even though it's incredibly brief - again showing the ease of using Zsoft Uninstaller.

Features:

Find and delete temporary files;

Hide Windows Updates;

Hide entries from the list that should never be uninstalled (drivers etc.) making the list more concise and therefore easier to manage;

Gives a lot more information on each installation than you'll ever see in Add/Remove Programs;

Automatically find entries from programs that are most likely already uninstalled;

Export functionality;

Points:

Originality: 7/10
Functionality: 9/10
Intuitiveness: 9/10

Price: FREE

Summary:

As I mentioned earlier, ZSoft is my personal choice for uninstalling unwanted programs. Because of my profession, I am constantly installing; testing and uninstalling software and this program seems to have met all my needs.

Simple to use; time saving; functions extremely well and has the right price. :)

Recommendation:

I would bet on this uninstaller against many others I've tried in the past, including a popular one that you need to pay for called - Cleanse Uninstaller which requires you have .NET installed and to pay $20.00.

ZSoft doesn't need you to be a rocket scientist, just read the brief help files and awaaaay you go!

Why not spend a little time shopping at ~ Software by Swan ~

If you enjoy my reviews, please vote for this web site - votes are always appreciated and give more visibility to my clients and their products, which therefore obtains more work for me - thank you! :) Not to mention that it improves your own karma!

Have a wonderful day everyone!
~ Swan

Shop for your software needs at: ~ Software by Swan ~

Ahhh Agloco - I’m making money, are you?

“The day will come when machines and software will tell us whom to know; what to eat; what to wear; when to go to work and what profession to pursue; when to sleep; what entertainments to enjoy and with whom to have any kind of relationship. It can’t be avoided and you will succumb.”
~ Swan (2005)

ArchMage 1.04

2007-10-15T11:47:00.000-07:00

.
Good morning gamers and other software seekers!

I have another game for you today, called ArchMage. This is a great game of the overhead shooter genre, that has you take on the persona of a witch or a mage, riding either a dragon or a unicorn.

I expect that the game designer thought that all players would choose a specific character depending on their gender – though there's nothing stopping the female player from choosing the mage and vice versa. Each of them has slightly differing abilities, though one doesn't seem any stronger than the other.

Publisher: 300AD.com

Supported Languages: English

System Requirements: Windows 1GHz or - Mac 1GHz, OS X 10.3

Additional Requirements: OpenGL + 128MB

Tested on: Windows XP Pro.

While overhead shooters are far from original, I think you'll find that there is enough originality and creativity in this game, to make it worth buying and playing.

Graphics:

The graphics are excellent, (though the colors are somewhat muted,) with animation that is almost flawless. However, I found that the unicorn didn't quite match the skill of the graphics designer. Obviously the graphics are very professional and even beautiful with obvious attention to detail. As the player shoots and the explosions appear, it gives the gamer a lot of satisfaction to watch them happen, especially with the great explosive noises that accompany them.

Game Play:

Map:

I do wish that the couple of pages explaining the storyline had an option to skip them when you return to the game each time. As it is, you have to wait for them to pass each time, before you can begin the game.

The game begins with the player choosing a path from the map and clicking on a red dot to start the game. This can be confusing to the first time player, as I happened to be last year.

You just have to realize that the player can choose from several start points on the map to go in any of several directions that the path may lead. Once you've chosen your direction, several small screens appear, which dutifully explain the power-ups and spells. The power-ups
are fairly fresh - not just a rehash of of the same old/same old from other similar games.

Cauldron:

This screen shows a number of runes that you can choose, which when mixed in the cauldron, create powerful spells. Certain power-ups collected during play are added to the runes table to create spells later, which you can use whenever you like. Very creative! A simple right click during play will bring you back to this screen, if you feel that you're running out of fire power.

I haven't very often enjoyed overhead shooters before as many of them use the keyboard only, however this ArchMage can alternatively be played with a mouse or game pad and doubly so for me because of the mouse controls. :)

Options:

The options screen includes volume sliders for master, sound and music volumes and max/min window. There are surprisingly few options for a game of this caliber.

Help File:

There is no help file at all, other than the few screens that are shown to you at the beginning of the game to explain the power-ups etc. Apart from these, there really isn't any need for a separate help file.

Features:

If you enjoy the game, you would find it of great benefit to join their forum and communicate with other players. There has always been some great topics in there (including location of hidden spells!) and actually, it's now been split into the old forum and the new forum.

Once you exit the game, it does automatically save your score and the level you’re up to.

Great graphics and lots of action with explosions that are somehow very satisfying. Great to play if one is angry at something else, and need to vent one's frustration or anger.

Seamless play, with no identifiable bugs.

Negatives:

There seems to be no way to have the power-ups explained to you again, once you have played the game for the first time. BIG flaw. 300AD need to address this, as there were many times that I wanted to do exactly this to identify certain power-ups and anti-bonuses.

So my advice at the moment, is to take a screen shot of the page when it appears the first time you play.

Points:

Originality: 8/10
Functionality: 8/10
Intuitiveness: 8/10
Fun Factor: 8/10

Price: USD$$12.95
(This is a reduction in price from USD$19.95)

ArchMage will be well accepted at the reduced price. It's worth stands out and at the reduced price, it would be great to add to your child's Christmas stocking, if it's the kind of game they enjoy.

Summary:

I enjoy this game, (though I'm not known to like shooters in general,) else I wouldn't have kept it for so long. It would interesting to see an optional game play; as a dual-play game, where one person is the witch and the other the magician and they could fight the enemies together as a team. There certainly are enough enemies to go around!

It would bring added variety to the game. Of course the options screen would need to include a choice of one of two players.

The game plays well and the story line is not excessive (like some games!) clouding the actual game play itself.

Recommendation:

I do recommend this game, especially since it can be enjoyed by a wide range of ages. The controls are easy, no matter if you use the mouse or game pad and could easily be understood by a child of 8 years old to adults of 99 years of age! ;)

While I definitely respect the individual choices of parents for their children, it's my personal belief that this game is not harmful to children's tender psyches. It's just lots of good, fun, explosive action, blowing up giant ants and rocks that are hurled your way, along with similar other “baddies.” No blood is shown at any time.

This is your lucky day too! If you head on over to my good friends at Game Giveaway of the Day, you'll actually be able to pick up a legal, fully licensed copy.

Why not spend a little time shopping at ~ Software by Swan ~

If you enjoy my reviews, please vote for this blog - votes are always appreciated and give more visibility to my clients and their products, which therefore obtains more work for me - thank you! :) Not to mention that it improves your own karma!

Well, another review completed! Have a great day everyone – play ArchMage!
~ Swan

Shop for your software needs at: ~ Software by Swan ~

Developers, Software Houses and Web Designers:

Please contact Swan if you'd like to purchase a candid, constructive review, under privately agreed terms, of your software; games; or web site design.

Advertisers:

Please contact Swan, if you'd like to arrange for advertising your product on this web site.

Ahhh Agloco - I’m making money, are you?

“The day will come when machines and software will tell us whom to know; what to eat; what to wear; when to go to work and what profession to pursue; when to sleep; what entertainments to enjoy and with whom to have any kind of relationship. It can’t be avoided and you will succumb.”
~ Swan (2005)

Word Challenge Extreme 1.0

2007-10-12T14:27:00.000-07:00

.
Good morning everyone!

I thought we'd relax a little today, and explore a game collection, especially for those who enjoy the word game genre. Word games are actually one of my favorites (English Major ;) and I couldn't wait to plunge into what I hoped were new and original games for the wordsmith!

Word games are often my choice during the late evening, when I want to wind down for the day. It's usually not long before my eyes begin to droop and I know that I'm ready for bed.

Title: Word Challenge Extreme 1.0

Publisher: Alawar Entertainment

Supported Languages: English

System Requirements: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista

Additional Requirements: None

Tested on: Windows XP Pro.

Today's software offers a bonus, in that it's actually four games in one. While the publishers don't claim that the games are original, there are hundreds of ways you could construct word games and I found myself hoping for at least a new twist on some older games.

However, having read the documentation before playing, I could see that none of them were original at all, no twists, nada. Having said that, - I will admit that they are long time favorites of a few children and even adults who played them as children.

Graphics:

They truly are nothing to write home about, in fact I'd have to say that it's the weakest attempt at graphics that I'd ever seen. While I don't see any particular anti-aliasing or other issues with the images, they are ordinary and very basic. It's as if the the graphics designer thought that the game design wasn't worth his work.

Music:

Extremely repetitive. I knew within a minute or so that I wouldn't be able to concentrate on a word game with it playing. It was definitely going to be turned off!

Opening Screen:

Knowing that there are several games in the package, I took a look at the titles that were available in the package. For the benefit of those that happen to be new to these games (is that even possible!?!? ;) I'll also give a brief description of each:

Word Jumble - Out of a jumble of words in the grid, see how many words you can make out of the letters shown;
Word Whiz - This is similar to Word Jumble, except that you can only make words by connecting adjacent letters together.
Hunt a Word - Word search in any direction - find the words in the grid that appear in the left column;
Hungman (not a spelling error;) Same as Hangman, except that you look for an invisible word, instead of a topical word.

Ok .. So you recognize these games, who wouldn't? Well let's give them a run and a fair chance for the sake of this review shall we?

Options:

Incredibly, the sliders for the music and sound volumes are fixed. The user cannot alter them in any way from within the game! So if you want the music to be on but softer, the only way you can lower the volume is to:

Adjust your speakers;
Adjust with the icon in your tray, or;
For those who have the Logitech ergonomic keyboards (fabulous!) use the volume + or - or even the mute button;
There are the also the normal toggles for full screen/window mode;
Allow word input - the default is mouse;
Show game tips.

There is also a display of the 'Word Count' which shows in my game as 28133. I'm not quite sure what the significance of this number is yet and I haven't found any reference to it in any documentation.

Help Files

The help files are brief and to the point. Not that any of us probably need to be taught how to play any of these games! There are four separate help files, one within each game; which I think is better than having one help file for all four games.

Features:

Saves your progress till the next game;

Negatives:

The game doesn't recognize some simple words and I found myself continually having to get rid of my letters in order to try with another word;

The online documentation says that the game supports custom word lists (which would help with the above point,) however- I have not been able to find any reference to this within the word game;

Navigation around the games is definitely not intuitive.

Points:

Originality: 0/5
Functionality: 3/5
Intuitiveness: 3/5
Fun Factor: 3/5

Price: USD$39.95

I could never see myself paying this price for four word games that were created between the 1950s and early 1980s. Not to mention that ALL these games can be played on a piece of paper and would cost the players zip!

When you hold this software up against a compendium of word games such as Babel http://swan-reviews-almost-everything.blogspot.com/2007/08/babel.html (25 word games - $20.00!) which you can buy for USD#20.00, unfortunately Word Challenge Extreme doesn't even compare.

Summary:

I would have said that this game would suit younger children, but the difficulty does rise quickly and therefore not appropriate. However, if you have a younger child with a pretty good vocabulary, this might be ok for them.

As a game for adults, the game fails miserably. With the very ordinary graphics and nothing brought to the old game play, I can't imagine any adult being entertained for more than a few scant minutes and I certainly don't see them coming back for more.

Recommendation:

This game is not recommended, certainly not until the game designer grows into his profession a little more. I got the feeling that he/she is fresh out of game designer school (what is it called?) and just wanted to test the waters before doing anything more to the game.

If you did happen to want to test it out for yourself today, you can pick up a free fully licensed and registered copy with my good friends over at Giveaway of the Day. However you only have the next few hours to download the software. http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/

Why not spend a little time shopping at ~ Software by Swan ~

If you enjoy my reviews, please vote for this blog - votes are always appreciated and give more visibility to my clients and their products, which therefore obtains more work for me - thank you! :) Not to mention that it improves your own karma!

Till next time gamers!

~ Swan

Shop for your software needs at: ~ Software by Swan ~

East-Tec Eraser 2007

2007-10-10T10:01:00.000-07:00

.
Hello and I hope everyone is having a great Wednesday. :) I'm really happy to present another East Technologies product to review for you today!

Have you ever worried about other people accessing your computer and finding confidential files that you've deleted?

What about the hacker who knows exactly what he's doing and accesses information such as that contained in old back-ups that have been deleted to your recycle bin; or even the sensitive files that you used to keep in My Documents, but thought you'd permanently deleted by pressing SHIFT-DEL.

A sophisticated user would know how to access this information and retrieve it easily and a hacker or sniffer would find it easier still. East-Tec Eraser, erases data from your computer in such a way that the data can never be recovered – not by you or anyone.

Publisher: East Technologies

Supported Languages: English; German; French

System Requirements: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista

Additional Requirements:None

Tested on: Windows XP Pro.

Did you always think that particular information was safe as long as you deleted your emails? Well you're not. Your email program doesn't actually perform the deletion, Windows does, so all your deleted emails are just sitting on your hard drive, waiting for someone to come along, retrieve them and read them all.

Perhaps you're also a little worried about your on-line travels and being tracked by cookies or other devices downloaded onto your computer without your knowledge. That's where East-Tec Eraser also comes in handy.

GUI (Graphical user interface:)

The opening GUI is attractive to work with, as you can see in the opening image. The four large buttons on the right hand side represent the main commands that you would need to execute with the software. They are:

Privacy Guard;
Erase Deleted Data;
Add Files and Folders;

Erase Files and Folders.

Across the top, are five other actions that you can perform:

Recycle Bin Files;
Deleted Email;
Scheduler;
Entire Drive Wiper;

Updates.

Privacy Guard:

This is a really neat usage of this software. Privacy Guard can erase data that is generated as a result of you using your computer. For example:

Your browser keeps track of where you've been on the internet;

Many programs generate temporary files that can be used to show what you've been doing on your computer. The temporary files folder and the recycle bin can be rich sources of revealing information for anyone.
This software tries to remove all evidence of what you've been doing on your computer, both locally and while browsing. Used properly, the user will be well protected from being tracked while browsing the internet and can set your mind at ease when doing anything while working with your computer. (You will still need your virus software!)

There are two ways to use the Privacy Guard: Basic and Advanced:

Basic Privacy Guard:

This appears to run Privacy Guard with East-Tec's pre-programmed defaults. Unfortunately, the default may or may not protect all the applications a user would want to protect. I strongly recommend that you read the help file before erasing anything.

Advanced Privacy Guard:

There are a dizzying array of options and as such I won't be going through them all today. I doubt that most users will know what to turn on and off – and this is always a danger when using software of this genre. Make sure you know what you're doing if you plan on changing any of the defaults.

Options:

Among the options is a long list of Windows features; browsers; applications; peer to peer applications; news and email readers that can also be privacy protected.

I did expect that Privacy Guard would have the ability to scan my computer to see what applications I currently have installed and automatically protect those applications (in fact, even the Basic Privacy Guard could handle this.) This is not something difficult to implement in any program and I hope that in the next release of this software, it will be included.

Instead I had to go through the list turning on the ones I use and turning the others off.

Erase Deleted Data:

As it implies, this erases the data from files that you've deleted. As I said above, it tries to do it in such a way that no one can ever recover the data after erasure. Note: The program offers several methods to erase data with an explanation of what each method does and it's pros and cons.

Unsophisticated users should probably stick with the defaults, but it's nice for the experienced users who can make the appropriate trade-offs. This feature can optionally erase files in the recycle bin and erase deleted files from multiple drives.

It's odd that it offers to erase files on my DVD drive, as DVDs cannot typically be erased. I would have liked to see it only offer to erase files on drives that are truly erasable.

Erase Recycle Bin Files:

This is a sub-set of "Erase Deleted Data" that works only on your recycle bin.

Erase Files and Folders:

This is like "Erase Deleted Data," but it works on files that you've not yet deleted. It's kind of like using Windows to delete the file and then using East-Tec Eraser to erase the deleted data, - but accomplishing it all in one step.

Entire Drive Wiper:

This lets you erase all the data on a drive. Normally, when you format a drive, the data still remains after the format (although it's inaccessible to most users.) This action wipes all the data from your drive so that it can never be recovered – even after formatting.

After erasing some data, I was surprised to find that there's no log kept of what was done. As a person who always like to check what has been done, it would have been nice if the software kept or at least offered to keep a log of its activity so I could see if I was erasing too much, too little, or just the right amount of data (little Goldilocks - 3 Bears reference there ;)

Scheduler:

The scheduler can be used to regularly execute the program. This is very useful to advanced users. It can also run in the background, erasing things as they're deleted and constantly protecting your privacy.

Personally I wouldn't want my files to be permanently deleted if they had just been placed in the recycle bin – Given that I'm one to delete files in error occasionally, I'd like to make sure that I didn't want to retrieve them - so I'd probably schedule erasure once per week.

Update Feature:

As with other software, this launches your browser and takes you to the East Technologies web page where you can get the latest version.

Help File:

The help file is set out as any other, in a Windows tree format, with the familiar search functions and favorites storage.

I used File Scavenger to search for the files I deleted and found that it reported the files as still being available for recovery. While it couldn't recover the actual files, I was confused as to why the file names still appeared. Checking the help files, I found that this was to be expected, however the reason for this was not explained.

Otherwise I found their help files to be comprehensive, well laid out and explanatory.

Features:

Running the software causes its addition to the Windows context menu when you right click on a file - Erase Beyond Recovery.

Privacy Guard can also create custom Sensitive Areas, which can be automatically erased when cleaning your computer. The Sensitive Area can include files, folders and registry keys.

This is a very powerful feature in the hands of a sophisticated user, unfortunately it's also an easy way to destroy your computer in the hands of a novice;

East-Tec Eraser 2007 can also be run from the command line

Negatives:

I noted that the Peer2Peer list mentions uTorrent1.5 which hasn't been current since February 2007. uTorrent is currently up to version 1.7.5.

The list of email programs Privacy Guard can protect is different in the program and in the help file. The documentation needs to be addressed so that it matches the program!

Points:

Originality: 7/10
Functionality: 8/10
Intuitiveness: 6/10

Price: USD$49.95 - One license

There are other prices for varying licenses on the East Technologies web site.

The price is a little high for a program that would like to have a significant amount of the market share in it's category. There are other cheaper programs, however I'm not sure how they would stack up against the great functionality of East-Tec Eraser 2007.

Summary:

East-Tec Eraser 2007 is definitely a nice privacy protection program with a lot of incredible features. My reservation, is for those unsophisticated users who may never have used such software, or as I said earlier, will not know which options to turn on and off, or know how best to use the program, even with the help that's provided.

The defaults may or may not do what the user wishes it would do. Sophisticated users, on the other hand, will find a whole lot of power in the software to protect their privacy.

When using the update feature, it would have been nice if the software had first checked to see whether or not I actually needed the latest version before launching my browser. Most users get ticked off at a browser launching when it's not needed.

It would have been nicer still, if once determining that I did need the latest version, that it automatically downloaded and installed the latest version for me. As it works now, you have to check Help - About to see what version you're running, compare that to the version on the web site - and then you can choose whether to manually download and install.

Recommendation:

I strongly recommend East-Tec Eraser 2007 to sophisticated users who will be able to make use of all the functionality within the program. It does what it says on the tin and functions brilliantly.

I would caution new or inexperienced users to be very careful about what they decide to delete until they become more au fait with the program. Reading the help files is an absolute must!

Why not spend a little time shopping at ~ Software by Swan ~

Other reviews for East-Tec Eraser 2007:

Security Software Zone.com;

Shop for your software needs at: ~ Software by Swan ~

Unwell Reviewer : (

2007-10-08T12:41:00.000-07:00

.

Good morning fellow readers,

I apologize for the lack of reviews over the weekend, but I haven't been well and still not up to par even today. Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow or the next day.

I'd like to offer a special apology to East Technologies, for whom I've contracted to do two more reviews. I already use their back-up program, so expect both of these other products to be great also.

Please stop back in a couple of days, to view the first review,
Thanking you all,
~ Swan

KudoSurf Me!

Shop for your software needs at: ~ Software by Swan ~

Developers, Software Houses and Web Designers:

Please contact Swan if you'd like to purchase a candid, constructive review, under privately agreed terms, of your software; games; or web site design.

Advertisers:

Please contact Swan, if you'd like to arrange for advertising your product on this web site.

Effective Password Manager 1.1

2007-10-05T11:27:00.000-07:00

.
Good morning software seekers!

I'd like to examine the topic of password security today and introduce to you, another product software, named Effective Password Manager.

It's just pure folly to believe that you don't need such a program, especially today, when hackers/sniffers are in their prime. As technology improves for the user, so does it improve for the hacker, and they seem to have no problems keeping pace with the changing algorithms in some anti-virus software and password programs today.

Publisher: Intelore Software Company

Supported Languages: English / Russian

System Requirements: Windows 98/ME/2k/XP or 2003

Additional Requirements: None

Tested on: Windows XP Pro

No-one should be storing their passwords on bits of paper taped to their computers, under their keyboards or mouse pads. This may seem ludicrous to you, the user who knows better - but I often hear of such methods to store passwords and it makes me cringe.

Worse, are those people who think they can memorize their passwords or use the same password multiple times for different accounts. These users are only opening themselves up for disaster as their need for more passwords increases.

One of the added advantages to password programs these days, is that they can also store user IDs and form information, for you to retrieve at a time when it's needed. I find this feature incredibly helpful as I'm always joining forums for the numerous software I own and if you've ever registered for a forum, you'll know how extensive the information that's needed can be - and believe me, one gets terribly tired of having to fill in the same personal information over and over.

GUI (Graphical user interface:)

The interface for Effective Password Manager is very plain, but very intuitive at the same time. All files appear in a hierarchical folder tree, offering the user a familiar working environment, which does make the learning curve easier.

The publishers have included example accounts for the new user and by perusing these, you can see almost at a glance how to create new accounts and also see how the program stores all your information. It's certainly worth having a look at the examples first.

Each account also has a user defined master password. So unless you're held at gunpoint, it's unlikely that the intruder would be able to guess it and infiltrate your files. Even less likely, (and safer,) would be if you utilized the automatic generation of passwords, function.

If you're going to define your own password, please remember that the best rules are:

Includes at least one number.

Word not found in any dictionary, even foreign;

Constructed with both uppercase and lowercase letters;

Failure to follow such rules, could end up in disaster for you one day.

Options:
General:

Here you have a choice of whether or not you want the software to launch on Windows start-up or not - this is also where you choose the language that you'd prefer the program to display - the choices being English and Russian.

Options:
Start-up:

Actually, I think it would have made more sense to have had the start-up choice in the last option - moved here. But what do I know? ;) Here you choose if you want the software to minimize to the tray or not.

You also have one of the following three choices:

Do not load file;

Load last opened file;

Load selected file.

I can't see any good reason why a user might need the last opened file opened first. Likewise for the other option - I would configure this not to load a file at all.

Options:
Back-up:

The user can enable or disable this feature. Frankly, I can't imagine not backing up such critical information. Chances are that you have all your banking / credit card information included as well. So, I strongly recommend that you enable back-ups - and I would also choose to keep three copies. This works the same way as any back-up utility - when the user gets to their 4th back-up, it will overwrite the 1st - the 5th will overwrite the 2nd, 6th will overwrite the 3rd and so on.

The files field, allows you to browse to a folder where you'd like to keep your back-ups. It defaults to a folder called My Passwords in My Documents, which I think is risky. My Documents is a very common folder for hackers to browse, since a lot of very sensitive information is often kept in there.

It's my strong recommendation that you call your password folder something else.

Options:
Security: There are four checkboxes:

Clear clipboard at exit; Make sure that you check this box - clipboards are yet another place that has juicy pickings for an intruder - especially if you have a program that allows you multiple clipboards, as I do;

Clear clipboard when minimize or hide; I would be sure to check this one also;

Lock file at minimizing; I've left this unlocked, purely because I'm logging in somewhere every 10 minutes or so. But of course the choice would be your own. I'd suggest locking it if you don't refer to it all that much;

Autolock file at program downtime (in seconds.)

I think this is a useful feature. After however many seconds you determine, the program will simply lock itself away from any prying eyes. I do use this feature, since I'd never remember to lock it when I walked away from my desk.The rest of the options are self explanatory and easy for anyone to fill in or change. One interesting feature, is the ability to color code your password records. I chose:

Pale blue - Account record;
Red - Expired account record;
Tangerine - Expiring warning days.

Effective Password Manager will also allow user defined hot keys, plus I was happy to see that the software uses the AES (Advanced Encryption Standard,) algorithm for encrypting all information contained within the program. I know I've mentioned it before, but it's always worth repeating again - the AES algorithm is used by the United States Army to encrypt all their secret documents. So, good choice Interlore! :)

If you're interested, you can do some further reading on AES.

Help File

The help file also uses a hierarchical Windows type menu (and search,) and covers everything you would want to know about the software. The information is in-depth, and there are multiple contact names/emails for you to refer to for support.

Other Menus:

Features:

Password generator;
Unlimited accounts;
Sort accounts by any table;
Requires only limited computer resources;
Fast search with your own variables;
Backup and restoration of files;
Drag and drop for moving files around;
Right click context menu;
Change size; sort by any field; change icon.

Negatives:

Surprisingly, even though in the Security menu I had both clipboard options checked, I could still paste a password into MS OneNote. This test was a shocker and definitely minimizes the security features of this software. Any hacker could be monitoring your clipboard for exactly the same reasons, hoping to catch a password or two. It's because of this that I made a habit a long time ago of not copying passwords for entry elsewhere;

Even though the software has export capability, there is no import function - so to change from your existing password manager to this program, means that you'll be entering the information for each password, manually. As far as I'm concerned, this is a flaw - importing passwords or other information from another program, is something that the programmers need to integrate into the program;

Oddly, (and unfortunately,) there's no browser integration, (can't monitor when you enter new information into new form fields/password/ID,) which makes Effective Password Manager a little clumsy and definitely inferior to standards such as A1 Roboform (my current password program,) and a couple of freeware programs of which I'm aware:

Keepass
Sticky Password

However, one could easily create a macro, which would open/unlock Effective Password Manager, enter details into a new account and leave the program up for the user to check the entered details, allowing them to add other more specific details for the account. This would reduce this clumsy negative, to at least a more functional action.

Points:

Originality: 4/10
Functionality: 7/10
Intuitiveness: 8/10

Price: USD$24.95

This wouldn't be a bad price if the software functioned as well as indicated on the web site. But it doesn't. With the reduced functionality that it offers in comparison to other password programs, I could see a price of USD$19.95 being a much more realistic price.

Summary:

In summary, Effective Password Manager 1.1 still has some growing up to do. It might very well become a great password manager in the future, but it has quite a ways to go yet. For the time being, stick with the standards in this field and perhaps check EPM again in a few months time.

Evaluation Copy: If you'd like to see the program and test it for yourself, you can pick up an evaluation copy here. Alternatively, you can pick up a fully licensed/registered copy of Effective Password Manager, at my friends Give Away of the Day.

Recommendation:

There is no recommendation for this program from me today.

Why not spend a little time shopping at ~ Software by Swan ~

If you enjoy my reviews, please vote for this blog - votes are always appreciated and give more visibility to my clients and their products - which therefore obtains more work for me - thank you! :) Not to mention that it improves your own karma!

Thank you again for reading my reviews!
~ Swan

All Content is Copyright (c) 2007 Swan-Reviews-Almost-Everything.blogspot.com - All Rights Reserved.

Arctic Quest 2.0

2007-10-03T13:56:00.000-07:00

.
Hello again gamers!

Yes it's your day again today, and there's a surprise waiting for you if you read today's review!

The genre is inlay, but with a slight twist from the normal kind of game play to be expected.
Personally I tend to fall asleep when playing this kind of game, but I also know gamers who absolutely love it , finding it relaxing rather than a visual lullaby - so it's all going to come down to personal preference.

The very first inlay game I ever played, was called Shape Shifter and though I enjoyed it for a while, the repetitive game play, soon had me reaching for other games instead.

Publisher: Alawar Entertainment

Supported Languages: English

System Requirements: Windows95/98/ME/2000/XP

Additional Requirements: DirectX 9.0; 64M RAM; PII-600; 16M Video 3D

Tested on: Windows XP Pro.

Arctic Quest 2.0 is the sequel game to Arctic Quest 1.0 where the player had to defeat the Snow King. Why? Because he was slowly turning the entire Earth into ice, thereby imprisoning all living creatures.

His son (Prince Aurorious) continues on with his father's quest in this version, to execute additional evil plans!

Graphics:

You're immediately surrounded by a beautiful wintery scene, with animated falling snow, moving puffy clouds and birds flying in the distance. The animation is flawless and there is also a lovely fantasy castle in the background (still not sure if the castle is significant or not.) Flowers, trees, grass and a waterfall to the side are also added to this landscape, to complete your new playing environment.

Unfortunately (or not for some!) all the graphics are exactly the same as Arctic Quest 1.0. Nothing seems to have changed, giving 2.0 the feeling of an expansion pack for 1.0 rather than a sequel.

Music:

I really enjoyed the music in this game, which is rare for me in any game except (for example,) the high level first person shooter games, where the music is only effective when you have it blasting around you in surround sound and your heart is close to giving out. :)

I couldn't decide if the music was created with the use of a chromatic bell set; marimba or xylophone. Regardless, the melody reminded me (just) a little of Tchaikovsky's Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker Suite.

Help File:

I always think it's great when help files are presented graphically, with relevant matching notes - rather than trying to plow through pages of a manual. Alawar Games is no newcomer to this concept and I think, has realized a long time ago, the benefits of graphics to better teach its gamers.

Options:

As you can see in the image; there are sliders for both music and sound FX volumes. The four toggles are for;

Full screen/window mode;
Custom cursor;
Hardware acceleration;
Show hints;

If you find that the game runs slowly on your machine, or notice it stuttering while playing, I strongly suggest that you turn off hardware acceleration, which should enable the game to play more smoothly for you.

Game Play:

Each level presents an outline of an exotic creature, which you have to bring back to life by taking each descending geometric shard of ice (inlay piece,) and filling the inside of the creature shape. Below the creature, is water, which you cannot allow to fill up with the descending ice pieces (displayed in horizontal formation.) If you lose your concentration and allow the ice to dominate the water – you'll lose the game.

The game has not significantly improved from its predecessor. Rather it simply adds 100 new levels to solve, which become harder and more complex as you move through them. However, there are new bonuses and anti-bonuses, a cute story line and a few twists that you certainly don't expect towards the end of the game.

The water elements are your bonuses, and work by filling in the empty pieces of your puzzle. Beware though (and keep in mind,) that there are anti-bonuses in the form of fire elements that will wipe out all that you've done, in a heartbeat!
Examples of the games early bonuses are:

snail - slows the descent of the ice crystals;
puffer fish – fills the empty gaps inside the creature.

Extra points can be added by clicking on various animations, such as the birds that fly past while you're playing or dark clouds. So keep your peripheral vision sharp in this game! Pearls will randomly appear in the empty spaces on your creature. In order to collect ithem, you must place a new ice crystal on top of it. These pearls are to buy the bonuses you've already earned. Even if you have already earned bonuses, if you haven't collected the money to pay for them, they'll be useless to you.

Features:

Trophy Room; these are a collection of all the possible trophies and medals that players can win as they progress through the game. As you can see in this image, I've already managed to collect quite a few:

6 medals: Freeing all the creatures from the ice;
12 medals: Completing levels, without using any bonus creatures;
4 medals: Completing levels before the snow storm arrives;
1 trophy: Completing a level with a combo;
1 trophy: Making a combo with 10 or more ice crystals.

While the trophies and medals add nothing to the game play, it is nice to see the milestones you manage to pass as you play the game.

High Scores; you can see your local high scores, or see if you appear in the top 100 daily players on the internet. You can also check to see if you appear in the top 100 global players.

Saved Games; all games can be saved in between sessions. So when you come back to play next time, you get the option of continuing to play your last game, or beginning a new one.

Negatives:

The only problem I could see with Arctic Quest, was that the transitions from one screen to another, were a little slow - not excruciatingly slow, but I'd still like to have seen it happen faster.

Points:

Originality: 6/10
Functionality: 9/10
Intuitiveness: 8/10
Fun Factor: 8/10

Price: USD$19.95

I felt that this was too expensive for what the game offered and think it would sit better in the gaming marketplace at around USD$14.95. That said, I do know gamers who consider the game very addictive and can play inlay games for hours, in which case perhaps the price is exactly at the right end of the scales for them.

Summary:

Taking everything into account, the game will be thoroughly enjoyable to inlay afficianados; intriguing and fun to those new to inlay games and a good time waster to those who are not new to the game concept.

Arctic Quest can be enjoyed by all ages from 10 upwards. The game needs good hand/eye coordination and I can see younger children becoming frustrated very fast as they scramble to find the right shaped ice crystal to place on the board.

Recommendation:

Though the genre is not one of my own favorites, I do recommend it to those who enjoy them. The game plays flawlessly, without the presence of any bugs and the graphics and music certainly do make one's gaming experience pleasurable.

My great surprise for you today, is to pick up a free copy of the game; fully licensed and registered over at the Game Giveawayoftheday.com web site.

Why not spend a little time shopping at ~ Software by Swan ~

If you enjoy my reviews, please vote for this blog - votes are always appreciated and give more visibility to my clients and their products, which therefore obtains more work for me - thank you! :) Not to mention that it improves your own karma!
Another review completed! Thank you for reading!
~ Swan

All Content is Copyright (c) 2007 Swan-Reviews-Almost-Everything.blogspot.com - All Rights Reserved.

STOP Child Abuse!

2007-09-27T14:28:00.000-07:00

.

Hello to all my readers,

You may have seen this red logo appearing in the last dozen or so software reviews that I've presented to you. If you've never clicked on it, then you won't realize it means that literally thousands of bloggers all over the world will be blogging today, about some kind of abuse. And that day is today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Terrified of his excited demands;
And the grasp of his hot sweaty hands.
That nasty glint in his eyes;
As he separates my tiny thighs.

His cheeks darken and redden with terrible lust;
While his stink breath smells the most foulest.
This must be my own fault;
And my consequence is this assault.

Thick tongue licking his lips;
As his jeans, he quickly unzips.
My heart pounds so fast;
In this grueling play, I'm miscast.

I've always been good;
Throughout my childhood.
What did I do wrong?
Oh G-d! This is lasting so long!

Mommy! Daddy! Please come find me!
By now you must miss me surely!

Now I'm an adult and coping - ok,
And that man is probably dead today.
If he wasn't I'd hope to cross his path,
And I'd make sure that he could feel my wrath.

If you should suspect a neighboring child,
is being hurt and perhaps also defiled;
Contact the police as soon as you can,
And you could save a Jeff, a Carol, or Suzanne.
~ by Swan ~

Don't just be one of those people who doesn't want to get involved. It's your DUTY as a human being, to report a situation that you think might involve child abuse. Here are YOUR resources:

Understanding Child Sexual Abuse

Protect Kids.com

Stop It Now! Confidential Help Line

Child Molestation Research and Prevention Institute

Child Welfare Information Gateway

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Child Trauma Academy

Pandora's Box

Please forgive the length of my sidebar - my usual blog entries line up perfectly due to their length.

If you enjoy my reviews, please vote for this blog - votes are always appreciated and give more visibility to my clients and their products, which therefore obtains more work for me - thank you! :) Not to mention that it improves your own karma!
~ Swan

All Content is Copyright (c) 2007 Swan-Reviews-Almost-Everything.blogspot.com - All Rights Reserved.

Sticky Password 3.3

2007-09-24T13:26:00.000-07:00

.
Good morning everyone!

I'd like to speak a little about password security, which is the subject of today's review.

Hackers, by their very nature want to cause mayhem wherever they can, just because they can. If they succeed on your machine, then who's to blame? Don't blame them ;) it's your own fault for not having good computer and password security set up.

Developer: Lamantine Software

Supported Languages: English/Dutch

System Requirements: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista

Additional Requirements: None.

Tested on: Windows XP Pro.

You will get naysayers, from time to time, who tout the analogy that "it's wrong to keep all your credit cards etc., in the same wallet." But if you think about it, that's exactly what we do, without giving them a second thought, (unless we lose them!) We trust our banks to have the best security set-up, in order to protect our accounts from prying eyes or hackers that would just love the opportunity to transfer money out of your account and into their own.

Likewise, it's your OWN responsibility to choose a strong, effective security set-up in the home or business, so that you can trust and feel secure in the knowledge that all your passwords are stored safely and can't be accessed by the same prying eyes.

I had used Roboform for so many years that I honestly never thought I'd change - until I found 'Sticky Password' many months ago. This is the only password protection software that I not only thought came close to Roboform; but surpassed it with some great features, which will discuss a little later.

I'll probably make a couple of references to RF, in today's review, as I also have a working reference with it, for comparison with Sticky Password.

So, the question of the day is: What can you safely protect with Sticky Password? The answer of course is; anything to which you can apply a password, which means most programs, as well as on-line browser log-ins.

Passwords examples:

PhotoBucket;

UPS/Ebay/UTube;
Grocery shopping/Florists;
Amazon/Comcast/MarketWatch (shares;)
Travel arrangements/and hotels/motels;
Event and movie tickets;
Wedding/baby registries;
Bank and PayPal Accounts;
GI Joe/Cabella purchases;
Other random internet purchases;
Forums;
All my Google; Ad-sense and other advertising accounts;
Community log-ins;
Encryption and protection of all sensitive files on your system; including blueprints; floor plans etc.

And these are just to name a few off the top of my head.

So what are considered bad (extremely vulnerable,) passwords?

NEVER USE: Spousal or children's names; or even those of your pet; boyfriend's/girlfriend's names; maiden names; street names etc;

NEVER USE: Words that can be found in the dictionary - this includes foreign words;

NEVER USE: Passwords constructed of only letters or numbers;

NEVER USE: the same word as any of your log-ins, or even an anagram of the same;

NEVER USE: Birthdays/anniversaries/Social Security #s or phone #s;

NEVER USE: Passwords created with double #s or characters;

Some of the worst passwords that I've ever seen are:

PASSWORD/ADMIN/123456/987654/dog's name/Company/Dept., name.
OK, so how do you construct the best passwords?

An extremely well known password expert named George Schaffer, expounds that the longer password is far more effective than the shorter one and not nearly as easy to crack.

The message with Sticky Password, is to create passwords that you'll never have to remember; ensuring that each one is at a very minimum 8 characters long.

You can be very innovative if you try! ;)

Try using the first letters of each word in the last line of your favorite song or poem; e.g., I like the song "Rhiannon" by Fleetwood Mac. The last line of the song is "Dreams unwind; Love's a state of mind." So the resulting password would be: DULASOM. or even MOSALUD (reverse it,) if you really wanted to be safe!

However, you'd need to increase its strength, by adding some other characters:

2Du`Lasom! Here, I've added: a numeral (2) a flick (`) and an exclamation point (!) making this a somewhat impossible cookie to crack;

Ensure that you always use a combination of lower and upper-case letters WITH numbers PLUS other keyboard characters.

So how do hackers work?

You need to remember that the first two personality traits that come into play with the hacker mind are; deviousness and tenacity. They have patience and will not hesitate to use any of several methods by which to access your files. The three most often used are: social engineering; dictionary attacks and - brute force.

Social engineering: This is usually carried out OFF-line. There are so many examples of this method, that I'm going to refer you to Social Engineering Fundamentals, Part1: Hacker Tactics. Here, you'll be able to find out just how vulnerable you really can be. If you'd like more information on this method, just Google "social engineering," and you'll get all the information you can handle reading.

Dictionary attacks: Probably the first line of attack and extremely useful against people who choose a single word for their password. (The hackers dream user!) Even if the word has absolutely nothing to do with your life, (dog's name etc.,) your password can be cracked as the hacker's very adept software zips through multiple dictionaries to find and match your word.

Brute force: This is probably the one that is best known (but takes the longest time,) and involves using software that begins by trying every possible combination of letters; numerals and keyboard strokes to achieve its end. The software begins with trying every keyboard character, then two key combinations, then three and progresses from there.

User BAD HABITS:

DO NOT stick your passwords on your monitor;
DO NOT place a piece of paper with your passwords under your mouse pad or keyboard;
DO NOT keep the same passwords for longer than 2 months at a time, change them ALL regularly;
DO NOT use the same password twice;
DO NOT store all your passwords in an Excel spreadsheet.

It's for all these reasons, that using a password manager becomes an important, informed and effective software choice for juggling passwords and their changes.

GUI (Graphical user interface:)

The database in my own Sticky Password software, currently holds around 140 log-ins and passwords for me. The GUI is clean and easy to navigate from one purpose to another. I found all functions/set-ups to be intuitive - even for those who have never used such programs before.

There is a column on the left side, that allows you to configure the various functions within the interface. The top section being :

Tasks: You can see all your password accounts with export/import settings and the ability to rescue unprotected passwords from elsewhere. There is also a very efficient search function that allows you to search your database if it becomes really large.

Settings:

You can choose to have a Master password AND your normal password. If anyone does manage to hack into your system, they're not only going to have to figure out each password for each account; but also the Master password that unlocks the normal password. This may seem like overkill to you, but believe me, it won't if you ever find out that you're the target of a hacker.

Some users tend to bypass using the Master password, but I prefer to use it and have that extra layer of password protection. You've probably read my views on which encryption algorithm is best, however it bears repeating again. This program uses AES (aka Rijndael,) which is also the same algorithm used by the U.S. military to keep their Secret Documents safe from those who have no business reading them.

Should you wish to do more reading on this encryption algorithm, Wikipedia would be a great place to start.

There aren't any other settings to configure - which means that you can get up and running almost as soon as you install the software.

Restore:

Interestingly, any new passwords that are created are automatically added to the last back-up that you ran for the program. This section will also show you a log of any back-up changes. A calendar to the left, displays past back-up dates, so that you can see at a glance, the last time a back-up for your passwords was run.

I have tested the restore feature, and I have to say that it does work like a charm. :)

Help File:

Clear; in-depth and efficiently laid out - and best of all, contained within the program, not forcing the user to open a browser, like some software does.

Customer Service:

One person I know received assistance from Lamantine Software within a few hours. When she lost her registration key, they gave it back to her without issue.

Although I've had no reason to use them myself, I have no reason to believe that their customer service regarding other issues, wouldn't be handled just as promptly.

Features:

This software has so many features over other password software, that it really made my choice easy.

Binds password management features to any software on your computer, not just limited to browsers;
Multiple browser compatibility;
Portable database, with USB use facility, (costs US$40.00 extra to include this with RF!)
Anti-phishing feature: e.g. when you are submitting a password on a website, it detects whether or not it’s on the domain name showing in the browser or if it’s a fraud or simulated one;
Excellent demo instructions that teach you well;
NO toolbar installation. (RF does install a toolbar;)
Indicator button on task bar lets you know when Sticky Password will work with a particular program;
Extremely strong and effective password generator;
Easily imports passwords from other password programs;

Automatic form filler;
Can save a huge amount of working time logging into sites that you visit frequently; (I visit many in the course of a day!)

Doesn't just store the password, but also your username/login information;

Supports Bluetooth authentication to secure database;

Encourages users to choose stronger, safer passwords;

Export the DB to a text file;

Virtual keyboard; I love using this feature!

Can handle multiple log-ins for the same site (eg: different profiles;)

Negatives:

I honestly haven't found any as yet. But as with any review, if I find any subsequent flaws or bugs, I'll add an addendum and credit it to the person who made me aware of such.

Points:

Originality: 7/10
Functionality: 8/10
Intuitiveness: 8/10

Price: US$24.95

For the amount of functionality; features; strength and peace of mind that this little application can give you, the asking price is an excellent one.

Summary:

Sticky Password is truly efficient software to store all your passwords with absolute safety, both on-line (with browsers,) and OFF-line with other programs that you own, which might also contain sensitive or private information.

It works straight out of the tin and doesn't make any claims or promises that it can't keep. As I mentioned earlier, I swapped from another title to this little software gem and plan to remain with it.

Recommendation:

I do recommend Sticky Password. I've been using it for many months and still haven't found any other software that comes to par with it.

Why not spend a little time shopping at ~ Software by Swan ~

If you enjoy my reviews, please vote for this blog - votes are always appreciated and give more visibility to my clients and their products, which therefore obtains more work for me - thank you! :) Not to mention that it improves your own karma!

Enjoy the gorgeous fall day everyone! :)
~ Swan

All Content is Copyright (c) 2007 Swan-Reviews-Almost-Everything.blogspot.com - All Rights Reserved.

KudoSurf Me!

Shop for your software needs at: ~ Software by Swan ~

Developers, Software Houses and Web Designers:

Please contact Swan if you'd like to purchase a candid, constructive review, under privately agreed terms, of your software; games; or web site design.

Advertisers:
Please contact Swan, if you'd like to arrange for advertising of your product on this web site.

Aston 1.9.5

2007-09-21T11:34:00.000-07:00

.
Good afternoon software seekers!
Today I have a product to show you that just could blow your mind! It's a Windows shell replacement application, which transforms your desktop into a brand spanking new, tidy, much more useful, elegant layout.

Aston 1.9.5, even though it still appears to be in its infancy, creates an environment that will make your work easier and less time consuming, with all your regular programs right at your fingertips.

Developer: Gladiators Software

Supported Languages: English/Russian

System Requirements: Windows 98/NT/2000/XP;

Additional Requirements: Pentium or better; 16-bit video mode

Tested on: Windows XP Pro.

My review is a little late today, because I had such a great time playing around with this software. :) It's an extremely intuitive application and I managed to do all the things I wanted, without even referring to a help file, though there is one available.

There are some really cool, useful features, which I'll go into later, and some of you will probably find yourself wondering why you've put up with the inadequacies of a Windows desktop, for as long as you have.

Aston also gives you a brand new Start Menu, and with the theme that I chose, all the desktop menus are incredibly stylish. As with the Windows version, you can also add and remove shortcuts from the Start Menu, enabling you to personalize it even further.

All items in your Quick Launch menu stay in tact, and display the same menu design as the one on the right.

If you're wondering if your Windows desktop has disappeared forever, the answer is 'no,' you can switch back to it anytime you want - but why on Earth would you want to? ;)

There are so many themes and plug-ins to add to your desktop on the Aston web site, that like me, you'll be wanting to try a few of them out before you decide on the one you want to keep.

By clicking on the Start Menu and selecting the Theme Wizard, you'll find out just how easy it is to change from one theme to another after downloading them. You'll enjoy them and while there are some I wouldn't use, there are really plenty that are just gorgeous and I already know that I'll be changing my desktop from time to time.

Take a look at how I've transformed my own desktop. I've added some explanatory text, so by all means click on the thumbnail and read my notations before we proceed.

As you can see, I'm not exaggerating when I say that my desktop has taken on a much more elegant 'look'.

While working with the desktop, you'll see many references to 'Categories' and 'Elements.' If you think of them simply as folders and files, you won't get confused with them at all.

Toolbars:
There are three permanent toolbars on your desktop:

The top toolbar has menus with category headings and holds elements, (programs or folders) that you want kept there. As you can see, it behaves as a drop down menu. This is a far more efficient way to find your often used programs, rather than having to locate them in your Start Menu, or among the clutter of the way your desktop used to be.
This toolbar, came with the following categories, but you can always add more if you wish:

Graphics;
Multimedia;
Internet;
Tools;
Web;

During testing, I added a category for virus software and added the relevant elements (virus programs,) by inputting the complete file path for each. It's all just so easy.

To the right, still on the top toolbar, there is also a cool little audio application, that allows you to control music or any other media that's playing.

Both the left and right toolbars, utilize auto-hide - or you can configure their settings to display them permanently - it's all your own preference.

As you can see in the image above, both side toolbars are fairly unobtrusive, but they are incredibly useful. I don't plan on going through each one of them, but suffice it to say that they're comprehensive, configurable and easy to design the way you want it to look.

Features:

Quick notes; I fell in love with this little application as soon as I saw it. It's available from the right toolbar and I used it to type up my notes as I was testing the desktop software today. You can think of it as Wordpad with tabs! You can see it in the image above.

So why would you even want tabs in a quick note application? The first tab is just for quick notes - however the second tab is labeled Private. This is an interesting one, as you can password protect that tab, to keep your notes away from prying eyes. I know that I'm going to make a LOT of use with this great little notebook.

I've already added another tab called Blogger, where I'll type up my review notes in the future. Another cool feature about this little application, is that you can save your notes, without having to give it a document name. It just ensures that you don't lose your notes while you're using it.

On the left toolbar; there's a nice little animated graphic that represents your CPU monitor. You can also access:

Options;
Theme Wizard;
Shell Swapper;
Help.

Other Features:

Switches quickly and easily from one shell to another, with no issues whatsoever that I could find;
Choose your own icons;
Mousing over the task bar at the bottom, will give you a preview of any windows that you currently have open;
Many free themes and plug-ins available on-line, which are simple to install and uninstall;
Extremely small memory footprint, which is always great news;
On-line forum for help on any particular issue.

Negatives:

I actually thought I was going to get through this review, without discovering any negatives whatsoever, however in the long run, I did pick up a few:

No drag and drop support;
Not able to sort menus.

Points:

Originality: 8/10
Functionality: 9/10
Intuitiveness: 8/10

Price: US$49.95

This price is definitely in the expensive ballpark. As lovely as my desktop looks now, I don't think I'd ever pay that amount of money just for a desktop application. I really think the price needs to come down, considering that there are plenty of cheaper and freeware alternatives, albeit not as good.

Amendment to price:

I've just been notified by Khai, that the Giveaway of the Day website had advertised the wrong price for Aston. It's actually: US$29.99. While the price does become more palatable, I would normally say that it's still a little expensive for a desktop utility.

However, I've spent a lot of time in their forum today, and have to say how impressed I am with the community and all the different themes they make for their members to download - gratis. Not to mention how willing they all are, to help someone else.

Because of this rich resource, I'm inclined to reverse my decision, and say that together with the program itself; the rich resources and downloads available in the forum, DO make this software worth the asking price.

Thank you Khai.

Summary:

This software functions flawlessly on my computer and has already made my working life easier this morning.

During testing, Aston felt just as much like a toy as it is the extensive, useful, configurable program that it is. It was actually fun to play around and discover all the categories and add new elements to them.

Aston does what it intends to do, by keeping your desktop tidy and organized - with no more fiddling around trying to make your desktop actually work for you. With Aston, you couldn't become more organized.

The fact that its memory footprint blows Windows Explorer away, is a huge bonus for users. I watched it a lot while I was testing the software, and I don't think it ever got above 7-8Mb.

Recommendation:

I definitely recommend this software and if you're quick, you'll be able to pick it up for free on the Giveaway of the Day web site for the next few hours. I for one consider Aston to be a definite keeper.

Why not spend a little time shopping at ~ Software by Swan ~

If you enjoy my reviews, please vote for this blog - votes are always appreciated and give more visibility to my clients and their products, which therefore obtains more work for me - thank you! :) Not to mention that it improves your own karma!
~ Swan

All Content is Copyright (c) 2007 Swan-Reviews-Almost-Everything.blogspot.com - All Rights Reserved.

Perhaps you'd also like to read another point of view - from my good friend BladedThoth :)

Flash Renamer 5.3

2007-09-20T12:24:00.001-07:00

.
Good morning everyone!

More and more these days, people are gathering; collecting and storing more files than ever before on their computer and this will only increase as technology forges forward and gives us the ability to make tedious tasks easy. Think about what you have on your own computer - not only documents, but movies, digital photos and music.

With such things as digital cameras giving us the ability to take hundreds of photographs in a day, we tend to exploit this feature by snapping away, knowing that we can delete them later if we don't want them and not lose any money. The one pain with digital photos is that they produce files with cryptic names and this program should be excellent for addressing this issue.

With the onset of the on-line movie craze (UTube; Google movies and the like,) many people have become downloading 'junkies' storing funny; incredible; and just plain loved movies and storing them locally.

Developer: RL Vision

Supported Languages: English

System Requirements: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista

Additional Requirements: None.

Tested on: Windows XP Pro.

I want you to think about something for a minute - if you have a large collection of files/movies/photographs/images, how much time do you spend with them, renaming, reorganizing and just managing them in general? I can tell you now, it's too much time! It's a task I've often dreaded in the past, because we do have a digital camera and five children.

Our two boys are grown and out of the house now, but we still have three younger children which has meant for us: numerous color guard competitions; volleyball matches; band concerts; wrestling and now just this year - football.

And I'll bet there's plenty of proud grandparents collecting photographs of their grandchildren too. :)

GUI (Graphical user interface:)

At first look, the inexperienced user might feel a little overwhelmed by the amount of information and choices immediately available to them when the program launches.

Hopefully, I'll be able to break it down a little and show you that the process of renaming many files is not as daunting as it may seem to some.

At the top left of the interface, you have a choice of what files/folders/subfolders to include and what processes you want to perform. The choices are: process name/process extension/Only rename.

Below that are your settings for various program functions, which we'll explore in more depth shortly.

To the right of the interface are three tabs: Browser/Free Select/Preset Manager; and there are also two check boxes for Thumbnails and Instant Preview.

Browser Tab:

Here you can select the files you want to rename. This doesn't seem any different in appearance to Windows explorer - so the file structure should look very familiar to the user.

Select Tab:

This tab allows you to drag and drop the files you want to rename; else you can use the green plus sign button at the top of the tab. There are also two other buttons on this tab: Clear list (small document icon,) and delete files (red X.)

Preset Manager;

In a way, you can think of a preset as a program specific macro, that will only work in the program to which it belongs. There are four included at the moment which you can explore (very self-explanatory,) however, you can also add self created presets; delete existing ones; rename them and change the order in which they're listed.

Once you get the hang of using presets, (and honestly it's pretty easy!) you'll want to use them more and more to suit your own specific needs and to save your precious time.

Settings:

Ok, so here we get to the nitty-gritty of the software. If you don't check your settings before you begin, you'll end up with a result that you didn't expect or want.

So make sure you check each one before beginning any task. Having run through them all before writing this review, I can tell you that the parameters are broken down so well, that it's pretty much self explanatory. If you don't understand what something means after checking the help file - then I do suggest that you leave the defaults as they are.

There are a few other settings that you can change that are inaccessible by the interface, but it involves actually modifying the files. I'll warn you that unless you absolutely know what you're doing, to never touch these files at all.

Experienced Users Only: Look for the following settings which should be found wherever you installed the software. The settings are stored in the files: FlashRen.ini; Exif.ini; waveformat.txt and Codecs.txt. Remember that each time you upgrade Flash Renamer, these files will be overwritten.

Help File:

Unfortunately, the help file is on-line and not contained within the program. This means that a browser has to be launched, every time you want to refer to it. As I've mentioned before in other reviews, I often have several programs open simultaneously and don't need another to open just because I need a little help.

Having said that, the help page is comprehensive and did help me quite a bit when I had queries about certain functions.

I'd have preferred not to endlessly scroll through the page to find what I wanted though. The page needs to be laid out like a FAQ file, with the main topics at the top of the page and anchor links to reach each topic further down the page. I'd also have preferred to see the Contact; Asking for Help and Reporting Bugs; Register; Upgrading; Version History and Acknowledgements, to be on a completely different page. It could still be linked from the help page, but those details shouldn't be where they are now. At the moment these are all at the top of the page, and I became increasingly irritated with having to scroll so far down to actually reach any help.

Features:

The first thing I have to mention here is the speed with which Flash Renamer performs. It's incredibly fast and you could potentially name hundreds of files within seconds;
I always love programs that allow a drag-and-drop function. This program does just that;
Gratefully, (at least for me! ;) regular expressions and wildcards are supported;
In order to sort files into their correct order, just add zeros to any numbers;
I found that using thumbnail mode, I could apply just about anything to my images;
During testing, I found no problems with applying the software to folders, subfolders and individual files;
Something I found out in error, was the fact that you can extract meta-data from any media, such as the duration, width and height;
Once you apply the new file names, a (real time,) preview shows them to you before you complete the action - don't forget too, that you that you can add counters to each file that is related;
Files that are related could be kept together as photo sessions. So what does this mean? Well, wouldn't you like to keep all the photos together of a particular vacation? Or a particular event, like your children's involvement with a band/color guard or sports event? I know that I do this all the time, except I've been manually sorting them all into folders. I tested this on our son's entry into a wrestling competition and it seemed to work extremely well - as intended;
EXIF (Exchangable Image File) data is extra information that is associated with an image in some image files. For example; your camera may record the date, time and camera settings used in the EXIF data for a picture. Image editing programs may also add or modify EXIF data associated with an image. This information is not stored in a separate file. It is part of each image file.
Search and replace function which can replace strings within filenames;
How often do we remain truly uniform in our formatting of file names? I can tell you that we all waver from time to time and end up with files in upper or lower case or a mixture of both. Another great feature is being able to pre-set the casing of your file names to UPPER CASE; lower case; or First Letter Case. This causes the file name field to automatically change your key strokes to your preferred style of file naming;
It's really easy to rename your Mp3s using properties and tags.

Negatives:

According to the documentation, you should be able to right-click on an image or folder and have it launch Flash Renamer, however, this didn't work for me. Using Windows XP Pro produced my same context menu with no mention of the software;

Possibility of running out of memory on some older systems. However, this can be resolved by the selection of smaller thumbnails;
Help file not contained within the software itself;
It's possible that you might experience poor interface display with certain font settings. The defaults are the most common Windows settings (with no experienced issues,) and uses both small fonts and large fonts. Other settings may cause such things as buttons to look weird and possibly even unavailable in the GUI (graphic user interface.)

Warnings:

All programs have limitations of one kind or another. That doesn't make a product faulty. These are the limitations found in Flash Renamer:

Files are subject to a 4 Gig limit, due to 32bit limits in the Visual Basic 6 command FileLen(). Most users won't have to worry about this, unless they intend to create one file with more than 4Gigs worth of data;
I'm unsure whether or not Flash Renamer works with Novell networks. (If a Novell user downloads and tries this software, please send me an email, telling me of your results and I'll give you the credit in an addendum to this review;)
The developer strongly warns against not using the software on system folders such as c:\windows" or "c:\program files;
The software won't work if you've enabled DEP (data execution protection,) for all processes in Windows. I do use this feature and found out the hard way, not immediately understanding what happened at the time. Adding the software to my list of trusted programs changed this and the software worked well from then on;
You may need permission to rename files. In a business environment or even if you have multiple computers in the house; some users might find that they are restricted from certain functions by the system administrator. This is a strong component of Vista also;
You'll need to remember that the undo command, will only work completely if the file and folder structure hasn't changed between renaming the file and undoing the command

Points:

Originality: 7/10
Functionality: 8/10
Intuitiveness: 7/10

Price: US$19.95

With an application like this, it depends on whether or not it's worth it to you, to pay the product price. A person who only has limited usage for such software might consider it too expensive; while a person who handles images in their job; or the high incident photo-snapping individual, might find it very inexpensive and definitely worth the asking price.

Personally, because of it's performance for me today, I would consider Flash Renamer as welcome software to my image toybox. :)

Summary:

For people who have a lot of use for the functions supplied in this software, there won't be any disappointment in its behavioral output. Yes there are warnings, but as long as you keep them in mind, or keep them handy (until you know them, ) you shouldn't have any trouble. I know that my image handling times will be made easier as a result of using Flash Renamer.

Recommendation:

I do recommend this program and since a fully licensed copy is available for free today on the Giveaway of the Day web site, I also recommend popping over there to pick up your copy. For the price of FREE, it's also worth it to those who won't need to use it so often.

Why not spend a little time shopping at ~ Software by Swan ~

If you enjoy my reviews, please vote for this web site - votes are always appreciated and give more visibility to my clients and their products, which therefore obtains more work for me! :) Not to mention that it will improve your own karma!
~ Swan

KudoSurf Me!

How about checking out another point of view, with my good friend BladedThoth?

Shop for your software needs at: ~ Software by Swan ~

East-Tec Backup 2007

2007-09-19T14:35:00.000-07:00

.
Good morning readers!

These days, one would hope that any user has come to realize the importance of backing up their files. It's a security measure that no-one can afford to be without - it also brings peace of mind to the person who has important and/or sensitive files to protect from being lost - especially ones that the user considers to be irreplaceable.

Developer: East Technologies

Supported Languages: English.

System Requirements: Windows Vista/XP/2000/Me/NT/'98/Windows Server 2003.

Additional Requirements: 300 MHz or higher processor; 128 MB of RAM; 10 MB of hard disk space

Tested on: Windows XP Pro.

All back-up programs of which I'm aware, have the ability to set restore points, giving the user the ability to return to that point if something untoward should happen on the user's computer, such as file corruption; accidental file deletion and other unknown issues.

In general, back-ups should also have the ability to protect the user's program settings; registry files and any other files that are important to you - so let's see how well East-Tec Backup performs.

GUI (graphical user interface:)

As the program launches, a visually pleasing interface appears (first image,) giving you the options of: Backup; My tasks; Restore and Quick Tour.

Functions seem easy for the inexperienced user, by the use of wizards.

Upon launch, an icon immediately appeared in the tray, enabling right-click to access much of the program.

Options:

Clicking on options first, the user is presented with four types: General Settings; Email Settings; FTP connections; Masks and Logs.

Going through each one, I could see that the software was extremely configurable and changed certain options to suit my own tastes, thereby ensuring that I knew the program would run and perform as I wished it to run. Too many people blame software for not performing as expected, only to find that they didn't have the options configured correctly, for their own expected result.

General Options:

Here you decide whether or not you want the program to:

Launch with start-up;
Associate all task files with East-Tec Backup;
Delay launching for n minutes after start-up.

You can also decide:

Where you want your temporary files stored;
What you'd prefer the task priority to be.

Settings:

This is where you enter your:

Outgoing SMTP server and port;

SMTP server login and password;

The rest are defaults, which allows the program to email you about any events, including issues. (See features below.)

You then send a test email, just to ensure that you have your settings correct.

FTP Connections:

As the subtitle implies, this is where you enter your FTP connection details. Once done, you will be able to quickly load them again when creating new tasks to a remote location. Nice and handy indeed.

Masks:

For those new to such terminologies; think of it as a mask you might wear to a party - it hides your face .. right? Well this works in the same way. Entering certain file extensions (as filename masks,) that you don't want included in the back-up process; will cause the program to ignore any files with the same extensions. There's absolutely no point in backing up files that you don't particularly want to keep, such as temp., files.

Logs:

This is the last option and allows you to enter a file path where you'd like the program logs to be stored; whether or not you want them timestamped and finally, to what size you'd like to limit the log file sizes.

Quick Tour:

I took the Quick Tour, which is conveniently located within the help file. This shows users how to manage their own back-up tasks (run; edit; view; add files and identify status;) restore points from previous back-ups; and create syncronization tasks.

As with many back-up utilities, you're able to set automatic back-ups and schedule certain other tasks that you want to run regularly. This gives the user peace of mind - although with my current back-ups, I still check the results every now and then, to ensure that the program is still working well and hasn't experienced any issues, preventing it from working as it should.

No-one should blindly trust any software, without checking it from time to time, to ensure it's ongoing integrity.

If you back up to CDs/DVDs, it's a general recommendation that they are stored off-site - that means, other than your home. If you were to have a fire - there would go all your data; settings and anything else that you specifically care about on your computer. Just think how devastated you'd be, if you lost all your financial information! What would you do at tax time?

Somehow, you'd have to attempt to recreate all the information you had in there, once you reinstalled your tax program. This was just an example - but I wanted to show you how extreme, losing your data can be.

Other dire losses, could be:

Loss of your password manager;
Project information;
Powerpoint presentations;
Cooking database;
All your music/photo/scrapbooking files;
All your music/graphic converters; just to name a few!

Chat logs (some people love to keep these;)

I listed these because I know that people who don't think they need to back-up - often don't see the big picture, or scope of what can be lost.

Help File:

Very comprehensive; layed out well and very easy to understand. Even the absolute novice could navigate their way to finding the information they seek.

Features:

According to the documentation, once you set up your email information, the program will automatically notify you of errors; warnings and summaries of the executed task. I'll be testing this later. My current back-up program doesn't have this ability, so in my opinion, that's a real plus for East-Tec;

Not only does it back-up important files; photographs; and music - but it will also back-up your emails; address book and program settings. Not bad at all. Not that you have to back-up ALL your programs and settings, just the ones that truly matter to you;

The encryption algorithim used, is military strength - 256 bit AES. It's not likely that any hacker would be able to break this code if you happen to have a breach of security on your computer. If they can, our military is in deep ...... trouble;

You're able to back-up to any media: hard disks; CDs/DVDs; USB sticks; network, or to chosen internet locations. However, I do discourage the latter. Backing up to a file storage facility on the internet, while handy, can be disastrous for the user. It's not unknown for such companies to go under and not notify their members. If this were to happen to you, you'd be left with no back-up files whatsoever;

If you choose to back-up to a USB stick, be careful there also. Loss of the USB stick, would constitute the same dangers as storing online. Personally, I wouldn't choose either of these methods - well perhaps the latter if I was planning on immediately going over to a friend or relative, to store the back-up with them;

You're also able to automatically compress your files after the backup is finished. Unfortunately the compression method used in East-Tec Backup is the zip format - which restricts you to 4 Gig;

The restore function is excellent and worked exactly as expected;

Back up without the need to close running programs;

Run programs/commands before or after the backup.

Negatives:

I didn't see any mention on their website, or in their documentation, as to whether or not the program would back up to tape;

After I configured my first task (full backup,) I saw that I had 16 Gig to back-up and wondered what would happen if I chose compression, knowing that the program uses .zip. My current back-up program, has the ability to split the backup over two or three zip files.

Result:

The bad news is: that it came up with an error and stopped the entire process. More bad news is: that even though my earlier test email had worked perfectly, the program didn't notify me that the back-up hadn't worked. After double checking my options, there's no reason that I could see, why this didn't happen.

The worrisome thing about this, is that should you somehow miss the fact that the program hadn't done its thing - it could go without any intervention and you'd be thinking that your files and programs are all safe - when they're not. If you use this program, you must remember the 4 Gig limit on compression and somehow work around it.

Two ways to accomplish this, are to either:

Reduce the number of files and programs you want to back-up (disappointing;)
Manually split your back-ups between two tasks.

This sounds like a lot of tedious, unnecessary work, when a few other backup programs can quite adequately handle this issue by choosing different methods for compression. Having said this, you need to remember that if your hard drive uses FAT32 formatting, you'd still be limited to creating files larger than 4 Gig, regardless of whether or not the compression utility is supposed to be able to create larger files. This is a limitation of Windows. Unfortunately, this size isn't even nearly adequate for the business environment of today.

This does not make East-Tec Backup 2007 itself unworthy, it was just an unfortunate choice of compression method to include in this software.

However, if your hard drive happens to be NTFS formatted - lucky you - then there isn't any file size limitation. You can do more reading on FAT32 and NTFS on the PC Guide website.

Points:

Originality: 4/10

Functionality: 7/10

Intuitiveness: 8/10

Price: US$39.95

At this point, I feel that the current price is a little high. However, once the compression is improved, then the equation quickly becomes:
worth x price = satisfaction.

Summary:

For smaller back-up needs, East-Tec Backup 2007 is an excellent choice and does backup and restore without a hitch. Just keep an eye on the file size size that you need to back-up.

There are dozens of compression utilities available and not all are restricted to 4 Gig. For example: One of the industry standards Stuffit Deluxe allows you to choose from any of 20 different compression formats. Another file compression utility example is PeaZip; which can split and join files and compress executables with strip/UPX. It's also open source, which I will actively support.

Please do back-up your files, even if you think you don't need to do so. One day you might find out that you've lost something of extreme value to you. For example: My mother died last year and I will cherish her emails always. I'd be devastated to lose them.

Customer Support:

I have communicated with Alexandra Preda in the past, and I believe that they are looking for alternative compression methods, in which case they'll come up out with a patch. I think at the moment they're looking at: ZIP64 which is now utilized in Vista.

At any time that I've had anything to do with Alexandra, my impression was that she seems committed to keeping East-Tec's customers happy and queries are answered within reasonable time.

I have also swapped emails with George Pecherle and found him to be incredibly diligent in his job - even following up with me on an issue I had, when he hadn't heard anything back from me about it.

Recommendation:

East-Tec Backup 2007 is recommended for basic back-up needs until the patch comes through, at which time I'd also recommend it for higher volume business use.

A workaround to make East-Tec Backup absolutely worthy even for business needs, would be to turn off compression in your options. Once the back-up has completed, compress the files with another compression/encryption utility such as PeaZip, that will split your files during the compression process, if necessary.

I'll quickly mention that East Technologies has a download link on their website for a trial version. Why not take them on their offer?

Well there we are again - another review completed. :)

Why not spend a little time shopping at ~ Software by Swan ~

If you enjoy my reviews, please vote for this blog - votes are always appreciated and give more visibility to my clients and their products, which therefore obtains more work for me! :) Not to mention that it improves your own karma!

Remember to back-up!
~ Swan

All Content is Copyright (c) 2007 Swan-Reviews-Almost-Everything.blogspot.com - All Rights Reserved.

KudoSurf Me!
Shop for your software needs at: ~ Software by Swan ~

Developers, Software Houses and Web Designers:

Please contact Swan if you'd like to purchase a candid, constructive review, under privately agreed terms, of your software; games; or web site design.
Advertisers:

Please contact Swan, if you'd like to arrange for advertising your product on this web site.

Fuel my Blog !

2007-09-18T09:28:00.001-07:00

Good morning everyone!

Instead of software today, I'd like to speak about another great website with whom I'm registered, called: Fuel my Blog. They've managed to team up with BlogWorld Expo (in Las Vegas,) who have donated a free two day pass to their conference on the 8th/9th November 2007.

Now naturally, I want to go - BIG TIME! :)

Just think of all the amazing bloggers I'd get to meet. People who have been blogging for years and know how to create successful blogs that are appealing to the public. And I really do want to be one of those appealing, pleasing writers!

As if that isn't enough - the person that's chosen will be introduced by (CEO of BlogWorld Expo.,) Rick Calvert to meet their favorite blogger. What an amazing bonus that would mean for me! Can you imagine how much fantastic blogging information I could tap into with both of these people?

If I win fuelmyblog's prize and win the ticket to go to BlogWorld Expo, I would like to be introduced to BOTH Dave Taylor and Aaron Wall who will be there. I can't seem to decide between the two, as I've greatly respected and enjoyed both blogs for a long time.

Dave Taylor speaks a lot about topics that concern the web developer, (which I also happen to be,) and he always seems to be the first website I turn to when I want to find out specific information. I haven't even had to ask a question on his website for the longest time, because the answers seem to already be there! He truly is a wonderful resource for others.

Aaron Wall on the other hand, has a completely different focus - leaning more towards the technical - which I also want and need! I often find that when I go there to find information, that I always pick up other useful information along the way. With a kind of: "Ohhh .. I've always been curious about that!"

So how can I possibly choose between them?!?! Aahh .. I know, let's use the professional way to decide:

Eenie/meenie/miney/mo,
Catch Dave and Aaron by the toe,
If they holler don't let them go,
Not till your own blogging skills grow!

But I just know that whoever I land on, I'll be wishing I could have met the other one as well! *laughs* I know, I know, give me an inch ....

The Fuelmyblog team, are even sending a 'blog bus' to take people from San Francisco to Las Vegas!

S.F. is really handy for me, as it's really only a short (one hour) 'plane ride from PDX to SF., which would be so easy for me. Heck, my husband would probably even drive me there, as we have friends in Redmond whom he loves to visit.

For those who don't win, the Fuelmyblog team are also offering a 15% discount for any blogger who would like to go. That's a pretty hefty discount, from the conference cost of: US$225! I want to go so badly, that I can almost taste it! It would be a tremendous opportunity to better my skills as a blogger. I just know I'd be glued to all the speakers, hanging on their every word!

If I sound excited about this event, you're correct. This is definitely opportunity knocking at my door, and I want to swing it wide open to let him in! :)

If you'd like to find out more, click on the Expo graphic at the top of this post. You'll be able to find out all the information that you need. :) I hope that you too can join me on the 'Blogger Bus.'

Have a wonderful day everyone!
~ Swan

P.S. Please excuse the length of my sidebar - my articles are usually much longer and they normally line up pretty well.

Aimersoft DVD Ripper 1.1.10

2007-09-17T10:07:00.002-07:00

.
Good morning readers! ;)

How many of you stay away from manipulating or ripping DVD movies because you think it's probably just too difficult? Well today, I'm hoping to be able to show you how easy this can be accomplished, without having a Master's degree in film editing.

There are a good number of conversion file formats which are supported by this Aimersoft software, and obviously I won't be testing every one, but I will attempt to show you how this process can be achieved, relatively quickly.

Developer: Aimersoft Software, Inc.

Supported Languages: English

System Requirements: Windows NT4/2000/2003/XP and Windows Vista

Additional Requirements: Intel Pentium II 350MHz or above or any Athlon; 64 MB RAM or above.

Tested on: Windows XP Pro.

GUI (Graphical user interface:)

The first thing that struck me was the presentation of the software. With its various shades of blue; its easy, handy access action buttons; preview screen off to the right and relatively easy configurations, make this interface extremely attractive and polished.

Options:
Language:

????
????
English
PortBr;

These were meant to be the languages that were supported by the program, but they don't make much sense to me! I did feel that the latter should have meant something to me, but it didn't. ;) But as you can see, an odd result indeed.

Perferences [sic.,]

The above spelling in the menu definitely needs to changed to its correct spelling.

Photo Directory:

This pop-up screen, shows the file path where your photos would be stored, and gives you the option to change the directory if desired.

Help File:

Thankfully this developer has included the entire help file within the program. So we won't have to go launching a browser just to access it. Some people don't mind launching browsers all the time, but I usually have several other programs open and running while I'm working.

While all my opened programs are necessary, having a browser open (for me,) is not.

There seems to be a disconnect in the Program Requirements, which states the system requirements to be:

Windows NT4/2000/2003/XP and Windows Vista;

However, the help file, states the requirements to be:

Microsoft Windows 2000/2003/XP (installation of all recent updates recommended)

I suggest that if you're still on NT., that you do check with Aimersoft, as to whether they do indeed still support NT.

Another big disconnect also in the (help file,) states that the system requirements also include all kinds of peripherals, that aren't stated on the web site.

My guess with these little disconnects, is that all the extras they say you need in the help file, have already been bundled into the software with this latest upgrade - but that the help file had not been updated.

It's wonderful to see so many file formats offered, however, I'd like to see an additional help topic for those new users who don't know which file format to apply to which software. For example, as you all know by now, my husband David, is a software programmer - yet even he couldn't instantly figure out which format would work with his Windows Mobile 5 PDA.

I found that changing the name of the output (destination) file was odd. The program automatically applies ouput file names based on the title and chapter names on the disk. These are usually something like "Chapter_03-133.mp4." Wanting to change a particular file to something more useful, I clicked on the name in the title/chapter list and found out (by accident,) that I was able to accomplish this. How to do this, is not actually mentioned in the help file at all, (that I could find.)

However, I have to say that the help file has been arranged well and a user wouldn't have any trouble knowing exactly where to go to find the information they needed (if it's there.) Most explanations have large screenshots (wonderful for teaching!) and each menu item is explained in an easy to understand manner - even for the layman.

When I opened a DVD - most but not all titles would be automatically selected. I couldn't figure out why some were not selected when most were. Again, I couldn't find the reason out via the help file.

Sometimes, when I was previewing a title, the audio didn't match the video. I don't mean they weren't in sync, although there were occasional sync/skip problems with the audio. What I mean is that it got video from one track and combined it with audio from another track. This didn't happen all the time, but when it did, it was incredibly frustrating. I could never figure out what I had done to cause this problem. Again, there were no troubleshooting tips in the help file.

Features:

Video editing with this software is made easier by the tool bar in the image:

Capabilities:

Crop video image size;

Trim the beginning and/or end from a video clip;
The user can also apply a few effects, (emboss, negative and saturation changes) to the video as you convert it;

Ability to control brightness, contrast and saturation.

Your DVD is shown to you in the main window, as several consecutively numbered chapters, all contained within one file. You can also rip and copy your DVD by the chapters that you want.

Video editing; allows you to trim the superfluous or special parts of movies - adjust brightness, contrast, audio, etc.

Supports photo capturing within the currently playing DVD, and then save it as jpeg, bmp. However, I couldn't find any way to combine clips into a single video; overlay audio on existing video; or add any transitions between clips. Then again, this software is advertised as a "ripper" - and not a video editor.

It's possible to capture just the audio from a movie by setting the output format to an audio-only format (e.g. MP3). This is a big feature for me, as I can now capture movie soundtracks that I love!

You can take "snapshots" of video, capturing a single frame as a bitmap image.

You can either open the DVD itself or the "IFO" files from the DVD. I don't know why you'd prefer one to the other and unfortunately, the help file wasn't a whole lot of help on this topic.

Support for dual-core or multi-core processor.

Free email technical support.

Negatives:

At one point, the program crashed when I told it to cancel conversion on an MP3;|
Confusion of menu names under Options;
Needs to correct spelling for "Perferences" to Preferences in menu.

Points:

Originality:
Functionality:
Intuitiveness:
Fun Factor:

Price: US$45.00

However, if you hurry on over there now, you'll be able to pick it up for US$10.00 less!

Summary:

As you can see, Aimersoft DVD Ripper, has so many features that make this a definite worthwhile purchase for the user. The negatives are truly negligible and don't affect how the program works.

It does exactly what its name implies: it copies video from DVDs and converts it into formats appropriate for computers and computer-like devices (e.g. portable devices PSP, uTube, iPod, Zune, etc).

A very nice bonus is the ability to rip audio tracks from a DVD without the video.

My only issues are with the help file, and unless it includes more basic information, I'm afraid users who know nothing about the data structure of a DVD might have a difficult time knowing how to extract what he or she wants from the disk.

Recommendation:

In the long run, this is one of the easiest, yet great output DVD rippers that I've seen and thoroughly tested. I'm sure the small glitches will be addressed by Aimersoft for the next release.

You can also check out Aimersoft's great DVD Ripper Tutorial as well - there's no better way to get to know new software!

I do recommend buying it and I've even kept it myself as a welcome addition to my DVD toolbox.

Why not spend a little time shopping at ~ Software by Swan ~

I'd like to offer a sincere thank you to Aimersoft for requesting this review. Their comments are certainly welcome on this website, if they wanted to address any of the points I've made today.

If you enjoy my reviews, please vote for this blog - votes are always appreciated and give more visibility to my clients and their products, which therefore obtains more work for me - thank you! :) Not to mention that it improves your own karma! ;)

Till next time software seekers!
~ Swan

All Content is Copyright (c) 2007 Swan-Reviews-Almost-Everything.blogspot.com - All Rights Reserved.

KudoSurf Me!
Shop for your software needs at: ~ Software by Swan ~

Developers, Software Houses and Web Designers:

Please contact Swan if you'd like to purchase a candid, constructive review, under privately agreed terms, of your software; games; or web site design.

Advertisers:

Please contact Swan, if you'd like to arrange for advertising your product on this web site.

Master of Defense 1.66

2007-09-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

.
Good morning everyone!

A strategy game takes the spotlight today, transforming you into the role of a brave hero who must save the 'Ancient Kingdom' from a plethora of baddies. As the hero, you must protect your castle and the people within from being captured.

So are you up to it? ;)

As added protection you build beautiful towers and swiftly cast spells. As expected, you also get bonuses for each kill, (how mercenary! ;) and then another one at the end of each attack.

Developer: Voodoo Dimention

Supported Languages: English; German; Russian.

System Requirements: Windows 98/98SE/ME/2000/XP,

Additional Requirements: 3D video card; Pentium 500MHz; 128MB RAM,

Tested on: Windows XP Pro.

By b uilding towers and upgrading the older ones, you'll increase your range, fire speed and fire power. The monsters change also, hopefully to keep your interest high. The locations also vary as you progress in the game.

So let's get to it shall we?

Settings:

The opening screen, has a shadowed castle in the background with several choices to the right, as this image clearly shows here. Placing my mouse over 'settings', I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the effect and the animation that had been applied for mouse-overs. I took this as a (hopeful!) promise of even better graphics and effects to come.

As you can see here, the settings screen allows you to:

Enter your name;
Change volumes for both music and sound, to your preference, with the sliders;

Choose your resolution, (mine will be at 1280x1024 as I have a large screen;)
Choose whether or not you want to use VSync;
Play in window or full screen mode;
Change your Gamma;
Choose whether or not you want to use 16 or 32bit color.

With a really comprehensive range of settings, the player gains more control of the game.

Time to play! ;)

Clicking on 'Play Game,' gives the player two more options: New Game or Continue Game. To the avid gamer, this would normally mean that the game can be saved anywhere mid-game. However in Master of Defense, you can only save the game between attacks, otherwise the game is lost. This actually argues against the online documentation which states:

"Master Of Defense allows you to save your game at any time and return to it later."

If this is really important to you, I suggest you check with Voodoo Dimention support, to see which statement holds true. It's always a distinct irritation for me (and to others, I'm sure,) when the developer decides to omit this feature.

Clicking on 'New Game,' brings you to another screen which shows the player his entire Kingdom, with a few labeled places.

Tutorial:

The game launches straight into a tutorial - which I find is always a great idea for games, instead of having to wade through a help file.

For some unknown reason, I found the font in the tutorial to be odd for the theme of the game. I'd have preferred to see a more medieval font; even perhaps something like Kristen ITC or Viner Hand ITC., which although not medieval, would fit the theme better.

A few spelling errors need to be addressed.

Playing Field:

You begin with $200 in gold; and 100 people resident in your castle. Displayed along the bottom, are the items which you can buy to upgrade your castle. Each tower allows you to attack in a different direction and upgrading them will give you a greater radius for firing and causes differing amounts of damage and has differing amounts of attack speeds.

At the top right hand corner, there is a large lower case "e" below your gold. This denotes the experience you have gained. The more experience you gain, the more you can repair your castles from prior raids and attacks.

Game Play:

The first thing that one needs to know, is that you receive more gold at the end of the attack, (round) depending upon how many monsters you destroy. However, this amount decreases with the loss of people in your castle.

If you lose all your people, the game is over. There are 15 different raids during an 'attack.'

It's also important to remember the advice in the tutorial, that tells us it's far better to build one castle at a time and upgrade it, than to have a few smaller castles.

You can also sell your towers if you want, however, you will only receive 75% of the original tower cost. Interestingly, you can also slow down or speed up the time.

I didn't even manage to get past the first round on my first try! When I actually began to play, I realized that the game wasn't just a click and shoot game.

However, in my own defense, I didn't expect some of the monsters to be shadows and didn't they were anything to shoot at. Armed with a little more knowledge about the strategy I needed, I began another game - and this time I survived all 15 raids and also had 3 fully upgraded castles.

At the end of each attack, you check your skills screen. Here you'll see exactly what they are and how many experience points you have, with which to upgrade them. Mousing over the plus sign to the right of each experience entry, will tell you what it is, while a black pop-up box appears to the left, telling you how it works.

There is so much more to learn as you go along in this game, that I'm still not sure what lies ahead.

Graphics:

I was pretty disappointed after my earlier expectations, While animation remained smooth, I felt that the monsters lacked imagination - however, perhaps this will change in the higher levels that I haven't played yet.

The background graphics are truly excellent. I found that I had to lighten my screen and increase the contrast, to truly appreciate them though.

Help File:

There isn't one! However the tutorial does teach you at a comfortable rate. I actually found some help in error, by unknowingly clicking a link to the tutorial, that you can access during the game. It's a teal colored, rippled graphic at the top of the screen, where I also found the save link a la` Windows.
Don't forget to check the Tips & Tricks page on their web site, to help you on your journey.

Music:

The music is definitely appropriate to the theme and pleasant on the ears. The majestic music reminded me of Richard the Lionheart riding home to his own castle after the Crusade Wars, with scores of armored soldiers behind him.

Features:

6 different locations to explore;
Survival mode;

180 raids of evil monsters;
4 different towers, fires and balloons;
3 Magic types;
Towers and other skill upgrades;
List your high scores on the internet.

Negatives:

Unable to see your high scores within the game - only on the internet;
The internal help link while you're playing, needs to be made clearer to the player.

Points:

Originality: 7/10
Functionality: 8/10
Intuitiveness: 5/10
Fun Factor: 7/10

Price: US$19.99

Summary:

Unfortunately, this definitely wasn't the heart-stopping game that I thought it might have been, then again I don't see any false statements on the developer's web site claiming that it would be.

I did enjoy playing the game, but I only played for an hour or so. Because of its simplicity, I already know that it's not going to be the first game I'm going to choose in my game gallery, each time I reach for one.

Recommendation:

I'd like to have seen a feature to play over the LAN against someone else in your home. Since so many people are setting up networks in their homes these days, because of kids' needs, (homework; research; games; etc.,) that many of the game developers are including this feature in their programming.

While the game does permit you to pan from one side to the other, I'd also like to have had the ability to change the perspective (to rise higher or fall lower,) on-the-fly, while fighting the 'baddies.'

With as far as I've gone in the game, it could easily be played and enjoyed by children as young as 8 or 9 to adult. When I play Masters of Defense again, I'll add a note here if that fact changes.

Why not spend a little time shopping at ~ Software by Swan ~

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend, either playing games or being out and about enjoying the fresh air! So till next time ....
~ Swan

All Content is Copyright (c) 2007 Swan-Reviews-Almost-Everything.blogspot.com - All Rights Reserved.

1:

2:

KudoSurf Me!

Shop for your software needs at: ~ Software by Swan ~

Developers, Software Houses and Web Designers:

Please contact Swan if you'd like to purchase a candid, constructive review, under privately agreed terms, of your software; games; or web site design.

Advertisers:

Please contact Swan, if you'd like to arrange for advertising your product on this web site.

Board Games Collection

2007-09-14T10:28:00.000-07:00

.
What? ~ Swan is going to review yet another game?

Oh you don't know the half of what's planned here for the future!

Not just a good morning, but a happy morning to you all! ;) You have no idea how playing games in the morning before work can cheer you up, as long as you can exercise self control and still get to work on time. ;) Then again, I work from home, so no biggie for me!

This collection of games is a little misleading by its title as none of them are 'board games' as we know the definition to be. They are in effect, arcade games.

Developer: GameOver Games

Supported Languages: English

System Requirements: Windows 98/Me/XP

Additional Requirements: Pentium 400; 32Mb memory; 8Mb video card.

Tested on: Windows XP Pro.

This collection of games includes:

Speed Lines;

Super Blocks;

Fast Balls;

Real Clicks.

The game opens in window mode and displays an animated background screen displaying choices of Play; High Scores; Options and Exit. The 'objects' seems to be what I would have described as 'little thingies' flying around, however I looked up the web site to find that they were called "chips."

Options:

These are brief and standard;

There are individual sliders for both music and sound;

Toggles for both 3D mode and Full screen.

3D was on by default but I turned on full screen, as well as slightly adjusting the sliders to a more preferred volume.

Playing Field:

At a quick glance at all the games, I inwardly groaned at the thought of more cloned games, however, though this looks very similar to other games - some great twists have been added and original power-ups too, to make the games more enjoyable.

All the games tend to have similar playing fields, with information to the right, displaying what stage you're up to; your score; recent high scores (I think!) and a button to return to the menu.

Graphics:

The graphics were actually a nice surprise after the graphics we've had in some games over the past few weeks. With lovely bright colors, there were no anti-aliasing issues that I could see, and the animation was smooth, without any jerkiness appearing.

Help File:

The help file is just terrible! I understand that the developers themselves may not be English - but they need to hand the entire file over to someone who can efficiently translate and spell in English from the developer's native tongue.

Music:

The music is lovely - almost ethereal at times and great to have in the background of this game. It reminds me of something I've heard in the past, but I can't put my finger on it. If this music doesn't appeal to you though, you can replace the music file with an Mp3 - you may have to rename the Mp3 to the same name as the music file that was in there first.

Features:
Four games in one;

Each feels like a new game;

You can add your own Mp3s.

Negatives:

Just the help file, which must be translated properly and have all the spelling errors corrected.

Points:

Originality: 7/10

Functionality: 8/10

Intuitiveness: 7/10

Fun Factor: 8/10

Summary:

I enjoyed playing all four games and really had to tear myself away to type up this review. I think this game will have its players coming back time and time again to play each of the games.

Price: US19.95

It's not often that you'll hear me say that the game I'm reviewing is worth the asking price, because most times it just isn't, unless it's something wild like World of Warcraft (also loving known as WoW.,) or something else such as a 3D game, with fantastic graphics and animations, that usually have your heart thumping fast and hard.

However, if you pop on over to the Game Giveaway of the Day web site, you'll be able to download a fully licensed copy for yourself. Get there soon, as there are only a few hours left, before the giveaway is stopped and another one announced.

Recommendation:

I do definitely recommend this game, not only for adults, but for children as well. They will gain just as much entertainment from these four games, as any adult in your home. In fact, when the kids begin to play with this collection, you'll probably find yourself cursing, because you can't get them to the dinner table, even after you've asked nicely, they yelled eight times, making that little vein in your forehead pop! ;)

Thank you again for reading my reviews, I'd like to think that someone is getting something out of them, but judging by the lack of comments, I have to wonder if I'm writing to satisfy my own sense of being productive.

If anyone is visiting me, please remember that comments are always invited, appreciated and needed. ;)

Enjoy all the games and give me some feedback afterwards!
~ Swan

2:

KudoSurf Me!

Why not shop for your software needs at: ~ Software by Swan ~ (More stock coming!)

Developers, Software Houses and Web Designers:

Please contact me if you wish to purchase a constructive, candid review of your web design elements and/or your software on this website.

Advertisers; Developers; Software Houses:

Please contact me if you wish to advertise on this website.

Cube Drift

2007-09-13T12:47:00.000-07:00

Good morning everyone!

This will be a welcome review not only to those that enjoy games, but to players everywhere who thrive on challenging their minds with puzzle games. Interestingly and in general, compared to games which incorporate killing (figuratively speaking!) and blowing things up, puzzle

games would definitely not rate as an equal in popularity.

Is this a statement of the times? As a society, have we become so consumed with games providing instant gratification that makes our adrenalin soar, that we no longer enjoy using our minds to solve logical problems. (Hey! That's not me, I love puzzle games more than any other! ;)

Developer: Dextrogames

Supported Languages: English

System Requirements: Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003

Additional Requirements: None.

Tested on: Windows XP Pro.

Let's take an example: David is not a violent person, yet he and our young son love 1st person shooter games that have them killing everyone in sight, including each other. David also doesn't particularly enjoy puzzle games. This doesn't make him a person who can't apply logic, in fact he's a software programmer, who has to apply his logic every day in his profession.

David 's reasoning, is that he plays games to wind down at the end of the day - and working out puzzle games just doesn't do that for him. He will on occasion play a puzzle game or two over the LAN with me though.

So no, I don't think we're all becoming a bunch of rampaging murderers, just because some prefer violent games - these players all have their own reasons.

This game was inspired by an old one called Sobokan. So the building blocks (pardon the pun!) of CubeDrift is not a new idea. There is a newer/different version called Isometric Sobokan, which is also an obvious clone of the original game, but younger than CubeDrift.

Regardless, with CubeDrift and any Sobokan clones or copies, you'll still need to apply your logic and ask yourself if you're able to think 'outside of the box.' This is the only way to solve each level.

When you first launch the game, you'll see that you're immediately prompted to choose between playing in full screen or window mode. Once you've clicked your preference, the main menu displays as you can see with the image to the right.

There's a couple of unusual entries there, which we can explore further on.

Settings:

If you know anything about me by now, you'll know that before I use any program, or play any game, the first thing I do is check the options or settings. In Cube Drift, they include: Sounds; Music; Animations; Fade Effect; Color Blind Mode; Full Screen/ Window mode.

I left the first four settings checked; the penultimate option unchecked, and the last one checked. I have a great graphics card installed, so I don't have issues with including special animations and effects affecting my game play.

Help File:

Cube Drift has the shortest help file that I've ever seen! I'd like to have seen it extended with some strategy explanations, for people who have never played games such as this.

Playing Field:

Split into two columns.
(Screenshot only taken of actual game play.)

Left column shows:

Undo Move;

Restart Level;

Skip Level;

Select Level;

Right column shows:

This is the actual playing field and the background appears to be a toddler's blue fingerpainting. Well ok, not really, but it is pretty awful and in my opinion, should be replaced. The foreground, displays the blocks with which you're to move around inside the solid block perimeter. At this stage, it does appear to be a Sobokan clone, but jazzed up a little with new graphics and some other additional benefits.

Game Play:

One thing is for sure - the game seems easier and there has been mouse control added, which at least carries this game into the 21st Century.

So if there are any puzzle players that have attempted to play Sobokan and failed, CubeDrift just might be the game for you. Having said that, make no mistake - it does eventually get more difficult, by expanding the field, which requires more blocks to move around and place.

To play, one has to move all the blocks into specific positions, marked by dots. This can be easy or difficult, depending upon the size and shape of the playing field. You'll often find yourself setting up a blockade with the blocks, only to move another block into it's required location.

That's really all there is to the game play. I don't think there would be any right way to play, it's all in the method and depth of logic you choose to apply, which might take playing a few times to actually 'get it.'

Graphics:

The graphics are only so-so. I can think of many ways this could have been improved graphically but unfortunately, the graphics designer has been a little lazy in his thinking.

That said, it may not matter to many players, who focus solely on the game play. Being a female, I tend to think that aesthetics are just as important.

Music:

Definitely surprising, was the fact that the music was quite enjoyable to while playing the game. The sound track lasts for 50 minutes then loops from there. The ambience set by the music, would be conducive to any thinking game, and that's not always easy for programmers to achieve. Well done Dextrogames!

Game Editor:

Often this is the difference between someone buying a game or leaving it alone. When you realize that you have control by designing the game in your own way - it can suddenly makes any game more attractive to the game seeker.

To create a new level:

You can see here, that I've created a new level and it only took less than a minute for me to plan the new design.

There are a row of blocks and dots at the top of the editor, for you to choose and place wherever you desire. You'll need to create the perimeter of the game first.

You can make the playing field any shape you want, just remember that your design, determines how difficult the level becomes. It's a pretty great feature to play around with, especially if you're up to playing the more difficult levels.

Features:

Level editor;

Player community and forum;

50 minute sound track (not short loops!)

100 original levels, only 20 in the demo., download;

Color blind mode for color blind players - Excellent feature!

Able to download more levels from the game community that other players have created themselves.

Negatives:

No save feature, in case you want to continue another time. I already know that this is going to be a major source of frustration for myself and others.

The help file must be addressed a little better, to include some game strategies.

Points:

Originality: 5/10

Functionality: 8/10

Fun Factor: 7/10

Intuitiveness: 9/10

Summary:

Price: US$19.95

I'm not so sure that this game is worth the asking price. Though Cube Drift is by far, a better game than others of its kind, I tend to think that at this price, this game will never be able to compete for any significant part of the market share in games, or even puzzle games.

I think a tag closer to US$14.00 would be the better asking price and could end up being the difference between a customer buying Cube Drift, or playing the numerous clones on the internet.

Shop at ~ Software by Swan ~

Summary:

I enjoyed playing this game and strongly recommend it to those enjoying puzzle games. It may not be as much fun for people who prefer other types of games - then again, they might just surprise themselves.

You could find out if this game is for you, by downloading a free, fully licensed copy from the Game Giveaway of the Day web site - but please keep in mind that you can download this game today only.

Well, another review bites the dust, and I think I'll go and play this for a little while longer. :)
~ Swan

2:

KudoSurf Me!

Great software is available from my shop: ~ Software by Swan ~

Developers, Software Houses and Web Designers:

Please contact me if you wish to purchase a constructive, candid review of your web design elements and/or your software on this website.

Advertisers; Developers; Software Houses:

Please contact me if you wish to advertise on this website.

Arkanoid: The Virtual Isles aka Arkanoid TVI

2007-09-10T14:19:00.001-07:00

.

Good afternoon everyone,

Please accept my apology for not offering any reviews this weekend due to ill health. However, I think I'm back on track now and noted that it had been a while since I reviewed any games lately. So guess what I have for you today? ;)
Arkanoids and dozens of Arkanoid clones have been a long time favorite of gamers. Someone once told me that games which include lots of multi-tasking cause the player to exercise the opposite side of their brains, as opposed to the game that requires very little of us. It's an interesting theory.

Break-out games happen to be one of my favorites, so I know I'm going to have fun taking this on a test run. ;)

Developer: GameOver Games

Supported Languages: English

System Requirements: Pentium-166MMX or higher; Windows 98/ME/2000/XP

Additional Requirements: DirectX 7.0 or higher; 640x480xHiColor

Tested on: Windows XP Pro.

Opening Screen:

The game opens to a screen filled with (clearly) professionally created images. The theme is space and the colorful graphics display various alien planets and the player's main menu, which includes: New Game; Load Game; Hi Scores; Instructions; Options and Quit.

Options:

As with all games and other software, let's check out the options first:

Music and Sound Indicators: Adjust the music and sounds to your own preference;

Reverse Stereo: What this basically means, is that you have the ability to change the sounds in the left speaker to the right, and vice versa;

Vanishing Blocks: Even after playing the game, I don't know what these are, perhaps they vanished a little too well!!

Scroll Speed: You have two options here; fast and slow - the default is fast.

Other than changing the volume of the music, I left all of the defaults in place.

Instructions:

My first comment is that the help file is very difficult to understand, due to the English language obviously not being the developer's first language. I think probably only Arkanoid or other break-out game lovers will be able to extract the meaning behind the very inadequate translation.

Another flaw, is not being able to directly exit out of the help file. I thought for sure, that I'd be able to exit if I hit the back arrow all the way to the first page, but I was mistaken. However, resorting to my friend the trusty [escape] key, did take me back to the main menu.

I will explain the game as we go.

Playing Field

When you first hit [Play,] you're presented with a multitude of different planets, all of which represent the levels you'll be playing. So, for the first game, only the first planet can be chosen, since all the other levels are essentially locked.

Along the bottom of the screen are .... rocks, each of which are really links to Start; Shop; Save and Exit. The shop allows players to buy any of twenty-one power-ups or credits, to help them pass the levels. Most of them we've seen before in other breakout games, however, there are a couple that seemed new to me, which you can discover for yourselves. ;)

Again, the background has an attractive space themed backdrop, but this time it has a purpose more sinister than simply dropping anti-bonuses. The animated background, with it's planets rushing by, and space rocks hurling in every direction, can fool the eye into thinking that they're obstacles (or power-ups) and should be avoided (or caught,) when in fact they're of no consequence to the player whatsoever. Still the player (when concentration slips,) cannot help trying to avoid or catch them once in a while.

Displayed at the bottom of the playing field:

Completed: Shows the percentage (%)

Lives: The player begins with three;

Score.

Game Play:

The bat you control, is called a Block Hunter. Thankfully (for me,) it's a curved bat - somehow I have always had a better chance of predicting the physics, than when I use a straight bat.

Unlike many other games of its genre, the direction of play is to move your ball upward through all the bricks, (collecting bonuses along the way,) without any requirement to break all the bricks in order to progress further. The higher you go, the closer you are to the end of the level.

The only other game that I can think of having played in the past that uses this method, is Chak's Temple, which not only moves upward to progress, but also uses the background as a purposeful disadvantage to the player.

During the game, there is a plethora of bonuses and credits that continuously drop down throughout the play. It's especially important to the player to catch the credits, which display as small colored pyramids, all worth differing amounts. These are used to buy more bonuses (bombs etc.,) from the shop, which you can later activate by hitting its corresponding number on the keyboard.

Interestingly, when the player saves the game, the power-ups gained, are also saved along with game progress for use the next time you play the saved game.

Music:

I had thought at the beginning of the game, that it wouldn't be long before I turned the music off altogether. But I found that the music changed from time to time during play and that (for me,) there was no annoyance factor for the rest of the time I played.

Features:

Great graphics;

100 levels;

Cheat Codes;

Definitely challenging game play.

Negatives:

No option to play in window mode;

Not all power-ups explained;

The window indicator on the task bar is not in English and needs to be translated;

While the instructions may be understood by some who have played Arkanoid-type games before, the entire file needs to be addressed and correctly translated into English. I wouldn't have that this could be a viable game for public release without it.

In the first couple of screens before you play, there is a constantly throbbing checkered cursor, which seems completely out of place with the space theme. Besides that it's just plain annoying.

Points:

Design: 7/10

Animation: 9/10

Originality: 6/10

Functionality: 8/10

Intuitiveness: 7/10

Enjoyment Factor: 7/10

Summary:

Overall, I enjoyed playing this game, though I did experience some ongoing frustration because of not being able to identify, two of the constantly falling objects, and whether to catch or avoid them. I enjoyed the fact that this game developer put a twist to the long enjoyed break-out genre of games.

Price: US$14.95

~ Software by Swan ~

Recommendation:

Arkanoid TVI., as well as being a fun game to play, would even challenge the concentration of a world class chess player. However, until all the negatives in my review have been addressed, I don't believe that this game is worth the asking price of US$14.95. Perhaps wait until the next game upgrade, or you can download a free, fully licensed copy, (today only!) as the game stands now (still very enjoyable!) - from my good friends over at Game Giveaway of the Day.

I do hope you've enjoyed this review, and moreso, I hope you enjoy the game when you play it! ;)
~ Swan

All Content is Copyright (c) 2007 Swan-Reviews-Almost-Everything.blogspot.com - All Rights Reserved.

2:

KudoSurf Me!

Developers, Software Houses and Web Designers:

Please contact me if you wish to discuss a constructive, candid review of your web design elements and/or your software on this website.

Advertisers; Developers; SoftwareHouses:

Please contact me if you wish to advertise on this website.

FlashSpring Pro 2.2

2007-09-07T13:44:00.000-07:00

Good morning everyone!

When you convert PowerPoint presentations to Flash movies, not only do they become more visually pleasing by having a more polished look, but they also save room on your hard drive in the process, by significantly decreasing the file size.

Today's product is just such software and is in fact, a PowerPoint add-in that is easily accessible from within PowerPoint.

Thankfully, the program launches your preferred browser (Firefox in my case,) and not IE. Many programs these days don't allow users any choice at all, if they need a browser to display an image/presentation - and I have to say that I become extremely irritated when I see IE automatically launch for some reason.

When one understands what is involved in the process, the complex task of the final creation can be appreciated - but only if the results stand up to one's expectations.

Developer: CPS Labs

Supported Languages: English

System Requirements: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Office 2000 (2003 recommended)

Additional Requirements:

Pentium-III/AMD Athlon 500 MHz;
56 Mb RAM
100 Mb free HDD space.

You will also need the following:

Stand-alone Player to open files with .swf extension. If you don't have one of these, you can't display .swf files at all. There are quite a few freeware products you can use and Googling for them, will give you a selection to choose from and test. The other alternative, is to configure your system to view .swf files in your favorite web-browser. Refer to your browser documentation.

Tested on: Windows XP Pro/Office 2003

A couple of important points:

If you wish to view/show your Flash movies using any Micro$oft products (IE; Office,) you will need to download a Flash player ActiveX component;

You'll also need a Flash plugin if you wish to use non-Micro$oft browsers.

According to FlashSpring, if you wish to show Flash movies with embedded video, you need to make sure that you also have video codecs installed. Unfortunately, they don't tell you which particular codecs are needed. The user cannot use just any media player to display their results, it must be a player able to play Flash.

So understand, that if you didn't have the right codec, certain parts of the movie won't play. In fact, we've probably all experienced this at some time, in the early days of Flash, where we might see a movie but not hear the audio, or vice versa. If you find that you're missing the required codec - you can always download a free one.

The process of the conversion, would require FlashSpring to first analyze the user's PowerPoint presentation, then to process and generate the output - (and hopefully) to make it appear as though it had always been a Flash movie.

To put it in layman's terms, the program should be able to assimilate all the data about each object in the original PowerPoint presentation (including its current applied effects; sliding in, embedded objects, shapes etc.)

Using this information, the software should then have the ability to make a Flash representation of each object for the output in the final Flash movie. The latter of course, being its stated purpose.

GUI (Graphical user interface:)

Because FlashSpring is actually an add-on for PowerPoint, the user is actually using the Micro$oft product, so there's really no new GUI to get used to - unless you've never used PowerPoint before.

However, when you publish, you do see a new screen for the first time, as you see in the image to the left.

FlashSpring does add a new toolbar to the latter. The drop down menu options are Publish; Audio; Insert Flash; Help and About, which curiously doesn't only contain information about the company itself, but also has a small arrow for a drop down menu, allowing the user to customize the toolbar by adding and removing buttons. Normally, one has to right click on the toolbar itself to access this action.

I created a small movie of 4 slides, all of which had differing transitions and timing and included embedded images. It took me about 30 minutes as I was playing around with the transitions and other other behaviors at the same time. Next time, it would probably only take me 15 minutes to create a small movie. The program is definitely intuitive for the new user to Flash, and even the new user to PowerPoint.

On the left of the user interface, there is a thumbnail column, containing all the slides that you create for your movie. You can also click on a specific one, to change any of the parameters, such as timing etc.

On the right, are all the different parameters you're able to set for each slide - it's just point and click on the ones you like - very simple. As you click on them, it shows you how each element of your slide will behave with your chosen behaviors. There are also two kinds of previews to select from at bottom right - you can choose to see a particular slide, or the entire presentation, to see how it all fits together.

Settings:

Other than the toolbar options, there is no additional configuration or settings for the actual program, which added to my ability to create the small movie so quickly this morning.

Help File:

Thankfully, the software has its own internal help file, as opposed to the program launching a browser to see it on the developer's web site. That has been a strong cause of irritation for me in other software products.

The help file is fairly concise, because the program is so easy to use without it.

Features:

Publish to email;

Converts big PowerPoint presentations to much smaller files;

Creation of Flash banners;

Control of Flash frame rate;

Zips flash movie within the program;

Can also handle image and Mp3 compression;

WMA audio support;

Thumbnail creation;

Installed layouts from which to choose;

Can include animated images;

Ability to use recorded narrations;

Ability to include video clips;

Ability to include hyperlinks.

Ability to insert an external Flash movie clip, within your own Flash movie;

You can configure the size of the screen for your movie;

Includes information about the person presenting the movie;

You can choose how the viewer handles the player on the web.

Negatives:

After embedding an Mp3 into a slide, I couldn't get it to play in the final movie. I tried two other different Mp3s and it still wouldn't work.

I wasn't happy with the output at all:

Stuttering: I played around with the timing, but that didn't help at all;

Anti-aliasing: Issues with text - no user fix of which I'm aware.

Points:

Originality: 5/10

Functionality: 7/10

Intuitiveness: 9/10

Quality of result: 5/10

Summary:

While the software itself was extremely intuitive in its use, the resulting movie was of poor quality. For the high price, I'd shop around to see what other PowerPoint to movie software is available - however, if you pop on over to the Giveaway of the Day website today, you'll be able to pick up a fully licensed, fully functional copy of FlashSpring Pro - today only. Price: US$99.00 Yes, it's steep, but perhaps worth it to the web site professional who often deals with this kind of work.

In addition, there is a 40% educational discount. However, you need to prove that you belong to or learning at an educational establishment, by sending CPS Labs, an email with scanned copies of documents belonging to the school/college. They do mention that if you have an .edu domain, that they don't even need the documents, because they'll see the .edu in your email address.

In response, they will send you a coupon-code which you enter at the time of purchase. There is also a demo version, however the restrictions are:

It can only show solid Flash movies;

It adds a FlashSpring banner at the bottom of each slide;

Automatically adds the FlashSpring demo slide after your created movie.

Recommendation:

I'd like to see how CPS Labs improves this product with the next release. But until then, for me, it's not a keeper. This doesn't mean that it's not of any use to the casual user. It might be fun to use for someone who is interested in just playing around with the concept.

Until my next review, why not have some fun and get out in the sunshine!
~ Swan

2:

KudoSurf Me!

Developers, Software Houses and Web Designers:

Please contact me if you wish to purchase a constructive, candid review of your web design elements and/or your software on this website.

Advertisers; Developers; Software Houses:

Please contact me if you wish to advertise on this website.

MultiStage Recovery 3.6 Professional

2007-09-06T12:27:00.000-07:00

.

Good morning software seekers!

How many times have we all lost files, due to mistaken deletion, or even purposeful deletion, only to discover that we needed them some weeks, or even months later?

Today's software is designed to recover such files, easily and without too much user knowledge.

Going to a file recovery specialist, means paying up to a couple of thousand dollars; having to carry your entire computer to their store and having to wait around a week (if you're lucky!) to pick your computer up again and carry it home.

Developer: Enplase Research

Supported Languages: English; Bulgarian; Traditional Chinese; Persian (Farsi,) and Russian.

System Requirements: Micro$oft NT 4.0 (with SP4), 2000, XP, 2003, Vista

Additional Requirements: Pentium II 300MHz or better; 128 MB RAM

Tested on: Windows XP Pro.

Unlike some data file recovery software, MultiStage Recovery supports all Windows file systems including NTFS/NTFS5, FAT12/16/32. Further, Enplase Research states that it is able to recover information from both hard/floppy disks; digital camera cards and flash drives.

GUI (Graphical user interface:)

The interface itself seems very intuitive, with an inbuilt explorer menu tree on the left and a large window on the right, with columns displaying; File Name; Size; Created; Modified; and Condition headers.

Across the top, is a Windows style toolbar displaying menu options for; File; Edit; View; Tools and Help. Below that, is another toolbar showing options for; Wizard; Recover; Preview; Update; and Search:

Settings:

The settings are for: Scan; Extraction; Virtual Drive and User Interface:

Scan Options:

Sort preference; choose one of six different types;

Cache Size;

NTFS/NTFS 5: opt for quick scan, (searches for all files and folders,) or, complete scan (searches for deleted files only;)

FAT12/FAT16/FAT32: check or uncheck box for Detect Recovery Probability. The default is checked.

Extraction options:

Check or uncheck box for your preference in using the default directory for extraction. The default is unchecked;

You can also choose to use the File Allocation Table, for FAT files where possible.

Virtual Drive:

If you have one, the choice is to check or uncheck the box to show it. The default is unchecked;

If you do happen to want it shown, then you need to stipulate how to find it - either as a Boot Sector file or a Master File Table;

User Interface:

Checkboxes include;

whether or not to show the log at the time you launch the extraction process;

whether or not you want to show the wizard on start-up and whether you want the software to write detailed error information into the file.

Wizard:

Referring to the image, the box in the center, is the Wizard to scan drives for deleted files. You can elect to automatically show it each time you launch the program - which I find is always a good way to learn any program. You can always uncheck the box, when you feel that you know what you're doing.

The next screen sets MultiStage Recovery in scan mode and gives you a choice of which drives to scan. After making your selection, the next screen asks whether or not the drive you've chosen has been formatted.

After answering appropriately, the next screen asks you to choose a scan type. The two choices given to the user, are to search for missing NTFS files; or just use the default scan.

NTFS - What is that?

It stands for New Technology File System and is (very basically,) a more advanced and optional file system for Windows (all versions from NT onwards,) and was designed to be a self-healing system, supporting security at the file-level; auditing and compression. It is also superior to using the FAT32 file system, also in Windows.

NTFS is also able to encrypt files and folders to protect all your sensitive data. Casual users may already have discovered this, but not known how the encryption was administered to the files.

Ok, so now you know the basics about NTFS ;) If you choose this method of searching in MultiStage Recovery, be aware that it is more time consuming than the default scan - but it does detect files from fully formatted NTFS partitions.

The software describes the default scan as; ".... a fast and adequate scan method."

Testing: Default Scan Test:

Scanning my C: drive took only 4 seconds on my machine using the default scan.

Scanning my F: drive (which is significantly larger,) took 1.5 minutes, using the NTFS scan. That's not a bad result at all, I was actually expecting the latter to take longer.

In both cases, the scan found many deleted files in: Documents and Settings; Program Files; the Windows directory (including ini; log; sys; ocx; prx; scf; among many others;) and even registry entries.

Just out of curiosity I also tried to see my Registration details, only to be met with another error, in the form of: "list index out of bounds (6)" as in this image. This error presents itself every time I try to look at the information via the directory tree.

Interestingly, you can access the registration information file, by clicking on [Help,] without the appearance of errors.

I was going to kick off another NTFS scan on my E: drive just to see what it would find and was met with yet another error: "Invalid pointer operation," also seen with this image. However, I couldn't reproduce this one when I launched the scan again.

Note: Make sure when you recover files, to (always!) recover them to a different drive, partition or device. If you recover to the same drive, you risk losing some of the deleted data, or having your current data overwriting your deleted files.

If this happens you can forget it - it's lost for good. However, once you've recovered it all to another location, you can then move what you need back to their original location on the source drive.

Help File:

This seems comprehensive and able to well educate the unsophisticated user in the use of the software. It also explains how the software works, which is always a great aid to complete the new user's understanding of a task. Index and search features are also included.

Features:

Quick scan;

Low-level scan;

Supports all Microsoft Windows file systems; FAT12, FAT16, FAT32/VFAT, NTFS, NTFS5;

Support for large volumes;

Recovery of compressed NTFS files;

Recognition of localized names;

Global and local file search by name or mask;

File recovery on formatted partitions;

Save recovered files on any disks (including network), visible in the host operating system;

File preview. The following file types can be previewed to estimate recovery chances;

Recovers just about any image format, including a few somewhat eclectic types;
Recovers many sound and image formats;
Recovers from the Recycle Bin;
Able to search by file, using wildcards (*) if you don't know the entire file name.

The software will recover from:

Hard Drives;
Floppy disks;
Zip files, Jazz and LS-120 Drives;
Digital camera cards;
Mobile phone removable cards (such as TransFlash, SD and others;)
USB Drives;
Any other storage device that displays a drive letter.

Negatives:

The program as it is at the moment is slightly buggy.

Points:

Originality: 5/10
Functionality: 8/10
Intuitiveness: 8/10

Summary:

The developer needs to address the cause of these error messages and provide a (free!) patch out of good faith, to all who own the software.

Other than the errors, MultiStage Recovery seems to be an effective program for recovery of files; folders; registry items and more. The error messages while irritating, didn't seem to stop the software working as intended.

You can download a trial version or grab a free fully licensed copy from Giveaway of the day for the next few hours today only.

Price: US$49.95:

While a little steep for the average user, it's still significantly cheaper than having to take your computer to a recovery expert to retrieve your deleted/lost files.

To be competitive in the file recovery market, Enplase Research needs to drop their price a little, especially with errors still surfacing.

Recommendation:

Without the errors, and through extensive testing over 4 hours this morning, I found this to be a relatively good program for its stated purpose. There were some files that I specifically remember deleting around 3 years ago - perhaps the time past is a factor, perhaps not, I'll leave that to Enplase Research to consider.

I wouldn't want to be recovering from 3 years ago anyway, and I'm fairly confident that this program will suit my particular needs. So I plan to keep this program in my toolbox in the hopes of a patch or eventual upgrade.

Given the high price, this software is only recommended after a patch has been created for free download.

Again thank you for reading my reviews, and comments are always welcome!
~ Swan

Great software is available from my shop: ~ Software by Swan ~

2:

KudoSurf Me!
Developers, Software Houses and Web Designers:

Please contact me if you wish to purchase a constructive, candid review of your web design elements and/or your software on this website.

Advertisers; Developers; Software Houses:

Please contact me if you wish to advertise on this website.

Document Backup 4.0.0.101

2007-09-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

.

Good morning technophiles!

Everyone needs to find a good back-up utility. It's just folly to hope that you don't lose any data on your computer - it's happened to the best of us, at one time or another - and today's review is about just such a utility. So what do we look for in such a utility? Read on!

All back-up programs of which I'm aware, have the ability to set restore points, giving the user the ability to return to that point if something untoward should happen on the user's computer, such as file corruption; accidental file deletion and other unknown issues.

In general, back-ups should also have the ability to protect the user's program settings; registry files and any other files that are important to you - so let's see how well Document Back-up stands up:

Supported Languages: English; French; Italian and Russian.

System Requirements:
Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista

Additional Requirements: Approximately 3 MB of free disk space is required for the program to run. Additional free disk space may be necessary for storing backup files.

Tested on: Windows XP Pro.

General Settings:

Preference for launch at start-up;

Priority of the back-up process, when the program is minimized;

Animation of the tray icon, during the back-up process.

Not being one for flashing bells and whistles and on my computer, I skipped the third check box altogether. You can also specify the behavior of the tray icon: they give you three choices - the most useful choice for me being to open the pop-up menu. The alternatives were to open the main menu, or to begin a back-up.

The user also needs to specify a temporary folder and whether or not it's preferred to have the program password protected - which I definitely always want to do. Back-ups are often a juicy source for hackers to explore.

Configuring a Back-up:

So let's see how this went as I configured a full weekly back-up:

Insofta has made it very easy for users to do this, by the implementation of a wizard:

Choose a name for your back-up: I usually call it something simple, like; Full Weekly Back-up. I always use a differential back-up for each day of the week, then a full back-up on Sundays.

Specify a back-up set: An easier explanation for new users is; select which files and/or folders you wish included, by checking the boxes shown to you in the next screen;

Select your back-up destination:

Options:

Back-up to Local/LAN: Here you can select to back your files up to your local disk, (I only recommend this option, if you choose LAN., in case your computer dies etc.) If you lose your computer, it's obviously pointless that you had a back-up on it;
Back-up to an FTP server: For new users; this stands for File Transfer Protocol, and can be a good way to store your back-ups. It's off-site, meaning that no matter what happens to your computer, your back-ups are safe. You can choose to upload it to your own ISP directory, (recommended,) or to a file storage location on the web. File Den seems to be very popular these days, for just such a reason;
Back-up to a CD/DVD: This would kill me and take around a dozen or more CDs to complete - and it would of course need my intervention to complete. I have hundreds of programs on my computer and this definitely would not be my choice, however if you've chosen only limited files/folders to back-up, then burning to this medium might be a good solution for you.

Specify Destination Options: This sounds like #3, but in fact it's additional information about your chosen destination, needed by the program;

Specify if you want to use the scheduler: Without the use of a scheduler, Document Backup would not be of any use to me. I simply don't have the time to babysit them. Plus, I like to run all my back-up tasks around 3am, when I can be sure that I don't need to use my computer. This way, I can designate the software to have top priority, so that it can complete its task in good time, before I get up to work in the mornings;

Schedule the item: Here you specify the parameters for the schedule you want. I chose Custom Period - then 7 days (every 7 days,) 3 hours (3am,) and 0 minutes. So what I told Document Backup to do is; run a back-up, every 7 days at 3am. I also checked the box to back-up if the scheduled time had been missed. This is a good option, as you may have had your computer turned off, or it may have crashed when it was scheduled to run;

This brings you to the final screen: There are two check boxes, that allow you to determine additional parameters; and if you want to create a shortcut on your desktop to manually kick off the task. Because I did want to specify additional parameters, the program took me to a Properties window - which has several tabs:

Item Name: Shows the back-up name that you've already chosen;

Back-up Set: Shows the files and folders you've chosen;

Destination: Shows where you intend to back-up your files;

Here you specify how the back-up file should be saved to the destination folder: I chose to use a ZIP file, so that I could save space with the large amount of files and folders I need to back-up. You can also stipulate your compression level; the default being normal, which I just left. I chose also to leave certain files UNcompressed, such as images, music etc.

The last option in this window, also allows you to determine whether or not you want to split the back-up into several different parts. This is something I always need to do, because of the size of my files and it's part of the reason that I've rejected other back-up programs. Most will split ok if you're backing up to CD/DVD., but not always when the destination is somewhere else.

Remember that ZIP files have a limitation of 4 Gig, so if you have a lot on your machine like I do, it's better that you do stipulate splitting.

The next window specifies your back-up type and a couple of other self-explanatory options. Basically, I chose to do a full backup of all selected files; as opposed to, a full back-up that only updated existing files, or, an incremental back-up, which only backs-up any new and modified files.

The other option for you to determine, is whether or not you want to use a time stamp with the back-ups. This is simply a user preference.

The next tab, is all about encryption: This is also a personal preference. I have a lot of sensitive client data on my machine. Hackers are well known to infiltrate people's systems and look at the My Documents folder (among other things!) because often there is a lot of sensitive/personal information stored in there. I would not store any back-ups without using encryption, but as I said, it's a personal preference.

I chose the 256-bit AES encryption because it's military strength and used to encrypt top secret military information. This doesn't mean that other algorithms are ineffective, it's just that AES is the best. However, you don't get the choice of any other type of encryption with Document Backup - AES with different bits is it.

And finally you've completed configuring your back-up!

I know it's a lot of time to spend initially, but if you've chosen to schedule your tasks, you won't have to do anything again, unless you want to create some other kind of special back-up from scratch. Some back-up programs allow you to copy/clone an entire back-up task, so that all you need to do is edit it for the new task.

Help File: Very comprehensive; layed out well and very easy to understand.

Features:

Easily configurable: I found this software to be easily configurable to my tastes - except for the fact that it doesn't offer differential back-ups;

Restore: I specifically tested this out, and had a great result with no issues;

Log: You can view logs, which is especially handy if you want to check on the program once in a while, to make sure that it's adhering to your back-up parameters. It's also handy when wanting to identify any issues that might occur.

Trial Version: You can download a trial version of the software.

Summary:

I thoroughly tested this program, by backing up My Documents on my computer, with the destination for the backed up files - over on David's computer, (via LAN.,) as he has more space than I do. *grumble grumble* ;)

I had no issues with the way the program worked whatsoever, and I was surprised at the speed with which it completed the task. My Documents at least on my machine, is a huge folder and defining David's computer as the destination was a breeze. Clearly there is no problem with using a LAN to back-up documents back and forth.

Always be careful, if backing-up to an internet file storage location. While handy, it's possible disaster for the user. (Without mentioning the company's name,) it's very possible for the company owning the internet location to go under and not notify their members. If this were to happen, you'd be left with no back-up files at all.

If you choose to back-up to CDs/DVDs, it's a general recommendation that they are stored off-site - that means, other than your home. If you were to have a fire, there would go all your data, settings and anything else that you specifically care about on your computer.

Just think how devastated you'd be, if you lost all your financial information! What would you do at tax time? How would you recreate all your receipt information for the year? How would you recover your encrypted financial program passwords? Somehow, you'd have to try and recreate all the information you had in there, once you reinstalled your tax program.

That was just an example - but I wanted to show you how extreme, loss of data can be.

If by using another back-up software, you choose to back-up to a USB stick, be careful there also. Loss of the USB stick, would constitute the same issues as the latter. Personally, this is not something I would choose to do, unless I'd planned on immediately going to a friend or relative, to store the back-up with them.

Four negatives:

There is no option to have differential back-ups which I prefer to incrementals;

Document Back-up doesn't have the ability to back-up to USB sticks, which although unimportant to me, might be an issue to others;

Error with overlapping fields in window, even after shutting down the program and launching again;

Will not back-up programs that are running or documents that are open.

Points:

Originality:4/10

Functionality: 7/10

Intuitiveness: 8/10

Price: US$29:00:

Definitely not worth this price as far as I'm concerned - there are too many features that are missing. Perhaps the next release will have brought this product into adulthood - but even then, to remain competitive in the back-up market, they will still need to bring their price down.

Recommendation:

I think this software still needs improvement for the use of power-users like myself, however, I do recommend it for simple back-up requirements.

Thank you again, for reading my reviews - your comments are always welcome!
~ Swan

P.S. Just noticed that I forgot to save the images as transparent, I'll fix this at a later date - far too busy today!

All Content is Copyright (c) 2007 Swan-Reviews-Almost-Everything.blogspot.com - All Rights Reserved.

2:

KudoSurf Me!

Developers, Software Houses and Web Designers:

Please contact me if you wish to purchase a constructive, candid review of your web design elements and/or your software on this website.

Advertisers; Developers; Software Houses:

Please contact me if you wish to advertise on this website.

Drop Box Image Processor

2007-09-04T11:34:00.000-07:00

.

Good morning everyone!

Anyone interested in manipulating photos and images will enjoy today's review of this software. It's

'main claim to fame' is its drag and drop feature - whereby you only need to drag an image into the

'drop box' to begin whatever it is you'd like to do with it.

This software will not only be of interest to web designers, but to anyone who would like to quickly edit their images. Since I'm always providing screenshots with my reviews, I was especially interested to see how well the program would work for me.

Developer: Nusoft

Supported Languages: English. If there are others, it's not stated anywhere on the website.

System Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP

Additional Requirements: None

Tested: On Windows XP Pro.

Interface:

I was surprised to see that the drop box itself was so small. It presents itself as a window 140 x 410, and resides in your tray with a photo icon. However, you are able to permanently change the dimensions of the window if preferred, by using the [File] drop down menu if it's too small for you.

While many of the icons explain themselves by their appearance, there are no tool tips included. I found this a big minus - mostly for people new to image processing. I don't think it's efficient to have to refer to the help files all the time, just to know what each icon does.

Your choices are [Custom] or [Resize] if you'd prefer to change the size of the drop box.

Resize: There are several changes you can make after clicking here: You can choose to keep the [original folder,] or change to a [specific folder] instead. It's an unfortunate fact, that with this program, you can only change the [output format] to limited formats: jpg; gif; bmp; tif; png and pcx. While this may place limitations on other users, for me it could be perfect, as I try to save all my images as pngs anyway.

If you're new to image formats, png stands for portable network graphic and is the only other transparent image format, aside from gif. This format serves most of my needs, which I was happy to see. Interestingly, many of the image programs that I've tested, will not let you save to png, which really surprises me, as these days, it's becoming a much more popular image format.

Why do I prefer this format? Unlike jpg you're able to compress an image, without losing any quality. However, as you can see with the images here, sometimes I had problems creating a transparent background. I wasn't happy with this at all.

Configuration:

Staying with the resizing options; you're able to determine the quality of the output, by determing the compression value. Then you're given the choice of [progressive] or [Huffman Optimization.] Many casual or new users would have no idea what this means; the layman's explanation, is that [progressive] means the image will slowly appear on the web, displaying it line by line, until it's filled in the entire image.

[Huffman Optimization.] While I know of 'Huffman Coding,' it's definitely not the same thing. As I've heard of of Huffman optimization, I turned to my friend, Google and didn't even see one entry in 6 pages of the search that referenced this term and I carefully checked each entry.

Perhaps the developer can shed some light on this for us.

Regardless, I did manage to glean that both are obviously compression methods, also enabling [Smoothing] of images. You're also able to determine how much compression to use. Here's a brief explanation, if you've never dealt with this before:

Less compression = more quality but slower downloading on a web page;

More compression = less quality but faster downloading on a web page.

With gifs, you have two options:

Interlacing: This means that the image will appear slowly, either by displaying only every few lines (or every other line, depending on the program,) to begin with, to give you a rough idea of the image. It might also show only a few pixels at a time, for the same reason.

Colors: You're also able to determine how many colors you want displayed in the image. Formatting as a gif has a limitation of 256 colors, which flattens out your image somewhat and doesn't appear as nicely as if you'd used 16 million colors in another format. Be aware that this is an inappropriate format for photographs - as it presents quite odd results.

This software also has two choices for bmp images: however there is no really no reason in this day and age to use this format. It's antiquated and I won't use an image program that only accepts these. At any rate, within Drop Box Image Processor, you're given the same two choices for outputs, as for gifs.

A more common format is jpg. Again, you're given the same two options for colors and compression, however you're also able to choose a [Filter] and a [Background Color.]

Filter: Choices are [None] [Sub] and [Paeth.]

The point of these filters, is to actually prepare the data in your image so that you can optimize your compression. The algorithms within filters applies to bytes only, never pixels. Note: The png format, is the only image format that doesn't have any restrictions on filter types.

Sub Filter: This takes a pixel, compares it to the previous pixel and produces the difference. A very thorough explanation of which image format might be the best for you; is here.

Paeth Filter: This is the best compression method for both grayscale and true color images - and is mostly used for jpg and png format filtering.

If you don't know what you're doing, I suggest first making a copy of your original image, then applying one filter. Make another copy of the original image again, this time applying the other filter, and see which one looks the best for you. Just make sure you always keep the original image unedited, until you decide which filter you're finally going to apply.

Note: Many image programs don't allow you to choose a compression filter.

Ok. So having applied your filter (or chosen not to,) png also allows you to select a background color. I usually choose a background color very different to the outside pixels of the image. This way I can determine (later) which color to nominate as my transparency.

The last image format choice, is PCX. This is such an ancient format, that I was surprised to see it in the program. It was originally a DOS image standard and has been well replaced by imaging formats. As far as I'm concerned, the developer could lose this image format altogether.

I don't recommend that you ever choose this method.

Once you've completed the configuration of the [Output Format] you can continue with your resizing options. (I bet you forgot that this was what we originally doing! ;)

Next, choose a new file name and check the default options of whether or not to keep the original date or not. If you just want it to overwrite the original image, UNcheck the box [Ask before overwrite.]

I know that for people new to image manipulation, this probably all sounds a little complicated, but if you just follow the prompts, and refer to this review at the same time, you'll have no problems at all.

From the [File] menu, you can also choose whether or not to boot the program with your Windows start-up process. I don't see any need for this sitting in the tray with other active programs and would only launch it when I planned on working with images.

Proceeding to the [View] menu, we see that the software is also skinnable (this is a Swan-word. ;) This is handy if you really care about the aesthetics of your GUIs (graphic user interfaces.) The default looks just like any other Windows message box, however the program had the [Athen] option applied. After trying them all, I preferred the [Office 2003] skin.

You also have the option to change the opacity of the drop box. More and more programs are including this choice these days. It enables the drop box to appear semi (or total if you wish,) transparent. I generally set mine to around 75% opacity, which enables me to just see what's beneath it. Some people love this option, others do not, so go with your own preference.

Staying with the [View] menu, the last two options are [Auto Resize] and [Auto Hide,] both were checked as defaults, however, I UNchecked auto resize, as I prefer to determine my own resizing parameters.

Help File: I found their help file to be excellent and explanatory, enabling even the newest of users to learn not only how to use the program, but about image processing itself. It included examples of outputs also.

Features:

Drag and drop;
Rotate and flip;
Brightness and contrast;
Adjust color;
Add text to image;
Watermark (but only text, NO image watermarking!)
Resize image and/or canvas;
Crop;
Shadow;
Filters;
Effects.

I'm not going to explain each one of these, or you'll be asleep by the end of the review, ;) however, if there's something you really don't understand, please feel free to contact me, using the [Send me an IM!] button at the top of this review.

Standard with most image programs, you can save your choices as a preset. This means that each item you've chosen/changed, can be stored within the program and called again to apply to another image. If you've defined your choices as a preset, [Load Preset,] will apply all of them in one go. I always find this a handy time saving option.

Summary:

I found that CPU usage, even while the program resided and ran in the tray, was very low. With the many programs that I have running all the time, that would be a big plus for me.

I didn't like the fact that when I tested the program with an image I grabbed from the web, Drop Box Processor instantly overwrote the original image. This was unexpected and I consider it a flaw. I want my original image in tact always. In fact, I tend to keep all my original images, regardless of what other image I've produced from the source.

I also noticed that there was NO undo feature, so be very careful about what you plan to do with the program and what result you want. This software definitely needs a preview feature, and because of these two reasons, I won't be using Drop Box Image Processor.

Here is where I'll caution people new to image processing, to beware. In fact, because of this, one might even steer people looking for image programs, away from this one.

Noise also occurred in my test images and with no way to remove it, you'd have to launch another image program, such as Corel Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Fireworks CS3 (both excellent programs!) to remove it. When you can't remove problems that the software creates itself, this is another flaw.

I also found that two of my resulting images displayed moiré patterns - definitely undesirable .

Moiré patterns usually will often show two grids which are overlaid at differing angles. Here is an example:

Price: US$19.95 - not worth the price.

Points:

Originality: 2/10

Functionality: 4/10

Intuitiveness: 6/10

As you can see by my points system, I don't think too much of this program at all. I do not recommend it, especially when there are so many other great programs available - including freeware.

Skip this offer on the Giveaway of the Day web site today, unless you feel compelled to test it out for yourself. The price doesn't gel with performance of this software and as for myself; I wouldn't pay more than $10 for the way it is at the moment. However, the program could have merit, especially if it included screen shots and fixed all the problems that its current experiencing.

I'd suggest waiting till the next version, to see what's been fixed.
~ Swan

Please check out Fubar's additional findings in the comments section! ;)
(That's the 2nd comment, not the comedic, immature one beforehand! ;)

2:

KudoSurf Me!

All Content is Copyright (c) 2007 Swan-Reviews-Almost-Everything.blogspot.com - All Rights Reserved.

Developers, Software Houses and Web Designers:

Please contact me if you wish to

purchase a constructive, candid review of your web design elements and/or your software on this website.

Advertisers; Developers; Software Houses

Please contact me if you wish to advertise on this website.

Equation Wizard 1.2

2007-09-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

.

Good morning my friends!

The software today, although not useful for everyone - will be especially appreciated by a niche audience - those using algebra, either at school or in particular occupations such as various types of engineers.

Developer: ElasticLogic

Supported Languages: English.

System Requirements: Windows 2000/2003 Server/XP/Vista

Additional Requirements: None.

Tested: Windows XP Pro.

Equation Wizard is an automatic algebraic equation solver - however in testing this software, some surprising results ensued, which I'll explain later.

Equation solving software is one of the oldest classes of software - in fact, one of the earliest uses of digital computers was to solve quadratic equations for artillery firing tables during WWII.

I've noted that some of the people commenting on Giveawayoftheday.com have jumped to the conclusion that it would make it a great cheating tool, either in school, college or while doing homework - however, I think the developer has tried to combat this deviant thought process by creating the output solution as a graphic, that when it's enlarged is apparently created with a dot matrix engine, so the output can't be edited.

Alternatives:

There are three well known standards in the industry;

Matlab: which is around US$1900 - however they do offer a 'Student License' for US$99 - not usable after graduation - else it self-destructs! Just kidding! ;)

Because it's really the 'Gold standard' in this niche software - it's unsurprising that it's capabilities far outreach Equation Wizard, by managing all kinds of algebraic equations; matrix manipulations, and much more. It's also better suited to a wider range of people, such as - engineers; scientists and mathmeticians.

Mathematica:

Apart from being able to do what Matlab does, Mathematica claims that it's also useful for educational demonstrations; maximum power super-computing and large-scale systems deployment. It's further capabilities are extensive, so please follow the link if you'd like to know more.

Free or Open Source:

Some of these are also considered to be excellent in this field:

FreeMat:

This is available under the GPL license and is similar to MatLab. Here are the FAQ from their website, which includes a comparison with MatLab.

Features:

Shows each step of the calculation;

Great for teaching lower level algebra classes;

Does what it says it does on the tin;

No configuration needed at all;

Can definitely be a time saver for the student.

Points:

Originality: 5/10

Functionality: 5/10

Intuitiveness: 8/10

Summary:

Unfortunately, after solving an equation, you're unable to edit the output at all, unless you want to go to the trouble of saving it as a .txt or .rtf file first.

In my tests, I typed 6=√x. This resulted in an "undefined expression: root of a variable!" Equation Wizard doesn't seem to like expressions where you're trying to calculate the square root of a variable. I had expected the software to solve it by squaring both sides of the equation.

It also doesn't seem to be able to solve equations where the variable is in the exponent: eg; 6=3^x - which caused a different error message: "undefined expression: variable in the exponent!"

Make sure to check the Help file, which explains which types of expressions cannot be used, or are 'forbidden.' Obviously, this includes the latter two examples that I used and quite a few more that might be needed by the student.

Although the toolbar gives you access to all possible operations, I found myself wanting to right-click all the time for a context menu. This would have been a nice feature, instead of having to go to the toolbar all the time.

As far as this reviewer is concerned, Equation Wizard is only recommended for middle level algebra students and perhaps teachers wanting to teach those levels.

I'm looking forward to posting my next review for you! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

~ Swan

All content is copyright (C)

KudoSurf Me!

Developers, Software Houses and WebDesigners:

Please contact me if you wish to purchase a constructive, candid review of your web design elements and/or your software on this website.

Advertisers; Developers; Software Houses:

Please contact me if you wish to advertise on this website.