VUE (Visual Understanding Environment) is a free, open source mind mapping and data visualization software developed by the Academic Technology group at Tufts University in Boston. VUE is unique in that it offers a range of innovative functions such as tagging of nodes and of relationships, support for images, videos, and other objects within the mind map structure, and the ability to import and analyze datasets (from CSV files, XML files, and even RSS feeds) using semantic mapping. It also functions as an innovative Powerpoint-style presentation tool, allowing users to define “presentation pathways” on top of the mind map structure, and to create presentation-style content that is associated with the mapped concepts.

VUE can also be used in conjunction with the Zotero Firefox extension to map out and visualize online documents and web clippings.

Imagine an environment where concepts and notes, images, as well as URLs, file objects and datasets of rows and columns can all be placed together on the same page and governed within a single structure and metadata (tags, relationships), and you will get an idea of what VUE is all about. VUE is a very ambitious project whose simple in interface belies the power and potential that it has to offer.

VUE is also a full-fledged, Powerpoint-style presentation software. Admittedly, the conflation of concept mapping and presentation software seemed a bit strange to me at first, until I considered that the likely objective of creating and mapping out knowledge is to share it. VUE makes it simple and easy to create a presentation out of your concept maps without having to jump to Powerpoint or another presentation software to do so. It enables your concept maps and your presentation itself to be a single, unified whole instead of being fragmented across different files and platforms.

Here are more notes on this program:

• Node behavior: if you’ve tried other mind mapping tools you will appreciate the ability to place elements within elements. For example you can place a node or multiple nodes within other nodes, you can define associated, clickable URLs or files for nodes, and add local or online images. (You can even browse and link to Flickr images on-the-fly from the program’s context menu). Lastly, you can group nodes and relationships together and even create “layers” of elements that can be switched on or off (Photoshop style).
• Objects: aside from text, URLs, and images, you can use any file(s) as objects that you simply drag and drop into the interface, including videos and documents. VUE can import CSV files, XML files, and even RSS feeds, and can use elements within these files (such as column/fields in the CSV file) to define relationships and to group nodes. Web clippings and documents can be mapped via the Firefox Zotero plugin (see below).
• Tagging and ontologies: both the concepts (nodes) as well as the relationships (arrows) can be tagged. These tags are used to give structure and overall meaning to your maps, and are also searchable. The set of tags you might create for your maps, termed an ontololgy, can be exported or imported for sharing or for use in other maps.
• Zotero: is a Firefox plugin that can be used to collect web documents and clips. Once you’ve built a Zotero collection, you can use the VUE plugin to create map them into concept maps. See this video on a tutorial on how to do this. The VUE plugin for Zotero for VUE 3+ and Zotero 2.0 b6+ can be found here.
• Analysis: the main thrust of doing concept map analysis with VUE’s is the ability to use semantic linking “i.e. tags” to re-organize your concepts on-the-fly in a variety of ways and in a semi-automated fashion. But there’s more: the “connectivity” analysis tool instantly exports your mind map into a sort of number grid that can be used for statistical analysis, while the “SEASR” content analysis parses resources (documents, URLs) to automatically generate metadata (what SEASR is or stands for is a little unclear to me; it appears to be some method of tagging documents in the humanities; more on SEASR in VUE in this YouTube video).
• Ease of use: there is a learning curve which is not insignificant; however there is a breadth of tutorial videos on the VUE site itself and on YouTube; spend a half hour or so looking at these and you’ll be up to speed in no time. There are also a great many demo maps that can be freely downloaded and perused and that can illustrate
• Presentations: you can overlay your mind maps with presentation “pathways”. Your presentation screens can display nodes or relationships from your mind map that you outline (see the pink blocks in the right-hand screenshot at the top of this post). Alternately, you can create custom “slide” content that is associated with each of your nodes (this is illustrated in the image to the right; the slides are visible as black blocks in the map). Presentations can be linear or non-linear. It works remarkably well.
• Keyboard shortcuts: feature prominently, and make this program much easier to use.

Wish list (or how this program can be even better)

• Multiple tabs within a single file: one thing I found myself wishing for is multiple tabs within a single file (Excel-stlye); currently VUE does support tabs, but each tab represents a completely separate file and mind map . Once a mind map grows and grows it can become unwieldy and it would be nice to be able to span a mind map over multiple tabs that nonetheless remain searchable as a single unit and have the same tags.
• Pre-defined structures: on right-click, such as tree right/left, fishbone right/left, org chart up/down, logic charts right/left. I switched to using VUE from xMind, and the latter has better support for these pre-defined structures in my opinion, and I found myself missing them.
• A full fledged RSS reader: while the RSS mapping feature is nice it is not very practical and seems experimental. I feel that you really need a full-fledged reader associated with VUE that can act as a springboard for mapping RSS items (or, if not, a VUE plugin for a good open source RSS reader, similar to the one for Zotero).
• For URLs (or Zotero items clipped from the web), it would be great to be able to right click “grab URL screenshot” or somesuch (next to the “add most relevant Flickr image”option for example). Ironically the “Node Info” context entry for a URL includes a URL screenshot, but will not allow you to save the screenshot to the mind map for some reason.

The verdict: VUE offers a good balance between complexity and ease of use, and between offering the simple building blocks needed to create mind maps of all kinds, on the one hand, and sophisticated tagging, analytical, and presentation tools on the other.

But more than this, VUE is a very ambitious program that aspires to be no less than a comprehensive data visualization environment. And although it does a terrific job at accomplishing this, it still feels like it has some ways go. It is very sophisticated and accessible; however, it is not a perfect program (yet), and I frequently found myself wishing that some details or features were done differently (see wish list above). Moreover, it seems that in order to become a comprehensive information visualization tool VUE plugins would need to be developer for many programs where information is gathered, such as an email clients, RSS readers, notes apps, etc.

Having said this, VUE is without a doubt a terrific achievement and a very unique program, and is rapidly getting better and better. I highly recommend you try it!

Version Tested: 3.0 beta4b2. Requires Java 1.5+

Compatibility: Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7), Mac (OS X 10.4+) , Linux (JAR only version)

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 55.9 megs). Note that you will need to create an account with a valid email address to access the download link.

SPlayer is a free, open source media player that is lightweight, well designed, and quite powerful. It promises to play every conceivable media format (including DVD’s and streaming media), and to optimize your audio and video quality to best utilize your hardware specifications. It is light on power consumption, making it ideal for laptop/travel use, is truly portable, and offers a handful of innovative features such as on-demand automatic downloads of subtitles.

Wow! Where did this one come from? To start let me just state that there is an undeniable wealth of fantastic free media players available, such as The KMPlayer, which I am very fond of, VLC, GOM Player, BSPlayer, to name a few. Which is why it is quite an achievement when a newcomer can lump all of the others together and somehow differentiate itself. Splayer does exactly that by means of its sheer “economy”; i.e. by being lightweight, having a small footprint, being truly portable and light on power consumption, and by its sparse yet sleek interface. It does this while simultaneously being innovative and offering a breadth of features. Here are more notes on this program:

• Lightweight: low footprint, low startup and playback memory footprints, low energy consumption (perfect for laptop travel use).
• Design: a lot of attention to detail when it comes to interface design and look and feel. Splayer seems sparse and simple; on-screen controls appear only when you hover over the program dialog. They succeed in presenting a clean, minimalist interface even when the program has a lot of features on offer.
• Optimizes picture and sound quality: reduces screen noise, features algorithms that are enhance image and sound quality, optimized for multi-core SSE2 SSE3 MMX GPU etc
• Portable version available: unzip and run; includes all internal codecs that can play any media file in any environment. Look for the word “portable” on the program page to find the download link to the portable version.
• Streaming: streams any format; allows users to supply URL for media on the internet.
• Audio and video capture: to disk from device, supported.
• Other features: “subtitle matching” automatically downloads and displays subtitles, bookmark favorite media, pin as topmost window, tweak transparency, capture screenshots, automatically remove black bar (if any) for widescreen video, etc.

Wish list

• One thing I noticed switching from KMplayer on Windows 7 was that video file icons added after the switch no longer automatically displayed a preview screenshot as their icon. A minor issue but I hope it will be addressed.

The verdict: a very nice player that is also open source. With its combination of (a) being extremely light on resources, (b) having a very nice and sleek interface, and (c) playing every conceivable media format this program has won itself a permanent stay on my machine. It has also just become the default media player that I would recommend to people if asked. You will like it.

Version Tested: 3.3 (build 1021)

Compatibility: WinAll.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 5.75 megs).

If you’ve ever read or heard about ordinary people being sued for downloading files from torrent or other p2p networks, and worried about your own downloading activities, this program is for you. Typically, agencies that are out to detect people’s downloading activity will actually take part in providing the file for download, then attempt to find out as much information about the computers that connect to them as possible.

How it works:

What PeerBlock does is it taps into publicly available lists that classify IP addresses in order to simply avoid "bad" IP addresses. It utilizes the collective wisdom of communities and sites that classify IP addresses (go here for more on where these lists come from). It works much in the same way as a virus killer program in that it is constantly updating the lists of known "bad" IP addresses, even as more of these come into existence.

What kind of protection to expect:

In keeping with the virus killer analogy above, PeerBlock will not necessarily protect you from the latest unknown threat or bad IP, but it will greatly decrease your chances of being detected. Moreover (and this is where the viruskiller analogy ends), PeerBlock will make you harder to detect compared to others on the network; the PeerBlock documentation cites the so-called "bear principle: "when running away from an angry bear you don’t need to be faster than that bear … you only need to be faster than the guy next to you". The Peerblock site also states that "the only way to be safe with P2P downloading is to not share copyrighted content!".

Ease of Use:

What I really like about PeerBlock is that it is very easy to use; all you need to do is run it and specify what kinds of "lists" you would like to be protected from (P2P, Spyware, Advertising, or Education/Universities) and that’s it. It now runs in the background, preventing your computer from connecting to known bad sources, not just for torrent or p2p networks but for (optionally) for general web usage as well. It will also periodically auto-update the lists that it needs to do its job.

Program options:

You can enable or disable PeerBlock at will. You can also set up your own lists if you are so inclined as well as use PeerBlock to block custom IP ranges that you set up (such as the IP range of entire countries). You can allow or disallow IP filtering for HTTP access as well (i.e. regular browsing).

PeerBlock vs. PeerGuardian:

PeerBlock is based on the code from PeerGuardian (v. PG2 RC1 Test3). I would recommend using PeerBlock because it (a) is under development; (b) does not suffer from the kind of bugs that PeerGuardian had, (c) most importantly, runs on XP, Vista, and Windows 7 without hitch. You cannot run both simultaneously.

The verdict:

Convenient, easy to use, and might just save your bacon. Download it and be safe.

Version Tested: 1.0 r181

Compatibility: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 800K).

Your audio library likely comes from a hodge-podge of sources; tracks that you ripped from CDs using different programs and settings over the years, tracks that you downloaded from sites and file sharing services, and tracks that you bought from services such as iTunes, etc. This means that unless you have put in a lot of time and energy fixing tags, normalizing volume, and generally doing maintenance on your audio files your audio library probably has a lot of issues that need to be remedied (including many problems that you were never aware of). This is where MP3 Diags steps is to discover, diagnose, and fix any problems or other issues that your audio library may have.

Problems? What Problems?
The most visible problem are of course tagging and missing normalization data, but there are other, more technical issues that you may not be aware of. MP3 Diags, to quote its website, “is a one stop solution that identifies more than 50 different issues in MP3 files and provides the means to fix many of them”. These (again from the website) include broken tags/headers/audio, duplicate tags/headers, incorrect placement of tags/headers, low quality audio, missing VBR header, missing (or broken) track info/cover art, missing normalization data, and character encoding issues (for languages other than English).

What I like about this program
Is that it doesn’t just diagnose, it includes the tools to fix. However, here’s a specific list of things I like about this MP3 Diags

1. Full fledged Tag editor: which is really very cool. I like that you can copy from one “cell” in its Excel-like grid, then paste into multiple places.
2. MusicBrainz (and Discogs) integration: it includes a full fledged tag editor that can pull data from Musicbrainz and Discogs. (Musicbrainz is a community based digital thumbprinting database that can identify and tag audio files with no tag or filename information).
3. Volume normalization: uses external app Mp3Gain to process and normalize albums, in order to ensure that played tracks from different albums or different source don’t exhibit volumes that are too loud or too low on transition. To enable Mp3Gain download the zipped version of that program nd extract in the MP3 Diags directory.
4. Tooltips: while most of the issues that MP3Diags are technical and in many cases not easily understandable, the program will let you hover over the different columns and get an instant explanation. This makes the program so much more accessible and easier to use for novices and experts alike.
5. Maintains backups of changed files

Wish list (or how this program can be even better):

• A “fix everything” button: as it is there are a number of “action” buttons, and each will perform a certain group of fixes (which are editable in the settings). However, I found myself clicking on these on after the other in order to get all the issues taken care of.
• Search box: although there are many kinds of filters available for sorting through files, it is not possible to filter by typing in a string of text, which I found very strange.
• Column sort: issues found are laid out in a grid, and it was strange to discover that I couldn’t click on column heads in order to sort by these.
• Context menu integration for the tag editor: i.e. the ability to right click on a folder or selected audio files and open these in the tag editor. This is one thing that Mp3Tag does which I love, and I wish this program would do it as well.

The verdict: I’ve seen a handful of programs that scan your audio library to identify quality issues, but MP3Diag is without a doubt in a league of its own. If you’ve every wished there was a single program that can help you identify problems in your audio library and allow you to fix then you’ve found it.

Some caveats though: this program is still in beta so be mindful of that if you encounter any bugs (I didn’t). Also note that what constitutes low quality is user defined in the settings, so change that according to your preference.

My experience with this program is that it works great; however, I often found myself a little … incredulous (may be the word) … that problems were found with audio files that I didn’t think had anything wrong with them (such as containing invalid streams for example). In cases like these, you could either use the auto backup and apply the fix or simply decide to move on. In my case I did the former without adverse effects, and I actually have a high degree of trust that the program “knows what its doing”. Highly recommended.

Version Tested: 0.99.06.042

Compatibility: Windows, Linux.

Go to the program home page for more info; download link can be found here (installer and portable versions available; approx 6.36 megs).

If you’ve ever wanted to string a bunch of images together into an animation then PhotoFilmStrip is for you. Three things make this program notable:

1. It is extremely easy to use. I was able to create a fairly decent film literally within 10 minutes of installation.
2. It is very nicely laid out. The interface design is intuitive and simple.
3. The output videos are smoothly-animated and of excellent quality.

Decisions: part of why this is so easy to use is that the decisions that the user has to make are fairly straightforward, and there really aren’t too many of them. First off you have to add images to the movie, arrange them in the right order, rotate them if necessary, and choose whether you want to recolor them(b&w or sepia). Next, for each image you have to choose the beginning and end state of the camera; i.e. how the camera will zoom in or out. This is the most “creative” part and is done via two rectangles for the beginning and end states (see screenshot above), and is surprisingly simple to do. Lastly, you can type in a subtitle for each image (which is optional) and specify the duration in seconds that each image animation will occupy within the movie. You will need to make a couple more decisions once at the very end once you’re ready to render, including resolution, output format, and whether you would like to add a soundtrack. The program does not support any fancy transitions between one image and the next; all images simply fade in and out of each other.

More notes on this program:

• Subtitles: if you enter subtitles they will be rendered in .SRT format; they will not be “burned into” the final output movie. (Most decent media players, such as The KMPlayer, will be able to play this format of subtitles).
• Rendering the filmstrip: you can use pre-defined profiles in the settings, including DVD and other profiles for different resolutions (can go up to an impressive HD (1920×1080) resolution). I like that PhotoFilmStrip has the Xvid encoder built in and doesnt require the user to install codecs.
• Adding audio: once you’re ready to render, you can add an audio track. If you want to add narration you will need to do some post processing with external programs (e.g Audacity to record and something like VirtualDub or Avidemux to add the new audio track to the video.)

Wish list (or how this program can be even better)

• Support for custom, pre-built transitions: I just had to put this out there, even as I acknowledge that it will add a layer of complexity and that the default fade in/out transition works just fine.
• Burn-in subtitles: the option to burn subtitles in rather than output them in a sperate file.

The verdict: an excellent program that is both powerful and easy to use. You will be up and running creating animations out of your images in minutes. The program may lack some fancy bells and whistles, but the flip side but compensates for that in usability and good user experience. Recommended.

Version Tested: 1.1

Compatibility: Windows, Linux.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 14.9 megs).

There are a number of good freeware image viewers/taggers out there, but Viewer2 will immediately impress due to its stylish interface and innovative functions. I would suggest that you view the video at the bottom of this post to get a sense of how this program works and feels; meanwhile here are some notes on this program:

• The interface: there’s not much of it, until you mouse over to the edges of the screen, where you will find all the tools that you need to browse, view and tag your images. But note that in order to really take advantage of what this program can do you really have to become familiar with the different mouse manipulations (e.g. right-click and move to move selected sets of images around – see the video tutorials). You also might want to become familiar with the various keyboard shortcuts, esp. the ones that concern tagging images, as they will make the process super fast and easy. Note that when hovering over any command icon in the interface a text label will show at the bottom of the screen to explain it (although a tool-tip would have been better, I think).
• Grouping images: Viewer2 can automatically group images visually in various "piles". It can group by name, by path, by resolution, by number views, by time/date accessed, by color, and of course by tags.
• Automatic tag suggestions: for quick tagging, Viewer2 can suggest tags based on other tagging activity.
• Film Strip view: right clicking while viewing images displays thumbnail view of all other images in that folder that you can quickly browse through with horizontal mouse movements. A super cool effect (illustrated in the one of the two screenshots on the top of this review).
• Lasso-type tool: an innovative tool that can be used while tagging to select multiple images (alternately you can simply CTRL+click on several thumbnail to select them). In image view mode the lasso tool is there, but this time it serves to quickly zoom into the lassoed area (is that a word?).
• Searching: the search function is one of the most versatile and powerful that you could hope for, offering search by tags, by name, location, size, etc. It is able to field sophisticated queries such as give me the word "bla" with "2007" in the path excluding the tag "wallpaper" as an example (see the manual section for an overview).
• Navigating folders: double click on the viewed image to display the other images and folders in the same location.These will be represented visually in piles that can be hovered over (for more info) or clicked on to access. Alternately mouse over the left side of the screen to access a simple directory listing.
• Customization: most everything about this program can be customized in the settings, from the size of the thumbnails to the way various elements behave.
• Memory use: only 16 megs in memory, despite the nifty, visual pyrotechnics.
• Technical details: IPTC data editing, full Unicode support.

A video of the program in action:

The verdict: I am bowled over by this app. Its not just because of the high coolness factor, which would have been enough to win me over, but also because the innovative interface and process actually makes it super easy to work with tags quickly and effectively. The developer who thought out and built this (and kept it at such low memory usage) did a terrific job! Download and try it you will like it.

[Thanks go to reader Anjan for tipping me off about this program!]

Version Tested: 4044

Compatibility: Windows 2000, XP, Vista.

Go to the Program page to download the latest version (approx 1.59 megs).

This program will let you view/download stock data in real time and define portfolios of stocks and monitor their activity and profit/loss; but the WOW-inducing feature is the ability for users to define their own "Stock Indicators" and to have the program automatically deliver alerts based on these. For example, you can tell JStock to alert you by SMS if it finds a stock price that’s at the highest its been for the past 6 months. This may not sound too exciting if you just have one or two stocks that you are interested in, but JStock will do this for hundreds of stocks that you might want to monitor and define in its database. Here are more notes on this program:

• How it works: the main "Real Time Info" tab displays a list of stocks that you can monitor. Although it is pre-populated when you launch the program, note that you can delete stocks from the list and add just the ones you find relevant. Also note that you can select the country of interest and download the entire list of stocks for that country, which is very convenient. If your stock is somehow not showing you can add it to the database individually. JStock will now download price changes in real-time for these, and will even chart . Once you have your list, sorting by column headers can be a great help. I would say, however, that the list is in need of more filtering options (see my wish list below)
• Charting: right click on an individual stock and click "History" to receive an instant 10-year chart for the stock in question showing both stock prices and trade volume. You can also request a candlestick chart. You can limit the range of charted data by simply drawing a rectangle over the time period you are interested in with the mouse.
• Alerts: once you set up your desired "Stock Indicators" (see below) JStock can deliver SMS, Email, or system tray alerts based on these. SMS alerts are 100% free (you need to set up a Google Calendar account and register your mobile number; more info here). Alerts can be sent for stocks in your "real time" list, for an entire country’s stock market, for a particular board such as the NYSE, for a unknown "industries" (I am not sure exactly how JStock comes up with these), or, perhaps most useful, for the stocks that are user-defined in your database (choose "user-defined" industry for this one).
• Stock Indicators: JStock allows you to create your own indicators and use these to generate alerts. A visual editor is built into JStock that allows you to create these without any programming skills; however, it helps to know what you are going after . I simply re-created the indicator that was described in the help section and it was apparent to me just how powerful and versatile these indicators could be. The image to the right shows an alert that will be triggered when the stock’s current last price is the maximum it has been for the past 14 days. Very cool!
• Portfolio Management: this is where you can record transactions that occur on a list of stocks and keep track of your profit and loss. I did not really use this, but I imagine that it would be extremely value added
• Chatting: I was not able to find anyone to chat with; either there were no users online or I set it up incorrectly (although the set-up seemed super easy).

Wish list:

• Tagging: it would be great if you could create custom tags and associate them with stocks (perhaps in the user-defined stocks database entries), and then use these later for filtering/grouping, for alerts, or other operations.
• Filtering: I found it strange that are no means to isolate a stock or group of stocks in a list and view these in isolation. You cannot even type in a stock ticker symbol and filter it out from the list. What would be tremendously value-added is if you could filter each column Excel-style using certain criteria (e.g. only if the Chg% is larger or smaller than a certain value, etc). Of course you can currently create Stock Indicators and filter lists that way, but it would be so much more user-friendly to be able to filter on-the-fly.
• Downloading: ok so I charted the past 12 months for stock x; now can I please download these into CSVl? A strange omission.
• Chart range pre-sets: as in "the past week", "the past 1 month", "2 months", "1 Year", etc., to be selected from a dropown. Another very strange omission.
• Pre-defined indicators: it would be cool if the program with a few "clever" or value added indicators pre-defined, to get people started with indicators.

The verdict: this program one of the best in its category. It could use a streamlining of the user interface to make it more user-friendly, but it makes up for that in the power that it has under the hood and the sheer ambition of its covered functionality. Occasional or regular investors alike will find this program very useful and value added. Highly recommended!

Version Tested: 1.0.4i

Compatibility: Windows/Linux/Mac/Solaris

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 16.5 megs).

This software is designed to encrypt entire hard drives, storage devices, or CD/DVD media. It is similar to TrueCrypt, another notable software previously mentioned on this site; however DiskCryptor lays claim to several advantages:

1. It can encrypt partitions with existing data: without destroying the data. This is obviously very practical and useful and is a significant advantage.
2. It can create encrypted CD’s/DVD’s: through the use of .ISO images. DiskCryptor will encrypt these and the user can subsequently burn them to actual physical media.
3. “Truly” Open Source: purports to be “the only truly free solution provided under GNU General Public License” (in contrast to the “TrueCrypt Collective License” which apparently places restrictions on the modification of the source data).

Disadvantages vs. TrueCrypt:

1. Unlike TrueCrypt, DiskCryptor is not designed to create file containers that can be mounted as encrypted virtual drives. It will, in other words, encrypt a partition or an entire hard drive or flash drive, but strangely will not create an encrypted file that you can mount as a virtual drive. I personally find this omission very strange and I am sure will cause many to stick with TrueCrypt.
2. Lacks the “plausible deniability” feature (where if, say, you are “forced” to surrender a password you can give a decoy which displays innocuous files). Although I personally think this feature is unimportant.
3. Although it is designed to encrypt bootable system partitions, the version I tested (0.8.548.97) has a known limitation in that the partition will not boot after encryption. If you want to encrypt system/bootable partitions you have to either wait for a future version, use a bootable CD (such as BartPE), or … use TrueCrypt.

More on how DiskCryptor works:

• Mounting encrypted drives: DiskCryptor has to be running in memory. To use an encrypted flash drive or CD on, say, your work and home computers, you need to install the program in both places.
• Booting encrypted drives: fully support bootings encrypted system partitions (including support for different multi-boot scenarios). DiskCryptor can also be integrated into a BartPE bootable Livedisk; instructions here.
• Caching passwords: if you have this enabled, entering a password once will cache it in kernel memory so that it mounts automatically on next insert, which is really cool. You can disable caching if you want and of course you can clear all passwords from the cache at will.
• Performance: superfast. Your encrypted disks, in other words, will be as fast as regular disks for all practical purposes. You can perform any operation on mounted encrypted drives that you would on normal drives (such as defrag, etc.).
• Support: these are all quotes from the program site; “full support for dynamic disks”, support for “disk partition encryption of any configuration, including boot and system partitions”, “support for hardware cryptography found in VIA processors”, “support for disk devices with large sector sizes, which is important when working with hardware RAID”, “support for hardware cryptography found in VIA processors”, “full support for 3rd party boot loaders (LILO, GRUB, etc.)”
• Encryption modes: a wide range to choose from; AES, Twofish, Serpent, AES-Twofish, Twofish-Serpent, Serpent-AES or AES-Twofish-Serpent in XTS mode.
  Extended configuration possibilities of booting an encrypted OS. Support for different multi-boot scenarios.
• Command line version: available
• Hotkeys: although this did not seem to be active in the version I tested, you will in the future be able to use hotkeys to perform actions such as dismounting partitions, initiating an emergency system stop, etc.

The verdict: I think this is a very exciting software that has huge potential. DriveCrypt was conceived, according to the website, as a replacement for DriveCrypt Plus Pack and PGP Whole Disk Encryption (WDE). The aim has subsequently changed to “create the best product in its category”, and I think they are well underway to achieve this goal.

Having said that I really wish future versions of DriveCrypt encrypted file containers. I know that for many people (including myself) this is an indispensable feature and could be a significant barrier to using this program over a program such as TrueCrypt for example.

Version Tested: 0.8.548.97

Compatibility: Windows 2000 SP0-SP4, XP (x86, x64) SP0-SP3, Server 2003 (x86, x64) SP0-SP2, Vista (x86, x64) SP0-SP2, Server 2008 (x86, x64), Windows 7 (x86, x64) RC0, RC1.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 579K).

Do you need a directory comparison and synchronization program with a lot of features and options? If so then you’ve just found one of the best free programs in its class. Before I continue I will point out that for this review I will use a mock question-and-answer format where I pretend I am being interviewed by someone else

Q: You’ve said that this is one of the best directory comparison apps. Why do you like it so much?
A: I like that it supports so many advanced options. But there are three real reasons:

1. The interface: this program’s Graphical User Interface is just tremendous. It looks good and delivers a great user experience in the way the items are compared are presented visually, and each entry has a little button that can be used for individual on-the-fly syncing.
2. Supports multiple folder comparisons simultaneously: which means you can perform all your folder comparisons and synchronizations at once and be done with it. You can also save your sessions (which the program calls "configurations"), to quickly re-do the comparisons at a future point in time.
3. Can create automated "batch files" for folder syncing: these can be run from the command line, and will allow you to specify folder(s) to compare, rules for syncing, file extension filters, and other details (see image to the right).

Q: How does this program determine which files are different and which files are the same?
A: It lets the user decide whether it should compare the actual content of the files or whether to simply compare the size and date of files.

Q: Does it support 2-way synchronization?
A: Yes. It supports "Mirror syncs" (right folder will exactly match the left, no matter what’s in it), "Update syncs" (new/updated files will be copied to the right folder), and "Two-way syncs" (both sides will be changed to reflect the new or updated files that are found on either side). Deletions ca an be performed via the Recycle Bin, which gives the user recourse to go and salvage them if need be, and copy errors can be ignored if necessary as well.

There is a also a so called custom sync option where users can create their own syncing rules, but it does not seem to be active as of the version I tested.

Q: Is it possible to only compare certain file extensions, or specify extensions that should NOT be compared?
A: Yes. You can do either one of the above, i.e. specify what to include or specify what to exclude (see image to the right for an example where I am excluding ZIP, RAR and JPG files from processing). You can also use the context menu for some quick, on-the fly file extension filtering. It is also very easy to hide or show filtered items from the main display interface.

Q: You mentioned other "advanced options" that this program supports. Can you list some of these?
A: Supports filesizes larger that 4GB, no limitations on number of files, "delete before copy" to avoid disc space shortages with large sync operations, handling of cloned files (i.e. symbolic links or junctures), UniCode and Network support.

Q: So what’s the verdict? Any last remarks.
A: Excellent Program. I was looking for a program that can compare two folders (and subfolders) when I found this and it was so much more that I expected. I highly recommend it.

I also would like to mention that there is a portable version available. Simply download the zipped version and extract it where you want it, even on a USB drive.

Version Tested: 2.1 build July 3 2009 Unicode

Compatibility: WinAll.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 1.3 megs).

Let me say from the start that this is without a doubt the best program in its class and at any rate the best freeware splitting program that I have ever seen.

I first started looking for a file splitting program when faced with the following problem: a colleague of mine had to split a 600 meg CSV file so that it could be uploaded into a customer’s database. These individual pieces, however, could only be a maximum number of rows each, and the integrity of the CSV files had to preserved. Our first inclination was to open this file using a text editor, MS Access. This, however, proved impossible: the file was way too large (at 21 million rows) and was simply impossible to read as a "normal" file. It was even impossible to split using Textwedge, a text-splitting app that I’d previously written about.

This is where Gsplit came to the rescue; unlike the other methods mentioned, Gsplit is able to process your desired file without trying to load the file into memory first. Aside from splitting files by specific-sized pieces or number of desired pieces (which many programs can perform), Gsplit is able to split files using the occurrences of a pattern or by number of lines per file (the pattern in the latter case being simply the occurrence of carriage returns). Thus we were finally able to split the file quickly and easily without crashes or problems, and without needing to load the entire file all at once into memory to do so.

Here are more notes on this program:

• More on splitting: in addition to what’s already mentioned above it is interesting to know that (a) Gsplit can span pieces across external media (i.e. it will wait for you to insert your disks or flash drive and create an appropriately-sized piece, then prompt for insertion of the next media, which could be very different in size, etc.). The other interesting thing is that the user can specify the size of output pieces uniformly in general OR manually specify the size of each individual piece.
• Split by number of lines: this is buried in the "I want to split after the nth occurrence of a specified pattern." section. Use the default pattern (0×0D0×0A) for splitting by individual lines.
• Note on splitting media files: while you can split and re-combine any kind of file (including media files) for distribution purposes, do not expect to be able to play the individual pieces (even if you rename the extensions). This is a general splitter not a media splitter.
• The user interface: is very well organized for a program with such a wide range of options; however I couldn’t help but wonder if it could have been made simpler and a bit more user friendly. This is especially true of splitting by number of lines (see above). They would have done 95% of users a big favor had they separated it from the "by pattern" splitting.
• Explorer integration: right click on any file and select "split with Gsplit"
• Merging: Gsplit can create a small exec (96K) that can re-merge output files, or can combine that into the first split piece so that the first piece is turned into an executable. In these cases other users do not need to have Gsplit installed to re-combine.
• Freeware for commercial use: and with no "donate" button that I could see on the program page you can donate to Freewaregenius instead .
• Profiles: allows you to save your desired splitting settings into profiles, so that you do not have to redefine them again if you need to perform the same kind of split again at a future point.
• Batch processing: you can select a number of files to split at once using the same settings.
• Customizing your output: you can add headers or footers to the resulting files; you can add blank space at the beginning or end of each piece; you can add tags (i.e. metadata) to the resulting pieces, you even customize the scheme used to name the individual file pieces, and you can even customize the message that the user will see when they run the self-uniting executable.
• Validation: Gsplit will perform three different integrity checks to ensure that your files are accurately combined.
• Portable: version available.

The verdict: did I mention this is the best file splitting utility I have ever seen? Oh, I guess I did .

Version Tested: 3.0

Compatibility: WinAll.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 1.46 megs).

What you may not know is that aside from my interest in freeware I am an expert user of MS Excel: macros, VBA automation, the works . I was searching for information on Excel dashboards, which I needed for a project at work, when I stumbled upon this site.

Now I fully realize that the web is chock-full of excellent Excel sites that offer downloadable templates, but in terms of quality this site is definitely in the 90th percentile. This is because of the originality of some of the topics and templates on offer as well as the fact that they are presented with a good degree of simplicity (not to mention given away for free).

My top three five favorite templates:

1. KPI Dashboards with visualizations revisted. See a 6-part tutorial on how this was made starting with part 1 here. See the image to the right for a preview.
2. Using Maps in Excel. Very interesting. Can be customized for your particular needs.
3. Using data filters as chart filters. Simple and elegant.
4. Artistic dashboards in Excel. Very cool. Tutorial available here.
5. Tag clouds in Excel. If only for the sheer originality factor.

I hope Mr. Chandoo (a.k.a Pointy Haired Dilbert) does not mind my linking to the above downloads directly.

Go to the Pointy Haired Dilbert home page, or go straight to the downloads page.

Applying the correct tags and cover art to your audio library may feel like a never ending quest or even an impossible one; fortunately, however, there are sophisticated tools such as MetatOgger to help with the task. I’d previously written about Mp3Tag, an excellent audio tagging and renaming app, but MetatOgger it notable because it has a couple of interesting functions that Mp3Tag does not, including acoustic fingerprinting and audio tag lookups via its own downloadable database.

This software has a lot of potential, but also needs to iron out some significant kinks. Here’s a list of some of the features that MetatOgger has that I like the most, as well as a list of those I do NOT like so much.

My favorite MetatOgger features (also known as the PROS section):

• Acoustic fingerprinting: is your recourse for audio files that has no information whatsoever (or simply for identifying missing info). Acoustic fingerprinting is a process whereby the software “listens” to the audio and compares its digital fingerprint with the huge Musicbrainz community database. MetatOgger can query this database on demand to instantly populate missing audio tags without user intervention.
• Column-header filters: you can easily not notice that you can perform this really useful function (see image to the right). Would have liked the ability to filter by rules though, Excel-style, such as “all entries that begin with x”.
• Tag from Database: this will prompt the downloading of a massive database which apparently comprises millions of titles. You can then simply do a search, find the album you want, and use the tags found in the database on your local files.
• Lyrics: simply check the songs you want and choose “get lyrics from lyricwiki.org” and voila – your songs will incorporate lyrics inside their audio tags. Useful for media players that offer a lyrics display with playback option.
• Cover art lookups: use the cover art search box to find cover art online. The program gives you a choice between storing the image data in the tag in the file itself, or otherwise to store it in the folder (if in doubt, go with the former). Note that you will need to manually identify the most suitable match from the list of results (the screenshot above shows cover art lookups).
• Allows saving workspaces: which is to say you can decide on which columns you would like to work with and their width on-screen and save that configuration. This turns out to be indespensible.
• Support for a wide range of audio files: including Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, Speex, MP3, Musepack, Windows Media, WavPack and Monkey’s Audio
• Preview changes: this is standard practice for apps of this sort, but I will mention anyway that the program allows you to fiddle around with your audio library to your heart’s content, and will only save the changes once you are good and ready and click “save”; until then everything is virtual and un-doable.

My not-so-favorite features (also know as the CONS section):

• The user experience: is not as friendly as it could have been, and may cause some degree of frustration before getting used to. It always takes me too many clicks to check/uncheck the files that I want to work with because it involves using too many right click commands.The various interventions, moreover, could definitely have been made more intuitive.
• It can be slow: navigating is somewhat slow, and saving changes can be slower than you’d at first expect.
• No search box: despite the coolness of column-header filtering, I was surprised that there was no overall filter/search box.
• Cover art: will at times not produce results that are nonetheless easily found in, say, a Google images search. The good news is that you can download these separately and point to them from within MetatOgger.
• No context menu entry: one of the things I like about Mp3Tag is that it adds a context menu entry whereby I can quickly right click on a bunch of audio files and load them into that app to edit their tags. I am wishing that MetatOgger had an equivalent.

The verdict: a very powerful tool that can be immensely useful. I especially like the “acoustic fingerprinting” option and to be quite honest would prefer to access the Musicbrainz database from this program that using Musicbrainz’ own “Picard” app (the latter being rather atypical in its interface and design).

If you are using Mp3Tag or another similar program and are happy with the way it works and feels and it is performing well for you then, you might get a sense that MetatOgger is somewhat clunky or that its not as smooth and intuitive as it could be. However, if you want the added functionality (acoustic fingerprinting, database lookups, lyrics lookups) then MetatOgger is certainly a very nice software to have, and that is why I am giving this one my highest “Freewaregenius Pick” award.

Version Tested: 3.9.1.0

Compatibility: Windows XP, Vista, Seven. Requires MS .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

Check out the MetatOgger page (in French, but click here for a Google English translation). The download link is in the blue box, (approx 5 megs).

There is an impressive range of excellent freeware Windows enhancements and tweaks. This posting will present forty three excellent additions to Windows that you will like.

When I first thought of this post, I more or less knew what programs I wanted to list here. The common theme that brought these together was that they were all really cool Windows “enhancements”: i.e. apps that tweak or change the way we work with files, folders, applications, or the system environment itself (or, apps that brings functionality to the Windows environment that could or should have been a built-in option in Windows ).

Two more things to say before presenting the list itself; the first is that this list might not include some well known titles because in some cases I shied away from Windows enhancement apps that try to do many things at once in favor of simpler, more straightforward ones. The second is to be aware that many of these have overlapping functions and hotkeys that you wouldn’t necessarily want installed on the same system at the same time (you also dont want to overburden your PC, so install selectively).

Note: this post took a long time to write, so please Stumble or Digg!

Here’s the list:

1- Fences: do you ever wish that there was some way to organize your icons into general, clearly-labeled areas on your desktop that you could move or organize without needing to deal with each icon individually? If so, you’re in luck, as this is exactly what Fences does. You can create floating areas on your desktop, label them, and move icons of any type into them; you can then re-arrange these by moving entire units around, etc. Fences will do two more things for you (1) it will preserve/save icon locations on your screen, and (2) it will allow you to double click an empty area on the desktop to hide all icons.

Note that Fences is still in beta and seems to exhibit some bugs on some machines. It works fine on my XP (with XP’s Dr. Watson debugger disabled).

2- QTTabbar: ever imagined using explorer windows in a Firefox style tabbed interface? This is essentially what this (terrific) freeware does, but it also manages to deliver a range of nice functions, including the ability to browse contents of folders without clicking into them (see screenshot), the option to bookmark groups of open tabs, a searchbox for filtering files, image previews on mouse-hover, as well as a slew of others.

QTTabbar is extendible through a handful of plugins that provide extra functionality, including a “folder memo” plugin to add notes to folders.

3- Filebox Extender: this one adds new buttons on the title bar next to the minimize, maximize, and close buttons that provide favorite folders and recent folders access anywhere (including file open/save dialogs). Other functions: a “stay on top” pushpin button, and a window roll-up button that hides all but the title bar of a window.

There are many apps that are designed to access favorite folders and files, but this one is one of the most original and innovative.

4- Desktop Media: this may be familiar to you if you’ve worked with Liunx. Desktop Media is a free program that creates automatic shortcuts on the desktop whenever you plug in a USB drive, CD, or other media. The shortcuts will automatically disappear when the media is ejected.

This program also provides an interesting option whereby hardlink rather than shortcuts can be (optionally) created on NTFS drives (see “Link Shell Extension” below for more on hardlinks).

5- Sizer: allows you to you right click on the “maximize”button on the title bar in order to quickly change the size and/or placement of the active Window using a selection of pre-set profiles. You can add your own user-defined sizes and placements.

While this function hardly sounds revolutionary, I will tell you that once you start using this one you will wonder how you managed without it. Sizer will prove to be very useful and is in fact one of my first installs on a new machine.

6- Folder Menu: this is a terrific little free app that displays favorite folders anywhere on Middle mouse click or using a hotkey. It can even invoke favorite folders in Windows and MS Office open/save dialogs.

This is a new Autohotkey-based program that deserves to be more well known; since installing it it’s become one of my favorites, and I am betting that you will like it as well.

7- Folder Size: ever noticed that Windows’ detail folder view does not display sizes for folders? Well guess what, this free Windows extension adds a column to Windows’ “detailed” view that displays folder sizes. Check out my review for how to get this set up.

The latest information as I write this is that a new version 2.5 is about to be released, so watch out for that.

8- WinSplit Revolution: a freeware program that brings instant, versatile docking and resizing of windows to the sides of the and/or corners of the screen. But what is really nice is that the program allows you to control the placement of your windows by using hotkeys, by using a “virtual numpad” control that is prompted by clicking on the app’s icon in the system tray, or by so-called “drag’n go”, which involves moving your window around the screen while pressing Ctrl+Alt (whereupon it will display visual previews of the resize area as you move your window around – see screenshot).

For another interesting program that offers a similar function check out PowerResizer, which is also excellent.

9- Q-Dir: is a free dual-pane file manager that is simply terrific. It offers a slew of nice functions, including bookmarking favorite folders, a search box for filtering files and folders, the ability to save configurations of open panes and folders, and a whole host of other nifty options. What is quite innovative about Q-Dir are the nifty buttons on the toolbar that let the user access multiple configurations of file panes, quickly and easily.

I personally use Q-Dir as a replacement for Windows explorer, such that clicking on a folder in Windows will open it using Q-Dir; In that sense it is the ultimate Windows enhancement. (See my original review of the program for instructions on how to do this, find favorite feature #6).

10- Taskbar shuffle: this freeware Windows extension gives you the ability to reorder the tabs in your taskbar (on the bottom of your desktop) by dragging them at will. Very cool!

11- Standalone Stack: this freeware allows you to create folder shortcuts that, when clicked, open up as Mac-style hovering icon stacks. It supports two styles of icons “grid” and “fan”. The screenshot here depicts a grid-style such shortcut that I strategically placed in the “Quick Launch” area.

12- TaskSwitchXP: this is a freeware Alt+Tab replacement. It’s my favorite because it is straightforward and simply scrolls across the different open apps and windows while (reliably) displaying a screenshot of the selected app. It strength is function rather than form, and I like the fact that it bucks the 3D vista-style and the Mac Expose trends (but if you must have these, check out WinFlip, Shock Aero, and DExpose2).

13- Link Shell Extension: is a freeware app that allows you to right click on files and folders and create instant (and effortless) hardlinked clones, with the single stipulation that your hard drive should be NTFS formatted.

A clone is NOT a copy. A little known piece of information is that a file in Windows XP and Vista can be in two places at once (as long as the hard drive is NTFS formatted and not FAT). Suppose that you keep videos of “The Sopranos” in their “Sopranos” folder, but that you had set up a “Favorite TV shows” folder where you wanted to keep a list of some of the TV-show episodes you like the most. If your hard drive is NTFS formatted, you can keep a clone of that video in that folder that does not occupy extra space on your hard drive (rather than create a duplicate copy.

14- Launchy: this is a freeware launcher for apps and files where, instead of clicking on shortcuts or icons of the programs or files you want to open, you type in the name of the program you are seeking in a search box and select it from a list of results (the program will refine the list of selections as-you-type, which is a very nice effect).

By default this program will monitor (index) the execs and shortcuts in your start menu but can be configured to look anywhere for any file type you want. Lastly I will say that once you start using this I guarantee you will not want to use your computer without it. Some good Launchy alternatives (also free): Find and Run Robot, Key Launch and Keybreeze.

15- Freesnap: ever wanted to snap just one or two edges of your window that you’re working with right to the side of the screen? Freesnap is a freeware that lets you do just that (see screenshot). It will also let you use hotkeys to quickly send your window to any of the 4 corners of the screen (or the center), and perform a number of window-resizing operations.

16- Everything: this one is a free desktop file search program that works ONLY on NTFS formatted drives. The reason: it relies on the Master File Table of the NTFS volume to build its index of files, rather than constantly scanning and scouring the hard drive. What this means is that Everything will always be up to date with all file changes that occur on your hard drive.

The reason this one is included in this post is that more than any other program it has changed the way I work with Windows (with the possible exception of Launchy, above). I now find myself constantly right-clicking “Search Everything” on folders in order to locate the files that I am working with. Being able to right click on my computer in order to find a file or files anywhere on my drives is an extremely powerful thing to be able to do.

17- 3RVX: this freeware allows you to control your system’s volume (up/down/mute) through hotkeys. Its not the most feature-packed utility of its kind (Volumouse might have that distinction), but it just may be the most pleasant to use, looks really pretty (emulates the MacOSX volume bezel, but is skinnable and comes with many other cool skins).

This is another one of those apps I have to have installed on my machine.

18- OSD Mute: a very simple free app that does a very simple thing: displays a “Mute On” message on your desktop near the system tray when the system volume is muted. While this is not quite revolutionary, it is so useful that I install it on all my machine, and is really an option that should have come built into Windows.

19- Dexpot: this is without a doubt the best, most feature rich and advanced freeware virtual desktop program for Windows. It doesn’t offer some of the eye candy that you might find in some others (animated 3D cube transitions between desktops, for example), but what it lacks in style in makes up for in substance (e.g. rules, hotkeys, icon placements on different desktops). If you are unfamiliar with virtual desktops imagine being able to work on, say, your Office applications in one desktop, then flipping to another that has your browser/webmail, and then flipping to a third that displays, say, your media player.

One thing you can do with Dexpot that I have not found anywhere else is to actually designate different icons to different desktops. This alone makes it the undisputed number one virtual desktop app as far as I am concerned.

20- Infotag Magic: a freeware shell extension that tweaks Windows to display informational tooltips when hovering over a range of filetypes, including audio files, text files, shortcuts, and executables (see screenshot).

File extension types supported: wp3, wma, ape, and Ogg Vorbis (for audio), txt, ini, log, bat, diz, bak, and que files (for text files), exe, dll, ocx and lnk (for executables/shortcuts). I would have liked to have tooltips support for video files; if that’s something you want it is provided in the latest beta of MediaInfo.

21- AudioShell: a freeware shell extension that allows you to view and edit audio files tags directly in Windows Explorer (for individual files or groups of files). It adds tabs in the audio file’s right-click “properties” dialog that enable you to edit tag information on the fly. (Including album art, which you can easily import into the Audioshell tab and save it into the audio file itself.)

Audioshell will also display your audio file tag information inside tooltips when you mouse-over your audio files, and will add additional audio related columns that can be displayed in Windows explorer’s folder “detail” view (e.g. Title, Album, Artist, etc.)

22- Stick: is an interesting freeware app that places dockable tabs on the sides of your screen that can contain a variety of functions, such as notes, RSS feeds, shortcuts for apps or favorite folders, etc.

The nice thing about this one is that the “dockable tab” effect works really well, and its a very interesting innovation on the typical Windows user interface.

23- Xentient Thumbnails: a freeware that automatically changes the icons for image files to appear as little thumbnail previews of the images themselves.

This means that the even in icon or tile view each individual image will display a thumbnail for its icon that reflects a preview of the image itself. It also means that your image files will display little thumbnails for their icons even when placed on the desktop (a nifty and rather unusual effect).

24- Thumbview: you might have noticed that some image file types (e.g. JPG, GIF, BMP and a few others). display preview thumbnails in Windows Explorer while others do not . What Thumbview does is provide support for 19 additional image file types such that Explorer is able to provide thumbnail previews for those as well. It also adds tooltips for image files in Explorer such that hovering over an image file displays its type, dimension, bitdepth, and filesize.

25- WinCDemu: a small, free, extension that adds to Windows the ability to mount disk images as virtual drives simply by double clicking on the image files. Supports .ISO, .IMG, .CUE, .BIN and .RAW disk images and an unlimited number of virtual drives.

Runs in the background with no user interface, and seamlessly integrates disk image files into Windows.

26- Allsnap: imagine that your windows had a little “magnetic field” around them such that if they came sufficiently close to each other they would simply snap together. This effect, which we have all seen employed by various apps (such as Winamp for example) is exactly what this freeware does. Very cool, and also configurable so that you could set exactly how many pixels around each window this “magnetic field ” should be in effect.

There is also, interestingly, a portable version of this app which I just discovered.

27- TeraCopy: this free program integrates itself with Windows to deliver accelerated file copying in many instances as well as the ability to pause and resume copy operations. It comes especially handy when copying or moving a large number of files such that the entire process will not break down if it encounters, say, a file error.

You have the option to set whether to have TeraCopy perform all file copy operations by default (which is what I do), just when invoked by the user, or only when the “Caps Lock” key is on.

28- HOBComment: this free Windows extension adds a context menu entry that allows users to instantly add a comment to files and folders (yes, folders, which normally you wouldn’t be able to add comments to in Windows). I’ve been looking for a long time and this remains my favorite way to add comments to files and folders (despite relatively sophisticated freeware general file tagging apps such as Tag2Find and Taggedfrog.

The one conspicuous drawback that afflicts HOBComment though is that it is sometimes unable to add comments to some file types, such as .MSI and MS Office files (forcing me to resort to right clicking properties/summary/comment in Windows to do so).

29- StyleFolder: this freeware adds a simple entry to the Windows context menu that makes it possible to change folder icons. And while there are a handful such apps, I like StyleFolder because it is simple and unassuming; but, more importantly, it saves the icon info within the folder rather than simply pointing to it, which means that folders retain their new, customized icons when they are moved to portable media or across the network, etc.

30- Unlocker: have you ever tried to move, delete, or perform other operations on a file or folder only to be notified that it is locked because it is being used by another process? Enter freeware Unlocker to the rescue. This software can (a) identify the process(es) that are using your files/folders and holding them hostage, and (b) will let you “unlock” these or optionally to kill the offending process so its no longer running.

Unlocker installs a convenient entry in the Windows context menu that can be used to right click any file or folder and investigate the processes that might be working with it, if any.

31- Send To Toys: this app will breathe new life into the “send to” entry in Windows’ context menu by making it extremely useful and customizable. There are a number of commands that “Send To Toys” can introduce into the send to menu, including send to clipboard, send to command prompt, send to run, send to trash, and send to quicklaunch. But what makes this program really useful is the ability to add your favorite folders to the send to menu, whereby you can quickly copy or move any item to them (pressing Shift as you use the send to folder command will move your files/items rather than copy them, while pressing ctrl+shift will copy a shortcut).

32- RBTray: minimize any window to the system tray by right-clicking on the “minimize” button. Simple with fairly low resource consumption.

What I like about this one is that is coexists very well with other Windows enhancements (aforementioned Sizer, for example), when some other apps like it do not.

33- Trayconizer: this interesting free app is for those programs that you use that you wished would simply minimize to the system tray every time by default. Trayconizer can create special, modified shortcuts to these apps that, when run, will make these always minimize to the system tray without any further intervention by the user.

34- Flashfolder: this freeware apps makes it easy to access your favorite folders in Windows’ open/save dialog (as well as that of MS Office). What is notable about FlashFolder, aside from it being extremely useful, is that in terms of coolness/form factor alone it scores extremely high points with me (check out the toolbar that add overlays on top of the open/save dialog in the screenshot to the right).

Aside from favorite folders, Flashfolder can also quickly access recently used folders and a number of other functions.

35- Folder Guide: this freeware lets you right click to access your favorite folders. Works on the desktop, in Windows’ open/save dialog, as well as the MS Office open/save dialog.

There are two ways to add your favorite folders to “Folder Guide”; from the settings, you could browse to the folder of your choice, or simply right click on the folder you want to add and use the “Folder Guide” context menu entry.

36- Shock Bookmark: another freeware app that, similar to Folder Guide above installs your favorite folders in your right click context menu and enables quick access to these on your desktop and in the Windows open/save dialog (but, interestingly, not in the MS Office open/save dialog for this one). Shock Bookmark goes one further in that it lets you access favorite apps as well as favorite files in the context menu in addition to folders.

Like Folder Guide, Shock Bookmark allows you to right click on a folder in order to add it to the app’s context menu. However, it also features “copy to” and “move to” functions on right click for quickly moving or copying your files to your bookmarked folders (similar to “Send to Toys” above).

37-Open Target Shell Extension: [XP only]. This extension adds a right click context menu entry to Windows that shows up when you right-click on shortcut files, giving the option to instantly open the target folder where the item actually resides. This saves the user a few steps that would otherwise be required right-clicking properties then “find target” on XP.

Vista users do not need this as this functionality is already built into that OS.

38- MenuApp: this tiny free app lets you create shortcuts to folders that, when clicked on, display a browsable, cascading-style menu similar to the Windows Start menu. You can create a shortcut folder any folder(s) you like and place them in all sorts of convenient places, such as the quick launch menu area, on your desktop, or within your favorite launcher app, etc.

39- Visual Subst: this freeware presents an interesting way to access favorite folders by mapping them as virtual drives that you could access from “My Computer”.

The idea is that this makes it easier to access these using on or two clicks from open/save dialogs or by navigating from anywhere all the way back to the root drive.

40- Visual Task Tips: [XP only] a lightweight freeware utility that brings thumbnail previews to minimized task bar items in Windows XP. Simply hover over a minimized taskbar button to display a preview pop-up (Windows Vista already has this functionality built in).

Check out my original Freewaregenius site design template in the screenshot!

41- Explorer BreadCrumbs: [XP only] a free Windows explorer extension that add a “breadcrumbs navigation” toolbar for folders in XP. The breadcrumb navigation method is already built into Windows Vista; it comprises a flat path structure whereby each “node” in the path is interactive and can be navigated at will in order to quickly move back and forth across the folder structure.

Note: QT Address Bar is another freeware that delivers the same functionality.

42- VSO Image Resizer: delivers image conversion and resizing as a function within the Windows explorer context menu. What is interesting about VSO Image resizer, aside from the fact that it does a great job, is that it allows for the creation of different size/format/quality profiles that make it easy for the user to right click and quickly perform multiple, different resizing operation while accessing their commonly used settings. Also allows for image processing in batch.

43- XnView Shell Extension: freeware that embeds a number of image-related operations into the Windows context menu, including an interesting image preview inside the right click menu. Other functions include the ability to edit image IPTC metadata and to resize image and/or convert them to other image formats on-the-fly

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[Editor’s note: this review was written by Freewaregenius contributor Gaurav Paul with subsequent editing by the webmaster].

There are two kinds of people reading this right now; readers in the first group are excited about the prospect of easily and quickly backing up their drivers and being able to restore all or some of them at will. Readers in the second group, on the other hand, are not quite sure (a) why this is of value, and/or (b) why they should bother with this activity at all.

The answer to these questions is simple: backing up drivers is very useful in case things go wrong. Specifically, if you decide to re-install your operating system it is possible/likely that you will need to invest considerable time and energy hunting down the correct device drivers online or on random CDs that you didn’t know you had. You can prevent this by using a program like DriverBackup and instantly get all of your drivers restored. The other situation where having drivers backed up is useful is if your drivers are corrupted and/or your hardware is not working properly, inwhich case you can use DriverBackup to remove the drivers as well as quickly get your working drivers back.

Here are some notes on this program:

• The main window: lists all types of drivers that are installed in the system with their full info.
• Selection modes: the three available modes of operation are (a) Backup (b)Restore, and (c)Remove
• The backup process: is fairly straightforward. Check the drivers you want to backup, select the path, and (optionally) enter a short description about the device/driver type.
• Filtering: you can filter the list of drivers using tabs ("All" "OEM", and "Third Party" drivers). You can also use the "Digital Signature" and "Full portability" buttons to select the device which has WHQL(Windows Hardware Quality Labs) signature and full portability button list you the device drivers which has full capability to be backup and restore.
• Restore: allows you to select and restore the previous versions of drivers that has been saved by the Driverbackup program in case of errors.
• Remove drivers: gives you a very simply and handy method to remove drivers, if that is what you want.
• Automatic Driver Restoration: this functionality under "Start Backup" is designed to create the necessary files if the drivers are to be restored on a system which doesn’t have "DriverBackup" installed. The "Generate file for auto-restoration” checkbox forces DriverBackup! to generate executable files for automatic drivers’ restoration. These files include a batch file “Restore.bat” and “Autorun.inf” that enables autorun in removable devices (USB Flash,CD-DVD-ROM). Note that in order to enable autorun, backup files (Backup Info file “.BKI” and directory tree) must be copied in the root path of device.
• Command Line Builder: this feature can be accessed from the "Tools" menu and is like magic; it offfers a simple way to access DriverBackup from a command line or script. For example you can burn the driver files into a Windows CD and all drivers can be installed from the command line at once; very cool!

The verdict: this program combines powerful functionality with an Easy GUI that both a "normal" and advanced user can easily interact with. There is no hitch in the backup/restore functionality, and expert functions like "Command line Builder" and "Automatic Driver Restoration" can be extremely useful.

One thing comes to mind with respect to "Automatic Driver Restoration; we’ve previously featured a similar program on Freewaregenius, DriverMax, which is excellent and offers a similar functionality, but requires installation on a new computer in order to restore drivers. In this light DriverBackup’s ability to create .exe files and restore in batch without the program itself being installed is a very nice innovation. An excellent software overall.

Version Tested: 2.0.0

Compatibility: 64-bit MS Windows, All 32-bit MS Windows (95/98/NT/2000/XP), Vista

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 319K).

I’ve written a number of postings about converting PDFs into Word DOCs or RTFs, including a comparison of free PDF-to-Word options. One issue that frequently comes up in comments and emails, however, is that of converting table-intensive PDFs, where someone might have pages of tables full of data in a PDF file that they want to be able to work with freely. For documents like this most PDF to DOC/RTF converters usually do not output something that is easy to work with. Even the best PDF to DOC converters can result in an unstructured jumble of data where columns and rows are not well defined, and where the data would be very hard to distangle without investing considerable time and effort into manually "massaging", re-formatting and restructuring the data, and having to check it against the original at every turn (which, for long documents, is not a practical option).

This is where PDF to Excel Free steps in. It is the first free service that I know of that can deliver high quality PDF to Excel conversions designed specifically to handle large tables of data and to transpose these into Excel with a high degree of fidelity.

The test: to test this service, I created a PDF report that had a number of data tables and other elements (see image to the right) and converted it to .XLS format using Free PDF to Excel. I also converted the same file to .DOC/RTF using three other free services for comparison purposes (Koolwire, PDF to Word Free, and Some PDF to Word Converter).

Needless to say, for the purposes of working with the data in Excel, Free PDF to Excel was the best solution in that (a) it created an XLS file that I could instantly load up in Excel and work with, and (b) was able to translated all tables and data perfectly, to the extent that the merged cells in the original were translated perfectly.

It is notable, however, that both Koolwire and PDF to Word Free were able to create a .DOC/RTF file where the data tables were converted well enough to allow for easy transfer to excel using some manual cut/paste activity. "Some PDF to Word" fared the worst, creating a useless, unrecognizable mesh that was impossible to work with.

Here are some more notes on this Free PDF to Excel:

• How it works: upload your PDF file into the Free PDF to Excel website and provide an email address. It will be processed for you on their servers and a link will be sent back to you where you can download the converted file.
• Results: converts your PDF to .XLS format with a high degree of fidelity for tables and data, as well as formatting and look-and-feel. Images and charts, however, are not rendered as well.
• Performance: very fast. The email with the converted file arrived in a manner of minutes.
• Privacy policy: can be found here. It promises that your files will not be looked at by a human at any point and that they will be deleted as soon as they are converted and emailed. Also promises that your email would be used solely to send your files and for no other reason.
• Max uploadable file size: is unclear. I tried uploading a 43 meg file to test for the usual 10 meg max file restriction; it seemed to accept and to NOT have a size restriction (the upload timed out, but that was probably due to my bad Starbucks WiFi connection).

The verdict: an excellent service. Although most people with PDF conversion needs are probably looking to convert them to Word DOC/RTF files, for those with data tables in their documents this service will prove invaluable. Simply terrific.

Compatibility: All platforms, all browsers.

Go to the PDF to Excel Free site.

I must admit that I almost passed over this program for a number of reasons: the “Express” (i.e. free) version has two paid counterparts, and it requires registration with a valid email to get a free license key; plus there are a number of good, free, screencasting freeware (e.g. CamStudio, Debut Video Capture), as well as well known web services like Wink and Jing.

However let me tell you from the get go that this software is simply excellent, and is in fact one of the best free programs in it’s class. It provides some excellent options than most freeware programs I’ve used do not, and it is a well thought out, well designed software.

Top 10 12 things that I really like about BB Flashback Express:

1. Change resolution while recording: you can capture the whole screen or part of the screen and the software can automatically resize the output to a pre-set resolution. For example you can capture fullscreen and set the output size to, say 640×480 and not have to worry about resizing it later on.
2. Can record moving graphics: from the options, you can specify whether to use the normal capture driver (for regular screen activity) or GDI/DirectX, for moving graphics and animations. I successfully tested capturing full-screen games; the results for both 2D and 3D graphics were excellent (although I did witness some choppiness with the 3D graphics, but am unsure as to what degree the settings I used contributed into this).
3. Can capture fullscreen, a user-defined region, or a specific window: I particularly like the third one (locking on and capturing a specific window); very useful when demo-ing software and for some reason most free screen recording programs lack this option.
4. Can record videocam input: how cool is that? I don’t have one so I did not test this.
5. Can create AVI’s, FLV’s, but also SWF’s: The latter is notable in that BB Flashback Express provides the option to create an interactive video (see below).
6. Can create interactive events inside a video: specifically when outputing to SWF, you can define “mouse click” events to stop/continue the video
7. Autoscroll (keep mouse in or near center): if you decide to export only a smaller subset of your movie (for example export a movie captured at 640×480 at, say, 320×240), you can ask BB Flashback Express to track the mouse and export the area around it. Which is to say you can keep the mouse at or near the center.
8. Cursor highlighting: you can highlight the mouse and mouseclicks so that they are emphasized on the screen (very useful for demoes). You can even edit exactly what the highlighting will look like (see image to the right).
9. Export specific range/frames only: although this free version does not allow you to edit the video directly, you can make a note of your desired beginning and end frames and enter those into the “wizard” that pops up on the export process.
10. Automatically upload to Youtube/web page: with your YouTube username and password. Or it will provide HTML and embed code to easily insert videos into your webpage.
11. Hotkeys: allows you to define hotkeys for use
12. The interface: can reside in the system tray or, interestingly, as a cool-looking strip in the taskbar.

Differences between free and paid versions: paid versions allow you to add text to your videos, to edit them visually on the timeline, and to export in more formats. There are other differences listed here. A nice set of features, but you can find freeware programs to substitute for them if you need to.

The verdict: simply terrific. One of the best in its class.

Version Tested: 2.6.1.1122

Compatibility: Windows 2000, XP, Vista; 32 and 64 bit.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 7.2 megs).

This article presents three handy free programs designed to remove installed applications from your system: Appremover, PC Decrapifier, and Revo Uninstraller. All three are portable (or, in the case of Revo, have a portable version available).

1- Appremover: uninstalls security applications

Have you ever uninstalled a security application only to discover that related files/folders/registry entries still remain on your computer? For some reason (I cannot put my finger on) this is actually not uncommon when uninstalling various antivirus and security apps. I remember uninstalling Norton AV many (many) years ago only to find traces of it all over my PC; at the time I used a free “Remove Norton” type app that did the job of really removing it completely. Appremover is similar, except it is not simply Norton specific and uninstalls a wide range of security programs.

2- PC Decrapifier: uninstalls many pre-installed trialware/shareware/crapware programs that come pre-installed on PC – in batch.

This one came out a couple of years ago and has become an indispensable part of my repertoire of tools whenever I work on a brand new computer (or, occasionally, when I work on Friends’ computers). PC Decrapifier supports a database of trialware programs and/or programs that come pre-installed on many brand name PCs. This database is constantly being updated, so always update or get the latest version of this program from its website when you need to use it.

One thing to note, however, is that there may be some programs on the list that you *may* not want to uninstall, so make sure that you browse the list of apps it found on your computer and uncheck anything you would like to keep before you run. Be especially careful if you’ve bought a license for a program whose trial version typically comes installed on new PCs (e.g. Adobe Reader,

PC Decrapifier is free for personal use, for commercial use you need to purchase a license. Paid version includes

3- Revo Uninstaller: to say that this one is a replacement for Microsoft’s inbuilt Add/Remove is an understatement; it’s Add/Remove’s distant cousin who discovered a cure for cancer and now spends his time securing medical supplies to needy kids in the third world (when he’s not writing a freeware blog, that is ).

What do you do if a program does not have an installer in Add/Remove? Look for an installer in it’s “Start Menu” entries first thing, then look in the program folder for an executable that looks like an uninstaller (something like uninstall.exe or unwise.exe). If you don’t find one then point Revo to the app (in hunter mode) and select uninstall; it will remove the program and all associated files from the hard drive and will most likely clean all traces of it in the registry (I’ve done this on occasion with good results). Note: Revo will also uninstall .NET Framework, Java.

Revo’s attraction is its combination of form and function; where form is concerned, the program looks pretty and will let you filter your list by typing something in, will let you sort by the date column (or any other column) in detail view, and will display your list of installed programs as icons, which looks really good.

But the function part is even better; Revo will look for and clean all traces of the program on the hard drive and in the registry. It offers 3 uninstall modes (safe, moderate, and advanced), whereby the user can set the level of aggressiveness that Revo will use when looking for traces. I always use “Moderate” scan, and can report that in over a year of usage it has always performed admirably; consistently finding and cleaning up leftover files and registry items and never removing any entries it shouldn’t have or otherwise causing any problems. I will recommend, however, that you always take a look at the list of registry entries slated for deletion, especially if uninstalling an app that has a very similar name to another app on your machine (e.g. app 1 is named “file split and merge”, whilst app 2 is named “split and merge files” or “Bob’s file split and merge”).

Links to program pages:

• Appremover (approx 2.56 megs)
• PC Decrapifier (approx. 1.6 megs)
• Revo Uninstaller (approx 1 meg).

This posting will discuss which of the following three programs deserves the title of “best freeware antivirus program”: Avira Antivir, Avast, or AVG. My conclusion: all three are very worthy contenders that can hold their own or surpass any heavyweight for-pay antivirus; however Anitvir and Avast are definitely in the first tier, while AVG is a close second tier.

There’s been a vigorous debate going on in the little “cbox” message box (in the sidebar) over which freeware antivirus program is best. This posting will explore this issue more closely. The objective is to go beyond the ubiquitous “I have used program x for y years now and it has kept me completely virus free” to a more substantial comparison.

The findings presented here are not my original work but come from a single source: AV-comparative.org’s antivirus comparison tests conduced in Nov 2008 (test #20) and Feb 2009 (test #21), which are the latest as of this writing. It is somewhat difficult to reference these as sources because the av-comparatives site disallows direct linking to the test results and requests that all links be to its root domain (presumably because new tests are always published and they do not want links to results that may be obsolete).

By way of comparison and to provide some perspective I will also include some of the numbers for two of the best paid antivirus programs: Kaspersky and ESET NOD32.

Where AVG has a good advantage is in the number of false positives (lower than both Antivir and Avast, both of which exhibit comparable numbers of false positives). However, AVG scores another strike against it in terms of its scanning speed, which is significantly slower than the other two.

The freeware version of Antivir displays an advertisement on every update, which is rather undesirable; however, this can be easily disabled (look here, here, or here). It also “does not support email scanning”; however, this is also a non-issue in my opinion, a red-herring designed to scare less tech-savvy users into purchasing the paid version. The reason I say this is a non-issue is because although Antivir may not scan your email for virus as it downloads, it will still protect you from it afterwards, not just during normal scans as it will also intercept it once it is on-disk and/or if and when it tries to act up.  In fact email scanning as such may be completely redundant and a waste of time; see this article for more info.

Antivir is my favorite freeware antivirus. It is best in terms of performance and, with the recent addition of an antispyware component it has become even more desirable. However, if asked to recommend a freeware antivirus Antivir comes with too many caveats and explanations (the nag screen, the email scanning (non)issue). It is easier to recommend Avast, as it provides comparable protection and performance, and is an excellent product.

AVG is my third choice. It also provides excellent protection and has the edge with respect to the least number of false positives, but its performance and detection rates lag behind the other two.

The numbers (and other issues considered):

1. Detection Rate / on-demand scans
2. Detecton Rate / predictive “heuristic” detection
3. Number of false positives
4. On-demand scanning speed
5. Versions tested
6. Links and downloads

• Avira Antivir: 99.7% detection rate
• Avast: 98.2%
• AVG: 93.0%
• Kaspersky (*): 97.1%
• ESET NOD32 (*): 97.6%

* Note: no free version of these offered. They are listed here to give ’perspective’.

The data seems to show that overall the detection rates are very similar (the differences are unlikely to be meaningful), with the exception of AVG which has a somewhat lower rate of detection than the others.

• Avira Antivir: 71% (over 1 week), 67% (over 4 weeks)
• Avast: 40% (over 1 week), 39% (over 4 weeks)
• AVG: 43% (over 1 week), 40% (over 4 weeks)
• Kaspersky(*): 71% (over 1 week), 60% (over 4 weeks)
• ESET NOD32(*): 54% (over 1 week), 51% (over 4 weeks)

The results above seem to show that when handling yet unknown threats (malicious code that is so brand new that it has not been added to the program’s database), Antivir and Kaspersky have an advantage over the others.

• Avira Antivir: 24
• Avast: 28
• AVG: 17
• Kaspersky (*): 14
• ESET NOD32 (*): 13

Interestingly, Avast and Antivir have significantly higher false positives than the two paid programs, with AVG having the lowest number of false positives of all three freeware antivirus programs.

• Avira Antivir: 13.6 MB/sec
• Avast: 15.4 MB/sec
• AVG: 6.8 MB/sec
• Kaspersky (*): 13.3 MB/sec
• ESET NOD32 (*): 13.2 MB/sec

On this metric AVG significantly lags behind the others, who are otherwise very similar, with Avast having a slight overall advantage.

• Avira Antivir: 8.2.0.374 (test 21), 8.1.0.362 (test 20)
• Avast: 4.8.1335 (test 21), 4.8.1229 (test 20)
• AVG: 8.0.234 (test 21),  8.0.156 (test 20)
• Kaspersky (*): 8.0.0.506a (test 21), 8.0.0.454 (test 20)
• ESET NOD32 (*): 3.0.684.0 (test 21), 3.0.669.0 (test 20)

• Avira Antivir free: see my Mar 2007 review of Antivir here.
• Avast free: free registration required
• AVG free

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[Editor’s note: this review was written by Freewaregenius contributor Carbonize. Check out his tech blog here].

As a web developer, having a powerful and versatile text editor that makes my work easier is extremely important to me. Fortunately, there are a handful of powerful freeware text editors to choose from, and PSPad is my text editor of choice. One of the most notable features is PSPad’s syntax highlighting, which makes it easy to see if I’ve not closed a string or a loop. Moreover the built in FTP client means I can work on files on the server without having to download them using another program before editing them. And the function auto complete with attributes means I don’t have to go looking up a function online.

Features: the following is just a selection of the features and tools PSPad offers.

• Tabbed Interface: So you can work on multiple documents at the same time
• Auto Completion: Press CTRL+J to pull up a list of possible functions/tags based on what you have typed and have PSPad finish typing them for you.
• File Compare: So you can easily see what’s different between two files
• FTP Client: So you can edit files without having to download them to your computer
• HTML Preview: You can see what your web pages will look like using the inbuilt browser. You can also point it at a local web server to test your scripts.
• HTML Multihighlighter: Using this you can have PSPad syntax highlight HTML, Javascript, CSS and a chosen language (PHP, VBscript etc) when viewing a file.
• Regex Search/Replace: You can use regular expressions when searching and replacing text for more power.
• Spell-checking: twenty languages are supported (as of this writing) – download the appropriate language dictionary from the program page. Also allows you to set up a custom user dictionary.
• Portable: Can be told to save it’s settings in the program folder so you can carry it on your USB stick.
• Matching Brace/Tag Highlighting: So you can easily see where a function, loop or HTML tag starts and ends.
• Macro Recorder: Record keystrokes to cut down on repetitive tasks
• TiDy Library: So you can have your HTML/XHTML/CSS checked and cleaned up
• ASCII table: Quickly get the hex or ascii value of any character along with it’s HTML entity if it has one. You can even double click on the current character in the status bar to have the table opene up with that character selected.
• Code Explorer: Lists the functions, methods, tags in a file so you can quickly jump to them
• Color Translator: quickly convert a color from it’s name, hex code or RGB values into another format and have PSPad insert it where the cursor is.
• Eye Dropper: A very useful tool. Minimises the PSPad window and when you click the mouse it will insert the colour that is beneath the cursor.
• Lorem Ipsum Generator: Inserts Lorem Ipsum text. You can specify number of words, if you want it between paragraph tags and how many words per paragraph.
• Hex editor: Hard to explain what a hex editor is but comes in useful.
• Case Change: Quickly change the case of the selected text to uppercase, lowercase or just capitalise the first character of every word.
• Different Line Endings: Can read and write files using DOS, Mac or Unix style line endings.
• Compress HTML: Removes spaces and line endings from HTML files to make them smaller.
• Convertors: A huge range of convertors to so such things as convert text to morse code, characters to named HTML entities and many more.

I’d just like to talk a bit more about PSPad’s Auto Completion. PSPad actually has two different methods of auto complete. The standard one is Ctrl+J which just completes the function name or the HTML tag. But PSPad also has Ctrl+Space which will not only complete the function name but will also put in what attributes the function takes. With HTML tags Ctrl+Space will often open up a window where that shows all possible attributes so you can fill them in in the window.

CONS: here’s an overview on some of the issues that can be improved.

• PSPad’s syntax highlighter is not always perfect. I’ve never seen any errors in normal HTML files but occasionally it will mess up with PHP, specially when used as part of the HTML Multihighlighter
• No code folding. A lot of people on the PSPad forums keep asking for this but I see little purpose in it myself.
• Doesn’t highlight all PHP functions as functions but weirdly it does support them all in code completion. Although I recently sent the maker a complete list of PHP functions so hopefully that may change.
• Sometimes when saving a file via FTP PSPad will lock up and you have no choice but to wait for it to finish doing what it’s doing otherwise you may lose the file if you terminate PSPad.

The verdict: at the end of the day I have been using PSPad for years and finding myself returning to it despite testing other text editors (Notepad++, RJ TextEd etc). I have found that it has all the functions I need and more. All the tools you need are simple to find and a few I have not seen in other editors such as the eye dropper and color converter. PSPad just makes work a lot easier in a lot of ways and the author of the program is active in his forums to answer questions.

Version Tested: 4.5.3 (2298)

Compatibility: Windows All.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 3.43 megs).

You should check this program out whether you are satisfied with your notes program or you’re looking for the next, best thing. (If you are in the latter category then read on; MindRaider may just be the program that you’re looking for).

There are FIVE things that you need to know about this program:

1. Tree hierarchy: allows you to organize and retrieve your notes within a tree-style hierarchical structure.
2. Notes tagging: in addition to the tree structure you could use a "free-form" structure through the use of tags (i.e. to use tags and hierarchies jointly).
3. Notes formats: you can create notes in multiple formats such as rich text, plain text, HTML, Twiki and even graphical sketches (see images to the right).
4. Links: allows you to embed links within your notes to other notes/outlines. You could also drag and drop elements into MindRaider (such as files or links in your browser). See this page for more info.
5. "Visual" component: this is very interesting. The software automatically generates a diagram of relationships using the tree hierarchy as well as any links that you’ve made within the notes.

More notes on this program below:

• Navigation: you can navigate using the hierarchical structure, using tag filters in the left column, using the tag cloud, or by clicking on the entities in the mind mapping diagram itself.
• The user experience: is simultaneously familiar (because of the hierarchical outline), as well as novel (because of some of the unique features). It is fairly straightforward in general but there is a lack of right-click context menus that is somewhat counter-intuitive (see wish list below).
• Tags: you can tag your notes and you can tag the outlines themselves (the two are sperate). For an example of a tag cloud see the image to the right.
• Attachments: you can attach files or links. You can even link to local folders, which is cool.
• Search: all notes text or search notes by tag.
• Categories: seven built-in categories to choose from: Important, Cool, ToDo, Personal, Later, Obsolete, Problem. These are not user defined and cannot be changed (which is OK as you have the tags to play with).
• Export: you can export your notes using several formats such as OMPL, Twiki, Atom or XML.

Wish list:

• Right-click context menus: they could significantly simplify/speed up working with the program, IMHO. Right clicking and getting .. nothing whatever .. takes a bit of getting used to.

The verdict: a very nice, innovative program. While at first it may seem somewhat involved, it really isn’t. This is a program that is well suited for handling a lot of information (if you do not have a large mass of notes then you may prefer something more straightforward).

It is a bit hard to judge the usefulness of the mindmap/diagram part (especially when it takes up around 30% of the screen area). You will easily get used to it though and I could see how it can become auseful navigation tool when handling a lot of data.

The bottom line is: this is a very nice program. I am now using it as my primary note-taking software.

Version Tested: 7.6

Compatibility: Windows, Linux, Mac.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 35.9 megs).