Software Reviews

Have you ever been late for an appointment because you spent too much time playing on the computer? Based on my own experience, visual queues (like the reminders in Microsoft Outlook) are fairly easy to dismiss and ignore. To combat this bad habit, ... I use a series of audible and visual cues to remind myself of impending events. What is Say the Time? Say the Time is a system tray clock replacement with an additional calendar, scheduler, and sound features. Say the Time Features: The System Tray Calendar provides quick access to date, time, and appointment information -- all you need to do is ... (view more)

I love reading: online news, books, magazines -- put text in front of me, and I'll read it. My reading comprehension starts to decline if I push myself beyond a 350 words-per-minute pace. Someday, I hope to cross the 500 wpm mark. And, with some ... practice and the help of AceReader Pro, I just might get there. What is AceReader Pro? AceReader Pro is a software tool designed to improve reading skills through three distinctive toolsets. An assessment tool tests for current reading skill and tracks progress through periodic skill testing. A training tool teaches users to become more proficient ... (view more)

Do your eyes ever get tired from reading the screen? Have you ever wanted to listen to your emails and documents -- rather than read them? Quite often, I'm faced both these scenarios. And since I do a lot of traveling, it's not always feasible to ... bring my laptop along with me to get caught up on some reading. So, when my eyes are exhausted and when I just want to sit back and relax, I use a program called TextAloud to listen to my documents and emails. How does TextAloud work? In a nutshell, TextAloud converts text into spoken audio. With TextAloud, you can either listen to the audio ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Gail from Houston writes: " Dennis, I *love* your newsletter! Thanks so much for doing it! I am having trouble with my printer. The more programs that are open, the slower my printer runs. I've pressed CTRL + ALT + DEL and brought ... up the Task Manager and closed as many applications as I could [in order to free up system resources in hopes of speeding things up]. My questions are: How come there's so much stuff open in Task Manager? How do I [prevent tasks that I don't want] from opening? How can I tell which programs are going to shut down my computer (because I always ... (view more)

Have you ever sent an email to someone and wondered if your message was opened by the recipient? Yesterday, Infopackets Reader Brian 'BigJohn2' asked if I knew of a program which could do just that. After some prodding and poking around Google, I ... came across a program called MsgTag [Message Tag]. In a nutshell, MsgTag works by injecting a traceable object into outgoing emails. When the message is opened by the recipient, MsgTag alerts the sender with an email receipt that the message has been read. As I discussed briefly in yesterday's article, there are 3 different flavors of Message Tag. I ... (view more)

If you have an e-mail address, you probably also have at least one 'forwarding friend' to e-mail every joke, urban myth, and karma-building novelty message in circulation. If you don't have a forwarding friend, chances are, you are the forwarding ... friend. Don't get me wrong -- there's no shame in forwarding jokes, stories, and other bits of textual entertainment. There are, however, 3 Golden Email Etiquette Rules one must follow when forwarding messages, and they are: Remove all '>' or '|' tags before sending the message. They make jokes hard to read and they bloat the message size, making ... (view more)

I've got some good news and some bad news. First, the bad news: I've just received word that my favorite privacy protection / cleaning utility (Window Washer) will be increasing in price starting January 5th, 2004. The official word from David Dunn ... @ Webroot is: " ... We have raised the price of Window Washer to $39.95. This updated pricing actually rolled out on Webroot.com with the release of Window Washer v.5.0 ... The added functionality of this new release [has been] combined with the addition of a free copy of My Personal Favorites [an innovative tool for securing and organizing ... (view more)

Removing invalid Windows Registry entries with a Registry cleaner, like Registry Mechanic , helps reduce errors and is a necessary part of keeping the operating system clean. Additional performance benefits can be achieved by eliminating Registry ... fragmentation and compacting the Registry database. Several tools assist in compacting and defragmenting the Registry, including Registry Compactor. What is the Windows Registry? The Windows Registry is a database containing all the information about the operating system and installed applications. The Registry stores information about things like ... (view more)

Recall: Last week, Jake Ludington wrote a review on a program called "Move Me", which transfers programs and user data from an old computer to a new computer: Move Me Review After the review was published, I received the following question from ... Infopackets Reader Vernon B.: " Will the 'Move Me' software convert programs from Windows 98 to XP such as Microsoft Works, Word, Roxio, and many other programs? PS: Thank you for the infopackets newsletter each week." I forwarded Vernon's question to Jake, and he responded: " Move Me will transfer applications between any two ... (view more)

If you think you might be getting a new computer during the upcoming holiday season, make sure you bookmark this review! The one dreadful thing about upgrading to a new computer is the process of having to transfer all your applications, data, and ... files from the old computer to the new one. Fortunately, there is a program called "Move Me" which can make upgrading to a new computer completely hassle-free. What is Move Me? Move Me is an application to simplify the process of configuring the settings from your old computer on a new computer. Move Me transfers all Windows preferences to ... (view more)