Software Reviews

Infopackets Reader 'nisarg' writes: " Dear Dennis, I was trying to understand the exact difference between Registry Cleaner software and Spyware Cleaner (antiSpyware) software. Actually, I am confused between these two kinds of software. Could you ... please tell me the difference, and also does the 'Adaware SE - lavasoft' clean both the System Registry, or does it just clean Spyware; if it does not clean the Registry, then what software do you suggest to clean the registry? I do appreciate your time. Thank You. " My response: Before answering your question, first let me briefly explain what the ... (view more)

Distant Suns 6 (Special Edition-Free Version) is a great astronomy program that lets you see the stars and the constellations just as if it was a clear, dark night at your desk. Distant Suns SE allows you to view the night sky as it currently ... appears outside your house or any time in the past or future. You can choose which direction to look and whether you wish to see the outlines of the constellations displayed. Other features allow you to zoom in on some of the planets for a closer look or hover above the earth for a look at our home. It's very cool! Click here for a screenshot. You can ... (view more)

WinRoll is an add-on for managing all of the open windows on your desktop. If you typically have more than four or five windows open, it can be a chore switching between windows. WinRoll will "roll up" a window when you right click on its title bar. ... Right click again and it unrolls. Hold down the alt key before clicking and all open windows roll up. Quote from the homepage: " Make a window roll into its title bar, send it to the back or make it stay on top. Minimize, maximize or close all visible windows, including minimizing to the tray area. Make a window translucent on Windows 2000 or ... (view more)

I happened to be walking by a co-worker's PC and I noticed his cool looking "Matrix" screensaver. I saw that it was from Kellysoftware.com so I clicked on over to check it out. After installing, I found it to be one of the best freeware Matrix ... screensavers around. It has lots of features and it even displays your PC system properties at the top of the screen (if so desired). See a screenshot of the Matrix Screensaver Download Matrix screensaver Join the rest of the freeware fanatics at Clif Notes Newsletter, today! (view more)

Infopackets Reader Leslie D. writes: “ Dear Infopackets Team, How do you choose the software your review? Do you find new products or do people bring them to your attention? I am curious because I see there are many programs reviewed through i ...nfopackets.com. ” Doug's answer: Great question! ;-) While I can't speak for everyone on the Team, most of us find things by looking over download sites, seeing what is available through search engines, and by listening to others who have found software gems in their computing travels. For example: Dennis finds software through Snapfiles , ...ref="/news/1042/how-does-infopackets-select-software-review" class="more-link">view more)

At some point, we've all stumbled across a .PDF (Portable Document File) on the Internet. And most of us use Adobe Acrobat Reader (free) to read these files. Acrobat Reader has grown substantially in size over the years; in fact, the latest ... downloadable version is now over 16 megabytes in size! As a result, Acrobat takes it takes longer to launch a .PDF file for viewing. If you're sick and tired of waiting for your .PDF's to launch, I suggest you try Foxit PDF Reader. FoxIt has a considerably smaller footprint that Acrobat Reader (at only 1.2 megabytes in size). To install, just unzip it to a ... (view more)

Have you ever lost track of a file on your PC? I got sick of using Windows Search (and waiting forever for it to find anything) and started looking for an alternative. Unfortunately, most of the Search programs I came across either didn't do what I ... wanted them to, or had a lot of overhead. For example: overhead can result as some search tools index your entire hard drive (similar to a file system table). Among other reasons, indexing is performed so that searching is limited to 1 huge database file (rather than scouring through the entire hard drive, bouncing from file to file, as is the case ... (view more)

I just got back from the 82nd annual Photo Marketing Association (PMA) trade show in Orlando, Florida, and I've got some new hot picks to share. With Kodak claiming that the digital photography market is now in "phase two," the rush to buy one is ... over, now we have to figure out how to track all the digital photos. WiFi is being added to cameras to enable images to be shared and stored in real-time. James Neal, GM for Digital Imaging at Sony boasts how Sony pioneered digital photography with the "first auto-focus body-integral SLR camera in 1985." Sony acquired Minolta's assets when they shut ... (view more)

Ashampoo delivers once again with the highly anticipated Burning Studio 6! Known for maintaining functionality and without compromising ease-of-use, Ashampoo CD / DVD Burning Studio 6 incorporates many new and exciting features, including: NEW: ... Support for over 1,700 CD, DVD and Blu-ray burners (with up to 25GB of storage *per* layer)! NEW: Feature-rich file backup utility for CDs, DVDs and Blu-Ray discs, including: password protection, compression, spanning and restoration to original file locations! NEW: Integrated Audio CD ripper: extract CD audio tracks to WMA or WAV file format. NEW: ... (view more)

Bring back 'far out' memories of the 1960's with "Drempels" -- a psychedelic celebration of color and motion for your desktop! From the Drempels website: " Drempels makes colorful, swirling, hallucinogenic patterns that resemble a hurricane or ... tornado. It normally runs in your Windows background or 'desktop', replacing your old still-image wallpaper with gently-animating visuals... and meanwhile, you can use your computer just like you normally would. It uses very little CPU overhead -- so little that it even runs smoothly on a 233 MHz system! Drempels can also be used as a screensaver; in ... (view more)