Software Reviews

According to the Washington Post, the "number of phishing Web sites skyrocketed in December [2005], as did the number of sites designed to spread password-stealing badware, according to the most recent report from the Anti-Phishing Working Group." ... Furthermore, it's been estimated that the number of phishing web sites rose 55 percent from November to December in 2005. (Source: WashingtonPost.com ). So what can you do to protect yourself? SiteAdvisor is an investigatory service that monitors web surfing habits and offers a safety-rating on the sites you visit and those that appear in ... (view more)

Diskeeper Lite is a free disk defrag program. In a nutshell: defragging optimizes your hard drive and makes Windows run faster. Diskeeper versus Windows Defrag I used to have problems getting Windows defrag to work properly and when it did, it took ... hours to defrag my drives. I've been using Diskeeper Lite on my older PCs for at least two years now. Diskeeper Lite is much faster than Windows defrag and even runs while you are surfing or checking email. Diskeeper Lite: not compatible with XP? Diskeeper.com states that Diskeeper Lite will run on every Windows version except Win95; however, I ... (view more)

Earlier this year I went on a quest to find the smallest, most user-friendly freeware MP3 player. My quest ended when I came across a little gem called SysTrayPlay ("STP"), created by Youri Stous. Prior to STP, I used 1by1: the smallest functional ... player I've seen to-date. In fact, STP has almost the same footprint as 1by1; however, I found that STP offers just a few more extra features that I find extraordinarily compelling. STP is downloaded as a zip file and you only need to extract it to a folder to use it. STP takes up only 228kb unpacked and is actually much smaller than most ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader James D. writes: " Dear Dennis, After reading your in-depth review on Acronis True Image [disaster recovery / disk imaging software], I immediately purchased a registered copy. Unfortunately, I've run into a problem being able to ... record my image backups directly to DVD. According to Acronis, I need to install packet-writing software in order for this to work. What is packet writing software and why isn't it included as part of the Acronis package? " My response: This is a frequently asked question. In short: Packet Writing software is a "plugin" (per se ... (view more)

Total Uninstall is one of those "must-have" utilities for anyone who likes to download and install new applications on a regular basis. Case and point: The "Add/Remove" function in Control Panel (via Windows) is only as good as its uninstall log ... [hint: the uninstall log tells the "Add/Remove" function which files to uninstall]. Furthermore: an uninstall log is created by the a program once it's installed to the system ... and the program is created by a programmer. So, to put all together: an uninstall log is only as good as the programmer. If the programmer is forgetful and sloppy ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Francoise' writes: " Dear Dennis, Thanks for a great web site. I've learned a lot reading your articles. Question: I just bought a new computer and miss the CleanSweep from Norton System Works 2002 that I have on my old machine. ... I have been looking around for a utility that removes most URL's from the Internet Explorer address toolbar but keeps those that I use often. CleanSweep had a way of leaving those that I use regularly and delete the others. I tried a few apps that clear IE History but those pesky URLs are still there. Do you know of any utility (part of a bundle is ... (view more)

RagTime Solo is a free desktop publishing alternative to Microsoft Word and Excel. RagTime Solo weighs in at only 49 megabytes (installed) and packs quite a punch. It does everything a desktop publishing program needs to do and it's all in one ... convenient user interface. Compared to MS Office (which seems to lag on my system), RagTime solo seems to zip through everything. RagTime Solo is compatible with Word 97 and can also export file to HTML format. RagTime Solo will run on nearly all Windows versions and is free for non-commercial use. Quote from RagTime Solo web site: " ... Give your work ... (view more)

While I was on the way home from work one day, I was thinking how I kept typing the same headings and formatting commands over and over again. Maybe I could write a quick and dirty program to help me with the formatting? The program would need to ... show me an interface that would let me paste in text and URLs to make a new review with the formatting already done for me. Thankfully, my coding 'wish' came true when I accidentally stumbled onto a program called, the 'Form Letter Machine' later that evening. The Form Letter Machine: How it Works The Form Letter Machine was fairly easy for me to ... (view more)

WikiHow is a website in the wikipedia tradition where you can find out how to do many things. If you are an expert in some special field, you can write your own "how to" article and publish it here. That's what " wiki " websites are all about. If ... you ever want to create your own personal wiki for free, check out pbWiki . From the wikiHow website: " wikiHow is a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest how-to manual. With your contributions, we can create a free resource that helps people by offering clear, concise solutions to the problems of everyday life. Please join us by ... (view more)

EasyCleaner is an easy way to unclog your PC. I've been using it for a long time because I really like the simple interface and how "easy" it is to use. EasyCleaner does a good job of cleaning up registry entries, temp files, MRU (Most Recently ... Used) lists, and many other items that you don't need on your computer. EasyCleaner also can be updated through auto-updates. Unfortunately, EasyCleaner is under some kind of dispute and the web page most people go to download EasyCleaner is listing it as shareware (at $25 to register). Fortunately, I found the website that hosts the freeware version ... (view more)