Software Reviews

Update 02 / 23 / 2005: Registry Mechanic 4.0 has just been released. Click here to read the newest review of Registry Mechanic 4.0 (including screenshots), or continue below to read Jake Ludington's review of Registry Mechanic version 2.0. -- The ... most common cause for system instability, crashes, and performance degradation is a poorly configured or un-optimized Windows Registry. Maintaining the Windows Registry using WinGuide's Registry Mechanic can avoid erratic system behavior, while improving overall PC performance. Let's start with the basics: What is the Windows Registry? The Windows ... (view more)

I was asked to provide an unbiased review of a program called WinBackup v1.63 by Li Utilities. OK -- I'm up for the challenge. WinBackup: Installation Installing WinBackup on my Windows XP was simple. After executing the setup file and specifying ... where I wanted the program files installed to, WinBackup completed the installation without asking any further questions. WinBackup: Intuitive Interface Since I'm a self-proclaimed 'Pro user', I decided to shut off the WinBackup Wizard after only viewing the first 3 screens. At this point, I chose to dive into the program blindly, in order to get a ... (view more)

How do you manage your digital pictures? A few weeks ago, Adriel Tan of E-Book Systems, Inc. sent me an email and asked if I would review a digital photo management program, called FlipAlbum 5 Suite. I thought that this would be a great opportunity ... to explore something new, especially since the software which came with my digital camera does not allow me to share my photos easily with friends. With this in mind, I downloaded and installed FlipAlbum 5 Suite on my machine. Here's what I found: FlipAlbum 5 Suite: a quick list of Features FlipAlbum is a unique software that organizes photos on ... (view more)

Yesterday's article about Spy Sweeper sparked interest from Readers. I received a few interesting comments and questions which I would like to address. Infopackets Reader David G. asks: " [Was Webroot's] Spy Sweeper made with stolen [database] code ... from either AdAware or Spybot S&D? I could be wrong, but I seem to remember reading something [about] this." My response: The short answer is simply, "No." The software in question is in reference to an article published in the Gazette earlier this year ("Controversy over Lavasoft Ad-aware and SpyBot S&D", ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ray M. asks: " I had a program that allowed me to play piano notes using my keyboard [on my old computer] ... [unfortunately I can't remember the name of the program] ... and would like to install one on my new computer. If you ... can [suggest] a program [which plays piano notes on the keyboard], I would greatly appreciate it. " My response: I didn't know of any piano programs off of the top of my head, so I searched Google and came across a site which provided an extensive list of shareware piano programs. http://pianoeducation.org/pnodsoft.html#IBM Many of the ... (view more)

If told you that 9 out of 10 PC's are infected with some form of Spyware, would you be concerned? According to Webroot Software, you should be! In general, Spyware is software which records information about you or your computer usage -- without ... your knowledge -- and then relays this information to a third party (quite often, for marketing purposes). Spyware has the ability to trace your every keystroke, and may record things such as passwords, credit card numbers, email addresses, and other personal information. All of this makes Spyware a serious threat to privacy and the protection of your ... (view more)

Last week, Infopackets Reader Ray M. asked if I knew of any freeware Piano programs he could download to his computer. Freeware Piano program? I personally didn't know of any (I haven't played Piano since I was a kid!), and suggested some picks I ... found on Google. I also asked Infopackets Readers to send me their favorite freeware picks, and here are the responses I received: Lisa C., and a number of other users highly recommended a program called "Aldo's Pianito". From the web site: " Pianito MicroStudio is an easy and funny piano synthesizer [plus] drum machine sequencer with ... (view more)

A while back, I was asked to review and critique a new program from Li Utilities: the same company who created WinTasks Professional and WinBackup. For the purpose of this article, I will explain basic tweaking terminology and how it applies to ... SpeedUpMyPC: all in Simple English. If you really want to learn about computer hardware and how tweaking can make a world difference -- you will definitely find this article an interesting read! OK, so what is SpeedUpMyPC? SpeedUpMyPC is a utility which runs quietly in the system Tray Bar. It monitors system resources, optimizes Internet connections, ... (view more)

Recall -- Because fonts are in such high demand, many of the so-called font web sites on the Internet are clouded with links to popup ads and flashy banners. In the last issue of the Gazette, I asked Readers if they knew of some font web sites which ... were easy to use and offered free fonts without the clutter of advertisements. Free TTF Font packs? Since then, I've received quite a few good suggestions. Dave W. from Pheonix, AZ. writes: " Looking for free fonts? I was steered to ExtremeFonts last year [after reading an issue of] Lockergnome. ExtremeFonts is one of the better fonts sites ... (view more)

Continued ... Die-hard Infopackets Reader Pippe1949 suggested FontAge.com, which has categories of fonts, including: "standard printing fonts, elegant, useful for headlines, plus weird and wonderful". http://www.fontage.com/ Ed R. and a few others ... suggested an email font group. " I belong to a free Fonts Group. The owner of this group sends out a .ZIP file [full] of free fonts to all members about once a week. You may want to check with the list owner before announcing his group to your list or he might be overwhelmed by thousands of applications. " http://groups.yahoo.com ... (view more)