Steve's Ravin' Reviews
~~Steve Mills
Boy, did this
turn out to be a hodge podge this month. As I began working on the column, I
realized that there were several programs that I unearthed this month that
have become a regular part of my working repertoire. These are utilities and
programs that you nearly forget about because they just quickly and quietly
do their job. I believe you will be pleased with any of them, if you need
that particular functionality.
THIS MONTH'S REVIEWS
Your suggestions are welcome and encouraged.
(steve@inil.com)
Take Care…..
Steve
Program: Address Fixer
Version and Date: Unknown
Author: DYMO
Web Site
License: Freeware
Rating: 5 Geezers
I had been looking for a simple program to
check addresses for some time. Everything was too complicated and I had been
using WOPR under Microsoft Word to accomplish this. Address Fixer is
produced by DYMO to introduce people to their printers, but I see no
restrictions on use.
Address Fixer automatically checks any US
address against the USPS master database while you're connected to the
Internet. Mistakes are automatically corrected, the ZIP+4 is added, and
formatting is adjusted to Post Office standards.
Address Fixer works as a stand-alone
Windows utility, or with Microsoft Word, Palm OS4 and higher and the latest
DYMO LabelWriter software.
It’s lightening fast and accurate. I use it
daily.
Program: STG Thumb
Version and Date: 1.62 4/4/02
Author: STG
Web Site
License: Freeware
Rating: 6 Geezers
This is one of those
areas where I’ve probably tested a dozen or more programs which do the same
thing and this is the winner. Once again, I wanted a program to do one thing
and do it well – produce thumbnail images from larger pictures and produce a
simple, but functional web page. Here it is.
You may notice that
the release date was a couple of days ago. I had written the author that I
was experiencing some interface issues under certain configurations of XP. I
also apologized for requesting support on a totally free program. I got a
nice note back explaining that the bug was a problem with a support library
and they would recompile the program. By the end of the day it was done. I
should add that I wrote without mentioning I was doing a review.
It has a boat load of
features. Here are some:
-
You can
convert from several formats (AVI;GIF;JPG;TIF;PNG;BMP;PCX;WMF;EMF;ICO;CUR).
Outputs to JPG.
-
On animated GIFs and
AVIs, you get thumbnails of the first frame.
-
Option to add a
prefix or a suffix to the thumbnails filenames so that you can easily
identify them.
-
Option to
auto-rotate images to get a better fit.
-
You can apply
special effects to the thumbnails: Blur, Sharpen, Emboss, Fuzzy Blur.
-
New Settings Option:
effects to apply to the thumbnail. Blur, Sharpen, Emboss, Fuzzy Blur
-
Quick View: double
click to open on the internal file viewer
-
Drag and Drop: you
can drag and drop files from Windows Explorer directly into the file list.
-
New Option: Only
Convert Selected Files. Convert only selected files instead of all listed.
-
Progress screen
during conversion
-
Thumbnail Catalog
Generation
The interface is
intuitive and you’ll be using this program in minutes after installing it.
Program: Ad-aware
Version and Date: 5.81 5/7/02
Author: Lavasoft
Web Site
License: Freeware
Rating: 6 Geezers
This is one of those
programs I wish we didn’t need. Believe me, I understand that we are going
to need commercial support to help defray the cost of the Internet, but
these programs that plant themselves on your hard drive and send info to the
home office are going too far. Ad-aware is a free multi spyware removal
utility, that scans your memory, registry and hard drives for known spyware
components and lets you remove them safely. Like a virus program, they
update signature files regularly and have a program to automate the
process.
Get
This!
Program: MyIE
Version and Date: 3.2
Author: Unknown
Website
License: Freeware
Rating: 5 Geezers
<editor's note: it seems every download link I could find for version
3.2 is not working. So, reader Tom sent me this link to version 1.95
which does appear to work...at least for now:
http://web.qx.net/nemesis2/myie.html good luck!>
My work as a tech
support clerk requires me to open a lot of browser windows and I gradually
have become a fan of some of the Internet Explorer variants, which have a
tabbed interface to manage multiple Windows. Currently, I use NetCaptor, but
I will probably be switching to myIE. There is a fairly steep curve to
learning any of these programs, so changing is done only after due
consideration.
MyIE has a lot of neat
features for managing cookies and pop-up windows. The help is primarily in
English. It’s small and requires no installation. Just put the files in a
directory, point to the executable and go. It requires IE 5 or above.
This is one good piece
of software.
Final Thought
~
Committee:
A group that keeps minutes and wastes hours.
Steve
Mills has been reviewing software in different capacities for many years.
He
has recently left his job with a search engine consulting firm and is
looking for a new adventure.
,
