Software Reviews:

Introduction
On this page You will see the best products in a given category reviewed. This is the reason, why there are many Bs and even more As.

System Tools:

Maintenance Utilities

In this sector I only have personal experience with the Norton Utilities, which offer a well-rounded suite of tools to help you maintain your Computer. Aside from tried and trued programs, such as Norton Disk Dr, a replacement for Scan Disk, and Norton Speed Disk, an extremely fast substitute for Microsoft Defrag, this package (versions 3.0 and up), contains Norton Win-Doctor, which scans your registry, and other system files/DLLs, detects errors and repairs them. All in all I would say this is the best package available, because I have heard from others, who own nuts and bolts, that Symantec's product is far superior. For more information and trial versions, visit http://www.symantec.com/.

Symantec Norton Utilities 2001 - Grade: A (Win 9x /Millenium, Win 2000/NT Compatible)

Uninstallers / Clean up programs

In this sector, as above, in Norton product gets best grade. The only problem is that there isn't a comparable program to compare it to. Earlier this year Symantec acquired Quarterdeck and took over its CleanSweep product line. I'm not sure, whether this is a good thing or not. Last Year a Product named Norton Uninstall Deluxe was released. This was more exact when recording installations, but wasn't quite so good when it came to speed. File Cleaning and Registry Cleaning were good, but CleanSweep was better, because of the Control one had. CleanSweep lacked precision when recording Installs (didn't notice Start Menu entries, etc.), but was faster. When cleaning the Hard Drive an interface problem existed in subwindows. Instead of merging two Programs with Problems into one excellent Version, Symantec took an easy way and simply redistributed the old Quarterdeck CleanSweep Version 4, with m i n o r changes. Let's hope that Version 2002 or higher is better. People who were lucky, and got Norton Uninstall Deluxe (no longer for sale), can decide to get this new release, without pausing, because (just like with the original) both CleanSweep and N. U. D. work together perfectly, complementing features. For information, go to: http://www.symantec.com/

Symantec Norton CleanSweep 2001 - Grade: B+ (Win 9x /Millenium, Win 2000/NT Compatible)

Symantec Norton Uninstall Deluxe 1.0 - Grade: B+ (Win 9x /Millenium Compatible)

Symantec Norton CleanSweep 2001 and Symantec Norton Uninstall Deluxe 1.0 - Grade: A

Processor Heat Sinks

I have but one suggestion to make, concerning these Programs. Many good Freeware Versions are available for download at various sites around the world. I personally use Rain, which is free and available at http://cpu.simplenet.com/leading_wintech/ (Note: leading_wintech/). Alone its price and support of various Processors (Intel Pentium II/III, AMD K6 / K6-2 /K6-3, IDT WinChips etc.) makes it great for anyone who doesn't need a fancy program with temperature meters and other gimmicks (consumes a lot of memory). Processor Heat Sinks are especially important for Laptop Users, because power is conserved and the temperature is lowered.

Rain 1.0 - Grade: A (Win 9x /Millenium Compatible)

Encryption Software

Quite clearly Network Associates (NAI) wins the award in this sector. PrettyGoodPrivacy is the industry standard software for this purpose. Combined with excellent interface, features and security this incredible piece of Software is even free. For more information, go to: http://www.nai.com/, or http://www.pgpi.com/ (the second address is easier when it comes to downloading the Software).

Network Associates PrettyGoodPrivacy - Grade: A+ (Win 9x /Millenium Compatible)

Anti Virus Software

Here I must say that two Companies, NAI (McAfee) and Symantec (Norton) make great Scanners. They are both veterans in this sector and it is hard to say, which of the two is better, because everything changes so fast here. Norton and McAffee have good update plans. So you actually can't go wrong with any of these Anti Virus Products. For information go to http://www.nai.com/ and http://www.symantec.com/ .

Network Associates McAfee Virus Scan 4.xx - Grade: A (Win 9x /Millenium Compatible)

Symantec Norton Anti Virus 2001 - Grade: A  (Win 9x /Millenium, Win 2000/NT Compatible)

(Un)zipping / (De)compression

Nico Mak Computing Inc. makes a very good Decompressor, that is the quasi industry standard. WinZip Version 8.0 has a fast (de)compression engine, a very easy and intuitive interface, many features and a self-extractor (diskspanning!!!). All this makes it a professional and yet easy to use Companion when surfing the Net (even has Browser Plugins!), backing up or simply trying to save room on your Hard Drive. A "must have"! Go to http://www.winzip.com/ . As an alternative try WinRAR. WinRar is compatible with almost any compression format, is very fast and can decompress file sequentially automatically. An excellent prgram as well.

WinRAR (newest Version) - Grade: A (Win 9x /Millenium, Win 2000/NT Compatible)

Nico Mak Computing Inc. WinZip v. 8.0 - Grade: B+ (Win 9x /Millenium, Win 2000/NT Compatible)

Graphic Viewers

In this extremely wide field, one Program is considered the standard. ACDSee by ACDSee Systems is an excellent viewer, with plentiful options for viewing practically any Graphics File Format, You can think of. In addition it offers you the ability to view all files in a directory as a slideshow, preview them as thumbnails or simply open them via your favourite filemanager. This Software is available as a shareware download from the ACDSee Website. ( I don't have the Address available at the moment, but I'll add with the next update. Try Searching for the Site or search at http://www.download.com/ , if you find it, you can save me work by E-Mailing it to me.) I have written a free alternative to ACDSee. Please check out the "Own Programs" Section for more details.

S.H. Software Solutions  ImView Version 1.0x - Grade: N/A (Win 9x /Millenium, Win 2000/NT Compatible)

ACDSee Systems ACDSee 32 v. 2.4 - Grade: A- (Win 9x /Millenium, Win 2000/NT Compatible)

Partitioning Tools

Powerquest earns the Award as the maker of the best Partition Management tool. This great Tool allows you to repartition your Hard Drive, while Windows is running and without loosing any data on the existing Partitions. A quantum leap from the "good" old FDISK that has been bundled with DOS and Windows alike, virtually unchanged, ever since the PC came out of the dark ages of computing. It also recognizes many different File Systems (FAT, FAT32, NTFS / NTFS5). Version 6 is fully Windows 2000 compatible. All in all the best you can get.. For more Information go to http://www.powerquest.com/.

Powerquest Partition Magic 6.0 - Grade: A (Win 9x /Millenium, Win 2000/NT Compatible)

Tweaking Tools

Here one must first say, that I can reach no definitive decision, because, new Versions of different products are being released continually. I will now begin the lengthy process of evaluating. I will review further Tweaks here in the future, so stay tuned.

System Tweaks

Tweak UI by Microsoft is my favorite, mostly, because it doesn't involve any long installation process. To be precise, one only has to Right-Click, select install, and the software is embedded into the Operating System. When it comes to options, it is about average, maybe a little above. It is quite clear, that the Windows 98 Version is superior to the Windows 95 Version. I know, that using the 95 Version in Windows 98 can damage your System, but if this is true the other way around I do not know. Since these Utilities are downloadable for free from http://www.microsoft.com/ or other quality download site / archive they belong in every well managed Computer.

Microsoft Tweak UI for Windows Millenium and Windows 2000 - Grade A-

Microsoft Tweak UI for Windows 98 - Grade: A -

Microsoft Tweak UI for Windows 95 - Grade: B +

Graphic Card Tweaks

PowerStrip is a good program for those of you out there, who want to get the most out of Your Graphics Card(s). One can't say very much about it, except that it lets you overclock your Chip (I don't recommend it!), change refresh rates etc. all in all of some use. Go to www.entechtaiwan.com .

PowerStrip 3.0 - Grade: A (Win 9x /Millenium, Win 2000/NT Compatible)

Applications:

Office Suites

In this Sector I think Microsoft offers the most well rounded and practical package, from Programs like Word all the way to Excel, Access, PowerPoint and etc.. Maybe it's just because I have worked with the Suite from the good old Version 6.0 for Windows 3.1 all the way to 9.0 a.k.a. Office 2000. It has the most intuitive Interface and just "feels" solid. Not much more I can say. Only one thing: You can't go wrong with Microsoft's Product, at least in this category.

Printing Programs

Although Microsoft Publisher comes with Office and is quite nice, No Program can match up to Broderbund's Print Shop Deluxe, in any of it's flavors. Even in a very early Version three Years old, this incredible Product smashes any Competitor. In Minutes you can create excellent looking Documents. Extremely easy to use, there is nothing, no even Publisher that can measure up to the Print Shop. A bit of trivia on the side: Print Shop has been around since the Commodore 64 and this probably explains, why the Programmers at Borderbund know what they are doing. More Infos at http://www.broderbund.com/ .

Internet Browsers

A field with two major Competitors, Microsoft and Netscape. Well… I sort of prefer Netscape from the feel, but on the other hand Internet Explorer 5.5 is fast and full of practical features. Since they are both free I'd keep em both on your PC. Now I'll say something most Microsoft haters will hate to hear: but if I had to choose, I would take IE, simply because it is much more stable and has Outlook Express, which is much better than Netscapes offering. Netscape 6 is quick when it comes to rendering content, but often displays the pages incorrectly. Aside from this the Program is buggy, slow and sluggish. It's kinda fun for people who like to experiment, but Microsoft in general has a far superior product. Find information at http://www.netscape.com/ and http://www.microsoft.com/ .

Final Remarks

This page site is being revamped, so new content will be added periodically.