A List of Apps, Reviewed

[Slimy]

WARNING: Please Keep in mind that this thread not been updated for over 5 weeks. Many areas may be outdated! A new thread similar to this one is coming, but that is a long way off. I recommend this thread to be used as a reference thread ;)

This thread and review is on-going and I will be editing it as I add the finishing touches to every section. I've gone through a bunch of apps recently and i'm going to post my findings. Please don't consider this as your only source of info on an app, this is based on what I need and doesn't have to work for you at all. It is not a full review but more of a summary and outline. I recommend trying an app first before deciding anything based on what I say.

\-->P2P<--/ -> Post #183 and Speed Guide

\-->Tweaking & Cleaning<--/

Many apps ask you to pay, don't bother without trialing them first. There are many free gems in this section, so keep your eyes open!

>Regedit<

Part of Windows

1. Accesible via run>regedit

2. Always backup your registry before using regedit

3. Don't underestimate the power of this app

>Disk Cleanup<

Comes with Windows

Solid, but is needing a replacement, good compression part, remove old system restore entries etc.

>X-Setup Pro<

7.2 [Worth A Shot]

1. Best app for tweaking, huge range and variety of tweaks and great features

2. Can download extra plugins or remove uneeded ones

3. Nice interface, quick and good descriptions

4. Shareware

This program is unbeatable but unfortunately costs money, needs a good wizard...

Uninstalled

>Safe XP or Game XP<

1.5 and 1.4 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Junk, absolutely crap, doesn't even begin to compare with x-setup

2. Has many tweaks that are considered pointless, description is full of lies

3. horrible interface, bull**** app

This is an absolute waste of space...

Uninstalled

>TuneUp Utilities 2006<

5.0 [Worth A Shot]

1. Best set of tweaking/cleaning utilities

2. Small yet very efficient

4. Worth the money... recommend to try for 30 days

#1 set of utilities...

Stays on Computer

>System Mechanic Professional<

6 [Worth A Shot]

1. Great set of utilities, many features

2. Bad defragger, not bad interface, certain utilities poorly made, good hardrive scrubbing utility

3. If you only want one app, this is a good option

Don't need it and costs too much...

Uninstalled

>Tweak UI<

2.1 [Worth A Shot]

1. Thank you Microsoft! Very good tweaking powertoy!

2. Small, efficient, free, many features... very good!

3. Gives nice access to some well hidden/forgotten registry entries

Uneeded if you have tuneup06 and x-setup...

Uninstalled

>WINner Tweak<

3.5.1 [Worth A Shot]

1. Very well put together app, some great features

2. Some annoying bugs, but many updates

3. Free

I don't really need this, but it is a very good app...

Uninstalled

>Norton System Works<

2006 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Antivirus detects many viruses but often has trouble removing them

2. Norton Utilities is good, but not worth the money, defragger is also junk

3. Takes way too much memory to run, horrible slow down on the system

Rip-off, definitely not worth your money...

Uninstalled

>SpeedUpMyPC<

2.0 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Don't waste your money, better free alternatives

2. Bad spyware/adware remover and pop-up blocker is junk

3. system overview feature comes in useful sometimes

No point of purchasing this app...

Uninstalled

>TweakNow PowerPack 2006<

1.1.2 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Better alternatives, needs some vast improvements

2. Regcleaner is not too bad, but not amazing

3. Costs way too much

Unfortunately, it's not needed...

Uninstalled

>Advanced XP Tweak<

2.5.2 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. X-setup pro offers much more options, or just use regedit

2. Good interface but lack of features, small file size

3. Needs some changes and certain things changed

Good start but not any recent good updates..

Uninstalled

>Tweaking Toolbox<

1.6 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Small and good interface

2. Horrible price, not worth the lack of features

Nope, just doesn't show any potential...

Uninstalled

>WinBoost<

4.9 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Good regcleaner

2. Nice interface

3. Bad tweaking tools

Although pretty good, it's not very competitive...

Uninstalled

>MagicTweak<

3.2 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Not many updates, poor interface

2. Not enough features

3. Costs money as if it was worth more than a penny

Just another amateur tweaking tool...

Uninstalled

>Tweak Manager<

2.1 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Very good interface, similar to x-setup pro

2. large range of features

3. not free and not worth the money, not many updates

Better options...

Uninstalled

>TweakXP<

4 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Bloatware, slow

2. Many features are pointless

3. Definitely not worth the money

Not to be confused with the great tweakxp.com...

Uninstalled

>CCleaner< (Deletes Temp files + Registry Entries)

1.27 [Worth A Shot]

1. Very small, clean interface, great cleaning instructions

2. Very fast, customizable

3. Basic but usually safe reg cleaner

Thank You bigdog! https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?show...132431&st=0

Definitely worth a download, brilliant...

Stays on Computer

>Windows Cleaner 2005< (Deletes Temp files + Registry Entries)

3.5.1 [Worth A Shot]

1. Great registry cleaner and "run exe file editor"

2. Great customizability, wide range of cleaning ability

3. very fast and reliable, constant updates

Thank You malirene! https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?show...242049&st=0

Hasn`t been updated for a while...

Uninstalled

>Window Washer< (Deletes Temp files)

6.0 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Costs money

2. Cleans many apps, cutomizable, frequent updates

3. Rather fast, but not lightning speed

There are free programs that do better...

Uninstalled

>DustBuster XP< (Deletes Temp files)

2.81 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Amazing results but only on first run

2. Doesn't show what it is deleting

3. Takes rather long to delete/clean

See this thread: https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?show...p;hl=dustbuster

Uninstalled

>Cablenut< (Increase Internet Connection Speeds)

4.08 [Worth A Shot]

1. Small and well-designed

2. Did not seem to have any amazing results after tests

3. The customized settings are very nice

Didn't work for me but could work for you...

Uninstalled

>MRU Blaster< (Deletes MRU files)

1.5 [Worth A Shot]

1. Fast and very thorough

2. Simple interface, no bloat

3. Updated fairly often

Other apps do the work fine and I`m not THAT paranoid...

Uninstalled

>TuneXP<

1.5 [Worth A Shot]

1. Hasn't been updated for ages

2. Actually improves performance (especially boot defrag)

3. Small program, clean interface

I don't need it...

Uninstalled

>SpeederXP<

1.8 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Ugly interface

2. Missing a ton of features and doesn't really improve speed

3. Costs money

Doesn't seem to work for me

Uninstalled

>Advanced System Optimizer<

>Magic Utilities<

>xp Smoker Pro<

>TweakFX<

\-->Defragmenters<--/

Many of these cost money and I'm still looking for a good free defragger.

>Windows Default Defrag<

1. I think this is diskeeper 7 lite or something...

2. Only does one partition at a time

3. Overall not very fast or efficient

I don't use it and have definitely been looking for a replacement...

>PerfectDisk<

7.0 [Worth A Shot]

1. Best defragger in my opinion, best in the market/competition

2. Small, fast, efficient, nice interface

3. Actual difference in computer performance

4. No service needed running all the time

Try the trial version, definitely worth your money...

Stays on Computer

>Diskeeper<

10.0 [Worth A Shot]

1. Needs a service running to start

2. Similar interface to window's defragger

3. Not as much performance improvement, but faster

May be the fastest but not the best in actual performance improvemnts...

Uninstalled

>O&O Defrag<

8 [Worth A Shot]

1. Nice set of features

2. Features are pretty solid and performance does improve

3. Clean Interface

Right after Perfectdisk...

Uninstalled

>Iolo's disk defragmenter and optimizer<

[Worth A Shot]

1. Part of system mechanic

2. Pretty fast and solid, does not improve performance that much

3. Not bad if you are buying the whole program

See system mechanic...

Uninstalled

>Norton Speed Disk<

[Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Part of systemworks

2. very slow, bad defragmenting capabilities

3. not recommended, see systemworks above

This defragmenter does a very poor job...

Uninstalled

>voptxp<

\-->Media Players<--/

Everybody needs a good media player, but I haven't yet tested out that many of them...

>Windows Media Player< (Audio & Video)

10 [Worth A Shot]

1. Vast improvement from v.9 but came out of beta a tad too early...

2. Various useful features (Search, colour changer, minibar in taskbar etc.)

3. Small memory usage, fast and good integration

Manages my music very well and can play some videos...

Stays on Computer

>Foobar< (Audio)

0.8.3 (beta: 0.9.12) [Worth A Shot]

1. Very customizable, low memory usage

2. Small and clean interface, fast and efficient

3. Very crisp sound, a variety of plugins available

It is pretty hard to customize but I may spend some time doing it one day and drop wmp...

Uninstalled

>Winamp< (Audio & Video)

5.13 [Worth A Shot]

1. Very good free app

2. Personally don't like the interface

3. Many add-ons, patches and plugins on the net to check out, winamp took the net by storm

With full featured wmp10 and the 100% customizable foobar, this app, for me, is an unnecessary in-between...

Uninstalled

>MediaMonkey< (Audio)

2.5 [Worth A Shot]

1. Great interface

2. Good tagging ability

3. very helpful features, love the fade in-out from song to song

Unfortunately, it's missing a little something, and the switch would be troublesome...

Uninstalled

>Realplayer< (Audio & Video)

10.5 [Worth A Shot]

1. A bit bloated but nice interface overall

2. Plays many many types of files

3. Has many built-in features

A bunch of built-in junk I don't need, but you just might...

Uninstalled

>VLC media player< (Audio & Video)

0.8.4a [Worth A Shot]

1. Plays almost any video file, mainly a video player

2. No library for audio, but skinnable

3. Adds annoying context menu entries

The best video player I've ever encountered...

Stays on Computer

>Media Player Classic<

>iTunes<

\-->Anti- Spyware/Adware/Malware<--/

Don't forget these fake bastards: http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

>Spybot< (Detects and Cleans Threats)

1.4 [Worth A Shot]

1. One of the first apps and was one of the best, but big companies have taken over

2. Free but slow and no longer as effective

3. Updated fairly often, great support

No longer as effective as it was, but for cleaning up a system, still good...

Uninstalled

>Ad-aware< (Detects and Cleans Threats)

SE 1.06 [Worth A Shot]

1. Great detection rates, fast and reliable

2. Free (personal), pro not really needed, see below (unless you got the $)

3. Frequent updates of signatures, sometimes does not completely remove the threat

Recent updates are very nice but not as good as before...

Uninstalled

>Windows Defender< (Detects and Cleans Threats)

Beta 2 [Worth A Shot]

1. Giant was one of the best, good research ms

2. Fast detection, thorough, great results

3. Some false positives, but overall it is worth it, ignore feature

4. Memory usage is still an issue but still very solid protection and great for scans

Remember this is beta sofware, use at your own risk...

Stays on Computer

>Spy Sweeper< (Detects and Cleans Threats)

4.5 [Worth A Shot]

1. Very good detection rates, some false positives

2. Awesome interface, frequent updates

3. Costs money, for what others do for free (best pay-for)

Guess some people just want to be reassured by paying...

Uninstalled

>a-squared Free< (Detects and Cleans Threats)

1.6 [Worth A Shot]

1. Nice and simple interface

2. Very solid scanning engine, updated often

3. Free but annnoying sign-up mandatory

Very nice program, give it a try...

Stays on Computer

>Pest Patrol< (Detects and Cleans Threats)

2005 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Uhh money? uhh no.

2. Good detection rates, many false positives though

3. Not bad interface, somewhat frequent updates

Although this program is good, I'm not paying...

Uninstalled

>HijackThis< (Detects and Cleans Threats)

1.99.1 [Worth A Shot]

1. Fast, small (no installer), reliable, free

2. Removes even the most annoying spyware/adware tricks

3. Updates often, can remove startup entries and so on

4. Generates log which can be posted on net, good for newbies

Never forget this app when removing junk...

Stays on Computer

>Bazooka Scanner< (Detects Threats)

1.13.03 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Small, fast, frequent updates

2. Can't remove anything, but gives detailed on info on how to and about what it finds

3. Nice interface

I find this app pointless if you already have a good removing app, like the ones above...

Uninstalled

>SpywareGuard< (Monitors changes made to your computer)

2.2 [Worth A Shot]

1. Free, good updates

2. Medium memory usage

3. Doesn't cover as much as winpatrol

Not needed...

Uninstalled

>SpywareBlaster< (Monitors changes made to your computer)

3.4 [Worth A Shot]

1. Free, often updated

2. Doesn't have to be running in the background

3. Great protection, many definition updates

Very solid program, a must-have...

Stays on Computer

>WinPatrol< (Monitors changes made to your computer)

9.8 [Worth A Shot]

1. Small, effective, even catches viruses doing their thing

2. Uses very minimal amount of memory, ~3 megs!

3. Works very silently, alerts you quickly on many system changes, very customizable, can get annoying sometimes

This app is a real gem, a definite keeper...

Stays on Computer

>Desktop Armor< (Monitors changes made to your computer)

1.3a [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Costs money, hasn't been updated for a while

2. Very good app, solid interface, catches lots of junk, takes some memory

3. Never failed for me, try it out

If only it was free it might stand a chance against winpatrol...

Uninstalled

>Prevx Home< (Monitors changes made to your computer)

2005 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Very good app, prevents many changes done to your computer by different threats

2. Memory hog, uses a lot of memory/cpu

3. Costs money

When I have winpatrol, this is an absolute waste of money...

Uninstalled

>Browser Sentinel< (Monitors changes made to your computer)

2.1.1 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Good amount of features, nice updates

2. Rip-off price

3. High memory usage

No point when I have a free and low-memory app...

Uninstalled

>Spywarestopper<

>Diet K<

>xoftspy<

\-->Burning & Ripping<--/

With burners and blank cds/dvds becoming cheaper and cheaper, a solid burning program is a necessity.

>Nero<

6.6 [Worth A Shot]

1. Pretty small compared to the amount of features offered

2. Costs money but still worth it

3. Nice interface and excellent technology

The ultimate burning tool, but not free...

Uninstalled

>Roxio<

7 [Worth A Shot]

1. Bloated interface and overall very large in size

2. Great burning ability, very nice already-made options

3. Costs money

Nero seems much better, but you make like this more...

Uninstalled

>CDburnerXP Pro<

3.0 [Worth A Shot]

1. Free but does almost everything

2. Fast and nice interface

3. Many useful features

One app for all burning needs and it's free, needs an update soon though...

Stays on Computer

>Alcohol 120%<

>burnatonce<

>deepburner<

>anydvd<

>clonedvd<

>dvd shrink<

>dvd decrypter<

\-->Free Antivirus<--/

Don't want to pay for protection? Make sure to check out the competition...

Useful site: http://www.av-comparatives.org/

>AVG<

7.0 [Worth A Shot]

1. Slow scans, somewhat frequent updates, sometimes misses viruses or can't remove them

2. Bloated interface, pretty high memory usage

3. 10-15 megs of memory

AVG seems to have turned into a big company producing newer but worse quality antivirus protection...

Uninstalled

>Avast!<

4.6 [Worth A Shot]

1. Fast scans, frequent updates, nice interface

2. Good custom install, nice over-all look

3. 10-15 megs of memory

Best free av I've tested so far...

Stays on Computer

>Antivir<

6 [Worth A Shot]

1. More minimal than avg, simple interface but kindoff ugly, win98 style

2. Finds more viruses than avg, but still has problems removing some

3. 10-15 megs of memory

Next in line right after avast, wonder if this will change (need to test latest version, will update when done)...

Uninstalled

>Clamwin<

\-->Recovery<--/

Any program that has the ability to recover "lost" information on the hardrive goes here.

>Acronis True Image<

9.0 [Worth A Shot]

1. Very fast, many features, good layout

2. Costs money but is a very solid app

3. Frequent build updates, recovers very well

I like this app very much, worth the money...

Stays on Computer

>Norton Ghost<

9.0 [Worth A Shot]

1. Fast, good features, nice layout

2. Costs money, does a great job for recovery

3. Not many updates

Very good application, but acronis is a tad better...

Uninstalled

>Norton Go-back<

>Ontrack Easy Recovery<

>Restoration<

\-->Ad/Popup Blocking<--/

Any 3rd party program with the ability to remove ads and popups is in this section. Still looking for a good free one.

<snip> https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=389495

\-->Hardware-Monitoring and Information Tools<--/

Any program that gives you information about your system goes here.

>Spacemonger< (Shows Hardrive File Size Structure)

1.4 [Worth A Shot]

1. Free, pretty fast, just exe needed

2. Not bad interface, could be improved, not many features

3. Can only select by partition

Simply better apps out there...

Uninstalled

>Scanner< (Shows Hardrive File Size Structure)

2.6 [Worth A Shot]

1. Free, very fast scans

2. Very nice interface, good features

3. No installer needed, must start with a partition

Much better than spacemonger but I like what's below more...

Uninstalled

>JDiskReport< (Shows Hardrive File Size Structure)

R1.2.3 [Worth A Shot]

1. Free, needs to be installed

2. Context menu option, many useful features, nice interface

3. Shows the most information, can show info for any folder

Very nice overall, free and fast...

Stays on Computer

>Everest Ultimate Edition< (Shows General Info About Your Computer)

2006 2.50 [Worth A Shot]

1. Pretty fast load up, nice tools

2. Very detailed data and clean interface

3. Frequently updated

Shows detailed info but costs money...

Uninstalled

>System Info for Windows< (Shows General Info About Your Computer)

1.56 [Worth A Shot]

1. No bloat, shows everything it should

2. Simple interface

3. Very useful tool

Very informative and free...

Stays on Computer

>Rainmeter< (Displays Changing Data About Your Computer)

0.13 [Worth A Shot]

1. Customizable thanks to skinning (many to choose from)

2. Low memory usage and very nice options

3. Many nice options within the program

Works very beautifully...

Stays on Computer

>SpeedFan< (Displays Changing Data About Your Computer)

4.28 [Worth A Shot]

1. Small and Quick

2. Shows a fair amount of technical information

3. Interface is clean and easy to use

Great complement to SIW...

Stays on Computer

>Cpu-z<

>D-Temp<

>Motherboard monitor<

>TreeSize<

>sequoiaview<

>AssesTree<

\-->Modifying Windows<--/

Anything that will help modify windows goes here...

>nLite< (Removes parts of windows you don't need, before installing windows)

1.0 RC6 [Worth A Shot]

1. Absolutely ingenious, best program for slimming down windows, many features added often

2. Many and frequent updates, can easily slim down installation cd to less than 100mb

3. Nice interface, tweak support, fast - can also create iso, free

Very solid and useful application...

Stays on Computer

>XPLite< (Removes parts of windows you don't need, after windows is installed)

1.7 [Worth A Shot]

1. Costs money, often fails to remove wfp

2. Useful if you do not want to do a clean install

3. Better idea to do it manually, unless you don't have the time

Not for me, but maybe you want to pay for it...

Uninstalled

>XPize< (Improves visual look of windows xp)

4.2 [Worth A Shot]

1. Fast, does a good job, nice updates, not many bugs

2. Unattended version (works with nlite) great for installing windows with xpize already integrated

3. Updater comes in handy too, settings are very nice too

A great program and does it's job perfectly...

Stays on Computer

>Reshacker< (Allows you to edit most exe and dll files within Windows)

3.4.0 [Worth A Shot]

1. A bit hard to learn but a very useful tool

2. Clean interface, good features

3. Free

A must-have...

Stays on Computer

>Replacer< (Allows you to replace most exe and dll files within Windows)

2.61 [Worth A Shot]

1. Command prompt style

2. Fast and Efficient

3. Free

Reshacker's complementary program...

Stays on Computer

\-->Extracting<--/

Programs that can extract and compress files goes here...

>Winzip< (File/Folder compression and extraction)

9.0 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Compresses and extracts very little extensions

2. Interface is pretty good, nice speeds too

3. Costs money

Used to be on top but fell behind...

Uninstalled

>Winrar< (File/Folder compression and extraction)

3.5 [Worth A Shot]

1. Compresses and extracts many extensions

2. Interface is nice, speeds are fast and includes many options

3. Costs money

Works very nicely but isn't free...

Stays on Computer

>Daemon Tools< (Mounts Images)

4.03 [Worth A Shot]

1. Simple, fairly easy to use, fast and efficient

2. Works flawlessly, requires restart for install

3. Free

A must-have, especially to save on cds and dvds...

Stays on Computer

>7-zip< (File/Folder compression and extraction)

4.32 [Worth A Shot]

1. Interface is a bit odd, but has many features, fairly quick

2. Supports many file types but not .iso

3. Free

I need .iso support...

Uninstalled

>Powerarchiver 2006< (File/Folder compression and extraction)

9.51 [Worth A Shot]

1. Interface is nice and skinnable

2. Supports a ton of file types

3. Costs money

If only it was free...

Uninstalled

>ZipGenius< (File/Folder compression and extraction)

6.02 [Worth A Shot]

1. Pretty nice interface, many features

2. Supports a ton of file types

3. Free

No ability to compress to rar or extract iso...

Uninstalled

>Tugzip< (File/Folder compression and extraction)

3.4 [Worth A Shot]

1. Smooth interface, very customizable

2. Supports a huge list of file types, extracting and compressing

3. Free

Takes care of all my needs and is free...

Stays on Computer

>Winiso< (CD/DVD image management)

5.3 [Worth A Shot]

1. Takes care of burning/converting/extracting of cd images

2. Not updated very often

3. Costs money

I don't need it...

Uninstalled

>Winace< (File/Folder compression and extraction)

2.6 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Interface needs a bit more work

2. Not many file types supported

3. Costs money

Needs a lot more work...

Uninstalled

>Ultraiso< (CD/DVD image management)

7.65 [Worth A Shot]

1. Takes care of burning/converting/extracting of cd images

2. Most burning utilities can do the things that this program can

3. Costs money

I don't need it...

Uninstalled

>izarc<

>Filzip<

\-->Registry Cleaners and Uninstallers<--/

Any tools that can cleanup your registry go here, remember to check the tweaking & cleaning section...

>jv16 Power Tools<

2005 [Worth A Shot]

1. Very fast, customizable and effective

2. Often updated and you can get a free license if you help beta test

3. Regsupreme is just the registry part of jv16 power tools

Finds many entries and does a lot of other things too...

Stays on Computer

>CCleaner<

*See Tweaking & Cleaning section above.

Your basic registry cleaning utility. Finds little and the safe entries to remove.

I keep it for the hardrive cleaning anyways...

Stays on Computer

>Regseeker<

1.45 beta [Worth A Shot]

1. Slow but very thorough, small in size

2. No installer, must extract to program files

3. Free

Definitely a solid regcleaner...

Stays on Computer

>Registry Mechanic<

5.1 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Bundles google toolbar, fairly nice interface

2. Finds a small amount of regkeys, a bit biggger in size

3. Costs money

Definitely not worth the cash...

Uninstalled

>Registry Healer<

4.4 [Worth A Shot]

1. Good custom installer, finds a ton of registry entries

2. Interface is alright, many features, small in size

3. Costs money

Very good but there are free alternatives...

Uninstalled

>Registry First Aid<

4.1 [Worth A Shot]

1. Adds itself automatically to startup, particularly cpu-intensive

2. Nice interface, finds a fair bit of registry keys

3. Costs money

Definitely not worth the cash...

Uninstalled

>Regscrub XP<

3.25 [Don't Waste Your Time]

I wouldn't recommend using a discontinued product...

Uninstalled

>Regcleaner<

4.3 [Don't Waste Your Time]

Discontinued and now part of jv16 power tools...

Uninstalled

>Regvac<

>NT Registry Optimizer<

>NtRegOpt<

>Erunt<

>Win Ultra Cleaner<

>WinASO Registry Optimizer<

\-->Alternative IM Clients<--/

Any client that supports multiple networks and isn't the "big company" clients goes here.

>Trillian<

3.1 [Worth A Shot]

1. Interface is very good and skinnable

2. AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, and IRC support

3. Many interesting features

I don't have many non-msn users...

Uninstalled

>Gaim<

>Miranda<

>IM2<

\-->Email Related<--/

>Outlook<

>Thunderbird<

>E-prompt<

>incredimail<

\-->Download Managers<--/

>Download Accelerator Plus<

>Net Transport<

>Free Download Manager<

>Flashget<

\-->Miscellaneous<--/

Things that don't fall into any specific section go here.

>Picasa< (Picture management)

2 [Worth A Shot]

1. Beautiful interface yet very fast

2. Simple editing tools, free

3. Finds all pictures, very useful

Thank you google for taking this app, improving it and making it free...

Stays on Computer

>Neoshooter< (screenshot program)

4.03 [Worth A Shot]

1. Small, clean and lightweight

2. Makes the whole screenshot process much faster

3. Very many features on the list

Thank You Simon! https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?show...1346&st=440

Great app, looking forward to newer versions

Stays on Computer

>Babya bSuite<

1.0 [Don't Waste Your Time]

1. Buggy, has potential but needs a lot of touching up

2. Wide range of programs, some good features, but many missing

3. Annoying errors and simply unable to do the job

version 1.5 to come in may, but for now this is pretty crap...

Uninstalled

>Rainlendar< (calendar, to-do list and event manager)

0.22 [Worth A Shot]

1. Very clean, skinnable and useful application

2. Great integration with ms outlook, very customizable

3. Not much memory usage and nice interface

One of the best, unbeatable...

Stays on Computer

>Taskswitcherxp Pro< (Alt+Tab Visual Replacement)

2.0 [Worth A Shot]

1. Small, free and low mem usage

2. Customizable and nice interface

3. Still needs a couple of features, works well with curren vs

Better than the xp powertoy but i don't need it that much...

Uninstalled

>Open Office< (Ms Office alternative)

2.0 [Worth A Shot]

1. Needs more work to be as good as ms office

2. Overall a very solid open source program

3. Updated often, the best alternative to ms office

Microsoft Office does all I need but open office yet doesn't...

Uninstalled

>Jam Pack 1:Studio Tools<

>AppRocket<

>Roamdrive (beta)<

>Mp3gain<

>Msncount<

>FastStone Photo Resizer<

>UnattendXP<

>Autoit<

>ventrilo<

>bMix<

>Logic<

>E-Type<

>Photo Workshop<

>Publisher<

>bPicture<

>PDF Converter<

>clock utilities<

>a-patch<

Please remember that this thread is simply my opinion on what I've tried. Don't talk till you've tried all the apps I have :p. If I haven't tried an app, chances are I'll try it and say what I've got to say but, comments and suggestions are welcome and much appreciated. Please rate this thread! Many of these apps are really good and I'm not putting them down, just comparing them. On the other hand, other's are useless and I hope you realize that.

A List of Apps, Reviewed

By Slimy

v. 0.267

CrisCr0ss has created his own review thread, see it here: https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=425846

Edited October 1, 2006 by slimy

[rkv]

HEY O&O defrag is a good software it always worked for me and the memory usage in azureus is susposed to be fixed if u instal java ide 1.5.0 its a develeloper version but supposed to fix the memory issue

[Slimy]

hey i'm not saying o&o is a bad app, i'm just saying that i've tested many and i've found other's better in my opinion

azureus is second on my list, so chillax

remember, i'm not telling you to switch i'm showing you some options to try, and which ones not to, in my opinion

[tktino]

Nice job. Add few more dude :D . Looking to see more software on it

[Slimy]

^ any requests? i've got tons to rewrite, don't worry :p

updated to 0.1.4

Edited January 28, 2005 by slimy

[PseudoRandomDragon]

I'm surprised nobody told you about DC++ and nLite. DC++ is the best P2P app (well, maybe not as good as mIRC...though it is easier)

[Ctrl Alt Del]

What programs are better than GoBack?

[Slimy]

I'm surprised nobody told you about DC++ and nLite. DC++ is the best P2P app (well, maybe not as good as mIRC...though it is easier)

585371096[/snapback]

who said i don't know about nlite, if you look clearly, i don't have a section for it :D

as for dc++ i consider it junk... so i'll add that for u, mirc, never tried - personally i don't like clients where i have to mess around looking for files until i find something and where i have to share a freakin huge amount of hd space to get in :p

updated to 0.1.5.

[Techo]

Very nice list, thanks for your time and noting everything down. I've done some testing on Anti-Spyware apps, interesting to see if our results match. Though DC++ , I agree it should be on the list. And Mirc, well it's not just a P2P app.

[rkv]

DC++ requires too much of stuff shared to be able to dwonload which makes a perfect target for "you know who" but yeah i think its crap too.

[Harsh!]

Nice review,..

No mention of NeoMule though??

The official version is such a drag since all the mods started coming out...And I personally dont know a single person that uses it or would recommend it

Azureus rocks!!

& Exeem sucks!!

[Slimy]

Yeah exeem good... oh yes... you're on crack?

585371669[/snapback]

I said that where?

Nice review,..

No mention of NeoMule though??

The official version is such a drag since all the mods started coming out...And I personally dont know a single person that uses it or would recommend it

Azureus rocks!!

& Exeem sucks!!

585371753[/snapback]

never heard of neomule, link?

@azureus/exeem - I never mentioned the opposite of your claims - see post #3

Updated to v. 0.1.8.5

Added to my sig

[Schmoove]

.... pretty useless list to me and you even give it a version number :s what's this do we have to look forward to montly releases or something?? There are tons of sites that do this and way better (CNET, Tucows)... sorry it is just a waste of time.

[Slimy]

^ well those sites give little stars and don't take $ into account, many of them are biased

i did this mostly for myself, but i've received pms saying thanks and that they've learned about some apps thx to this thread

i think a neowin user would rather have everything in one thread, be able to check out the options and sites from one thread thant to go around searching cnet and finding the app that costs a bitch has the same amount of stars or less than the one that costs nil

[Schmoove]

^ well those sites give little stars and don't take $ into account, many of them are biased

i did this mostly for myself, but i've received pms saying thanks and that they've learned about some apps thx to this thread

i think a neowin user would rather have everything in one thread, be able to check out the options and sites from one thread thant to go around searching cnet and finding the app that costs a bitch has the same amount of stars or less than the one that costs nil

585373334[/snapback]

And you are not?

[Slimy]

I'm not what?

edit: no i'm not biased, no company is paying me for saying what I'm saying

plz read the whole thing,

ppl have a right to know about great apps and bad apps

I respect your opinion but I don't consider this an absolute waste of time

[asdflkjsdrhthfhrhr]

DC++ requires too much of stuff shared to be able to dwonload which makes a perfect target for "you know who"  but yeah i think its crap too.

585371681[/snapback]

Really? DCplusplus rocks! i've been using it for less than a month and I've doubled my music collection. It's a great app.

[shiny_red_cobra]

A registry tool I've used over the years is RegCleaner by Jouni Vuoro Software. Its not in development anymore but its still great, it can do lots of stuff like clean the registry of old and useless entries, and shows a list of programs registered in windows, and has an add/remove list better than the one in the windows control panel.

RegCleaner

[Martyn]

Nice guide thing.

[zedaxax]

Great Review Slimy

10 points

i love the "uinstalled.." honesty.

As for Registry Cleaners

In the past i have tried & tested alot of them and checked their differences and my conclusion is for me

No#1. : Registry Healer - definetly my most reliable - http://www.fixregistry.com/regheal/index.htm

2.Win Ultra Cleaner - ****ty interface but finds registry entries others dont find http://www.surpluscdrom.com/winulclonecl.html

3.Ccleaner - just for basics

have tried Tuneup Utilities regcleaner - never again - tried twice in different times - both times it screwed things up.

Registry Cleaner - came out as ok but as good as registry healer.

[Slimy]

thx zedaxax, i'll get to everything after my exams :)

remember, if i missed an app or anything, just pm me or post it here

[Rappy Veteran]

Thnks for the Good List :)

[Monkeh]

Thanks for taking the time to put together a great list :)

For BT, try ABC :)

[QuarterSwede]

Nice guide (I appreciate the easy to read layout) but I can't believe you don't have iTunes in your media players list.

[agt]

Great post slimy - have a list of programs to try now :p