This page has links to other interesting software.
Mandosoft is not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned here,
nor do we have any stake in your using their software.
In other words, these are just opinions, we're not responsible for how you use the software mentioned here.
In most cases, we didn't test all the available software in each of the categories, so this is at best an incomplete
survey of what's out there. It's also biased because we tested freeware or open source first,
(most these accept donations to support their efforts). All the software was tested on Windows XP Home Edition
and checked for spyware and virus.
This is a work-in-progress, so check back often. If you have any comments, please send them to
info@mandosoft.com.
Last updated January 29, 2004
PC protection
- Spam filter: Spam Bayes Outlook Addin
- Seems to work flawlessly, integrates with Outlook, and it's free so what more do you want.
I also tried Spam Assassin by SA proxy, but 1) it's not free anymore, and 2) it had way too
many false negatives. Reading reviews, it seems that McAffee's SpamKiller is pretty good,
but it doesn't integrate with Outlook.
If you use the great Mozilla email client instead of evil Outlook, it has a very good junk mail filter.
Spam Bayes: Free - Tested: version 0.81 (site mentions 008.1), November 2003
- Spyware detection: AdAware
- The new version 6.0 works much faster than 5.x and seems more effective.
Goofy UI but easy to use. Make sure you check for updates frequently.
Free - Tested: version 6.0 build 6.181, November 2003
- Spyware protection: SpyBot Search and Destroy
- Very easy to use and very thorough. Can also protect the MSIE toolbars.
And the author dedicates the software to his unrequited love; what's not to like!
Free - Tested: version 1.2, November 2003
- Firewall: Zone Alarm
- Has worked perfectly for many years, so why switch!
Free - Tested: version 4.5.538.000, November 2003
- Popup blocker: Google toolbar
- Google is great as a search engine, but it also has all these nifty tools.
In particular this popup blocker that works perfectly well. For MSIE only.
Other browsers like Mozilla, Opera and Nestcape have their own built-in popup blockers.
Free - Tested: version 2.0.102-big/en, January 2003
- Browser Helper Objects finder: BHO Cop
- These pesky little things attach themselves to your browser and you may not even be aware
of them, or what they do. Better keep an eye on them.
The download used to be free from PCMag,
now it seems they want you to pay for it, so you may have to do a bit of digging to get it; maybe
some other site has a cached mirror.
Free - Tested: version 1.0, January 2003
- Installer control: InCtrl5
- Check what actually happens to your PC when you install a new program.
I also use Cleansweep, but it seems pretty useless. This one works very well, although
it's not automated.
The download used to be free from PCMag,
now it seems they want you to pay for it, so you may have to do a bit of digging to get it; maybe
some other site has a cached mirror.
Free - Tested: version 1.0, January 2003
Encryption software
These allow you to encrypt data on your PC. I focused on ease of use and the ability to encrypt entire directories at once.
- Private Disk Lite
- Shows the encrypted files as drives. Very easy to use and unobtrusive.
I haven't tried the shareware version which seems very nice.
Free - Tested: version 1.19, November 2003
- Zero FootPrint Crypt
- I can't decide which one between PDL and ZFC is the nicest. Encryption seems stronger
in ZFC. Very nice "icon mode". Shows the encrypted files on the disk, as opposed
to a distinct disk drive.
Free - Tested: version 3.0, November 2003
- Others
- I discarded these for a variety of reasons: Cryptainer, IronKey, PowerCrypt
File and Text Processing
- Text Editor: Crimson Editor
- Not very powerful, but simple, elegant and easy to use.
Free - Tested: version 3.60, February 2004
- Text Editor: PFE
- I used for years until I found Crimson. More flexible but
drag and drop of file names with spaces doesn't work, so I switched to Crimson.
No longer supported.
Free - Tested: version 0.07.002, December 2003
- Search and replace: Info Rapid
- Powerful and simple.
Free - Tested: version 3.1f, December 2003
Development
- Java IDE: IntelliJ Idea
- Simply the best. "Develop with pleasure" is their motto
and it is absolutely true. Expensive but completely worth it.
$249 - Tested: version 3.01, December 2003
- HTML: Homesite
- Really good. There may be better WYSIWYG editors
out there.
$100 - Tested: version 5, December 2003
- HTML Menus: eMenuTree
- A very nice and simple menu tree with easy to use WYSIWIG builder.
The free version adds some text in the menu, otherwise it's $20 or $50 depending
on whether it is for business or personal use.
We liked it so much that we wrote
AddNode, a free batch builder for it. You can download this free utility
ZIP archive.
I also tried iMint (Java Applet), very powerful, but the site is so complex it was too daunting.
Free / $20 / $50 - Tested: version 4.6.1, December 2003
- Telnet/SSH: puTTY
- It does it all with a nice interface.
I also used TeraTerm
for years but it didn't do SSH (now it seems there is a plugin for that); for simple telnet, it's great as well.
Free - Tested: version 0.53b, December 2003
- FTP: WISE-FTP
- Simple and effective.
I used FTP Voyager for years, version 6.2.0, but since I switched to XP, it doesn't behave very well.
Note that for simple FTP, MSIE does a pretty good job.
$50 - Tested: version 3.0, December 2003
Music
- MP3 Player: Winamp
- Keeps getting better, with the new version 5.0.2 Favorite skin: Minima.
Free - Tested: version 5.01, February 2004
- WinAmp Plugin: LoopMaster
- Free WinAmp plugin. Allows you to create loops within a song.
Free - Tested: January 2004
- WinAmp Plugin: WinAmp Bar
- Free WinAmp plugin. Puts winAmp controls in the banner of whichever window is currently active. Incredibly useful.
There is also a newer version of that but I could never make it work...
Free - Tested: January 2004
- CD Ripper: CDex
- Simple and efficient.
Free - Tested: version 1.51, December 2003
Music Slow Downs
I also tested a bunch of software that allows you to slow down a tune
whithout changing the pitch. In all the sofwtare tested, that't the only function
I concentrated on, so the review may not apply if you're looking for
other features.
The ones I use
- Audacity
- Freeware with tons of features. Unfortunately the quality
of the slow downs is poor. You can download a bunch of VST plugins that also
do slow-down, but I could never get them to work. I use it to extract a portion of a song.
Free - Tested: version 1.2.0-pre4, February 2004
- Slow Me Down
- WinAmp plugin by Roni Music (see Amazing Slow Downer). Very nice
but limited to 70% slow down.
Free - Tested: version 1.03, December 2003
- Pacemaker
- Free WinAmp plugin. Slows a bit more than Slow Me Down, but slightly lesser quality.
Free - Tested: January 2004
- AudioMaker
- Free WinAmp plugin. Slows a bit more than PaceMaker, with a quality comparable to Slow Me Down,
but tends to crash WinAmp on exit.
Free - Tested: January 2004
- My-speed MP3
- A free MP3 player with very good quality slow down (the best of all I tested). Unfortunately, only slows down
to 40%, and doesn't allow saving the file. They also have a shareware version that seems
to do more, but it's all in Korean, so I can't judge.
Free - Tested: December 2003
Other good ones
- Amazing Slow Downer
- By far the best UI and the most usable... except it crashes so often, it's not really an option.
Maybe future version will be better.
Free - Tested: version 2.63b, December 2003
- Chronotron
- WinAmp plugin. Slows the most of all, with the hightest quality.
$26 - Tested: version 3.1, January 2004
- GoldWave
- Does it all. Nice UI. Pretty good quality on slow downs.
$42 - Tested: version 5.06, December 2003
- FlexiMusic
- Very similar to Audacity and GoldWave, with a slightly better UI.
There is a newer version out which I haven't tested.
Tempo shift also changes scale.
Shareware $15 - Tested: version August 2003, December 2003
- Others
- SlowGold (seems nice but I couldn't get used to the UI),
Riffster (takes too much screen real estate, cumbersome to use),
mixxx, mff, LAOE, soundStretch, Virtuosa, waveSurfer.
