Posts Tagged: ‘Review’

Windows Snipping Tool – Originally Published September 2016

September 4, 2016 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
By Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

This month I’d like to take a few minutes and tell you about a great utility program for making a screen shot.  This program is not only free, but you don’t even have to download and install it.  This is because it is integrated into the Windows Operating System.  I thought I’d write a short article about it because I am so often surprised that many people don’t even know it exists.

Snipping Tool is a screenshot utility included in Windows Vista and later.  Before Windows Vista, Snipping Tool was included in the Experience Pack for Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005.  It was originally released as a PowerToy for the Microsoft Tablet PC launch on November 7, 2002.

The Snipping Tool can be started by clicking “Start>Programs>Accessories>Snipping Tool”.  I’ve found that in later versions of Windows, it is much easier to start by just typing “sn” in the search box and clicking on the link that is found.

Running the program opens a small window.  Clicking on “New Clip” places a cursor on your computer screen for outlining the area you want to snip.  There are four options for new clips.  A free–clip lets you draw around an object on your screen with your cursor.   A rectangular clip drags the cursor around an object to form a rectangle.   A window snip clips the entire active window on your monitor.   Finally, a full–screen snip clip will capture your entire screen.

When you select your clip, it is copied to the clipboard.  A new mark–window with options will also open.  In this window you can make an annotation on your clip.  You can also highlight areas on your clip.  You can send your clip via e‑mail or save it to disk.  Clips can be saved in JPEG, GIF or PNG formats.  You can also save as a web page in MHT format.

The only thing I wish that Microsoft had added is a function to add text notes to your screenshot.  This is not by any means a deal breaker as almost every graphics editing program will do this for you.  In short, why download a program to make a screen shot when there is such an excellent utility built into the OS?

If you like this program, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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FileMenu Tools – Originally Published July 2016

July 3, 2016 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
By Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

This month I’d like to tell you about one of my favorite utility programs.  I’ve got it installed on all of my computers and have been using it for eight or nine years.  Like many other free programs, the programmer has a donate button on his website.  I like the program so much that I hit the PayPal button a long time ago.  Maybe it is about time I gave him a few more dollars.

FileMenu Tools lets you customize the right click menu of Windows Explorer (or on my computers FreeCommander XE).  The program adds utilities to perform operations on files and folders and adds customized commands that let you run external applications, copy or move to a specific folder or delete specific file types.

With the built in commands you can:
Run With Parameters – Runs a program with parameters you input in a dialog box.
Command Line From Here – Opens a command line window.
Copy/Move – No need to cut and paste. You can also use filters in file selection.
Duplicate Files – Make a copy in the same folder.
Pack to Folder – Moves all the selected elements to new subfolder in the current folder.
Copy Path/Name/Content – Copies the selected item(s) to the clipboard.
Attributes – You can view and change them without opening a properties dialog box.
Find and Replace – Lets you find or replace a text for all the files in a selected folder.
Advanced Rename – With lots of options.
Change Icon – Quickly and easily change folder options.
Advanced Delete – lets you delete specific file types in a folder.
Synchronize Two Folders – Lets you synchronize two folders quickly and easily.
Shred Files – Overwrites several times so it is impossible to recover the file in the future.
Send to Mail Recipient – Lets you send an e-mail with selected elements as attachments.

These are less than half of the FileMenu commands you can select from.  In the configuration menu, a simple check will turn off the commands you don’t want.  If you can’t find the FileMenu function you need, then just add a customized command to run external applications, copy/move to a specific folder or delete specific file types.

FileMenu Tools lets you configure the “Send to” submenu.  You can add new items, change the properties of the existing items or delete them.  You also can disable existing “Send to” items in order to hide them from the menu.

FileMenu Tools will also let you enable/disable the commands which are added to the context menu of the Windows Explorer by other programs.  This is the only function that is not one hundred percent reliable.  When it works, it works well, but it doesn‘t catch all of the programs that add a right click.

FileMenu Tools is a 10 MB download and runs on all Windows platforms.  Open Candy is used during the installation process, but can be refused with a check mark.  Did I mention the price?  This program is freeware and costs nothing.

Download FileMenu Tools and give the program a test. I’m pretty sure that you’ll like it.  While you’re on the Lopesoft website, you can also download LopeEdit Lite.  If you do, you’ll probably never use Windows Notepad again.

If you like the program, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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App Usage – Originally Published July 2016

May 26, 2016 Posted by Tiny

From the Dark Side
by Tiny Ruisch

Yesterday, I turned on my phone 44 times.  Over the course of the day, I used it for 3 hours and 42 minutes.  How do I know these facts?  The answer is simple.  I’ve installed a new app on my my machine. App Usage, by Sam Lu, was released on May 24, 2016.  Besides tracking how often you turn on and use your phone, App Usage has several other useful features.

– app usage history tracks the amount of time that you use individual apps.
– activity history shows the time that you opened each app.
– manage apps lists which ones you haven’t used in a long time.
– track installs and uninstalls.
– batch uninstaller.
– and many more.

As I write this article, I’ve only had the app installed for three days.  Although the numbers in the first paragraph are fun to look at, I think the most useful function is the ability to add notes to each app.  You can easily keep track of everything from license data, cost, login information, etc.  You could even make a note for the App Usage app reminding yourself that you installed it after reading a “Tiny” recommendation.


 

You can set usage reminders for daily usage summaries.  There are also options to set reminders for when you over use an app, when you check your phone more than 30 times a day or set a reminder time for an individual app.  In the manage apps section, you can also keep track of dates that apps were installed/uninstalled.  Apps can be listed by app name, last update time, first installed, usage time, access count, total size, cache size, data size or notes you’ve inputted.  You can easily uninstall apps without opening system settings.  A function that I haven’t tested is exporting histories to a CSV file.  This would be useful for viewing on a large monitor or printing a hard copy.

I really like this program a lot and will probably keep it on my phone.  Like so many other apps, the deciding factor will be battery life.  So far it doesn’t seem to have a negative effect.  App usage is free in the play store.  It supposedly is ad supported with an in app purchase to remove them.  I haven’t seen any advertisements at all.  You can download App Usage from the Google Play Store.  Why not give it a try?  You might find it useful.

Thanks for reading.

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Monkey Wrench – Originally Published May 2016

May 8, 2016 Posted by Tiny

From the Dark Side
by Tiny Ruisch

Way back in April 2014, I told you about one of my favorite word games, 7 Little Words.  I still play it every day and have purchased several extra puzzle packages.  In July, I reviewed Red Herring, another game by the same developer.  I thought it was okay, but not near as challenging.

The developer, Blue Ox Technologies has released another word game.  I think that two years from now Monkey Wrench will still be on my favorites list.  Monkey Wrench is a word finding game with clues to figure out what the hidden words are.  The clues are given in categories which will definitely challenge your brain.  Some are easy (sports with a round ball – tennis) and others are difficult (edible flowers – fennel).

Opening a puzzle presents you with a screen of letters.  The object of the game is to spell the answers by sliding your finger through the correct letters.  When you get an answer right, the letters are removed from the grid.  Each puzzle has three difficulty levels you can play.  Easy shows all of the words you must find.  Normal shows the first letter of each word.  Hard reveals how many letters in each word.

If you get stuck, you can use a hint.  The game comes with ten free hints or you can buy an upgrade for $1.99 and get unlimited hints.  The hints give you a choice of showing all the vowels, showing the last letter or showing the entire solution.

The game comes with one free bundle of fifty puzzles.  You can purchase more puzzle packs.  There is a promotion where you can sign up with an e-mail for their newsletter and get another bundle of twenty puzzles.  There is also a free game each day that you can download.

If you enjoy word games, you’ll like Monkey Wrench. It can be downloaded from the Play Store for free with in-app purchases.

             

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The Room – Originally Published March 2016

March 13, 2016 Posted by Tiny

From the Dark Side
by Tiny Ruisch

I’ve been excited lately!  Fireproof Games recently released the third installment to their popular “The Room” series.  It all started in September 2012 with the release of The Room, a physical puzzler, wrapped in a mystery game, inside a beautifully tactile 3D world.  It was followed with a sequel, The Room Two, in February 2014.  Last month, January 2016, gave us the release of The Room Three.

Fireproof Games describe themselves as “a team of 15 based in Guildford, UK and since 2012 we’ve been creating our own games.”  So far, they’ve only released the three Room games and a virtual reality Jetpack game for the Samsung Gear.  Many game companies churn out a lot of games that are mostly the same old thing with in-app purchases to try and get your money.  Fireproof has a slightly higher price but delivers a quality game with no further cost.  The games are also available for Apple and Windows.  This mini-review is for the Android environment.

In The Room, your task is to open a safe.  The safe is really a big box that changes as you solve the many puzzles, riddles, games and other bafflements.  In the course of the game, you find a story unfolding about locating a strange machine.  I estimate that it took me about 20 hours to complete the game the first time.  I replayed it last year and got through a lot faster, even though I couldn’t remember a lot of the game play.

                   

The Room Two picks up where the original game left off.  You have to recreate the steps of the scientist and complete the strange machine.  The first thing you notice is that the room is a lot larger and has several boxes.  There are many more puzzles and many of them seem to be much more difficult.  I don’t think any of them were repeats from the first game.

                   

I haven’t yet finished playing The Room Three, but I can tell you that it is more diabolical that the first two.  So far, the biggest difference I have found is that the game “world” is much larger.  Instead of a single room, the game starts on a train.  As you start solving puzzles, you soon find a secret entrance to a room.  Once again, you find many puzzles, riddles, mazes, etc.  The difficultly level has increased again.  It appears that the machine you discovered in the previous games has put you in another world and you need to solve the game to get back.  So far, there have been several rooms and many more puzzles.

                   

The games all have spectacular graphics, perplexing puzzles, eerie music and are very playable on a touch enabled tablet or phone.  I originally paid full price ($5.99) for each game.  Over the years, the price has been reduced:
The Room is $1.10, The Room Two is $2.07 and The Room Three costs $5.55.  I can happily recommend all them.

   
Thanks for reading.

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Shikaku – Originally Published August 2015

August 8, 2015 Posted by Tiny

From the Dark Side
by Tiny Ruisch

Shikaku, the box puzzle game, is one of those games that seems simple to play.  Once you start playing, you soon realize that some thinking is required.  When you first open the game, a simple menu appears (figure 1).  The “Learn the Game” block in the middle is a simple tutorial showing how to play the game.  On the bottom of the screen are links to rate the app in the Google Play Store, information about the game and settings.  The settings are simple. You can enable/disable sounds, enable hints, and vibrate when making mistakes.  The “Game Store” block at the bottom starts in‑app purchases.  More on that later.

The game is easy to play.  Each puzzle contains a box with some numbers (figure 2).  The objective of the game is to place rectangles (boxes) all over the screen such that each box contains a single number and has an area equal to that number.  This is done by sliding your finger or stylus over the screen.  If you make a mistake, tapping on the box clears it.

There are three difficulty levels (figure 3).  The difference is in the size of the puzzle grid.  The larger puzzles include bigger numbers which require more thought in how to place the boxes.  I’ll admit that I’ve had to undo more than once.

With the game you get 68 puzzles.  Additional puzzle packs can be purchased.  Prices are fairly reasonable: 30 puzzles for $0.99, 90 for $1.49 and 1500 for $2.49.

There are two minor things I don’t like.  If you are playing one level of games and want to switch to another, there is no way to get back to the main menu.  You have to exit the game and restart it.  In fairness, I would have probably never noticed that except I was changing screens a lot when writing this review.

Although I haven’t done it yet, my other minor quibble is with the in‑app purchases.  You can only buy puzzle packs that contain an equal amount of easy, medium and hard puzzles.  If I decide to buy, I’d like to have the option of buying only hard puzzles.

Shikaku is a free download from the Google Play Store.  Give it a try.  You might like it.

2015-08-Shikaku03

Figure 1

2015-08-Shikaku01

Figure 2

2015-08-Shikaku02

Figure 3

Thanks for reading.

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FreeCommander XE 2015 – Originally Published July 2015

August 6, 2015 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
By Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (län’yəp, län-yäp)
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

Windows 10 will soon be released and once again Microsoft hasn’t done much with a program that everyone uses.  Windows Explorer was first released in Windows 95 as a replacement for File Manager.  It is the interface for accessing the Windows file system.  Windows Explorer is also the interface that controls many items on the monitor such as the task bar and the desktop.  In short, it is a necessary program for operating your computer.

Over the years, Windows Explorer has morphed into what is commonly known as Windows File Explorer.  Enhancements to the program have included, the task pane, search and image handling, to name just a few.

As in many other facets of Windows, third party developers have released enhancements or replacements to the File Explorer.  An internet search will give you listings for hundreds of them.  For the past year or so, I’ve been using XYPlorer.  This is an excellent program which I like.  It is a paid program.  I got it as a Giveaway of the Day about a year ago.  Since I can’t update it, I decided it was time to move on.

For the past month or so, I’ve been using FreeCommander XE 2015, an easy to use alternative to the Windows File Manager.  It has a friendly user interface and can be easily adapted to your individual needs and desires.  There are more features than I can use.  I’ve disabled many of them, another pretty good feature of the program.

One of the main features is the dual pane interface.  If you do a lot of file copying or moving, it is easy to drag and drop from one pane to another.  With Windows File Explorer, you would have to have another open window.

My favorite feature is the tabbed interface.  Instead of having to open a new window for each file location I access, The FreeCommander window has as many tabs as you need.  I always have easy access to my most common locations.  Tabs can be locked so that you don’t accidentally close them.

There are four optional toolbars.  Toolbars can be resized.  I haven’t counted the number of toolbar commands available, but there are at least 150.  Nearly every toolbar button can be customized by the user.  However you handle files, I believe FreeCommander XE will do the job for you.

The last feature I’m going to mention is the favorites menu.  Everyone has favorite folders, files and programs that they access often when using the computer.  FreeCommander has an excellent favorites folder that can be accessed from anywhere in the program.  Remember that there is only one window that ever needs to be opened.  Click here for screenshots of the program.

Did I mention the best feature?  FreeCommander XE 2015 is freeware and can be used free of charge for both private and commercial purposes.  For those that are interested, the program also has a portable version.

I’ve barely skimmed the features of this software.  I think if you try it, you’ll never go back to File Explorer.  You can download the program from the FreeCommander XE download page.

If you like the program, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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Trainyard – Originally Published March 2015

March 15, 2015 Posted by Tiny

From the Dark Side
by Tiny Ruisch

Trainyard is a fun little puzzle solving game that I originally downloaded because my grandson wanted to play it on one of my devices. That was in September of 2013, before he got his own tablet. I’ve still got the game on my machine and I still play it frequently.
The object of the game is simple. You have to get your trains from their departure points into the correct station. You control your trains by drawing track on a square of grids for them to follow. Trains and stations are colored and the train must go to the correctly colored station. Each square on the grid can have two tracks overlapping at angles, but every time a train runs over that square, the track that is on top switches direction. When timed correctly, multiple trains merge into single ones. Two trains can merge together and change color. I’ve relearned the primary colors chart by playing this game.
The games begin with a tutorial that demonstrates the basics of the game. Initial puzzles are simple tracks from depot to station (see figure 1). As the game progresses, you have to route multiple trains, switch track and combine trains (see figure 2).

    
The puzzles continue to get more complicated. Eventually you will get squares that change your trains color, split them up or block them. This is one of those games that is easy to learn, but requiring thought to master. There is no single answer for any puzzle. In fact, most of the Trainyard puzzles has thousands of solutions. If you find a unique solution, you can upload it to the games online data base. If you get stuck, you can also consult the data base for suggested solutions.
With no time limits for solving each puzzle, Trainyard is the perfect game to play when you get a spare minute or two. I’m addicted. Why don’t you give it a try?
Trainyard Express is the free version of the game. You get more than 60 puzzles. The paid version of Trainyard is $2.99 from the Google Play Store. It features more than 100 additional puzzles. There are also some more advanced functions for the higher levels.
Give the game a try. Thanks for reading.

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PathSync – Originally Published April 2015

March 8, 2015 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
By Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

There are many programs for syncing files on your computer(s). The one I use doesn’t have a lot of fancy features, doesn’t come with any help files and hasn’t been updated since August 2007. So why do I keep using it? To borrow a line from Apple, “It just works.”

PathSync is an open source application that allows you to compare and sync two different directories. It lets you seamlessly copy files from source folder to destination folder, destination to source folder, or in a bidirectional manner.

PathSync works by analyzing two directories and showing you a list of the differences. The folders can be on either an internal or external hard drive, portable flash drives and cards or cloud storage. You can define rules to differentiate between file formats. Other masks can be added.

Everything is accomplished from a single screen which is laid out in an intuitive manner. To compare your desired folders, select them by clicking the browse buttons in the “local” and “remote” fields. Select your synchronization action. If you want to use file name masks, click the “question mark” button to get instructions. The ignore field will let you make exception for file size, file dates and missing files. Finally, click the “Analyze!” button.

PathSync Screen Shot

After the file comparison list is generated, right clicking on a file name will give you the options to change the synchronization directions or take no action at all. When all of your options are completed, click the “Synchronize!” button.

When the program starts to synchronize, a new job status window will open. This will display information about the item that is currently being processed, the total progress of the job, and an estimated time until completion.  If you would like to try the program, you can download it here.

If you like the program, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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Windows Shortcut Arrow Editor – Originally Published December 2014

December 7, 2014 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
By Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

Whenever you see a little arrow at the bottom of an icon, it indicates that the symbol opens a program and not a file.  I think Microsoft does this mainly because they think I’m stupid enough to not be able to find a program file on my desktop.

If you don’t like the arrow ruining the aesthetic of you icon, there are several methods for removing it.  Most of them involve making changes to the registry which is always dangerous.  There are other methods that involve using the Windows shell which can be difficult.

Over the years I’ve seen many other tweaking programs that remove the arrow.  Once I read about a program that changed the icon picture to one without the arrow.  Needless to say, all of these methods are either time consuming, difficult, unsafe or just plain stupid.

You’ve probably guessed by now that I don’t like the arrow on my icons.  For several years, I’ve used the Windows Shortcut Editor program.  If you download and unzip the program you will find folders for Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.  The program(s) do not install or change anything on your computer.  Just run the correct EXE application and you will see the screen shown in the accompanying screen shot.

ShortcutArrowEditor

There are four different options.  Click the one you want and Windows will refresh to give your icons the new look.  You can select the Windows default arrow for your system, the Windows classic (XP) arrow or no arrows.  The custom option lets you replace the arrow with your own design.  The ZIP file also contains a ‘Shortcut Arrows’ folder for a few ready made arrows that you can use.

A word of caution.  Removing the arrow not only changes the icons on your desktop but also the icons in any of folder throughout the computer.  If you browse your computers folders, you will lose the visual identification of a shortcut.  You can download the software at WINAERO.

If you like the program, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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