Posts Tagged: ‘Review’

Simple Checkbook Ledger – Originally Published December 2016

December 4, 2016 Posted by Tiny

From the Dark Side
by Tiny Ruisch

The number one app on my phone hasn’t been updated since November of 2014 and will likely never be updated again.  I’ve used it on all my android phones since my first one and it is one of the first programs I install if I get a new phone or do a reset.  I use the app nearly every day and often many times each day.

Simple Checkbook Ledger is a checkbook ledger.  Many of the other apps of this type have more features, sophistication, adaptability, etc.  I like this one because it does one thing and does it well.  It keeps the balance of my checkbook, savings account, gift cards, etc.  It does all this while actually looking like an actual old time check register.
Main features include:

– Keeps track of multiple accounts with password protection (password can be turned off in account preferences)
– Saves a list of descriptions/payees so that after you type something once you only need to tap on it later.
– Tap on a transaction to mark it mark it as cleared (it will be highlighted).
– Long press on a transaction to void, delete, edit, or add a note to the transaction.
– Schedule automatic transactions to be entered into the ledger at specified time intervals such as weekly, biweekly, monthly, and yearly.  Special monthly transactions are also supported for items not occurring on the same day every month, such as the third Wednesday of the month.
– Export your ledger as a comma separated value (CSV) file that can be loaded on almost any spreadsheet software.
– Archives cleared transactions.
– Export archived transactions as a CSV file and optionally have them deleted from the app at the time you export them.
– There is also an option to sync your accounts with Google Drive. I have never tested this.

         

As with many programs, there are a few things that could be improved.  If you hit the back button without saving a transaction, it will be lost.  The app doesn’t remind you.  If you password protect an account, it is imperative to remember the password.  There is no recovery method.

Simple Checkbook Ledger is free on the Google Play Store.  A one time purchase of $0.99 will remove advertising.  The app has been on my phone for such a long time that I cannot remember the placement or obtrusiveness of the ads.  If you have a use for this type of program, give it a try.
Thanks for reading.

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Spyware Blaster – Originally Published November 2016

November 6, 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.

I’ve used Spyware Blaster on all of my Windows computers for as long as I can remember.  It is a small program that will use less than 9 MB of space on your hard drive.  Unlike other anti-spyware programs, it does not remove spyware from your computer.  Instead, it focuses on keeping evil spyware, adware, browser hijackers, etc. from being downloaded by your web browser and being installed.  It does this by using a list of known exploits and setting the “killbit” in the Windows Registry that identifies the software as unsafe.  This in effect, sets a flag to notify a web browser that an object is not be opened.  Your browser will not download malware.


Unlike most anti-malware programs, Spyware Blaster does not have to be running at all times in the background.  It works seamlessly with whatever anti-virus software you use.  When you first install and run the program, you simply have to check for updates.  After updates are downloaded, select enable protection for all browsers.  You can then close the program.  Every week or so, you should run the program and check for updates to the data base.

Spyware Blaster has some other features that I have not tested.  You can create a System Snapshot, view and change browser settings, tweak Internet Explorer settings, backup the Hosts File, completely disable Flash content or create custom Active X blocking lists.  These are items that I either have no need for or employ in other utilities.

Spyware Blaster can be downloaded from the Brightfort website.  (Bonus: They have some other pretty good utilities.)  It is a Windows only program.  The software is free for personal and educational use.  The purchase of a license for $14.95 allows for automatic updates and support.  Give it a try.  It’s kind of like a flu shot.

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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Solid Explorer – Originally Published October 2016

October 4, 2016 Posted by Tiny

From the Dark Side
by Tiny Ruisch

My favorite Android file explorer was just updated.  Solid Explorer is a great program that just got even better.  Just like I haven’t used Windows Explorer for several years, I haven’t utilized the stock Android files program.  For years, I used the free ES Explorer.  When they junked up the interface with advertising, I shifted my allegiance and haven’t looked back.

Solid Explorer has all of the standard functions: Select All, Copy, Paste, Delete, Search, etc.  One of the features that is most useful is dual panels, which makes it extremely easy to drag and drop.  Although you can only see both windows in landscape mode, they are still active if your machine is using portrait mode.  You simply have to swipe right or left.  I usually keep my left window in my phone memory.  I change the right window as needed to either my SD card or places on my network.

You can keep as many favorite places as you need.  With one touch, I can browse any of my networked computers, my networked media storage, all of my mobile devices, etc.  If you have any favorite folders on your network, you can also create an icon just for them.  I don’t have to navigate all the folders to get to “my documents” on different machines.  One touch and I am there.

Solid explorer also makes an excellent cloud manager.  It supports Dropbox, One Drive, Own Drive, Google, Box and many others.  You can also use FTP to remotely connect to your home computer(s).

   
The app also has built in file viewers for image and text files.  Support for compressed file formats such as zip, rar and tar is also built in.  You can either create or extract compressed files.  It also duplicates another Microsoft Windows feature in that it indexes files.  This make it able to do really fast searches.

The latest update has added a file encryption feature.  You can encrypt either a single file, a whole folder or your entire phone.  I can almost guarantee that if you use Solid Explorer’s encryption and the built in Android encrypt your phone option, the FBI won’t be able to see what is on your phone.  Of course, they don’t seem to be the most efficient at that job anyway.  Solid Explorer uses the AESS256 algorithm.  If your device has a fingerprint sensor, you can encrypt without a password.

Now for the bad news, unlike most of the Android apps I review, Solid Explorer is not completely free.  You can download the full version from the Google Play Store.  When you do so, you can use all features for a two week trial period.  After that, it costs $1.99 to unlock the app.  I personally paid the unlocking fee about thirty minutes after I installed the program.  Interestingly, as I write this review, the app has a 4.6 rating in the play store.  The unlocker app (paid) has a 4.7 rating.

Thanks for reading.

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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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