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Notepad is probably the most notorious text editor in the world, and since its name really does ring a bell for almost every computer user, most companies that create new similar programs and slightly change this name, using at least parts of it. Programs like EditPad or Notepad++ are also well known, but finding another program called simply NotePad makes my wonder how come Microsoft didn't file a suit against 12Ghosts, the company that released it. Well, I guess they can always do that, but my only purpose today is to see how good or bad is this program, so let's go and check it out!


Setup

12Ghosts software's NotePad has reached its 8th edition, and if you want to know the entire version number, it's 8.0.11.4942, released on the 11th of January. The setup package of this program has 2.1MB in size, and installing it is a piece of cake, as you can see in the screenshots below.

If you're wondering about the price, I won't keep you waiting and I'll tell you that NotePad is priced at $22, and the test version has a nag screen that comes back from time to time, and no other functional limitations, from what I've been able to notice.


Interface

"Distaster" is too much, but "bad" is not enough to describe this program's interface. I know I may be too rough, but I thought the original Notepad from Microsoft was one of the easiest and most "un-friendly" text editors. Well, at least that one didn't produce any useless sounds, like this one... 12Ghosts' NotePad main window can be resized using the keyboard, and its interface allows you to easily manage multiple files, but it's really ugly, as you can see in the screenshot above, and I have nothing else to say about it.


Features

I am thinking about what to say about this program, and I really can't find much to say. First of all, NotePad is able to produce some really annoying sounds, but the good part is that you can simply mute all sounds by going to the Options menu and choosing to do so.

Other than that, I can tell you that this program is almost completely keyboard-driven, so shortcut freaks will surely love it more than I do, because I always want more from a text editor than just keyboard shortcuts. Anyway, the formatting options can be easily applied using shortcuts, and that's a plus.

During my brief experience with this program, I found some features to work really bad, like the Undo feature. The Options area has only some basic settings, although it seems to allow you enhanced control over the text editing tasks. There is no syntax highlighting, no HTML preview and no chance to use external tools with any open file inside NotePad, so off to the conclusions we go!


The Good

NotePad is as easy to use as the original Notepad, but that's all...

The Bad

There is no syntax highlighting, the interface is very bad, the amount of system memory used is pretty high, some features don't work as they should, and the program is really limited, considering its price and what competitors can offer for a similar amount of money.

Conclusion

I usually try to avoid programs from the "no way" category, but sometimes I simply run into them, and I think it's better this way. After all, I advise you not to do the same mistake, unless you really have a lot of time to spare, and you want to test your resistance to stress. I am not angry, but only disappointed, and that should say it all...

Developer: 12Ghosts Inc.
Price: $22
Trial Link: Download

Today I have the great pleasure and the honor to introduce you to the famous DivX Codec and the bundled software that comes with it. Many 3rd party video encoders make use of this codec in order to (de)compress the video files.

What is a codec? The name comes from the process that is facilitated by this application – encoding or decoding of video files that is. Why is there the need to compress video files? Well, for one there’s the storage space – the raw quality videos occupy a lot of space, while DivX encoded ones require very little and yet the keep the quality level of the video and the sound in the respective file. Another practical aspect is that browsing speeds over the Internet have been increased lately, but they are not yet big enough to support the transfer of large files in a very small amount of time: so here comes DivX as a solution to facilitate both the improved speed of transfer and also the amount of time needed to download an encoded video file.

The bundle comes loaded with DivX Player 6.6, DivX Codec 6.7, DivX Web Player 1.3.1 and DivX Converter 6.5 as applications, and with Content Uploader as a service embedded into the DivX Player. The new addition in the latest version of the bundle is the DFX sound enhancement module attached to the DivX Player meant to increase the sound quality and your listening pleasure.

DivX Codec 6.7 comes as the first fully featured H(igh)D(efinition)-ready encoding tool: you can encode videos in the 720 and 1080 resolution sizes. In order to encode files, you need to use 3rd party encoding applications that make use of the codec, like VirtualDub, DivX Author 1.5, Canopus Procoder and others. For this review I have used Virtual Dub as it offers a better selection of the video compression options - first you must choose the DivX® Codec (as the encoding tool, and as you will see, it has been optimized for the usage with 2 logic CPUs – therefore, the videos will be processed much better and faster if you use a Dual Core CPU –AMD X2 or Intel Dual Core series).

 

Secondly, press the “configure” button to adjust the processing settings and the type of video you wish to have as output. In the DivX Codec Proprieties window, in the first panel you will select the desired video profile and the bitrate – note that certain profiles like the HD ones come with a ready set number for the quality per kilobyte, like 6000kbps for the 1080HD profile – it is not recommended to go lower than that in order to obtain maximum results, but you could add some more in the kbps value field (note that too much in many cases will not make a visible difference in the output video).

  

In the second panel of the codec proprieties you can set the encoding mode (I know “Insane Quality” sounds amusing – but I recommend it as a setting) and also the multithreading with the Experimental SSE4 full search. The last tweaking is applied in the “video panel”, where you can crop, adjust size and change aspect ratio, and play as well with the image processing enhancements – the H.263 quantization, the psychovisual enhancements, noise reduction and the interlacing. Once you set these press OK, to close the codec settings and selection windows and start the encoding process by saving the video as an avi file.

DivX Player as a standalone application is dedicated to playing the DivX videos but also other types of video files, such as wmv (Windows Media Video), avi files, mpg and other popular formats. The player has been designed and improved for HD videos rendering and it also has MP3 surround sound. The DFX Audio Enhancer is already known by many users as a very good sound plug-in for Winamp, Windows Media Player, Real Media Player, Musicmatch, Yahoo Music Jukebox and J. River Media Center - more resources and information can be found on its official website (www.fxsound.com).

The sound quality is really boosted with this sound enhancer on 5 levels in order to compensate for the “lossy compression” encoding process of the audio track: Fidelity (accuracy for low-quality audio sound), Ambience (simulates the surroundings required for an optimal sound quality), 3D Surround (simulation of the presence of multiple speakers in order to give a feeling that the sound comes from every corner of the room), Dynamic Boost (the sound volume is literally increased according to the level where the slider is moved) and Hyperbass (the bass quality and levels are fine tuned and adjusted to improve the bass frequencies from the original audio track of the video file).

The rest of the features of the DivX player are pretty much similar to the ones from the 6.0 version series – so nothing much has changed on this area. I have tried to create an account in order to upload some divx videos I created but the server was in maintenance mode at that time – so I was not able to test Content Uploader as well – but this will probably fixed any time soon.

DivX Converter 6.5 comes as the default encoding application for the DivX codec and theoretically is should be the best tool – but the poor interface and the lack of menus that would allow for more settings to be tweaked or customized makes it an ideal tool only for complete newbies to the video processing tools. Professionals like myself usually need to change a lot of default settings and values – so obviously a tool like that can only be used if you have no other choice really. Nevertheless, it’s a good thing they included a converting tool so that you will have a full package.

DivX Web Player 1.3.1 needs no special introduction because it comes as a new type of Internet browser plug-in meant to play videos stored on web servers and embedded in the player shell on web pages. For Windows Vista users I highly recommend the DivX Web Player 1.4.0 Beta 2 version as it works much better and friendlier with the Aero Shell Interface.  The best site where you can see the player in action is the Stage 6 Website, hosted and created by the DivX Company to promote the web video capabilities of the DivX encoded videos. You can watch and download for free amazingly good and high-quality videos (like HD Trailers) from the above mentioned website and also put them already on a DVD and play them on DivX Ultra certified devices without any further video editing or processing required.


(double click on the video to see full-screen)
Applicability:
Obviously, this codec can be used in a wide variety of tasks regarding the video size compression and video image enhancement of normal and raw-quality video files. In any case you will need a 3rd party encoding application that facilitates both the tweaking of the encoding and also the process of creating a DivX encoded output video file. Many of the digital media player devices already support the DivX format – so that’s another reason to use it.

Pro(s): Too many actually and most of them will be discovered according to your video processing needs. The price is pretty fair for what the product has to offer and it can be quite a tool of trade for video film makers worldwide and a handy application for game trailer makers. The YouTube video quality simply fades away when compared to the DivX standard (bigger, better and optimized – simply put – high quality HD).

Con(s): I shall remind the developers to fix and improve the interface of the DivX Converter so that nobody would have reasons to complain about it. Also, they should insert access to the DivX Codec Proprieties panel into the DivX Author program, as the default embedded one does not give enough tweaking freedom.

Official website

Buy: $19,99

Download trial

The worst part of my existence as a human being is that I can't be in two places (or more) at once, and I can't freeze time to complete all my tasks when I should. Why am I saying this? Well, I am not the only person that feels its database of sites that need to be checked daily or at least weekly is growing larger, and larger, while time available doesn't expand at all. Since I am not Superman or a robot, the only chance I have is to get some help. Today, my helper is coming from a company called JimiSoft, and its name is WebMonit...


Setup

Released at the end of April, the current version of WebMonit is 1.5, and you can try it for free with a single limitations - there are 100 runs available. Aftre you have started the program for 100 times, you'll have to purchase or uninstall it. A single-user license is priced at $49, and for volume purchases, the price can go down to $9 per piece, when acquiring over 99 licenses.

The setup package of this program has only 1.3MB in size, so downloading it shouldn't be hard at all, even for those with a slow connection to the Internet. Installing it is really easy, as you can see in the screenshots above, so let's move on to the more interesting parts...


Interface

Since WebMonit's purpose is to monitor changes in various sites and report the results, I think that a good looking interface would be a nice addition to it, because at this time, this program's looks seem outdated. Despite this, I can't say that WebMonit's interface is not well organized or hard to use, because that wouldn't be the truth. The Task Wizard makes everything easier, even without any trace of eye candy included, so things are not that bad, after all...


Features

The web monitors I was used to encounter only checked various pages, but not parts of them, like WebMonit. While being able to monitor all kinds of pages, including ASP, JSP or PHP, apart from the ubiquitous HTM and HTML pages, WebMonit is also capable of using advanced expressions for checking the pages, and has more actions available to perform when an event occurs.

I know the above doesn't sound really interesting, so let's see how to check a page for changes. First, you have to pick the Add Task option from the Edit menu, toolbar or simply press the Insert key. Wow! There are no less than 3 ways to create a new task! For me, this is usually a good thing, as long as it's not confusing the user, so I hope you'll find this rather comfortable, then useless.

When the Task Wizard opens, there are 4 areas to go through: Input a URL, Task Definition, Condition Definition and Action Definition. Once you enter the URL, the program checks the page and allows you to select the area to monitor, as well as to choose advanced settings like file size or date. Next, there are some general monitoring properties to define, such as task name, comment, type or monitoring interval.

The Condition Definition area allows you to use advanced logical and mathematical expressions to check values that appear on the site selected in the current task, and since this may not be really easy for anyone, checking the Help at this time is a good idea.

At last, you should define an action to perform when and event occurs. Available options include running a program, activating another task or sending a custom email message.

When running, WebMonit doesn't use a large amount of system resources, and its options area has useful tools, like proxy settings or schedule. These being said, let's draw the conclusions, because their time has come!


The Good

WebMonit is a program highly specialized in its field, with advanced features and low system requirements. The best part is that even beginners can use it with increased efficiency without any special training.

The Bad

To bring this program into the 21st century, its interface needs some retouches, and I consider that the current price tag is a bit high.

Conclusion

RSS feeds are good, but they have a limit. When you have to monitor hundreds, maybe thousands of Web pages, checking information visually is not an option, so programs like WebMonit are the best choice, and since you can try this one without any other limitation than the number of runs... you know what to do, and don't forget to share your impressions with us!

Developer: JimiSoft, Inc.
Price: $49
Trial Link: Download

I have read yesterday an article about some people wanting to backup their original DVDs because an extended usage can cause some very unwanted scratches, rendering the discs unreadable. And since it might be quite uncomfortable to buy again the very same DVD (if you happen to find it at a good price and you might not get the chance also. Either way, you will need a back-up tool that can save you from the trouble of losing your favorite films.

Well, the name of #1 DVD Ripper is kind of arrogantly assigned because, even if it does its job pretty well, it’s not quite top notch, in order to meet the requirements of professional video editors. I just love it when many software makers use typical custom graphics “borrowed” from the Mac Operating Systems from Apple. As you can see, especially in the buttons, the silverish sleek look gives the aspect of a design made really fast.

At any rate, it is quite obvious that the software has been built for beginners and the usage is quite intuitive – you just have to insert the DVD you wish to save in the AVI format in the DVD drive, select the drive as the source from the application – play a little bit with the settings to suit your needs and then hit the big blue “Start” button. You will see that if you have a dual core CPU, the transcoding job will be a lot faster.

<-120x240 Vertical Banner - left->Applicability:
The DVD ripper can transcode your DVDs into the following formats: avi, 3gp, aac, Apple TV (640x480) Mpeg-4 (mp4) Archos players (avi), DivX movie (avi), general mpeg 1 and 2, HP iPAQ (wmv), iPhone (480x320) H.264 Movie (mp4) and many other popular formats that can be seen in the last screenshot image.

Pro(s): The encoding capabilities are quite good and bring very good results. For a small piece of software, it holds quite a great deal of options and processing power.

Con(s): The price should be lowered down in order to gain a better share of the market and to leave the competition behind. I needed to play a bit with the resolutions until I reached the desired one, due to the lack of additional settings. Vista compatibility? Well the program does work under Vista, but it is not fully integrated with the GUI shell completely – so Mac-copy interfaces are out of fashion…

Official website

Buy: $34.95

Download trial

If you don't have the money for an entire office suite, and you don't even need all the applications usually included in such suites, purchasing individual applications is a good idea. For example, most technical writers I know use Word, but they ended up buying the entire Microsoft Office suite for that. Anyway, since there are plenty of choices available, I'll tell you about a very interesting alternative to the notorious word processors available at this time, and my choice is called Atlantis Word Processor.


Setup

The last version of Atlantis Word Processor is 1.6.1.7, and the best part about the shareware version is that you can use it for an entire month without any limitation. The setup package is really small in size, considering the features of this program, but we'll talk about them a bit later. Now, all that's left for you to find out is the size of the setup package - 3.7MB, and that installing this program is very easy, and the setup procedure is very flexible, allowing you to choose what you need and what you don't, as you can see in the second screenshot below.

Interface

Do you remember Word 97's interface? I don't want to be mean, but that's exactly what comes into my mind when I look at Atlantis 1.6. The good part is that Atlantis interacts with the user using sounds too, and if you're not using this program for long periods, the sounds included for almost every event are an inspired addition and, even better, you can also download additional sound schemes. At last, despite the outdated graphics, everyone should find this program easy to use, even if this is the first word processor they ever got their hands on...


Features

Atlantis Word Processor has almost all the features I expect from a word processor, but it would have been nice to be able to work with HTML pages too. Well, there's time for everything, so I can't say I miss this feature, since I got a lot to play with...

For example, advanced users can take full advantage of the support for using document templates, style sheets of the Clippy Bank. While using text clips can speed up you work a lot, I don't think that the sounds associated to such events are really a good idea. After all, this is a word processor, and not Zoo Tycoon!

The Save Special command is very useful, allowing you to save the current document as ZIP archive, template or HTML page. Even better, you can save all documents that are open in a single archive, and the best part about the multi document interface is that every document gets a nice tab at the bottom of the main window, allowing you quick access to it.

Other than the above, you get a lot of text formatting features, auto correct or a typing assist that creates a smart database of the words that you use most, and their context, so when you start typing one of your favorite phrases again, a warning sound can be heard and you get a popup with a list of words to quickly insert into the text.

I could probably keep writing about this program for 30 days, until my shareware version will ask me to buy it or remove it from my computer, but I guess that's not needed. If you got the idea, I am sure you'll try this program for yourselves and share your experience with the rest of use, aren't you?


The Good

Atlantis Word Processor is an excellent alternative to Microsoft Word, has a good price and an impressive amount of features. While working with it, I got no errors, and the amount of system resources used didn't jump sky high. There are a lot of additional components ready for download on the official site.

The Bad

The default sound scheme has some strange noises, and after a couple of hours of intensive work, the sounds can become annoying. The interface needs a serious "face lift" to help this program keep up with the competition.

Conclusion

Atlantis Word Processor is a really pleasant surprise, from almost every point of view, so all I can do now is advise you to give it a try, since this program offers one of those few opportunities to use a commercial product for 30 days without any limitations.

Developer: Rising Sun Solutions, Inc.
Price: $35
Trial Link: Download