RGdot

Category: Software Reviews

  • TomiNote Is A Simple Notes Organizer

    TomiNote is a simple notes organizer or collector as its developer describes it. It is very lightweight, portable and multiplatform as well. It was mentioned by smaragdus in a comment here on RGdot.

    The program allows the user to create notes in sortable nodes and sub-nodes. Unicode UCS-2 is the supported character set which means emojis and more than 2 byte characters are not supported.

    Nodes can be moved up and down in the directory tree and can be moved right or left to become a nodes instead of sub-nodes and vice versa. Database (SQLite3) wide, selected branch/node or node specific search is a strength of the program with support for regex.

    Use the View menu to change the visibility of its toolbar, directory tree and other graphical elements. Toggling the theme to dark is also available. The two themes’ colors and fonts can be edited via Edit —> Options. In the same options it is possible to discard the history of changes as the program remembers changes to the nodes that remain available via the usual Undo.

    As it is compiled using Pascal the program supports a set of scripts with a few included at Edit —>Utils. Two simple yet useful examples being removing blank lines and extracting text from html.

    It is not in active development as of this article but it works as tested on a Windows 10 PC. As noted by smaragdus the download includes both the Windows exe and Linux file to run the program.

  • Secure Folders With Password Folder

    Password Folder (version:2.0.4.0) is a simple and small freeware Windows program that encrypts and secures folders.

    Install Password Folder, optionally using the portable version. Click on the big folder icon and choose a folder to encrypt, alternatively drag a folder into the program window. As its name suggests individual files are not supported. Then choose and confirm a password in the ensuing popup, the big folder icon turns red while it is working and then the folder is replaced by its encrypted version with a pff extension. Double clicking the resulting pff file decrypts the folder and restores readable, normal versions of the folder(s).

    The program claims that the processing speed to secure folders is very fast. In a quick limited test on a Windows 10 machine with a relatively older i5 processor the program took approximately one second to encrypt around 20 small text files and images.

    Password Folder includes two so called advanced settings. The first that is enabled by default is to integrate in the right click context menu. The second is to use one password to encrypt more than folder. This does not allows the user to choose more than folder at the same time but to reuse the same password.

    The portable download is less than 2MB and decompressed it is less than 8MB. No word on which encryption method is used.

  • Kanbie: Kanban Board For Chrome

    Kanbie is an extension for Chrome based browsers that is somewhat minimal. A pop up accessed via the extension toolbar provides the three most typical columns in Kanban boards. However the To-do, Doing and Done headers can be renamed via a double click.

    The kanban method for staying organized works for some better than others, some might prefer a text or markdown based approach to note keeping, others with a calendar to stay organized with tasks.
    All methods require a bit of discipline to use regularly and take the most advantage of.

    Alt+K opens the Kanbie pop up, however this combination could be in use by other tools. The Space bar or + icon creates a task. The letter l creates a label which is also accessible via the label icon. A label can then be assigned to a task using the #hashtag method while typing the task. Each label can have a different color and the color can be chosen by repeatedly clicking through the fill icon as the extension cycles through different colors. While typing a task a time or date can be assigned to it by adding t: and/or d:

    As in all kanbans dragging a task between columns is the way to manage its progress. Kanbie also features several themes.

  • Chasys Draw IES Is A Quirky Image Editor, Viewer

    Chasys Draw IES (version 5.12.01) is an image editor (referred to as Artist) but also a convertor and viewer.

    The quirky nature of the software comes into view immediately after downloading and perhaps even before it when the download page can confuse the user by offering a self signed and zipped version that includes an “Installer for Standard Install and Portable”. The downloads ofcourse include setup.exe and the user choose to use the portable mode after clicking the setup.

    The program then proceeds to warn the user that portable mode may miss some unnamed features, those features are not necessarily clear but include inability to load RAW files and a custom temp folder among others. During the portable install several errors appeared, some to add the aforementioned warnings, but they were dismissible and the program loads.

    The user then has to choose which of the three modes to enter, that is the aforementioned editor or others. The editor will ask if a blank project is required. The other options are Poster or Flyer, Object Animation, Frame Animation, Edit Photo, Stack Photos, Icon, Animated Cursor, Batch Job, Screenshot or Screencast and more.

    The program can open images from a url and multiple images at once to speed up editing. It also supports importing or acquiring from a scanner.

    Perhaps most importantly it supports layers. Animation adds to the rarer features of the program besides icon generation (Under Processes menu)

    Chasys has a whle set of editing features including brushes, shapes and others familiar to any image editor user. In addition there are more advanced tools such as liquidify (see in the image above), smudge and background erase.

    The convertor only accepts a folder and not individual files, adding to the strangeness of Chasys. it proceeds to ask many questions about the file types, destination folder, EXIF retentions and more. For example if not careful and the Include Subfolders option is checked the program will try to load and convert many files.

    The viewer provides a shortcut to edit the currently viewed file, to convert, print, rotate, zoom, and even send it via bluetooth.

    The program also supports plugin with a set included with most adding support for various file formats such as PaintShop Pro (PSP), Photoshop (PSD), Affinity (Afphoto), QR codes, Text in circles and others.

    Chasys is certainly different and needs getting used to. Not just first time use but subsequent uses feel different. The online help does help clarify but the workflow is not the most typical.

  • Pictor Is An Image Editor With Unique Features

    Pictor Is An Image Editor With Unique Features

    Pictor (v 1.27.0) is an interesting image editor that while basic looking has some not often seen features.

    Of these more unique features are 36 predefined collage shapes that arrange 2 to 25 images in different configurations. Plus a whole set of shapes (geometric, stars, arrows etc.) that can be added to images. Perhaps more unusual is the crop and erase features where an image can be cropped using a shape instead of a rectangular crop. Free hand cropping is also a less common option. In the screenshot below Crop —> Crop by shape is chosen and drawn on the image. After drawing the shape clicking enter crops the image leaving only the parts of the image within the triangular shape. The Erase option does the opposite by erasing a (triangular) shape and leaving the rest of the image intact. The crop has a few more options as well with one being crop by text whereby a typed text remains with the the rest of the image cropped.

    The Add menu adds text and other images to the existing image. This feature includes a ‘Text Circle’ option where the text entered is drawn in a within a resizable circle, a less configurable feature of something seen in the likes of Photoshop. The Replace option is like overlaying the open image with another.

    Pictor also does batch (resize, rotate, add image, etc) processing plus the expected gamma, brightness, grayscale, negative, emboss and others under the Color menu. It also features various pens for drawing on images with various thicknesses.

    An important limitation seems to be that the program supports only one Undo level and further changes are therefore destructive.

    Pictor is portable and less than 3MB unzipped. It supports most standard set of image formats including the likes of EJPG, WebP and PGM.

  • Flow Launcher Is A Super Charged Launcher

    Flow Launcher Is A Super Charged Launcher

    Flow Launcher is a featured packed launcher for Windows 7 and newer computers. It is fully portable and support an extensive list of commands that can be augmented with plugins.

    The first and most obvious feature is finding and launching files using Alt+Space keys to bring the search box to the foreground. Start typing and matching results appear. Enter to choose one of the highlighted results. Priority can be given to specific actions besides launching system files. For example to search the web with the phrase being typed. The program also supports variable paths using the % at the beginning of the search query. In addition system commands such as restart, shutdown, any batch or PowerShell commands can be executed through Flow Launcher. Each type of query has an – editable at Settings —> Plugins – action keyword to make the program more efficient. One example is the default b to search various browsers’ bookmarks.

    Typing a url – for example rgdot.com – can also open the default browser and navigate directly to the site. Other web commands include the likes of ping.

    Matching results are set at 5 by default, this can be changed as can be the browser used to launch web related queries, thus overriding the system default.

    Of the more useful plugins is clipboard history that can be installed along those available in the default download via Settings —> Plugin Store. The program restarts after the user presses enter to confirm a plugin installation.

    The programs supports an extensive list of themes and modifications of its interface that even include the likes of the search box width and a minimum number of typed characters it uses to show better results. Somewhat expectedly the download is almost 180MB and decompressed at over 300MB.

  • ForceDelete For Stubborn Files

    ForceDelete For Stubborn Files

    ForceDelete is a XP and newer compatible software which helps users when they encounter an undeletable file.

    Anecdotally this has become a rarer occurrence in the Windows 10 era but there are times when Windows displays a “The action can’t be completed because the file is open…”, “Cannot delete File: Access is denied” or similar error when attempting to delete a file. In those instances it is not clear which application is using the undeletable file. Perhaps a system file or application that has been uninstalled poorly.

    ForceDelete comes to the rescue. It is available in a portable format besides the usual executable so it can be used and archived or deleted. It should work for any kind of file including program exe files. Additionally it offers to securely delete a file, an option that may be welcome but seems like an unrelated extra.

    The program can be invoked in the command line with the forcedelete.exe [file1name] [file2name] etc. format and includes an option to add Unlock and Delete options to the right click context menu.

    The exe is a less than 1MB download and the portable is just 345KB unzipped. The program is freeware, from the same author as the AutoClose program open and close scheduler.

  • Tip: Save RAM, Lower CPU Usage By Playing Youtube Videos In PotPlayer

    Tip: Save RAM, Lower CPU Usage By Playing Youtube Videos In PotPlayer

    Youtube and videos in general are notorious resource hogs. For years the main culprit was Flash but the promise of a more efficient HTML5 is largely forgotten now as most browsers handle videos poorly. A computer with more than enough power can still fall prey to a browser grabbing more and more of its memory and processor when watching videos.

    One way to save more than just resources, even help a solid state drive lifespan, is to install the PotPlayer video player and a corresponding browser addon/extension to open and play videos outside of a Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera and others. The program is lightweight, feature rich and regularly maintained but its best use is perhaps watching online videos. After the addon/extension is installed buttons will appear under videos or a link added to the right click menus on YouTube’s front or other pages. Links below.

    • PotPlayer https://potplayer.daum.net/
    • Chrome extension (For Google Chrome, Opera and other Chromium based browsers) https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/potplayer-youtube-shortcu/cfdpeaefecdlkdlgdpjjllmhlnckcodp
    • Direct Opera version https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/details/potplayer-youtube-shortcut/
    • Firefox extension https://addons.mozilla.org/en-CA/firefox/addon/potplayer-youtube-shortcut/
  • Dopamine Is A Donationware Audio Player

    Dopamine Is A Donationware Audio Player

    Dopamine v2.0 is now available and it is a simple and attractive audio player that has both dark and light modes. The former is the default look.

    The program supports wav, mp3, ogg, flac, wma, ape, opus and m4a/aac formats. Upon first install – using either the exe or portable formats – an initial set up is initiated. The program will ask for the root music folder, the aforementioned mode and colour preferences.

    The program will list the audio based on artist, album and song title alphabetically in three columns. Dopamine features tabs to change the view somewhat. For example the genre tab categorizes songs by their type. The playlist tab will show any playlists, if none exist the user can create or import ones to list and listen that way. The supported formats include m3u, zpl, wpl and dspl.

    Via its settings (top right hamburger menu) the program can recheck and reload album covers. Other settings control the program colours, visibility of ratings, system notifications, and other features like automatically checking and downloading lyrics from sources like google.

    Playing modes are supported and Dopamine also has a equalizer with 18 presets from its default manual controls to dance to full bass and more.

    Keyboard controls such +/- for increasing and decreasing volume and ->/<- for moving ahead and back in songs are very useful of course New v2.0 features like playlists, sorting (see top right of columns) have improved Dopamine to the point of it being a worthy default audio player.

    Newly released v2.01 adds support for m3u8 playlists

  • Complete Network Tools With NETworkManager

    Complete Network Tools With NETworkManager

    NETworkManager offers a comprehensive set of tools to gather information about the network your computer is on and about external networks and the internet. The program is available in executable and portable formats and the user can set profiles to save IP addresses and other info to reuse again.

    The configure tab provides a interface to configure local connections such as IP addresses, static and DNS entries and most everything network related on a Windows computer.

    The information tab provides info on the local network and features a network scanner to search for and find local IP addresses, wireless access points and Address Resolution Protocol entries. It can also query local ports and listen for open and active ports and TCP connections. Additionally SNMP is available to look for info on devices and list info like printer or router Object Identifier. It can also turn on compatible devices using the Wake on LAN message. It can

    A set of tools for non local devices include ping, traceroute, Whois, DNS look ups and inspecting HTTP headers of a site.

    If all that is not enough NETworkManager has a subnet calculator. Useful for network managers and just as a simple learning tool.

    Upon first run it asks for permission to check for program updates and grab the public IP address of your network. It can also be configured to run PowerShell, PuTTY and VNC to connect securely to websites and networks via SSH, Telnet or other protocols.

    The current version of the program is 2019.12 and requires Windows 10 Build 1809 or later and the .NET-Framework 4.7.2. The older 1.11 version is available and compatible with Windows 7 and 8.1. Practically every setting has options to work with desired values as does the program’s looks and colors.