RGdot

Category: Software Reviews

  • Trix: Freeware Efficiency And Productivity Utility For Windows

    Trix is a lightweight and no-install program that acts much like other hotkey managers. It makes certain task easier and faster. Trix assigns, and lets the user choose, combination of hotkeys for some typical and often-used PC tasks. Combinations of Ctrl, Shift, Win and other letters or keys are assigned to and are configurable for the following tasks:

    • Export copied text to (default) email client, Word, Excel or Notepad. The copied text is automatically inserted into the applications.
    • Open Files, folders, websites or the terminal. In this case it is probably easier to do it the old fashioned way especially since trying to open multiple items at the same time is seemingly not possible.
    • Unzip and zip chosen or highlighted files.
    • Show brief computer specs, quote of the day, a timestamp with the current date and more, or stats on any highlighted text such as the number of characters. All these are shown in tooltip style.
    • Access power management tools such as hibernation, rebooting, or locking the computer.
    • Generate passwords. Encrypt and decrypt copied text. In the latter Trix will prompt for a passkey and allow the encryption level to be chosen and then asks what to do with the encrypted text (copy encrypted text to the clipboard for example).
    • Speak the highlighted text.
    • Control system volume.
    • Convert units of measurement. This works on a highlighted number.
    • Calculate highlighted expression. Here if “44+44” is highlighted the tooltip will show “44+44=88”
    • Generate Lorem Ipsum text.
    • Translate highlighted text, either based on saved settings (one of the last items in Trix’s settings window) or by choosing languages on the fly.
    • Extract email, IP, links or file and folder paths from any copied text.
    • Transform text. Reverse case for example but perhaps most importantly strip formatting.
    • Adjust the focused window to fill the screen or maximize the focused window.
    • Open the system color picker.
    • Launch any one of web searches, from google to iconfinder and more.

    The somewhat confusing nature of Trix is that some of the text tools seem to require a text highlight while in others the text needs to be copied. This along with the fact that to be really productive one must learn the assigned hotkeys makes Trix, or any other hotkey manager for that matter, useful for some and not for others.

  • Notebox Disorganizer Tries To Organize Your Notes

    Late last year Paulo Brabo commented in response to the post on Pigeonhole here on RGdot and recommended I take a look at Notebox Disorganizer. This is a much belated review on the somewhat unusual freeware.

    Notebox Disorganizer uses spreadsheet type cells or note areas to help organize and jot down notes and text. The author explains all the features in a very refreshing and entertaining manner and is the first to admit that the disorganizer part of the program may turn off users who prefer tree type note keepers for example. He also points out that the interface has ended up not following the best of design practices. In short Notebox Disorganizer will probably only work for you after getting used to using it.

    The main portion of the program interface is divided into a note grid and an editor, group of notes are visible in the grid and clicking or highlighting one shows the full note in the editor below it, the editor has few keyboard and mouse controls, for text manipulation for example. These controls like every other feature is explained in detail in the accompanying documentation or on the program’s site. The two drop downs to the right of the grid and editor provide additional tools and navigation options which will be populated depending on the note in use or the feature being accessed. For example in the image above ‘categories’ (from the drop down menu) would be the months of year of the journal on the left. Note that the journal is part of 7 ‘NBTemplates’ that come with the program and provide starting points for its use, other templates (available via File —>Open Notebox and in the NBTemplates folder) include the likes of Companygoals and NonfictionPlanner.

    There are many aspects to this program but a few words on some of it tools and features should prove useful:

    • Outbox (Outbox menu) lets you save notes from different grids together for use on their own as a kind of quick view or move a note into another or elsewhere, as ‘semi-formatted’ text files.
    • Exploded notes provide a similar function as Outbox as in providing a way to use notes to exist outside of Notebox Disorganizer perhaps to be used in another instance of the program, these notes will be tagged with their name and be placed in a folder of the same name.
    • Keywords – in the lower right drop down area – let the user assign keywords to notes.
    • Bookmarks – in the upper right drop down area – allows certain notes to be marked and therefore be easier to find later.

    Notebox Disorganizer needs to be used to discover all of its features and nuances, I confess that I haven’t really discovered or understood the program fully. Once grasped it can prove very usable. It weighs at less than 1MB and is portable.

  • Freeware Nimi Places Provides A New Way To Organize Your Desktop

    Nimi Places is described by its author as

    Simple way to organize and keep important folders on desktop

    Nimi Places does things a bit differently, in practice or in theory an empty desktop devoid of any icons would use Nimi Places to assign movable or drag-able regions of it to important or often used folders. In other words Nimi Places creates opaque or transparent areas or windows where the contents of a folder will remain or become visible when needed. Nimi Places is, in a way, creating visual and somewhat workable shortcuts to folders while at the same time keeping the desktop clean.
    After running the program and left clicking the tray icon one can add places by clicking the + sign and choosing folders to create places for. Nimi Places allows most normal file operation inside these ‘places’. Copy and pasting and renaming file to name two. However it seems none of moving or dragging and dropping work or are buggy, indeed a few of the other operations listed on the Nimi Places page are not available or unworkable in the version I downloaded.
    Nimi Places is lightweight and very interesting. At its most basic it does a good job creating a new desktop experience. It is, however missing help or a clear explanation (perhaps there is a pro-version?) and even its “HD streamed video clip” – available on the home page linked at the beginning of this post – shows features that are not available or not possible to do on an XP machine.

  • MyPaint: Open Source Software For Painting

    MyPaint is described by its author as

    MyPaint is a fast and easy open-source graphics application for digital painters

    The aim of MyPaint is to keep distractions to a minimum. It has an unlimited canvas size, so a drawing can be as big as needed. The most important feature of MyPaint however is the number of brushes it provides, the list is big and therefore the possibilities extensive.

    Basic and usual drawings or paintings start by choosing a color – from the color ring for example – and then choosing a brush. Note that many brushes are available by default and can be seen via the different headings on the Brush Selection window. If the selection window is not visible one can bring up the window using the Brush menu and choosing Brush List. Brush sizes can be increased and decreased by repeatedly clicking the D or F keys respectively. The canvas can be set to different forms and backgrounds using the Layers—>Background menu. Layers can also be created and moved above and below each other using Ctrl+PageUp or Ctrl+PageDown or by using the Layers menu. MyPaint can save and load images in PNG, JPG and ORA formats. It is also possible to create one’s own brushes by following this tutorial.
    MyPaint is a useful open source software available for Windows and Linux and is at version 0.8.2 as of this post. Painting or drawing skills not included!

  • New Version News: Dirhtml And SysPad

    In this edition of New Version News I will highlight two new versions of freeware downloads reviewed earlier on RGdot.com.

    dirhtml featured here and here is at v.4.851 now with some improvements such as:

    • Config and XML files are now UTF.
    • Ability to create HTML5 doctype files.
    • New variables such as %%ROOT_FOLDER% and %%FNAME% simplify and improve file creation.

    SysPad which is now also in its own home at Serysoft has newer versions, for example:

    • One can now start typing in FolderPad’s text box to filter and easily find the folder entries or destinations one is looking for.

  • RBTray: Save Some Taskbar Space

    There is not a lot to say about RBTray other than it is a small (total size of the unzipped program which includes RBTray for both 32 and 64 bit systems is 220KB) program that once double clicked will run in the background and adds one useful function to the minimize button of almost any Windows program.
    Instead of left clicking the minimize button right click it and the Window is minimized (iconized) to the system tray instead of the task bar. This saves valuable space in XP and Vista systems. RBTray can be added to the Startup group (a how-to example http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/hwandprograms/autorun.mspx) to start with Windows and can be terminated via any of the minimized icons – right click the icon and choose Exit RBTray. Alternatively RBTray can be terminated via the command line or in the system’s task manager.

  • Krento: Interesting Freeware Application Launcher

    Krento is described by its author as

    Krento is an application manager and widget engine for Microsoft Windows

    Krento is a lightweight launcher that is not too unlike Radian featured earlier here. Upon installation a circular set of ‘stones’ and a ‘pulsar’ appear on the desktop (see image above). The pulsar which fades into the desktop if the mouse is away from it offers one way to activate the stones or the main interface of Krento. By right clicking on each segment or stone of the program it can be changed to one of the pre-configured settings like the ability to show, in the center of the program interface, the current time, IP address or to shut down the computer. Alternatively stones can be configured to open programs with command line parameter support. Win+C is the default keyboard method of opening the program, this and other settings, for example to activate Krento via the mouse, are available in the program’s option (right click the tray icon). Using the Ctrl key with any one of F1 to F12 keys is the keyboard method of opening each of the 12 stone targets (the stones are numbered as seen in the image above).

    Krento supports and includes many skins and is compatible with Rocket Dock and Object Dock skins as well, as explained here. One point to note is that as with any program with mouse and keyboard shortcuts this can interfere with other programs’ settings but since the defaults can change Krento of course remains useful.

    Krento requires the .Net Framework (2.0) and works with Windows XP, Vista and 7.

  • Jotx: Free Minimalist Word Processor

    Jotx is a minimalist note taker or perhaps word processor that does little but could be useful in taking quick notes with something other than Notepad.

    It comes with a built-in spell checker, a ‘task list’ pane and a pane to keep track of a favorite folder or two. The latter can be useful for immediate navigation to a folder for opening or saving notes. Jotx works and saves in plain text and RTF formats and via its options, among others, one can change the background color and the font used. It is also possible to set a default folder for immediate access when opening files.
    Jotx is somewhat unusual in that it includes links to a religious book and blog in its menu options (both within the program and the windows start menu).

  • OrangeNote: Freeware For Notes and Clipboard

    OrangeNote is a clipboard and notes manager that will ease and extend the use of the Windows clipboard. OrangeNote provides an interface to keep the contents of each clipboard entry forever. Additionally one can enter notes or keep clipboards as notes that can be fully searched and optimized for easy retrieval later. Left clicking the tray icon of the program brings up a bar like interface to add notes and the ability to not only tag them but add titles to them too.

    PhotoScape
    A left click shows all the clipboard entries OrangeNote currently holds and all or more recent notes as well. In this area one can favorite or star a note. The Additional Commands option gives access to a number of options some of which are executed via a command line like a console or a terminal. This terminal allows changes to many program settings, looks and other properties. The Options themselves, a few of which are restricted to the Pro version of the program, control such things as program update checking, database maintenance and boosting the program’s process priority. The latter is worthy of an additional observation because the program can sometimes consume excessive, almost Firefox type, amounts of CPU and RAM (OrangeNote tested on a XP computer). This does not seem to coincide with any optimization or other background action the program is undertaking so it is a mystery as to why the program’s CPU and RAM usage varies so much over short periods of time. OrangeNote also has a number of (global) hotkeys such as Ctrl+Win+N to create a new note and others that can be accessed and modified via the Options menu or the aforementioned terminal.

    The requirements are listed as “Microsoft Windows XP or Vista with .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and 512 MB RAM” and one would presume Windows 7 as well. It should be noted that OrangeNote is WPF based program and that there is a Mac version available as well.

  • myPortablePIM Is Data On The Go

    myPortablePIM is a no installation Personal Information Manager that offers a chance to keep contacts, calendar and other information in one folder and carry data on a USB key or stick. Needing to keep everything in one folder means a newly unzipped myPortablePIM approaches 90MB in size.
    myPortablePIM
    myPortablePIM features include tasks and notes, alarms, a ‘gmail checker’, calendar – with support for both iCal and vCard – a RSS reader, a weather checker, an image viewer, an application launcher, a password manager and an address book.

    Additionally the program can be protected with a password to make carrying it around safer and includes several themes (under the Preferences menu). The different features or ‘modules’ can also be viewed on their own. One can also add icons to use within the program and configure several options like using Fahrenheit or Celcius for the weather module. myPortablePIM runs on Windows 2000, XP, Vista or 7.