Moonday! Since I am not Garfield, I don't hate Mondays at all. Usually, I have no problems to get started, and when I have the chance to start my week playing with a very good FTP client, I get really happy. Today's reason for my happiness is called SmartFTP, and in this article I hope we'll all get to see how smart this program can be...

Setup

In this moment, the last stable version of SmartFTP is 2.5. If you're really into statistics, then you should write down the full version number, which is 2.5.1006.38, but for most people, 2.5 should be enough.












The trial version has no functional limitation, but you'll have to purchase a license after 30 days, if you want to continue using this program. The setup package has 4.3MB in size, and installing it is pretty easy. I used the Complete install mode, but there's no big difference between the components installed in Typical mode and this one. I checked the Custom mode to see what you can select to install, and there are only two options - the program files, and the Backup tool.

Interface
In the past, I had the occasion to use SmartFTP a few times, and I remember that its interface was simple, easy to use and highly customizable, but now I think it looks much better than before. All the toolbars can be resized, moved, and even detached from the main window, and the 4 auto layouts available allow you to quickly load a predefined layout for the main window. Also, you can swtich between the handsome tabbed interface that reminds me of CuteFTP and the classical one.

Features

As usual, I'll start telling you about the features of this FTP client with one of the most important characteristics - the support for various connection types. In this case, there's not much to say, because SmartFTP supports only regular and secure FTP connections, but for most users, these should be enough.

Another useful thing to look for is a library of built in FTP servers, nicely organized in various categories. Unfortunately, SmartFTP only has 2 predefined connections categories, with 8 sites. Of course that you can add your own favorite FTP locations, but I would like to see more built in ones included in the program in future versions.

The Backup tool that I mentioned earlier can't be used to backup your files to a remote server, as I was thinking. All you can do with it is backup the configuration of the FTP client to a folder on your drive, to load it on another computer or restore it on your PC if something goes wrong.

The statistics about past operations of the program can be checked in the Log window, and you can also view a very good speed graph. Additional features include a transfer queue manager that's very easy to use, scheduled downloads, including recurring ones, and very detailed and powerful configuration options.

The Good

SmartFTP looks good, is highly customizable, reliable and decently priced. Beginners shouldn't have any problems learning how to use it, and advanced users will love it too, I am sure. This program is certified for Vista, and is also available for 64-bit operating systems.

The Bad

I would like to see more connection types and built in FTP locations added in the future versions.

Conclusion

Now, I think I can answer the question asked in the beginning... SmartFTP is not brilliant, but it's exactly as its name says: smart. If you're still looking for a good FTP client, give it a try, because I am sure you won't be disappointed.

Developer: SmartSoft Ltd.
Price: 36.95$
Trial Link: Download

I don't know how lucky were you with floppies, but I will alsways remember the floppy disks as a storage nightmare. I am not talking about their price/MB ratio or their size, since reliability is the first thing I have in mind most of the time. I would sacrifice money and performance to get a product that I can trust, but I wouldn't ever go the other way around.

Despite the technological improvements, even memory cards or Flash drives today can lose data, and I am not talking in theory here. Once, I had the occasion to witness a SD memory card "dying" after less than 2 months of use. Of course, the shop replaced it with a new one, and the pictures were - fortunately - recovered using a specialized program, one similar to BadCopy Pro, the application I am going to review now.

Setup

BadCopy Pro has reached version 3.81, and its trial version can be run for ages, because it has the most important feature of such applications disabled, so it can't save any of the data retrieved on your defective media. Anyway, you can use it to check if your data can be recovered and approximate the amount of data loss you'll have to face. After all, in most cases there is some data damaged beyond any hope of recovery...












The setup package of this program is very small, having less than 1MB in size, and you shouldn't have any problems while installing it, because there's nothing special for you to do during the installation of the program, just press some "Next" buttons, as usual.

Interface

The interface of this program looks a bit old, but it's very easy to use and well organized. All the tools are available in the Recovery menu or by using a button from the Recovery Source pane, located to the left side of the main window. The graphics are average, and the overall feeling I get from this program is, just as I said, that BadCopy Pro's interface comes from the past. The good part is that everyone should be able to use it without getting into any dead ends, and that's what most people are looking for - ease of use first, while the eye candy can wait...

Features

The basic feature of this program is - obviously - to recover data that seems to be lost. Now, let's see what can be done and what can't, shall we?

It all starts with the floppy disk, of course. All you have to do is pick it from the Recovery Source pane or click the Floppy Disk Data Recovery item in the Recovery menu. Once you do this, the wizard starts to ask your input in the pane to the left. No matter what kind of storage device you are using, there are 5 steps to perform, and because I don't have a floppy disk drive on my computer anymore, I used my Flash drive to go through the entire process.

Once I selected the Flash Drive option in the Recovery Source pane, the first step of the wizard required me to select a drive. Well, I only have one USB drive, and it would be nice for the program to choose it automatically. Also, you have to pick the recovery mode. There are two modes available - one allows you to rescue corrupted data, and the other recovers deleted files.











After you press Next, the scanner appears so you can set the scan options (for example, to look only for a certain file type) before proceeding. The funny part is that I selected a partition of my hard drive as Flash device...and now the program is scanning it! Well, back to the start...especially since the producer says this program doesn't recover data from hard drives.After performing a scan of the right device, which was pretty fast, I noticed that the wizard jumped to step 4/5 already, asking me to preview the recovered files (this option works with the trial version) and select destination folder for saving recovered ones (obviously, this is useless, since when you press Next, you're shown a message about using the trial version).

This is it, and the funny part is not over yet, because when I press Back in the 4th screen of the wizard, BadCopy Pro takes me back to... step 2. Pretty confusing, don't you think?

The Good

BadCopy Pro is fast and I got previews of data that I thought forever gone while using this limited trial, all after a pretty fast scan process of my USB drive. With a bit of luck, even my mother could use this program!

The Bad

Luck shouldn't have anything to do with using a program, but I found that BadCopy Pro's interface has some issues. If this program doesn't work with hard drives, why was I allowed to scan my fixed disk drive? Even more, the wizards jump from a step to another and tend to confuse the user. Since hard drive data recovery doesn't seem to be one of the features, I think that almost 40$ is too much!

Conclusion

I heard a lot of good things about BadCopy Pro so far, but this was my first close quarters encounter with it. Sadly, I am not impressed at all. In fact, I am disappointed. I know that data recovery is usually done by power users, or at least by people that have enough experience with various Windows programs to overlook the drawbacks of this one, but I want to get the best value for my money, and this is not true this time.

Developer: CSoftLab
Price: 39.95$
Trial Link: Download

When I got my first computer, I was 17, so the coloring books age was behind already. If I think a little, I wouldn't change things, if I could. Violent games at early ages can change kids a lot, and also their personalities can be deformed by the lack of childhood's simple things, as hand drawing or playing with other kids outside, not on a network...

It's really hard to keep your kids away from computers these days, and since most of them start using a computer before learning to read, or use it as a tool for learning the alphabet, the best thing to do is give them something to develop their creativity and allow them to have fun in a really peaceful way. This takes us back to the coloring books I was talking earlier, and to be more specific, to a software called Creative Painter.

Setup

Creative Painter was released back in 2006, and I couldn't find any specific information about its current version. Anyway, I don't think that your kids will have a problem with that. The trial version available for free comes in a 14MB setup package and has some functional limitations, but I think there is plenty to be done with it, even this way.












As you can see in the screenshots above, installing this program is just as easy as it is with most usual Windows programs, and since I am sure you're going to do this part, and not your kids, I don't think someone will run into any kind of problems while installing Creative Painter.

Interface

The first thing I really enjoyed was the intro movie that plays before the program starts, because it reminds me of some TV shows for kids I used to watch almost 20 years ago. Other than that, the interface of this program is done so even those that can't read yet should be able to use it. I don't say this program looks perfect, but it's very good, in my opinion (I'll tell you what I don't like in the last part of this article). After all, it's not me who should like it, but those aged between 2 and 15 years, as specified on the official website, and I am sure they won't have many problems with Creative Painter's interface.

Features

Creative Painter allows your kids to create paintings in three ways. First, they can grab one of the available sketches and fill them with colors, just like using a coloring books, but they can also add different objects. Second, they can simply use the built in objects and backgrounds to create nice scenes. At last, there's also possible to create a new work from scratch.

For those that already know the alphabet, a text tool is available, together with the usual painter's tools - paintbrush, pencil, marker pen, crayon pen, or eraser. Once you select a tool, you can choose various effects for it.











The default settings of the program will start playing some nice music each time you start using it, but the drawback of this feature is that when using the eraser for longer periods, the sound made by the tool becomes really annoying.The cartoon pictures included are excellent, and I must confess it was really fun to play with those built in background pictures and cartoon characters.

At last, to make this experience as close to the real thing for your kids, you can also get a graphics tablet for them, because Creative Painter allows them to work with such devices even without a hardware driver.

The Good

Creative Painter is an excellent tool for kids, and even adults can spend some quality time with this program, while guiding their children's first steps into the computer graphics realm.

The Bad

The button used to close this application is not intuitive at all (an icon similar to the Power indicator on TVs and other electronics would be much better), and I don't like to bump into features not available in the trial version, because if a kid that can't read gets to face such errors, there are some serious chances to ruin his day. Also, it would be a really good thing to be able to run this program in a window. On my 1280X1024 resolution, the program doesn't look so good, especially since I can't resize it.

Conclusion

I am not one of those that would drop their kids in front of the computer, fire up Counter Strike, tell them "play now, daddy is going to a meeting", and go away without thinking about the possible consequences. Anyway, let's leave this problem aside, because we're talking about Creative Painter here. For 29.95$, this is one of the best gifts for your kids, and even if you are not going to purchase the program, the trial version can provide some quality time spent in front of the computer to children and, why not, adults.

Developer: Moko Systems, Inc.
Price: 29.95$
Trial Link: Download

Depending on the technical possibilities of your ISP and the type of subscription you got from them, your IP address can change every time you connect to the network. I don't want to get into technical details, because I am not a networking specialist and, to be honest, I am not really interested about networking either. Anyway, all I want is to have a steady connection and to know exactly what is my IP, when I need it.

Of course that are various system commands that can give you detailed information about your network settings, but what about having your internal and external addresses displayed all the time in a floating window? With IP Helper, this can be done in a flash!

Setup

Developed by Rebrand Software, IP Helper has reached version 3.0. Its setup package has 3.1MB in size, and installing it was a piece of cake. Now, I have one big question in my mind - being given the complexity of the program, why a 3MB setup package? Well, that's not a problem after all, but if you have a really slow connection, downloading this may take some time...












The trial version of this program has a nag screen that appears each time you open and close the application, but you can run it without any other limitation for as long as 15 days(I suppose that the full version also displays the animated banner from the trial).Interface

The interface of this program has three components: the main window, the system tray icon and, at last, the IP overlay window. While the system tray icon is only able to bring up the main window, close the program or display/hide the IP overlay window, the main screen of the application comes with a bit more, but not much. Almost everything there is to know about this program can be spotted in the screenshot to the left, so let's move on to the next part: features.

Features

As I already said, the best thing about this program is the fact that you can have your internal and external address on view all the time. If you are wondering about this, I guess I can tell you - the internal address is the one used by those from your LAN to "see" you computer, while the external IP is the one that identifies to the outside world, so various websites will only retrieve that address. Good, now...let's see what else do we get from IP Helper, shall we?

First of all, I must tell you that the File menu is useless, because you can also minimize and close the program by using the system buttons located in the upper right corner of the main window, just like with most Windows applications.

Additional services provided by this program include a DNS converter, Whois Lookup and, of course, the notification features. When one of your addresses changes, you can choose to receive an alert through email, by starting a program or by accessing a certain web address.

I wish there was more about this program...but unfortunately that's all, so let's get to the conclusions!

The Good

IP Helper is a program built to accomplish one main task, and that's what it does. Its additional features could make it a bit more interesting, but they don't seem enough for me.

The Bad

Although it has a nag screen, this program also has a banner inside its main window, and a button that leads to the producer's website. If these were not enough, you also have a Purchase menu inside the menu bar. At last, considering its features, and the so-called "Help" file which looks less than basic, the price is simply too high.

Conclusion

In the last years, I had the occasion to encounter applications that were completely useless. This time, it's not one of those cases, fortunately, but we're not that far either. If you wonder about your IP addresses, you can grab the trial version of this program and give it a shot, but I wouldn't recommend buying it unless you are really-really sure it's worth your money. After all, it's your money, in the end, but I would get some beer instead!

Developer: Rebrand Software, LLC
Price: 14.95$
Trial Link: Download

Text editing is one of those basic tasks that can be accomplished using a simple tool, an extremely advanced one, or something that keeps features, price and ease of use nicely balanced. It's like digging - you can use a shovel, some high tech device, or simply dynamite.

Anyway, I can't say that I have seen too many text editors to blow me away, but there's always a new one expecting to be tested just around the corner, and today's candidate is called EditPlus. If this program will manage to make fall off my chair, that's what remains to be seen...

Setup

EditPlus has reached version 2.31 so far, and this release is less than two months old. The trial can be downloaded and used freely for as long as a month. Other than that, there is no limitation during the trial period.










When reaching the install part, there's nothing special I would expect from a text editor's setup package. EditPlus comes in a self extracting file that's a bit smaller than 1MB, so downloading it should be a piece of cake for almost every computer user in this world, while the setup program looks a bit old, but the good part is that there are only a few steps to follow until EditPlus is all ready to go!

Interface

 All that I expect from most programs that I use is to be highly customizable and have the features I use frequently at hand, and not 5 or 6 clicks away. EditPlus managed to achieve these goals, but it's sad to see that the icons on the toolbar look so old, and the overall look of the main window is "dusty". I know it can't be done too much to enhance the interface of a text editor, but I've seen better, and that's what I want - at least some nice icons on the toolbar, first of all, would be great.

Features

The first thing I check with a text editor is the ability to edit multiple files at once. No problem with that, and I guess most of us won't reach the limit, as long as there's a decent one (for example, I can imagine someone editing 100, maybe even 300 files at once, but not 100,000!).

Of course that syntax highlighting is a very good feature, and also a "must have" for every commercial text editor out there. Again, nothing wrong with it, EditPlus has built in highlighting for HTML, CSS, PHP, Java and so on, but you can also create your own syntax files to support additional programming languages.

Do you need spell checking, a built in FTP client and, of course, a built in browser to preview your HTML pages? No problem, they are here, and that's not all!












As it happens with powerful text editors, the possibility to add user tools allows you to compile code from within EditPlus, and the auto-completion feature enables programmers or heavy duty writers to type in short abbreviations and have them turned into complete strings at once.Did I mention the cliptext window or the document templates? I guess not, but I'll leave to you the pleasure of discovering them, because I'm moving to the conclusions now.

The Good

EditPlus is a fast program, supports most features that I can wish to get from a text editor, and is also very easy to use and decently priced.

The Bad

I hope I'm not asking too much, but I want to get a better interface. After all, at least some new icons shouldn't be that hard to get...

Conclusion

EditPlus is one of those programs that can be useful to a very large crowd, starting with bloggers that need to be quick and have built in preview features and ending with programmers that work with huge projects and need project management capabilities. Since the price and features are not bad at all, you have to try it and then decide what to do next. I just hope this review helped you clear some things from the start. Good luck!

Developer: ES-Computing
Price: 30$
Trial Link: Download