Some people think that writing requires a natural talent, and maybe also some studies in the field. Apart from these, I must add that before writing,you have to read a lot, and I can't advice you to use your computer for that, because I always loved real books, and not virtual ones. Anyway, if you're writing scripts on a regular basis, a program specialized for this purpose is a smart choice, and there's enough to say that a lot of notorious people use today's application, including James Cameron and J.J.Abrams. This program comes from Final Draft, Inc., and its name is exactly Final Draft.




Setup

<-234x60 Half Banner - left->Final Draft's current version is labeled 7.1.3, and in the About screen I also noticed that I have installed "build 42". Priced at 229$, this program is available for a free trial that has some minor nags and only two serious limitations - the printed pages are watermarked, and you can't save documents longer than 15 pages until you register, but 15 pages should be enough to see what can be done with this piece of code...

The setup file is available for download inside a ZIP archive, and you won't be able to download it unless you enter your name and email address on the official download page. Once the 29.4MB archive arrived safely on your hard drive, simply unpack the setup package and run it. As you can see in the screenshots above, installing this program is really a piece of cake, with a few (useless, in most cases) steps less than an average Windows program.


Interface

Considering the price of the application, I was expecting to see some eye candy here, but it seems this is not the case. Final Draft has a very simple interface, with a menu bar, a toolbar with a few buttons on it and the main work area. Since writers need to concentrate on their work, I can't say the lack of the stunning graphics offered by other programs is a problem. After all, Final Draft's interface doesn't look bad at all, is well organized and very easy to use, and that's what really matters, after all.


Features

Final Draft doesn't come with any built in templates, so you'll have to get your inspiration from somewhere, because this is not one of those programs that allows you to get something already done and customize it to your will. In turn, you get things already done to use as guides for your creative writing, because there are a lot of standards when it comes to writing scripts, and you should follow them, if you want to stand a chance against your competitors.

When you create a new document, a windows that allows you to choose one of the many file types available shows up, and doesn't leave me room for second thoughts - this is a program for professional script writers! For example, the scripts types include items such as Broadway Musical, Half-Hour Sitcom, BBC Screenplay or One-Hour TV Drama.

For each of the file types available, there are various text formatting choices to make. Since scripting is done following strict guidelines, you won't be able to choose the font to use, since this is done automatically, according to the purpose of a certain text block. As an example, let's take titles. They use capital letters, while dialogs use regular text, but centered differently when compared to the description of the actions in a scene.

Final Draft has the purpose of providing you with the quickest way between thinking about a script and having it nicely printed out, so the ruler in the work area makes the print preview almost useless. Nevertheless, the print preview function is also available, together with the useful capability to split the work space vertically or horizontally and work on two chapters or documents at the same time.

At last, I must tell you that the Thesaurus and Spell Checker are excellent, but you have to try them out for yourselves to agree with me, of course! Other than those, you will also get macros, a very useful Format Assistant, a Names Database tool and many other features targeting the professional writers, or the ones on the way to that stage...


The Good

Final Draft is very easy to use, reliable and packed with lots of outstanding features for those in the writing business. The trial version allows you to fully experience what you'll get after paying the not-so-small price.

The Bad

At first sight, the price of this program may seem to be a bit high, but once you see what's capable of, there isn't much to say. Maybe only an improved interface and a Help file that looks better would sweeten the pot...

Conclusion

A tool for writers won't make you become one, but if you got a bit of talent, using Final Draft can help you get the most out of it, and even more, this program helps you work efficiently, minimizing the time you'd loose otherwise for various research tasks or to re-read your scripts again and again.

Developer: Final Draft, Inc.
Price: $229
Trial Link: Download

Today, the time has come to talk again about being organized. After having the chance to work a little with the excellent ConceptDraw MINDMAP Professional from Computer Systems Odessa, now I just got my hands on another one of their products, and this time we're moving from mind-mapping to planning and diagramming websites and applications, with a product called ConceptDraw WebWave...


Setup

The last version of ConceptDraw WebWave is 5.8.1, and the trial can be used without any limitation for as long as a month. Priced at $299, the full version doesn't have anything extra compared to the trial one, only that it comes without a nag screen, it won't cease to function after 30 days, and you also get technical support from the producer, of course.












Available inside a ZIP archive for download, the setup package of this program has 58.7MB in size, while the archive has only 0.9MB less. Since this is not such a big gain, I don't know why they didn't make the executable file available for download as it is, but that's not a problem, after all, because installing ConceptDraw WebWave is very easy, as you can see in the screenshots above...


Interface

If I compare it with its kin, MINDMAP, I can't say that WebWave is much different when it comes to the interface. We have the same well thought layout that manages to gather an entire army of features and hold them together, making it easy for the user to concentrate on its task. Nevertheless, a beginner needs to check the video tutorials page accessible from the so-called "Control Panel" (see the screenshot to the left), as well as the product manual, before anything else.

As a side note, be careful to access the documentation from the Start>Programs>ConceptDraw WebWave folder, because you can only open the XML Reference from the Help menu of the program... One more thing - it's interesting to note that despite the fact that I selected to Launch the program when I press finished, the program didn't start, so I had to launch it manually. These being said, I guess you got the idea - if you have some patience, using ConceptDraw WebWave can get really easy in a matter of hours, so let's move on and check the goodies under its hood!


Features

Designing a website nowadays is a really tough job, especially since you can't get away with one homepage, a contact page and two pages with additional information. Even if you're going to use a CMS (Content Management System) to build your sites, there are a lot of steps to be taken, and organizing your work before starting to do it is a must, so this is where WebWave comes into the scene...

With more than 5000 graphics included, WebWave makes choosing the way to graphically express your plans harder than building your site maps and page mock-ups in your head, but that's only true in the beginning, so I'll return to where we started - the Control Panel.













Accessible from the File menu, the Control Panel gives you an excellent overview of the features offered by Webwave, grouped in categories. There are four groups here, concerning the planning of your site's structure, designing wireframes, wizards and miscellaneous.

Also available in the first menu of this program, the Template Gallery looks absolutely great, and opens a lot of gates for a beginner. Now, where should I start? To create a new document, best way for now is to pick a category, double click a template, and then change it. Apart from doing a serious job, you can also have a lot of fun, believe me!

When it comes to saving your work, there are plenty of options. First, you can export your diagrams to a lot of file formats, including HTML, PDF, Flash, SVG and more. Second, the built in FTP client allows you to save your work straight to a FTP server, making team work much easier.

Before leaving you to try the program for yourselves, I have to mention one impressive feature - the Web Site Mapper. To access it, simply click Generate Site Map in the Control Panel, and then enter your URL and be prepared to wait a little, depending on the depth level selected. With this tool, you can find that a site that seems simple is not simple at all, when dissected... but let's get to the conclusions now, shall we?


The Good

ConceptDraw WebWave is an excellent program with lots of useful features, an impressive library of built in graphics and the best part of it is the fact that you are able to experience all the features of the full application without any really annoying nags for as long as 30 days.

The Bad

The libraries are not searchable, and the price of the program seems to be high for home users that are just starting to learn the basics of web design but feel the need to get organized using an additional tool.

Conclusion

If you want a program that can be learned in an instant, this is not your best choice, but ConceptDraw WebWave is a software application that you should give a try, for sure. That's all, and I won't add anything else, until I see your feedback below... good luck and have fun with this excellent piece of code!

Developer: Computer Systems Odessa
Price: $299
Trial Link: Download

There are so many system optimization programs around, that I'm amazed every time I discover a new one, but after browsing various forums and finding out about people that paid for two, even three or more such programs, without finding the right one, I understood. As long as the market requires cheap products, there are still going to be released more and more poor quality programs that try to tempt you with a low price and a nice interface...

What happened yesterday with STOPzilla wasn't intended, it simply happened, so I am sure you'll believe me if I say that today's program also crossed my path and it's just a minor issue the fact that I am not crazy about it. Usually, I skip this kind of software, but I think you should also be informed about what programs you must avoid, at least until they get better, and today's unfortunate pick is called SysFixMaster...

Setup

Produced by Miracle Software, SysFixMaster is a fresh product on the market, its current version being labeled 1.25. Its demo version can be kept on your computer for as long as you wish, because you won't be able to fix anything with it. Its usability is reduced almost to zero, since you can check your registry for errors or use the Uninstaller module to remove programs from your computer. To fully unleash the capabilities of the program, you have to acquire a registration key, which is priced at $36.66 now, 50% less compared to the regular price of $73.32.












To install the program, you have to download the setup package first, which has 5.2MB in size. The only issue I encountered when installing SysFixMaster was pretty funny, but it didn't make me expect anything good in the future... As you can see in the second screenshot above, there is a radio button that allows you to create a desktop icon, and a checkbox for choosing to create a Quick Launch icon or not. The problem is that you can't deselect the first one, so the only choices are to create a desktop icon, or create a desktop icon and a Quick Launch one... What do you think about this? Not good at all, but let's move on and check the interface and features, as usual...Interface
Despite the fact it doesn't have support for adding new skins and there aren't any visual themes built in either, SysFixMaster looks great, and I don't say this only because blue is my favorite color. The main window is well organized, and the graphics are very good. The only problem that I found is that the StartUp Manager and the Uninstaller have different looks, making them completely different from the parent-application. Anyway, I am sure you won't have problems understanding how this program should work, because...

Features

...SysFixMaster has a big problem, at first sight - it simply doesn't work at all! Once the main window shows up, I try to start the first tool I set my eyes on, but I get the error that you can see in the second screenshot below. Let's suppose that an error like "The program not found, make sure the path is true(...)" doesn't sound like a text translated by a monkey, and move on. Unfortunately, every single tool returns the same error, but there's still one thing left to do...












Usually, when I install a program that doesn't work, I drop it and move on, but this time I was sure that something must work with SysFixMaster, so I checked the folder where the program resides. Really funny, but I was able to start every tool from the package manually! Since the main window is used to start additional programs, it was easy for me to find them, but I am sure this is not supposed to happen, because most beginners won't think about this.Now, let's see what do we have here - System Cleaners, System Optimizers and, at last, System Tools, these are the main areas covered by the utilities included in SysFixMaster, and I must say that I didn't find anything to blow my head off, especially since the limitations of the demo don't allow to clean the registry or optimize the memory with the Memory Manager.












These being said, "fastest memory manager" or "revolutionary technology that promise(!) to substantially increase the speed(...)" are nothing but words, without any practical backup. It's a miracle that I didn't slam this program off the wall yet, but there's time... after all, this is only version 1.25, and I didn't finish the article yet!The Good

SysFixMaster looks very good and comes with a lot of promises, but...

The Bad

...considering the fact that most users won't be able to use it, it can't get worse than this! Even if everything would work as promised, the price asked for this product is too high, especially since the English language used by the producer has some serious flaws!

Conclusion

This concludes today's review, and I hope this is also the finish of my "black reviews series". I hope you got the message, but if you have enough time to spare, please download this program and give it a try, maybe it was a random even the fact that it refused to work as promised on my computer... and if you get lucky, let us know about your experience!

Developer: Miracle Software
Price: $36.66
Trial Link: Download

No matter how good is your antivirus, there's always room for better, and you can throw eggs at me, if that's what you wish, but I think there's no perfect antivirus around, yet. The amount of threats is simply huge, and there's no program that can act as an efficient protection against trojans, worms, spyware, network attacks and the entire army of computer viruses in the wild, so people end up using at least 2-3 specialized programs to protect their computers, or an all-in-one suite. Today, I want to talk about a program that I must admit it was a real surprise for me, because I never heard of it so far: STOPzilla!




Setup

<-234x60 Half Banner - left->When I saw it for the first time, STOPzilla's name made me think about Mozilla, but this program doesn't have anything to do with the company that created Firefox, at least that's what I can conclude based on what I found out so far. Produced by a company called iS3, STOPzilla reached version 5, and to clean infections found, you have to register the copy available for download.

Installing this program is pretty tricky, because STOPzilla is not one of those "download, install and run" programs... but it's not really different either. As you can see in the screenshot to the left, the so-called "setup program" downloads another installer from the official site. The good part is that the downloader has about 65KB in size, and the size of the downloaded package seems to be only a few times larger, with about 300KB, but it was interesting to find out that the program requires no less than 38MB of disk space.












Now, my final advice regarding the setup of this program is to be careful when you're asked about the STOPzilla toolbar, because I know most people don't like an Internet Explorer full of toolbars. While the Homepage Protection is a useful feature, I don't think most users are really going to use the toolbar, so don't hurry up when clicking those "Next" buttons!

Interface

As I expected, STOPzilla looks like most antispyware tools, and that's "very good and beyond". The graphics are crystal clear, suggestive and were done using vivid colors, which may be highly appreciated by some, while others won't go "WOW" at all. In the end, it's all about one's taste, and from my point of view, STOPzilla looks great, has an interface that's very easy to use and well organized, so working with the program shouldn't be a headache, at least not until you run into trouble with it, as I did...

Features

The first stage of my torment today started as soon as I finished installing the program. Since there was no "Start the application" option to select, I thought I will have to start STOPzilla myself. The good part is that the program started automatically, but the bad part is that it also started a full computer scan without asking me anything, because I am sure that my text files and the images of my audio CD collection can't be infected by anything, but...












Anyway, to make a (very!) long story short, STOPzilla scanned my entire computer and found about 400 (!) "infections". I'll leave the surprise for later, and I won't tell you anything about the evil threats that are crawling inside my PC, because I want to tell you about the program's features now...

All the tools of the application are easily accessible from the menu located to the left of the main window, but it's enough to go inside the Home area to get a better view of this program's capabilities. The good part is that you get real time spyware protection, a built in pop-up blocker, as well as protection from Phishing attacks and other threats coming from malicious Web sites, offered by the SITEguard module. Even more, the two Quick Tools from the Home screen allow you to easily remove Cookies and clear your browser's history.

To get intimate with all the main tools of the program, namely the real time protection, pop-up blocker and the SITEguard, you have to access their pages, and that is done using the menu. If you press the buttons from the Home area, you can disable and enable these modules.

Each of the tools has extremely detailed settings - for example the real time protection module allows you to control browser protection, network monitoring, system protection and more. All the settings are well explained, and if the tips are not enough, you can check the built in Help contents. Anyway, you can discover a lot by yourselves, because I want to tell you what I promised...












...let's get to my awful infection! Spyware, trojans, malware, it's all here, on my computer! Oh, my! Well, let's see what I got in the Results area... I don't want to become boring, but you have to find out that this program is not what it claims to be. Its awards? Awards are granted by most big sites to get another incoming link, not to make things right for the user(there are some exceptions, of course), and it's sad to see so many big names on STOPzilla's official page. Anyway, let's check some infections that I got...

"Media-Codec/Trojan", found in Winamp 5.5's setup package, just downloaded from the official page. Obviously, not a Trojan. Even more, I ask myself since when did media codecs become a threat?!?

"Klez.H Worm/Spyware, Worm", found in virtually every file related to Wink, the well known freeware screen capture application. According to the description found on Symantec's site, things started to look serious. It's enough to say that Symantec considers the removal to be difficult, and the damage level, medium. The fact is that once it's loaded, this worm "Copies itself to \%System%\Wink.exe.", so C:\Program Files\Wink\Wink.exe is a "pretty good" match... Figure out the rest for yourselves - "quite near, but not the same" shouldn't EVER be an excuse for a program involved in your security!

The funny ending is that the real-time protection worked great - I wasn't able to run a clean program that's also used by thousands of users all over the world, because STOPzilla did its job in an instant, removing the program from my hard drive!

The Good

STOPzilla comes with all the features one needs from an antispyware program, an excellent interface and very good documentation, accompanied by a decent price.

The Bad

It would have been simply amazing for everything to work as advertised, but it doesn't. One disaster is enough, and I don't even want to imagine what would happen if next time, STOPzilla is going to recognize some core system components as a certain spyware or Trojan!

Conclusion

A lot of antispyware tools look great but don't work that great, and I must confess that STOPzilla is one of the greatest disappointments I had this year. It's not the awards, it's not the claims on the official site about all those features, it's the feeling that you got your hands on a crystal statue that's going to be perfect for your living room, but you end up finding out that all you got is cheap plastic...

If you really want to spend $19.95 foolishly, give it to a beggar that's going to drink it all in the closest bar, or buy a tiny piece of land in another galaxy (I don't know where you can get that, but you can try asking around)!

As a final thought, I hope this program is going to solve its problems and work properly as soon as possible, because it's really a pity to see it have this kind of problems, when it promises so much...

Developer: iS3, Inc.
Price: $19.95
Trial Link: Download

I will assume that you have seen already some HD videos or HD movie trailers. Isn’t that image quality just awesome? It’s like a pure bliss for the eyes, every detail is in its best shape and light. Have you ever wondered what kind of software the film makers use to create such trailers? I can tell that they have many tools, especially for splitting and joining, but also for encoding the final version of the trailer movie file. I have used my “special contacts” to find out: one of the widely used pieces of software is Sorenson Squeeze, created by Sorenson Media, a famous video encoding technology company.

<-125x125 Button - left->The Sorenson Squeeze suite is considered by many video editors as being the leading-video encoding tool, and we’re just about to see why. First you have to notice the interesting interface that comprises all the complicated functions and the options in a single sleek looking interface. Like I said to one of my friends – not every developer knows how to create professional software – I have to admit – Sorenson Squeeze is not something you get to see everyday – it’s more like you find out about it if you’re a movie producer or something like that.

It’s not the problem of the quality of the software, as it is pretty good and impressive (encoding two or more videos in one go? awesome!), I think the promotion would have to be increased so that it would reach a higher popularity, even outside the “elite” Hollywood circles. From the interface you can already see the exporting formats have some ready-made presets for HD video settings, DVD/CD/VCD/HD DVD/Blu-ray, and also for lower resolutions optimized for the web streaming: MPEG 4 generic, Macromedia Flash Movie and Video, QuickTime MOV files, Windows Media Video, Real Media, MPEG 1-2 and MP3 audio.

Obviously this video encoder has a lot to bring on the table and it is quite capable to satisfy the demands of any customer. The beauty of it is that both professionals and amateurs can work with it without hassle and they can reach the expected results easily.

Applicability: Movie producers, film makers, occasional video editors, all of you can use this software to bring the best out of your videos – a compact size but amazing visual quality. Is there anything else you could ask for?

Pro(s): Yes, like I said, this piece of software is highly effective and very good at encoding videos – well, if the professionals from Hollywood use it, there must be something special about it, right? I would have been tempted to say otherwise but I had a go with it and I was very impressed.

Con(s): There are times when you would have to wait a LOT for the videos to be encoded, especially if you use the multi pass encoding option. But that’s not really a downside – it’s the big and daring price that makes you think twice before buying a license for it about $500, no matter it is a shipped CD or electronic download option. Yeah, it “dares” to have a price even higher than a Windows Ultimate DVD (full 32 and 64 bit version).

Official website
Buy: $499
Request Trial Version