From the collection of "small but tough” I will present to you today the ConvertXtoDVD program that has been designed to help you convert your favorite video files into DVD-compatible files. If you wish to create a short video presentation that needs to be transcoded into a DVD, this is the right software for you.

<-125x125 Button - right->As soon as I looked at the interface I liked the simple and yet subtle design that works wonderfully with the Vista Aero shell. Under each menu there are various access points to multiple settings. You can look into the General Settings, Language, Chapters, (DVD) Menu, TV Format, Burning, Subtitles, Audio, Encoding and Image Processing. In the General Settings menu you can set the working location and the program interface theme. It is really nice to see that this program, unlike so many others, has a menu that can be set into very many languages (it’s quite international, really!). In the Menu panel you can set the DVD title and playback options, while in the TV Format section, you will be given 2 choices – the video standard and the screen size. As soon as you load a video file, you can have a preview and also tweak the output file.

Applicability: The ConvertXtoDVD supports the following video input formats: AVI, Mpeg, Mpeg4, DivX, Xvid, MOV, WMV, WMV HD, DV, MKV, DVD and even more, while among the audio supported formats there are AC3, DTS, PCM, OGG and MP3. The program offers the possibility of video format choice: NTSC, PAL, or automatic and PULL-DOWN. You can even create automatic chapters, edit your own or just simply work on the DVD menu features.

Pro(s): I was pleased with the variety of options offered by this French piece of software, and it is a good thing that it works very well under Windows Vista (it also accepts the HD video files – so that’s a bonus).

Con(s): Although it is quite powerful for a small program, I wouldn’t suggest it for professional video editing and processing because it does not feature more options for a proper customization of the output video.

Official website

Buy: $39.99

Download Trial

The digital photography has set a new trend around the world some time ago, especially with the development of small and quite effective cameras, “hidden” even in the latest mobile phone devices that are quite popular at the moment. The problem is that the quality is not always the one that we want, but we can however use various image editing tools to improve the images on various adjustment levels. Since Photoshop is famous but complicated for average users, ACD See Photo Editor comes as a very handy and simple solution.

With a wide range of tools that are quite visible and accessible in the menus from the upper side of the main interface or from the right side. From the start, I will say that the Editor has been adapted and built to support Windows Vista (it is certified) and it does have a lot of “How-To” guides in it so that you will not need additional documentation in order to find out how to make the most of it.

  

Among the tools meant to enhance and modify your images, you can have a look at the Adjustment/Filter variations (up to 8 unique previews of the original photo, in each being presented the effect, filter or adjustment beforehand so that you can see how the picture will look like once you applied the tool), Batch Editing (you can apply a custom set of effects to a group of images in one go), the Vignette Tool (helps you in creating portrait-style images), the Cookie Cutter tool (cropping images into various shapes), the Auto-adjustment Tools, which are completed by the Repair tool, along with text insertion support and gradient pre-sets of colors that can be applied.

  

You need to be really creative in order to choose from the variations window from the Photo Editor – it’s like a catalog of visual options that present you what could the image look like when you apply a certain effect. On the other hand, handling colors will not be a problem as you can choose from the presented versions, without needing to know how the Hue or Saturation effects have been applied. Of course, professional users who also wish to have a good software solution at a more affordable price and that can give them quick access to editing a simple photo - will be delighted to notice that the interface of the software is very similar to others from well known and professional image-editing tools.

  

Applicability: I would recommend this software to any digital photo amateurs and to those who wish to get a very efficient image processing tool at a good price. You probably will not see this Photo Editor in design studios, but more likely in the computers of the home users.

Pro(s): It is a very good challenge price-wise and feature-wise for those who cannot afford or think Photoshop is too complex.

Con(s): It is mostly designed for inexperienced users and sometimes the embedded tutorials can be boring – but I think the developers wrote them with lots of explanatory details in order to raise the interest of the public.
 
Official Website

Buy: $34.99

Download trial

When I think about the way technology changes our lives, I don't know if I should be happy or not about things that people usually consider to be a part of the progress. For example, let's take the electronic mail. Millions of people are using it, and it's much better than the old snail mail, but what about hand writing?

Apart from signing papers and filling forms when needed, I don't find myself writing without the use of a computer too often, so if I'm going to forget to write down my name without a keyboard, at least I want to get a serious email client, and that's what I have here today...


Setup

Mail Commander's last version is 8.60, and the 30 days trial doesn't have any functional limitations. Of course that if you want to use the program for more than a month, you'll have to register. If the cost of $49.95 is rewarded in terms of features and ease of use, that's what we'll have to see next.

The reason I didn't include any setup pictures here is that the 2MB setup package installed the program in a flash, without asking me anything else than to confirm the destination folder. What else can I say? It can't get much easier than that!


Interface

I know the screenshot to the left looks a bit empty, but that's how you'll face this program, once the setup process completes and you launch it for the first time. The icons look good, there are no skins available, customization possibilities are very low, but the program's interface is well organized and pretty easy to use. Anyway, more tips and a contextual help system would help a lot. These being said, let's leave the looks behind and dig in the features and also point out some things you should pay attention to...


Features

When installing a new email client, always remember the golden rule: always leave the messages on the server! Think about this - usually, commercial email clients are used in large organizations, or by people that use multiple mail addresses and share them with others. If you install an email client and forget about this option called "Delete mail from server" (or something close to this), you'll leave the rest of the team blind, because every time you'll check for new mail, you'll download the messages on your computer and remove them from the server!

Regarding what I just said, there's one thing I really don't understand - why is this option enabled by default in most email clients I bump into? Anyway, just remember to be careful when setting up your email client. There are two ways of setting it up, by using a wizard, or manually. As you can see in the screenshots above, the wizard is almost useless, since it's very easy to add as many email accounts as you need even without its help.

While I was impressed by the speed of this email client, I noticed that the pictures in my HTML emails didn't load, and this is not what I was expecting. Even worse, while the email templates feature is very useful, I would like to get some built in ones, since this is a rather expensive program, in my opinion.

Another interesting features of this program are its email lists processing capabilities, as well as the built in spam filter or support for external virus scanners.

Personalized emails and an unlimited number of address books are not features I'm going to use anytime soon, but for corporate users, keeping in touch with clients the right way could be the difference between success and failure.

While I had problems reading HTML emails (I guess it's not the program's fault, after all, but I'll check this problem and let you know if I find out something new), editing HTML emails with this program is a pleasure, since the simple HTML editor included does its job wonderfully.

These being said, let's move on and draw the conclusions, shall we? I am sure there's more to discover inside Mail Commander, but I don't want to spoil all your fun!


The Good

Mail Commander is a solid email client, easy to use and with capabilities suited for processing large amounts of data.

The Bad

To conquer home users, this product needs to look better, and maybe have a simplified layout available for them, with on-screen guidance all the way, from reading emails, to setting advanced options. A strange problem occured when I tried to attach a file to my email, because most folders on my drive were not visible in the program's file browser.

Conclusion

I know I should say a lot, because Mail Commander is a pretty "big" program, but I am somehow confused today. This program is easy to use, decently priced, and full of useful features for companies, while managing to keep its price and system requirements low enough for home users too. This is my first encounter with Mail Commander and InternetSoft Corporation, but be sure I'll get back to this program in the future, as well as to other products of the company.

Developer: InternetSoft Corporation
Price: $49.95
Trial Link: Download