Utilities Roundup

Tweak-XP, from Totalidea Software GmbH, makes 22 productivity improvements to Windows XP, tailoring the interface to meet user needs.

It speeds Internet surfing by blocking banner ads, and optimizes system memory by clearing out code fragments left by programs having been closed.

It can also lock people out of a master list of applications, and hide folders from other people or programs.

Reader Response no. 200.

ArtIcons Pro 3.0, from Aha-Soft, creates and edits icon images, and manages icon files and libraries. Users can import icons or buttons, for editing, or design their own from scratch.

Reader Response no. 201.

TiffSurfer 3.0, from VisionShape Inc., is an ActiveX version of the company's image viewing and data capture software. The upgrade offers multi-page Tiff viewing, optical character recognition, and new features for PDF creation.

Reader Response no. 202.

TrueUpdate 1.0, from Indigo Rose Software, provides developers and IT departments with a framework for determining required updates and then retrieving and applying the necessary patch or installation files via Internet, Intranet, or LAN.

Reader Response no. 203.

123LogAnalyzer, from ZY Computing Inc., uses Web log analysis to show how a Web site's visitors browse the site.

The software's Web server activity report displays the number of visitors, the number of unique IP addresses, the amount of bandwidth used, and the number of hits.

Reader Response no. 204.

PKZIP Suite 4.5, from PKWARE Inc., is a suite of applications that improves secure transmission and storage of files over the Internet and across networks.

It provides Public Key Infrastructure authentication, support for virtually unlimited-size archives, and automatic zipping of file attachments within Outlook 2000.

Reader Response no. 205.

PowerZip 6.0, from Trident Software Pty Ltd., extracts or compresses files, creates self-extracting archives, and lets users view archived files without having to extract them first.

Reader Response no. 206.

Call Corder 2.0, from Pingram Marketing, records telephone conversations directly to a hard drive. Recorded calls are saved as .wav files, and can be later edited, annotated and forwarded.

Reader Response no. 207.

File Maven Pro 2.0, from Briggs Softworks, organizes hard drives. It installs Internet downloads, creates zip files and self-extracting archives, and serializes file names or changes capitalization.

Reader Response no. 208.

AskSam 4.1, from askSam Systems, transforms information into full-text searchable databases, and publishes these databases on the Internet.

Reader Response no. 209.

Winblocked 1.0, from RSS Systems, is a password protector utility that blocks access to any machine without authorized password.

Reader Response no. 210.

WebcamMail, from Webcam Corp., uses MPEG-4 technology to generate and send video/audio messages. It achieves 1800:1 compression reducing a 60 second video file to 240 K.

Reader Response no. 211.

Keyboard Manager 2.5, from Polyphony Software, assigns shortcuts, text, and objects to more than 350 keyboard hotkeys or key combinations for automatic, click-free activation and pasting for users of Windows 95/98/NT. It creates shortcut functions and more.

Reader Response no. 212.

CyPics 3, from CyWarp, is image browsing software that provides thumbnail browsing, cataloging, thumbnail maintenance views, and printing functions. It displays image albums as slide shows, and can generate and export autorun slide shows for distribution.

Reader Response no. 213.