Computer Software

Diskeeper’s Diskeeper Pro Premier 2008 Review

I remember back in the day, the only tool that I knew of that actually had a defrag tool of any real value was Norton Utilities.  In fact, I believe that Stacker, a drive compression tool that provided real time, data compression and decompression (effectively doubling the size of your drive…) of data on your drive ended up using an embedded version of Norton’s defrag utility. Point being, I loved that utility. It did everything that I needed it to do, including consolidating my directories, without having to boot to a command prompt; but alas, those days are long gone….


FotoFusion Review

Not long ago, I had the opportunity to review Adobe’s PhotoShop Elements 6, which is probably the best consumer level photo editor.  It basically takes all of the tools the pros use and bundles them into easy to use menus and wizards for the average user.  The problem I have is that even with Photoshop, I am still left with hundreds (if not thousands) of photos in my “shoebox” of a hard drive,  What to do?  I mean, I don’t just want to say, here is a folder, have at it, when I show people my pictures.  I want them…


Adobe Premiere Elements 4 Review

[Note: This is the second of two articles relating to to the Adobe PhotoShop Elements 6/Premiere Elements 4 Bundle.  Click here to see my review of Adobe Photoshop Elements 6]. My video camera, a Sony Handycam, is slightly over six years old.  I bought it in anticipation of the birth of my first son.  Oh did I have plans for that camera.  I would take videos, capture them on my computer, edit them, and make amazing home movies of my new baby which I could share with friends and family.  Oh the plans. Unfortunately, my plans did not account for…


Astraware Bejeweled 2 is a Gem

I like handheld games. I spend a good bit of time playing games on my Windows Mobile handheld and on my Nintendo DS. There have never been, for me, enough good games written for the Windows mobile platform. For all the potential there, the selections have too frequently been knockoffs of each other. A while back, I bought and played the original Bejeweled, and although I enjoyed it, it didn’t exactly “wow” me. It’s gameplay was basically that of match 3-or-more to remove objects. The variation, however, is that more pieces fall into place, and there are special objects that…


The Ownersite Vehicle Maintenance Online Log Site Review

People like me, who are used to using a software program such as eWallet, know the value and convenience of having all of their important personal data in an easily accessible and secure location. Once you’ve put out the initial effort required during setup, staying on top of future entries is just a matter of regular updates as new items occur. I mention the concept behind eWallet, because the service I’ll tell you about in this review takes that same basic idea, but then applies it in a much more thorough way to vehicle maintenance, management, and logging. The service…


Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 Review: Creating The Pictures You Wish You Had Taken Yourself

About six years ago, when we were preparing for the birth of my first son, I went out and treated myself to a fancy new camcorder. This thing, a Sony, had the works. All of the latest and greatest…including a one megapixel camera (yeah, did I mention this was in late 2001?) I had big plans for that camera. I was going to document everything my son did from his first midnight poop, all the way through college. I would edit those photos and videos into short movies, slideshows, and albums, which I could share with friends and family. It…


The MacDrive 7 Review

Mitchell’s comments in Black, Chris’ comments in Blue Since my switch to Mac back in December I haven?t had very many problems integrating my MacBook Pro into my life. Except for a few programs that I can?t find equivalents for in Mac OS X, it has gone pretty smoothly. One area that has frustrated me is data storage. I like to have as much free space as possible on my internal drive, so I often use external HDDs. I do this particularly when editing video, as the files created are large, and temporary files for effects and previews quickly add…


The Minds Refined Art Dealer Game Review

Soon after I signed Gear Diary up for Google’s AdSense, I noticed a new advertisement for something called Art Dealer. I had already weeded out the totally irrelevant ads for Kangol hats, heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, a zen garden, and lingerie (don’t ask!), and I was tempted to weed out this ad, too. But instead I made note of the site’s name, and I visited to see what it was all about. After spending a little bit of time at Minds Refined, I was intrigued. Art Dealer is a game where you play “an art lover who is given a…


The Phantom EFX Reel Deal Casino High Roller Review

Reel Deal is a casino PC game. Specs include Windows 2000 or later, CD-Rom, 1.5 GB hard drive, DirectX 9.0b or later, DirectX compatible video card.? Money and VIP comp points are earned as you play slot machines, table games and enter tournaments.? The casino is easy to navigate and there is a menu board for the many games. I had to read the directions to get the game loaded and reinstall the second CD, but once it installed, it worked like a dream.? The graphics are good, animation flows well and it is a very enjoyable casino experience.? I…


BeNetSafe Internet Security Software Review

As parents we like to think that we know our kids, that we know they would never do or say certain things. But the fact is that we can never be too sure; all we can do is educate them, hope that they are being careful, and trust that they are being smart. If I were to be completely honest with myself, I’d recall doing and saying plenty of things when I was Sarah’s age that might have seemed harmless at the time, but would either be considered risky or embarrassing today. Thankfully we didn’t have digital cameras, chat rooms,…