FastKeys is a simple program lets you control certain keys to command your computer to do just about anything!

Getting Started

Fastkeys can be downloaded directly from the company’s main website here: http://fastkeys.vze.com/

The program is only compatible with Windows and claims to be “Great for Windows 8” so I used a Windows 8 for this review.

Installation of Fastkeys is fast and efficient, just like what the program promises to offer. The setup file is a few 1,279 KB and the program itself is only 3.6 MB. Proceed with the download after accepting the license agreement. The program offers no ads, which allows you to breeze through the setup process as there is not bundleware.

Launching the Program

Immediately after launching the program, you were offered to purchase, register or continue with the program. The company’s website clearly states that there is no benefit in purchasing the $9.99 software other than supporting the company. I would recommend fully trying out the program and making sure that you appreciate the work before selecting this option. Registration also provides no benefit, so I would recommend simply pressing “Continue”.

After it’s finished “Loading Fastkeys” (loading time differs based on computer) the program hides itself in the taskbar and has minimal CPU usage: 1,008 Kb of memory.

*Note, I’ve had FastKeys crash on me while loading. Just reload the program and it’ll open up fine the second time.

Once started, FastKeys provides you the opportunity to learn more about the program through their website. I highly recommend looking through it as most of its features are not clearly visible on initial use.

The program allows you to quickly navigate to websites or other destinations on your computer by simply moving your mouse to the top of your screen on any page. Regardless if you’re on your desktop, have a web browser opened, or typing an essay on Word, you always have FastKeys available at the top of your screen. E.g. Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, YouTube, etc. & My Computer, My Documents, Microsoft Office, Notepad, MS Calculator, etc.

The feature will also allow you to quickly and conveniently lock, hibernate or power off your system.

These options can also be edited by going to the “Settings” option shown in the picture.

Move the mouse to the right-side of the screen and scroll with your scroll wheel. It will adjust the volume up and down. Although this is a handy feature, it does not seem to work using the same scrolling feature on a laptop.

Create keyboard shortcuts by accessing the “Settings” feature mentioned earlier. This feature allows you to set a variety of shortcuts you’ve always dreamed your PC could have using your keyboard. The types of shortcuts you can set range from running or opening a program to writing your own script. I’ve noticed myself often highlight text and use the “Alt + G” feature to do a quick Google search.

Expand your texts to make your emails and or messages more formal. If you prefer to type in short-form but want to make sure that your messages are changed into a more formal manner, FastKeys allows you to do just that. In the default set provided, just by typing “fyi”, your text will be automatically be converted to “for your information”. The best part of this feature is that you do not need to press “enter” or “send” after typing this for the text expander to activate.

This feature also provides users the opportunity to not only expand texts but also command your computer. The default example shows that if you type in “cc”, your computer will automatically open MS Calculator and delete the “cc” text you just typed. I definitely found this useful whenever I wanted to open up Microsoft Word and could simply type “MSword” into my Facebook chat.

Review

Although the program provides a wide-variety of features that make your life easier, there are definitely some problems with the program that have bothered me while using it.

First of all, the feature that allows you to quickly access and navigate to Internet or Microsoft destinations can be quite bothersome. As mentioned earlier, the feature allows you to move your cursor to the top of the screen and see the navigation options; however, this is very annoying when browsing through tabs.

While attempting to switch between tabs, the quick navigation feature appears and blocks the cursor’s path from click a tab. The purpose of the program is to disappear in the background and only become visible when you need it, but FastKeys seems to come into notice even when you aren’t using it. If the quick navigation feature is switched to the left side of the screen, it would become more preferable.

Secondly, I don’t ever need to quickly access shortcuts provided in the quick navigation. Most web browsers already provide shortcuts to “Most Visited Websites” on start-up, making it unnecessary. As for the quick navigation for My Computers or My Documents, etc., I can simply do a quick search after pressing the Windows key on my computer to find any program – just as fast as the quick navigation tool on this program. I use Windows 8, but the same can be done with Windows Vista or 7 by typing into the “search” feature on the startbar.

Finally, after using Windows for so long, I’ve already found my own shortcuts and navigation utilities that I prefer using. I’ve had this program downloaded for a long time but rarely use it despite setting my own shortcuts. My own methods of starting up programs are much more convenient and preferred than the new shortcuts provided.

Overall, the program does what it offers, but I do not plan on using it because it was not as convenient and efficient as I first expected. The features it provides are not as I had hoped and often became very annoying (especially when switching tabs).  Finally, the program’s features are easily forgotten and not as handy as I had first imagined. I would only recommend this program to new Windows users and not to current users.

Since my browsing is usually a combination of Firefox-ing and Chrome-ing, with Firefox taking up nearly 90% of the browsing time, I have some extensions/plugins to enhance my browsing experience and meet my needs. Today, allow me to take you through the 7 Firefox extensions that have made life easy for me.

Conclusion

These Firefox plugins have saved me several times in the past and I am guessing that they would continue doing so in the future. I hope you enjoyed reading about my absolutely essential plugins. If you have been using any of these, do let me know what you think about them. If you have a suggestion or a better replacement for any of those mentioned above, please let me know, I am always open for experimenting. Thanks for reading!

Evolve is not game distribution software. It’s not set out to be a commercial program. It isn’t spammed with advertisements. It’s meant to work alongside other software. Unlike Steam, Origin, Battle.net, Uplay, or most other programs out there, you can use it to centralise your entire gaming experience. Although often confused with them, it isn’t a replacement for any of the programs listed above.

Created by Adam, Dreijer and Mamu, a small team of three, the service is updated regularly and powered by its community. The client has a host of features that let you communicate and play with friends easier than ever, as well as perform a variety of other tasks you may be interested in.

You should know that when you start using Evolve, you don’t have to start gaming from the beginning. If you’ve used XFire or Steam before, you are in medias res, or in the middle, as you can import your account’s list of games and playtimes.

This post will try to show what all of the major features of Evolve are, and how they can benefit you.

Installation

Installing the client is straight-forward although a little frustrating. You download it and run the installer, which does someof the rest for you. The stub installer is small, but will download roughly 85MB in total once it’s done. It usually takes a fairly long time to install itself and you’ll need to restart Windows during the installation (although it will continue itself after the restart, to save you time).

Even after you’ve finished this, you’ll need to install four optional extras from within the client’s preferences: Game Overlay, Party System, Voice (VoIP), Media (image/video capturing). Installing these four additional features can also make the installation process noticeably lengthier.

However once it’s all installed and configured to your liking, you’re left with an extremely powerful tool that you can use to defeat the competition.

Interface

Evolve sports a clean dark UI with a lighter silvery finish. With a recently added firefox-style universal button, you can get from any major part of the program to another within a couple of clicks. The client is extremely easy to use, with every piece going exactly where you’d expect it to be, and all functioning perfectly.

You can also get to the interface ingame by hitting your Windows key (by default), it won’t bring you back to the desktop, but instead will be replaced with an easy to use interface to use the Evolve Browser, chat with friends, and do other vital things through the client.

Parties

Evolve also offers a partying system that lets you join friends ingame with the click of a button, have a private group chat, find people to play with, and more. It features a built-in VPN, so you don’t even have to host a server or go through the hassle of port forwarding if you want your friends to join you.

One downside that Evolve’s VPN is that it’s Windows only due to the client only being for Windows, while other similar programs such as Hamachi and Tunngle also work on UNIX systems. This means that any friend you want to play with you will also need to have Evolve installed.

Stats & Tracking

While you have the client running, it will track how long you play any game on the system that are supported in its game library, so you can easily and effectively see how long you play each game for, and compare that to other Evolve users. Evolve offers many more features that give you stats on what you’re playing that can be found on both their website and through the client.

Ontop of this, you have the option to import your Steam Achievements and other statistics to your Evolve profile to show them off to your friends there. You can do the same with your XFire profile, and some other services, meaning you don’t have to start from scratch if you’re just starting to use Evolve.

Chat

The chat feature in evolve lets you add your AIM, FaceBook, Google Talk, ICQ, MSN, Raptr, Steam, XFire, XMPP, and Yahoo accounts, with Skype and others planned in the future, so you can talk to your contacts on those, as well as chatting with other Evolve members, without even having to leave your game!

Chatting is extremely easy, the community in the main public group chat is kind and talkative, and you can join in with a few clicks. You can talk in private with another individual, or even make a group chat comprised of Evolve members. You can see who’s online, if they’re playing anything, and many more things – all of which make for a great chatting experience.

Recording & Screenshots

Evolve also has built in screen recording and screenshot saving. It will save any screenshots made through it to a directory, instantly acting better than the PrintScreen button alone. You can also share them with your Evolve friends with a few easy clicks.

The same of this goes for recording, videos are saved and can be shared within clicks, unless of course you want to edit them. Video capture isn’t the highest quality, a barely noticeable amount is lost in order to keep file sizes small and performance high. In comparison with the most popular game recording tool, Fraps, in terms of quality and options, there will still be a while until Evolve catches up, but due to Evolve being free it is certainly a better choice for casual gamers.

There is also a way to easily stream directly to a Twitch.tv channel straight from the client, if you have a following or so desire.

The Little Things

Not to be forgotten are the little things that the group of three have done for the website and client. They have a quirky sense of humour and it hasn’t gone unnoticed, either. Throughout the site you’ll find slogans and phrases that’ll make you smile to yourself at the very least.

As the community is currently small, it feels very cosy and it’s easy to get to know people, and interact with the team too, something you can’t do easily with larger communities.

One thing to note, is that the overlay acts as a hook, so it doesn’t work well with some anti-hack tools such as PunkBuster or HackShield as they see it as a possible hacking tool, resulting in you being potentially kicked from some games (although not banned).

Conclusion

Evolve is a seriously powerful application that competes with several pieces of software gamers are often found using, but all in one place.

Do you use Evolve? If you want to meet and play with other AppStorm readers, you can share your username in the comments below, or join the official AppStorm group.

Whether you are writing an essay or collecting data, KeyRocket effectively increases your productivity level. KeyRocket is a software tool that provides its user with a plethora of keyboard shortcuts. It eliminates the need for an extensive search through the task bar to find a simple function. It only takes a minute to be able to enjoy KeyRocket and its many great features.

Installation

Getting KeyRocket on your computer is easy and fast; KeyRocket is available for a free download at their website.

Installation was quick and easy — it only took a few moments!

Interface

When you first start up KeyRocket, its interface may seem intimidating. There are various preset shortcuts that you can try out right away. However, as you get more and more familiar with the program, making changes to certain shortcuts will be a breeze.

Key Features

KeyRocket gets right into things. Upon using a function such as bolding or italicizing, this program intuitively displays the function’s keyboard shortcut for the user to learn. It also offers the choice to create a custom shortcut for the function, which will be discussed later.

Intuitively shows you what the keyboard shortcut is for certain functions

KeyRocket increases your efficiency by providing you with only the necessary shortcuts. KeyRocket’s auto-detection feature saves time by automatically bringing up your frequently used functions. Some of the basic functions that can be put into a keyboard shortcut are shown below:

KeyRocket’s custom shortcut creation is unarguably the most useful aspect in the program. There are often functions that you need to use frequently; however, these functions may not already have shortcuts. KeyRocket’s custom shortcut creation allows you to make up your own shortcut. You may input any combination of keys and set it to perform a certain function.

Create your own custom shortcuts

However, the custom shortcut creation may only be used on a select few applications. These include: Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint.

Compatibility

KeyRocket runs on Microsoft Windows and is compatible with many programs that a typical office worker would use. KeyRocket works with the entire Microsoft Office Collection (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) as well Windows Visual Studio. It runs in English, French, German,Russian, Spanish, and Portuguese.

KeyRocket can be set to run upon Windows start up. It is also set to work in the background, thus using minimal memory and other system resources. Multiple programs can be used simultaneously along with KeyRocket; KeyRocket does not attach itself to a single application. That means you can enjoy KeyRocket’s keyboard shortcuts in Word, Excel, and Visual Studio all at the same time.

Works simultaneously with multiple programs

Usefulness

The functions offered by KeyRocket are generally built-in to the application (e.g. Underlining in Word with Ctrl + U) and its keyboard shortcuts are usually shown in the task bar. Still, KeyRocket is useful for creating faster and more accessible shortcuts for those who repetitively use them.

Pricing

KeyRocket is packaged at $29 CAD per user (discounts available for enterprises for multiple purchases). The package includes an extra 40 shortcuts that are not originally included in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Visual Studio, a personal statistics dashboard, continuous updates for a year, and premium support through telephone and email.

Personal Statistics Dashboard

KeyRocket offers a 14-day free trial to use before purchasing the full program.

Conclusion

KeyRocket is a somewhat useful program that saves its user time from searching for various functions in certain applications. I recommend this program for the average office worker because they often use applications such as Word and Excel. I would not recommend KeyRocket for household use because its’ features are not worth $29. However, it is best to use the free trial to see if KeyRocket is suited for you.

When it comes music, there plenty of apps that do an amazing job organizing the digital music library. Winamp, iTunes and our very Windows Media player are some worth mentioning. I heard good things about MediaMonkey and thought it would be fun to try this media manager out. Read about my tryst with this media manager after the break.

Getting Started

The installation process is pretty much standard and doesn’t sneak in any toolbars or crapware. There is an option to skin MediaMonkey to the maximum extent with its custom theme bypassing the Windows default. I enabled that option, but didn’t quite see any major facelift when compared to the regular Windows theme.

The help wizard at first launch offered comprehensive media management options. However, it appeared way too complex for a novice. Right from scanning the devices for building a library to managing devices, there is a problem of plenty here.

User Interface

User Interface

A three column layout doesn’t not exactly score in the eye candy department, but the app is very usable nonetheless. The player controls are at the bottom of the app.

Player Type Selection

When you aren’t using the app for anything other than playing music, you should try using the mini player and micro player modes. There is a dedicated player toggle button to the top right corner.

Tabbed Interface

Taking a leaf out of the modern day browsers, MediaMonkey comes with tabs. You can open multiple tabs and carry out various tasks without interrupting what’s happening in the other tabs. Definitely a cool feature that warrants a pat in the back.

Managing a Library

It doesn’t matter if you have 10 files for tens of thousands of files. Whether Rock, Classical, Audiobooks, or Podcasts; Movies, Home videos, or TV shows; whether they’re located on your hard drive, CDs, or a network MediaMonkey will organize the jeepers out of you collection for sure. Pristine organization based on Genre, Artist, Year, Rating, etc., ensures that you never have to waste your time trying to find the files you own.

Efficient Organization

For a collector, the ability to gather the missing information about the files in the collection is very important. MediaMonkey Automatically identifies movies and tracks that are missing information, and pulls information like missing tags and album art from sites like Amazon. And yes, you can manually add and edit tags to your heart’s content as well!

Syncing and Sharing

MediaMonkey’s syncing features worked as advertised. I was able to sync files to my iPhone without any fuss at all. I could not check out the sharing capabilities of the app though. Apparently, it’s capable of sharing media files with TVs, BD Players, and other DLNA devices. All you need to do is select which collections you want to share, and the selected content will immediately be available to your DLNA devices.

Addons

MediaMonkey customization abilities are worth a mention. Using a combination of skins, visualizations, plug-ins and other addons you can make this app your very own. I was thrilled to see the addons feature. While there aren’t many, the handful of available ones are thoughtful additions to the app. After a quick download, MediaMonkey’s core functionality can be extended in a manner you see fit.

Those aren’t the only goodies. MediaMonkey integrates with other applications such as sound editors, metadata lookup addons etc. to help you do more than just maintain an archive. If you are an audiophile, you have the tool that’s capable enough to create customized views and to create custom Auto-DJ rules.

I am big fan of the play count of songs in WMP and iTunes. But, MediaMonkey takes it up a notch by letting you pull custom reports with details of your library in many popular formats. Not sure how many of us will need to export a custom report, but it does sound geeky cool!

Final Thoughts

One little quirk of MediaMonkey that annoyed me to no end was that it auto launches as soon as a portable device is connected. For some that would have been a helpful feature, but since I didn’t voluntarily agree for launching MediaMonkey every single time I try to charge my iPhone I find it irritating. The icons and user interface in general could use some facelift though.

MediaMonkey is a free app. There is a pro version that costs $49.95. But, I found the free version to be extremely feature rich and an absolute delight to use. All said and done, MediaMonkey is indeed one of the powerful movie and music organizers for serious collectors of digital content.

My commute is an hour and a half each way and I get most of my writing done on the train, so as to not miss out on time with the family. I have recently bought a Samsung Series 9 laptop which is an awesome bit of kit and allows me to work on the train without having to carry a heavy laptop around. Due to using a laptop a lot of the time, and being a developer at work, I love keyboard shortcuts over mouse use as I find it faster, especially when I’m on the laptop.

I have also just got a Samsung Galaxy S4 (it’s brilliant) and I use the Wi-Fi hotspot to allow me to access the internet on my laptop when I’m on the train. I did the same from my Galaxy S2 before that and it such a useful tool. Aside from that I’m a huge fan of Android itself, a frequent visitor to XDA Developers and I’m often flashing new ROMs on my phone. Also, if I don’t have my laptop with me I’ll use my phone or tablet for writing so I’ve included a couple of Android apps that I use a lot.

My home machine is set up for gaming, it runs everything I ask it to, but isn’t the newest tech, it’s an overclocked Q6700 Quad Core, , 8GB RAM a Crucial SSD (if you still don’t have one you are missing out!) and an Nvidia GTX 460 GS and I run two monitors. When I’m not writing code for myself, or writing articles, or spending time with the family then I’m playing online games with a couple of very good friends.

I started writing for my own site just as something to do, and then started reading AppStorm avidly a while later. Whilst reading the site I saw an article asking for writers, applied and was accepted. The rest is history! Below is a list of apps I couldn’t write without, and a few extras that I really like as well, I hope you enjoy reading it.

WorkFlowy

I’ve long been an exponent of WorkFlowy because I find it so flexible, easy and fun to use. The way you can jump in and out of lists and focus on what it is that I want to look at next is really useful. I use it to form outlines of my articles, first creating main points, then sub points, then sub points to that if needed, and then export it to WordPres to publish.

WorkFlowy is versatile enough to fulfill most of your needs

Microsoft Word

If I’m not using Workflowy I’ll use Microsoft Word instead. A lot of people frown upon that, and I’ve never understood why, it’s a really powerful document creator that has been developed for many years, and it shows. I’m sure there are other ones that do a great job too, but I’ve been using Word for years and it’s never let me down.

ArsClip

ArsClip is a neat little clipboard manager that saves your clipboard history. You can bring it up with a hotkey combination and then use another hotkey for each item in the list, or use the mouse to choose one. I find it really useful for coding in my day to day job as well as writing.

AutoHotkey

This little scripting tool is far more than just a toy, it’s a powerful platform that lets you program any hotkeys you want, auto complete text and automate processes and that’s just the start, the forum at AutoHotkey is full information, and other forum goers are willing to help you out if you get stuck writing a script. I use AutoHotkey to quickly access programs that I use a lot. A couple of examples: CTRL + ALT + D opens up my dropbox folder, CTRL + ALT + E types out my most used email address, CTRL + ALT + M opens up Notepad++, WINDOWS + / opens up Chrome to Google.co.uk. There are loads more, and you can do anything you want with it really. Well worth a look if that kind of automation, customisation and text completion floats your boat.

Dropbox

I’m sure I don’t need to explain what Dropbox is to anyone, but I use it so much that I had to add it in. I use it to keep everything in sync between my laptop, desktop and phone (more on the phone later) and it is the easiest and most reliable tool for this that I have found. It means that the work I do on my laptop is synced to my desktop pretty much instantly. Using a couple of different apps it’s also pretty easy to access my Dropbox from my phone for edits or creation of new docs.

Apps for Image Manipulation

I use a few tools for images; depending on what I need the image for. Greenshot is a great tool for screenshots, the set up and automation features are great. The snipping tool built into Windows is pretty useful for quick grabs for reference as you only get the actual bit you want, and it loads up really quickly. It’s less good if you need a consistent or specific size of screenshot as you can’t alter the size of the snip once it’s been taken once it’s been taken.

Paint.NET is my image editor of choice, it’s easy to use, powerful and has all of the features that I require. For more info see my review here. and for batch image editing such as resizing a load of screenshots to the same size I use Photoscape as the batch editing is great.

Invoice Machine

The Invoice Machine UI is clean and simple

Google Chrome

My favourite browser is Chrome, by a long shot, I’m well invested in the Google ecosystem with my Android phone (I’ve been using Andoid for 3.5 years and still love it) and use of Chrome, and the integration and synchronisation that can be achieved is easy and pretty cool to use. I find it fast, reliable and customisable. I love the Chrome Web store and the extensions/ apps that you can get, it really lets you personalise your browser to do exactly what you need it to.

For those of you who haven’t tried making yourself a new theme with My Chrome Theme yet, I suggest you give it a go. If you have an image to hand you can build a theme in about 30 seconds and share it with friends should you so wish.

Read Later Fast

I have found this to be the best tool for reading later with offline support. As I mentioned earlier my commute is quite long, about one third of this is underground where there is no way to access the internet. That means that I have to have a reliable way to read articles that I have saved, this is the best I have used. Others are great if you have an internet connection, but fail pretty hard if you don’t, the big names included in my experience.

Android Apps

As I said I use Android a lot, and if I don’t have my laptop with me and I want to get some work done I use my Galaxy S4, or S2 before that. It’s obviously not as good as my laptop in terms of power or function, but for getting writing done it’s not that bad at all. Here are a few apps that are essential in allowing me to do this.

SwiftKey Keyboard

There are two main drawbacks to using a mobile device for productivity, the screen size and the keyboard. Swiftkey all but eliminates the latter. The predictive text is brilliant, and the word correction as you type is insanely good. I type fast on a phone and rely on the autocorrect to fix any typos I make, and this one does just that. I used Swype before that, which is also a brilliant keyboard, but since moving to SwiftKey I’ve not been tempted back. SwiftKey also now allows you to ‘flow’ your words as well, a la Swype, although I tend not to use it. If you do want to Swype not tap your words then Swype is better.

OfficeSuite Pro 7

Office Suite Pro 7 is the best tool I’ve found for editing documents on a phone

FolderSync

FolderSYnc allows you to synchronise whichever folders/ files you like from your cloud service of choice, everything from Dropbox to FTP is covered. You set up a remote folder to be synced with a local folder, this can be your whole Dropbox, or just one folder that you want synced. From this you can choose to upload the changes manually, to have them upload automatically on a schedule to to ahve them instantly sync changes to the remote location. It’s a really versatile app, and great for having your files with you when you don’t have a signal to download them there and then. Highly recommended.

Other Apps

Here are a few more apps that I use a lot but don’t consider essential for my workflow:

Free Commander

A great dual pane Windows alternative. It has one key feature that seals the deal for me; the ability to show folder size next to folders. It is a feature that Windows Explorer doesn’t support, and I understand why, due to the size of hard drives it can take a some seconds to scan and calculate the size of each folder, but it is a useful feature nevertheless. Give it a go.

Foxit Reader

Foxit Reader; faster, lighter and better featured than Adobe Reader

Google Drive

I use my GDrive primarily for collaboration with others; the real time collaboration that is built into GDocs is really very good indeed. I also tend to use it for spreadsheets instead of Excel, purely because I can access and edit them from any browser, any time.

That’s it for my apps, I hope that I’ve shown you an app or two that you don’t use, didn’t know about, or want to try out. I’m interested to hear which apps you couldn’t live without so let me know in the comments section below.

Thanks for reading.

Chris.

Orthodox File Managers

The ideas behind Norton Commander have been formalized into the concept of the Orthodox File Manager. These file managers have two panes and a command area. The command area is either an actual command line in the case of text-only programs, or buttons and menubars in the case of graphical equivalents. The two panes show different parts of the file system. This is convenient because one often wants to move or copy files between different parts of the filesystem, and Orthodox File Managers provide quick commands for doing this to selected files.

In this roundup, the first two programs are old-school text-only programs. Command line junkies should not be neglected. The other two are graphical.

Midnight Commander

This program is part of the GNU project and is thus, naturally, licensed under the GNU General Public License. The current version is 4.8.7 and can be downloaded from its project page at the GNU Foundation.

This is the most basic of the programs in this review. It is a text-only program that displays in the Windows command console. Resizing the console does not resize the program display. When I installed it, Midnight Commander did not even show the contents of directories. The website has not been updated since 2007. In short, this was a very weak showing from the GNU Project.

Open source advocates tout their development model as superior to that of closed source software. Failures like this need to be called out. If Midnight Commander is no longer a priority for the Free Software Foundation, then whoever own the project should publicly say so. Releasing non-functional software is bad for one’s reputation.

Far Manager

Far Manager is currently in its third version. It was originally written by Eugene Roshal, but is now maintained by the Far Group. Like Midnight Commander, it too, is text-only. Unlike the developers of Midnight Commander, the developers of Far Manager did something about the inadequacy of the Windows command console. They wrote a companion to Far, called ConEmu, a terminal emulator that is worth a review in its own right.

What sets Far Manager apart from most other Orthodox File Managers is the plugin support. Far Manager includes plugins for FTP, file archiving, and text editor support. Despite its text-only nature, the user interface can be customized to be pleasing to the eye and the plugin architecture has been expanded to include the .NET architecture. Among other things, this means that there is a plugin that can display pictures in the console window by using DirectX.

Far Manager is offered as freeware under a revised BSD license.

FreeCommander

Unlike the previous two programs, FreeCommander is a graphical program. Its current version is 2009.02b and is written by Marek Jasinski. It is freeware program under a proprietary license.

FreeCommander includes such features as FTP support, built-in compression (including 7Zip and RAR), multiple-file renaming, as well as such niceties as one-button access to the Control Panel, the Start Menu, and screenshots. One annoyance is that one must download help files separately and install them manually. I fail to see the benefit to this.

Total Commander

Total Commander, by Christian Ghisler of Ghisler Software GmbH, is currently at version 8.01. Like, FreeCommander, it is a graphical program. Unlike the other programs in this roundup it is shareware. It has a trial period of one month, after which it must be registered for $44.00 (depending on the exchange rate with the Swiss franc).

Although it is a graphical program rather than a text-only program, the interface of Total Commander resembles Far Manager and Midnight Commander more than that of an ordinary CUA-based application. The bottom of the window shows what commands are bound to the function keys. The menubar doesn’t match standard Windows conventions, either; for instance, there is no Edit menu. Fortunately, the online help is good and does not bring up a web page from the Internet when invoked.

Conclusion

After trying out these alternatives, I still prefer Directory Opus, but if I had to choose, I would go with FreeCommander. Like its name, it’s free, and it has a good selection of features. I give Far Manager an honorable mention because of the plugin architecture and extensibility.

Although I wouldn’t want to see Microsoft kill another category of software by embrace & extend, I wonder why Redmond hasn’t folded features of Orthodox File Managers into Windows Explorer. There’s a market for it. This software has been a cottage industry for more than twenty years. Until Microsoft changes its mind, we can enjoy the competition among the little players in this market niche.

This all brings us to BetterDesktop Tool. This app is not for bringing back the long-lost Start Button and Menu, but it certainly brings plenty of functionality along.

Get the App

Head over to the BetterDesktop Tool web site and you will find two choices — there are standard and pro versions, with the Standard option being free. Both versions are contained within the download package. Commercial users must purchase a license and can try BetterDesktopTool Professional Edition free for 30 days. The app is compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows.

During the installation process you will be prompted to choose between “Private Usage” and “Commercial Usage (30 Day Trial)”. The app requires only 1.5 MB of free disk space. There are no toolbars or other software included in the app and installation is extremely fast.

The Interface

Only three tabs garner the top of the screen — “Windows and Desktop Overview”, “Virtual-Desktop” and “General”. All have a rather geeky look to them, but they are less scary once you understand what each can do. The app is capable of a lot, but we will hit the highlights here to get you introduced to all of the functionality that BetterDesktop Tool brings along.

Windows and Desktop Overview

This is the first of those geeky looking screens I mentioned, but do not let appearances put you off. It is not as scary as it may at first look. First there are several dropdown menus that allow you to set options, which as Ctrl-Tab or Alt-Tab, for a range of choices, and these can be to not only keystrokes, but also mouse clicks and “hot corners”.

Options

• Show all windows
• Show foreground app windows
• Show desktop
• Show non-minmized windows
• Show desktop

Mouse options include the usual – left, middle and right buttons. Hot corners are areas of the screen – top and bottom right and top and  bottom left.

Other options on this tab include “Arrange windows in a regular grid”, “Move all windows to primary screen” and “Show top-level windows only”.

There are also two buttons at the bottom right of the screen — Exclude Window and Reset Excluded Windows. The first will propt you with instructions. “To exclude a window start window-overview (show all windows) and right-click the window you want to exclude. Select the corresponding menu item and the window will be excluded”. The latter button does the opposite.

Visual Desktop

By default, Virtual Desktop is enabled as is “Move windows between virtual-desktops by dragging them to the screen edges for a time”. Howeveryou can disable these and also choose from a number of options.

The “Show virtual desktop” option has similar dropdown menus for keyboard, mouse and hot corners. You can choose what occurs when another application on a virtual desktop gets activated — move it, switch it or make the app global.

“Direct switching” also has options for keyboard shortcuts, as well as moving and switching. Finally, there is an option forthe amount and arrangement of windows that appear on your screen. By default, this is set four – two wide and two high. However, both of these can be changed by clicking the up and down arrows to the right of each number.

General

The “General” tab has six options, the first three of which are enabled by default.

Options

• Start Program with Windows
• Check for updates on start
• Disable all shortcuts when a fullscreen application is running (e.g. games)
• Disable animation for window, desktop and virtual-desktop overview
• Ask to restore applications from hidden virtual desktops before shutdown/logoff (blocks shutdown)
• Enable multitouch-gesture support for designated touchpads

Below this, there are two button at thebottom of the screen — “Check for update” and “About and License”. Both options do exactly as the names describe.

Features

• Arranges all windows in a non overlapping layout. Allows selection of an arbitrary window to bring it to the foreground.
• Can be applied to minimized, non-minimized and foreground application windows.
• Supports Multi-Monitor setups.
• Moves all windows away from your desktop to give you access to Desktop-Shortcuts and Sidebar-Gadgets.
• Supports Multi-Monitor setups.
• Configuration of Mouse and Keyboard shortcuts for all functions.
• Configuration of Hot-Corners for all functions.

The Verdict

As I said back at the beginning, there are countless applications for customizing Windows. BetterDesktop Tool is perhaps one the better ones, as it allows the user to set all sorts of shortcuts using the the keyboard and mouse and even screen corners. The app is also free and comes with no malware or toolbars that attempt to install themselves in the setup process.

The company also points out that support for window selection by keyboard shortcuts will also follow soon in the next version. The company regularly updates its app, so you can expect to get regular new features and bug fixes.

Metro: Last Light has been looking good in teasers and commercials, but does it actually perform? Well, after playing it thoroughly and patiently, the way this FPS is meant to be played, I can say that it almost hits the spot. Let’s find out how!

What Clicks

The beauty of Metro: Last Light lies in the fact that the game resurrects the original’s atmosphere and grit with panache. Moscow hasn’t changed. The Moscow constructed in Metro 2033 is still the mysterious, scary, haunting place that dictated the success of the first installment in this series. With Metro: Last Light, post-apocalyptic Moscow of 2034 reemerges with all the elements intact, making Last Light another winner of sorts.

Moscow will never be the same..

THAT looks shiny!

What Doesn’t

While Last Light scores in the crucial areas, it does fail in some aspects too. I particularly felt that it started out great as a story but lost all depth along the way. The last couple of hours were exceptionally bland and the game had deteriorated from a careful, well thought out plot to a plain, otherworldly façade. I definitely felt that the plot could be up-scaled in the middle of the game, but that never happened.

I could sneak up on you, you know I could. I didn’t. Blam!

Well, hello there

Summary

Metro: Last Light does leave some stones unturned in its efforts to deliver an impressive sequel to Metro 2033. I would not say that the game is a total disappointment. In fact, it is impressive and deserves a 7. However, especially when I consider the fact that the same AI issues marred a perfect experience in its predecessor, I am bound to say that a better job could be done with the game.

And thus, I give a final rating of 7 to Metro Last Light. I hope you enjoyed reading the review, and if you have anything to add, please feel free to comment below. Do let us know how epic your experience with the game was. Until next time, happy gaming!

If you would like to read my full review of Ginger click here: Ginger: An Invaluable Tool For Writers.

Recently I came in contact with one of main members of the Ginger team, Dudu Noy. He was kind enough to speak to me about everything from the beginning of Ginger, all the way to what the future holds. Read on to find out more!

Thanks for taking the time to speak to us today. First of all could you introduce yourself and your role in Ginger?

Hi! Thanks for inviting me. My name is Dudu Noy, and I’m the VP of Product and Marketing at Ginger Software where I lead the Marketing, Product and Creative teams. I’m in charge of taking Ginger’s innovative Natural Language Understanding (NLU) algorithmic capabilities and leveraging them into successful mass consumer products. Ginger’s mission is to break down language barriers by enabling English as Second Language (ESL) users to express themselves as native English speakers. Prior to joining the team at Ginger, I held various product and marketing positions at consumer product companies such as Taboola and Metacafe.

Who makes up the team of Ginger and where are you based?

Ginger is led by CEO & Founder Yael Karov and is comprised of about 50 employees from various disciplines. Yael is one of the only female CEOs in the Israeli startup scene. She brings to Ginger a vast knowledge of natural language processing and machine learning, and has assembled a talented team of NLU experts that keep generating innovative patent pending capabilities. In addition, Ginger is comprised of a diverse group of marketing, product, and development professionals. Our offices are located in sunny Tel Aviv, Israel, and overlook the Mediterranean. We’re proud to be part of “Startup nation.”

Where did the original idea for Ginger come from? Did you see a gap in the market?

There is something ironic about Israelis providing a tool for perfecting English, as we are ESL users ourselves. However, this is the primary reason why such a startup came out of Israel. Israelis work in a global market and are strongly aware of the necessity of communicating effectively in English. Yael, who is not a native English speaker, used to search Google for common phrasings in English. She would then analyze the results herself to determine the best way of writing for her context. Thus, the idea of Ginger was born.

While an over-simplification, this idea is how Ginger works for users. It crawls over a vast corpus of written texts in English and calculates the probability and likelihood of English text occurrences. This statistical knowledge, combined with semantic and syntactic models, enables Ginger to provide English corrections that are unmatched by any other software. The corrections include spelling, grammar, and misused words, and are integrated seamlessly into the user’s natural writing environments (Word, Outlook, browsers, mobile platforms, etc.).

Ginger’s Homepage.

From original idea to finished product, how long did that process take? Were there any major problems along the way?

Ginger was founded in 2008. The early years were spent establishing the core Natural Language Understanding platform, which in and of itself included a few challenges. For example, a main challenge consisted of developing an algorithm that could crawl the web and analyze a vast corpus of words while not compromising on result response time. Ginger’s latest free product was launched in early 2012 and we constantly strive to improve the user experience and product functionality on a daily basis. One challenge we faced was how to bring Ginger’s value directly to the user’s natural writing environment, which prompted us to develop interfaces for all the major writing platforms (MS Office, Chrome, Safari, etc.).

Another challenge Ginger tackled was how to help the user not only fix his writing, but also to improve his English by learning from his mistakes. Therefore, we developed a personal tutor, which offers Ginger’s users the opportunity to practice on their own mistakes. An ongoing challenge we face in the marketing arena is to let users know about and experience Ginger’s unique value proposition. Once users are familiar with Ginger, they are converted to loyal users. I’m proud to say that since launching our free product in early 2012, Ginger has been installed by over 2 million users.

Were there any important decisions which were made during the development of this app?

On the business side of things, Ginger made the important decision in early 2012 of being a freemium product. This means that we provide our proofreading capabilities for free while offering our personal tutor as a premium. I am delighted by this decision, which enables us to fulfill our vision by providing free distribution to millions of users around the globe. Another important decision was to develop Ginger for all major browser extensions (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer) in addition to our Microsoft Office offerings. This enables our users to correct their English anywhere within their browser (Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and more importantly allows us to support Mac users.

Ginger fixing a (deliberate) mistake.

Ginger is fantastic for people like me who write a lot because of its absolute simplicity. Was it the aim from the start to create a simple yet effective app?

Yes, the overall goal of Ginger’s products is to provide a one-click user experience despite the complicated computations running in the background. This required coordinated efforts by the teams working on both the UX and the algorithm.

Are there any applications you use on a daily basis to make your workflow easier?

Since data is very important to us and in order to keep improving our products, we use Google Analytics and BI systems to learn about the needs of our users. In addition, we use social media websites, such as our blog, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, to connect with our users. In the office, we use Kanban to organize our office workflow and make communication between departments easier.

What does the future hold for Ginger?

As more and more people write on their mobile devices, Ginger is focusing special attention to the mobile world. We have recently launched a superior Android application that integrates everywhere a user types on their device. We are also working on a new and exciting capability that will offer users the ability to enrich their writing. Stay tuned for its launch in the coming month!

Wrap-Up

Here at Windows.Appstorm we extend a great deal of thanks to Dudu Noy and the team working on Ginger. This app is superior at its concept and helps people all over the world. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for Ginger!

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