Application Testing

This week I had an opportunity to try out a few applications that I've bookmarked in the feed weeds.

• UltimateDefrag
• FreeSnap
• HamachiX
• FolderView

UtimateDefrag - I'm always on the look out for utilities for my "technicians tookit" so I installed this and gave it go. It's not the fastest freeware defrag utility out there but it does have one thing going for it that the others don't and that is the ability to move files or folders to faster portions of your hard drive. I ran this on my external drive that I keep all my utilities, drivers and services packs on at work and it did exactly what I wanted by moving those files I use the most to the inner portion of the hard drive. I'm already taking a performance hit by using an external usb drive so every bit helps when you are copying 300+mb service packs to install. Recommendation - Add it to your toolkit.

FreeSnap - This one was unique in that it will allow you to quickly resize or move application windows using keyboard shortcuts. With my dual monitor setup at work this one really saves me time. I always have many windows open and I'm constantly resizing and moving them around as I assist users remotely. Recommend - You really need this if you only have one monitor.

HamachiX - I've used the hamachi client since it's very early days on windows but knew I had to install it for Mac when I saw this. This is still in early development but it makes it much easier to get up and running on OS X with it's GUI. Hamachi is very good at cutting thru all the firewall issues usually associated with remotely connect to a machine in the office. It's secure and easy to implement. I was remote controlling my iMac G5 on an external network from my Dell workstation at the office in nothing flat.

FolderView - If you are like me you constantly have folders open to quickly access files you need. This app adds access to all your folders from the toolbar in an explorer window. The really time saving feature is the recently used list which makes it very easy to get back to a folder you are working with for the day. Recommend - Your mileage may vary depending on how you use your system and use explorer.