FreeFile Review – GifCam

Today, it is rare that a free program can be considered truly original. GifCam is such a program. Although many programs can create animated GIFs, GifCam simplifies the process as no other program has. The program will record any area of the desktop and save it as an animated GIF. It is a portable application that requires no installation. It is available only for Windows.

GifCam is quite easy to use. When launched, the program window appears on the desktop with the main window transparent. The transparent window is the area that will be recorded; it can be resized and relocated to your needs. Prepare your source material (start playing a YouTube video, for example), resize and relocate GifCam over the video, press ‘Rec’ to begin recording and ‘Stop’ to stop the recording. Next, save the GIF with the ‘Save’ button. A drop-down arrow on the ‘Save’ button allows you to select 5 quality levels. ‘Quantize’ produces the most realistic output, although ‘Gray Scale’ preserves more detail. Many may prefer ‘Gray Scale’ even though the file sizes are larger. ‘Monochrome’ can produce interesting results with the right source material (high contrast and little detail). ’256 Color’ produces the classic animated GIF look, and I don’t know why anyone would use the ’20 Color’ setting. The ‘Edit button allows for trimming frames or delay time from frames – rather clunky, but it works.

- – - – The Bottom Line – - – -

An adjustment for frames per second would be nice and I occasionally noticed green artifacts in the output files, but overall, GifCam is an impressive program. I give it two thumbs up.

Download GifCam HERE

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FreeFile Review – Calme (Calendars Made Easy)

Calme (or Calendars Made Easy) is a simple utility for printing calendars. It has 12 styles of calendars to choose from – all attractive. You can choose between several professional looking planner calendars (monthly,yearly or half-year) or five styles of monthly calendars that can be customized with your own pictures. Calme is for Windows only.

I have only positives to report. It couldn’t be easier to use. Simply select a style of calendar, select the year/month, click ‘Print Preview’ and then ‘Print’. Inserting a photo for the custom picture calendars is also very easy, with several options for resizing the image. I got good results even when using a relatively low resolution image. The current version will print calendars only for 2012 and 2013. Hopefully, an updated version will be released soon.

- – - – The Bottom Line – - – -
To quickly knock out a professional looking calendar, Calme is hard to beat. Some people might want more options and customizations, but I don’t think they’re needed. This program’s strong suit is quick and simple. It is totally free, so give it a shot.

Download Calme HERE

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FreeFile Review – PC Image Editor

PC Image Editor is a simple image editor available for Windows only. This type of program is designed to perform a few simple adjustments quickly. What separates this editor from dozens of other free graphic editors is its interface, which is modeled after Adobe Lightroom, with the most-used tools arranged in tabs on the right side.

The standard color adjustments (Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, etc.) are on the Adjustments tab along with buttons for Auto Levels, Auto Contrast and Invert. All of these adjustments work as expected, except for the Colorize controls, which will add color to an image, but will not remove it. The Filters tab contains 10 filters which work well enough; I would like there to be more. There is really little reason for the last two tabs. The Effects tab contains the normal transform controls and two controls that are better suited for the Filters tab. The Resize tab is self-explanatory.

Positives include opening and saving in most common image formats, the tools work well, and the program is easy to use. I liked the small preview that pops up whenever a tool was used.

Negatives include too few filters and effects. The program’s lack of any selection tools or text tools is understandable, but the lack of a crop tool is a major shortcoming.

- – - – The Bottom Line – - – -

I was prepared to recommend PC Image Editor until I realized that it lacks a crop tool. Adding more filters and effects and, most importantly, a crop tool, will make this program a winner. Until that happens, I feel the program is too limited for most people. If you want to give it a try – PC Image Editor can be downloaded HERE.

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FreeFile Review – Document.Editor

Document.Editor is a word processing program. It is an open source project which gives a very good first impression, but with closer inspection, it becomes clear that this project is far from complete. It is for Windows only.

Installation is rather unusual; an .application file is downloaded and when clicked it downloads the program and installs it (I would prefer a simple .exe). Installation is otherwise quick and painless. The program’s interface is an exceptionally well done version of Microsoft’s ribbon interface. Here’s a screenshot. It has Spell Check, Text-to-Speech, and Definitions (Bing look up). Tabs allow opening multiple documents. Unfortunately, the positive impression ended there.

The list of negatives is long. The program can open and save only the most basic formats (.txt .rtf .xdoc). Page layout functions are non existent and printing is very basic. Those two shortcomings make Document.Editor unusable for most users. The program is not stable – it crashed after about 30 minutes of inactivity and it does not remember its window size and location after being minimized to the task bar. The Translation button seems to be non functioning. Most of the links in the program are dead (WTF?). User options are limited.

- – - – The Bottom Line – - – -

I cannot recommend Document.Editor – it is simply too incomplete at this time. I hope this project continues to improve, as I see potential in it. For a better free word processor, see my review of AbiWord.
Document.Editor can be downloaded HERE.

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FreeFile Review – The Gimp 2.8

The Gimp has long been considered the best free graphics editor. In the past, when trying the program, I was turned off by the interface that consisted of several floating windows. This issue has been addressed in the new version 2.8 with the Single-Window Mode, which can be enabled in the ‘Windows’ menu. This constrains the program to a single main window as is the norm with most programs. This new interface is pleasant and slightly cluttered. Another welcome change is the Text Editing, which now is done on canvas (in-line). Previously, text was edited in a separate window. The Gimp is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

My enthusiasm for the program quickly evaporated when I tried to get some work done with it. Much of this program is not intuitive; I spent more time reading less-than-helpful help files and the more useful forums than actually testing the program. If you are experienced with other photo editors, The Gimp will be very frustrating. Simple functions, such as ‘deselect’ are not where one would expect them. Other things, such as ‘Adjustment Layers’, are absent. There are seven selection tools, but not a plain ‘Select’ tool. The ‘Heal Tool’ performs as a ‘Clone Stamp Tool’. It seems that non-standard things have been done just to be different.

Positives include a good selection of tools, most of which have plenty of options. It comes with a nice selection of filters. The new Single-Window interface is a welcome change. The Gimp performed well and was stable.
- – - – The Bottom Line – - – -

This is a powerful program with a steep learning curve, and you must be willing to put in a lot of work to master it. I can’t recommend The Gimp for most users, but if you are looking for a challenge, The Gimp may fill the bill.

Download The Gimp HERE

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FreeFile Review – Invisible Utilities

What is an invisible utility? My definition is a Windows application that is completely unobtrusive; transparent to the user, when not needed, but is quickly available via the context menu (right click) when needed. And most importantly, it must provide something that Windows does not. this review will cover three such utilities that I have used for several years -  Eraser – 7-Zip – Unlocker.

Eraser will securely delete any file on your PC. Normally when a file is deleted, it still exists on your hard drive. To truly remove a file, it must be overwritten – that is what Eraser does. Once installed, several Preferences can be set by the user. The most important setting is for the number of times a file will be overwritten – 1, 3, 7 or 35 times. I choose 3x – for speed – and I also disable Scheduled Tasks. To use Eraser, simply right-click on a file and select ‘Erase’, click ‘Yes’ and the file is permanently gone. The contents of the Recycle Bin can be erased also. Right-clicking the Recycle Bin icon gives a list of erasing options.

7-Zip is for opening archive files – about 25 different formats. Windows will open .zip files, but no other archive types. 7-Zip will open .rar, .iso and many others. To use, right-click on an archive file and select ’7-Zip’ and then ‘Extract files’ (or ‘Extract Here’), click ‘OK’ and 7-Zip does its thing. Most users will not need this application often, but it is handy to have on your computer. 7-Zip is available in 32 bit and 64 bit versions.

Unlocker is a lifesaver when Windows refuses to let you do anything to a file because some program has control of the file. To use, right-click on the locked file and select ‘Unlocker’. In the Unlocker window, select the locked file and click the ‘Unlock’ button. Usually, this does the trick. If the file is still locked, try the ‘Kill Process’ button. It can be difficult to find a download link for Unlocker – here is a good one. Be aware that Unlocker is available in 32 bit and 64 bit versions.

- – - – The Bottom Line – - – -

All three of these utilities are simple to use and effective. They have been part of my Windows PCs for years and I appreciate them on the rare occasions when they are needed. While many similar programs exist, I find these three to be solid performers.

Download Eraser

Download 7-Zip

Download Unlocker

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FreeFile Review – AbiWord

Originally, this review was to be titled “WordPad – The Forgotten Word Processor”, however, it soon became clear that WordPad was forgotten for very good reasons. Support for Word’s .doc format was removed from WordPad when Windows Vista debuted. Little was expected and even less was delivered by WordPad. It may be a reasonable application if your needs begin and end with .rtf (rich text format), but better solutions exist.

Next up is AbiWord which has long been considered the best of the free word processor applications. It is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Installation was problem free. A few add-ons can be selected during the install, however, the search and translation options merely place internet shortcuts on the ‘Tools’ menu – skip those. The interface is pleasant and relatively uncluttered. AbiWord will open, edit and save to a long list of formats, including .doc and .html. Although, AbiWord is not as full featured as Word, it has spell check, mail merge and supports the embedding of graphics and tables. During my short test, I found no issues opening, editing and saving .doc documents.

Only one negative surfaced. I found a bug (or, is it a feature?). While in the Print layout, the horizontal ruler on top does not line up with the page. It does not affect the page layout, but, I found it annoying.

- – The Bottom Line – -

AbiWord is a capable word processor that should meet most people’s needs. If you want more, consider Libre Office which was reviewed here 3 months ago.

Download AbiWord HERE

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FreeFile Review – PixBuilder Studio

I just recently became aware of PixBuilder Studio. This free image editor is similar to Paint.Net, which I reviewed earlier this year – both are quite capable, but with a few differences.

Installation offers the options of a full install or a portable install (very nice). I chose the portable install on Windows 7 and had no issues. PixBuilder Studio is for Windows only. The user interface is very clean and modern and it can be customized to one’s tastes.

Most of PixBuilder Studio’s image adjustments (brightness, contrast, color controls, etc.) are found under the Colors menu on the toolbar. All of these controls perform quite well as do the limited drawing tools. I was surprised to find a Healing Brush Tool, but I found its performance subpar. The Clone Stamp Tool performs much better. Text is edited in a seperate window – my preference is for inline editing – however, in this case, the text editing is well done. My favorite feature is the Zoom Panel. It offers the easiest way to zoom in and out of the workspace that I have seen. This feature should be included in all image editors. Another surprise is the icon editor that is built into the program. Finally, the program performs quickly and reliably.

The only big negative that I found was the few filters and effects included with PixBuilder Studio. It is possible to install Photoshop filters, but few users will go through the involved process to enable them. Hopefully, this will be resolved in a future version.

- – The Bottom Line – -

I was pleasantly surprised by this well done piece of software. Anyone needing a basic photo editor will be very satisfied with PixBuilder Studio. The icon editing functions really make PixBuilder Studio stand out from the crowd. Try it for yourself.

Download PixBuilder Studio HERE

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FreeFile Review – LibreOffice

What is LibreOffice? For years, the number one free alternative to Microsoft Office was OpenOffice.  About a year ago, the OpenOffice developers left that project and used OpenOffice source code to launch LibreOffice. If you’ve used OpenOffice in the past, LibreOffice will be quite familiar. The entire LibreOffice suite is completely free and it is a fairly large download (about 200MB). It consists of a word processor, a spreadsheet program, a database, a PowerPoint replacement, a drawing application and a math program. It is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. This review is primarily about the word processor and spreadsheet applications, since these are all that most people will ever use.

Installation is relatively pain free, however, Java may, or may not need to be installed. Once installed, a single icon provides access to all of the programs in the suite through a simple ‘start center’. User Interfaces are similar for all the programs. They are attractive, but quite busy, due to the incredible amount of features and options offered. It is very much like Microsoft Office before the ribbon interface.

Writer, the word processor, is a very capable, full-featured program. It can open and save Microsoft .DOC documents. The default save option is for the LibreOffice format. Most will want to change the default to .DOC through Tools > Options. Also, it can save as a PDF. I haven’t noticed any compatibility issues with documents created in Word. Writer is all the word processor that most people will need.

Calc is the spreadsheet application of the suite. It looks very much like Excel and it can open and save to various Microsoft formats. I did notice some minor formatting inconsistencies with documents that were created in Excel – not a major problem – just irritating. I think everyone, except hardcore Excel users, will be pleased with Calc.

- – The Bottom Line – -

LibreOffice is a very capable alternative to the pricey Microsoft Office. Most people will have no need for Microsoft Office after trying LibreOffice. The only negative that I could find is that the abundance of features and options can confuse some users (just as Microsoft Office will). If you need an office suite, download LibreOffice today.

Download LibreOffice HERE

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FreeFile Review – Serif PagePlus Starter Edition

Serif PagePlus Starter Edition is generally concidered the best of the few free desktop publishing applications currently available. It is a stripped down version of Serif’s full PagePlus program.

The installation process may be the worst thing about this freebie. Serif requires that a user account be created (personal info is gathered). To activate the software, a 25 character key must be entered. A reboot was required before the installation, but not after the installation – WTF? If you successfully jump through Serif’s installation hoops, you are greeted with a very pleasant user interface. However, it soon becomes apparent that many of the program’s features have been disabled. Serif left the disabled features in the program so that you know what is gained with a paid upgrade. The application comes with 4 themes – these are nice enough, but very plain. More templates can be purchased for $5 or $10 each. The $5 templates are just bad. Here’s an example.

On the positive side – the program works well. I particularly like its Text tool. It is powerful and simple to use. The Drawing tools also are well done. The Photo Editing tools are lacking. Slider controls have been replaced with +/- buttons – simple and effective, but too simple for my tastes.  Drag-and-drop make page layout a breeze.

- – - The Bottom Line – - -

I’m not sure who would benefit from this program – perhaps someone who does desktop publishing very rarely. I can’t image that anyone would want to use such a limited program often. I can’t recommend this application because of Serif’s registration requirement. If that doesn’t bother you and your needs are simple, Serif PagePlus Starter Edition may fit the bill.

Download Serif PagePlus Starter Edition HERE

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FreeFile Review – Sudoku

I recently took a look at two free Sudoku puzzle applications that are quite different – one is no-frills, the other is packed with options. Both programs are Windows only and require no installation. Also, both allow the player to select the level of difficulty.

The first one, CR-Sudoku is a simple Sudoku game, best for on-screen play. It generates only the standard 9×9 Sudoku grids and has no print function. The on-screen play is aided with ‘Show Errors’ and ‘Next Move’ functions as well as the option to enter small “helper numbers” with a right-click.

The other program, Color Sudoku, is a full-feature game for both on-screen and paper-and-pencil play. It will generate a printable PDF file with multiple games on each page for those who prefer paper-and-pencil. Grids are not limited to the standard 9×9, but can be configured from a simple 6×6 to a 20×20, with 8 different multiple grid layouts. Very large, very difficult games are possible. For on-screen play, ‘Show Errors’ and ‘Hint’ functions are available, but it lacks CR-Sudoku’s “helper numbers” function. One interesting feature is the option to use colors, instead of numbers. Interesting, but I don’t know if I will ever use it.

- – - – The Bottom Line – - – -

As someone who prefers paper-and-pencil Sudoku, Color Sudoku is my first choice, however, if your preference is for on-screen play on 9×9 grids, CR-Sudoku is the way to go. Since both are completely free, grab both.

Download Color Sudoku HERE

Download CR-Sudoku HERE

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FreeFile Review – Painting For Free

This time I’m looking at two free natural painting programs. I have just recently become aware of MyPaint , while Art Weaver is an old favorite presented for comparison. Natural painting programs differ from image editing programs in that, instead of editing an existing photograph, a completely original painting is created, much like an artist paints on canvas. Artistic ability although not necessary, is helpful.

MyPaint is an open source project available for Windows, Mac and Linux. The program installed in Windows 7 with no issues. It’s interface is rather non-standard, with everything in floating pallets, similar to the GIMP. Out of the box, MyPaint’s selection of brushes is rather skimpy, with more available for download. The first issue that I found was that the canvas size cannot be set. A tutorial explains that the canvas expands to whatever size your painting needs – strange. The Brush Editor is also a problem. It is incomprehensible and overly complex for all but the hard core users – 36 different settings in one panel. The program was stable and well behaved. I’m sure that if you took the time to figure out the Brush Editor, it would be possible to create some nice work.

Art Weaver is a commercial product (Windows only) that offers a free version. The free version installed easily. Its interface is very familiar and easy to figure out. Art Weaver comes with many more and higher quality brushes installed than does MyPaint. Brush adjustments are easier with Art Weaver’s more user friendly Brush Editor. I could find nothing to not like about Art Weaver.
- – The Bottom Line – -
This was an easy one. Art Weaver is the clear winner. It is a mature product, while MyPaint is a work in progress. However, Mac and Linux users may find MyPaint quite useful.

Download Art Weaver or MyPaint

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