Ask dotTechies: How many software (and/or web services) have you purchased in the past year?
April 3, 2010 32
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Time and time again people tell me that dotTech has saved them a lot of money and they rarely, if ever, purchase software thanks to all the freebies and freeware postings on dotTech. So, lets quantify this feedback and see exactly the effect dotTech has had on your software purchasing habits:
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I am curious to see what everyone’s response will be =). Feel free to share your thoughts below, also.
@Mr.Dave:
Here’s a couple of free possibilities to replace Windows Explorer. Both are current and have portable versions.
Q-Dir – http://www.softwareok.com/?seite=Freeware/Q-Dir
Free Commander – http://www.freecommander.com/
FC’s author lists some utilities to enhance the use of his software. Might be worth a look.
I’ve used both and like them, especially for portable use – something DOpus won’t let me do!
Correction, I don’t buy software, I buy accessories. :)
Here is what I bought this year:
-Lenovo T400
-Buffalo USB Mouse
- Ear phnones
-Targus Cooler Fan
-NoteBook Webcam
-Screen Protector
-Screen Cleaning Tools
-16GB Kingston Memory stick
-250GB Seagate Portable HardDrive
-Very nice MousePad
-Portable Card Reader
-and other stuff?
~Joji~
@Ron: I’ve been using Free Commander for over a year now but find it chokes on folders with over a thousand files (tried to pin down the number but it varies between 1,2xx and 1,6xx) or several large files, and lately it’s crashing when copying whole folders or any time I “leave it alone” for 5 or 10 minutes. Probably a conflict with something else on my system, but I’m forced to kill the process and restart it several times an hour. Otherwise it’s a VERY nice program, lots of built-in extras and the best tab handling I’ve seen yet. Highly recommended (if it works on your system!).
I tried 19 others but Q-dir wasn’t in my notes. Thanks for the suggestion!
It is my opinion that for every software that you can buy, there is an equivalent one that is free, somewhere out there in the virtual world. The fun part is not only working with a good free software but also to find it. I am not a computer expert so it was a blessing and a joy to find dotTech. I found verry accurate honest and pertinent comments relating to softwares and the the computer world in general. And I see, by the results, that dotTech working hard for us, so THANK YOU Ashraf.
The past year is not a fair parameter, in view of the release of Windows 7, which I bought. I also bought WinPatrol for just 1 $, which is technically a purchase, while in fact it is as good as a freebie. The only program which I should not have bought is Ashampoo Uninstaller 4, which is not worth a penny.
Ditto what Betty said
@Mr Dave
Very well put!
I’d also recommend Q-Dir to you, though I don’t know how well it handles very large folders. It is sometimes quirky and a little over-sensitive but I forgive it everything as it saves a great deal of time in file management operations, using 5 panes simultaneously. (You can choose how many panes you wish to use and how to arrange them). I sometimes wish there were six available but 5 appears to be the maximum.
@Joji
That’s a very nice array you’ve got there. My favourite machine at present is the Lenovo SL500, but the T version you have would be considerably better. Keep an eye on that Seagate portable, they’ve had quite a bad rap for overheating (if overworked) and burning out while still quite young.
My favourite accessory this past year is the hard drive dock which will take a 2.5″ or 3.5″ bare drive. No overheating probs there and it’s been working like a charm.
I somehow screwed up my Windows Explorer on my XP SP3 machine years ago. It only has 1 active pane on the left at a time and then you need to TOGGLE the FOLDER tab to see the FILES section that would normally be on the RIGHT, but it’s on the left also in place of the FOLDERS being there. I have tried many possible solutions and nothing works. Any help would be appreciated. I almost think that I slid the right side into the folders on the left side somewhere. Is that even possible? Roger