No comments about Sitespring Additional User License.

5 comments about McAfee VirusScan 6.0.

1. when my dad bought the virus scanner from a shop it said that we would get FREE UPDATES when they were available. ho hum what happins? cost$$$$$$$$$$ and sometimes we dont have that to spend on stuff that dosen't WORK...... it didn't detect a virus in a email that i myself had, thus causing half of my email contacts to get it and their computer CRASH.....if you read this.....DO NOT BUY THIS VIRUS SCANNER OR PRODUCTS......... GO ELESWHERE TRUST ME.... AND MY FAMILY!!!...



2. I realize customer support is not a profit-maker. So has McAfee. My system was down a week and once I had isolated Security Center as the problem, I wasn't able to speak to anyone whose first language was English. Morons with flow charts, a huge phone bill and I finally figured out (on my own) how to edit the registry additions. Spyware included but subtle.



3. I just got the package for Windows XP and proceeded to install. During the installation, I updated to the latest and greatest as of Auguest 2004. After reboot, the product crashes with errors for "VirusScanSynchMgrClass: Avsynmgr.exe" and twice "RuLaunch". This is horrific.
   
   My system is realatively clean with only Office 2003 (all patches applied), Virtual PC 2004, and Yahoo Messenger on Windows XP Pro (all patches appied).
   
   I think products that out of the box crash is just unethical, even more so when the latest patches/updates don't work. It shows that the company either cuts corners on software quality assurance or management that ships the products with known bugs. Either way, this is not the type of company that you want to buy products from period. Aarrrgh!!!



4. At the end of April 2004 I installed McAfee Virus Scan on two computers (XP Pro) at my business and had a terrible experience. Every time we got an email with a virus, a window would popup telling us that it had proudly caught a virus and that we really should scan the entire computer. Nowadays, at businesses in particular, we may get 20 or 30 or 40 emails a day with virus attachments. For each email, McAfee pops up, stopping the process of downloading and stopping you from working and scaring our personnel to death with the warning that the whole computer should be scanned. It's like the police interrupting the news every time they catch a speeder and suggesting that everyone take a polygraph. Just do your job and get on with it. No need to stop everything and say the sky is falling. Needless to say, I got rid of it and use Norton Antivirus instead, which is happy to work in the background.
   
   Then, at the end of March 2005, McAfee charged me 139.96 as part of their very tricky and not very clear auto-renewal process. A full month before it was set to expire. Like credit card payments take a month? Why should they get your money a full month early? They hide this notice in the EULA (End Users Licensce Agreement) that no other company uses in this way. They should be upfront and very clear about the fact that they will be keeping your credit card information on file for a year, and then a month before your lousy software is supposed to expire, they bomb your credit card and then send you an email to thank you for the opportunity to pick your pocket. So then you have to call them and spend a half hour on the phone to get your money back, and don't forget to tell them to change your account to delete the part about auto renewal, and to remove your credit card info from their database.
   
   Norton Antivirus is a million times better and easier.
   
   Good luck in the fray
   
   JDH



5. Product worked okay, but I was shocked to find out about the auto-renewal feature - when I read about it in my bank statement.
   
   Dodgier and more costly than many viruses! Keep away!

2 comments about Internet Velocity.

1. After I installed this software according to instructions I attempted to log into my ISP. The software took up 99 percent of my CPU time which prevented me from getting to Task Manager or Shutting it down for about 15 minutes. The system eventually shutdown but, after rebooting, my system drive had to be repaired and I lost files. Including Norton Anti-Virus 2002. Coincidence?? Internet Violocity also knocked out my ability to access other computers on the LAN and prevented access to my DNS, eventhough it was correctly configured in the network settings. I had to reinstall Windows 2000 networking, Norton Anti-Virus and ISP software. I don't know if anything else was damaged. I am a Senior Software developer for one of the country's major companies and have over 20 years experience. As such, I consider this RECKLESS programming. The developers obviously didn't have their design well thoughout--guess it is all in the bottom line these days. Anyhow, I tried contacting customer support, however, the phone just rang. I sent email and received NO response.

   My advice, RUN FROM Internet Velocity and LOOK FOR ANOTHER PRODUCT!!!!!!!!!




2. I am not a real big computer guy. I have a pretty basic machine, and not a lot of money to buy a new one. A buddy recommended this to me, I bought and installed it, and it has worked just fine.

   It took a couple of restarts to really see a difference, and since I only have an old modem, the speed increase was pretty noticieable loading the webpages

   All in all, I think this product does just what it says.

No comments about Beatware e-Picture Pro 2.0.

No comments about Virtual Class 2.0 (10-user).

5 comments about Dreamweaver 4.0 Competitive Upgrade.

1. This is it. People who have been using it for years know it, and people who are just discovering it are realizing: Dreamweaver is in a class by itself. Version 4 is the best yet, much better than it needed to be considering there wasn't any competition as it was. From beginning web-designer to experienced coder, this is one POWERFUL program. Combine it with Fireworks 4 (Macromedia's much better version of Adobe's Image Ready) and you haved it all.

   Dreamweaver allows you to: -meticulously organize your sites, make master templates for page uniformity, use Cascading Style Sheets to easily customize and format various page elements, the ability to convert the CSS atributes to HTML tags for use in older browsers, update entire sites with one click, view your page in html code view OR wysiwyg OR at the SAME TIME (you can drag open a table let's say and watch the code get written like x-ray vision, OR, conversely, edit the underlying code while watching the effect on your page in front of your eyes), covert tables to layers and back again, edit graphics in Fireworks without having to enter Fireworks and re-export your work (a VERY VERY VERY timesaving feature), insert frames, tables, Flash buttons, rollovers, swap images, and other JavaScript behaviors with a simple "drag and drop".

   Dreamweaver will automatically clean up messy HTML (deleting extra font tags for instance) as well as debug JavaScript behaviors. The code that version 4 writes is MUCH cleaner than version 3, and any ...programmsers have TOTAL access to the code to customize it how they see fit. You can preview your work in as many browsers as you have on your computer, and then FTP to your server right from Dreamweaver in the best FTP interface on the market. Dreamweaver automatically keeps track of all updates to any page or graphic and asks you if you would like to update other pages. For sites that will be worked on by a team there are many features to organize the work flow such as "Check In/Check Out" that keeps track of who did what to what part of the site as well as leave comments for other parts of the team. There really are too many features to list here.

   Fireworks 4 has a new "button editor" that makes it ridiculously easy to generate rollover buttons or the currently trendy "dropdown menus". I personally don't like them, but they are there to use. Included are a bunch of really useful effects such as bevel and glow. The best part about this program is that vector graphics REMAIN as editable vector graphics EVEN AFTER YOU APPLY EFFECTS. You don't have to permanently convert your graphic to a bitmap first. This alone is worth the whole program. You can also set the program to use all your Photoshop plug-ins (although using SOME of them DO require you to do the evil conversion from editable vector to bitmap). Fireworks also feature "selective" JPEG compression for optimizing certain parts of the SAME image with a different JPEG compression setting (let's say 30% for a background and 70% for a detailed foreground). What other program does that? Fireworks is also THE animated GIF software. You can make them as many frames as you want as well as set the duration of each frame. Overall I think that Fireworks 4 is not as totally developed as Dreamweaver 4 is, but it does what it is supposed to do, and works flawlessly with Dreamweaver.

   I can't even tell you how easy they have made it to produce 100% professional sites. The bottom line is: this package is the ABSOLUTE best web development software in existence. There is no equal. And for all you hand-coders who swear by BB-Edit or "anti-WYSIWYG" programs, you CAN entirely hand-code in Dreamweaver too. Just use code view. There is no reason to not use this program. Once you do, you will NEVER use anything else. You'll see.




2. Dreamweaver may seem like a novice's dream come true, but it's quite the opposite. For one thing, not only does it create messy, convoluted code; it creates code that does not conform to the HTML standard! It doesn't even insert a DOCTYPE declaration, a *must* even if the rest of the HTML is not entirely correct.

   If all you're doing is a quick, simple page, the HTML required can be learned in the 5 minutes it takes to get used to this program. Or, if you are designing anything more, you will run into its limitations and bloated code very quickly.




3. I would have given this product 5 stars except that it came with Dreamweaver 3 instead of 4, but no where in the advertising does it tell that part. With it being Ultr Dev 4 one just assumes that Dreamweaver will be 4 also. Then one is offered to "upgrade" to Dreamweaver 4 for only another $199, I felt a little ripped off. But I do find the software easy to use.



4. Ultra Dev 4 was my attempt @ Web Development & ASP. I must say that this product was easy to learn & a lot of fun to work with. It will take an investment of your time to learn how to fully utilize this application. I am into my 2nd year of using this product and it still learning a ton about VB (Visual Basic) and ASP. Ultra Dev 4 is a neat way to get a web solution up in a hurry. I strongly suggest ordering a book or two to assist you with your project as well as having the hardware to run this application effectively. (256k Ram or more)



5. UltraDev is an outstanding tool that extends the functions of DreamWeaver to include database connectivity. It's got more features and functions than DreamWeaver and it is a little bit more complicated to learn (naturally, your dealing with databases and the coding involved in integrating them with your previously static web site).

   They really should take the WinME out of the platforms on which it will run. You can do it, but have to tinker with your OS instead of just installing it. For best results, get Win98, 2000, or XP PRO. XP Home falls into the same class as WinME.

   So far, this seems like a must have tool for creating dynamic sites. Macromedia makes awesome stuff. If you want to add more life to your website(s) this is a great tool to get started with!

2 comments about Delphi 6 Personal Ed..

1. I'm a successful software developer and have been developing software for 30 years. We've always considered Delphi (& its ancestors) our "secret weapon" against our competition. This is because it's such a well designed tool that you'll be far more productive than anyone not using it.

   It's easy to learn but doesn't sacrifice power in the name of simplicity.

   You can't go wrong with Borland products!




2. If you are interested in programming, I'll put it in a sentence or two... Delphi is the way to go! It's easy, fun, powerful and it doesn't require any annoying runtime files (which is good if you want to make software with a small file size)!

1 comments about JavaRazor 1.0.

1. Although Ulead has accomplished a great deal for both the casual and the serious web developer, the JavaRazor package is not one of them. The functions found in these programs are identical to those available in lower cost (or free) programs... The programs attempt to make the insertion of the applet code easier by generating the code in a manner that inevitably requires you to go back and manually re-edit them. The applets themselves are larger than is desireable and after a while you find they are not worth the download time to have on your site. The applet code itself is unnecessarily bloated for the current stage of Java developement and does more to give a bad impression of the Java language than to encourage it's use. If you do decide to purchase this product for use on a publicly accessible site you will inevitably cease using it and add it to your pile of abandoned software and chalk it up as a wasted expense. Hopefully the applets will be trimmed and the functionality improved in future versions but for now we can only wait and see.

No comments about AddWeb Website Promoter 4.0 Platinum Professional.

No comments about CUseeMe 5.0 Videoconferencing.