Three exceptional apps for every Windows version

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	BEST SOFTWARE Three exceptional apps for every Windows version
	By Michael Lasky Windows has always seemed a bit like that closet you’re afraid to open — over time, it mysteriously gets cluttered with obsolete data, orphaned programs, and miscellaneous fritterware. Here’s a fresh look at an exceptional software package that cleans your PC — and two valuable apps that can reduce printing costs and produce professional-quality portable documents.

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The full text of this column is posted at http://windowssecrets.com/best-software/three-exceptional-apps-for-every-windows-version/ (paid content, opens in a new window/tab).

Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.[/td]

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I didn’t look into Nitro (I have Nuance PDF Converter Pro 7 installed) or Green Print. But System Mechanic? Looks outdated and pretty useless to me. The problems you mentioned aren’t usually problems at all on Windows 7. You mentioned it finding 108 registry problems and that you let it auto-fix them. That’s crazy and dangerous. You don’t need a registry cleaner; they can only hurt and never help. Fixing 108 keys out of a few hundred thousand won’t do anythng for your box. Plus the 60,000 “mis-aligned” files simply means you need to defragment your drives. And a pretty good defragmenter is included in Windows 7 already. Don’t need System Mechanic to do that for you. Finally your computer does not need its RAM defragged! And it never will! System Mechanic is for the most part snake oil for your PC. It was probably useful 10 to 15 years ago, but it’s not needed now.

Thank you.

Jim

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Hi JMac001!
I used to use Nuance’s PDF Converter 4 (can’t remember whether it was Pro Version or not, I believe so). I eventually stopped using it because it just couldn’t handle so many of the PDFs I wanted to convert. Is Version Pro 7 any better? Please advise your experience with it. Will it convert a .pdf to a reader-type file? How about in other languages such as French, Latin, German and Italian?

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Hi JMac001!
I used to use Nuance’s PDF Converter 4 (can’t remember whether it was Pro Version or not, I believe so). I eventually stopped using it because it just couldn’t handle so many of the PDFs I wanted to convert. Is Version Pro 7 any better? Please advise your experience with it. Will it convert a .pdf to a reader-type file? How about in other languages such as French, Latin, German and Italian?

Hi BigDocD

I dare to sneak in, since you ask for language feedback :

I installed Nuance’s PDF Converter Pro v7 on 30+ workstations for a customer of mine, and people seem quite happy with it.

As I’m living in France, I did check beforehand that French was rendered ok : no problem there, but I’d recommend one setting after installation – choose ‘include all fonts’ in the ‘PDF settings’ tab of the printer.
I cannot tell for German / Italian though…

Now, for the kind of PDF this company creates : a **lot** of XL spreadsheets and Word docs : the good news for XL in v7 is that -at last- all the tabs you select in Excel are actually printed, which was not the case in v5

Last point : it converts from a PDF file to a plain Word doc or an Excel spreadsheet, quite accurately – sometimes very handy.

HTH
Marc

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I hadn’t heard of Nuance PDF. It’s free Reader looks good, up to a point. A basic PDF program use is filling in and editing forms. For that, Nuance requires the Pro version while Nitro and XChange Viewer provide it for free.

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I have had Nuance PDF Converter Pro installed, versions 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7. Whew! To be honest I hated all versions up through 3. When they worked right they were awesome! But when they didn’t they were horrible. And they didn’t work well a LOT of the time. But the promo pricing was so low that I kept buying it and hoping it was all fixed uip. I skipped V.4 but bought V.5. 5 was much better than previous versions but at some point I could not start it up anymore without getting runtime errors. Might have been something else on my system but I could never get it fixed. Uninstall, reinstall, etc. No good. Nuance just claimed that runtime errors were a Microsoft problem and to contact them. Of course MS just pointed back at Nuance. Typical stuff.

Now starting with V.6 all seems solved with it. V.6 and 7 have been perfect IMO. Well worth the money, which with a promotion is very reasonable. Less than $100 in all cases. And it does about everything Adobe Acrobat does, and some things better.

Thanks!

Jim

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I’ve used the free version of PDF-XChange Viewer for years, and I like it a lot. (So much so that I recently purchased the PRO version when I caught a 40% off sale at bitsdujour.com)
http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/pdf-xchange-viewer-pro/
http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/pdf-xchange-pro/

The free version is all most people will need. It will:
Fill and save forms to disk.
Has a typewriter mode to ‘fill in’ any pdf even when it does not have form fields defined.
Has OCR.
Has a Portable version that I think is green to registry. But I now use the full install so it hooks into IE and Windows Explorer.
Loads fast.

It has a signature stamp too (scan in an image of your signature and make it a PDF-XChange “stamp” then stamp it anywhere in any PDF file. Visit their FAQ for details:
http://www.tracker-software.com/knowledgebase/225-How-do-I-create-a-transparent-signtaure-stamp

Sadly it cannot select columns in pdfs that do not define the columns properly (ie no select this square area).

I agree that their web site and their product naming conventions are confusing, e.g.
“PDF-XChange Pro” and “PDF-XChange Viewer Pro” are very different.
You probably want the free version: “PDF-XChange Viewer” or
the modestly priced “PDF-XChange Viewer Pro” version (about $38).
The “PDF-XChange Pro” is a more expensive package (but still only about $75).
I suggest you try the free version, and sign up at bitsdujour to be notified of any 40% off sales (they are rare).

The Pro adds things like insert a blank page, delete pages, and directly scan in images. All nice but not essential.

The Pro version also comes with a nice PDF printer driver, altnough the free Bullzip pdf printer driver is excellent.

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System Mechanic not only provides no actually valuable tools, in my personal opinion, but the single time i tried to install it, to evaluate it at the request of a person who had been offered it at what seemed a good price, it immediately had an horrendous effect, by adding about 2 minutes to my boot time.

Probably the greatest attack on the newsletter credibility I have ever read, was this article, classifying an horrendous app, with no practical use, as an exceptional app.

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By Lincoln Spector

Newsletter and photo = By Michael Lasky, fyi.

I came here to post what Jim and Ruirib said, this is bad advice and damages WinSec’s credibility.

I used SysMech for a couple of years in earlier XP days, after Norton Utilities [whatever Symantec named the suite] became unusable. It worked well initially, but their marketing guys probably went to the same University as Symantec’s because bloat and dodgy [/SIZE][/FONT]me-too features crept into subsequent annual updates.

[/FONT][/COLOR]

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

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I want to reinforce the above posts. The article mentions that there is a good price on Amazon, which is true, but if you look at the reviews there you’ll see that there are a total of 5 reviews, all 1-star, the lowest possible score. I almost bought until I saw the reviews, and then looked here to see what Lounge members had to say.

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I used IOLO’s System Mechanic years ago and had major problems with it. Luckily I was able to repair the “repairs” it made to my system. Thinking maybe the program was better and worth a shot (since I trust WinSec’s reviews), I headed over to Amazon since it was mentioned in the article. I’ve never seen a larger collection of one star reviews and angry users. Several of the reviews were obviously written by competent users with plenty of computer savvy. I also checked to see what version they were reviewing, and it was the latest version. I’ll pass on this one, and I’m afraid I won’t be trusting reviews by WinSec in the future. =(

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My comment is more a cosmetic issue. If you save screenshots as jpegs, they end up somewhat blurry, as the screenshots in this article. If you save them as gifs, they are much clearer and easier to read. That is just a trick I picked up when I was doing a newsletter and worked with screenshots a lot.

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The free Nitro PDF Reader 2, already released, also has a QuickSign button which eliminates that time-consuming process by letting the user insert their digitized signature (which has to be scanned and saved as a JPEG). Nitro stores the signature for future use.

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In regards to System Mechanic; I completely agree with the above comments. I’m seeing more and more of these rather poorly researched articles appearing in Windows Secrets and have indicated to them that I am not renewing my paid subscription for just this reason.

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Wow. You didn’t read the reviews of this product on Amazon, did you? Not good. In some instances horrible problems, and computer pro’s who really claim this program completely munged their systems. You didn’t mention it comes with a firewall and anti virus that will not let you keep whatever you have now. I went to Iolo, then to Amazon, and after reading those reviews, will stay with Jv16 Power Tools and CCleaner as a backup.

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The entire article looks like an ad for the various software mentioned.

Has Windows Secrets started using advertorials?

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Wow, while Greenprint is a good concept, it doesn’t work very well in practice. At least on my setup. Win 7 32 and an HP D7260. It prints the pages out of order and every other page upside down. There appear to be no Preferences or Settings in the software. Going on their website, the forum posts seem at minimum, a year old. I spent the $19 on this recommendation and was stoopid to do so without checking. Silly me. This article was nothing but but an advertisement, I guess. Windows Secrets just went down a notch in my esteem.

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I read Michael Lasky’s recommendation of System Mechanic and downloaded the free trail version. It installed easily on my Windows 7 64bit pc. On its first analysis, it found several hundred registry errors. I had them fixed. It found other errors, but would not fix them unless I upgraded to the paid version. A couple of hours later, I again ran the registry scan. System Mechanic found a few hundred errors this time. Fewer than the first time, but still hundreds. I had not installed, uninstalled or changed any programs between the two scans. I had them fixed again. The next day, I ran the scan again. This time, there were fewer than a hundred errors. I had them fixed. Later that day, I got a pop up telling me of two registry errors. I had them fixed.

As soon as they were fixed, I did a restart of the PC. The restart took several minutes. That’s when the trouble started. Outlook would not open. Secunia PSI would not run. I tried to uninstall System Mechanic. Windows froze. I had to do a cold boot and restore Windows to a restore point before I had installed System Mechanic. Since I did that, everything seems to be back to normal.

I don’t understand why System Mechanic would not find all the registry errors on the first scan. I appreciate that I was running only the free version, but I am not eager to pay for a full version given the problems that this version caused.

Now that I’ve read the preceding posts, I think that I’m well rid of System Mechanic. I only wish that I had one more homework instead of taking the column’s recommendation at face value.

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I used System Mechanic v. 3-6. They would show all detail of what program found, so user could evaluate recommended action and choose which actions to execute and which to ignore. With System Mechanic 7 everything became automatic and no detail or choice was available to thee user. System Mechanic went from a 5 star rating to the 1 star rating it has had ever. Reviewers like CNET, PC Mag, and others that rated versions up to 6 highly suddenly stopped recommending the program, because of the problems indicated in this thread. I was shocked to find the program recommended in Windows Secrets. I would like to Fred Langa’s take on System Mechanic. Much the same could be said for Nitro PDF. There are several higher rated programs that do more–e.g. Foxit.
I too have concerns about some of the “questionable” if not “bad” advice showing up in Windows Secrets. Overall it is still good and helpful, but increasingly more suspect. I would like to see the editors remedy this for the good of all.

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	BEST SOFTWARE Three exceptional apps for every Windows version
	By Lincoln Spector Windows has always seemed a bit like that closet you’re afraid to open — over time, it mysteriously gets cluttered with obsolete data, orphaned programs, and miscellaneous fritterware. Here’s a fresh look at an exceptional software package that cleans your PC — and two valuable apps that can reduce printing costs and produce professional-quality portable documents.

---

The full text of this column is posted at http://windowssecrets.com/best-software/three-exceptional-apps-for-every-windows-version/ (paid content, opens in a new window/tab).

Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.[/td]

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I used a simple program called “PDF Producer” (on both a Win 98 and Win XP OS) from a company called Data Becker. Once installed, it popped up as a printer choice whenever I clicked on “Print” from within a program or within a browser. However, I cannot get it to install correctly on my new Dell notebook, which has a 64-bit Win 7 OS. I’ve tried using the Troubleshooting Compatibility tool, and still there’s a file or segment of the program called PDF Genie which just will not install. While Nitro sounds like a fabulous program, it’s way more than I need. All I need is a simple “Print” add-on that will turn things I create (or files I open) into a PDF .. both to keep the documents from being edited once I send them out, and because PDFs are so universal, that most everyone can easily open and view one. Is there no Win 7 compatible, safe and easy freeware, shareware or inexpensive program out there that mimics my old PDF Producer??

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I used a simple program called “PDF Producer” (on both a Win 98 and Win XP OS) from a company called Data Becker. Once installed, it popped up as a printer choice whenever I clicked on “Print” from within a program or within a browser. However, I cannot get it to install correctly on my new Dell notebook, which has a 64-bit Win 7 OS. I’ve tried using the Troubleshooting Compatibility tool, and still there’s a file or segment of the program called PDF Genie which just will not install. While Nitro sounds like a fabulous program, it’s way more than I need. All I need is a simple “Print” add-on that will turn things I create (or files I open) into a PDF .. both to keep the documents from being edited once I send them out, and because PDFs are so universal, that most everyone can easily open and view one. Is there no Win 7 compatible, safe and easy freeware, shareware or inexpensive program out there that mimics my old PDF Producer??

I use CutePDF Writer for that. It will also require Ghostscript, but they are both free and work great. CutePDF will create a printer you can then use from anywhere you need to.

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I’d like to recommend FinePrint (fineprint.com) as an excellent tool for processing documents on the way to the printer. You can turn on/off graphics in documents, you can select 1-up, 2-up, 4-up, and you can have multiple jobs, and easily delete the pages of print job you don’t want. For example, if you “print” a web site to FinePrint (a virtual print driver), then you can review it before it is printed, and delete unwanted pages. Thinks like printing a couple of items together on a 2-up or 4-up page, is also helpful for organizing subjects, in addition to minimizing paper.

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System Mechanic seems to be a great program that I have used for about 10 months. One problem – Norton complains that System Mechanic and Norton cannot co-exist. I had to uninstall System Mechanic to get additional help from Norton which is pretty frustrating. I have not yet pursued this issue with both Norton or Iolo (publishers of System Mechanic). Perhaps someone on this thread knows the basic issue and status.

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System Mechanic seems to be a great program that I have used for about 10 months. One problem – Norton complains that System Mechanic and Norton cannot co-exist. I had to uninstall System Mechanic to get additional help from Norton which is pretty frustrating. I have not yet pursued this issue with both Norton or Iolo (publishers of System Mechanic). Perhaps someone on this thread knows the basic issue and status.

There’s no real conflict. Norton gives an over-cautious warning that you already have a competitor’s product installed: NIS 2012 & System Mechanic by Iolo

Bruce

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I have done further research and understand that deactivating automated tasks in System Mechanic will help. Thanks.

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I agree with ruirib that Cute PDF is an excellent way to print documents as PDF. Another is PDF-XChange, which is a fantastic free PDF reader though the PDF writer aspect is ad-supported and has a number of restrictions. Check out the review of PDF Writers at Tech Support Alert, Ian Richards free software review site:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-pdf-writer.htm

They seem to like BullZip the most. They rate CutePDF fairly high but they take away some ratings for it not having much more than very basic PDF creation, meaning no adding security or passwords, encryption, etc. But if you are not looking for any of those kinds of extras then CutePDF sounds perfect for you!

Thanks!

Jim

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Another is PDF-XChange, which is a fantastic free PDF reader though the PDF writer aspect is ad-supported and has a number of restrictions. Check out the review of PDF Writers at Tech Support Alert, Ian Richards free software review site:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-pdf-writer.htm

I agree, PDF X-Change is very versatile and fulfills most of the capabilities of Acrobat Standard, with a savings of a few hundred bucks. My company of 700+ employees uses the free version as part of our PC image.

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I agree with ruirib that Cute PDF is an excellent way to print documents as PDF. Another is PDF-XChange, which is a fantastic free PDF reader though the PDF writer aspect is ad-supported and has a number of restrictions. Check out the review of PDF Writers at Tech Support Alert, Ian Richards free software review site:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-pdf-writer.htm

They seem to like BullZip the most. They rate CutePDF fairly high but they take away some ratings for it not having much more than very basic PDF creation, meaning no adding security or passwords, encryption, etc. But if you are not looking for any of those kinds of extras then CutePDF sounds perfect for you!

Thanks!

Jim

For general purpose creation of PDFs this article hits it on the nose, and in the order they post them as well.

Definitely need certain ones for more specialized needs. And sometimes nothing will do but Adobe sadly. I steer clear of the type of PDF needs that require Adobe’s outrageously priced products where I can.

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Although not free ($9.95), inexpensive. I have been using and am very happy with pdf995. (original name, huh?) Very small unitrusive program that installs as a print driver and works excellently.

Regards,
Chris

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Checkout PDFFactory (and Fineprint). You can print and/or save a PDF from any app. I find these fantastically functional and useful. I bought the pro versions I get so much use and flexibility out of them

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..Another is PDF-XChange, which is a fantastic free PDF reader though the PDF writer aspect is ad-supported and has a number of restrictions. Check out the review of PDF Writers at Tech Support Alert, Ian Richards free software review site:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-pdf-writer.htmJim

I’ve been use PDF X-Change Viewer, the free version that seems, looking at their website, to include Lite. But one thing I ran into the other day after filling a form with it, is that the information I had added was unreadable by Adobe Reader or Acrobat. I had to print and scan the form, then email it to get it read.

Update: Concerning the latter problem, I’ve been using build 198 and was just informed by XChange that the latest build (199) provides a workaround for the fact that Adobe is not following the international PDF specification. OTOH, XChange’s site is extremely poorly written and what seems to be free with Viewer – Converter and Lite – really aren’t and require a purchase of Pro.

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I used a simple program called “PDF Producer” (on both a Win 98 and Win XP OS) from a company called Data Becker. Once installed, it popped up as a printer choice whenever I clicked on “Print” from within a program or within a browser. However, I cannot get it to install correctly on my new Dell notebook, which has a 64-bit Win 7 OS. I’ve tried using the Troubleshooting Compatibility tool, and still there’s a file or segment of the program called PDF Genie which just will not install. While Nitro sounds like a fabulous program, it’s way more than I need. All I need is a simple “Print” add-on that will turn things I create (or files I open) into a PDF .. both to keep the documents from being edited once I send them out, and because PDFs are so universal, that most everyone can easily open and view one. Is there no Win 7 compatible, safe and easy freeware, shareware or inexpensive program out there that mimics my old PDF Producer??

I use PDFCreator which easily creates PDFs from any Windows program. You use it like a printer in any Windows application.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/

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I am wondering about which version of System Mechanism readers were talking about. The comments at Amazon.com were for much older versions of the package, not the System Mechanic 10.5 that I reviewed. This version has received high praise not only from me but garnered Editor Choices from PC Mag and Laptop among other magazines. It also seems clear from the negative comments that people have add issues with this program in the past but not having used the version I wrote about. While I can’t comment on previous versions (except ver 10 to 10.5), I still based my review on my experience with the product with my XP and Win 7 systems.

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Hi Mike Lasky,

Welcome to the Lounge.

First let me cumpliment you for your willingness to post here about the column you wrote.

My personal experience is from installing and briefly using System Mechanic 10 on a Windows 7 x64 computer. System Mechanic brought no improvements to my system, unless you count not less then a 2 minutes increase in boot time.
I will say that I would never even consider buying this for my computers, but someone asked me if they should take advantage of a promotion offered by their ISP and I offered to test the app in trial version. Of course, my opinion was highly unfavourable.

I will not dispute your personal experience, of course. I do have a huge difficulty understanding why you chose to present an application, with a classification of “exceptional for all windows systems”, when your own experience showed “no measurable boost in speed” on your new Dell Windows 7 notebook.
So, may I ask, what classifies this app as exceptional for Windows 7 users and, of course, Windows Vista users, considering the all windows systems part of the title of your article?
Don’t you think a statement like “But it most likely won’t hurt”, while talking about the impact of this app on the newsletter readers computers, a bit uncertain, when you are talking about someone else’s computer? Considering the huge number of readers, just a tiny percentage with problems would be enough to justify a better research regarding these effects, don’t you think? Wouldn’t the past problems with this app justify a better research regarding its possible negative effects?

I also think an article such as yours would need real data, even from XP only, to backup the performance improvement claims. Although a similar statement from a reader is easier to accept, you wrote a column for a respected industry newsletter. The level of discourse can simply not be the same as one would accept from a normal user.

I of course wait for your answers, but I will say that I see nothing in your article that justifies the exceptional and all windows systems part of your article. I also think extreme care is required when advising others what to do with their computers, especially considering many readers won’t be able to recover, or at least will face difficulties, from the issues brought by such apps.

Overall, I think your article is poor, considering it was written for the Windows Secrets Newsletter. You made it worse for yourself, actually, through the use of such a definitive title and by not backing up your opinion with hard data.

Best regards

Rui Ribeiro

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I second Rui’s assessment. Have not had the time to rate this app myself but have read manyreviews both for older and the newer versions.

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Mike: Since you asked, I downloaded and installed the latest free version of 10.5. I had not used any previous version, so I have nothing against which to compare it. I did not buy the paid version, so I can’t talk about it, either. I installed the free version on a Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit system. I had planned on trying it on a windows xp sp3 laptop, but after my bad experience with it on the win7 machine, I didn’t go any further.

One thing I can add to your pricing comment is that on the Iolo page, there was a link to ask them to send coupons. I sent the link and received a coupon which reduced the online price by 50%. I didn’t buy it for the reasons that I’ve already set out, but anyone still interested may want to take advantage of that deal.

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I dropped by to suggest that the author revisit his recommendations on “System Mechanic” for several reasons. And discovered that several others were faster on the draw. Seems most of the replies have been equally negative and already touched on some of the problems.
[My experience: Pro version 10 on Win-XP SP3]
My suggestion: Create a restore point before using System Mechanic.

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If System Mechanic does no harm to Windows 7 systems, why did Microsoft include this item in their Windows 7 SP1 System Update Readiness Tool Support Article? (Find the whole article HERE .)

3. If you’ve used any third party tools to “clean” your system you are most likely going to run into issues installing. For these, run the latest CheckSUR tool (KB947821) and make sure that it is at least clean. It wont find all of the issues caused by these tools but it can find some of them. If your CheckSUR report is not clean, do NOT attempt to install the service pack until you have those errors resolved. Info for these is here: http://blogs.technet.com/b/joscon/archive/2011/02/24/windows-7-service-pack-1-fails-to-install-with-0x800f0a13-or-0x800f0826.aspx

Clearly, tools like System Mechanic are doing things which can interfere with future updates. Stay away from ALL “Optimizing” tools!

-- rc primak

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The impression which Michael Lasky’s review of System Mechanic gave me was of a very useful tool.

No sense in messing about with a trial version, I thought, so I paid for the full one.

How disappointing. Not only did it not work, it also slowed down my compter very noticeably.

I uninstalled it, flushed out everything asociated with it that I could find and asked for and received a refund from the download site, CNET.

Caveat emptor.

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The impression which Michael Lasky’s review of System Mechanic gave me was of a very useful tool.

No sense in messing about with a trial version, I thought, so I paid for the full one.

How disappointing. Not only did it not work, it also slowed down my compter very noticeably.

I uninstalled it, flushed out everything asociated with it that I could find and asked for and received a refund from the download site, CNET.

Caveat emptor.

CNet is very good at providing or prompting their download vendors to provide, refunds to dissatisfied users within a reasonable period of time. They are one of the good download sites.

-- rc primak

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I was not trying to belittle XChange at all. For me however no ads is worth the small amount of money. (Plus I bought it before XChange was available

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