An incredible piece of Freeware

Pros: It's small. It's fast. It's will save your @$$!

There are actually two utilities in this package ERUNT and NTREGOPT. ERUNT backs up your Windows registry files (for one or all users) and has a restore program as well. A registry backup is essential for protecting your system from software installations going awry, registry corruption, or overly aggressive registry tweaking.

NTREGOPT optimizes and compresses (i.e. removes unneeded empty space from) your Windows registry database file, by creating a new copy of it. Making the Windows Registry more efficient (and quicker to access). This is helpful if you have installed and/or uninstalled lots of software (or different versions) on your system. Most people know that defragmenting their hard drives will speed up their PC. Well, optimizing your registry will also help.

Both of these utilities are a must-have, especially if you are a system tweaker, or if you just install lots of other freeware or trialware (which might muck up your system).

Cons: Absolutely nothing.

Posted: 14-Feb-2007 02:57:18 AM

Worth twice as much money!

Pros: There's much more than there is space here to list. This is the most customizable, feature-rich, and flexible application I have ever seen. It is a model of computer efficiency and form-following-function. Anyone who ever used an Amiga, will remember and appreciate this software.

The rich feature list will satisfy even the most power-hungry users. You can configure practically everything about Opus: status bar information, background images, colors, tool bars, menus, and a lot more. You can specify different display formats for: individual folders; folders containing a certain content type, Folders on different types of drives. You can export your entire configuration for backup or transfer to another PC.

You can add descriptions to files. It contains many utilities: Synchronize, Duplicate File Finder, Find. It can display entire folder trees in Flat View. It can launch external applications to operate on files selected within it. It can be expanded through plug-ins. It includes built-in: FTP, Zip and Rar handling, image viewing. If you manage lots of music, video, or image files, this tool is a must have!

Cons: Some may say Opus is too expensive.

Most users are only familiar with Windows Explorer, which is free because does does next-to-nothing. Directory Opus costs money--because it does next-to-everything. It is constantly being developed. GPSoftware often releases free updates between major releases, many times with added functionality. They provide a 60-day free trial with absolutely no limits. You even get technical support during that time! They also provide discount licensing for multiple PCs.

Some may say Opus is too complicated.

Most users are only familiar with Windows Explorer, which is simple because it does does next-to-nothing. Directory Opus takes more time to learn--because it does next-to-everything, and does it much better than Windows Explorer.

The manual is about 250 pages long. There is also very good User Support Forum with several helpful power users. The developers themselves often participate. It WILL take time to familiarize yourself with this software. Reading the manual is REQUIRED because you have never used anything this comprehensive or powerful before. Once, you get past the learning curve and customize Opus to your preferences, getting around your PC becomes faster, more efficient, and a lot less aggravating. It WILL save you time and money in the long run.

Posted: 14-Feb-2007 03:53:18 AM

Okay if you can't afford to pay for a download manager

Pros: It's free. Clean looking interface.

Cons: There are much better (faster) download managers (that also cost money).

I started off comparing free options first, but ending up paying for, what I feel is the best-of-breed, Internet Download Manager ($24.95).

I tried to use FlashGet to download a huge DVD ISO file (about a GB) from Microsoft. FlashGet was moving very slowly compared to IDM.

Posted: 23-May-2007 12:48:35 AM