Saturday, December 04, 2004
So Much for Intentions :^)
So I don't have as much time as I thought. I'll have jam a bunch of things in one post and jope that events ease up enough to allow me to get more posts done. Don't count on it.
Here we go!
iMiser-
Currently at version 2.x, but due to jump to 3.0 soon.
This is a program that allows you to save entire web pages, complete with graphics. That last can be hard to do using vanilla IE. This software let's you save pages as entries in a tree-structured database on your hard drive. It includes a built-in mini-browser to let you view pages inside the program. It supports a number of browsers, including the one I use- Avant Browser (in version 3).
In fact, this new version should have a number of new features and abilities. I should know, having suggested a couple myself. In summary, this is one useful program, uncluttered by adds, spyware, or other garbage. I'll post a full review when I get my hands on a copy of versin 3.
ScreenHunter-
Here's another gem of a utility. It's a screen capture program. You might be saying "Oh, no! Not another one!", but it's got features that set it above most of the rest. One of the best parts of this program is that one of the three versions is completely free. Free as in no pay needed. Free as in no ads or anything else keeping you from using it without paying a cent. Forever. Yes, it has many fewer features than the top of the line Pro version, but that's what you pay for, if you want the tools that version offers.
I have to admit that it has some things that made the Pro version the one I wanted. For one thing, unlike any other screen capture program I've ever seen, it lets you adjust the captured area AFTER you let go the mouse button of a clikc-and-drag capture. Another tool that I like a lot is the free-hand capture mode. Simply click the left mouse button, then draw a closed loop around anything you want to save. All this is made a lot easier (especially at high screen resolutions) is the floating magnifier window that follows your cursor around as you outline a capture area. It intelligently stays away from the area you need to see in order to capture what you want. When you release the mouse button and the capture is complete, a small box of optins pops up. At this point the capture isn't actually complete and you can choose to ditch it by hitting cancel, but since you can also grab the picture handles to adjust what you captured, this is seldom needed. A hit on the space bar sends the capture to its chosen destination.
Let's speak of destinations for a moment. The settings for them are on the 'To' tab of the configuration menu. There are five possible destinations for your captured screen image- Viewer/Folder, Clipboard, File, Printer, or Email. You can choose any or all of them at any time. On the same page of the configuration screen you see as a result of picking Open from that system tray icon menu, you'll see an option to auto-scale your capture. A button takes you to another settings window that lets you pick the settings for auto-scale and whether or not to use high-quality zooming on the picture. Other things you can choose on this page are file type for captures sent to disk, actual folder destinations, and file name settings for saved captures.
There's an Email tab, of course. One of the destinations is, after all, email. So, yes, you can use this facility to send screen captures to anyone you choose via email. This can be priceless if you need to capture an error message to send off to tech support. You can set it to either send the image automatically or to pop up a mail window for you to add comments to or change email settings. The way it works is this: You specify an email address, CC (if needed), and subject to act as defaults. Then the image is sent to that email if you choose 'Send automatically'. The other choice, 'Show me the default email dialog each time', lets you change things each time you send, if you want to.
When you install the program (a quick and easy thing) it will show up as a small yellow hand in your system tray. Right-clicking the icon brings up a spare little menu, but you'll quickly find that it offers everything you actually need. One option is the About... window usually hidden under Help on a menu bar. At the top of the right-click menu, you'll find Open, Open Image, and Image Viewer. Yes, the program includes a tool to edit captured images sent to disk.
To cover the rest of the configuration options, the 'From' tab is where you set the hot-key trigger for screen captures (I use the Print Screen key). It also holds settings for what you want to capture (rectangular area, eliptical area, free-hand, or any of the normal Windows choices of window contents. There are other less important settings there, too.
The last tab is Advanced and has various capture and timing settings, plus things like the zoom factor for the magnifier box.
There are lots of other bells and whistles in this software, but I'll leave you to discover the one that makes it a must-have for you.
Find the software at Wisdom-Soft
A comparison of the version features is HERE
The Plus version is $19.95, the Pro version is $29.95, and both are available HERE
There are other programs published by Wisdom-Soft. Find out the details HERE
