filings

For all I know, the folks who run PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, are fine, upstanding individuals.

I imagine that at times, they get a little over-excited about their cause. But at least they care about something.

For example, Monday, PETA's blog celebrated the organization's success in persuading a hospital in Missouri to stop shoving plastic pipes down cats' windpipes.

I can't be sure if the hospital was searching for a cure for hay fever or merely allowing its internists to have some rather unpleasant fun. Because I was struck momentarily insensate by … Read more

ForkLift one of the best FTP/SFTP clients and file management programs available for the Mac. With its fast, flexible, and friendly interface (especially elegant for an FTP program, with tabs, spring-loaded folders, and one- and two-pane options), Forklift delivers on two of the main criteria for an app of its kind: speed and ease of use.

This app is even faster now that it handles multiple channel transfers over remote connections, and a ton of powerful features can make your work flow easier, such as previewing, batch functions, any-to-any copying (between multiple different devices or sources), filters and favorites (… Read more

Delete Duplicate Files offers to help users clear valuable space on their computer by erasing duplicates. However, its trial limits kept us from fully operating this program.

The program's interface was simple enough that following the onscreen instructions and navigating the layout was enough to get us started without visiting the topic-by-topic Help file. We found the entire process to be broken down into such simple components that it probably wouldn't take more than a few seconds to delete files. The program scanned files for content or by file name quickly, taking less than a minute, and the … Read more

NotesLogExp offers to help users organize practically any bit of information into centralized location. While its design is a little boring, its simple categories are sure to help those flustered by organization.

This program is certainly not going to win any awards for its design, but this bland white screen and several entry fields are the simplest we could hope for. While we could have managed without the Help file, the insight it provided on the program's functionality made the process much smoother. We only needed to populate a new entry's many fields to start filing away information. … Read more

Chop is a fast, lightweight tool for splitting up large files and rejoining them. Its interface is a bit sparse on instruction, but anyone that's not an absolute beginner should be able to start using the application effectively within a few minutes.

The default Chop window lets you split files by target medium or by number of files. You can specify the destination as well, or let Chop create a folder automatically. A wizard option simplifies this process and provides context for some of the fields. If you have additional questions, a clear Help file is a button click … Read more

Bulk Rename Utility takes the pain out of renaming and managing files and folders, assuming you can get past the frightening user interface. This free application can handle everything from simple search-and-replace to Perl 5 regular expressions, but it suffers from a cluttered user interface that fails to offer tool tips and, somewhat incredibly, abbreviates labels and button names.

The application window offers 13 primary functions, including inserting and appending text, auto-numbering, cropping characters, and moving/copying files. Additional menu bar drop-downs let you set global options, such as time stamp formats, color-coding, and activity logging. Bulk Rename Utility tries … Read more

Limagito Lite occupies an odd position in the world of automated move/copy/delete utilities. Its many features and customization opportunities, including the ability to execute external commands, make it ideal for power users with complex file management needs. But this Lite version is limited in many ways--it supports only a single rule, for example, and does not support encryption or external scripts--making it an unlikely option for such users.

Still, as a complex advertisement for its single ($59.95) and corporate licenses (starting at $300), Limagito Lite does tantalize with visions of automating complex file-naming and management tasks across … Read more

YemuZip is a simple, free utility with a single purpose: to help you easily create Mac- and PC-friendly ZIP files with just a quick drag and drop. The Mac OS already includes ZIP-compression functionality (which you can access through contextual menus), but YemuZip add some extras--most importantly, the option to choose between Mac-specific and PC-compatible formats, removing the Mac metadata in the resource fork that can otherwise make ZIP files made on a Mac unreadable on PCs.

You just drag files into YemuZip's main window, or onto the YemuZip Dock icon, and the app creates a zipped archive in … Read more

SecuKeeper is a sleek and intuitive program that offers users multiple ways to keep their files safe from prying eyes. Its many features make it a good choice for protecting sensitive information.

The program's interface is attractive and intuitive, and first-time users should have no trouble getting started. Our main complaint about the program is that despite its professional appearance, the text throughout the interface is poorly written. It's not incomprehensible, but it's obvious that English is not the first language of whoever wrote it, and this detracts from the user experience. The same is true of … Read more