ICUII, Servers Alive, Filehand Search and more award winning software

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Greetings and Welcome! As always, I'm glad you could join me for this weeks Picks. This week I'll be wrapping up the Dr. File Finder's Picks Roundup! of the SIAF People's Choice Awards winners and the Shareware Industry Awards winners. I'm also going to mention some of the nominees that you might want to check out. I know it may sound like a clich鬠but it really is an honor just to be nominated for the Shareware Industry Awards. I hope you enjoy these reviews and I also hope you'll take the time to try out the programs for yourself. Now, if you're all set, just sit back, relax, and let's take a look.

• ICUII
• Version: 7.5
• System Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP
• Get more info
• Download ICUII NOW!
• View a screenshot

ICUII, by Cybration,Inc., won the SIAF People's Choice Award in the Best Internet Communications category. And this isn't the first time. It's also won the Shareware Industry Award in the same category so this product is a hit with both users and developers. This award-winning program is designed for doing video, voice or even text chats. ICUII has the power and flexibility to let you chat in a variety of ways depending on the hardware you have. If you don't have a video camera, no problem! One of the things I really like about ICUII is its flexibility. It gives you lots and lots of choices, and I like that in any program. That's the way it should be and with ICUII, it is! ICUII will let you talk with sound using a microphone. Don't have a microphone? Again, no big deal because ICUII will let you use text. ICUII uses its own server, so you can connect to friends no matter where they are in the world. The program has an intuitive user interface and is very easy-to-use! That makes it perfect for both new and experienced users. It also supports a wide range of hardware, so it would be hard for you to buy a webcam that it wouldn't support. Again, the program has that great flexibility that I like to see in software. And you can even purchase hardware right on the ICUII Web site where they have a nice selection of cameras, microphones, headsets and more. And when it comes to keeping in touch, the program lets you do e-mail, have group discussions, make your own private meeting areas and lots more. ICUII, by Cybration, Inc., is perfect for communicating with friends and relatives around the world. You can set it up and start using it in minutes, it's just that easy. This latest version is loaded with new and improved features including a new skinning tool, an improved user directory, roll-up buttons, custom remote and local fonts, and much, much more. So, if you have the need for visual conferencing with sound, you owe it to yourself to check it out!

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• Servers Alive
• Version: 4.1
• System Requirements: Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003/
• Get more info
• Download Servers Alive NOW!
• View a screenshot

Servers Alive, by bvba Woodstone Inc., won the Shareware Industry Award in the Best Server Program or Utility category, a new category troduced this year. Servers Alive is a powerful network monitor that's easy-to-use! It's simply packed with great features that you just have to check out for yourself. For starters it can monitor any winsock service, but it can do so much more. It can, for example, determine the amount of disk space that's left on a drive, or just make sure that a everything is running the way it's supposed to. The program is now available in two versions. The Standard version that supports 1,000 entries, and the new Enterprise version that supports 5,000! Wow. And, if you have a problem on your server you'll be amazed at the number of ways you can be notified by this powerful program. So, you never have to worry. If there's a problem Servers Alive detects it, and lets you know. Cool! Servers Alive monitors your network and when there's trouble, it can let you know in a variety of ways. It can send an e-mail, play a sound, or even page you on your pager. It can reboot a Windows server or even create a Web page! It has the power to continually monitor a huge number of hosts or services at one time - 1,000 with the Standard edition and 5,000 with the Enterprise edition. What can it monitor? Well, I couldn't possibly list them all but just a few include things like DNS, SMTP, POP3, Oracle databases, FTP, SQL servers, UDP services and lots, lots more. And, the icing on the cake is that Servers Alive was the first product to support IPv6 enabled DNS checks as well as WAP pages that can be viewed on a wireless device. To translate, that meant you could be advised of a problem on your network with an SMS text message. Slick!Servers Alive, by bvba Woodstone, monitors critical systems and can keep you aware of exactly how things are going on your network. When there's a problem, it can notify you in an number of ways. It's there, monitoring your network, even when you can't be. I found the program extremely easy to setup and run. So, if you've been looking for a program to really keep a close eye on your network, this is it! It's a network administrators dream. Give it a try -- I think you'll be impressed.

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• Filehand Search
• Version: 2.0
• System Requirements: Windows 2000/XP
• Get more info
• Download Filehand Search NOW!
• View a screenshot

Filehand Search, by Filehand, LLC., won the Shareware Industry Award in the Best Utility Using .Net category. This is a neat little tool for searching the countless files you have on your computer. The program is fast, simple and very easy-to-use. The interface is intuitive and uncluttered. I have to say that I was impressed, and at this point in my life I don't get impressed very easily by software. The program actually walks you through, step by step, telling you what it is doing. What a great idea. This program is perfect for users of any experience. First, you pick out what type of files you want to search, which narrows down the search in many cases. You can pick from text, Word, PDF, WordPerfect, PowerPoint and Excel files. Heck, this thing will even search for MP3 files! Impressive!Filehand Search then lets you pick what folders you'd like to have indexed. So, for example, say you're looking for a text file, and you keep all your text files in certain folders. You can go in and eliminate folders that you know don't contain TXT files. The program indexes your files and it's really fast! Type in a word and viola!! It's there. Every file within your parameters that has that word is listed. Instantly. Really, it's just that quick. This product uses the new .NET technology from Microsoft, and if this program is any indication of what .NET can do, then I'm a believer. For those who will want to try this product, you may need to install the .NET framework first. Some machines with Windows 2000 and XP have it already installed, but I had to install it on mine. Filehand, by Filehand, LLC., is a powerful tool for searching through the thousands of files on your computer. Over the years, I've looked at just about every search tool available, and this beats them all. It beats the tool I've been using. Heck, this is like having Google on your PC. You can search through a wide range of file types, do detailed and advanced searches, do a quick query and lots more. Type in something you're looking for and POW! you've found it! Give it a try.

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• Google Mobile
• Version: 1.0
• System Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP
• Get more info
• View a screenshot

Google Mobile, by Google, Inc., won the Shareware Industry Award in the Best Program for PDAs category. I mention this one because it stands out from the rest. Why? Well, primarily because it's not software. It lets you search with your mobile phone using the power of Google. And it's really very cool. For example, you can search a particular area code and look for goods or services you want or need. You can find listings for businesses, get maps and directions, and more. And what's really cool is that you can use it from anywhere. Google Mobile also lets you search for images and you can also search the World Wide Web for anything you like. Really innovative technology and really, really helpful. Google Mobile won an award for software and yet it isn't software. How did that happen? Well, to begin with, in the Shareware Industry Awards nominations process it received a huge number of nominations. Enough nominations to be nominated. Now, keep in mind that the Shareware Industry Awards are voted on by technical people -- software developers, reviewers, Webmasters and the like. So, it was felt that if such a large number of them felt strongly enough to nominate Google Mobile then it deserved the nomination. Then it turned around and got enough votes to win. So, I mention it here because not only is it a great service you can use on your cell phone, but it's also the first program to win a Shareware Industry Award that was not a program.

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While I don't have time right now to review all of the winners, I'd at least like to mention some of them and point you in the right direction. Some of the other programs that won the 2005 SIAF People's Choice Awards include:

• Best Overall Utility - WinZip
• Best Sound Program or Utility - Blaze Media Pro
• Best Hobby or Personal Interest - Picasa
• Best Business Application or Utility - Microsoft Office 2003

And some of the other programs that won or were nominated for the Shareware Industry Awards include:

• Winner - Best Hobby or Personal Interest - PhotoMix
• Nominee - Best Web Enhancement - AI Roboform
• Nominee - Best Business Application or Utility - PayWindow 2005
• Nominee - Best Web Enhancement - CoffeeCup Flash Form Builder
• Winner - Best Desktop Enhancement - Microangelo Creation

For a complete list of all the winners of the SIAF People's Choice Awards and the Shareware Industry Awards you can visit the Shareware Industry Awards Foundation Web site at http://www.sic.org/.

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There are no Quick Picks again this week because of the Dr. File Finder's Picks Roundup of Award winners. I'll have more Quick Picks for you next week.

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And that's the end of my Dr. File Finder's Picks Roundup! of the Shareware Industry Awards and SIAF People's Choice Awards winners. I hope you've enjoyed reading about these excellent products. Take the time to give them a try. You'll be glad you did. I'll be back next week with more picks, and Quick Picks, to tell you about. I hope you'll join me then. Until next week, have a great weekend, a wonderful week and happy downloading.