Now, I don’t mind being asked to review products – indeed I positively ask for it. However, as it’s a free service, I would at least expect a little bit of effort from those making the request.

So, step forward Digiarty Software, who asked me to review their two latest products – a free iPod media converter and a free DVD to iPod ripper. Which would be good, if I actually owned an iPod. Besides, the email missed one essential detail – any kind of link to the product or their website. A quick “Google” found it though.

Having said that, lines in the email such as “Here May I request a review of  these software on your web?” doesn’t bode well. Was I really sent an email from “Sophia”?¹

Now, their website is very professional, which always makes me wonder why software is being given away free, especially when I can see they have an affiliate program. In this case, they also sell commercial software, which is their money maker. However, there’s something about them that doesn’t sit right.

There are spelling and grammatical errors throughout the site and their “Privacy Policy” page has obviously been ripped from the Intel website. Unless they meant to write…

This policy covers the Intel Corporate website and is applicable worldwide.

Their is no reference to where they are based, although the site contains many examples of “broken English”. Who would buy from a site with such a lack of identity? Indeed, when installing the software the copyright notice makes mention of being “protected by United Kingdom copyright laws”. This is then followed up by “The sole owner of this product is Digiarty Software, Inc.” I didn’t think that UK companies used the “Inc.” suffix?

So, next thing to do – look up the website in popular “checkers”. First up, the McAfee Site Advisor. This shows no problems with the downloads, and a contact country of the US. Next, Browser Defender shows much the same, but this time the US is identified as the location of the server. However, the contact is rather different.

HanZhicai
ZhiCai (softsupport@vip.sina.com)
+86.2885258636

I wish I knew where this contact information was sourced from, because a WHOIS lookup doesn’t provide anything of use (the contact information appears to be protected). However, the above name doesn’t appear on other sites, making reference to the aforementioned software.

Sorry, but I’m not going any further. If I’m going to download and install some “free” software, I need to be able to feel the source is trustworthy. In this case, I don’t.

1. curiously, it was a Sophia who contacted me to review EASEUS software a while ago. Hmmm [↩]

When you right-click a file and choose “Open With“, and click the “Choose Program…” option, the list of registered applications are displayed in the Open With dialogue. Programs that are not already listed in the Open With dialogue can be added manually using the “Browse…” option.

However, in some cases, I find that when you browse to locate an application, it does not get added to the Open With dialogue.

This happened to me earlier after updating an application – the files normally associated with it weren’t, and I couldn’t get them to. However, a quick search on Google found an excellent, portable application for forcing program to be registered. Named “OpenWithAdd“, it works quickly and simply – launch a .exe and in the resultant Window, select the program you wish to add to the Open With dialogue. And that’s it. And in my case it worked a dream.

Terminator Salvation Poster

I got the chance to see this film yesterday and, after reading many positive reviews, I was expecting good things. In the end, however, I felt it was just, erm, average.

The storyline is set after Judgement Day when Skynet is already in control and the older John Connor (played by Christian Bale) is plotting against the machines. He learns that a teenage Kyle Reese (his future, or rather past, father) is the number one target of Skynet, whilst the resistant learn of a potential way to shut down the machines once and for all. Throw into the mix a stranger by the name of Marcus, who’s last memory was being put to death by lethal injection before Judgement Day occurred.

The effects, and terminators, are superb. The music, by Danny Elfman, is in keeping with the past movies and, again, is very good. McG often creates entire, complex scenes which shows in one apparent take (for example, John Connor getting into a helicopter, taking off, being shot down, landing upside down and getting out).

What let the movie down, however, was the lack of a half decent plot. The storyline of Marcus seemed pretty obvious to me and there were numerous plot holes. For instance – John and Marcus end up at the “headquarters” of Skynet, where they end up in a factory making Terminators. Yet during all of this they are attacked by a couple of Terminators. The resistance then fly in and rescue a load of freed human slaves – all of this is done without a single Terminator or machine attempting to stop them.

And, yes, Arnie does appear – or rather his likeness. They CGI’d his face onto a similar body, introducing the T-800 to the time line. The CGI however was a touch ropey and I don’t think it really advanced the storyline a great deal.

Maybe a second viewing on DVD will improve my view, but after sitting through a 2 hour film I was just expecting a little more.