Bought it, used it.
The good: Pretty easy to set up. The setup wizard is handy, yet you can change any of the settings easily later. The interface is also simple and pretty easy to understand. Works excellent once it's set up.
Downside: The program crashed the first three times during the initial (huge) cleaning. Not a big deal but could be disconcerting if you don't know how to force-quit a program.
Would get it again. Had to in the first place because my other cookie-munching program stopped working right and it wasn't getting fixed. Apparently cookie munching isn't the easiest thing in the world to do right.
Okay. Was able to get some games going--others not. Different versions of a game may or may not run even if that title is supposed to. Got maybe 50% working well, without any glitches. Very simple to use--give it high marks for that.
Definitely good for extracting DOS from the GOG.com games. GIve the Crossover demo a whirl there...
The support is strange and user-unfriendly, the way they time-limit you and put restrictions on your upgrades after a while. And individual game "forums" are all separately boxed in, so there is no sense of community and questions go a long time before being answered.
Works well, gives good info, and easy to configure. Has been very helpful in monitoring CPU use, as some processes will get "stuck" on, which is hard to notice sometimes at first. This has also been a great aid in adjusting my computer usage so that I am not using more than one CPU hog at a time. The program has been rock solid, and uses an extremely small amount of power itself (which of course, it will tell you).
The program does what it is supposed to and does it well. I found that on the first few runs it was worthwhile to scan the cookies in the interface and keep some that are considered tracking or flash cookies, because they are used by sites that I wish to maintain easy access to. But now that the "keep" list is pared down, it is very easy to maintain. With the addition of the browser cleaning tool, the program became better because it will now clean cookies that hide outside the usual cookie list. The program takes some fine-tuning and personal attention the first few runs, but then it very reliably cleans everything, and the web browser indeed runs faster. The program comes with a reasonable demo period and an uninstaller, which is nice of them.
This is really an impressive program that works pretty straightforward and simply yet can do a lot of things when you look under the hood (read through the help). It is great for working with various kinds of archives--dmg's, zips, etc.)--making them, converting them, burning them or what not.
Very happy with this program. I've used it several times now with no problems whatsoever. I like that you can simply boot into a special mode in order to unmount and defrag the hard drive, instead of fussing with CD booting, etc. Very easy to use, and I notice my machine is snappier afterwards. Nice work.
The whole idea of compressing files with something like Stuffit is that is that it makes them easier to move around, copy to other drives, etc. and they manage to stay in a usable form for easy unpacking when you need them. Plus, you may gain savings on space, since the files will be compressed--maybe. Many modern files seem to be well-compressed already, and you may not get any compression out of some, like mp4's, for example. However, Stuffit will save about 10% on Mp3's and up to a third of the space for pdf's. Even more stuffing an app. So it has it's uses. Users should be aware that "stuffing" isn't the only option--the program has other compressors. Stuffing itself seems to use a lot of CPU power, and it can take a while, whereas the other compressors may be more appropriate. Read the guide and look through the preferences to learn a lot about how it works. This program may have a limited life with bigger hard drives, but it still can be very helpful in archiving.
Having tried and used a number of disk utility programs, this one seems to be in the top tier in terms of quality and support. The demo gives you a good chance to look everything over, read the documentation and make a decision about whether the features provided are something you can use.
Also want to mention that even though the documentation and tool tips often refer to booting from the DVD version, there are other effective ways to use the program, such as booting from a clone of your hard drive and running DG there (and you should have a backup anyway). It also works well if you run it on your computer to repair another computer that is in firewire disk mode.
Very nice program. Easy to use: 5 minutes with the Help menu was enough to grasp the essentials, and get up and running. Decently fast (which is adjustable according to quality desired), and I really like that it doesn't eat up the CPU like similar programs I've used. Just a few of the nice features are: the ability to do a full remaster, or copy only the main movie, or any particular part of a disc; remove the UOPs (User Operation Prohibited flags); compress dual-layer down to a single layer; and the ability to choose the blank DVD before the encoding so that it is all one step. Many other features to explore. Like that they put out Fairmount, too, which was nice.
Cookie
Bluzy reviewed on 28 Dec 2011
The good: Pretty easy to set up. The setup wizard is handy, yet you can change any of the settings easily later. The interface is also simple and pretty easy to understand. Works excellent once it's set up.
Downside: The program crashed the first three times during the initial (huge) cleaning. Not a big deal but could be disconcerting if you don't know how to force-quit a program.
Would get it again. Had to in the first place because my other cookie-munching program stopped working right and it wasn't getting fixed. Apparently cookie munching isn't the easiest thing in the world to do right.
CrossOver Games
Bluzy reviewed on 16 Dec 2011
Definitely good for extracting DOS from the GOG.com games. GIve the Crossover demo a whirl there...
The support is strange and user-unfriendly, the way they time-limit you and put restrictions on your upgrades after a while. And individual game "forums" are all separately boxed in, so there is no sense of community and questions go a long time before being answered.
+2
iStat Menus
Bluzy reviewed on 25 May 2011
+1
Cookie Stumbler
Bluzy reviewed on 21 May 2011
+1
DropDMG
Bluzy reviewed on 17 May 2011
+1
Boxer
Bluzy reviewed on 04 May 2011
+3
iDefrag
Bluzy reviewed on 29 Jan 2011
+1
StuffIt Deluxe 2011
Bluzy reviewed on 25 Jan 2011
Drive Genius
Bluzy reviewed on 02 Oct 2010
Also want to mention that even though the documentation and tool tips often refer to booting from the DVD version, there are other effective ways to use the program, such as booting from a clone of your hard drive and running DG there (and you should have a backup anyway). It also works well if you run it on your computer to repair another computer that is in firewire disk mode.
+3
DVDRemaster Pro
Bluzy reviewed on 24 Sep 2010
Cookie Stumbler
Cookie Stumbler