GARY30  I upgraded from Parallels Desktop 4. I like the new interface, but take issue with the claim of PD 5 being 3X faster than PD 4 for my Windows XP SP3 virtual machine. I run it on a MBP Pro Unibody 17 in Windowed mode (not coherence).

Also, I use a small, boring collection of Windows accounting and vehicle routing apps. So maybe their claims concern gaming or other more demanding things, or for other modes of operation. For me though, speed is no better than parity with PD 4 based on stopwatch tests for application launches, restore from pause, etc

They seem like a good enough company by present standards, better at support than most and not as good as some. But remember that they need to sort problems with Windows' various versions and flavors as well as their own builds. Not easy by any means.  
(Version 5.0.9220.531002)

GARY30  Being 64 bit and all, maybe it's working so FAST that you don't notice the difference! Hey--Just kidding.

I use "Safari AdBlock" (yes, confusing similar name) which is still 32 bit but works great and I see no difference in performance on my machine between running Safari in 32 and 64 bit modes.  
(Version 1.0)

GARY30   A hangover from my graphics days is that I like to organize font files on my hard drive by foundry. Fontcase requires that this information be entered manually and files in the font vault package are organized by font family name in a flat file hierarchy. So, as much as I liked Fontcase, when the demo expired I just couldn't find enough value for me to pay the $56 US. I am not sure at what price I would be tempted to give it another try.  
(Version 1.2)

GARY30  I keep it around for OLD archives from the 90's that I think I might be interested in, but really am not. The download bills itself as an installer. Basically, all it does is annoy you and try to confuse into becoming a paying customer as it delivers its payload. Pure rubbish.

I hazily recollect that one version of this product a few years ago put something on my machine that popped up every so often and try to sell me something. So, I go straight to "Show Package Contents" rummage until I find the Payload folder (yes, there is a folder so named) and copy the application itself to my Utilities folder rather than even bothering to run the installer. Works perfectly and no surprises. In the next year I will probably run it once or twice--maybe.  
(Version 14.0)

GARY30  I have two other InputManagers, AdBlock and CosmoPod which are still 32 bit, so I am not motivated by this upgrade yet. I am sure the developer will have Safari Cookies/SIMBL problems fixed by the time the other InputManagers go 64 bit, if it fixed already.  
(Version 1.0.3)

GARY30  I have been considering what to do about my fonts with Snow Leopard. I have been using FontExplorer 1.2.3, but it will not work with Snow Leopard. I have really tried to work with Apple's own Font Book, but it seems to do weird things like show fonts as available even though I have deactivated them, and crashes sometimes when moving fonts between collections, etc. This sort of thing leads to corrupt caches and even a corrupt fb.db file from time to time, necessitating too much fiddling for my taste.

Enter Fontcase. It really is the font library equivalent to iPhoto. It manages fonts by simply copying them out of the application's package archive (vault) into the ~/LibraryFonts/ folder. Yes you can do this yourself, just as you can open Terminal and perform a variety of system maintenance tasks that various shareware utilities do for you. If that's you, then go for it. That's not me. I like a GUI. I like simplicity, and I prefer not to have background processes running all the time as is the case with Fontcase's pay-to-play competitors. So I like Fontcase. It costs a little more than I want to spend and I have seen a couple of transient display anomalies. However, it offers a full-featured 15 day trial, the developer seems to be on top of things, and I see myself coughing up the cash.  
(Version 1.2)

GARY30  First, try disabling the "Load H.264 Videos from YouTube." Make sure you have www.youtube.com whitelisted. Finally, on youtube.com go to My Account-->Playback Setup-->Video Playback Quality and select " I have a fast connection. Always play higher-quality video when it's available" if you have a cable modem or other broadband connection.  
(Version 1.5.3b3)

GARY30  Google Earth 5.1.3506.3999 continues with the auto software update nonsense. Plus, on my 17" unibody MBP using the plain old satellite view, the roofs of buildings are mostly rendered in blank white, non-aliased primitive shapes. On tall buildings, you can often see a little bit of the verticals. These are rendered in gray, also with no detail. Just go to the downtown of any city and I see this.

Going back to the previous version of Google Earth 5 these surfaces are all rendered correctly--you can see the equipment on the roof, color of the roof, etc. This may be an incompatibility with the GPU or Open GL on my MBP. In any case, it's a step backward as far as I am concerned.  
(Version 5.1.3506.3999)

GARY30  Excellent. Lots of info taking up very little space! Would like to see the Icon Only as an option as in previous versions, rather than Icon plus Text. Just a quibble, though.  
(Version 2.0)

GARY30  It's not that US$20 is too much for an upgrade. Plus there is a very long kist of new features. It's just that--among other things--by 2009, you'd think Yojimbo would accommodate at least rudimentary video clips and maybe files such as license keys. Disappointed enough from what I have read to look elsewhere for something more up to date to handle my semi-random files, data and "stuff." I'm just sayin...  
(Version 2.0)

GARY30  Try Safari AdBlocker. All of this stuff is 32 bit tight now, but AdBlocker has been solid for me. The only thing that's wrong with 32 bit is that it's not 64 bit :)  
(Version 2.8.5)

GARY30  After a couple of days I find that I am still getting very infrequent package contents Finder windows--like one per day. So, very good but not perfect. Since I have two machines and only one pithhelmet license, I have been running Safari AdBlocker on my other machine and it is working great--much matured over previous versions. It's nice to have some options as we count down to Snow Leopard release.  
(Version 2.8.5)

GARY30  Just a correction to my original review: CosmoPod is NOT an Application Enhancer and IS an inputManager. Apologies for my confusion!  
(Version 3.1)

GARY30  HOORAY! i found the problem on my machines.

I use an InputManager called CosmoPod with Safari. I happened to install CosmoPod's verson 3.1 update over my previous version 3.0.1 and the problem went away! Just to be sure, I uninstalled CosmoPod entirely. No Porblems. Reinstalled the downrev version 3.0.1: Problems. And then reinstalled the CosmoPod update 3.1 and...NO Problems.

This is sweet, because I don't need to make a compromise. It would have taken weeks to figure this out, and Mike has been unable to replicate the problem on his equipment. So it's down to CosmoPod on my machine, and we need to keep a weather eye out for other InputManagers I suspect.  
(Version 2.8.5)

GARY30  SLK-I surely take your point. I am still lamenting the loss of LabelsX in Leopard. There are lots of these small but vital utilities that will surely go by the wayside as Snow Leopard arrives. In this economy it's not as though small developers have the time, resources, or emotional gumption to dig into the new API's and update their utilities. Progress ain't a pure bed o' roses, I guess.  
(Version 2.8.5)

GARY30  I installed the 2.8.5 update and it had no effect on the pithhelmet.bundle package contents opening issue discussed here. Meanwhile, I have been running Safari 4.0.3 with Pithhelmet disabled and ClicktoFlash installed. Considering the window openings due to Pithhelmet vs. the small increase in ad content that gets through without it, the overall net annoyance level is a "wash" at this point as a lot of the annoying stuff is Flash content on sites I happen to visit frequently.

While I would prefer just using Pithhelmet, I recognize that most good things pass and with Snow Leopard around the corner, things like Input Managers, Application Enhancers, etc. are likely vulnerable. Thanks to the developer for all these years of goodness and best wishes going forward!!!  
(Version 2.8.5)

GARY30  Thanks very much. I wish I had that knowledge/skill. Meanwhile I discovered a gem of a little free application that deletes Flash cookies, a problem I didn't even know I had. Probably off topic here...  
(Version 2.8.4)

GARY30  This is very interesting. Weird, but interesting. Thanks for the post.  
(Version 2.8.4)

GARY30  After updating to Safari 4.0.3 under OS X 10.5.8 on my MBP 17 unibody, I find that sometimes when I open a web page a Finder window also opens, is on top,receives focus, and a zero length file named "blocked" is highlighted. The highlighted file is in the Resources folder of the Phthhelmet.bundle package itself.

Behavior is sporadic, but I noticed it first and can replicate it when I visit "http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/169302/mac_news_briefs_drive_genius_ready_for_snow_leopard.html"

I don't quite know what to make of this behavior but I don't much like it. None of the web pages affected seem "shady" in any way. Has anyone else experienced this behavior?  
(Version 2.8.4)

GARY30  I set the bar pretty low for MS apps on my Mac due to years of disappointment, so my agreement that Word and Entourage seem to launch quicker should be viewed as faint praise.

Upon initial launch of Word 12.2.0, I was confronted with box after box of font requests including requests for Cyrillic, Asian, and other weird fonts including one just identified with a string of seemingly random numbers. I use FontExplorer X Pro to manage my fonts. After a number of such boxes I just clicked a request to ignore all requests for fonts from this application. After that the requests went away and t It seemed to behave tolerably; it has since launched without incident. Entourage required re-entry of all mail account passwords--tedious but, well, tedious is par for the course if you use this company's software i guess. Those are the only MS apps I use--Word because I am too busy/lazy to convert all my legacy Word docs to Pages docs and Entourage because it handles attachments in a way that my Windows-based recipients can handle. All in all a decent upgrade to a deplorable piece of bloatware.  
(Version 12.2)

GARY30  To Mile--Oops, it has been so many years I sent a donation (I think it was donationware before it was shareware--can't tell from the old receipt) I forgot it was paid. I guess you can feel free to go ahead and hector the man to your heart's content to cost justify your full $10 US investment.

To Chawknz--There is a "ReadMe.html" that will get you going. You need to download and unpack the Pithhelmet 2.8.4 tbz file and the ReadMe.html is right there.  
(Version 2.8.4)

GARY30  I bought this inexpensively as part of bundle, thinking it might be useful someday. It turned out to be a "must have" application yesterday when I bought a new 3GS to replace my 2G iPhone. I was able to transfer all my Notes and extract some SMS messages which I would not have been able to recreate without hours of work. Also, you can add all kinds of text into Notes without having to type it all in on the iPhone.

I used it to copy music off my iPhone to my computer, mainly to confirm that the feature works as advertised. It does. I can imagine this being very handy in some situations where I erased a song in error on my Mac, etc.

Auto-update from 2.2.1 to 2.2.2 worked flawlessly on my machine.  
(Version 2.2.2)

GARY30  I agree completely. i used to have a huge and expensive font collection to manage but don't do that kind of work any more. I like auto-activation but FontExplorer X had become a hit or miss proposition on that front and from posts here and there it looks like there are problems with CS4 and the FontExplorer X Pro version. Meanwhile, Apple's own Font Book has quietly matured into a very useable product for "the rest of us." You get to keep the font files where you want them, to group them for convenience and auto-activation is quite good.  
(Version 2.0.2)

GARY30  I think there is a readme file or other documentation that tells you where to put the SIMBL part,the pithhelmet.bundle and so forth manually. I personally feel that if something is free, then "Beggars can't be choosers." More power to him if he is sitting a beach somewhere enjoying life, or maybe he has a busy career. He'll get around to it--maybe.

You might be able to Google the info on manually installing the pieces or just make another post here if interested and I'll do my best to provide the instructions if you promise me that you won't complain if you see smoke pouring out of the machine after following them. I am an experienced user and troubleshooter, but not a true geek.  
(Version 2.8.4)

GARY30  Whoa there. Try emptying the caches, run it awhile and see how that works. I have seen no performance change here.  
(Version 4.0)

GARY30  PithHelet 2.8.4 works with the final release of Safari 4 if you use

MUDFLAPPER 's procedure (March12 post).

Change his instruction 7 to read:

7) Replace the current version number (XXXX) with "5530"  
(Version 2.8.4)

GARY30  If you need to search for files in locations other than your own User folder, want to find contents within packages or want to find things on drives that you've excluded from Spotlight indexing EasyFind is fantastic. Fast and, well, easy!  
(Version 4.0.1)

GARY30  How did I miss this for all these years? Perfect little application that cleans up the cookie mess and lets you protect cookies from domains you want to keep. Works with cookies from Safari 4 beta as well as prior versions.  
(Version 0.9)

GARY30  I have used this application for over two years and never had a problem. Nevertheless, it would be foolhardy to use a produce like this without taking some elementary precautions. Xslimmer gives the option to back up the files it slims and produces a log. So if i ever have a problem I am confident I could restore the files with no problem. I also have Time machine and Super Duper.

One thing that surprises me with 1.6.3 is that the Adobe CS4 applications are NOT blacklisted. Adobe has always been a problem and its bloatware is something i would definitely like to slim. For now, I have subtracted them from the Xslimmer list on my own machine. If anyone has had success slimming CS4 applications that information would be most welcome.  
(Version 1.6.3)

GARY30  This application sneaked it's way onto my system at some point, maybe along with Adobe Air which is another story. Without intervention it hijacked my application handling preferences for .flv files and had it not done so I imagine I would have weeded it out eventually. I use yFlicks for .flv files thankyouverymuch and it has lots of preferences and controls. As near as I can tell Adobe Media Player has just the basics. Plus it takes a long time to load and once loaded and playing a movie, it commands nearly 70% of CPU cycles compared to about 35% with yFlicks. I can't think of a single redeeming feature of this program except that is looks nice. I guess that deserves one star.  
(Version 1.6)

GARY30  CosmoPod is the most useful utility for the money of all the web related video utilities I have. If you are a Safari user and like to view some video content offline, this Application Enhancer makes is a one click solution. The developer stays right on top of Safari updates and I have never had a hang or other glitch involving CosmoPod. There is an "equivalent" free plug-in for Firefox, FlashGot. It is frustrating for me in that is wants to download each and every flash animation on a given web page and preserves the often bewildering names. In my view it not as useful as CosmoPod.  
(Version 2.9.1)

GARY30  I remember a few years ago when Sony added a root kit to their CD's. Only a few people were affected, but it created massive bad feelings that last to this day. It seems to me that this Google Updater is a root kit for Macs, plain and simple. it's evil.  
(Version 5.0.11337.1968 )

GARY30  When Safari 3.2.x arrived I realized how much I rely on Pithhelmet. I downgraded to Safari 3.1.2 with Pithhelmet 2.8.3 due to Safari 3.2.x' instability with InputManagers. I considered making Firefox my #1 browser. For me, Pithhelmet is ESSENTIAL for reasonably happy web browsing using Safari. Ever more gaudy, frenetic moving ads, overlays, etc. make many sites all but unusable. OTOH, I am one of those who does not mind a few ads. Give me static ads relevant to the a site's content and I am good to go. Pithhelmet gives filtering flexibility without being intrusive or hard to configure. And now with Pithhelmet 2.8.4 I can have the Safari 3.2.x security features I desire and the web experience i prefer. Thanks!  
(Version 2.8.4)

GARY30  I have been using this program for almost two years and had only one problem. I just replaced the slimmed file with a backup which was generated by the program. As with any software that utility that you know is going to poke through your files, you will want to make sure you have a current backup before running. You can use a program such as "Easyfind" to see if (or where) there are leftover "lproj" resources. You can also use a number of programs that are indiscriminate to varying degrees to remove all such files from all packages (except a language you want to keep). I think Xslimmer is a reasonably safe and convenient option.  
(Version 1.6.2)

GARY30  Yeah, the last times that a Safari upgrade affected it, PithHelmet simply failed to load. I think both times it was just because of a version checker line that was easily altered before an official fix was even posted. Presently, it looks like something different is going on in that it loads but instability ensues. Looks like other InputManager-related programs are affected in the same way.   
(Version 2.8.3a)

GARY30  I really like this app, but am still on version 2.8.2, which seems to be the last version without a beta designation. I know this is not unusual for shareware developers, but I thought these folks dealt in "official release" versions. The rate of beat releases has been dizzying and I am not sure whether to install these, wait (maybe for Godot) or what. Any advice welcome.  
(Version 2.9.1b1)

GARY30  Looking closely I noticed pixelation on the H.264 (best quality) conversions I was doing from some flv files using version 2.7. In experimenting with the preferences I discovered that unchecking the "Use original bitrate when converting" preference eliminated the pixelation i was seeing. I don't know if this was an artifact of the particular flv files I was working with, but if you see pixelation you might give this preference a try.  
(Version 2.7)

GARY30  I had 12.1.1 installed and had removed excess language files using an application called XSlimmer (although this can be done manually). 12.1.2 update ran without incident, updated the suite and all the Office 2008 applications work fine.

I slim software installations mostly because I am compulsive I suppose, as it's hardly necessary any more. However, there are some apps that apparently load more resources when more language files are present. Also backups take a little less time.

In any case, I suspect the OP may have another issue. (XSlimmer "blacklists" the Adobe CSx apps because they won't run at all unless their full bulk is retained on the hard drive). So far, I have seen nothing at XSlimmer concerning problems with Office 2008.  
(Version 12.1.2)

GARY30  Downloaded and installed on May 9 over previous version running under 10.5.2 on a MBP. Virtual machine was XP-SP2. You must reinstall Parallels Tools after the update. I do this as a matter of course, but some probably don't and not doing so would definitely cause problems.

Once my XP-SP2 installation was confirmed good, I installed Microsoft's new service pack, SP3. Other than taking almost two hours it went fine and the machine is stable.

It looks like Parallels made significant strides in reducing Parallels CPU usage with this version and that is welcome.  
(Version 3.0.5600)

GARY30  Another thanks. Works here, too.  
(Version 2.8.2)

GARY30  There does not appear to be any substantive change in functionality over the previous free version although the main window is a bit nicer. Moreover, the developer seems to have chosen to handicap himself by grossly limiting the funcitonality of the paid application until registration; is not the constant nagging thought to be enough? Just my 2 cents worth, but if I were trying to sell an app that were only marginally different from a previous free version, I might be a little more generous.  
(Version 4.2)

GARY30  Maybe it IS at someone's house. It's free, works great. How large of an investment do you think the developer should make in order to get your *freeware* to you at warp speed?  
(Version 1.9.4b1)

GARY30  Nice little app that offers a function useful to those of us who have adopted zip and put sit behind us. Not too complicated, not to simple. Just right. Thanks!

While developer recommends putting the app in the Applications folder, it also seems to work when put in the Utilities folder on my machine. Okay, call me compulsive.  
(Version 2.1.0.852)

GARY30  Hey there sport,

None of your complaints amounts to a hill of beans. It's a little app that does what it says it will do and helps you get going. How about you write and post a FREE Cocoa app and then see how you feel as you read ridiculous complaints from the clueless.  
(Version 2.1.0.852)

GARY30  There is a little freeware app. called FontNuke that finds and stomps out font caches that none of the general purpose maintenance utilities (Cocktail, MainMenu, OnyX, etc.) seem to find. Cocktail is a great utility, but for your specific need, you might want to check out FontNuke. It found and cleaned out a couple of font caches that survivied several OS X and machine migrations since 2002! Pretty amazing. And, yes, it seems to find the Office 2008 stuff.  
(Version 4.0.3)

GARY30  Plus, Labels X, even though I very much like the people and the effort at Unsanity, will probably never work on Leopard because the APE situation looks untenable. Also, from what i can see, this app isn't a hack and finally, OS X's native label colors suck.  
(Version 2.1.1)

GARY30  I normally think I keep a tidy system. I use OnxX, MainMenu, etc. to keep the system clean and manage fonts with FontExplorer. However, FontNuke found and nuked font caches that had managed to avoid detection and extermination since 2002. Very impressive!

I am still using Tiger 10.4.11 but am very close to upgrading to Leopard via a clean install with fresh install of all applications. With FontExplorer's continuing problems with its own cache cleaning utility and the confusing and mysterious font locations/caches introduced on any system by Adobe and MS Office applications, FontNuke is a "must" for anyone who messes with fonts.  
(Version 1.1.5)

GARY30  I wonder if all you MacHeist crybabies here are going to be honkin' into your hankies when Ambrosia releases its new SnapZ Pro version. Ambrosia, which was very upfront about using MacHeist to entice new users prior to its major upgrade, is about to do the same thing.

C'mon folks. You paid under 50 bucks for MacHeist. You got these apps for under $5 each. So if you decide to upgrade (nobody has a gun to your head), you can just as easily claim to have acquired Speed Download 5 for a net $20, a discount of $5 off the price of a new license.

On balance you got a hella deal. Untwist your knickers and go outside and play, or see if you can get an advance on your allowance so you can call someone who cares.  
(Version 5.0)

GARY30  I must be missing something: I am not trying to start a controversy here in asking why SuperDuper seems to get so many more "warm fuzzies" than does Carbon Copy Cloner. As near as I can tell, they both have the same features, just implemented a little differently. For me, the procedure for setting up file exclusions seems much simpler on CCC.

Neither of these apps perform incremental backups (which is fine--that is not what they are intended for). I think they are both fairly priced (I donated to Bombich so long ago I can't remember, but I think it was 20 or 30 bucks). Both developers are wonderful.

Maybe its just publicity. I started with CCC way back when so I am going to stick, but if I had started with SuperDuper I imagine I would stick with it. Or maybe there is a preference or option in SuperDuper I am missing that would make me say, "Aha!"  
(Version 2.5)

GARY30  I think maybe we finally have the glass slipper (iPhone password support!!!!!)  
(Version 2.5.10)

GARY30  I used to use SpamSieve and it is a great product worth 5 stars. I have a public email address on my website and various other email boxes that go back to 1994. So SpamSieve has been essential.

However, recently I had to go out of town for an extended period of time and wanted to be able to access all my email from a single service with a web interface if needed. I selected gmail and arranged to forward all my email accounts (except for a free yahoo account) to the gmail account. Result: Zero spam and complete transparency as far as the senders are aware. I could have literally not told anyone I was gone and could have received and replied to all email using the original "Sent To" addresses for my replies.

Not that there is anything wrong with SpamSieve, but one less program to run is one less to deal with and upgrade. So far, gmail has a perfect spam rejection/wanted email acceptance record.  
(Version 2.6.6)

GARY30  I wrote an earlier review after crashing problems with this app and decided to revisit it after deleting all InputManagers, APE and gobs of old preferences in anticipation of a Leopard upgrade. Well, the crashiness is gone and that is great. However, over time it appears that this app is nothing more than a scorer for an application usage popularity contest. Kind of neat, but I have already made the top ten or so frequently needed apps close at hand via the dock, etc. So this app doesn't really buy me anything in terms of productivity. For someone like my wife who uses only a few apps this would be fun.

I had a notion that Sapiens' delightful UI could be adapted to replace the functionality of something like DragThing for "power users.". The idea is that you might have Sapiens circles for various apps and utilities that you classify and each circle might contain essentially the most used apps in that class. I suppose the user would need to assign the apps to a particular classification. Maybe too complicated. Oh well.  
(Version 1.1)

GARY30  Freeing myself from the limitations of Flash and Real Player this easily: It's a beautiful thing! It even works on local files. Just go to the Safari Menu-->Window-->CosmoPod. The CosmoPod window opens and you can drag your local Flash and Realplayer clunkers onto it and make perfect mp4's.  
(Version 1.9.4)

GARY30  I see excessive system overhead with this version (and with all of 'em). For those who justify this by observing that this a beta and that the user agrees to the terms and conditions yada yada yada, well, if you go to Adobe's main site just like any naive user you will be presented with this exact release as though it is the "official" release.

I disable Flash whenever I can. It is just awful and for once I am glad Microsoft is promoting an alternative. It can't be any worse than this garbage.  
(Version 9.0.115)

GARY30  I really like the new UI for Little Snitch. It shows information in a way i can understand better and makes it easy to edit rules and evaluate existing ones. Very small system overhead from what I can see. I wouldn't boot my Mac without it.

MacBook Pro OS X 10.4.11  
(Version 2.0)

GARY30  Just a followup comment: I haven't been able to find anyone else who seems very concerned about this. So I think there must be an error in my thinking. The new Little Snitch 2 intercepts a lot of what I think are root programs asking for access, so that is very good. Apologies to anyone who might be concerned.  
(Version 2.0)

GARY30  Switched from this to "Pester" because of bugs. However, "Pester" ends up in the dock with a tiny digital countdown clock icon. TinyAlarm ends up in the menu bar, out of the way, with little analog clock icon that I find easier to read. Now, with the bug fixes, "snooze" and user sounds it is again my favorite.

Its is nice little app for short term alarms and is much preferable to clogging up Entourage or iCal with this stuff. Excellent.

MacBook Pro w/10.4.11  
(Version 1.2)

GARY30  I just paid for my upgrade to 6.0.2 from 5.9.5 and have noticed a much quicker launch speed and all of the features I use seem rock solid. I like the modest changes to the interface. I think the inclusioin of the various language users manuals in the package and the Universal Binary has resulted in its being larger than previous versions.

This program continues to be among the very best values in the Mac software universe. I especially like the lossless jpeg cropping and constantly improving support for cameras as well. Also, they keep up with bug fixes, etc. Don't think this is a good release? Buy something like Adobe Elements and then we'll talk.  
(Version 6.0.2)

GARY30  I recently installed Leopard and the new version of Little Snitch (2.0). In trying to grok the new firewall situaiton I visited the Objective Development forums and to my shock I discovered that Little Snitch does not and has not in the past monitored/blocked all outgoing connections from third party apps.

I am floored. I had trusted this application for years. If there are third party application developers that have figured out how to get around Little Snitch, then how long will it be until spyware developers can do the same thing. I am very concerned about this.  
(Version 2.0)

GARY30  Yes, you are correct. 272 downloads (as of this writing) does suggest that all possible permutations of OS X versions, software installations, and machine configurations are fully covered and there is absolutely no reason whatsoever for my having the temerity to make such a ridiculous observation. In fact, it is possible that I was hallucinating as I had taken an apririn a couple of hours before I tried the product.  
(Version 1.0.1)

GARY30  Every so often (not very often) you get a sitx file. Those can't be opened by The Unarchiver. That's the only reason I can imagine (of course, you could just reject the sitx file, but people who send you sitx files are so clueless that they won't know how to use another format).  
(Version 12.0)

GARY30  I don't think I identified any "fault," merely a correlation. As for your confidence, there are thousands of posts on thousands of forums suggesting that particular programs can cause problems with other programs including the Finder. Happens all the time. To say this isn't the case is a bit optimistic in my view.  
(Version 1.0)

GARY30  I really like this application! Unfortunately, shortly after I installed it I got application freezes with Entourage, Safari, and the Finder itself which led to having to reboot via the Power buttion. Having removed it, my system is stable once more. Unfortunately, I ran both Disk Utility and Onyx which deleted my crash logs. I need this system for my business but may still try messing with Sapiens but not without a couple of backups and some time.

MacBook Pro Core Duo 15" 2.16, 2G ram  
(Version 1.0)

GARY30  I took a look at this one. I definitely see the benefit of defragging--especially if you are slinging huge files around. My solution ended up being Carbon Copy Cloner. I clone my drive, check to be sure the clone is bootable, than clone it back using the file by file methiod. This causes the system files to be written to the inner disk and so on, the general way they should be. Speed benefit is great and you get a full backup out of the deal every time. It is also much faster then iDefrag or others.

For what it does, iDefrag is fine. But at least for me there is a way that meets my needs better.  
(Version 1.6.2)

GARY30  I really wanted to like this program. It has a nice interface and is one the few backup programs that can do true incremental backups (i.e., with multiple restore points or "snapshots"). However, it is quite limited when it comes to file exclusion. You need to click on each and every file or directory to exclude, although you can use rudimentary general expressions.

The real showstopper for me was the restore option. Yes, that's right--"option" is singular. If you need to restore a file or a couple of files as is often the case, you need to restore the entire backup archive to a folder of your choice or to the original file locations. If you restore to a folder, then you can copy the files you want to a specific location. My backups are usually several gigabytes, so this is a royal pain and is the reason I reluctantly deleted the program. Close but no cigar.  
(Version 1.5.2)

GARY30  I am also running the 2.x version of Parallels as I have seen no compelling reason to upgrade. I have a MacBook Pro with 2GB of ram. Parallels claims that it will manage its memory use automatically. What it actually seems to do is grab as much as it possibly can and then hang onto it like a Gila Monster. I set up the preferences to use only 840MB and set up the Virtual Machine to use the same. Why you need to set bot of these I do not know. I also set it up to Manually "manage" the memory. Net result is that Parallels is now on a shorter leash and seems to work better than when I let it go hog wild on memory. Notably, Parallels is also a processor hog, even when it is hidden, paused, etc. If and when they make real changes to the program to address these kinds of issues rather than just eye candy like 3D I may purchase an upgrade. Meanwhile there are other developers that are catching up and maybe surpassing Parallels.  
(Version 3.0.5060)

GARY30  When I open Word 2005 with FontExplorer v1.2.1, I get a tedious series of modal dialog boxes from FontExplorer for unusual fonts asking if I would like to ignore, etc... Reverting back to 1.1.2 and the modal dialog boxes go away. Have tried emptying caches, fixing permissions, etc. all to no effect.  
(Version 1.2.1)

GARY30  I had a slow system after an earlier Tiger update. I can't remember which one. I solved it by deleting (especially) the system/kernel caches and font caches along with any other caches. You can use the latest version of Onyx (free) to do these things.

Also, make sure you repaired your permissions and verified your disk using Disk Utility after the upgrade. If you have any system haxies, you might try disabling them one by one to see if one of them might be implicated.

Finally, running Activity Monitor isn't a bad idea. You may not have Front Row, but it could be some other process  
(Version 10.4.10)

GARY30  I am thrilled with this release. It seems much faster than the previous (3170) release on my system and whereas the suspend function was a bit dicey before, it has worked perfectly through a dozen suspensions now with various programs and windows open.

I need XP for mainly for some job routing software and for Quickbooks payroll, and am looking forward to getting rid of my Toshiba "craptop" entirely. I think Parallels may be getting stable enough so that I can do this in the next month or so.

MacBook Pro 2.16/15", 2Gram, 100Ghdd, OSX10.4.8   
(Version 2.5.3186)

GARY30  What passes for an "OEM version" is sometimes just a restore disk. Those won't ever work. However, if the OEM disk is a Windows XP INSTALL disk with a holographic sticker and a serial number then I would bet it would work. I am sure there are exceptions but I have yet to see an "OEM" install disk license that is tied to a particular box--you just can't use it on more than one box (natch). Often you will need to delete an OEM trashware folder, but again, I have yet to see an OEM disk that has not worked perfectly on a third party box or in this case, a VM.  
(Version 2.5.3186)

GARY30  I just realized I have been using this program daily since version 1. It has always been convenient. This is the kind of product that could simply become more elaborate bloatware with each release. Like others, I was concerned about the developer's decison to charge for updates some time ago. However, the product has not become bloatware. The new naming options that have been added are really useful. The stability has been excellent, the interface changes thoughtful. Every third or fourth update the program decides not to make its window the focus window when invoked, adding a keystroke for me, but that behavior eventually seems to return.  
(Version 7.6)

GARY30  Labels X makes labels the way they are supposed to be. The only downside to my MBP was that Labels X did not work with the Intel processor. This upgrade is allmost like a Christmas gift. My file labels look graceful again, the way they are supposed to look. Looks nice and stable on my machine as well!  
(Version 1.8)

GARY30  I don't know a lot about video encoding formats. I do know that this is the player that usually works for me when none of the others do. Only small comment is that the unassuming UI does not even hint at the power of this amazing program.

It often plays partial and broken video files--useful when you see a post with dozens of RAR parts and no preview. Just DL the first few RAR's, process with Machacha and play with VLC.  
(Version 0.8.6)

GARY30  I have tried all the preference options I can think of but I cannot get aerial images as good with Google Earth as I can get with MSN Virtual Earth (using their windows.local.live in a browser window). These are aerial pictures taken at the same time--I can tell because, for example, the same cars are parked in the same locations. Unless someone can inform me of something I am missing, then this is a real disappointment.  
(Version 4.0.1563)

GARY30   Version 2.6.6 requires Quicktime 7. It crashes immediately upon loading with earlier versions. I still like it, but I am stuck with 2.6.5 for now.  
(Version 2.6.6)

GARY30  Excellent interface. Faster and easier to use than Extensis Suitcase 11 in both working with sets and in supporting font calls from applications. I am so pleased that we now have a decent font manager for OS X. Goodbye Suitcase!!

Gary  
(Version 1.0fc4)