jv16
01-28-2007, 02:38 PM
Doug from the forum asked me to join and write perhaps a few lines of the upcoming jv16 PowerTools 2007 since many people here use the product.
The main emphasis has been on making the current features work better rather than including dozens of new tools. But, there are two new tools: Disk Defragmenter and pretty much entirely rewritten MRU/History Cleaner.
The Disk Defragger is designed to outperform the Windows Defragger. Although I don't think there's anything very special on certain high-priced disk defragmenter tools, we won't be competing against them simply because jv16 PT is an utility suite, not a standalone disk defragmenter. Therefore it won't contain as wide range of options (such as real-time defragging etc), but the actual defragging performance (i.e. how well it can defrag, not the defragment speed) should be quite similar.
The MRU/History Cleaner has been highly improved. The one in PT 2006 only contains a built-in support for some 20 application, the 2007's tool has a support for about 300 apps. 2006's cleaner only removed registry entries and keys, 2007's tool also checks for files. In addition to the built-in support, the tool also has a heuristic analyzer which finds MRU/History registry data of many application.
But as said, the main development goal has been to make the product work better. This means both fixing some existing bugs but as well as adding minor improvements. This was a clear result of our user questionnaire - adding new features to every version only means bloating the program in the long run. This is something we are fighting against, jv16 PowerTools will never become bloatware. Or at least not as long as I'm making the calls :)
Some new minor improvements include a new message system, the progra shows all program messages in a Message Window which is basically a log of all messages. The feature supports word wrapping, hotlinks (e.g. in a case of an error, you can click the error message and you are shown the exact spot what is causing the problem), saving to file, printing etc. Since this is quite different from the "standard" Windows look, the user can select which way to use.
Another nice improvement (imho) is that the program will now show system error messages in a case of file or registry removal fails. As you propably know, applications don't actually do much anything in a computer, they merely ask the operating system to do something and the OS does the actual work (e.g. file or registry key removal). If something goes wrong, the OS doesn't always report it to the user but it always reports it back to the application. Starting from PT 2007, the PowerTools shows these error messages also to the user to give more information what went wrong.
As said, the jv16 PowerTools 2007 is currently on beta testing (you can read more about that at: http://www.macecraft.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=10), the final version should be out in Q2/2007. The new version is a free update to all license owners of PT 2005 and 2006.
The main emphasis has been on making the current features work better rather than including dozens of new tools. But, there are two new tools: Disk Defragmenter and pretty much entirely rewritten MRU/History Cleaner.
The Disk Defragger is designed to outperform the Windows Defragger. Although I don't think there's anything very special on certain high-priced disk defragmenter tools, we won't be competing against them simply because jv16 PT is an utility suite, not a standalone disk defragmenter. Therefore it won't contain as wide range of options (such as real-time defragging etc), but the actual defragging performance (i.e. how well it can defrag, not the defragment speed) should be quite similar.
The MRU/History Cleaner has been highly improved. The one in PT 2006 only contains a built-in support for some 20 application, the 2007's tool has a support for about 300 apps. 2006's cleaner only removed registry entries and keys, 2007's tool also checks for files. In addition to the built-in support, the tool also has a heuristic analyzer which finds MRU/History registry data of many application.
But as said, the main development goal has been to make the product work better. This means both fixing some existing bugs but as well as adding minor improvements. This was a clear result of our user questionnaire - adding new features to every version only means bloating the program in the long run. This is something we are fighting against, jv16 PowerTools will never become bloatware. Or at least not as long as I'm making the calls :)
Some new minor improvements include a new message system, the progra shows all program messages in a Message Window which is basically a log of all messages. The feature supports word wrapping, hotlinks (e.g. in a case of an error, you can click the error message and you are shown the exact spot what is causing the problem), saving to file, printing etc. Since this is quite different from the "standard" Windows look, the user can select which way to use.
Another nice improvement (imho) is that the program will now show system error messages in a case of file or registry removal fails. As you propably know, applications don't actually do much anything in a computer, they merely ask the operating system to do something and the OS does the actual work (e.g. file or registry key removal). If something goes wrong, the OS doesn't always report it to the user but it always reports it back to the application. Starting from PT 2007, the PowerTools shows these error messages also to the user to give more information what went wrong.
As said, the jv16 PowerTools 2007 is currently on beta testing (you can read more about that at: http://www.macecraft.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=10), the final version should be out in Q2/2007. The new version is a free update to all license owners of PT 2005 and 2006.