Picks: Reviews of Icon Cool, WinRescue, and NewsMan Pro

• IconCool Editor
• Version: 4.80 Build 50728
• System Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/2003/XP
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IconCool Editor, by Newera Software Technology, Inc. is a neat program for doing anything with icons. You can create icons from scratch using this easy-to-use product. The interface is intuitive. You can create or edit icons, animated cursors, cursors and more. As many of you may know, I consider myself graphically challenged and even I could create icons with this baby. That was helped by the fact that the program can handle a wide range of graphics file formats including JPG, PCX, BMP, GIF, PNG and more.

IconCool Editor offers 20 different effects that you can apply to your icons. The program can also do 3D button and 3D shadow effects. The program supports a wide range of icon sizes going all the way from 1x1 to 255x255. Pretty impressive. It also has 50 image filters including things like emboss, sharpen, blur and more. Add things that you can have on your computer or that you find in EXE and ICL files to existing icons. The program can also save your work in a variety of file formats including ICO, JPG, GIF, BMP and CUR. It also has support for a number of gradients, including Filled Radial, Radial and Filled Rectangular. Slick.

IconCool Editor offers a handy undo which is great when you make a mistake or two. The program can even capture images that you might want to use and modify. So, if you've been looking for a way to spruce up and customize your icons, this might be the tool you need. Give it a try!

• NewsMan Pro
• Version: 2.0.0.6
• System Requirements: Windows 2000/2003/XP
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NewsMan Pro, by NewsMan Pro, is a full-feature newsgroup reader. I really like it's clean and easy-to-use interface. You can even customize the way it looks using its built-in themes. For anyone that uses a server that imposes limits on the amount you can download this is a program you need to look at. You can set it up so it will automatically stop the download when your limit is reached - pretty cool. Oh, and did I mention that it will also restart when you're able to get more? The program also has a very nice scheduler in the full or non-freeware version. That allows you to have NewsMan Pro go get your news for you, while you sleep perhaps.

NewsMan Pro has a number of neat features that I haven't seen in similar programs. It's Automation Rules function is cool because it will find articles you might be interested in by using keywords or key phrases that you define. When the program goes off to check news headers it watches your rules and snags anything that might be of interest. A nice feature to have. I found that I could gradually refine my rules based on what NewsMan Pro brought back.

NewsMan Pro can deal with both binary and text newsgroups. The program comes with a built-in database that allows you to store messages for as long as you like. I think thats a great feature and it also makes it easy to find things. Another cool feature is the way the program handles binary attachments. Supporting UUE, MIME, and Yenc encoding, the program decodes attachments as you download them, saving them in a folder you've assigned. Another nice feature is the ability to support multiple news servers, which some similar products don't allow. On top of that you can even assign a priority to each newsgroup server. All servers with a priority go into a pool and are treated as one server. A nice option.

Another nice feature included in NewsMan Pro is support for the relatively new NZB (NewsBin) files. This should save you time and effort when dealing with these types of files. Also, if you use a server where news items expire you'll like the fact that NewsMan Pro has a queue that takes article expiration into account helping you to miss fewer articles. The program also has powerful filter capabilities that let you deal with messages the way want. And the program doesn't hog system resources, so you can download your articles/messages while you're doing other things. Lastly, the program has support for MySQL, Firebird and Advantage Database servers. The program comes with Advantage built-in. Very nicely done. So, if you'd like a powerful, yet easy-to-use program for dealing with newsgroups, this may be just what you're looking for. Give it a try and see what I mean. Excellent!

• WinRescue
• Version: 10.08/5.08
• System Requirements: Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP
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WinRescue, by Super Win Software is a tool that's been around for some time and it is one that you might want to take a look at. Once again, it has so many excellent features that I'm just going to point out some of the key ones. The program can backup your Windows Registry and other important files - files that might save you if you ever have a system crash. The program can make images or snapshots of your system, so that if you installed a program, for example, and now suddenly something is amiss, you can restore you machine to an earlier time.

WinRescue will let your fix your computer in 5 different ways. Using the restore points, using WinRescue backups, utilizing a spare registry, the original registry, or restoring from a CD or disk. Another really neat feature of the program is its ability to take junk out of your registry and then rebuild it, making it smaller and more efficient. On top of all that, the program also comes with a whole range of troubleshooters that you can use to track down problems. These include such things as hardware, modem, printing, safe mode, sounds, display and more.

WinRescue can do backups to keep all of your data safe. In fact, it can even keep track of how many backups it's done and delete ones that are extra. Backup to DVD, CD, ZIP drive, external hard drive, network drives and more. The program has easy-to-use wizards which make the backup and restore process a snap! It does all this and much, much more. So, take the time to check it out for yourself. You'll be glad you did. I recommend it.