| A Better Finder Attributes 1.2 | FavorStrip 1.4 | Wapp Pro 2.0 |

Frank Reiff's "A Better Finder" contextual menu plugin series is perhaps one of the most useful sets of contextual menus available for download today. The latest addition to the family, A Better Finder Attributes, is no exception. A Better Finder Attributes allows you to quickly change creation and modification dates, custom icon and invisible bits, and many more properties of a file or folder quickly and easily, all without using ResEdit. Additionally, you can create mini droplet applications for recording repetitive tasks and repeating them simply by dropping them on the droplet application you created. Neat!

The Summary
A Better Finder Attributes is a superb piece of shareware that attests to the quality of software produced by Mr. Reiff. $10.00 may seem a bit steep, but it will pay for itself in the amount time you save. Recommended for software developers, FTP/file server administrators, and anyone else that deals with editing buried properties of files and folders.

FavorStrip 1.4
Company: Kykz's Software
Shareware: $10.00
http://www.246.ne.jp/~kykz

FavorStrip 1.4 is a simple, yet useful, control strip module. It automatically categorizes all of the items in your Mac OS 8.5.x "Favorites" folder into five distinct categories: Applications, Accessories, Documents, Folders, and URLs. There's more to FavorStrip than meets the eye, however. You can easily add, remove, and display the originals of any item in FavorStrip's menu.

However, most of FavorStrip's features can only be specified by holding down certain key combinations while opening FavorStrip. It would be very helpful to have a separate application that could control these types of settings and apply them to the control strip module.

The Summary
FavorStrip is a neat piece of shareware that will quickly and easily reduce clutter in your "Favorites" folder, especially if you have a great deal of items in the folder. If you want to get into the more advanced features of FavorStrip, you may be overwhelmed by the amount of key combinations to remember. But, if you just want a quick piece of software for a reasonable price that will enhance your system, then I recommend you give FavorStrip a try.

Wapp Pro 2.0
Author: Jérome Foucher
Shareware: $10.00
http://come.to/beastieit

Wapp Pro is a fairly new, but extremely useful piece of shareware that allows you to switch windows embedded in applications via a simple pull-down menu. However, you can do much more than just switch between windows. Wapp Pro allows you to quit or hide applications quickly and easily from within the Wapp Pro menu.

Wapp Pro is extremely customizable, allowing you to have keyboard shortcuts for both window and application switching. It puts superior control of the behavior of the switching at your fingertips, allowing you to set the behavior of the "Quit All" and "Hide All" commands, for example. Wapp Pro also allows you to "exclude" applications that prove to be incompatible with Wapp Pro's abilities, allowing you to maintain compatibility while still utilitizing Wapp Pro's outstanding features.

The Summary
Wapp Pro is an example of a lesser-known, but unbelievably useful piece of shareware. A measly $10.00 shareware fee is nothing to ask for the usefulness that Wapp Pro brings to your system. If you're looking to be more productive switching applications and windows, Wapp Pro may be just what the doctor ordered. Highly Recommeded.

Requirements/Availability: A Better Finder Attributes requires Mac OS 8.x. Both Wapp Pro 2.0 and FavorStrip 1.4 require Mac OS 8.5.x or higher. All three of these utilities can be downloaded at their respective URLs.

Adam Karneboge
webmaster@mymac.com